Pre65 Racing - Ruapuna - March 08
 
 

Ruapuna - 15 March 2008
Titbits and gossip:

  • Due to the V8 brutes withdrawing from this meeting, the agenda was "shrunk" from a 2 day meeting to one, which put the pressure on the organisers and also the teams to adhere to a very tight schedule.
  • The day dawned fine, with a bit of high cloud and got hotter as the time went on.
  • Pete Fitzgibbon's A40 Farina finally managed to make it through a meeting and finished qualifying and all three races without his usual gremlins which was great to see.
  • Ian Perry joined us for the first time with his beautifully presented Hillman Imp. Ian moved from the north island to Christchurch recently.
  • After returning from the north island Roy discovered broken leaves on the right rear springs which explained why the left front wheel was lifting so high and for so long. He fixed this, but failed to see that the rear end was tighter than it ever has been and discovered that Bertha was no longer easy to keep on the track and did several pirouettes to show us all. He finally got to drop the rear shocks prior to the third race and she was much better.
  • Cliff hurt his ankle earlier on in the week and managed to convince an ex-Pre65er  - Chris Blackwood to have a drive. Chris managed to fall off at just about every corner, but came away with some solutions to fix some problems and is aiming to race it at the next round at Levels.

Qualifying:

Apart from Bertha and the Nova falling off at a few places, it was a typical V8 finish, with Wayne Patrick just beating Steve and Wayne Tuffley (Tuff) for line honours. The best of the four cylinders was Johno Michelle back on 7, followed by Roy, Bob, Greg L, Bill, Ray, Manny, Ian & Pete.

Race 1:

Everyone was told to behave themselves prior to this race and it must have paid off, because it was great racing and with very little damage. Wayne Patrick was out to prove that having an extra 2 cylinders really does make a difference and won the race from Steve, followed very closely behind by Tuff, Manny and Greg Stewart. Gareth was next, (a further 4 seconds back) followed by Maurie, Johno, Greg Lyons, Roy (who had another spin), Bill, Ray, Pete and Chris Blackwood (who had had more spins). Bob and Ian Perry both had DNF's.

Race 2 - reverse top half:

With the top 8 cars reversed, Johno and Maurie were on the front row, next row back had Gareth and Greg Stewart, then Manny and Tuff and back to Steve and Wayne P. Bob and Ian's DNF's in the previous race proved too much and it was the end of the meeting for them - unfortunately!

The traffic proved a bit more difficult for Wayne P & Steve, but it was a good race and the winner was Manny ahead of Tuff, Steve, Greg S, Wayne P, Greg L, Gareth, Bill, Roy (he'd had another spin!), Ray, Pete & Maurie. Johno broke the gear shifter and Chris found the handling too dangerous to continue.

Race 3 - reverse grid handicap:

Thankfully there was a lunch break between the last race and this one, so I managed to get some handicapping done! Wayne P started 45sec back and Steve and Manny were in front of him but only 5sec earlier. Pete was on pole and due to Ray having issues, Bill was the next one back. This was an exciting race and there were battles within battles. The handicapping was excellent with Steve winning (just!) from Wayne P, Greg L and Maurie had a photo finish and we had to wait until the results were published until we knew which one was in front! Greg S, Tuff, Gareth, Bill, Roy, Johno, Pete & Manny (it was his turn to fall off this time!).

Wayne Patrick broke Tuff's lap record from last year and it now stands at 1:37,098 - congratulations.

Next meeting is the huge "horsepower" meeting at Levels on 5+6 April 2008.