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| Phillip Island -20th & 21st
November 2007 Phillip Island Auto Racing Club (PIARC) runs weekend events a couple of times a year where the Saturday is for practice and Sunday is timed Super Sprint events. Last time I was here was a stinking hot day in February where I ran a handful of laps in the first practice session before the plastic liner in the power steering high pressure hose melted, blocking it and ruining the rest of the weekend. After the 1000km drive from Sydney I was looking forward to a trouble-free event, after all, the car had been running perfectly for months. One of my Melbourne mates Rob had his 88 Testarossa there which was turning heads
Everything seemed be be going great on Saturday morning until I lined up to head out for the first practice session and I noticed the EMV had switched off. This normally only happens if the voltage drops below 10V... uh ohhh. Sure enough a klingon message popped up on the dash which meant "alternator not charging battery". Crap! I drove out of the pits, 1 lap and back in, shortly followed by Pete's Soarer rolling in with steam spewing out. So 2 dead Soarers in the first session - not good. Pete and I spent the rest of the day driving back to Melbourne to chase up parts and finally got back to the circuit at 5pm.
Take 2. Sunday was another sunny day but a little warmer - perfect to chase Rob's Testarossa around a fast circuit. Ignoring the debacle in Feb I hadn't been on the circuit in 11 months so to get a new PB on my 4th lap (1:59.29) was very encouraging. We're still waiting on the rest of the timing results as they're a bit backlogged with 120-odd cars entered on the day. Apart from checking tyre pressures and winding 3 more clicks into the front coilovers I didn't touch my car all day - just got in it and drove. Next to my car Is Mike's UZZ32 active for its first trackday. He started lapping 2:19 on Saturday and dropped down to 2:08 on Sunday which is a huge achievement. He's now well and truly hooked :-)
Here I am chasing Rob on the main straight - he just walked away from me in a straight line but having a 5L flat 12 behind your ears will do that.
Although, he did have to work a lot harder than me in the cockpit. No power steering and a small steering wheel make holding a tight line difficult - it takes a lot of sheer strength. More random photos...
Me chasing Rob in the second session on Sunday
Forth session on Sunday starting from in pit lane. I come up on a twin turbo 300ZX which disappears down the straight.
Even though I only ran on Sunday it was a kick-arse weekend and well worth the drive. |
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