V8supercars and Round 2 Tas Super Series 2012

I guess I should do what I said I would and fill you all in on the last month or so. So the story starts a bit over a month ago, actually it starts last year since I forgot my passwords and stuff to get in here to post!! After winning my first round in May 2011, things went downhill again. The car was getting hot at that meeting, but it wasnt till we did a ride day shortly after that we found it boiling into the overflow bottle. We wasnt sure what was going on and to make a long storty short, it was the head gasket. But we tried other things first over the next 2 race meetings and it finally cried enough and spatt a welsh plug out of the rear of the cylinder head. So we took the head off, had it cleaned up, replaced the gasket and put it back together. Then it was V8supercar time again. I didnt have enough money to test the car or get it tuned before hand, so we went to the event with fingers crossed. I tried to get some more sponsors, but in the end it was 2 other drivers who helped us get there. Numbers were down this time, only 20 cars entered when the V8's really wanted 26+. Good reason for that being if there are a few break downs, there is still a healthy sized field. Well what happened was just that, more than half the field having dramas of one kind or another. I was one of the lucky ones this time, really lucky! I felt the car wasnt running up to full power and it wasnt. It turned out to be a good thing and probably saved us more headaches! The races were fairly tame, had a couple of good dices, but mostly everyone left me behind due to running around with prob 230kws instaed of 300kws! http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?01/04/2012.SYMM.P4 http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?01/04/2012.SYMM.Q1 http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?01/04/2012.SYMM.R1 http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?01/04/2012.SYMM.R4 http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?01/04/2012.SYMM.R11 http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?01/04/2012.SYMM.R16 You can view all the results here. This time it was a lucky win, but after what we have been through, Im not complaining!!! Kim Barwick was the outright winner and I was Class B winner.

IM BACK (and in the winners circle)

I finally remembered my login details to this blog! Ill be back with an account of the last 9 months..when I remember it all. Safe to say the highlight was this weekend past In the Targa Invitationals at the V8Supercar event at Symmons Plains, where the car ran almost faultless and we came away with the class B win!! All the details on that and more in the next few days!

Round 3 Tas Super Series May 15 2011

SUCCESS!!!!!! Finally after a long hard slog, we tasted victory last Sunday! 3 from 4 race wins, qual 2nd and settled for 2nd in the final. It was what I like to call A GREAT DAY!!

And also won the Sports Sedans too! (well only 2 cars, I qual 1st and neither of us ran again, the other car had problems and I only wanted to use the qual for extra practice)

The car, after all the problems we've had, now boasts 300kws (400hp) with a bigger turbo and new intake and exhaust manifolds. I broke the Sports GT B lap time (60sec) twice so I had to back off! We cant afford to run in A class, I want to be able to go easy on the car instead of thrashing it! So in the end it was quite an easy win, but after years of trying and the drama's we have had...Im not complaining!!




Would like to thank, David Clifford Photography, Cable Mate, Steeline Roofing Hobart, Dejay Signs and Benson Motorsports.

TSS R2 13th Mar 2011

After having our fair share of problems and 4 trips to the dyno, we finally made it to a race meeting. Sadly, it wasn't a great day. I cross entered so I could get some more tack time and in the first practice I thought the oil pressure was getting a little low so I came in only to find a small fire on the turbo heat shield! Blew that out, checked oil level then went out for second practice, but dropped the revs down thinking the turbo was overheating due to the increase in power (250kw up from 222).
Qual 5th in class (12th overall) passed a few cars, made it to 3rd then the overheating started. Dropped back to try and cool it, but it wasn't working. Finished the race at a slow pace.

Race 2 was the same story and I DNF. No point getting in every ones way going slow and no fun either.
Race 3 and I tired using the water spray, but ran out of water. The system we are using is not good enough. DNF after 3 laps.

So we came home and on Monday removed the radiator, checked the thermostat, that was working. Cleaned the radiator out, was pretty clean. Took it to be modified as both hoses attach on the same end and it doesn't seem to be using the entire area to cool. Also brought a high pressure cap and will install again later this week.

Brought a Garret gt3071 turbo, which will be better than the one we have. Also have a new exhaust manifold and intake manifold but will leave the intake for now.

Thanks to Cable Mate, Steeline Roofing Hobart, Dejay Signs, Batteries 2 Ur Door, David Clifford Photography and Benson Motorsports.

Tas Super Series R1 Feb 13th 2011

Like to say Ive had a successful day at the track...but I'm not even at the track! Since my last post, we have been rebuilding the engine which has cost way too much and we are not ready to race and we are up for more repairs. I dont know what Ive done to deserve the shit that been happening but Ive done something! Yes, I will admit some of it has been our fault, minor things that have turned into big things. but fair crack of the whip, when will it end?



We got the car ready 2 weeks ago, took it to be tuned and run in. We had a couple of minor water and oil leaks that we fixed. Unbeknowst to us though there was another water leak at the back of the motor which was found when it was too late. We fixed it and took it back, but the damage had been done..blown head gasket. So we replaced that will a metal one and new head studs to boot. Had to wait a few days to get some other bits and once we started the car it was running really rough. Turned out that when we took the camshafts out get at the studs (we didn't have a socket that would fit with the shafts in, we do now) we needed to bleed the lifters. We did that but not enough. We went through compression tests as well and they finally were good. Put it all back together for the..I lost count time....started it up and after a few seconds there was a horrible sound like something loose. In fact it tuned out to be one of the cams had spun and ruined one of the ends (see photos)

Cant take a trick. It was line ball to whether it would of been tuned in time and the shop I buy fuel from was closed when its usually open. So everything was against us racing this weekend.