The good news is I have run the car in two events so far, August Autocross and Septembers Dirt Sprint on the dirt track at Queensland Raceway Willowbank.
Queensland Raceway dirt track Willowbank - Auto Cross is the inner track, Dirt Sprint the outer track.
The start point it middle right, running clock wise.
Event - Ipswich West Morten Auto Club (http://iwmac.org.au/) August Autocross Round 4 As this was the first run for the car the idea was to run the car and over the day increase the speed until either I reached my driving skills level or the car showed signs of an issue. The Autocross is run with each car completing 6 two lap runs and the best 5 runs added together to get the final result. Only issue was I only found that out after the first run was done, so my time was not the best, but the car did handle well, on the faster second lap. During the day I lowered my times each run, getting more confident with the car, the last run I was 10th fastest out of 44 cars. The next Autocross is in October where I hope to do better again.
Results - http://iwmac.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/130818_RESULTS.pdf
Event - Ipswich West Morten Auto Club (http://iwmac.org.au/) September Dirt Sprint
Round 4
This was on last weekend, as the car had
not been run for a month, on the Saturday I took it for a quick spin, on
returning coolant was running out of the car all over the floor, crap! After the car cooled down, I found a hose
that ran between the engine block and the timing belt cover had split. This hose and the one beside it where both from
the original engine, should have replaced the hoses when I did the
rebuild. After an hour of taking skin
off my hands and a lot of swearing, both the hoses where off. A quick trip down to the local auto supplier,
(15mins before closing time) and I had two new hoses ready to fit. Installed both of the hoses, they were not
designed for the location they were going so the water flow through them was
not going to be the best, but as one went to the cabin heater that no longer
existed, and the other to the filler cap, I was not too worried. Took the car for a quick test drive, all
fixed, or was it? The next morning
packed the car and headed to the petrol station, filled up the car and headed
off, about 5mins down the road and the temperature gauge hit 120degC and then
the car shut down. Thought crap, so
waited 10miins and slowly limped home where I found that the two none fitting
hoses had left air in the system. So
10mins of filling the system with water, squeezing hoses and more water finally
saw the car start and remain at a reasonable temperature, the rest of the day
it was fine.
The Dirt sprint is run with 6 two lap runs
with the fastest run counted, the track this time was covered with loose gravel
and was being constantly watered by the water truck, which turned the track
into mud, great for sideways action, not too good for going fast. The first few runs where fast, but nothing to
write about, then the track started to get clean and quick, my 4th
run was behind the water truck, so it was slippery but I was able to put in a
okay time. The 5th run which
ended up being my fastest felt quick, but had some messy corners and braked to
early. The 6th run, I was going quick, late braking and getting good
drive out of the corners, then the last corner of the first lap the rear wheels
hit the loose stuff and the car was sideward across the track, looks good on
the video I guess….
The number was not chosen by myself, but I ended up going off like KB.
It was a great day, now looking forward to Octobers Autocross and then Novembers Dirt sprint.
