Mx5, Chapter 2

The American · Postby **The American** » Fri Mar 04, 2016 9:48 pm

All set up in camp at Gatton. Managed to remember the tent, but not the single pole required to erect it. Fortunately, the local home brew shop stocks tent poles...

MXO005 · Postby **MXO005** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 12:19 am

Dish the dirt.
Day in the life of a Gatton Sprinter. :shock:

Don't think I'll get to spectate tomorrow :frown:

The American · Postby **The American** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 7:02 am

MXO005 wrote:Dish the dirt.
Day in the life of a Gatton Sprinter.

Don't think I'll get to spectate tomorrow

Yep - you could grow potatoes in my nostrils right now

The American · Postby **The American** » Sun Mar 06, 2016 10:44 pm

Here's the clip of my last and best run at Gatton today:

The American · Postby **The American** » Mon Mar 07, 2016 11:43 pm

Gatton Sprints was a great experience - this is what it all looked like on Friday evening after scrutineering:

This is after I'd tracked down the single tent pole I needed for my tent, but had forgotten. Fortunately the local homebrew shop is also a camping supplies place, and were able to sort me out. It turned out I'd also forgotten to pack a spoon, which makes muesli rather tricky.

Here's the track map. It was run in the 'uphill' (clockwise) configuration, and for the first time, in a two lap arrangement which was very popular with the competitors:

On day two, there were three cars on track at a time, and it worked quite well.

My car was placed in the Sports Cars over 3 liter class due to the turbo, and there were three cars in this class. A Cobra replica with a Lexus V8 and Brett Curran of Toowoomba driving this Corvette:

At the close of day 1 (Saturday) I was in 2nd place, behind Brett by .019 seconds.

The concrete claimed two scalps over the weekend. The first was this Silvia from Rockhampton on the Saturday. I did not see this, but the sound of crunching automobile was plain:

The second was this Mini:

During the course of Sunday, Brett and I traded times until in our final runs of the day we each produced a time in the 1:15 range that was separated at the third decimal place in my favor. They did tell me the exact time time, but I don't remember it, and it has not been published yet on the Downs Motorsport Club website. This landed me the first place in the over 3 liter class.

I was very happy to also take home the outright win for Sports Cars (all capacities).

Andrew Byrne driving a Datsun Stanza was camped next to me, and had some great stories to tell; the food was impressive, and the burnout competition drew a huge crowd (I went to bed, and can confirm it was just as loud inside my tent). In all it was a very well run event, and a REALLY exciting track, for both the drivers and the spectators.

MINX · Postby **MINX** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 8:52 am

Congratulations and well done
Thanks for the write up

Stuart

The American · Postby **The American** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:46 am

Thanks Stuart,

Hopefully some inspiration for others to get out there and compete. Mx5's are pretty capable little machines, and it's fun seeing people's eyes opened to their potential. In the sports cars classes there were a nice sprinkling of Lotus, Westfield, Clubman/Caterham style, FTO and other sports oriented cars that 'should be quicker than an Mx5' - but we know better!

The quickest car for the weekend was a 2 door BMW with an LS engine swap. It was being dríven by Ben Gersekowski (Formula 3 driver) who is heading to Europe this year to drive for Lamborghini. He achieved a 1:08

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:54 am

I now regret the decision not to go

Again well done.

The American · Postby **The American** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 2:45 pm

Mark,
Maybe Wondai? :-)

After Morgan Park, what's the next driving event you have planned?

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 3:23 pm

QR – 9-10 April (Street sprints, general practice)
QR – 14 May (Jap Nats)
QR – 21 May (Street sprints)
QR – 4 June (General practice)

If work is understanding I may go to some of the mid week general practices at QR.

Depending Wondai is a possibility, will see if the family wants to go.

Still planning on the mid year Noosa Hill Climb in August.

Yourself?

speed · Postby **speed** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 5:38 pm

Well done! That Vette looks pretty sweet too.

The American · Postby **The American** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 8:41 pm

speed wrote:That Vette looks pretty sweet too.

And it sounded awesome. During one of my launches, it was going to come out of the start behind me, and all I could hear for 3/4 of the way to turn 1 was the 6.2l v8 warming the tyres. For a long moment my mx5 felt like a v8.

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:34 pm

Congratulations - I'm betting few people would have guessed that you'd even be competitive, now they know better!

The American · Postby **The American** » Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:40 pm

Magpie wrote:Yourself?

I don't know at this point - we've got three under four at home so any time I spend away is hard work for my wife.

Hopefully, a location I have not run before!