2014 NSW Supersprint Championship

[guss]

Round 2 of the NSW Supersprint Championship was held today at the Sydney Motorsports Park - GP Circuit. It was a great day at the track, perfect conditions with cool temperatures and a dry track all day. I managed to drop a whopping 4.5s of my previous PB and had a couple of fantastic runs following Glenn Thomas in his supercharged NB8B and Bryan Shedden in his 10AE (aka 'Boiling Bluey' ).

[greenMachine]

Yes, a good day.

Shook down the refreshed racecar, I wasn't very confident so took the first session very carefully, then had a fuel issue (ie, I forgot to refuel) in the second session so lost a full sessions running .

However, things got better as the day went on, and I ended with a PB, can't ask more than that - oh wait, yes I can, I knocked off the class win too! That has put those pesky MW people back in their place, especially with David taking second .

I have David breathing down my neck ... will have to up my game to keep ahead of him, looks like it will be a good year!!

[greenMachine]

Thanks Gus for starting this thread. This series deserves a thread, there are so many members of the forum competing, and there is so much close competition, it should get a lot more promotion than it does.

As a slightly more 'serious' version of club track days - the format is the same, just lots of different cars rather than mostly MX5s - it is a logical and easy way to step up.

Supersprints have an image of being a stepping stone, but it was interesting that during the presentation of 2013 awards last night, one of the winners said that as the level of competition was so high, the driving so good, and the camaraderie so great, he did not feel any need to look any further. Having competed off and on since 2006, I know what he means.

Sadly, for 2014, this is a bit academic for anyone who has not already registered. No doubt partly related to the comments above, registrations have been closed for 2014 at 200 registrants and both rounds so far have been oversubscribed.

There is an early bird registration period for registrants for championship rounds, so that means non-registrants have to pick up the crumbs, and I guess that most organising clubs have some sort of preference for their members. For those on here, that means your best shot of an entry is the round hosted by the MX5 club on 7 September, otherwise you will have to be very quick to enter the other rounds. Watch the Club emails or http://www.supersprints.com.au/ and be quick. For those who get in, you will not regret it . For those who don't, come along and watch, or better still volunteer to help out Mike and his team! With the big field expected, I know they will appreciate it!!

And tell david_syd_au you want to be on his mailing list for notification of the opening of registrations for 2015.



Yes, I know there is another thread, but that is mainly about numbers

[greenMachine]

Way to go MX5! On ARDC's home turf, we clawed back to 15 points behind them (829 to 814, outscoring them by 40 points in Rd2) - vengeance for our 7 point loss to ARDC last year appears possible!!

Rd 2 results

1B Stewart and Bryan 1st and 2nd, Mitchell 4th
1D Mike 2nd

2A Tony, Scott, Jim - 1st, 3rd and 4th
2B Ralph and Russ demolished the Lotus for 1st and 2nd, Robert 4th, then a Honda and an MGB (!), followed by John and Adam. Way to go Ralph and Russ, but guys, an MGB
2C was a bit of a Porkerfest, but Luke in his SE brought home 20 valuable points in 6th though Mel was not a starter unfortunately.

We missed Kevin in 3B and Neville in 3C, the upside was that ARDC scored no points there.

4B Ed and David took 1st and 2nd followed by 2 Manly Warringah MX5s

We missed Phil in 5B, but again ARDC was not there to capitalise

6A saw Tony and Glenn 3rd and 4th

SVB had Mike and Gus 2nd and 3rd
SVD saw Mike in his Skyline bring us 19 points.

Bring on Round 3, on the EC 'north' circuit, next month!

My entry is in, is yours?



Note: points are 25 for the class win, 24 for 2nd, all the way down. Type points are (I think) the same, which advantages people with faster bigger engine cars, as you score points for both your class and type - the fastest driver in Type 1 will score 25 points, plus 25 points for winning his class, and his(her) club gets 50 points. So our club punches well above its weight to have been, and be, so successful over so many years.

[Guran]

Top day! Finally, after three months of grief with my "new" 10AE, I managed to get through the day with no major issues. It looks like the main cause of all my overheating problems was a sticking thermostat ... again! This was a brand new genuine Mazda thermostat too. I've also fitted a 52mm Cooling Pro radiator (thanks Hellmun!) I ran on my old set of 185/60R14 RE11S R-specs, but they're now ready for the bin. One tyre is down to the canvas and another has large chunks ripped out of it.

My best lap and new PB was 1:57.8552 . Thrilled with that! I had three other laps that were within 0.06s of that: 1:57.9183, 1:57.8808, 1:57.8671. One of those would have been about 0.2s faster but I couldn't find 5th gear on the main straight with only a hundred metres or so to go . My previous best in Little Reddy was 1:59.2883 way back on 14 August 2011. I've only had two days on the GP circuit in the last two years and couldn't crack a 1:59 on the R888s I was using then.

Thanks for the video Gus. I tried to carry a bit too much speed through there and could see I was going off, so opted for a safe exit. I've uploaded a few videos too, including a short one of that same spin at turn 6.

My fastest lap of 1:57.85


Spin at turn 6. I couldn't engage any gear after this spin, but after sitting there for 30 seconds, it slotted first and off I went again.


Spin at turn 18

[zero00]

The NB is looking good Bryan!! well done to all

[david_syd_au]

Three cheers for the MX-5 Club drivers at the supersprint. It was great effort by all to pull back the ARDC lead in the championship. The next round is on the SMSP North Circuit, which is not very MX-5 friendly, so we need a big effort with as many club members as possible entering to help score maximum points.

Now, I'll join the club and post a PB video as well. This was the last lap of the day, and without some untidiness at turns 2, 6 and 18, it might have been the 0.07s faster that I needed to beat Ed on the day for first in class 4B. Next time Edward!



Also for giggles, here is Luke in his silver MX-5 at turn 2 on a warm-up lap, demonstrating what a nice young man he is by moving over and letting his elders past. I show appropriate respect with my response as I go by :-) Thanks Luke!

[greenMachine]

Nice video David. Bit squirrelly in a couple of places but a good lap.I may have to lift my game ...

That is what I enjoy - the pressure of someone breathing down my neck! As you know my pot for last year was a result of consistency rather than being the quickest which I don't value as highly as a hard-fought battle in close competition - win or lose, but preferably win

Bring it on! !!



By the way my description of how the club points are calculated is wrong - I think that only the class points count for the club.

[guss]

Round 3 of the NSW Supersprint was held today at the Sydney Motorsport Park - North Circuit. The day started with a massive oil spill that stretched around the whole circuit, the cleaning operation taking the best part of one hour. It was a day of long waiting, with 120 participants spread in 10 groups, meaning that each run was 2 hours apart and at the end of the day most of us only had 3 runs, which as a bit disappointing, to say the least.

On a positive note, I set a PB of 1:19.534

[greenMachine]

Not the best day ... I was a full second off my PB, but still cracked the class win, and a class record (I think). It was a pity that David was carrying an old injury and couldn't give his best shot today - get well soon David, we look forward to seeing you kick a few goals next round!

I lost my power steer belt through T1 and the TWO spares I had were both the wrong size. The steering was a total all-in wrestle without it, yet I still set my best time in that condition

[david_syd_au]

Not the best day ... I was a full second off my PB, but still cracked the class win, and a class record (I think). It was a pity that David was carrying an old injury and couldn't give his best shot today - get well soon David, we look forward to seeing you kick a few goals next round!

I lost my power steer belt through T1 and the TWO spares I had were both the wrong size. The steering was a total all-in wrestle without it, yet I still set my best time in that condition

I noticed after your last run that when you came back in you sat in the car and looked quite pooped, presumably from muscling the steering without power assistance. But if it goes faster that way, maybe it is time to invest in the patented Charles Atlas chest expander? :-)
Sorry I didn't give you decent competition, with my stuffed knee, and also with something deranged in the front end of my car causing it to dart about unpredictably under brakes, but lookout next month! My main regret is that Mr Croft from MWCC beat me as well, depriving our club of a few extra points. However, we are back in the lead, with the MX-5 club ahead of the ARDC by just 4 points (1226 to 1222).

We need a big turnout at the next round at the SMSP extended circuit to extend that lead, so if you are registered in the championship, please consider entering for that round ASAP. At the driver breifing on Sunday we were told that entries are still open, but I don't expect that will last much longer.

[oztrackdays]

Will be using my bride of Frankenstein Honda MX5 little bit of confusion on Class I am either SVC or 5D
both should be pretty comical competition.

So little chance of points, but I am too cheap to join multiple clubs so would be going to ARDC in the unlikely
event I trouble the scoreboard.

[david_syd_au]

.. but I am too cheap to join multiple clubs so would be going to ARDC ...

Well, that's just not cricket ... I dis-encourage you to enter!

[Luke]

Well I had an interesting day.
Was a mere 0.02 of a second off my best which does not tell the story at all.

The new suspension setup was causing issues that were impossible to tune out with just shock settings.

I had awesome turn in, great control under brakes, but had rubbish drive/traction out of tight corners and shocking stability in high speed corners.
Turn 1 was lots of fun between 170-180 km/h with sliding!
I think I need a bigger front sway bar(costs money) or smaller rear(free). Still have the standard SE ones.

[greenMachine]

Will be using my bride of Frankenstein Honda MX5 little bit of confusion on Class I am either SVC or 5D
both should be pretty comical competition.

So little chance of points, but I am too cheap to join multiple clubs so would be going to ARDC in the unlikely
event I trouble the scoreboard.

Registered?