Hi everyone, just going to give you my annual run down on my weekend of racing. On Saturday September 9, I did a Supersprint with the Porsche club of NSW, which was great as usual, & Sunday September 10, I did a Supersprint at the same track (Oran Park) held by the VW club of NSW.
Saturday was sunny but very windy, but it was nice & cool, which is great for air sucker motors. My day went without a hitch, no brake problems thanks to my new front brakes, (Thanks Steve Carter) & the little 1880 cc is still purring as though it had sat in the garage all weekend. The definite highlight of the day was my last run; I was 6th in line out of 8 Porsches, with a blue 968 in front of me. I caught him on the first lap just before the long main straight, but unfortunately I'm still lacking that top end speed that would allow me to stay with such a car. He got about 5 car lengths on me by the end of the straight, only for me to catch him by the second corner in the back section. I stayed on his tail (literally) like this for 2 timed laps (I could even see his face perfectly, looking at me in his side mirror) but he just wouldn't let me pass him on the back section, only to have him leave me again on the big long straight. Going into the third & final timed lap, a GT3 cup car appeared in my mirrors at the end of the straight going into turn No.1, both the 968 & myself moved wide to let him through on the inside & I thought to myself, "It's now or never to pass the 968" so I dived in behind the GT3 & tailed him around the corner. It worked brilliantly as I just drove past the 968 & put 100m on him in just half a lap. The best bit is that I have it all on video as my mate Troy was filming it all. U can even see my inside front wheel lock up with smoke pouring from it, as I dove in behind the GT3, then for the next 20 metres the smoke disappears & the Fusch wheels stays still as it's in the air!!!! & then it starts rolling again when I straighten up. My mates & I have watched it about 50 times already, & we still laugh our heads off every time. It's hilarious. Unfortunately I only could do a best of 57.2 a lap on the day, which was slower than my best of 56.2 for the South track at Oran Park.
The Sunday event was at the same track so I had plenty of practice from the day before, it was a huge turnout with about 70 cars but unfortunately there were only 4 VW powered cars at the event, very disappointing considering that it was held by the a VW club. There was myself, along with John Ladomatos with his 1916 cc Superbug, someone in a 1904 cc buggy & a Formula V. I had 4 timed runs All of them either 58.4 or 58.2 seconds per lap. I was bitterly disappointed as my best time was 56.2 at that track & I had done many things to the motor since then with a lot of gains in the horsepower dept. so I was just expecting to do 55 seconds or less. On my last run I decided to do every lap different, brake differently, corner different lines & change at different RPMs. My times?......58.2, 58.2, 58.2!!!!!! I was consistent at least........ Consistently slow. Bugger. There were huge head winds around the back section of the track so maybe that had something to do with it, but 2 seconds slower is a lot, looks like that K-8 cam is going in sooner than later. So that was my weekend, I drove the car back up to the Central Coast, washed it, changed the oil & checked the valve clearances, then drove it to work the next day, just took the numbers off the side of the car. Oh, & I only used $25 worth of Shell Optimax there & back. That’s got to be the best bang for your buck around I would think.
Stay Cool, Jak
