Team Thicko
Hi Mike,
Great to here that you are coming to Australia for the Healey race at Mt.
Panorama at Bathurst in October.
I currently run a 3000 Mk.1 in a class known as Marque Sports in New South
Wales, and have the quickest Healey in the country. Unfortunately, I am
not able to compete at Bathurst, even though Marque Sportscars are on the
invite list, as I too would need to alter my current wheel/tyre
configuration. It would be necessary for me to go from 11" slicks to 6"
radials.... something that I am not prepared to do given the nature of the
Bathurst circuit, and the dangers involved.
In either case, I can comment on the tyres that you have mentioned. Of the
other Healeys competing in New South Wales, most of them were running the
Hoosier Street TD's up until early this year. These are good tyres,
although they can become too hard with age.
However, changes in the Historic tyre regulations at the beginning of 1998
allowed these competitors to use the Yokohama AOO8Rs. These tyres appear
to be better, and have enabled each driver to pick up between 1 and 2
seconds per minute lap.
Unfortunately, I only know of drivers in 'Big' Healeys as opposed to
'Sprites'. Most of these drivers use the 205/60 AOO8Rs on a 6" rim. I
understand that Sprites will need to run on 5.5" rims with 175/60 AOO8Rs
tyres - I am unsure of the availability of this tyre size in Australia.
Many of the serious competitors will be 'buffing' a new set of AOO8Rs for
this race to minimum tread depth in order to get as much grip as possible.
However you are correct in stating that it could (and probably will!) rain
during the weekend - in which case buffed AOO8Rs will be diabolical to use!
If your budget allows, I would probably suggest bringing one set of 5.5"
175/60 AOO8Rs for the dry, and a second set of 5.5" rims with 'wets' for
pee time!
The circuit is without doubt the fastest in the country, and very high
speeds will be reached at the end of 'Conrod Straight' - the straight
leading down from the top of the mountain. Australian 5 Litre Touring Cars
are reaching terminal speeds of 180 MPH on this part of the circuit, so it
can be expected that Healeys will be well over 120 MPH. Bearing in mind
that the races are over 5 laps, I would strongly recommend a substantial
upgrade in the breaking department, especially when you will be hauling the
Sprite down from 120 MPH to @ 45 MPH for the corner known as 'Caltex Chase'.
A test / media day was conducted at the circuit around 2 months ago with
four Austin Healeys in attendance. Two race prepared 3000s clocked times
of between 2.50 and 2.52 - these two cars will be the fastest cars
competing from Australia (considering my car won't be there.....). From
memory only one Sprite was in attendance and clocked a best time of around
3.05. These times are relatively quick considering that the outright lap
record for Mt. Panorama is 2.09 (F5000), whilst the 5 Litre Touring Car lap
record is @ 2.12, and the 2 Litre Touring Car record is @ 2.15. Just as a
side note, the fastest Marque Sports cars would be lapping in around 2.25,
and my own car would lap the circuit in around 2.40.
Please feel free to ask any other questions regarding this event - email me
directly on c.sell@uws.edu.au.
Regards,
Cameron Sell
59 BT7
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