SS2000 Club Newsletter

Transcription

1 Season: Sponsor: Mar-Apr 2008 Issue #: 45 2 Litre Sports Saloon Racing at its Best!! SS2000 Club Contacts: President: Brent Thompson or Secretary: Tony Goldsmith or Maiden Winners. or is that 2!! Treasurer: Shane Morgan or Series Co-ordinator: Rob Mitchell or Technical Officer: Chris McDell Committee: Mike Crawford Glen Archer Geoff Page Nicky Wyatt Terry O Brien Newsletter Editor: Bob Louie or Bob.louie@xtra.co.nz Website: Inside: Presidents Prattle Owning an NSX Round 5 Pukekohe Round 6 Taupo Crawford New Winner Situations Vacant Round 5 produced our series first round of 3 maiden race winners or so we thought. In Race 1, it was Matthew McBride that crossed the line for his first ever victory in our series, well ahead of his rivals. Unfortunately McBride s victory was short-lived as an incident coming over the Mobil Mountain saw him cop a fine, a license endorsement and a 30 second penalty, for code of driving conduct offence. This relegated him to 8 th place. David Geraghty in his Lancer took his first race victory in Race 2 and according to witnesses, Geraghty could attribute his win to a very fastidious start which shot him to an immediate advantage. Towards the end though his DOT rated tyres were starting to deteriorate but his determination saw him take the victory. The last race victory fell to Coming into Round 5, Rick Bone led the championship and looked set to consolidate his lead further, on what is probably his home track. During qualifying Bone looked spectacular coming through the first part of the esses on almost 2 wheels but his time only netted him 9 th best time on the grid. From here his weekend got a bit pear-shaped. In Race 1, after 5 laps, his Dato suffered a gearbox failure and he had to be towed back into the pits. It was straight onto the trailer and an overnight gearbox change saw him back at the track the next morning. Then in Race 2 after 6 laps, the normally reliable Dato suffered its second problem of the weekend, a seized diff. another first time winner, Martin Dunn in his Integra Type R. Dunn didn t have it easy though and on the last lap as he crested Mobil Mountain, Smyth s Datsun was hooked onto his bumper all the way to the finish line. The finishing margin was only 0.27 seconds. Congratulations to David and Martin and commiserations to Matthew who is oh so close to a pending victory. Pear-shaped Weekend for Bone It was bitter disappointment considering the overnight efforts of getting the car going again. After a mammoth effort by him and his pit crew, the Dato once again made the grid for the final race. Now if you weren t superstitious or a betting man, what odds would you have placed on Bone finishing 13 th in Race 3!!. Perhaps this was indicative of his whole weekend and as a result, unfortunately he also relinquished the lead in the championship as well.

2 Page 2 President s Prattle Just a quick brief note from me this time round, as I m finding my time at a bit of a premium at the moment. With just one round left the I suspect most of the winners have been found. However, there are a few where mathematically others can get up to win and as we all know anything can happen in motorsport. So good luck to all those who are still in the hunt so as to speak. We need to be starting to think about the AGM and what remits you want to put forward. The date hasn t been finalized yet (well not whilst I was writing this) but it will be mid to late June. We are just waiting on confirmation of the venue. Remits and rule changes for these to be successful you need to give them a lot of thought and come up with something that will allow for all possible outcomes. If remits are presented correctly and you ve done your research, then you have a much better chance of getting them in. So I m saying do you homework and even rehearse delivering them. I am of course assuming there we will some remits or you all may be happy with the way things currently are. The time line for the AGM is as follows: 3 weeks before the AGM remits CLOSE. 1 week before (this is the minimum, more if we can) all remits are published and given to the members to consider. Then it s to the AGM to discuss & vote. On a personal note I do not intend to stand for president again. I need to focus on others things currently in my life, like landscaping a house/garden. As the out going president I believe I am automatically part of the committee and will give all the assistance / guidance to the new president. If you are interested in the job and want to know more (sadly its unpaid), feel free to have a chat to me. That s enough from me, as I said, just a brief note. See you all at Manfeild. Brent Owning an NSX Price less Ask SS2000 racer, Steven Price what its like owning a Honda NSX, as he is a proud owner of one. Whether he tells you or not what he paid for it, is another story and besides it s probably none of our business. Launched in 1990, the NSX sports car features an aluminium chassis and body, is rear wheel drive and is powered by a normally aspirated Honda 3ltr V6 motor producing around 270 horsepower. It is know by many as one of the most reliable exotic cars ever made. The cars strong chassis rigidity, cornering and handling capabilities can be directly attributed to the late Ayrton Senna s input to the NSX s chief engineers, whilst testing on Honda s own Suzuka Circuit during it s final developmental stages. In Steven s own words. Earlier this year I purchased a 1990 Honda NSX which I understand was originally imported into the country by Frank Radisich in Since then it has passed through 2 other owners. It has spent a lot of its life sitting around in garages, so I thought it was time to let it have some 'action'. The investment in this car and a young family has unfortunately reduced my involvement in SS2000 this year. After changing the NSX cam belt (what a drama) and doing few enhancements to the brakes we took it to Taupo to join the small Fords sprints and Shown n Shine event on the first weekend of March The Saturday was very sunny and the Show n Shine was held in Tongariro Park next to SH1. The car looked positively modern compared to the other cars on show. Come Sunday and the weather was partly cloudy with a bit of wind. We were joined by William Yu in his yellow Civic. We expected there to be a lot of people in road cars enjoying a day out on the track, however, we were sadly mistaken. Out of the 35 entries, only 3 were non roll-caged road cars, including the NSX! Despite having road tyres (including some sub-prime Nankangs on the rear), we did some respectable times on the Taupo half-track, which had us within the top 15. I only had one incident with the NSX. Coming around the first corner, the car spun on the exit despite having traction control on (those stupid Nankangs!). William did well, being in the top after some of the more powerful cars self-terminated! I drove the car back to Auckland afterwards, so I can't complain. If there is one thing I would change, it would be to use decent race/road tyres. I now know the difference and would probably take the tool kit out of the boot to save some weight too.

3 Page 3 Round 5 Pukekohe Mar The third of the rounds hosted by the Historic Racing Club and the weather gods once again smiled on Pukekohe. Add to this the allocation of pit bays for our class and being scheduled first up on the racing program for all races, the weekend was off to a good start. A field of 20 cars attended and it was great to see a few more of the Auckland based cars making up the numbers. Glenn Gordon and Kerry Smyth added to the Datsun Coupes whilst Kerry s son Graeme, was making an appearance in an RX7. Lee Lunt had spent some time converting a Japanese imported racing Civic to NZ specs and was making his debut appearance in our class too. Qualifying- After an hour delay, qualifying started and a somewhat seemingly shortened session caught out a few competitors. No one else was more surprised than Kevin Hyde in his BMW, when he was timed as the pole setter with a 1m Matthew McBride was fractionly behind him with Tony Goldsmith 3 rd. The turbo Lancers of Mike Crawford and Terry O Brien were next, followed by the pair of Datsun Coupes of Glenn Gordon and Kerry Smyth. Graeme Smyth s RX7 put up a great first time showing at 8 th, with yet another Datsun coupe of series leader Rick bone at 9 th and Brent Thompson s Civic taking up the 10 th spot. Only casualty was Phillip Noblett when his Civic was mysteriously running flat with no Vtec, thus ruining his qualifying time. Race 1 Polesetter Hyde got away nicely to take the initial lead from Goldsmith and O Brien. Second qualifier, McBride had yet another one of his nightmare starts and fell back through the field but by lap 2, he was up to 4 th and chasing hard to catch the early leaders. A third of the way through the race, Hyde relinquished the lead after dropping off the edge of the outer ripple strip at the hairpin. As the top 5 or 6 cars crested Mobil Mountain to begin lap 3, it was at this time that the alleged incident between McBride and O Brien occurred when both cars clashed, sending O Brien into a wild spin. Luckily the surrounding cars avoided the Lancer and McBride emerged as the leader. Further back Cameron Orr s Civic, Derin Greenslade s Starlet and Shane Morgan s Sentra were locked in their own battle for a couple of laps, until Greenslade spun at the hairpin. Martin Dunn s Integra Type R, had his first DNF of the season, when a plug lead came loose after completing 3 laps. On Lap 4 Lee Lunt s Civic slowed coming into the Jennian Home s sweeper with a flat tyre and retired. Phil Noblett was also having a bad run in his Civic, still suffering from a lack of Vtec and was trailing at the rear of the field. By now McBride had opened a fairly comfortable lead from Goldsmith. Crawford s Lancer, now sporting some striking NZ V8 look-a-like green graphics, had moved into 3 rd but was being chased hard by both Alan Stewart (Integra) and a recovering O Brien. The Dato trio of Smyth, Gordon and Bone were not far behind either but were perhaps slowing each other down as they fought for their own boasting rights of who had the fastest Dato Coupe. Unfortunately for Bone though, his run was to come to an end when his gearbox failed and he retired on lap 6. At the finish, McBride crossed the line with a healthy lead but not before lapping 3 cars. His win was short-lived though as he then faced the officials for his incident with O Brien and was eventually relegated to 8 th, copping a 30 second time penalty, a fine and having his license endorsed for driver conduct. This left Goldsmith with the victory from Crawford at 2 nd, O Brien 3 rd and Stewart 4 th. Kerry Smyth placed 5 th and took the Dato supremacy award away from Gordon s similar car. Polesetter Hyde was 7 th, McBride 8 th, Thompson s Civic 9 th and David Geraghty s Lancer at 10 th. Race 2 Lunt led the field away for the first of the handicap races from the fellow Civics of Noblett and Scott Smith. Unfortunately for Smith his run was to come to an end when he suffered clutch problems, which in turn hindered his gear selection. Noblett took over the lead from Lunt of lap2 but was to slow and retire shortly after, leaving Lunt to reassume the lead again until at least lap 6. Morgan and Greenslade were having another good dice and were soon to be joined by Dunn s Integra. Others battling against each other were Thompson and Phil Brown s Corolla and of the faster cars further back, Hyde, Crawford, O Brien were about to be pounced upon by both Stewart and Goldsmith. Bone s bad luck struck for the second time in the weekend, with a seized diff forcing yet another retirement. By lap 7, Geraghty s Lancer having progressed well through the field after a blistering start, used his turbo power advantage and shot into the lead on the back straight. He then went on to maintain the lead to take his first victory from a fast closing Dunn at 2 nd. Orr scored a creditable 3 rd, Hyde 4 th, Gordon 5 th, Crawford 6 th, Brown 7 th, O Brien 8 th, McBride 9 th and Stewart 10 th. The only other incident was a grassy moment by Goldsmith going through the kink after the hairpin.

4 Page 4 Round 5 Pukekohe cont d Race 3 Before Race 3 had started, Greenslade had already withdrawn the Starlet due to a broken exhaust. However Smith s Civic was back on the grid after some Race 2 clutch issues, only to retire after the warm-up lap. Once again the starting order was much the same as for Race 2 and Lunt led the race from Morgan s Sentra for the initial 6 laps. There were some close tussles going on further down the field between Brown (Corolla) and Thompson (Civic), the pairing of Geraghty (Lancer) and Smyth (Datsun Coupe) and the 5 car group of Bone (Datsun Coupe), Gordon (Datsun Coupe), Hyde (BMW), Crawford (Lancer) and Graeme Smyth (RX7). McBride was making his pursuit through the field after starting from pit lane. However, there was a thought that the bonnet of the RX7 was starting to lift and might hamper his efforts but he was easily picking off cars down the back straight, sometimes two at a time. Dunn s Integra was the race breaker though and was certainly making a march towards the front. On lap 7 Dunn hit the front and in the process had dragged Orr s Civic along with him, with early race leader Lunt dropping back to 3 rd. Hyde had a wee moment on the grass and lost a place or two but was soon back on the case as the whole field closed up. On the final lap, with the field now headed towards the hairpin, Dunn still led but Orr had been displaced by Smyth s Datsun and a fast closing O Brien. Mindful of not making a mistake, Dunn scored his first victory by just managing to hold off Smyth by 0.27s at the chequered flag, with O Brien a similar distance behind Smyth. Orr did really well by placing 4 th from Hyde at 5 th, Goldsmith 6 th, Crawford 7 th, McBride 8 th, Thompson 9 th and Gordon took 10 th spot. So it was all over for Round 5 and thankfully an early return journey home for those of us south of the Bombays. However, there was no time to relax though as the next round at Taupo, Easter weekend, was only a week away. Next Round at: Taupo March 22nd & 23rd (Easter Weekend)

5 Page 5 Round 6 Taupo Mar A week after Puke and it was onto Taupo for our preultimate round of our championship over the Easter weekend. A grid of 27 cars turned up and the cloudy weather saw the mornings cooler and the afternoons much warmer. A surprise entry from former SS2000 racer Nigel Snow, made a welcome return in his Primera after a fresh gearbox had been installed. Snow has normally run his other Nissan, a 300ZX, initially in OSCAR and last season in the Super GT class. Another 2 Nissans had also joined in the class, with 13year old youngster Kurt Mildenhall and Greg Brown piloting ex Sentras GT series cars. Qualifying An elated Rocky Fiske took his first pole by qualifying the Integra fastest on 1: Defending champion Tony Goldsmith was next and then the order was Kevin Hyde (BMW), Rick Bone (Datsun Coupe), Alan Stewart (Integra), Terry O Brien (EVO), Trevor Strong (Civic 2ltr), Michael Bate (Civic turbo), Geoff Page (Corolla) and Matthew McBride (RX7) took the 10 th spot. Those to suffer minor problems were Gavin Higgins Chevette and David Geraghty (Lancer), whilst Terry O Brien having qualified 6 th, was reported to be suffering from a clutch problem. Race 1 On the warm up lap, Strong s Civic 2ltr experienced launch control problems, pitted and ended up starting from pitlane. It was an exciting start and for once the number 1 car of Goldsmith wasn t on its customary pole position. Instead it was Fiske who came off pole to lead the race but by turn 7, Goldsmith hit the front momentarily before Fiske re-took it at turn 8. Hyde wasn t too far behind either. Brian Hamilton s Capri had an early off but continued on without any damage. By the time the leaders came off the back straight, Hyde made a brave lunge at the tight corkscrew bend and led Goldsmith and Fiske through and up the pit straight. As they started on their second lap, it was oh so close and as they headed into turn 2, Hyde s BMW got a bit out of shape and connected with Goldsmith as they ran almost side by side. One of Hyde s tyres dug into the tarmac and the BMW flipped and pirouetted on its roof. Luckily all the cars that followed avoided the roof spinning BMW and the race was soon stopped under red flags. Goldsmith limped back to the pits with a suspected buckled wheel and possible wheel alignment issues and his retirement was added to, due to restart pitting rules apparently. Meanwhile and thankfully an uninjured Hyde, scrambled out of the overturned BMW, which had suffered severe impact damage on the front left side A pillar and had a broken windscreen. Hyde later admitted it wasn t one of his best moves but it also wasn t one of his most dramatic rolls either. As they lined up for the restart, confusion arose when Fiske had been displaced further down the grid, until the grid marshals realized their mistake and he was rightfully returned to the front, defaulted by the retirements of Hyde and Goldsmith. Both Bate and O Brien mistakenly came into the pits on the red flag lap, so were forced to start at the rear of the grid. From the restart, Fiske s Integra led, managing to gain a slight buffer on his followers for the remaining laps to take his first victory. He was certainly elated at not only having achieved pole but also winning the first race, especially on his home turf. Mike Crawford, having qualified outside of the top 10, did remarkably well too and brought his Lancer home in 2 nd. Despite having another horror start before the restart, dropping all the way back to second to last, McBride was the drive of the race and brought the RX7 home 3 rd. He had also had an off at the sweeper during the closing laps of the race. Stewart s Integra scored 4 th ahead of Martin Dunn in yet another Integra, who in turn had enjoyed a great tussle with Geraghty s Lancer at 6 th. Page was next at 7 th, Philip Brown (Corolla) 8 th, Thompson 9 th and Snow came in at 10 th. The closing laps also saw Bone have a spin at the corkscrew, nearly collecting O Brien in the process, although there was some dispute over this incident later. Retirements other than Goldsmith & Hyde were Greenslade s Starlet, Smith s Civic with gearbox synchro problems, and Glen Archer did not start the race due to a suspected oil pump issue. Race 2 - Amazingly after a tireless effort by Team Hyde and Rob Mitchell, the damaged BMW was almost as good as new and was ready to continue for the rest of the weekend s races the next day. SS2000 racing doesn t get any better than this, where helping each other is what it is really all about. For the first 2 to 3 laps, Shayne Morgan s Sentra led Higgin s Chevette and Hamilton s Capri held 3 rd spot. All of them had already displaced early starters Mildenhall and Greg Brown who were both learning fast how to cope with racing traffic. Morgan and Higgins continued their battle at the front until Higgins finally took the lead. Stewart s Integra slowed and was an early retirement with possible CV joint failure. Archer s nightmare of a weekend continued when he had an early spin at turn 6. Bone was in hot pursuit of Goldsmith, giving him a little nudge through the corkscrew, just to remind him that he was still behind. Hyde also had an off track excursion at turns 3 & 4 when he had a slight clash with McBride.

6 Page 6 Rnd 6 Taupo...Cont d However, McBride s run was to come to an end a little later when the motor on his RX7 seized and was unsure if he would now make it to the last round. Higgins remained the leader all the way to lap 5, where he was now being hotly challenged by Greenslade s Starlet, whilst Morgan stayed in touch with the front two cars at 3 rd. At the same time some of the faster mid-field cars were also closing in, notably the Lancer of Geraghty. In the end, Geraghty made it through to take the win, his second in two consecutive weekend s of racing and he was stoked. Greenslade got his reward with 2 nd and once again that green machine of Crawford wasn t too far behind at 3 rd. After his difficult weekend at Puke, Phillip Noblett s Civic crossed the line at 4 th ahead of Cameron Orr s similar car. Warwick Funnell s Celica was 6 th, Bate 7 th, early race leader Higgins 8 th, O Brien 9 th and Phillip Brown slotted in at 10 th. Race 3 Mildenhall led the last handicap race away but within lap 1, he was overtaken for the lead by both Hamilton and Morgan. These two leaders then went on to stay at the front for 5 laps in 1 st and 2 nd places respectively. Fiske went wide at turn 3 on the first lap whilst Bone looked as though he was slowing up a little. Greenslade was enduring Smith s Civic in his mirrors and there was a great battle going on between the four cars of Thompson, Brown, Dunn and Page. Goldsmith was also making speedy progress through the field but there was still a fair way to go to get through to the front. Bates slowed after 3 laps and pulled well off the track for an early retirement. Noblett took the short way through the corkscrew after locking it all up, which netted him 4 th place at the halfway point in the race. On lap 5, Fiske was also having a bit of trouble at the corkscrew when he went wide but managed to pull the Integra back onto the black stuff just in time to head up the pit straight. Even on the very last lap, Hamilton seemingly had an unbeatable lead but the fast charging Lancer of Crawford honed in on him down the back straight, followed by Goldsmith. As the three of them all exited the corkscrew, there was a race to the line with Crawford just pipping Hamilton to take his first victory by seconds. Goldsmith took 3 rd at a similar margin behind Hamilton and then the finishing top 10 order was Brown 4 th, Archer 5 th, Hyde 6 th, Orr 7 th, O Brien 8 th, Morgan 9 th and Strong 10 th. Rick Bone limped home with a flat rear tyre near the rear of the field and he looked a bit hot under the collar after having another disappointing weekend of racing. Apart from those whom had already withdrawn, Warrick Funnell s Celica was the only other competitor not to start the last race. With the pre-ultimate round now completed, it was good to see another two new race winners by way of Rocky Fiske and Michael Crawford earn their first victories, especially so since both of them have had their fair share of problems early in the season. Its now onto Manfeild for the final round decider. Motul Products available from: Motul NZ Ltd 4/121 Elliot Street, Howick Auckland. Ph: Tim@motul.co.nz Or: Kay@motul.co.nz

7 Page 7 Crawford another new winner! At the beginning of the season, Michael Crawford had what some would call, the worst possible start to his debut season to SS2000 racing, when his brand new engine in his Lancer EVO blew. However, this has not deterred him and as the season has progressed, Crawford has put in some consistent performances near the front end of the field. Some might say that perhaps the change in colour scheme on his Lancer, from plain white to the Green/black/white striking graphics, has also seen a change to his on track fortunes. At the pre-ultimate round in Taupo, Easter weekend, Crawford scored his first win in the last handicap race when he just pipped Brian Hamilton on the finish line. Just reward for a new campaigner whose season had not quite gone to plan at the beginning. Great effort Mike!! Club Situations Vacant: As the Club s AGM looms, there will be some Club positions that will need to be fulfilled. If you are nominating someone please check with them first that they are prepared to stand. If you are standing yourself then don t be shy in making this known. Positions available to date include: Club President Series Co-ordinator Newsletter Editor Committee members There may be others that I have not mentioned, but at the end of the day, pretty much all club positions are up for grabs, particularly if those that are currently holding these positions are no longer wanting to continue for another term. The time is right to help your club so why don t you consider taking on one of these roles. Pit Exit Editorial With only a week to go until the last round, the overall Motul SS2000 series champion is still far from being decided as there is only 48 points separating Tony Goldsmith from Rick Bone. Goldsmith gained the points lead at Round 6 despite a DNF in race 1 but Bone had his big woes in Round 5 with mechanical failures, when leading the championship. Both will be eager to minimize any possibilities of mishaps in the final round. However, it s third place that will be hotly contested. Alan Stewart, Terry O Brien, Michael Crawford, Matthew McBride, Kevin Hyde and David Geraghty are the 6 drivers in contention, with only 29 points separating them. Stewart maybe absent due to an overseas commitment and McBride indicated at the last round, that he may not be able to repair the RX7 s seized motor in time for the final round. Stewart s absence will also leave the Honda Challenge title, that he currently leads, up for grabs. He has easily been the fastest Honda for the better part of the season. The opportunity now lies open for Brent Thomspon who currently sits 43 points adrift of Stewart. The only other Honda driver with a chance of upsetting this is Martin Dunn, but his third place standing is also under threat from Cameron Orr and Philip Noblett. As we all know Motorsport can be a cruel game and you never know when the hoodoo will deal a harsh blow. The important thing is to keep it clean, have fun and lets keep the Club spirit intact. On another note, as you are now aware, the AGM is closing in on us and we all need to be thinking carefully on remits and nominations for Club positions. Once again I would like to relinquish the newsletter to someone else as I have now been doing this job for close to 5 years. Like some others in the Club, it s time to step aside and make way for someone else. See you all at the last round. Bob Motul SS2000 Series Championship finale Manfeild April 12th & 13th Hosted by MG Car Club Wellington & Motorpsort Manawatu Thoroughbred & Classics Classic Saloons Central Muscle Cars GT One NZ Sports Cars Drift Cars SS2000