The work continues

This list has changed many times in the last couple of weeks

The thermo fan and realigned oil cooler.

I asked for CLEAR!!!

This is what's left of the tyres...not much. We have 2 smaller sized one's for the front which should get us through Round 3 (July 26) and will buy 2 new ones for the rear. They will be softer compound so not sure how long they will last. These ones will be used if needed. The idea is to use the softer tyres for Qual and try and get on the front row and then get good starts and make the others find a way round me....if they can.


I'm getting itchy feet again. Its only been 3 weeks since the V8 Invitationals, but I could race every 2nd week if given the opportunity. All I seem to think about is the car and what we have to do and what the next meeting will be like.
Maybe I should buy a lotto ticket!!!

Almost 50

No, Im not THAT old, but we will be saving almost 50kg with the removal of what's behind the dashboard, the door windows and winders (replace with Plexiglas), lighter door trims, lighter battery and a race seat if I can afford one. That should improve the power to weight ratio plus we took the fan blade off and installed a elec thermo fan which should help the car accelerate quicker. Along with a couple of brand new tyre's.....well fingers crossed we will get a good result. I'm not saying anymore because every time I do I end up disappointed.

Nearly Finished

A mess

Lots to do before Round 3 of the Tas Super Series. We have the rear brakes to fix, remove weight and fit thermo fan to name a few. All this is to try to improve the car without spending money, cause we have none. We need to save that to buy tyres, fuel and some lighter windows for the doors. Also like to replace the standard seat with a race item. People are amazed when I tell them I still have the standard seat. Not only is a race seat lighter, but its also safer.



I'm going to weigh what we have taken out just to see what the figure is. Should be 20-30kg maybe more. Hopefully enough to make up say 0.5 sec at each track. Doesn't sound much but it will help.

Targa Invitationals 2009

What a weekend. Racing in front of 55,000 people and the V8Supercars fraternity was a real blast, very special.

I headed to the track on Thursday afternoon and arrived about 5pm. This was just to sign in and unload the car for Friday's practice and Qualifying.
I then headed off to the hotel.

Nice room. If I can get them to sponsor us, I will let you know where I stayed.

Up early Friday to get to the track by 8am for drivers briefing, then get car ready for practice. Wasn't planning on doing many practice laps, but ended up doing most of the 20min session.
That was 10am and it was a fair wait till qualifying at 4pm.
To finish the day, I meet my host for the next couple of nights, fellow racer Ross Marsden at the local pub and had a meal and a couple for drinks.

The Marsden clan!!

Race 1 was at 10am. I was pretty nervous. All those people watching. I wish Id had time to soak in all in a bit more. We had 4 races of 15 laps each to get through so my plan was to take it easy and treat it like a 60 lap race. Others didn't. About lap 3 the safety car was out and 9 cars DNF'ed. I started 22nd and finished 13th.
Some crashed, some blew their engines, some had minor faults.

Race 2 was better for everyone. I went backwards but wasn't worried. I just wanted to have fun and finish the weekend the same way I started.

So that was it for the day. Settled back and watched the V8's.

Mum and Dad


Hung round till the end of the day to catch up with Dick Johnson. Asked him to sign a couple of pictures and pose for a photo. I just wished I'd put my things down.



Enjoyed another evening at the Marsden den with a great meal. Thanks again.

On to sunday, I thought the fog would never go. Headed out to the track, changed tyres, refuelled and topped up my drink bottle. I thought with the longer races I may of need a drink along the way.

Race 3 I tried a little harder. Had some great racing even when I wasnt trying.

Had a little fun with David Clifford.

Took some photo's while waiting for my last race, which was the last race of the day. Im glad a fair section of the crowd stayed to watch.

And so the curtain closed on a great weekend. I finished 6th in class, my host Rossco won (congrats) In the last race I had pre planned to do some power slides if or when I dropped off the battle. So for about 6 laps I was sliding the car out of turn 2. I hope the crowd enjoyed it.



Thanks to David Clifford, Cable Mate, Creative Chicken (new sponsor) V8Supercars and all at Qmedia for making it happen. Hope we can do it again.

www.johnbriggs.davidclifford.com
invitationals.com.au
and look for me on facebook too.

2009 PILATUS TARGA INVITATIONALS

http://invitationals.com.au/results.html

What a weekend. Racing in front of the V8 Supercars and a 55,000 strong crowd.

More to come...

Trophy's (yeeeeah)

No need for word's.

Blog and Website

Ive done a back flip with regards this blog. I will keep using it to post round reviews and such and will co exist with the website at www.johnbriggs.davidclifford.com.au

Round 2 Baskerville April 19th

Another 3rd place. Wasn't looking like I would finish that high at the start of the day. There was about 6 cars within a sec of each other and at Baskerville it can be quite hard to pass with so many even cars.
It was hard racing all day and managed to get through (all most) without damage. The last corner of the last lap of the day and I had a slight touch with another car that damaged the drivers door and front guard and rubbed off some signs.



Qualified 6th, half a sec off pole!! Race results were 6th, 3rd, 5th and 3rd. New PB of 61.00. That was 6/10ths off the fasted time in group B.



Every time I go to a race meeting thinking I have a good chance of winning, someone else beats me to the punch, either a new competitor or someone has leap frogged me with development to their car and/or driving. Its frustrating with the budget I have knowing I could blow their doors off if I had the money to improve the car.



I can only do what I can do. No good robbing a bank, cant race cars form a jail cell!! I keep telling myself Im lucky to be able to go racing, win or lose.


As always thanks to DCP for the photo's and to Cable Mate, Hard 2 Beat car parts and Benson motorsports.