Round 5 - Timaru - Looking Ahead

So it's Round 5 coming up this weekend, and we're racing at the Timaru International Motor Raceway. The schedule of events is in the information sheet here:

Robin and the car are already on their way down there. Most of the team are heading down tomorrow night.

After the last race in Palmerston North we looked into the brakes overheating in the corners. Have a look at these shots I took on the first corner. Now they're some hot brakes!

Round 4 - Manfeild - End of Round Update

Well another update following today's final race. Unfortunately for Michael Modgill he was disqualified (TKO) after Race 3, so Dale was awarded 1st place. That puts Dale in 1st overall for the weekend, so well done Dale - another win! Pity we never knew about it earlier - we might have stayed for the Podium Prizegiving :-)

Dale finished 6th overall in Race 3, 1st in his class.
Best lap time: 1:20.641 (in lap #2)

All track timings for the weekend are available at Mylaps.com

Official results for Race 3 are available at Motorsport NZ

So the points table after Round 4 looks like this:
Dale Williams - 837 points
Steve Taylor - 734 points
Michael Modgill - 697 points

Round 4 - Manfeild - Race 3

Well that was an awesome way to finish the weekend. Some really great racing in the split grid 3rd Race. Dale led for a good part of the race, but Michael Modgill managed to get past him and raced really well. Dale fought really hard to maintain his position, even with the car issues working against him.

That puts Dale in 2nd place overall for the weekend, in his class. A pretty good result, but we know the car can do better.

We took off out of there after the race, to get on the long road home (a 7 hour journey ahead). So I don't have the times or official results at the moment, but I'll post them later.

To be honest I can't type any more right now, as Dale's flying around the corners through the hills (I'm sitting in the back of his Zoom Zoom road car) and if I type much more I'll probably be sick!

Round 4 - Manfeild - Race 2

Race 2, the Reverse Top 10. Dale started out 2nd on the grid, and after being swamped by the 4wds he led Class B for most of the race. But yet again gear/clutch issues troubled Dale so he slipped back to 2nd after being passed by Michael Modgill's Honda.

Dale finish 9th overall (2nd in Class B).

Best lap time: 1:20.081 (in lap #2)

Now the team has got some work to do, to try and improve the car a bit before the 3rd race. We can't fix the clutch or gearbox in time, so it'll be changes in the setup only.

Round 4 - Manfeild - Race 1

Another race, and another great result for Dale, 1st in his class (9th overall). And a little more panel damage (c/o Steve Taylor once again) :-} We only just put the 'Zoom Zoom' back on that door after the last lot of Panelbeating!

Unfortunately Dale had a bad start due to a clutch issue, but he powered on to take back 1st position after the 2nd corner and never really looked challenged from then on. The team have obviously done a great job once again with the car's setup.

The race was slowed down with a few laps under yellow flag, due to a clash between one of the little Suzukis and the new entrant MG. So the final lap, when the safety car came off, was a sprint for the finish line.

Thankfully the weather cleared up for a time before the race, so rain didn't affect things.

Best lap time: 1:20.293