Posts filed under 'Results'
Hi - finally,
I have results! Through a few issues that didn’t change any of the positions, but did have our poor timer hassled by me when all the transponders that we had used had just been stolen from his father’s car, I have finally got all the possible times together and into the results spreadsheet.
What a great day at the track. 73 entrants paid their money and generally turned up. One of two of us had difficulties during the day, mine appeared to be very public as I checked out the ability of the sand trap to slow progress after it transpired that having the brake pedal go all the way to the floor doesn’t actually slow the car. Having a car catch fire on the start line was certainly dramatic, our scrutineering venue provider found that a bent push rod isn’t ideal, but is fixable on the day, and unfortunately for Howard Oates, he had his second DNF in a row when the blue PBFOOT 124CC again appears to want to allow pressure to escape from areas that it shouldn’t.
But those were the disappointments.
There were a heap of highlights, lots of cars ripping up the tarmac on an extremely interesting track. We had variety to die for, everything from Starlets to Commodores, 998cc to 5700cc, normally aspirated carburettor fed engines with points and plugs through to real life playstation clones that need computers and electronic geniuses to make them work, everyday drivers through to the purpose built Group N replica Toyota Corolla AE86 of Steve Wilcock. (I could listen to that all day, a glorious sound of a proper race engine). What was the common denominator? Smiles! Miles and miles of smiles.
The fact that it was Fathers’ Day didn’t detract from the fun, in fact it was probably a help, fathers should be able to do what they want on Fathers’ Day, and many of us did. Not too many father and child combinations running, but one which was demonstrated all that is wrong with modern youth, Mark Warren had the audacity to beat his father Andrew - on Fathers’ Day. Come on Mark, what’s that about, show some respect for your elders and let us win on our day. Oh, that’s right, you beat everyone didn’t you. Well done to a young man who no-one really noticed going so fast during the day.
Dual Sprint Results
September 15th, 2011
Hi,
Well, that is Hiwi Road done and dusted for another year. Despite threatening weather all day, and a couple of showers, everyone managed a dry run at some stage.
As usual for this venue a comprehensive drivers’ briefing was given, and the new competitors had that reinforced in their separate briefing. A total of 39 competitors showed up and by the designated time all had been dealt with administratively. With no scrutineering issues to resolve we had an eager group waiting for the road closure to come into place, and right on 10:00am the first car left the line for practice. We have noticed that the use of the Minis Waikato starting light system certainly speeds things up, and everyone was great at getting to the right place in the queue at the right time.
Practice proved to be exactly that with no dramas and no heroics. Then to the real battle, and times dropped immediately despite showers. As the day went on this pattern repeated in most cases. We did have a few minor glitches with a couple of the super reliable Japanese cars giving problems, and only one of the Fiats!
At drivers’ briefing we had warned that anyone who went through the fence near Ranstead Road would not only have to pay for the repairs, but would also have togo and tell the farmer. This obviously worked as even though Kevin Smith managed to park his Subaru Impreza WRX somewhat carelessly against a couple of bits of countryside and then gravel rashed the roof fairly badly, he kept it between the fences and didn’t need to take the long walk to inform the land owner of any damage. Kevin is okay, wounded pride and broken car the real damage.We were again thankful for having our paramedic on duty and Trish dealt with the situation cooly and calmly as always.
We had a bunch of winners on the day, Class A was again taken out by Russell Jenkins in his Suzuki Swift with a best time of 1:01.60, Class B was won by James Post in his Honda Civic with a time of 0:58.33, Class C was led home by Simon Rollinson in his Renault Clio RS at 0:56.11 and first in Class D, and overall, was Ben Finch in his Subaru Impreza at 0:53.54. Our fastest lady was Julie Mitchell with a time of 1:06.92, and fastest Junior was Brad Martin with a best time of 1:03.16.
All in all, a great day out in the country playing with our toys. Remember that the next round is the Dual Car Sprints at Hampton Downs on Sunday 4th September.
Ciao,
Campbell
Series Coordinator,
FIAT CLUB WAIKATO TARMAC SERIES
Bent Sprint Results
August 14th, 2011
Fifty three competitors disregarded what appeared to be unsuitable weather for our autocross today and headed for Hampton Downs MotorSport Park to again challenge the skid pan. The team of helpers set out an interesting, and sufficiently tight course to give all vehicle types a decent area to have a play in. Some of the tighter areas were obviously going to suit the small cars, but the bigger cars also had room to stretch their legs a little. A reconnaissance run in 3 groups gave all a chance to see the correct route before we launched into the first timed run. In general the surface was very wet, traction was tenuous for most, but the rain stopped almost as soon as we got underway and times improved as the surface finally started to dry out, so much so that the first round saw the final runner, Richard Sutherland, fastest in his BMW 3 Series. The second run was dry and times began to tumble, and by the time the third run came around competitors had a good feel for the surface and again the times took a battering.
In the end our overall winner, and winner of our smallest Class A was Russell Jenkins in his Suzuki Swift. Russell has been a regular with us for a while and this is his first round win. Second was JJ Strydom in his smokey Corolla, also being the fastest Junior and top in Class B. Class C was taken out by Craig Russell in his Honda Integra, and Class D was won by Chris McPhail in his Nissan Pulsar GTiR. Our top women was Julie Mitchell, and fastest Fiat was Lee Sinkinson in his Fiat Tipo Sedicivalvole.
All in all, a great day was had by all who got out of bed early and made their way to the superb venue. Rain was something we only saw very briefly, although several Hamilton competitors reported travelling through hail on the way to the event.
Look forward to seeing you all at the 3rd round at Hiwi Road on Sunday 14 August.
Campbell
Results of Autocross
July 11th, 2011
Well, the first event of the new series is done and dusted. It was great to be using a venue that is designed for motorsport. No worries about neighbours, no worries about damaging the surface because it is designed to be skidded on, no worries about distracting passing traffic because we were far enough away to not cause those problems. Having a motorsport friendly venue with great staff made everyone’s life easy, so we could all just play and enjoy ourselves - all 55 of us.
What a great variety of vehicles we had too. James Watson turned up in what is a pretty unique little car, a Suzuki Works RS, 550cc, twin cam, turbocharged and 4WD! At the other end of the engine size scale we had a Mk 1 Cortina with a 5 litre V8, unfortunately it didn’t complete the day. For standard cars it was great to have Ian Munnings from the Alfa Romeo Owners Club come and play in his bog standard 147, and we also had interesting devices such as Susan Hall’s Renault 5 Turbo and Simon Rollinson’s Renault Clio. To top it all off we had the spectacular Porsche 911 of Oscar Stevens, thrown around with gay abandon, and his son Greg was equally as spectacular. On the day Dad just beat son by about 0.3 of a point!
As for winners, well everyone that turned up obviously, but Christo Strydom in his MR2 won the day and Class B, Paul Crispe in Dad’s Mini 1275GT was 2nd overall and won Class A, Gavin Williams in a Nissan Pulsar was 4th overall won Class C and Philip Brennan in a Subaru Impreza WRX was 10th overall and won Class D. Fastest Junior was JJ Strydom, who had changed to Dad’s MR2 after he broke his Corolla, coming 15th overall, and fastest lady was Susan Hall at 30th overall. Fastest Fiat on the day was Blair Wald at 21st in his Uno Turbo. A total of 6 Fiats ran, 7 if we include the Alfa as one of the Fiat Group.
Thanks to everyone for taking part, see you all on July 10th at the same venue for the autocross. Remember to follow us on Facebook (Group Fiat Club Waikato)
Motorkhana Results
June 12th, 2011
Well,
Here we go again. Judging by the weather in Hamilton today it must be Tarmac Series time. This year we don’t have a Series Sponsor so the series will be known as the Fiat Club Waikato Tarmac Series.
50 people turned up to play today despite the weather and the unfortunate clash with a sprint that some Hamilton Car Club members attended. As is usual with our motorkhanas for this series we started gently with a Slalom and a Clover Leaf. We had an almost perfect first round so for their second runs people started looking to get some early advantage. As we also expect, Minis and other small front wheel drive cars are in their element when the going is tight. I did have to discourage one of the drivers of a small car from setting up the cones only 8 metres apart for the slalom. The Volvo 760 run by Mark Empson and Ben Walker looks to be almost longer than that.
After we each had our 2 runs at the 2 courses competitors and supporters alike descended on the barbecue for sausages and bacon and egg sandwiches while 2 more courses were set up. We then had turns at tackling the Decreasing Circles and Christmas Tree tests. Towards the end of this the rain lashed us again and we decided to get the timers and helpers out of the weather so pulled the results together and presented a few prizes.
Overall the day was won by Stuart Cannan from Pukekohe Car Club in his Civic also taking out Class B. Second and third were also Pukekohe Car Club members Paul Crispe and Cristo Strydom. First in Class A, and 5th overall was Ben Taylor in his Mini, first in Class C, and 7th overall was Heath Simone in his Peugeot 205 GTI, beating the first Class D car of Nik Lowther in his turboed MX5 one place behind. 18th overall was David Middlemiss, our first Junior in his Peugeot 106, or should I say Dad’s 106. David was the first of 11 Juniors, exactly the sorts of numbers we wish to see at every round.
So here we are into it again. Next month is the autocross, venue to be confirmed. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in July and beyond.
Ciao,
Campbell
Motorkhana Results
June 13th, 2010
Well,
A fine day while it rained on the taxis in Australia. The finale of the series was a superb day that ran as any organiser would hope, no cars off the road, no work for the ambulance, and lots of very happy looking players. 44 people started the day, but we were soon reduced by a couple, Alan Smith in his Subaru Legacy again breaking his gearbox after putting in only one run that counted. Similarly, Timo Fogelberg in his Mitsubishi VR4 soon had trouble with a slipping clutch. A couple of MX5 drivers went home after one run to watch Bathurst.
Allen Fretwell turned up in his Subaru Legacy RSRA with a fresh paint job that looks pretty sharp, and a new motor and turbo that are certainly pumping out some horsepower. He laid down the gauntlet in practice with a sub 55 second run. It seemed to work as times crept down all day, with some quite remarkable improvements during the day.
At the end of competition Allen Fretwell was fastest, with Alan Smith 3 seconds behind him, and top series competitor. Fastest Junior was again David Middlemiss, followed by Bradly Martin. Fastest woman was Nakita Stevenson in her Evo 7RS, followed by Kerryn Sutherland in Dad’s Toyota Levin second just ahead of Lenare Martin. Russell Jenkins won Class A in his Suzuki Swift, Christo Strydom was fastest in Class B in his Toyota MR2, Darcy Meier won Class C in his Civic and Allen Fretwell won Class D. Fastest Fiat was Blair Wald in his Uno Turbo, a well sorted little car.
It has been a great series, so well supported by almost 130 different competitors and well over 30 who did 4 or 5 rounds. Thanks to everyone who competed, and especially to the helpers throughout the series. A big thanks to everyone who made it possible for me to compete as well as co-ordinate the series.
See you all at prize giving, I will send an email during the week as we have decided that 29th October is unsuitable with Targa in progress.
Ciao,
Campbell
Series Coordinator,
TENG TOOLS TARMAC SERIES
Hillclimb Results
October 11th, 2009
Hi,
Finally I have the results. Rick Liefting and I slaved away for a couple of hours trying to make sense of the numbers, finally got it all together and the results are attached. Wonderful what a different set of eyes and a different way of thinking brings to the data set. Think about how many numbers there were to work on, 60 cars each doing 17 laps = over 1000 lap times to check.
Where it shows MISTIME your time was either far too fast or unreasonably slow for you. Other than that a great day’s racing was had by most.
It fascinates me that despite building in an extra hour into our timetable we still had people arriving late to scrutineering and documentation at the track. Despite that Ian briefed only slightly late, and similarly we started only slightly late. Once underway with Practice the timers got into the swing of things and it became reasonable to ask them to time 8 cars at once. This is done by 2 people, and this year one had never done it before, so a great thanks to Rick and Shona, and the others who put in an appearance in the timing tower to help out.
After our wet practice the weather was basically kind to us for the rest of the day and we had the times steadily improve as the day went on.
Phil Grey showed that gradual development and plenty of seat time on the track paid dividends and he came out our overall winner. He was followed closely by Brett Perry who was fastest Series competitor. Another new to the series this year is Mike Hindmarsh in his fabulous BMW M Coupe.
Winner of Class A was Russell Jenkins in his Suzuki Swift, Class B was won by Steve Wilcock in his very rapid Toyota AE86 - don’t expect us to believe you haven’t driven since January, I have heard the Porsche thunder past home, Class C was taken by Brett Perry and Phil Grey was our Class D winner.
Fastest Lady at the track was Julie Mitchell in her Toyota Trueno, and top Junior was again David Middlemiss in the Peugeot. Second was Bradly Martin whose family do so much to support our series, it’s always great to have them do well.
There were a few youngsters who all performed magnificently on the track, in particular we had 3 first timers on the track in Hannah Lowther sharing Dad’s Mazda MX5, actually competing in our series for the 1st time, Leigh Mitchell in his shared Starlet and Jack Batchelor in the smallest car running, a 903 cc Fiat 127.
Campbell
Results of Dual Car Sprints
September 17th, 2009
Despite the wind and rain trying to spoil our day, 25 hardy souls, with about 15 even hardier helpers, spent their day having a skid on Ruapuke Road near Te Mata. After last year’s serious accident just beyond the finish line it was decided to extend the course onto a short uphill section. This met with universal approval, and for the first time in a little while our second to last competitor, disturbingly the same one who crashed heavily last year, did not fall off. In fact, despite the weather, there was only one off, and it was minor.
We promise we will try for the road in February or March next year, hopefully the weather will be better.
I must say I enjoyed my day out despite getting very wet helping with the cleanup.
TENG TOOLS Tarmac Series is not far away, regulations just need final approval of a couple of venues, then we will be into it.
Ciao,
Campbell
Results for the Day.
May 17th, 2009
After a miserable Saturday in the Waikato, cool temperatures, a hint of fog and generally fine weather greeted us at the Wintec Avalon Drive campus on Sunday morning. A total of 52 competitors turned up to take part in a lap and a half autocross on a good tar seal surface. We were again treated to a vast variety of vehicles, from the minimalistic Daihatsu Charade through to the thundering 5.8 litre Ford V8s in a couple of cars. Naturally we had all possible drive configurations and including at least one automatic transmission, and just about every form of internal combustion engine including a rotary - but no diesel unfortunately.
There were a couple of small corps of cars in the forms of 5 Mazda MX 5s and a similar number of Honda Civics in particular.
Competition was hot from the start, with Paul Harvie laying down the gauntlet with an opening run in the 50 second range. From that point on there were a couple of chargers looking to better him, but at no stage up to his finishing his last run was he bettered. However, Daryl Webster kept a final ace up his sleeve and popped a sub 49 second run to take overall honours for the day, and with it a 3/8 drive torque wrench for his troubles! Paul finished second with Alan Smith in his naturally aspirated 2.2 litre Subaru Legacy a fine 3rd.
The fastest Fiat on the day was driven by Troy Bell, ably peddling his 1500 cc Fiat 128 Coupe to a fine 14th overall, with Bevan Gray 2nd Fiat in 21st. Top Junior was David Middlemiss in his Dad’s Peugeot 106, finishing 22nd overall.
Of the groups of cars, the fastest MX 5 was driven by Nik Lowther. The fastest Civic was driven by Sam Price, finishing 4th for the day.
All in all a great day. Our next event is the Hiwi Road Bent Sprint on 17 August. This has an early entry price of $60.00, with the cost rising to $80.00 after 8 August. See the earlier posts for the portfolio and entry forms.
Autocross Results.
Series Points to Date
July 13th, 2008
Another day of fine weather, although cold, attracted an oversubscribed field to Round 2 of the Fiat Club Waikato run, Toyo Tires Tarmac Series. 68 competitors ranging in age from 13 years to “over 60″ drove allsorts of vehicles covering just about every body type available. Wintec allowed us the use of their Avalon Drive campus carpark, which enabled a course of approximately 1.8km to be set up. Times started at around the 1 minute mark, but were gradually whittled away to the low 50s as the drivers gained confidence and the surface became swept clean of a fine grit that was there at the beginning of the day.
By the end of the day everyone had been offered the opportunity to have a practice and 3 timed runs. Something must be being done right, there were lots of smiles around the place, and the pit chatter suggested we had a very happy bunch of competitors.
Autocross Results.
July 15th, 2007
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