SA State Motor Racing Championships round 3 – 23–24 August 2008

It felt great to get back in the driver’s seat for this meeting. Scott Clements had given us some great setup advice at the previous meeting, and Bruce Heinrich & BRE Race Engineering had also helped us out with some suspension tinkering. I was relieved to find that most of the understeer had gone away again and the car was handling really well. I had also invested in a lap timer thanks to Ebay, and this helped me to learn exactly what was working and what wasn’t.

I qualified 24^th out of 27 in the combined Saloon Car and Improved Production field. Saloons were then combined with the MGFs for the 3 races, and I finished 11^th out of 18 with a best lap time of 1:24.22. For the next race I started 11^th and finished 9^th.

Race 3 was 10 laps, and I finished 7^th with a new personal best lap time of 1:24.07. The final race was an unusually long 15 laps and I relished the opportunity to test my fitness and endurance. I started 7^th and finished 8^th after a crash on the first lap. My fellow competitor Gary Raymond had kindly lent me his in-car camera for this race, and I rear-ended him on the first lap – opps! The video is on YouTube at http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=OuSLZaOdP5Y along with an earlier video filmed from Gary’s car in May this year http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=742Txj9mg-o. Both of us were able to continue on and finish the car, albeit with slightly bent cars!

Special thanks to Mr Ed’s Paint & Panel for repairing my car in time for the National meeting on October 31 – 2 November.