Post by The Observer on Mar 2, 2011 13:20:07 GMT 12
Nelson NZGP
*big thanks to GH for donating a couple of cool photos from this meeting for this write up - click to www.speedwaynz.com to see some of the photos of your racecar that have seen him win action photographer of the year a record three times
We took off for Nelson on Sunday from Blenheim, with not much in the way of damage. Team Murph were happy to let us clean the cars at Old Fellas, so we got that done after a couple of days rest and relaxation around the beaches in Nelson, and after enjoying a couple of the nice restaurants on the water fronts and matching the amazing fish with a nice local Riesling. Also helped Murph put his gearbox back in, as he’d had to do an engine change between Blenheim and Nelson and had stuffed shoulders, so did a bit of the lifting, lining up and bolting in of that too help him keep getting there. Top man that Murph.
We were pretty gutted with how things panned out in Blenheim, despite the finals night non qualifying race finishing with a 3rd. Last race of the entire meeting was too late, but that’s experience, and we had a few things to try and work on for this meeting.
One of those was getting a better start at each race, focusing on keeping it straight and down low and focusing on pushing on as the race progressed.
Got through scrutineering at 3pm without a worry (gotta love these Rees Cars, never an issue) and parked up in a great spot next to the gate (that’s what we thought until we got nailed by the dust by the end of it ha-ha) and unloaded the car and went back to the motel for a swim in the pool and a relax. Slight panic on the way back to the track with the 5pm traffic out to Richmond, but we got there, squeezed between the rest of the cars and got the Old J (eep) hooked up to the trailer, and toddled off to our drivers meeting.
Heat 1, off grid 9 or something like that. Managed to keep it straight, lost a few spots, but avoided the pile ups and kept it low. The car was starting to go good, and the driver was starting to go better. The car was over geared in Blenheim, and bogging down coming out of the turns, but we’d thought we’d run it here in nelson, despite the shorter track. Turned out it was pretty close to spot on, and had us pretty close to the pace. After losing a couple of spots we started passing a couple of cars, and had moved up to 5th when we came upon fatty Potaka, or the old fella as he kept referring to himself in the pits. 52v had been 3rd overall in my non consolation race in Blenheim, and had won our last race, so I knew he was a fast car, and assumed he was in 4th. WRONG. Fatty had been hooked on another Wanganui car and was a lap down, and had started to have a little play.
I had a good line into turn 1, and give him a shunt pushing him out wide coming through turn 2. As I went into turn 3, he nudged my RR, which pushed me wide in the turn, then he dived and leant on me. I kept the power down hoping to drive out of it, and almost got off his front bumper. Almost, honest. WRONG. He had enough on there to push me a little sideways all the way down the home straight and halfway through turn 1. I thought he was pretty keen to stay 4th, so I’d keep a little pace on, as he’ll turn into the corner soon to keep his position. WRONG. Up and up and up I went, kept a little gas on and turned the wheel, but it was all too late. Hit the fence post, gave it a big rev as the wheels came off the ground and it was over and out. Stopped with fluid, oil, and gas pouring out everywhere (again) and muttered a few expletives. The crash crew made sure all was ok before righting the car. TRUCK...Or its four letter friend.
Heaps of people got photos, and it made the paper again. I think Rob Porter took these great shots, and ZeroKIllernz (good ol Craig B) has gifed the file to make it movie style magic
We had to cut the wing off, check all the fluids and refill, and remount the air filter, blank off the left front brake caliper, and take the pitmen arm (drop arm) off the steering box and weld it back together after it broke off again – hence the no steering and the tow into the pits. The rear panhard bars mounting bolt was bent to buggery(panhard bar and ohallorans were sweet as though, good gear does have tis rewards), as was the mount of the diff, so we tried a tack to keep it in place.
Thanks to the hard yards from Towbar, Jayden, Worm and Rons (wife and crew chief) we were able to get it back out there for the second race – and we even put fuel in it. Was off grid 1 and also had no brakes. Lined up and thank goodness they have the classic stockcar there to grid us up, as I used it as brakes.
Wobbled off, drifted wide, and was shuffled through the pack. Was spun by me old mate Colin Cameron in 10z who was on a charge, and got back up to speed as the leaders were coming around. Got the act together and got on the paceish with those guys. Despite the dramas we ended up with the 2nd fastest lap in this race. Near the end there was a bang, and back end started wobbling around. The rear panhard bolt had broken the weld, and was wobbling around again.
Race 3 kicked off – Richard Keijzer must have thought I was interested, as he waited till I was past, and had a couple of shots before spinning me to the infield. The broke the panhard bolt it turned out, and as I went back onto the track the front of the 5th arm was sloping from side to side bashing into my ankle as the diff was rocking from side to side. That was that in an uneventful night. darn shame, as it’s a great track to drive on, especially upside down.
FINALS NIGHT
They had two groups of non consolations, and the top 26 would go into a one race final like the NZGP.
WE had found a rip in the roll cage where the wing mounts had been damaged. The weld hadn’t broken; it had actually ripped the roll cage material open a wee bit. A testament to Randy Andy’s sharp welding, thanks mate. Black Doug (towbar) sorted out the welds back at old fellas (thanks again team murph), and we got another bolt for the panhard bar at the back. The hole had slopped out, so we cut the bigger bolt and wound the bugger in to make it tight – a wee bit faster than pulling the diff out, cutting the mounts off, rebuilding mounts, and remounting diff etc. That will be an offseason job if we can make it that far!
Started near the back in the first, and after a few spins by others in the pack, and a bit of shunt on Fatty we ended up in 3rd. Started to drive some better lines, was still a little in places, and possible a little low in others i.e. over the pole line, but we kept the boot up it and we got there.
Heres a shot of the cut up wing
Race two and in the middle again and another 3rd. You'd think I'd learn - was off the front but was real greasy, so thought i'd try the outside line for the first two laps - it didn;t work, spun on the back straight first lap - thanks to GH for this sharp photo, you can find more here
www.speedwaynz.com/nelson_final/pages/76926.htm
you can also see the chopped up former wing here
Managed to give fatty another serve at the fastest part of the track, which spun a him couple of times, and then he kept on trucking and hitting everyone else. He is one hard fulla! The car was pulling some number near the end of the race, but felt like it was not going like it was. First sign of clutch troubles I think.
We still had no brakes, despite bleeding them up – turns out the rear axle was bent, and after bleeding the brakes up firm, we’d reverse out of the park for the race, and the axle would move the disk, which would force the rear disk pads further apart. Push the brakes to stop from hitting anyone on the grid, and there would be nothing home, and I’d end up hitting the car in front on the dummy grid. All the fluid would have to go down to the rear disk to push it home, so the pedal was reeeeaaalll long, with stuff all at the bottom. Oh well, out we go again; it’s been 5 races without em so keep on trucking.
Was off grid 4 for the 26 final as 3rd top qualifier (there were a couple of us on same points, so drew marbles for the grids). Terrible start with the clutch slipping. Lost a bunch of positions while that happened. Managed to get trucking slowly and managed to pass a few cars as the action started to unfold around us, with the Zak attack, Fatty Potaka, and Recka Rico right amongst it – as usual lol. Kept making passes until the red light, and was up to third on the red light – no brakes again, so passed another three cars on the red light, and waited for someone to put me back, but they must have missed me wobbling out wide in the shadows of biggsys hill.
Made no difference, with the clutch slipping in a big way, so once we got underway we’d been passed again. Fatty was in the middle of turn one again, so latched on to him and followed him off the end with as much power as the clutch could muster. We both bounced up into the air and came out of it, so went in for another attack, half spun him and came off the infield sideways back into him when we were cleaned up by 4 cars in the group behind us. I knew which one got me from all the green paint around my bent wheelgaurd etc. We all went into the wall together, I clutched to roll back out of the racing line, as fatty had done, and we ended up rolling Caleb Russ somehow.
The crutch belt got me a goody, but I tried to get her moving – unfortunately the clutch had given up the ghost, and that was her all gone. Murph was hauling around the turn 3, and did a big dive to spin another car, came outside it and drilled the front end of my car while parked, again, which my crutch and belt both enjoyed. I swear, I thought it was split in half (the crotch, not the belt, rather by the belt) Nothing a few knee bends didn't fix - and I wasn't crying - much.
They red flagged the race to get Caleb off the wall, and pulled all three of us into the infield.
Pushed onto the trailer, and a long drive home straight after the meeting saw us head back to Greymouth with more damage to fix than we could deal with in the short time, so we gave Steve Lennon at the Glen the bad news and pulled out of the CHCH meeting before heading back to work after a good xmas of racing.
Footnote: Met up with a few of the bay boys at PN a week or so later at the World Global Challenge. They all had a big laugh – after the wing was cut up to create another mini wing for the meeting (the refs send despite the roll we needed the numbers on the roof) we’d dumped the wing in the bin next to where we were parked on night 2 (co-incidentally next to Fatty and crew in 52v). They saw us dump the wing; Fattys boy picked it up, took it to the scrap metal recyclers the next day and made $26 bucks! It took half an hour to get the story out of the bay boys; they were cracking up at that one. Cheers for that Regan, Chris and Mike Mack. Not only rolled, but robbed! When I catch up with Fatty’s boy I’m gonna ask for a hotdog – I’ll bet he replies that I should get one next time his old man puts me into the fence ha-ha. Good times.
*big thanks to GH for donating a couple of cool photos from this meeting for this write up - click to www.speedwaynz.com to see some of the photos of your racecar that have seen him win action photographer of the year a record three times
We took off for Nelson on Sunday from Blenheim, with not much in the way of damage. Team Murph were happy to let us clean the cars at Old Fellas, so we got that done after a couple of days rest and relaxation around the beaches in Nelson, and after enjoying a couple of the nice restaurants on the water fronts and matching the amazing fish with a nice local Riesling. Also helped Murph put his gearbox back in, as he’d had to do an engine change between Blenheim and Nelson and had stuffed shoulders, so did a bit of the lifting, lining up and bolting in of that too help him keep getting there. Top man that Murph.
We were pretty gutted with how things panned out in Blenheim, despite the finals night non qualifying race finishing with a 3rd. Last race of the entire meeting was too late, but that’s experience, and we had a few things to try and work on for this meeting.
One of those was getting a better start at each race, focusing on keeping it straight and down low and focusing on pushing on as the race progressed.
Got through scrutineering at 3pm without a worry (gotta love these Rees Cars, never an issue) and parked up in a great spot next to the gate (that’s what we thought until we got nailed by the dust by the end of it ha-ha) and unloaded the car and went back to the motel for a swim in the pool and a relax. Slight panic on the way back to the track with the 5pm traffic out to Richmond, but we got there, squeezed between the rest of the cars and got the Old J (eep) hooked up to the trailer, and toddled off to our drivers meeting.
Heat 1, off grid 9 or something like that. Managed to keep it straight, lost a few spots, but avoided the pile ups and kept it low. The car was starting to go good, and the driver was starting to go better. The car was over geared in Blenheim, and bogging down coming out of the turns, but we’d thought we’d run it here in nelson, despite the shorter track. Turned out it was pretty close to spot on, and had us pretty close to the pace. After losing a couple of spots we started passing a couple of cars, and had moved up to 5th when we came upon fatty Potaka, or the old fella as he kept referring to himself in the pits. 52v had been 3rd overall in my non consolation race in Blenheim, and had won our last race, so I knew he was a fast car, and assumed he was in 4th. WRONG. Fatty had been hooked on another Wanganui car and was a lap down, and had started to have a little play.
I had a good line into turn 1, and give him a shunt pushing him out wide coming through turn 2. As I went into turn 3, he nudged my RR, which pushed me wide in the turn, then he dived and leant on me. I kept the power down hoping to drive out of it, and almost got off his front bumper. Almost, honest. WRONG. He had enough on there to push me a little sideways all the way down the home straight and halfway through turn 1. I thought he was pretty keen to stay 4th, so I’d keep a little pace on, as he’ll turn into the corner soon to keep his position. WRONG. Up and up and up I went, kept a little gas on and turned the wheel, but it was all too late. Hit the fence post, gave it a big rev as the wheels came off the ground and it was over and out. Stopped with fluid, oil, and gas pouring out everywhere (again) and muttered a few expletives. The crash crew made sure all was ok before righting the car. TRUCK...Or its four letter friend.
Heaps of people got photos, and it made the paper again. I think Rob Porter took these great shots, and ZeroKIllernz (good ol Craig B) has gifed the file to make it movie style magic
We had to cut the wing off, check all the fluids and refill, and remount the air filter, blank off the left front brake caliper, and take the pitmen arm (drop arm) off the steering box and weld it back together after it broke off again – hence the no steering and the tow into the pits. The rear panhard bars mounting bolt was bent to buggery(panhard bar and ohallorans were sweet as though, good gear does have tis rewards), as was the mount of the diff, so we tried a tack to keep it in place.
Thanks to the hard yards from Towbar, Jayden, Worm and Rons (wife and crew chief) we were able to get it back out there for the second race – and we even put fuel in it. Was off grid 1 and also had no brakes. Lined up and thank goodness they have the classic stockcar there to grid us up, as I used it as brakes.
Wobbled off, drifted wide, and was shuffled through the pack. Was spun by me old mate Colin Cameron in 10z who was on a charge, and got back up to speed as the leaders were coming around. Got the act together and got on the paceish with those guys. Despite the dramas we ended up with the 2nd fastest lap in this race. Near the end there was a bang, and back end started wobbling around. The rear panhard bolt had broken the weld, and was wobbling around again.
Race 3 kicked off – Richard Keijzer must have thought I was interested, as he waited till I was past, and had a couple of shots before spinning me to the infield. The broke the panhard bolt it turned out, and as I went back onto the track the front of the 5th arm was sloping from side to side bashing into my ankle as the diff was rocking from side to side. That was that in an uneventful night. darn shame, as it’s a great track to drive on, especially upside down.
FINALS NIGHT
They had two groups of non consolations, and the top 26 would go into a one race final like the NZGP.
WE had found a rip in the roll cage where the wing mounts had been damaged. The weld hadn’t broken; it had actually ripped the roll cage material open a wee bit. A testament to Randy Andy’s sharp welding, thanks mate. Black Doug (towbar) sorted out the welds back at old fellas (thanks again team murph), and we got another bolt for the panhard bar at the back. The hole had slopped out, so we cut the bigger bolt and wound the bugger in to make it tight – a wee bit faster than pulling the diff out, cutting the mounts off, rebuilding mounts, and remounting diff etc. That will be an offseason job if we can make it that far!
Started near the back in the first, and after a few spins by others in the pack, and a bit of shunt on Fatty we ended up in 3rd. Started to drive some better lines, was still a little in places, and possible a little low in others i.e. over the pole line, but we kept the boot up it and we got there.
Heres a shot of the cut up wing
Race two and in the middle again and another 3rd. You'd think I'd learn - was off the front but was real greasy, so thought i'd try the outside line for the first two laps - it didn;t work, spun on the back straight first lap - thanks to GH for this sharp photo, you can find more here
www.speedwaynz.com/nelson_final/pages/76926.htm
you can also see the chopped up former wing here
Managed to give fatty another serve at the fastest part of the track, which spun a him couple of times, and then he kept on trucking and hitting everyone else. He is one hard fulla! The car was pulling some number near the end of the race, but felt like it was not going like it was. First sign of clutch troubles I think.
We still had no brakes, despite bleeding them up – turns out the rear axle was bent, and after bleeding the brakes up firm, we’d reverse out of the park for the race, and the axle would move the disk, which would force the rear disk pads further apart. Push the brakes to stop from hitting anyone on the grid, and there would be nothing home, and I’d end up hitting the car in front on the dummy grid. All the fluid would have to go down to the rear disk to push it home, so the pedal was reeeeaaalll long, with stuff all at the bottom. Oh well, out we go again; it’s been 5 races without em so keep on trucking.
Was off grid 4 for the 26 final as 3rd top qualifier (there were a couple of us on same points, so drew marbles for the grids). Terrible start with the clutch slipping. Lost a bunch of positions while that happened. Managed to get trucking slowly and managed to pass a few cars as the action started to unfold around us, with the Zak attack, Fatty Potaka, and Recka Rico right amongst it – as usual lol. Kept making passes until the red light, and was up to third on the red light – no brakes again, so passed another three cars on the red light, and waited for someone to put me back, but they must have missed me wobbling out wide in the shadows of biggsys hill.
Made no difference, with the clutch slipping in a big way, so once we got underway we’d been passed again. Fatty was in the middle of turn one again, so latched on to him and followed him off the end with as much power as the clutch could muster. We both bounced up into the air and came out of it, so went in for another attack, half spun him and came off the infield sideways back into him when we were cleaned up by 4 cars in the group behind us. I knew which one got me from all the green paint around my bent wheelgaurd etc. We all went into the wall together, I clutched to roll back out of the racing line, as fatty had done, and we ended up rolling Caleb Russ somehow.
The crutch belt got me a goody, but I tried to get her moving – unfortunately the clutch had given up the ghost, and that was her all gone. Murph was hauling around the turn 3, and did a big dive to spin another car, came outside it and drilled the front end of my car while parked, again, which my crutch and belt both enjoyed. I swear, I thought it was split in half (the crotch, not the belt, rather by the belt) Nothing a few knee bends didn't fix - and I wasn't crying - much.
They red flagged the race to get Caleb off the wall, and pulled all three of us into the infield.
Pushed onto the trailer, and a long drive home straight after the meeting saw us head back to Greymouth with more damage to fix than we could deal with in the short time, so we gave Steve Lennon at the Glen the bad news and pulled out of the CHCH meeting before heading back to work after a good xmas of racing.
Footnote: Met up with a few of the bay boys at PN a week or so later at the World Global Challenge. They all had a big laugh – after the wing was cut up to create another mini wing for the meeting (the refs send despite the roll we needed the numbers on the roof) we’d dumped the wing in the bin next to where we were parked on night 2 (co-incidentally next to Fatty and crew in 52v). They saw us dump the wing; Fattys boy picked it up, took it to the scrap metal recyclers the next day and made $26 bucks! It took half an hour to get the story out of the bay boys; they were cracking up at that one. Cheers for that Regan, Chris and Mike Mack. Not only rolled, but robbed! When I catch up with Fatty’s boy I’m gonna ask for a hotdog – I’ll bet he replies that I should get one next time his old man puts me into the fence ha-ha. Good times.
