Round 2 - Ruapuna - Race 3

Race 3. An epic, is probably the best way to describe it. A last minute panic to change to a wet setup, the rain was a positive sign for the team, as Dale drives well in the wet. And once again we started off great. Better than great. Dale went from 6th on the grid to 1st place in the 1st corner. Unfortunately his front-running time was numbered when he overbreaked a couple of corners on letting two cars past, slipping back to 3rd. Dale kept his 3rd place spot for a couple of laps, but took a big hit from Angus Fogg which sent him off at the 1st corner where it had all started so well. Fogg had to undertake a drive through penalty, but that was small consolation for Dale & the team.

So back on the track, but in last place Dale started working back up through the pack. When Andy Booth went off in to the wall the race was red-flagged and the grid re-formed for a while. Booth was taken away in an Ambulance but we think he was OK (his car, on the other hand...).

Dale drove well from the re-start but was penalized for contact on Simon Richards. And that was about the race. Dale finished in 17th place overall, but at least he finished. It was just one of those weekends when everything was looking so good, but went so wrong.

Official Results are here.

MyLaps Results are split into two parts, here and here.

Rayglass Ford Falcon V8 after Race 3 at Ruapuna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1m-JL7sD04

Rayglass Ford Falcon V8 Leaving Pits at Ruapuna

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s-NVmLt6EM

Round 2 - Ruapuna - Race 2

The high's and low's of motor sport. Dale had an awesome start to Race 2, but another unfortunate finish. After starting in 14th position on the grid, Dale made a great jump up to 10th spot in the first corner. The car seemed to perform really well and Dale held position in 10th spot for most of the race. But then disaster struck once again, the brakes locked up, and the front-right tyre blew. Dale crawled back to the pits for a quick tyre change (off-road some of the way), but when he re-joined the race he was at the back of the pack.

So not a great way to finish to the race, quite a disappointment for Dale and the rest of the crew. We think we know what's causing the brakes to lock up, so with any luck we'll be able to avoid a repeat later on. This track is always pretty hard on the brakes, so the 3rd and final race of the weekend this afternoon will be an interesting one, the longest at 22 laps.

Official Race Results and times are here.

MyLaps Results are here.

Round 2 - Ruapuna - Race 1

With the weather a little warmer today than yesterday, and no rain in sight, the atmosphere at the track is generally more positive. The crew started the morning with the usual brake & spanner checks, along with a little custom remoulding of the fibreglass air scoop in front of the radiator (before breakfast).

Race 1 was pretty uneventful for Dale, although some of the other drivers out on the track weren't as lucky. They had their fair share of spin-off's, blown engines etc. so the field finished a little lighter than it started. After starting 17th on the grid Dale finished in 14th place. The car wasn't handling as well as expected, so coming out of the corners was a bit of a struggle, which made it hard for Dale to gain any ground. So in the lead up to race 2 the crew is looking at the suspension & setup to see what (if anything) can be done to improve things in the short term.

Official race results are here - from the Motorsport NZ Website.

The MyLaps.com results are here - from the Mylaps.com Event page.

NZV8s 2009-2010 - Round 2 - Ruapuna

A mixed day of results today at Ruapuna, Christchurch, for Round 2 of the NZV8s Championship. Performing really well in testing, driving in the wet where Dale is always comfortable, his times were comfortably in the Top 10.

After the track dried up later in the day, qualifying didn't go as well for the team, with Dale finally qualifying in 17th position. A bit further back than we want to be. Dale's best lap time was 1:32.648 (The top 10 qualifying time was 1:31.746).

Hopefully things will go a little better on the track tomorrow, with Race 1 scheduled for 10AM Sunday morning, and two more races later in the day. We hope to see you there!

Official Results Page

All Qualifying times

Top20 Qualifying times

Round 1 - Pukekohe - Race 3

A bit of excitement in the third race to round out the weekend at Pukekohe. There was a pileup on the hairpin, but thankfully Dale was able to avoid it, going wide around them. That meant he dropped a few places, which he was able to make up.

Unfortunately though somehow Dale managed to pick something up which caused a tyre to blow. After pitting, Dale drove well, with good speed, but ended up finishing the race in 22nd place.

It wasn't the way the team wanted to finish the weekend, but overall there's a pretty good feeling about the way the car is performing on the track, and the team is putting in a lot of effort to make sure we
build from here.

Bring on Ruapuna!

Race times are available here:
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=1364168

Round 1 - Pukekohe - Race 2

Race 2 finished pretty well for Dale and the team. After starting
11th, the 12th place finish was a good result (about .5s off 11th and
2s off 10th). A little more power would be nice, but a clean race with
only a couple of rubs is good at Pukekohe.

The race results and times are available here:
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=1364105

And the racing should be on TV later this afternoon too, so keep an
eye on TV3 for the action. Next up the reverse grid at 4:00pm.

Round 1 - Pukekohe - Race 1

Dale started in 12th position off the grid, and drove well to finish in 11th place.

With no major racing incidents, the car performed well although maybe a little down on horse power from the front-runners.

The team's pretty happy with how the car's performing. All-in-all a good start to the season, looking forward to the second race this afternoon.

Race times are available here:
http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=1363960

NZV8s 2009-2010 - Round 1 - Pukekohe

Dale and the team had a great day out today - the first round of the new season, with the new Rayglass Ford Falcon V8 - and everyone was happy with the results.

Dale qualified in 16th place in the first round of Qualifying (with a time of 1:02.584), then went on to qualify in 12th place in the Top 20 round (with 1:01.888). Not only that, but the difference from where Dale qualified to a spot in the Top 10 was only .068s! Pretty good for the first time out on the track.