My First Open Race Meeting (or how to start a good weekend badly!)
This weekend just passed, I ran in my first fully fledged race
meeting, in the Penrite MG Racing Series. Although I had run club
sprints for the past 18 months (in both my '92 Prelude Si and in
the spridget), this was a big new experience! The meeting was at
Winton Raceway, about 2.5 hours north of Melbourne in the middle of
grazing country. The track is quite tight and twisty with only a
medium length straight where horsepower is really significant. It is
very demanding on both driver's technique and the car's
handling.
The State Racing Series (otherwise known as CAMS Clubbies) are two day
events held at each of the major race circuits in Victoria. The format
is Scrutineering and practice/qualifying (best time in practice counts
as qualifying time) on Saturday Morning, 1 race per category on each
of Saturday afternoon (8 laps), Sunday Morning and Sunday Afternoon
(10 laps each). The categories were Historics, Marque Sports, MGs,
Sports Sedans, Formula Vee, and Group N. Depending on the car, you
might be able to enter the vehicle in more than one category (e.g. my
AH Sprite Mk III (log booked as a MG Midget to allow me in the MG
series!) could also be entered in the Marque Sports category, tho'
I figured that a double entry might be too much in my first meeting).
I ran in the Penrite MG Series along with MGAs (2), MGBs (10), MGBGTs
(2), Spridgets (8), an MGC GTF, an 1100, and a TC Special (open
wheeler) for a total of 25 cars! The cars varied from outright race
vehicles on 10" slicks to warm road-registered cars on race
radials. Qualifying times varied between 1:06 to 1:24 (most qualified
in less than 1:19). It was awesome to see the 25 cars all lined up on
the grid!
We had our club's monthly meeting on Friday night, so I drove up
very early Saturday morning. Scrutineering for the MGs was between 9
and 9:30 (interrupted by driver's briefing at 9:15) so I wanted to
be there by about 8:30 or so. This meant leaving at 6am. My car is
stored at my father's place (I don't have a real garage :-( so I
had to head over there to load it on the (tandem) trailer first.
Things got off to a bad start with me leaving about 1/2 hour late from
home. I managed to get the car loaded quickly and got on the highway
soon afterwards. I managed to make good time most of the way up the
highway and was on track to arrive at about 8:45 or so. That would
give me plenty of time to unload the car and get through scrutineering
before driver's briefing, *but* about 10 km outside Winton I had a
major blow out on the trailer! The tread lifted off one of the tyres,
breaking the forward mount of the leaf spring. This was all I needed!
Luckily a fellow competitor (Alan Wilson, MGA) pulled up and gave me a
lift to the track. After driver's briefing, Peter Brice (MKIIA
Sprite) and I headed back with his empty trailer to collect my race
car. He headed back with the car (and log book) to put it through
scrutineering for me. I decided to limp back with the trailer. Well,
it seems that the damage was more serious than it first appeared - the
transient load from the broken left side snapped the axle mounts on
the right hand side -- I had a decidedly sick trailer. I did a very
agricultural fix-it job, holding the axle in place by a brace of
tie-downs, rope and wire. Naturally, I limped back at a *very* slow
pace. So slow in fact that the MGs were already out in qualifying when
I finally reached the track! I still had to put my racing gear
(helmet, race suit, etc) through scrutineering so I ran up there, ran
back, got changed in record time, jumped in the car (which started for
me first time bless its soul) and made my way to the track entrance!
By this time I had been at the circuit for at *least* 10 minutes and I
wasn't sure how much of the 20 minute session was left. The curious
marshals waved me through (you want to join *this* session?) and I
rolled around warming up tires, motor, and brain in a slow lap before
easing into a faster pace. Well, after the warmup lap, all I got was
one 7/10s lap before they showed the chequered flag. This was not
going to be a very good starting position! At least I got the one lap
in, maybe I wouldn't be the absolute last on the grid...
When I got back, I realised that I didn't have the correct numbers
on the car (170 instead of 70!), this was going to confuse things
somewhat! One of the more seasoned racers from the Sprite club, Jeff
Smith (very fast midget race car), took me under his wing and sorted
out the numbers with the timers then pleaded my case with the Clerk of
the Course (asking if I could do my qualifying in the Marque Sports
session later in the morning). Unfortunately, the answer was no
because they *did* have a time for me. Paradoxically, if I had
completely missed the session, then since I was a first timer, they
would have OK'd it. Jeez, why did I run so hard?
After checking the race car over, I checked the trailer out some more.
Since it was a weekend, getting it fixed in Benalla would be a
problem, so we lined up a local who said I could leave the car and
trailer with him -- meaning I would have to return during the week to
get it fixed and collect the car! Bummer.
I did head out for some practice with the Marque Sports cars, not
really pushing things since there was a lot of racing to come. I tried
running in third rather than second around some of the twistier
sections of the course, but it turned out a fair bit slower (I am
running a 4.5 diff on 175/60 Dunlop Formula Rs D98J). I also tried to
refine my braking points a little (this was my third time in this car
-- all at Winton, tho' the first event was on 2 yr old slicks that
were very slippery). I had decided to run with only 1 anti-tramp rod
(traction bars) to partially cure an almost rigid rear suspension
(Phil Ethier suggested that fix!), a cure I tried out at a club sprint
a few weeks before. I didn't get below about 1:15 in the practice,
not really surprising as I hadn't pushed it very hard and I still
hadn't managed to get dialled in mentally. I had gotten down to
1:13.8 at the club sprints with an identical setup, so I needed to
forget the trailer and get myself concentrating on the task at hand.
The first race was a couple of hours later, by then one of the others
had volunteered to have their car driven back and take my race car on
their trailer. In the meantime, I had taken the two front wheels off
the trailer and used chains to hold the front axle up against the
trailer floor, so I could tow the thing home and get it fixed locally!
Race time arrived with a rush and I had to hurry again up to the
marshalling area to sit in 17th place out of a field of 25 cars. My
single timed lap of 1:16.4 put me behind eight cars which qualified
slower than I had done the previous fortnight. I was quite annoyed
that I blew qualifying, hoping that I could get past these guys
quickly and chase the faster boys (ho ho ho).
Once on the starting grid, I realised just how far back I was -- I
couldn't even see the start lights! I just revved my engine when
everyone else did and started moving as soon as those in front moved.
A red midget blasted past me, and muscled his way in front of me into
the first corner, (turn 1: 3rd gear slightly downhill off-camber right
hander with a blind apex), I hadn't managed to even hold my place
yet; bits of tyre rubber and stuff were flying everywhere, cars were
all around -- it was like a battle zone! I held the inside line with
cars 2 and 3 cars wide heading into the next corner (turn 2: fast 3rd
gear slightly cresting right hander -- critical to get a fast exit
here) and forced my way in front of the guy along side. The cars
formed a single line as we entered the sweeper (big sweeping left
hander, flat out in top at about 6000 rpm). I was behind a white MGB
at that stage, we were not going all that fast through the sweeper
(5000 rpm maybe), I wasn't brave enough to go either inside or
outside of the B. [In fact it would be a very brave thing to do as the
left hand sweeper turns into a slightly tighter right hander called
the flip-flop before a hard 2nd gear right hander called "tank".
Passing on the sweeper could see you squeezed off the track quite
easily as the fast line grazes ripple strips on the left then the
right in close procession. At your fastest, there is no room for error
at all, either bumping the first ripple strip hard, or running wide
and hitting the second ripple strip will almost certainly result in a
big fast lose at about 100 mph!]. The B driver had been here before
(!) and hugged the inside line at tank - an obvious place to pass
under brakes for us light spridgets. Tank is the first of 3 tight
bends in very quick succession. I couldn't get past him before
cleavage (2nd/3rd gear left hander which tightens up a bit) or before
Castrol (tricky 2nd gear right hander leading onto the main straight).
I was climbing all over the back of the B ever since the start of the
sweeper, but he was driving defensively and not giving me much
opportunity to get through (surprise! surprise!). The straight ends
with a set of esses (2nd/3rd gear right-left-right) onto the short
start-finish straight. Another good passing opportunity is to dive up
the inside under brakes before the esses, but the B and the 3 cars in
front all pulled away from down the straight so I wasn't close
enough to even make an attempt. I got back on his tail by the end of
the esses. The exit is a bad place to come unstuck as the pit straight
has a concrete wall there, albeit with a tyre barrier, so caution got
the better of me there! Although I was along side the B for most of
the short pit straight, I wasn't willing/able to force my way past
into the tricky turn 1. This continued for most of the race, I had a
few chances to pass but erred on the side of caution rather than force
my way through. I didn't want to bang panels, nor draw myself to
the attention of the clerk of course (who has to sign my race book for
my first 5 meetings as a provisionally licensed race driver). Also, I
had yet to reach the level of familiarity with the car that I had had
with the Prelude and didn't have the confidence/knowledge of what
it would do in each situation. Each of the cars in this group of 5
could outrun me down the straights, but were slowing me down in the
corners. I had to manufacture passing opportunities by dropping back
and getting a run up on them before tank. Occasionally a good exit
onto the straights would give me a slight chance at an outbraking
manoeuvre; though the brakes were fading by the end of the race. I
later found out that the Previous Owner had put unknown pads from a
wrecking joint in the car before he sold it to me...
On the 2nd last lap, we caught the slowest car, the MG TC special. He
was a royal Pain In The Neck. Even though he was being lapped (by us
mid-fielders), he refused to let us through, holding very defensive
lines and shutting the gate on any inside passing moves. The others
managed to power past him on the straight, but he pulled a few car
lengths on me. I nearly managed an inside pass at turn 1, but he
turned straight across my bows and I only just avoided hitting him! I
was stuck behind him to the finish, ending up 12 secs behind the bunch
I diced with for most of the race!
The next day, I got to the track early, through scrutineering, drivers
briefing etc. The previous day had been beautiful, but there had been
rain overnight and it looked decidedly miserable. The first race was
at 10:30 and it was still dry, though the track was still damp off the
line. We lined up, still using the original qualifying times. Chris
Crombie who completely missed Saturday, joined the grid at the back.
Her green spridget is normally right near the front of the grid, so
she had her work cut out! I got a better start this time, and had a
bit more confidence so I got past the white B early on, and past the
next two before the car started bogging down (temporary complete loss
of power) at Castrol (start of the main straight). The speed there is
quite slow so it was manageable, but it nearly cost me a place after
the guy behind recovered from the near collision! I pulled away again,
but the cutout re-occurred a lap later - this time at turn 2. I
wasn't quite so lucky this time -- spinning off into the grass. I
watched all my hard work drive past before rejoining down near the
back of the field. I ended up dicing with Peter Brice in his 1100
MKIIA. I thought I'd blast past him but he defended well and I was
getting *terrible* exits onto the straight removing the power
advantage I had over him. We were side-by-side for a few corners
before I outbraked him into the esses and pulled away again. The very
next time through turn two it cut out again and I spun again. I
cruised home 3rd last -- it seemed that if I wasn't driving so hard
that the cutout wasn't occurring so the rest of the race was
uneventful!
I suspected fuel surge (even tho' the tank was > 1/2 full), but
Jeff Smith reckoned that it was more likely an electrical problem (it
wasn't spluttering like a fuel surge would). I added 10 litres of
fuel to the tank, then started looking for other possible clues. The
high tension lead from the coil to the distributor didn't have any
slack so that any rocking of the engine would lead to tension in the
lead (sorry about that -- couldn't resist!). I turned the coil
upside down to give it plenty of slack. I couldn't find any other
obvious possible cause.
I also had a conversation with Jeff about various bits and pieces on
his car and discovered many new ways to spend money buying more TRS
(Trick Racing Stuff). It turned out that Jeff had tried out some
negative camber trunnions from Gilspeed here in Melbourne, but found
that the 2.5 degrees of negative camber was too much for slicks
(excessive wear and slightly reduced braking performance), but would
be perfect for my race radials. So in between races I fitted them on
my car and did a front-end alignment. I only paid A$40 for the
trunnions (machined aluminium), compared to the $90 they would have
cost me new. One modification I do have to make is a new exhaust
manifold. My car has the exhaust running through the car (not
underneath the car as is normal) but the home-made exhaust manifold is
just a 3 into 1 junction. Apparently the best headers have the two
outside pipes join about 24 inches down, and the 3rd join about
another 24 inches further along. This is supposedly should be worth a
few horsepower for me. Then there is the cool air box, the ram tubes
for the Weber, etc etc etc.
In the meantime, via Chris Crombie's portable phone, we had
arranged for two club members to bring a spare trailer up with them
(they were coming to spectate anyhow) so that I could get me, my
trailer and the race car all home after the meeting!
Anyhow, with my new trunnions in place, I was looking forward to the
final race (although with some concerns about whether I had made the
car even looser on turn-in). The sky started looking rather gloomy
with about 30 minutes to go. As we were called up to the marshalling
area, it just started to rain, and by the time we had done our warmup
lap it was bucketing down. I was going to se what these radials were
like in the wet! The people on slicks didn't get a chance to change
to wets, so the whole field looked like being topsy turvy.
The start saw lots of wheelspin as we gingerly tried to get a good run
into turn 1. I got past a few cars who overcooked the throttle and we
tentatively drove around trying to feel out the level of adhesion that
we had(n't). The car felt pretty good, not especially more taily,
but with definitely better turn-in on the tight and fast bends. After
about 2 laps, the rain stopped, the field started quickening its pace
and the driving became more aggressive. There were a few spins with 2
cars harmlessly off into the grass, but a blue B had managed to spew
lots of dirt and junk onto the track in the middle of the esses! Some
of the guys on slicks that I passed early were now starting to harass
me pretty seriously. I doggedly defended my position (!) while
looking for opportunities to get past the next guy ( a white midget).
I dived up the inside into tank but only ended up along side him (it
was still very damp on the inside line) and we went through the turn
side by side. I tried outgunning him to cleavage (If I was alongside
him at cleavage I would have to yield or end up in the grass!), but
all I managed to do was overcook it and did a 360 degree spin - still
on the track but off the racing line. I snicked it into 2nd (from 3rd)
and just drove on. I lost 3 places due to my over- enthusiastic right
foot! Basically the rest of the race saw me hold position as we all
increased speed on the rapidly drying track. The really fast guys
lapped me on the last lap, (for the first time this weekend), the
MGBGTs and Jeff Smith's Midget all came up on me between Tank and
Castrol. I waved them through on the inside. At the esses (the last
bends before the start/finish line) I also waved through another red
midget I thought was with them. It turned out that he was behind me
and I just thrown away my place to Ivan Rice in the slick-shod
midget!! I was spitting chips when I realised what I had done! Oh
well, one for experience that's for sure!
My first weekend of open competition had come to an end, I had found
out that racing was very different from club sprints, that race
position is only loosely related to your clear lap times, that I
better get my act together for qualifying next time, that race tactics
were very very important for us relatively underpowered spridgets (and
probably for everyone else too!), I got lots of helpful advice from
fellow competitors, fitted some TRS to my car and fixed a lurking
problem with my ignition. I feel a little more comfortable with the
car than I did before the weekend, but realise that I have to fix the
car's handling before I can really throw it in hard. At least for the
MG series, I am quite tempted to put the car back on slicks (I have
13x8 rims with dead slicks on them just sitting in the garage).
I also found out that a) I want to double enter next time b) I can see
many many ways to spend money on making my car competitive c) I *love*
racing! and d) the MG series is a great blast!
Next weekend we have club sprints at Calder, but the next race meeting
I plan to do is the Six Hour Relay race at Winton on 12/13 September.
The Sprite Club has 2 teams, a veterans team (Roofless Racing Team)
with the fastest cars and a mostly novice team in the second rung cars
(Team BLAT [Brake Late And Turn]). Naturally I am a BLAT'er. It
should be some spectacle with two spridget teams out there with the
Alfas, Porches, sports sedans etc. I am really looking forward to it.
It is also a great club event with lots of members there to help out
and support the cause. I'll give another comprehensive report for
that event!
Mike Gigante
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