Over the weekend, the final round of the Penrite MG Racing series was
held at Phillip Island, about 1.5 hrs SE of Melbourne, Australia.
This is a magnificent track, used a few times for 500cc motorcycles in
the late 80's (and again from '97!). It features a few wonderful
flat-out (for the brave) sweepers and has some wonderful up and down
bits (Lukey Heights is a 3rd/4th gear sweeper with a (big!) crest in
the middle of the turn!).
Anyhow, the MG race was combined with Marque Sports (of which the MGs
are a sub-category) race. A bit dissappointing for those who normally
double-enter, but understandable given the number of classes that ran
on the weekend:
Formula Ford
Formula Vee
Formula Two
Formula Libre (Formula 5000, Formula 3000, old F1 cars etc)
HQ Holdens (a 4 door family sedan, tightly regulated)
Club cars (RX-?, Corollas, Geminis etc)
MG & Marque Sports
Group N, Historic Touring Cars
We had two qualifying sessions on Saturday, and two races on Sunday
for each class. The Club cars and MGs had the chance to participate in
a 3rd race - the challenge for invited club cars, MGs, Marque Sports.
I had blown a head gasket at Eastern Creek (the 6hr relay race), and
had replaced it just before this meeting. I was hoping for a personal
best this weekend (good weather, first time at P.I. with the new
exhaust system, lots of close competition).
I did well in qualifying on Sat, placing 9th on the grid (5th MG
behind two V8 MGBs and two other spridgets (Owen Crombie and Jeff
Smith). There was a bit of a gap between these 4 (and 4 marque
sports - 240Z, 260Z, Alfa GTV6, Triumph GT6) and the next group of 5
(myself, Peter Riseborough's MGB, Peter Brice's sprite, Nick Kovatch's
Fiat 124 Spyder and just a bit further back, Andrew McNally's MGA
Coupe). Heaps of other B's and spridgets filled out the rest of the
field of 23. To put this in perspective, Jeff qualified at 1:54.9,
Owen at 1:53.5 and I was 2:01.55, Peter Brice at 2:01.77, Peter R's
MGB at 2:01.71. So the gap is very significant. Mind you, on the same
dyno, Owen's car put out 58Kw at the rear wheels, Jeff Smith's car
60Kw, my car put out 45Kw, Peter B's car 48Kw. So the times kind of
reflect the state of tune of our respective cars.
Actually, Sat was a good day for me -- in the first session, I was
feeling very uncomfortable in the car in the very fast sweepers -- the
car had a unstable low frequency weave (1 - 2 Hz), and was sliding all
over the place. Owen Crombie diagnosed the problem as a combination of
too soft front springs (330lb) and a blown rear damper. Jeff Smith
just happened to have a spare set of front springs (530lb, about 3 in
shorter in free length! -- I didn't need the spacers any more!!),
which he loaned me. I also pulled off the dampers and refilled them
with auto transmission fluid. The passenger side damper had lost some
oil thus causing the problem. In the second session, the car felt *so*
much better it was unbelievable. I took 2 seconds off my time (from
2:03 to 2:01), although it was feeling quite loose on right hand bends
(including the 180kph sweeper at turn 1 (that is 7000rpm, 4th gear,
3.7 diff!!!). This turned out to be a slow puncture in the left rear
tyre. So, I was quitely confident of a good show on Sunday morning! I
should mention that my previous personal best was 2:03.8 -- I had 3 or
4 Kw less at that time, so by any measure it was a good day!
The forecast was for 30C and Sunny (85F I guess), but on Sunday
morning it was raining. So we all had grooved tyres on (I used Hoosier
Street TDs, as did Peter Brice. Owen had hand-grooved slicks, Jeff
Smith used Bridestone RE71Rs. The Fiat Spyder had the Hoosiers, Peter
R's MGB had Dunlop Formula Rs (D98J). I had swapped the rear dampers
for a spare set I had at home -- they were about 20% stiffer (uprated
valves). This should improve things too..
The first race was a 5 laper. I completely blew the start, from 9th, I
managed to get away in 20th place (sigh, I had too much wheelspin then
it fell off the cam). I was not happy. I was like a man possessed and
managed to get back to 9th place (the head of the 2nd bunch) within 2
laps!! The conditions were very slippery (I'm not too enthused about
the Street TDs in the rain based on this trial!), with lots of care
and finesse the order of the day. Unfortunately, Peter R, and Andrew
McNally's MGA latched onto my tail and started piling on the pressure!
Near the end of lap 4, I had a slight lockup at the downhill hairpin
(MG corner), still keeping on the track, but ruining my exit speed,
thereby allowing Peter R to pass me on the straight. I tried
everything to get past, but he pip'd me by 1/4 car length at the flag
(0.14 sec). My best lap was 2:22.15.
The weather had cleared, it was sunny and warm for the second 10 lap
state championship race. This was the Victorian Tourist Trophy for MG
and Marque Sports. I kept the hoosiers on, while the fast guys Jeff,
Owen, the MGB V8s of Mort Fitzgerald and Bill Cutler, all switched to
slicks. This time my start was only poor, losing 4 places. Owen was
left at the start (the low tension lead fell of the dizzy) and Peter
Brice's spridget stopped before turn 1 (broken throttle cable). I was
stuck behind Peter R's MGB and Nick's Fiat as well as a Toyota AGE
powered Westfield. I passed the Westfield quickly, but it took me 4
laps to pass the B, it must have been quite a sight with us weaving
down the straight, side-by-side through corners etc. Eventually I
snuck in a gap under brakes and pulled away. Nick's spyder was nearly
4 secs ahead. Within 2 laps I had caught him and started the battle
for 7th place outright. We had lots of really close racing, lots of
passing attempts and defences. Finally, I managed to pass him undfer
brakes at Honda corner, but he passed me on the straight. He never
left the gap at Honda again! At the end of the straight on the last
lap, I pulled out of the slipstream and took him at the 180kph
sweeper. I put in some really hard corners and took 7th by 0.9 sec. My
best time in the race was a 2:01.55 (same as qualifying). Jeff Smith
spun at MG, damaging his spoiler. He was "meatballed" and had to call
into the pits where the bottom of the spoiler was ripped off. So, I
ended up 3rd outright in the MG class behind the 2 V8s! My first
podium position in the state open racing series! I was absolutely over
the moon!
The final race for us was the PIARC Challenge for Invited MG, Marque
Sports and Club Cars. The grid was based on car number, not on
qualifying times, so the start was a dog's breakfast. I was in the
dangerous position of being 4th on the grid! Rotary engined beasts
were flying past all over the place! I ended up in a great dice with 3
club cars that lasted the whole race. Unfortunately I was at the back
of the trio (the three of us finished with 1 and a half secs covering
us, I had the fastest lap of the three - a personal best at PI of
2:00.68, but couldn't capitalise at the finish), but nonetheless, it
was great fun. I ended up 4th MG and 5th MG/Marque sports. Peter
Brice's spridget was on my tail for a while, but fell off the pace and
finished 4 secs behind.
Overall, it was a great meeting -- I had my best personal results, I
had good close racing in each race, the racecar was reliable and was a
significantly better car (handling-wise) at the end of the meeting. It
is just a shame it is the end of the racing season! I want more! At
least I finished in a good note and should carry the confidence into
next year!
The MG series starts again in March at the Castrol Classic meeting at
Phillip Island, the week after the Australian F1 Grand Prix in
Melbourne. Hopefully, the series will be bigger and better than ever!
I should mention that the Historic Touring cars featured lots of
Cortinas, Minio Coopers, Falcon GTHO, Mustangs, XU1 Toranas etc. It
was terrific to see these cars again!
Mike
_______________________________________________________________________
Mike Gigante
3D interactive graphics, Virtual Reality, british sports cars, and wine
http://mega.cgl.rmit.edu.au/~mg/ mg@mega.cgl.rmit.edu.au
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