Mike,
Yes... I'm looking forward to the race at Bathurst... although I haven't gotten
over the disappointment of the cancellation of the race at LeMans. I'm trying
not to get too excited too early on this one...
Chris Dimmock is scaring up a car for me to race ( I think scare is the
operative word here...). I'm hoping Stirling Moss will also be in a Sprite (a
slower one) so we can open the proverbial Can O' Whupass...
WST
Mike Gigante wrote:
> Thank you thank you. We certainly had a great time, but compared to the
> honor of being declared thicko of the month, all else fades into
> insignificance!
>
> Actually, in all honesty the thicko award comes 2nd to a compliment from
> the great man himself John Sprinzel. He came up to me at the end of the
> second day of comp and said "You must be a hooligan driver to be going that
> quickly without pace notes and with dodgy brakes".
>
> He has a great sense of humour and is really easy to talk to. He is a wicked
> teaser, pointing out to anyone who would listen that I was driving with a
> 50-60lb handicap whilst pointing to my belly!
>
> He also signed my copy of "Spritely years" with the line "To my very fast
> and
> GIGANTIC pal - Mike. John Sprinzel '98".
>
> I am busy writing up something on the event and will get the photos done
> today.
> I'll send WST something for the TT web site!
>
> I'm glad you'll be at Bathurst, I also plan to be there in either the bugeye
> (as a Marque Sports car) or else a MKIV Sprite (as a Historic Sb car). It
> will
> be fantastic. Are you bringing your car or borrowing a car?
>
> As for rotor wear, it was apparently because I did the event recce at road
> legal speeds
> that caused the huge rotor wear with those carbon/kevlar pads (I'm not sure
> of the
> brand - I bought them from Tom Colby at Speedwell). The pad and rotor wear
> during
> the event itself (at race speeds) was minimul compared to the recce. Despite
> stages
> that were exceptionally hard on brakes (16 km of downhill, with lots of 2nd
> gear and 3rd
> gear corners, all interspersed with 3rd/4th gear sweepers), I didn't have
> any fade with
> the carbon/kevlar pads. The standard pads I did the first day and a half on,
> faded so
> badly I practically had no brakes at the end of each stage. They also wore
> out very
> quickly!
>
> Would anyone like to see a short special stage as an mpeg? 1:55 which was
> the
> fastest spridget time for a 2.48km stage which started in the streets and
> went up
> a pretty steep tight, windy uphill road? I had an in-camera mounted for most
> of the
> event. I had the IO port video camera mount I bought from minia mania a
> couple
> of years ago and a Canon Hi8 camera. Unfortunately on the bumpy stages the
> picture broke up far too much to be useful. Add that to forgetting to press
> the button,
> flat battery, end of tape and madly rushing to cure electrical problems, we
> probably
> only have 2 or three useful bits of video out of 19 special stages!
>
> Mike
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wm. Severin Thompson <wsthompson@thicko.com>
> To: Mike Gigante <mikeg@vicnet.net.au>
> Cc: team-thicko@Autox.Team.Net <team-thicko@Autox.Team.Net>;
> spridgets@Autox.Team.Net <spridgets@Autox.Team.Net>
> Date: Tuesday, February 24, 1998 12:09 AM
> Subject: Re: Back from Rally with John Sprinzel
>
> >Hear Ye, Hear Ye...
> >
> >Following this outstanding performance in international competition, I, the
> >Flounder, do hearby declare Mike Gigante to be "Thicko of the Month" for
> the
> >month of March. This prestigous award will include public notice, a page on
> the
> >infamous Thicko web site, and some sort of trinket (yet to be determined).
> >Please forward a jpeg or two for the TTweb site... or the URL for the
> section on
> >your site...OK?
> >
> >Nominations for subsequent months should be directed to me at
> ><wsthomspson@thicko.com>.
> >
> >Congratulations Mike on your competition success... sounds like a great
> time.
> >I'm looking forward to racing the all Healey Race in Australia in
> October'98...
> >will you be there?
> >
> >Concerning your brake troubles... have you tried Hawk Blue pads? I get a
> pretty
> >long life out of them, without too much rotor wear. Haven't been able to
> fade
> >them yet... other comp pads I fade in 2 laps.
> >
> >WST
> >
> >Mike Gigante wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Guys. I just got back from Tasmania where I competed in the
> >> Rally of Tasmania/Heritage Rally. I was in the bugeye ("redcar").
> >> This was a bitumen "special stage" rally with Tulip diagrams,
> >> overnight impound and the lot. It was a first for a circuit racer like
> me.
> >> I had done the 3 Peaks Rally in '96 but that was a navigation rally
> >> not a drivers rally. This was 3 days of full on driving on closed road
> >> stages.
> >>
> >> John Sprinzel of "Spritely Years", Speedwell and Donald Healey
> >> Motors fame also competed in a bugeye. There were 11 sprites,
> >> 2 midgets (and 1 lone MGB Ha!). Of the 11 sprites, 8 were bugeyes.
> >> There also was a lone 100-4.
> >>
> >> John Sprinzel is a wonderful fellow and it was a joy and privilege to
> >> be in the same event. He was not really driving hard (he certainly has
> >> nothing to prove). I enjoyed talking to him and I picked up a few hints
> >> (like it is a must to use pace notes next time!)
> >>
> >> A new team was created just for me - Just in Time Racing - team motto
> >> is "It will be OK in the end". Let me just say we did (finally) get the
> car
> >> finished just in time for scrutineering and miraculously we did finish
> the
> >> event. I did cop a lot of flack for it though. We had brake problems
> >> throughout the event (my wonderful carbon/Kevlar pads ate the brembo
> >> rotors so badly during the course recon that we had to start the event
> >> on virgin standard road pads. We wore them out after less than half
> >> the event and had to re-install the C/K pads on the side of the
> >> road. We were checking the rotors after every special stage! I was using
> >> handbrake only on transport stages! At one stage the brakes jammed on
> >> (a stone in the pedal box) and I couldn't do more than 2nd gear under
> full
> >> noise - we though that would be the end of us.
> >>
> >> I was chasing a deficit of 2 or minutes at the start of the last day and
> >> realistically didn't think I could do it. That wasn't stopping me trying
> >> though!
> >>
> >> Suprise surprise at the presentation dinner I was announced class winner
> by
> >> 40 secs. The 2nd place guy was a very experienced and successful bugeye
> >> rally driver and he was not happy!! He lodged a protest over what turned
> out
> >> to be
> >> a timing error on one special stage and it turns out we failed to nail
> him
> >> by
> >> just 8 secs. I was catching him hand over fist - one one special stage
> >> (Hellyer
> >> Gorge reverse I took 30 secs out of his lead! (9:25 vs 9:55). Oh well. I
> had
> >> fun
> >> trying.
> >>
> >> I also cooked redcar's motor so by the 2nd day we were burning 4
> litres/day
> >> of
> >> Mobil 1. We definately lost top end and redcar's motor will need a good
> >> check
> >> and freshen up before she competes again.
> >>
> >> This friday night we have a 40th anniversary of the sprite dinner with
> John
> >> Sprinzel
> >> talking a bout the cars we love most. It will be fun too!
> >>
> >> cheers, Mike
> >
> >
> >
> >
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