Maltby Motorsport

What a year...

2011-07-05T03:13:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been... interesting so far.

My car was destroyed in a crash in the final race of round 1 of the SA championship at Mallala. The old Saloon Car was like a member of the family so it was very sad seeing it stripped & crushed afterwards. There were tears :o(

We have recently finished the new car, and the aches & pains have nearly gone away. We already had a spare VN shell, but had to fork out for a roll cage, new seat, harness, etc which certainly added up. Fortunately the engine and gearbox were ok to go into the new car.

I raced at round 2 of the SA championship in June and then headed over to Winton for the Shannons Nationals where I came 2nd in Trophy Class. I set a new personal best of 1:22.1 first time out at Mallala so I'm pretty happy with that. We have learnt a lot in the 6 years since building the old car, so we did the new one a bit differently and it will be a rocket with some minor fine tuning.

Cheers
Naomi :o)

2011 season preview

2011-02-12T20:17:00.001-08:00

We are now one week away from the first round of 2011. It's been a difficult and expensive off-season with lots of damage to fix. Naomi has had one run in the modified speedway sedan and will probably be doing a few more meetings before the end of the speedway season.

Our first Saloon Car round is at Mallala on 19th February. This is a one-day twilight meeting. After that, we are off to Wakefield Park for the inaugural TASCCO Classic enduro. This will be a 2-driver endurance race in two parts, totalling 250km. We have recruited Improved Production champ Scott Clements as co-driver and we are really looking forward to this meeting. Hopefully we will be in the running for the VN/EA trophy.

2010 season review

2010-11-08T03:00:00.000-08:00

Well... it's been a season with a few ups and downs. From the rained-out debacle of the Bathurst 12-Hour in February to big crashes at Winton and at the final round at Mallala. Both driver and car are a bit battered and bruised, and in the garage for repairs. We only just missed out on the 3rd place trophy for the 2010 SA Championship.

Naomi will be doing a few speedway meetings as guest driver in a modified sedan. She is also regularly coaching with V8 Race Experience, so if you want to learn how to drive on the track, go to www.v8race.com and help us earn some $$$ for repairs to the saloon!

Stay tuned for a website facelift over the summer break, and see you in 2011!

2009 wrap-up

2010-05-04T04:54:00.000-07:00

2009 was another great year for Maltby Motorsport. We finished 3rd on overall points in the SA Championship despite missing one of the four rounds. The final round for the year was extremely hot with 40+ degree temperatures so lap times weren't great, but everyone was having the same problems.

We finished the year with the Mallanats at Mallala Motorsport Park. Craig drove the saloon in the burnout competition, go to whoa, dash for cash and the track cruise. We also entered the car in the dyno competition and won the trophy for the naturally aspirated 6-cylinder class. We put a video of the burnouts on YouTube.

After this, the car was due for an engine freshen up and general once-over. Craig put in a lot of hours getting it ready for Bathurst 2010 - and it was worth it! :o)

Cheers,
Naomi

SA State Championship round 3 - Mallala, 12-13 September 2009

2009-09-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

The weather for this meeting was dry but warm and humid and VERY windy. It was extremely hot inside the car, and the head wind down the main straight was taking 1.5 - 2 seconds off everyone's time.

In these difficult conditions my qualifying times were quite slow - in fact, back in the low 1:25s! I was a bit put off by these low times when the car felt quite fast, but everyone else was having the same problem. I qualified 5th out of the 6 saloon cars. My times were slightly slower again in race 1, and I finished in the same position. I was 4th in race 2 after Nelson Brown had mechanical problems and didn't finish.

Conditions were better on Sunday and I finished 3rd in race 3 with a best lap time of 1:24.0075. Race 4 was a bit more normal with a best lap of 1:23.4828 and I finished 3rd again.

I finished 3rd overall for the meeting and got my photo in Auto Action issue no. 1359 (September 23-29 2009).

Our next race is back at Mallala on 14 November for a 1-day twilight meeting.

(There may possibly be another 'big' race in Victoria before then, but I can't confirm it at this stage... stay tuned!)

Victorian Motor Racing Championship Round 2 - Wintom Motor Raceway, 29-30 August 2009

2009-09-26T22:37:00.000-07:00

In between Mallala rounds we decided to go 'south of the border' and play with the Victorians. This state championship meeting had a healthy field of 11 cars - including 4 female drivers in the one category! :o)

We attended Friday practice to familiarise ourselves with the track. Despite some threatening weather, the rain stayed away and I had a great time learning the new track and getting to know the other drivers (many of whom I have raced against at Bathurst & Sandown).

I really enjoyed this track and the competitive racing. We got to do a one lap 'shootout' for qualifying which was great fun and made me feel like a V8 Supercar driver! I was 7th in practice and qualified in the same spot. This put me 2nd out of the 6 old cars and 2nd out of the 4 girls. The only faster female driver was Meg Carra in her new model AU Falcon.

I finished all 3 races in 7th as well, and the last race was a great battle for 6th position between me and Kane Millier in his EA Falcon. At the end of the last race I was only 2/10ths of a second behind Kane who is an experienced Victorian competitor - I was quite happy as it was my first time at Winton!

There are a couple of videos on YouTube taken by fellow competitor Kelli Stephens here and here - enjoy!

Shannons Nationals - Mallala, 5-7 June 2009

2009-09-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

This was another successful meeting for us. After a very wet Friday practice, I qualified 10th with a best time of 1:23.6949. I finished race 1 in 9th place with a new personal best time of 1:22.8801 - this was the first time in the 1:22s and we were very happy.

Unfortunately ours was the only 'old' car at this meeting, so despite the great lap times we weren't very competitive.

Sunday was better with two more 9th place finishes and another personal best of 1:22.4743 in race 3 - only 2/10ths of a second slower than some of the new model cars which is a good achievement. I got very close to being in a passing position several times but couldn't quite make it 'stick'.

All things considered we were quite happy with this meeting, and looking forward to mixing it with the faster competitors at the next state meeting!

Bathurst 2009 & SA State Championship round 2 at Mallala, 2-3 May 2009

2009-05-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

We had another great experience at Mt Panorama on 20-22 February 2009. It was amazing to have the chance to race there once in 2008, and fantastic to have the opportunity to race there a second time in 2009.

This year we are allowed to use the 17" wheels and tyres on our older model car. We are also using E85 fuel which is 85% ethanol and gives the horsepower of expensive racing fuels for a fraction of the price. These two changes (coupled with 12 months more experience driving) resulted in lap times almost 4 seconds faster than 2008.

In practice I was 36th out of 51 competitors with a best lap time of 2:53.9331, and I qualified 41st with a time of 2:56.6296 early in the session before damaging the car by side-swiping the wall at Forrest Elbow. A few hours of repairs were needed to patch up the right front suspension for the races the next day.

I finished race 1 in 38th place, setting a best lap time of 2:51.7163 in the process. Race 2 was even better with a 36th placing and lap time of 2:51.1286. I finished the weekend by volunteering for flag marshall duties during the 12-hour race on Sunday. I had a good spot on Conrod Straight and saw some good racing.

After this event we flew from Sydney to Argentina for a 3-week holiday. Unfortunately we missed round 1 of the SA State Championships while we were away.

We headed back to Mallala for round 2 of the state series on 2-3 May 2009. I was more excited than usual about this meeting, as it was the first time to try the 'new improved' VN Commodore at our home track.

The lap times lived up to the hype: most of the weekend I was doing 1:23s, including one race where every lap was a 1:23.2. I finished 4th out of 5 cars in qualifying and all 5 races. This was the first time I had managed to beat Scott Clements' time in my car from last year, although of course the car is a bit better than it was 12 months ago.

Shannons Nationals Round 10 – 28 – 30 November 2008

2008-12-06T00:47:00.000-08:00

After the success of the last 2 rounds at Mallala, we made a last-minute decision to head over to Melbourne for the final round of the Shannons Nationals for 2008.

It was a challenging weekend – ours was the only old car competing, and I was having some previously-undiscovered problems with 5th gear (we don’t get past 4th at Mallala, but at Sandown I was using 5th gear twice every lap). This resulted in problems with both top-end horsepower and gear changes. The Sandown track is also quite difficult for newcomers so I spent the weekend working hard at figuring out the circuit.

Despite all that, I was able to knock almost 2 seconds off my lap time from the last time I was there in 2006. I finished pretty much last for the weekend, although I did manage to beat Mark Pilatti in a VT Commodore in the last race.

It was a fun trip and a good chance to socialise with some of the Victorian drivers. It was also a great learning experience – even though the races were difficult, I came back to Adelaide with some valuable experience.

Thanks to everyone for your support in 2008 and we look forward to getting back on the track in 2009! Our next meeting is Round 1 of the Shannons Nationals at Mt Panorama, Bathurst on February 20 – 22 2009. We will unfortunately have to miss round 1 of the SA State Championship as we will be overseas for a few weeks, but we will be back for round 2.

Happy holidays and see you all next year :o)

SA State Motor Racing Championships Round 4 – 15 November 2008

2008-12-05T23:10:00.000-08:00

The final state meeting of the year saw a field of 7 Saloon Cars combined with 6 MGFs. I qualified 7th and finished race 1 in 6th place after Nelson Brown had a rather nasty crash.

I started race 2 6th and finished 5th after some great battles with George Diamond and Gary Raymond. The fun continued in race 3 where I finished 4th after fighting all the way and passing Gary right on the finish line.

This is my best ever race finish and helped me to finish 3rd on points for the State Championship. We went to the presentation night on 1st December and collected the trophy.

A big thanks to all our sponsors – especially Frank Walsh Drilling, Mr Ed’s Paint & Panel and River City Auto Salvage – for their valuable support over this season. We are looking forward to 2009 and hoping to do one or two better!

Shannons Nationals Round 9 – 31 October – 2 November 2008

2008-12-05T23:04:00.000-08:00

We participated in the penultimate round of the Shannons Nationals at Mallala in early November. There was a reasonable field of 19 Saloon Cars, including 6 of the older model cars.

The car was handling really well and the slightly modified exhaust seemed to give it a bit more torque. Overall we had a satisfying weekend and managed to get the lap times down a bit further.

I qualified 17th and started race 1 from there, finishing 1 place further up the grid. Race 2 on Sunday morning was very wet and I unfortunately got tangled up with reigning champion Bruce Heinrich on the first corner, but we both continued with some panel damage and I finished 16th again.

Race 3 was much more fun after the rain cleared up. I finished 14th, ahead of all the other ‘oldies’. I did not find out until later that I finished 1st in the TASCCO Challenge, which is the competition for older model Saloons at National level. We were awarded a nice trophy to add to the collection.

We also had the chance to take some of our sponsors from Frank Walsh Drilling for a ride on Friday – we think they enjoyed it as much as I did!

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

2008-10-18T23:34:00.000-07:00

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.

HQ Enduro meeting - non-points round, 26 July 2008

2008-07-27T01:46:00.000-07:00

Local Improved Production driver Scott Clements drove our saloon at this meeting. I didn't really want to sit out, but Scott is a very experienced driver who was able to help us with car set-up. It was a non-points round and I had also recently had surgery, so it was a good meeting to use for a test & tune. Scott copped some stick from his IP colleagues for driving a Holden, but maybe we've converted him ;o)

Saloon cars were combined with Improved Production for this meeting. Scott qualified 14th out of 18 cars, and 3rd out of the 3 saloons. His best lap during qualifying was a 1:24.0532 - just slightly faster than my best time. During race 1 he had a couple of spins on the first lap whilst getting used to the car and the very wet track, eventually finishing 13th with a best time of 1:32.3303.

The sun came out and dried the track in time for race 2. Scott had a great result, finishing 9th with a best time of 1:23.8396. Race 3 was even better with a best lap of 1:23.2600 before the gearbox blew up with 3 laps to go.

This is the first time the car has not been able to finish, but the gearbox has done 2 1/2 years of racing so we suspected its time was nearly up! Craig will now have to build a new one in time for round 3 at Mallala on 23 - 24 August 2008. This meeting will be followed by a national round on 31 October - 2 November, also at Mallala.

Cheers,
Naomi

SA State Championships 2008 - rounds 1 & 2

2008-07-27T01:13:00.000-07:00

After the excitement of Bathurst, we have settled back into the 'routine' of state meetings at Mallala.

Round 1 was a twilight meeting on 12 April 2008. I qualified 7th out of 8 cars on the cold and slippery track. I finished in the same position in race 1 after suffering from a serious lack of grip and then 6th out of 7 in race 2. The final race was held after dark, which I always enjoy, and I finished 5th.

Round 2 was another twilight meeting, held on 3 May. It was great to see a healthy field of 13 cars at this event. It was a little warmer than round 1 but the track still didn't seem to have much grip. I qualified 11th and finished race 1 last after having a couple of spins. I finished 12th out of 12 in race 2, despite setting a new personal best lap time of 1:24.1283 - what can I say; the afternoon weather had cooled and everyone was setting good times, and of course we had a few national competitors running their newer model cars. Race 3 went a bit better and I finished 7th out of 12.

Bathurst Motor Festival 2008 - WOW!

2008-02-29T04:17:00.000-08:00

We competed at the 2008 Bathurst Motor Festival on 8 & 9 February 2008. The track is amazing and I was initially a bit nervous about racing there, but once I was on the track I had an absolute ball! The circuit is like a 6km roller coaster ride and it is so much fun to race on. I had driven around it in road cars before, but this was completely different.

I qualified 43rd out of 48 competitors on Friday. My lap times started around 3:02 but on Saturday I got them down 8 seconds to 2:54.

I finished 31st in race 1. The close racing was very exciting, and the 10 laps flew by too quickly. I started race 2 31st and finished 37th after breaking my gearstick coming through The Chase! Luckily I was able to limp into pit lane (stuck in 5th gear) and Craig did a quick repair job so I was able to finish, but I was 1 lap behind the leaders.

We finished the weekend without any damage, and it was great fun and a valuable learning experience.

Special thanks to our sponsors Frank Walsh Drilling and Tom Walsh for helping us achieve our dream!

New sponsor - Frank Walsh Drilling

2008-01-08T20:18:00.000-08:00

We are very pleased to welcome our new sponsor Frank Walsh Drilling Pty Ltd of Mt Barker, SA. We will be redesigning the signage on the saloon car shortly to reflect their valued contribution.

Please support those who support motorsport! Their business details are as follows:

Frank Walsh Drilling Pty Ltd

Mount Barker Road

MOUNT BARKER South Australia 5251

p: (08) 8391 1433

2007 South Australian Motor Racing Championship result - 4th of 15!

2008-01-02T01:13:00.000-08:00

Hi all, I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year. We have received the final pointscore for the 2007 South Australian Motor Racing Championships, and I am delighted to announce that I finished 4th overall out of 15 competitors. This is a great result and it shows that consistency and finishing races pays off! Interestingly, the two female Saloon Car drivers both finished in the top four for the state series.

I would like to sincerely thank my crew chief Craig and everyone who has helped us in the last year.

Our next race meeting is the Bathurst Motoring Festival at Mount Panorama, Bathurst NSW, on 8-10 February 2008 - don't forget that sponsorship packages are still available! This will be the first round of the 2008 Supaloc Australian Saloon Car Championship and it will be televised nationally, so it is a great opportunity for sponsors to get some serious exposure. Please do not hesitate to contact us at naomi@naomimaltby.com if you are interested.

Kind regards,
Naomi

SA State Motor Racing Championships finale - Mallala, 17 November 2007

2007-11-17T23:37:00.000-08:00

This Saturday was the final meeting of the SA state series. The weather was very hot with temperatures in the mid 30s for most of the day. Fortunately I don't have a thermometer inside the car, because I don't think I would want to know exactly how hot it was inside during races! I have been working on my fitness recently, and this helped me to cope with the heat a bit better than I expected. Fortunately it was a twilight meeting so it had cooled down a lot for our last race.

I could feel a strange vibration in the car during qualifying, like something was out of balance in the left rear corner. It felt severe enough that I decided to pull into the pits early. Craig inspected the car closely and could not find anything wrong with it. We were due for some new tyres anyway, so both rears were replaced with 'green' tyres and that fixed the problem.

Race 1 was 6 laps, and I had qualified last out of 10 competitors. I had a good battle with George Diamond and Paul Bailey and finished 9th. Race 2 was 8 laps and I started 9th and finished 7th. I really enjoyed this race because it was a close fight with Paul and George once again.

Race was scheduled to be 10 laps, but it was shortened to 8 due to time constraints. It is always fun racing at night; however, the gear shifter, which had been slightly stiff all afternoon, became almost inoperable part way through the race. I was having a lot of difficulty getting the car into and out of gear. As there are around 13-14 gear changes every lap, I lost quite a lot of time at each corner and gradually dropped further and further behind the rest of the pack. I finished 9th.

This was our final race meeting for 2007. The next event will be the Bathurst 12-hour support races at the WPS Bathurst Motoring Festival in February 2008. I am very excited to have the chance to race the saloon at Mt Panorama. We are looking for sponsors for this event, so please don't hesitate to contact us if you want to get some quality TV exposure for your business.

We would like to wish all of our friends, supporters, and competitors a very merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you choose to celebrate) and a happy new year. We look forward to racing again in 2008!

Thought for the day

2007-11-03T05:27:00.001-07:00

Shannons Nationals Round 8 - Mallala, 12-14 October 2007

2007-11-03T04:48:00.000-07:00

All systems were go for our second National round for 2007 - the car was running & handling very well, I got some extra tutoring from National Champion Bruce Heinrich, and no Commodore Cup cars crashed into me during sponsor rides. The team and I breathed a sigh of relief when qualifying started on Saturday and nothing major had gone wrong.

I was quite happy with my qualifying times. I matched my personal best lap time of 1:24.2 in the first session, and although my best was 1:25.2 in the second session, the whole field was almost exactly one second slower so I must have been consistent. Overall my times were very consistent, which shows I must be improving! I have recently been reading Ross Bentley's Speed Secrets 2 which is a great book and I think it has helped me.

As with all National meetings at Mallala, the three races were 12 laps each, which is longer than I am used to - the state rounds generally consist of 6, 8 & 10 lap races. The weather was sunny and warm which meant it was very hot inside the car. I kept the driver's side window down most of the time, even though my crew chief tells me off for this for creating unnecessary drag!

During Saturday's race 1, I managed to improve on my best time slightly with a 1:24.1. I started 19th out of 19 and finished 14th. Once again my times were fairly consistent with several 24s in a row.

Race 2 on Sunday morning was just as warm. I started 14th and finished 13th, mainly due to a few non-finishers. I was consistent again in this race with a number of 24s. I had a minor bingle which resulted in a broken left front bumper bracket and a droopy bumper bar, along with a broken left front indicator. A check of the parts bin revealed several right hand bumper brackets but no lefts - luckily we had a couple of rolls of blue racing tape (gaffer tape and cable ties can fix anything). The car was patched up enough to look presentable for race 3.

Race 3 was a little more eventful, with a bump into the back of Grace's car on the first lap. It was a reasonably hard bump, but I didn't realise until we were in parc ferme that this broke the grille, bumper, and headlight and bent the front of the bonnet. I started 13th and finished 15th after a couple of 'offs', including one that cost me 10 seconds. There is nothing more frustrating than losing ground in the early laps, and spending the rest of the race 1/4 of a lap behind the next car. I put in some reasonable lap times, but there was nothing I could do to make up that much time.

To my surprise, especially after trailing so far behind in the last race, I was awarded a trophy for coming 2nd out of the older model cars. Grace Monterosso was 1st and George Diamond 3rd. I was very happy to get my first ever motorsport trophy, and bored everyone in my office with photos of it the next day. Even though I was last on the track, I had finished every race and drove my butt off putting in some good consistent lap times, so I was pleased to have something to show for it!

Thanks once again to my crew Craig, Ian, Reg and Little Craig, and of course Mr Ed for the panel repairs. Thanks also to Bruce Heinrich for sharing some of his driving secrets.

Naomi's Supaloc Australian Saloon Car Championship debut - Mallala, 29 June - 1 July 2007

2007-07-12T03:32:00.000-07:00

Hi all, it has been a really busy few weeks at the Maltby Motorsport workshop. After an unprecedented build-up, I achieved my ambition of competing in the national championship at Round 4 of the Shannons Nationals at Mallala. It was a huge weekend for me and the team.

Friday 29 June was a practice day, so I used the opportunity to gain some more track time and I got some reasonable lap times. In the afternoon, we had the rare chance to do some passenger rides. I decided to take a couple of the more experienced drivers for a spin to get some last-minute pointers. The first session went well, and I was on the warm-up lap for the second ride when a Commodore Cup driver lost control and ploughed into the back of my car. I made it back to the pits, but the Saloon had sustained quite a lot of damage! The rear quarter panel was pushed right in, the bumper was missing, and the diff was leaking a lot of oil. Unfortunately the impact had split my diff housing.

Craig and some helpers had a late night replacing the diff housing and making the bodywork look presentable again. Luckily it was all fixed ok and we were back at the track first thing on Saturday.

I battled some serious understeer to qualify 22nd out of 22. Race 1 on Sunday was very wet and the car was handling terribly. After fighting it for 8 laps, I was finding it difficult to stay in control on the corners and I didn't want to run into another competitor. I felt that pulling into the pits was the best thing for everybody on the track. Unfortunately I no longer have my 100% finishing record, but the car and I lived to race another day!

Craig and Ian spent some time re-adjusting wheel alignment settings for the next race. The weather was a lot better for the rest of the morning - that is, until the Saloons went onto the track for Race 2, when a sudden downpour reduced visibility and traction considerably! Cars were sliding everywhere for the first couple of laps, and on lap 3 all hell broke loose with almost half of the field ending up in the northern hairpin sand (mud) trap. I was able to avoid the chaos, and spent the next 7 laps behind the safety car while the officials cleaned up the mess. When the safety car pulled off we had a 1-lap dash to the finish. I finished 15th out of 17 finishers.

Things finally came together for Race 3 - the sun was shining, the track was dry, and my wheel alignment settings stayed put. The handling still wasn't ideal, but it was a lot better. I used this race to try to get the best lap times possible and to maybe make up a place or two. I worked my backside off for the 12 laps and finished 14th.

Extra special thanks to the following people for making the weekend possible:
- Craig Walkom for all the usual hard work and headaches
- Bruce Heinrich for tuning the car
- Shaun Jamieson for the driving lesson
- Ian Maltby for his help with car set-up
- Paul H & Mr Ed for the Friday night crash repairs

Cheers,
Naomi

SA Championships Round 1

2007-04-02T03:12:00.000-07:00

Hi all, the first round of the South Australian Motor Racing Championship was on at Mallala last weekend. The car went very well (as always) thanks to my crew chief/mechanic/husband Craig.
Unfortunately I was stuck with some 'pre-loved' tyres due to budget constraints, but we used the meeting to tinker with some suspension settings and to try out some new brake pads.

I qualified 10th out of 11 with a couple of spins and a best lap time of 1:25.8 - that is 1.5 seconds slower than my personal best from last year.

I was happy with my 9th place in Race 1 as I was feeling a bit more settled in & more used to the different car setup.

Race 2 was messy again but I was able to move up to 8th. Race 3 was the best for the day, with the car handling very well throughout this longer race and I was able to 'drive around' the old tyres a bit better. I had some good battles with one of the series newcomers and finished 6th.

I am 6th in the SA points with 4 more rounds to go for 2007.

Cheers,
Naomi

RIP Grandpa Thomson

2007-01-16T02:09:00.000-08:00

We are saddened by the recent passing of Naomi's grandfather John 'Jack' Thomson, aged 91. Jack was a keen supporter of Naomi and Craig's racing venture and will be sadly missed.

End of season

2007-01-16T02:02:00.000-08:00

Naomi continued her consistent performance at the final meeting of 2006 on 28 October. Once again she finished every race and was involved in some good battles with other drivers, particularly Pat Calabrese.

The points were finalised shortly afterwards. We are pleased to announce that Naomi finished in 5th place overall out of 12 competitors. This is a great result, especially considering Naomi had no racing experience at all prior to the 2006 season!

We are all looking forward to the start of the 2007 season at Mallala on 24 March. We are also planning to contest a few more interstate rounds this year.

Work has started on a new VT Commodore race car. We are hopeful the new car will be ready for the track in the second half of 2007.

Mallala Fujitsu V8 meeting 15 - 17 September 2006

2006-09-20T05:49:00.000-07:00

Naomi raced the saloon in the support races for this event. The saloon cars were combined with improved production for the weekend.

The weather was hot and sunny on all three days. The circuit seemed to have more grip than usual, however this diminished over the course of the weekend. Naomi ran on the same tyres used at Sandown and they started to 'go off' in the last race.

Naomi qualified 19th out of 25 cars. She improved to 16th in race one and 14th in race two. She followed this up with 16th place in the final race.

Unfortunately the car suffered some damage on Sunday, but it was limited to panel damage and repairs are now underway thanks to our sponsor Mr Ed.

Naomi obtained the final signature on her provisional circuit licence at this meeting, and she can now upgrade to a national circuit licence.

Bye Bye Brocky

2006-09-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

Naomi & Craig are both saddened to hear of the tragic death of racing legend Peter Brock. 'Brocky' will be sorely missed. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Sandown 500

2006-09-20T05:41:00.000-07:00

We travelled to Victoria for the Sandown 500 support events on 1 - 3 September, 2006. Naomi found it difficult at first to get the hang of driving on a different circuit, but she was able to improve her lap times by 4 seconds over the course of the weekend.

Naomi qualified 27th, finished race 1 in 24th place, race 2 in 22nd, and race 3 in 23rd on a very wet track. She was given a TASCCO encouragement award for her efforts in improving her times and finishing every race.

Thanks to ABUS Security Tech Germany for their extra sponsorship for this meeting.

Stateline transcript

2006-06-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

We have had a media frenzy recently. Stateline SA aired a segment on women in motorsport on Friday 16 June 2006, featuring Naomi Maltby. The transcript is available online at http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/sa/content/2006/s1666314.htm.

We also attended another practice day on Saturday 17 June. This practice day saw Naomi breaking the 1 minute 24 second barrier for the first time, despite being unhappy with the latest set of tyres. Naomi has not entered the national saloon car round at Mallala on 24 & 25 June, but will be attending as a spectator.

Our next race meeting will be the truck meeting at Mallala on 22 & 23 July.

Announcement

2006-06-21T04:22:00.000-07:00

We would like to announce that Naomi and Craig finally tied the knot while on holiday in Port Lincoln, SA on 10 June 2006.

Lawyer's Weekly article

2006-06-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

Lawyer's Weekly featured an article about me in this week's edition. You can read it online at http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/articles/4F/0C03F44F.asp?Type=56&Category=930

Race day - Mallala

2006-06-01T23:56:00.000-07:00

We had our second race meeting on 20 & 21 April 2006. We also took advantage of the practice day on Friday 19.

I spent almost 2 hours in the car on Friday and got my lap times down into the mid 1:25s. I was very happy with that as it is a 3 second improvement from my last race meeting.

I came last in all the races except the last one because someone else crashed & didn't finish. At least I was a lot closer to the other cars this time, when I didn't spin anyway. I was having trouble getting heat into the tyres so had early 'offs' in the first couple of races, and had a lot of ground to make up. I finished a lot closer in the last 2 races, especially the last one because the safety car came out & stayed out until lap 9, giving us a 1-lap sprint to the end.

A TV crew from ABC's 'Stateline' attended on the Saturday and filmed me and the other female drivers at the meeting for a story on women in motorsport. It was to be shown on Friday 26 April, but was 'bumped' due to the situation in East Timor. Hopefully it will be shown this Friday 2 June. Stateline SA is on at 7:30pm Friday, and repeated nationally on Saturday and Sunday on ABC 2. The transcripts are usually put online and you can read the story a few days after it goes to air at http://www.abc.net.au/stateline.

Practice - Mallala, 22 April 2006

2006-04-24T03:28:00.001-07:00

This was a shortish practice day; we missed the first session, and the last one was cancelled as a result of several lengthy oil clean-ups during the day. It was quite productive though, and I was able to increase my lap times by another second and a bit, so I am now in the 1 min 26 sec range.

Matt Lovell kindly agreed to drive our Commodore in the final session so he could give us some technical feedback. His advice will be very helpful. Thanks also to Bruce Heinrich for some more tips.

Cheers
Naomi

P.S. Happy birthday to my niece Emma, who turned 1 the next day.

Race report - Mallala, February 25 2006

2006-04-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

Our first race meeting didn't quite go to plan, but it was a good learning experience.

I had suspected my tyres were getting past it after 3 practice days, and qualifying confirmed that - I went off the track on every lap! As I was being observed for my licence I was sure I wouldn't pass. Luckily they let me continue. The session was red flagged for a while so with that & the pit stops I had to do for the licence test, I didn't get many complete laps in.

We put a set of new tyres on for race one, and the crew chief Craig decided to change the brake pads as well. When I got on the track the tyres were great, but the brakes were terrible! I overshot the northern hairpin a couple of times before I realised the pads just weren't bedding in and the pedal was very spongy. I had to brake earlier than usual on the turns to stay on the track, and finished last by a long way! Craig put the original brakes back in for race 2, and they were good & the car felt great overall. Unfortunately I locked up the brakes part way through the race and flat spotted both front tyres quite badly. It felt like I was driving on square tyres for the rest of the race, but I tried to make the best of it & still got some ok laps. I was swearing at myself for a while afterwards - I'm not made of money and it was a complete waste of new tyres. I finished 6th out of 8.

We swapped the front & back tyres for race 3, and the flat spots weren't too noticeable that way. I got my fastest & most consistent laps during this race and was keeping up with the field better - that is until I got a meatball flag for leaking fuel. One of my trusty crew had cross-threaded the fuel cap after topping up the fuel between races. That was fixed & I got back out on the track just as the leaders were coming round to lap me. I let them go past, and managed to keep up with the faster cars ok. I finished the race a lap down but still with the rest of the field.

My licence was approved so I will be racing at the next meeting in May. The car is still straight too. The ruined tyres can probably go again (at least for practice) as they were not too bad on the back wheels.

Anyone want to sponsor me for some new tyres?

Cheers
Naomi

Welcome

2006-04-06T21:55:00.000-07:00

This is the new blog for Maltby Motorsport. This will replace our online news page.

Due to computer problems, the news page hasn't been updated recently. Using a blog instead should make it easier to update regularly!

Cheers
Naomi