Club Track Day Round 6

27 May 2018 / Words by Lindsay Green, Photos by Rob Wilkins

Having not felt like I or Josh were in our groove with Motorsport for the last year (but that’s another story)... we were hoping for a much improved 2018.... between then and now & our last time at SMSP south circuit being November 2017 (poor tyre choice due to a heavy rain forecast that didn’t eventuate)... and between this day and the track day on 22nd April, I was gearing up to the Easter Regularity... Feeling like we were finally kicking some goals we were looking forward to this day but due to heavy personal schedule we’d decided 4 runs each was the max we would do....

Loading the car with the little light left on the Saturday afternoon, we aimed for an early night to be on the road at 5:15am. An uneventful 2 hour trip down from Newcastle and ease of unloading, registering and scrutineering was a breeze thanks to the team of happy volunteers keeping all the entrants in check... only thing left was to head out on the track.

Group 1 went out, to be back in under red flag as the Cobra was towed back in with day ending steering issues... and by the time my group was heading out for our first run (also to be called back in for an MX-5 in front of me that had got caught in the kitty litter)... by the end of round 1, I’d already broken my best time but that was not where it ended... continuing on round after round, I’d taken 1.349 seconds off to get into the 1:09... Josh even bested his time with just under 0.2 seconds shaved off.

The conditions for the day were perfect, cool and sunny with plenty of opportunity to have a great time behind the wheel with the plus-side of besting your times. It was a shame to pack up early as for many these extra rounds usually assist to wipe more time off before heading home. On reflection of these days, I always know where I can improve and we’ll be focused on future track days to achieve the mind and body balance that is required to create PB’s…. we’re looking forward to a year of breaking PBs.

How could I not have a shout out to the ladies… there were fewer of us there on that day but I tell you what…. Not one of us were frowning! Go Girls:

• Yuki Yu shaving over 4 seconds off her previous time to achieve in the 1:14’s

• Stephanie Rochford-Cole achieving 1:09’s on her first time at SMSP South Circuit

• Keiran Taylor wiping off huge time later in the day to achieve 1:14’s in the Director! She was also suffering with sinus too!

Of course, not forgetting about the men, some awesome results!

• Fastest time of the day went to Curran Brennan with a 1.02.591, then Russ Maxwell with 1.02.934 followed by Blake Rochford-Cole with a 1.03.708!

• Bryan Shedden cracking the 1.05s after the last 3 SMSP days in the 1.06s

• Charlie Simon (junior participant) achieving 1.07s (beating his Dad in 1.08s – same car)! What a massive improvement and you are obviously loving the NC!

After Round 6, the leaders of the club championship classes are as follows:

1 – Std road-reg NA & NB                                                 Michael DeMaio

2 – Std road-reg NC & NB SE                                           Bryan Shedden

3 – Std road-reg ND                                                           Luke Kovacic

4 – Road-reg NA & NB Clubman                                      Jamie Martin

5 – Road-reg NA & NB Super Clubman                            John Karayannis

6 – Road-reg Modified NA & NB, max 100kW                  Gustavo Elias

7 – Road-reg Modified NC & ND, max 110kW                 Andrew Digney

8 – Road-reg Modified Turbo MX-5                                 Joshua Fitzgerald

9 – Normally aspirated MX-5 race cars                            Malcolm Steel

10 – Turbo/SC MX-5 race cars & MX-5 on slicks             Russ Maxwell

11 - Non-MX-5s                                                                Richard Herring

Ladies MX-5                                                                     Lindsay Green

You can check out the results for the 83 participants from the day by clicking HERE.

Even with the hold ups of the occasional vehicle recovery, the whole day was run very smoothly from start to finish thanks to the efforts of all the volunteers. From the organisers behind the scenes to the army of flaggies, scrutineers, registration, control tower and dummy grid, without them we would not be enjoying spectacular events like these!

This is where we encourage many others to volunteer, you may be local to the area and have some free time, if so we encourage you to give back to the club that provides so much for it’s members. The old adage of many hands makes light work is very true and it’s a great opportunity to meet new people and make friends as well as having a terrific time!

On a personal note, I feel honoured to participate in this club’s motorsports events.... even better when you improve on your own times and have great camaraderie with fellow participants!

Click here for Rob Wilko's complete photo album