OFF SEASON UPDATES

Here's some pics of the progress in the shed of the car.  Chassis ready for sand blast and paint, body, bonnet and wing ready to be painted and sign written.  Engines at the shop getting rebuilt with parts coming from the states, heads at the machine shop getting machined.  New diff is on the way, as well as getting a new battery thats14kg's lighter and better quality than the old one.  Dad has started on the new enclosed trailer, its looking good, hope it will all come together in time for the first practice on the 14th September.

The Second Half of the Season...

Here some more updates on my racing this season.

11/12 January - NZ Champs - Nelson

Had the practise on the Thursday, only did two runs just to make sure any changes we had made we fine.  Friday was qualifying, only 6 cars per group go through to the finals on the Saturday, my group had 19 cars. I did well and qualified 4th in my group.  Placings for that night were two 5ths and a 4th.  Saturday night finals, 26 cars all trying to get the top spot.  Started 6th in the first race and got pushed back to 10th in the first lap, then slowly worked my way back to 6th again, then got spun so finished 22nd.  Second race started 12th and pushed my way forward and finished 5th.  Going into the last race was 12th on points overall, to far away to win the champs, but still able to get a spot in the top 5.  Started 21st pushed my way up to 5th, caught up to a driver who was higher on points than me, spun him but spun myself at the same time. Unfortunately because of wrecked tyres I had to pull into the infield and never finished the race.  Got 21st overall. Still really happy with the result because my main aim was to qualify.

18/19 January - NZ GP - Christchurch

Friday night was good racing, qualified for finals, placings were 4th, 5th and in last race got a flatty which put me at 19th.  Qualified 8th overall.  Saturday night first race started 19th and got all the way up to 4th, second race started on pole and won race! Going into the last race was 4th on points, started 26th, got up to 11th passed the 3 drivers who were on higher points than me, then the tail shaft on the gearbox snapped and ripped the drive shaft out, couldn't finish the race which put me at 11th overall on points.

2 February - King of the Clay - Nelson

This was probably one of the worst meetings I have had so far.  Got taken out in the first race so only finished 12th, second race went ok didn't make up places but didn't loose any either got 8th.  Last race wasn't going in high on points so did some blocking for the drivers that were higher on points, ended up bending the front bumper onto the wheel, think I finished last.  They named the tigers that night for NZ Teams Champs, made it into the team!!

8/9 February - NZ Team Champs - Palmerston North

On Friday night we came up against Christchurch and Hawkes Bay.  We only won the race against Christchurch getting 110 points for that race.  The next race against Hawkes Bay I was the spare car so sat the race out,  got 2nd, 3rd and 4th giving us 80 points.  Didn't qualify in the top 4 but qualified 6th, because of the format of  the racing the highest place we could of got overall was 3rd.  Saturday night came up against Christchurch again, we bet them again, finished 1st, 3rd and 4th.  We made it into the final for 3rd and 4th against Bay Park, we won the race getting a 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th.  The team finished up 3rd overall which was awesome!!

23 February - Best Pairs - Nelson

Was paired up with 77N Dave Bright, First race started 5th and finished 3rd.  Second race 9th got up to 5th and then got spun so finished towards the back.  Last race we weren't high on points, started 4th got into 1st place and then the gearbox selector failed and wouldn't go into top gear, pulled in for a few laps and managed to get a gear so I could finish the race. Tigers were selected for Auckland Teams Nationals, I made it into the team, they picked the same team they had for Palmerston North.

Heading to Auckland this weekend for the teams and then to Christchurch the following weekend for Battle of the Stocks,

 

Well it was a long haul up to Auckland but it was well worth it.  We were up against Manawatu Mustangs first. It was a really good race, we got 1st, 2nd & 3rd & I even managed to tip a car on its roof.  Second race was up against the Waikato Wanderers, once again it was a really good race, we finished 1st, 2nd & 3rd.  We qualified top of the table.  For the semi-final we were up against the Mustangs again, it was another really good race.  We got 1st, 2nd & 3rd & I tipped the same car on his roof again!  In the final we were up against Palmy Panthers, that didn't go as we planned.

We lost and we got a bit of damage as well, but we still came out with a second overall which was one better than Palmy teams so that was a bonus.  We headed home on the Sunday/Monday which only gave us 3 days to get the car fixed for the following weekend.

Got the car all ready and we headed down to Christchurch on the Friday for the Battle of the Stocks.  The layout for this event is that every South island car entered gets paired up with a North island car for the weekend and after every race the points from each driver are combined.  I drew out Kevin Roberts from Palmy as my partner.  We both finished every race on the first night, I got two 8ths and a 4th.  I finished 7th on points individually after the first night, my team mate didn't do that great individually.  We were 9th on points for pairs after the first night.  The second night we had a top ten shoot out which I was in and got 8th.  The three races on Saturday went good but I was lacking in drive as the track went black.  My placings were 8th, 13th and a 10th.  I finished up 7th overall and 8th in pairs, it was still a really good outcome for me considering that the last three years I haven't made it to the second night due to car failures and me breaking bones.

So, that's our season over and done with.  Overall we had a very good season, 24 race meetings, 80 races and we only had 3 DNF's and 3 races we didn't start! 

2012 / 2013 Season Update

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog.

It's been a very busy year up to date we have already done 19 race meetings and burned threw 500 litres off race gas we put some new adjustable shocks on the car for this season to try and get a edge from the other guys

The new car made it to the last practise and performed well & I was trialing my new suspension out.

Unfortunately Nelson opening night was rained out so we went to Christchurch for their opening night the following weekend.

20th October - Christchurch opening night

The whole meeting went with out a hitch, my placings were two 1st and a 2nd

Also won my first trophy for the season!!

27th October - Nelson opening night

Once again the whole meeting went great, was adjusting my new suspension every race

and it was just getting faster, placings were 4th, 3rd & 1st

I was selected for the Tigers and made captain for the coming race against the Panthers.

10th November - Nelson, teams race against Panthers

The teams race didn't go how we planned it, we lost, but the car was still running and ready for the 3 open races.

Placings were 8th, 5th & 4th.  I was happy with the placings, we had 21 cars turn up.

I also got reselected for the Tigers and was captain for the teams race against Wellington.

17th November - Wellington, teams race against the Wildcats

This teams race did go to plan with a win!  The car was all good for the first two open races

but never raced the last one due to what I thought was the clutch playing up. Placings were 4th & 5th.

Got home on Sunday pulled car of the trailer & found out why we had clutch problems, the engine block was cracked.  I had to pull out of the next teams on the 24th November.  The engine is now out and getting a new block put in.  Hopefully the car will be back on the track for the 1st December where we are heading to Christchurch for the South Island Champs.

1st December - South Islands Christchurch 

The meeting went not to bad.  1st race I started on pole and finished up with the win.

2nd race started on grid 12 got up to 5th, got caught up in lap traffic & got right front flat, finished 9th. 3rd race started on grid 22nd, it was a messy race finished 6th.

Ended up having to have a run off for 3rd and 4th, it was a tactical run off but I won.

Finished up third over all in the South Island, the first time I've made top three

in that championship so I was pretty rapt with the result.

On Sunday the tigers selectors named the team for next weekend I made the cut.

8th December - Nelson Teams race against Wellington

The teams race went to plan & we finished 1st to 4th with no Wellington cars finishing.  Unfortunately I broke my gear box in the teams race so I couldn't do any of the open races, a bit gutted but we still won the race that mattered.

12th December - Blenheim

Well seen as I broke my gear box in the teams race I wanted to go to Blenheim to try it out & make

sure it was going all good.  There wasn't enough superstocks to run buy ourselves so we ran with the

stockcars.  I wasn't to concerned with the races all I wanted to do was give the gear box a good run and it went well.

29th December - Nelson Club Champs

All I can say this wasn't the best meeting I have had but it wasn't my worst either.

1st race grid 15 finished 8th, it was a good race happy to move up that far.

2nd race grid 7 finished 8th, just didn't get the set up right in this one had to fight to keep my spot.

3rd race grid 5 finished 7th, got spun off the start, there was 18 cars made it back up to there so not too bad

A special thanks to Tony and my crew for helping get my car back up & running after the broken block.

The next meeting is the New Zealand Champs in Nelson on the 11th 12th January.