SS2000 CLUB NEWSLETTER

Transcription

1 SS2000 CLUB NEWSLETTER 2 Litre Racing at it s Best!! Series Sponsor: Season: July-August 2013 Issue #: 88 SS2000 Club Contacts: President: Brett Killip Ph: Or: Open Class Tyres debated at AGM! With almost half of the total remits submitted relating to our Open Class tyres, it was inevitable that there was strong debate over this issue at this year s AGM. Secretary: Yvette Martin Ph: Treasurer: Ivan Knauf Ph: PR & Sponsorship: Committee Members Series Co-ordinators: Grant Shirley Ph: Series Scrutineer: Tim Dorset Ph: Brian Hamilton Ph: (Nathan Strachan Ph: ) To put it simply, it was a case of allowing the Open Class cars to run either slick, road or treaded tyres in dry races and competition wet tyres for wet declared races. The latter relating to wet tyres was really a no brainer, whereby high consideration to safety was paramount and as a result this was adopted unanimously. However, the dry tyre debate was not as clear cut and clearly there were some very divided opinions amongst attendees. With DOT rated tyres no longer defined in the MNZ manual, being replaced with either road or treaded tyres, perhaps a full understanding of the difference between these two types of tyres could have produced a different outcome. The majority of the attendees saw slicks as being too much of an advantage for Open Rounds reduced Laps changed! Class cars, despite some very valid points being raised by its supporters. Treaded tyres would have been a great compromise for all but in the end road tyres for dry races, won through. Arguably this is pretty much the status quo but will it have an effect on this class? Committee: Grady Homewood Ph: Chris Sklenars Ph: ** Plus all the executive members above. Newsletter Editor: Bob Louie Ph: Or: bob.louie@xtra.co.nz Website: Brent Thompson Ph: Again hailing from the AGM, this season sees our series reduced to 6 rounds. Significantly, this lines our series up with the IRC 6 round series calendar (see tentative calendar for this season elsewhere). It also somewhat reflects the economic effect that is still apparent in our sport and may help us maintain reasonable grid sizes with one less round. After numerous attempts to change the race format, all of which have failed in the past, voters at the AGM agreed that some changes were needed to our races. So for this season whilst we still have one scratch race and two handicap races, it is the number of laps that will change. The scratch race will now be 6 laps, the first of the handicap races will be 8 laps and the final handicap race will be 10 laps. Whilst the first two races of the weekend won t pose a problem for most competitors, the last 10 lap handicap may. The increased fuel usage will see the need to ensure cars have adequate tank size and the extra laps will require better tyre management by drivers. It will also be interesting to see how the handicap grids will be formatted, to ensure the continuation of close finishes that we are accustomed to seeing. Roll on round 1!!

2 Page 2 SS2000 Clu b N ewslet ter President s Patch Well here is my first ever Presidents report! After being involved with motorsport and various car clubs since I was 15, I thought it must be about my turn to step up to the plate and have a go at the "helm. This season s committee places a whole bunch of fresh faces to those roles of running and administering the club. Now would be a good time to thank the previous committee for their jobs well done, some over a number of years. Of course it will take a little while for everyone to get up to speed. The AGM was well attended this year and plenty of hot discussion on some remits. It s unfortunate that not everyone left the AGM happy with the outcome. The positive out of this AGM is that all the remits for safety and making our rulebook more user friendly, went through easily, which is good to see. One thing that is great about SS2000 racing is the variety of cars and the specification differences in them. The down side to that is it does make setting rules difficult as people will always have differing opinions on parity. I am very much looking forward to seeing how the new race format of 6,8 and10 laps works out. After years of trying to come up with a way to mix it up a bit without ruining our series, this is a way to change (but not dramatically) and it doesn't hugely favor the faster or the slower cars. I know some will have to add a few litres to their fuel system to make them complete the extra distance!! A draft of the new rules has been sent to the committee for checking and it will then go to MSNZ for sanctioning shortly. I urge everyone to check them out once they are published and make sure you are familiar with them. There is little change really, with mainly the compulsory rain light requirement and for Open class cars to provide the fitting for the boost boxes. I am still happy to supply rain lights and put $10 for each one back into the club coffers. I have put something on the forum about this or just give me a shout if you want one. The decision at our AGM to drop to a six round series was a really good one I believe, especially after attending the IRC AGM in Taupo recently. It really does make setting our calendar a whole heap easier!! With other classes having to chase extra dates. I think we have a great spread of dates this season. It s a shame that there is only one Manfeild meeting but this looks set to return next season. Other news from the IRC AGM is there will only be one entry form to fill out at the start of the season, not one for each round. There is a small entry fee increase to $280 to cover recent increases in MSNZ levies. The minimum grid number for each class has returned to 20 so if you know anyone thinking of racing next season get them to come along! The IRC made the decision to leave the promotion of the meetings to the host club/track and they will now collect the money from the gate (or not charge as some have suggested). With the savings of not paying a promoter they will put more money into making the race meetings better for the drivers, with better pit areas etc. Brian Hamilton is SS2000's IRC representative this season and I am sure he will do a great job for us. Keep working away on those cars in readiness for a great first round at Taupo.. Cheers, Brett Motul Products available through these authorized Dealers: Auckland Engineering Supplies: 154 Beaumont Street, Westhaven, Auckland Ph: E & H Motors: 179 Manukau Road, Pukekohe, Auckland - Ph: Exedy NZ Ltd: 151 Wairau Road, Glenfield, Auckland Ph: J Tune Automotive: 46 Carr Road, Mt Roskill, Auckland Ph: Trade Zone East Tamaki: 179 Harris Road, East Tamaki, Auckland Ph: Speed Source: 1/6-14 Glenmore Drive, Warkworth Ph: Xtreme RPM Ltd: 6 Karewa Place, Hamilton Ph: SpeedFactor: 3 St John Street, Tauranga Ph WRC Developments: 36 Leyland Street, Onekawa, Napier Ph: R Works (NZ): 95 Ridgway Street, Wanganui Ph: Geartech Automotive Ltd: 334 Tremaine Avenue, Palmerston North Ph: MacLennan Performance Centre 2006: 303 Willis Street, Wellington Ph: Speedtech Motorsport Ltd: 7/115 Gracefield Road, Seaview, Lower Hutt Ph: Please ensure you identify yourself as an SS2000 Club member. Imported by Makay Imports Ltd

3 SS2000 Clu b N ewslet ter Page 3 Club Notices: SS2000 Race Calendar Rd 1 October 26th/27th Taupo (Labour weekend) Rd 2 November 16th/17th Pukekohe (Thunder in the Park) Rd 3 January 4th/5th Taupo Rd 4 February 22nd/23rd Manfeild Rd 5 March 23rd/24th Hampton Downs Rd 6 April 19th/20th Taupo (Easter weekend) Track Chatter: Once again, Hitech Motorsport will be sponsoring our barbeque and after race day one social functions for this coming season. Thanks again to Grady Homewood for his generous contribution to our season. Pre-season Shakedown Invitation!! Here s a chance to compete in a support class at the next BNT V8 SuperTourers round at Taupo on 30th August 1st September. The XtremeSport Open Saloons class is for any open type saloon car. This is a 2-day meeting. Entry fees are $ All races are rolling starts For further info contact the following: Rachael Murray Rachael@gr8events.co.nz Mob: Gary Lathrope gary@gr8events.co.nz Mob: Tradezone are also back again supporting our series. Their contribution is also most welcome. Please visit one of their many outlets scattered across the country when you are looking for tools or any other automotive or engineering supplies. Kerry Smyth of SMS also announced at the AGM that he too would like to make a contribution as an associate sponsor for this season. Thanks Kerry and great to have you on board. Rumour has it that the flying Te Rito brothers may be back at some stage this next season, if not both of them, then at least one of them. Past champion Ant will have his 2 litre Civic back in action and brother Grant is putting together an S2000 powered Corolla FX GT. Kane Walmsley is also set to return with his rapid ex BTCC Corolla. Hopefully this will make it a bit more challenging for the dominant RX7s of the past season. Brian Hamilton is now our official IRC representative taking the place of Terry O Brien. The club would like to thank Terry for his past efforts in keeping us all updated on all things related to the IRC. If you have any matters regarding the IRC, please let Brian know so as he can deliver this at the IRC meetings held from time to time. A Hella rear rain light is now required, part number: Club members can source their own or they can purchase these through Brett (our Club President) for $125.00, with $10 going into the club coffers. Courier or postage fee will be additional if applicable. Brett is available on or killip@ihug.co.nz.

4 Page 4 SS2000 Clu b N ewslet ter SS2000 Prizegiving Hitech Motorsport -SS2000 Championship 1st: Andy Duffin (Mazda RX7) 2nd: Grant Shirley (Honda Integra 2L) 3rd: Brent Thompson (Honda Civic 2L) SS cc Class: 1st: Ivan Knauf (Toyota Corolla) 2nd: Ray Brown (Honda Civic 1.6L) 3rd: Todd Prujean (Toyota Starlet) SS cc Class: 1st: Brent Thompson (Honda Civic 2L) 2nd: Grant Shirley (Honda Integra 2L) 3rd: Nathan Strachan (Honda Civic 2L) SS2000 Open Class: 1st: Sam Elliot (Nissan Sylvia) 2nd: Peter Edmond (Volvo) 3rd: Brian Hamilton (Ford Capri) Honda Challenge Championship: 1st: Grant Shirley (Integra 2L) 2nd: Brent Thompson (Civic 2L) 3rd: Ray Brown (Civic 1.6L) Honda Challenge cc: 1st: Ray Brown (Civic) Honda Challenge cc: 1st: Brent Thompson (Civic 2L) 2nd: Grant Shirley (Integra 2L) 3rd: Scott Smith (Civic 2L) Honda Challenge Best Presented Honda: Grant Shirley (Integra 2L) Club Trophies: Most Helpful non Competitor: Grady Homewood Most Improved Driver: Ivan Knauf Hard Luck Trophy: Brent Thompson Cran Judge Cup (Rookie of the season): Murray Bell Guy Latham Trophy (Winner last race Taupo): Andy Duffin Nilson Memorial Cup (Most points Taupo): Andy Duffin Sports Person of the Year: Scott Smith Dunlop Tyre Prize: Brian Hamilton SS2000 Rotary Class: 1st: Andy Duffin (Mazda RX7) 2nd: Ian Martin (Mazda RX7) 3rd: Brett Killip (Mazda RX7) Pit Exit Well hopefully now that the dust has somewhat settled after our AGM, there is yet another season of racing just around the corner. Unfortunately you never know what impact the changes, voted and accepted by those Club members present, will have on the forthcoming season. Will it improve or lessen our grid number?? We won t really know until those intending on competing actually front up. So here s hoping for yet another great season anyway!! Next on my agenda will be pit guy for yet another round of the Suzuki Swift Series at the end of August at the next V8 SuperTourer round. I always look forward to helping in motorsport wherever I can as it allows me to give something back to the sport, especially since I have not competed for some time now. Looking forward to the new season and round 1 but the bad news is that it is coming up quick!! Cheers. Bob

5 Page 5 SS2000 Club N ewsletter SS2000 thanks its Sponsors Stick with Dunlop Dunlop Motorsport supporting SS2000 Talk to: For everyone s Engineering Supplies Richard Fraser Ph: Stores Nation wide. Visit: Suppliers of a broad range of tools and products for the engineering and trade sectors 154 Beaumont Street, Westhaven, Auckland Ph: Supporters of the SS2000 Saloon Car Championship. We specialize in: Dyno tuning Race preparation & maintenance Motorsport & performance engines Motorsport fabrication Performance & classic car workshop Engine management sales & installation Carburettor sales, parts & rebuilds Performance parts & accessories. Located at: 69 Creek St Drury Auckland Ph: