Round 3 - Taupo - Race 3 - Update

To correct my earlier post, Dale finished 3rd overall in the weekend results (not 4th), after a tie for 1st place in points. Congratulations Dale! An excellent result after a tough weekend's racing.

The official points table is available here.

Round 3 - Taupo - Race 3

Carnage! That's about the best way to describe Race 3. One driver disqualified, and a few other investigations into 'racing incidents'. Dale got whacked big time by a Nissan Silvia who was obviously unhappy to be overtaken in the first half of the first lap and took out his frustration on the side of Dale's car (see damage below).

It has definitely been a bad weekend for the little Zoom Zoom - a few repairs required before the car show in a week or so.

Dale had an awesome start to Race 3 though, from 9th position on pole to 2 by the end of the first turn. A very classy run indeed.

But on to the final race results. Dale finished 2nd in his class - 10th overall - after a fight not only with the other cars on the track, but also issues with the gearbox - so it was a pretty good finish.

Fastest lap: 1:46.455 (lap 6)

Unfortunately due to the penalty in Race 2 the overall position for the weekend was 4th - so no podium this weekend. But we'll be back faster (and fully repaired) in Round 4 at Manfeild.

Official results/times are available here and on the Motorsport NZ website.

Round 3 - Taupo - Race 2 Updated

Oh dear. Post race investigations have thrown up some interesting decisions. Dale has been penalised for the nudge to the rear of the Honda Civic, as it was caught on video tape and thought to be in breach of the rules. The penalty is a 50second addition to Dales race 2 time, which effectively knocks him all the way back to 9th place in his class, and a next-race start position at the back of the grid. Also there's 3 race demerit points.

Pretty harsh. But the worst thing really is that even though the Civic constantly hit the back of Dale's car during the race, causing a fair bit of damage, the driver receives no penalty as there was 'no evidence' of breaching regulations. This all despite us showing photographs and video of Dale quite clearly being spun in a corner from behind.

That's Motor Racing, I guess.

Official results/times are available here and on the Motorsport NZ website.

Round 3 - Taupo - Race 2

Well it was a pretty eventful 2nd race this morning, and while it ended up another great result for Dale - 1st in his class - it was tainted a bit by more than one hit on his car by a Honda Civic. There were a few other hits on cars so the results are still tentative, pending an investigation.

There was a swamp of cars off the line, and Dale's 2nd place position on the grid was challenged on the first corner by a pile of Evo and Subarus. He managed to hold off the Civic for almost the whole race - despite being hit from behind on the S-bend and in other places - but a missed gear change let him past on one of the last laps. They tangled in the next corner, the Civic went slightly off into the dirt, and Dale swept past and held on for the win.

Dale finished 10th overall, with a fastest lap time of 1:45.672.

Round 3 - Taupo - Race 1

Another great race result for the team this morning, when Dale finished 1st in his class at Taupo. The car handled really well, and even managed to hold off a few of the class C four-wheel drives for a 9th overall position.

Best lap time: 1:46.432 (in lap 4)

Our second race isn't until tomorrow morning now, so the team will probably finish off a bit of work on the car, watch the V8 qualifying round, and head down to the lake for a swim. It's another hot & sunny day here today, so it'll be a nice break away from the track.

Official results/times are available here and on the Motorsport NZ website.

Round 3 - Taupo - Qualifying

The team did an awesome job altering the car's setup this afternoon, following the testing session. Dale qualified 8th overall, 1st in his class! A great improvement, and Dale said the car drove really well.

Dale's best lap time was 1:45.472 - a full 2 seconds faster than the testing round. A couple of adjustments - a little bit more boost, and a change in springs/ride height seems to have done the job. We're still under the regulation boost, so there's a little bit more to play with. Maybe some springs/suspension adjustment to come, and we'll get even better.

Over all though the team is feeling pretty confident that the development of this car is going really well. We're all learning more, every round, how to get better and better performance from the vehicle - which is what this year is all about.

We're looking forward to the first race tomorrow morning, around 10:00AM, for the real test on how things are sitting so far.

Official results/times are available here.

Round 3 - Taupo - Testing

Beautiful weather in Taupo today. Around 28 degrees, clear blue skies, hot and dusty. We got here early & setup in the corporate pavillion tents that were provided, chose a good spot and got straight into the finishing touches on the car.

Dale had a great run out on the track in the testing session. The car seems to be running much faster, and the Endless brakes have made a huge difference. Dale was pretty happy with the car, even though there's a number of changes needed with the suspension/springs setup and we're waiting for a new diff.

There's a few more cars running this weekend, some only for this round (obviously attracted by the chance to race in the A1GP weekend). The actual testing times and results could have been better,Dale tested 13th fastest, 3rd in his class. It looks like some of the other teams have made good improvements on their cars too.

Dales best time: 1:47.782 (to beat 1:47.148 for 1st)

We've got a 1hr 20 minute delay to the start of Qualifying this afternoon, due to track problems. I think the heat is taking its toll! :-) Looks like we won't be leaving the track early for a swim in Lake Taupo after all!

Official results are available here