2010 – 2011 V8 Series – Timaru Raceway, Round 4 – 22nd and 23rd January 2011
Not much adventure getting to this round of the NZV8’s. We prepped our car less than 6km’s from the race track and could have coasted the truck from John Christie’s toy shop down the hill to the circuit.
Our first test on Saturday morning on used tyres went okay, and second fastest by lap 7, with Fogg fastest. In for a chat and I ask our guys to put a couple of bigger “Bennys” in the front.
A weekend guest asked “What on earth is a Bennys?” Had to think about that for a bit and it all came back to me…. Elton John’s song “Benny and the Jets” If I write ‘Jets’ in my book, lots of people see,so we put ‘ ↑ one in front Bennys – now 75 and 76’, or something like that.
We have lots of code names, mostly for fun!
· A 4&20 pie was a 3 & 19
· A Ford Consul 315 was a’ quarter past three’
· A Hillman was a Mountain Boy
· A battery is a ‘Manapouri’……….
Whatever, the bigger ‘Bennys’ are in and we go a bit better, but still not fastest. In on lap 12 for more used tyres; changed the shock settings a bit on the rebound. Lap 14 is our best and fastest at 66.221. One more lap and fastest in this session by almost a second now, and the only car in the 65 second range.
In for another chat and tyre temperatures and pressures. We have no more tyres better than what is on the car, and see little point in continuing on, so park up after our best ever time, ever. We didn’t go in the next 40 minute session as it was too soon to fit new tyres and we would not have gone any quicker than the morning’s time due to weather, temperature and air density.
Next is qualifying and the top 10 shoot-out. Our first flying lap is good and in P2. Did some slow laps and parked in 2nd spot after a total of 6 laps. We get knocked back to 6th place while parked.
We go out for the top 10 in 6th place with new tyres, all feeling a bit ‘cocky’. Start up, ready for our turn and the alternator light stays on! Can’t be much, anyhow we can’t do anything. The first warm up is usually on and off the throttle and brakes to get temperature into the running gear ready for the one lap flyer. The car is not sharp and we qualify a disappointing 5th, a bit bewildered to say the least.
Was it the cloud cover, the cool cross wind’ should we have scrubbed our new tyres? The day and track temperature have changed. We will now have to wait, download the telemetry and overlay the wiggly lines.
The car won’t start and now has to be pushed from the technical shed. A problem with the main wire from the car’s charging system had caused low voltage to the battery giving low fuel pressure and loss of power, so P5 and grid 5 for race 1 on Sunday is it!
Sunday, race 1, 12 laps as usual. A ‘nice’ day, cool wind/breeze and head wind on the main straight/ Cloudy, but sun getting through now and then. The day is 14o, the track is 18 o, and the air is 98 o. Green, green, green and we go from 5th to 6th and back to 5th on lap 2. Stay in P5 until lap 7 and my book has a lot of big “T’s” (T means traffic) by each lap, until lap 8 and we get clear. Lap 10 we get 3rd, our best lap time is in lap 11 and we finish 3rd.
Race 2, another 12 laps, from grid 3. This is a close affair and 1.11 seconds covering the top three cars. Lap 5, big T and bloody close. Lap8, still 3rd and ‘close as’. Our car and Scott’s are both Fords, and have strength in different areas, and are slowing each other. Lap times get slower and we are 2.13 seconds behind now. Lap 12 and it’s all over, and we finish p3 minus 1.86 seconds.
Race 3, 22 laps, reverse grid, the promoters ‘crash and bash’ (the crowd love it) affair. We start 16th after a small ‘Benny’ change in the rear chamber.
The race gets underway and the reverse grid is giving coverage to the normal back markers, which is the promoter’s plan. During the next 9 laps we pass 6 cars and closing the gap on the front runners. What happens next, I’m not sure.
Lap 9 is our slowest and we cop a hit on the rear wheel. The TV is on our car as we are coming through, and Dennis notices an oil mist from the rear on the TV. Lap 10, all hell breaks loose, including our differential housing. The housing had cracked in the rear wheel hit, then simply gave up and the pivot pin pulled out, dumping oil on the track. Cars spin on the oil, and the yellow flags are out immediately.
Three cars have spun off and are not too bad, but then the cars that got through had another go without observing the warning flags and marshalls. Huge damage now, with an assisting marshall just escaping serious bodily harm. Our car is now parked with a blown up diff and was towed back to our pit. By now our team is feeling lousy and feel like disappearing – our oil has caused a major crash. But; who whacked my back wheel, bent hardened outer chassis rails, closed up our twin pipe exhaust system, bent mounts and the Y pipe right up to the engine end of the exhaust system, the major cause of the oil leak from the broken diff cover plate??
My diff cover could have been stronger but this is chassis 018, and I have never done it any different. Don’t make me right, or wrong for that matter.
I’m thinking back to a Pukekohe meeting when Mark Pedersen was driving our car. A huge crash as bad as Timaru happened. The leading bunch come over the hill toward turn one. This is one of the fastest turns in the Southern Hemisphere. All of a sudden, a massive downpour (rain). One car into the fence, two, three, four, five, six – huge damage to all and it gets worse. Our car needed new front chassis rails, sump, battery, hood, grille, radiator, steering parts and so on. The tow truck delivered all the wrecks to the pits and we all looked a bit distraught.
One character comes up to me and says “don’t look like you are going far, could I borrow your driveshaft for the next race?” What could I say!!!
Another time at Pukekohe we had a huge rear end crash and backed into the wall on top of the hill, damage similar to Kane Scott’s damage to the rear of his car after the second go at Timaru. Did anyone care? I had to get people from the crowd to help me get on a trailer…..I’m told the Pukekohe rain incident was an act of God; couldn’t do much about it. It happened so quick…..
The Timaru incident was similar. Fluid was dumped onto the track in a reverse novelty event by our promoters, caused massive damage, but our promoters are wrapped – over the moon – ‘we’ll do this again, look at the TV coverage”.
One wanker, and only one, came up to me and asked to whom he should send the bill for his car that was on ‘Trade Me’ for $30,000 and is now worth $80,000.
I said ‘try God’…….
Thanks for your continuing support
Garry Pedersen and the team