Wakefield 300 2014.

[mazmad]

Where will you refuel Chis, at your garage or on the pre grid?

[zossy1]

Where will you refuel Chis, at your garage or on the pre grid?

I think according to the regs, we either have to refuel on someone else's pit pad or on the pre grid. We can't refuel at B block.

So... That will probably depend on what race we end up in and if we can find someone in the other race willing to share a pit pad with us. Worst case scenario, we refuel on the pre grid which is no biggie...

[mazmad]

Depending on how we all qualify there should be enough of us spread across the races to work it out. Otherwise marquee from Bunnings might be a good investment

[zossy1]

Awesome event - now I know why this is the race everyone wants to enter each year.

Well done to all the winners in each class. Some great drives. Well done Daniel for getting the NC into the 5's, especially in endurance race trim, great effort.

Our own race was a sad tale, as was many others I guess... My original co driver Alex D'Onofrio came down with Salmonella poisoning on Thursday after showing great speed in the car in practice last week. Stand in co driver Steve Ka had never dríven the car before yesterday and had very limited door-to-door experience, and had no dry time in the seat after Saturday turned into a swimming lesson. He at least had this morning's warm up but that was it. So... In order to give Steve seat time, I only did a handful of laps on Saturday.

I then jumped into the car and started in the slow race with a heavy fuel load in order to do a long first stint. All was going well until around lap 12 or so, when I had an off track excursion during a passing manoeuvre...and bent the steering. I had also started with tyre pressures that were 3-4psi too high. So, for the rest of my 80 lap stint, I skated around with a car that had zero grip and was understeering like a pig.

Managed to persevere though and at the time of our stop, we were in second overall!

But... Then the fuel drum pump failed, and so we needed to jiggle syphon the fuel into the car which took a while. Then the car wouldn't restart... Finally, after a 10 minute pit stop under green, Steve went out.

The car lasted 25 more laps, and then died. Alternator failure, and it eventually ran out of electricity around 20 laps from the end. Bummer.

Still, we all had a great time and got the car home without any serious damage.

What a blast! Will be back next year for sure

[tbro]

Awesome event - now I know why this is the race everyone wants to enter each year.

Well done to all the winners in each class. Some great drives. Well done Daniel for getting the NC into the 5's, especially in endurance race trim, great effort.

Still, we all had a great time and got the car home without any serious damage.

What a blast! Will be back next year for sure

And that Chris is what racing in this type of event SHOULD be, FUN.

You might need to drive a few hours up the road in May????????

Terry

[little decks]

Had an awesome day! Having never dríven the Carbotech NC before it was all a bit of a guess for me as to where the car would run. Just can't thank Dad enough for letting me have a run and to Stuart Mcfadyen for a great drive at his first race meeting. Unfortunately for us the front left wheel bearing collapsed just at the end of Stuarts stint so our 5 minute compulsory stop took 14 minutes and I just threw everything I had at trying to make up time for the last 60 laps. Hopefully I can do more of these events and also a fantastic weekend for the MX-5 cup, I didn't race (contrary to what the timing indicated) but watched everyone out there who were all clearly having a ball.

[david_syd_au]

I didn't race (contrary to what the timing indicated) ....

Russ Maxwell had won the drive in the Deckspeed car #59 for the Saturday MX-5 Cup races, but in the timing results it shows your name.
Did Russ pay you to drive for him?
That would explain how he went so fast! :-)

[mazmad]

Wow what a day. Car went great, driver A not so much. I hadn’t worked out the Yellowspeeds, turned out we had them way too soft. Had an excursion heading up the hill after turn 3…if anyone sees our lip, could I have it back ;)

We started from the back, bags may have been a little too full of sand….
Great learning experience. Definitely investing in a proper refuelling system next time. our team did a truly fantastic job, we were only limited by the refuelling…jerry cans. Took 11 1/2 minutes for the pit stop. Over 12 from pit entry to exit.

Driving standards out there varied, a good rule to work by was don’t trust anybody unless you knew them!

And credit to Wakefield, they did a great job over the whole weekend, ran like clockwork, officials we dealt with all were spot on.

Had an absolute ball, we shall be back!

Chris (W), bummer about your issues, well done for going on as long as you could. Next time…. ;)

[zossy1]

Wow what a day. Car went great, driver A not so much. I hadn’t worked out the Yellowspeeds, turned out we had them way too soft. Had an excursion heading up the hill after turn 3…if anyone sees our lip, could I have it back ;)

I think I have some great video of this excursion... Might help you find your lip? ;) Was exciting from my angle!

Chris (W), bummer about your issues, well done for going on as long as you could. Next time…. ;)

Thanks - yeah it happens, still had a great time and the car will be fine with a bit of work. I second your comment about the officials - a very well run event and professional all round.

[MX5CupRacing]

oops...

[mazmad]

I think I have some great video of this excursion... Might help you find your lip? ;) Was exciting from my angle!

lol sure!

Yeah not used to these shocks yet, way too soft, they were bottoming out hard on turn 3 on the rhs wheel, I guess effectivley braking the right front corner (was rubbing at the top of the arch). Caught me that time ;)

[Celluloid Retina]

THAT... WAS... AWESOME!

I'm still buzzing from the races on the weekend, but the 300 was another level!

It was a bit of a weekend of first's for me, first race Saturday, into first enduro Sunday - I couldn't have had more fun. It was so good to be a part of the Deckspeed team and see from the inside what goes into campaigning an enduro. Throwing strategy and pitstops, refuelling, teamwork etc. into the mix just elevates the whole thing!

It was a shame that we had the wheel-bearing problem at the end of my stint because we could have been in with a chance for a really good outright result. Handing over to Chris was a real eye opener, he drove like a man possessed for the last hour and a half making up more than 10 positions and un-lapping us twice, great to see what a car you've just hopped out of is really capable of!

Big thanks to the guys at Deckspeed for giving me the opportunity to have a go at the 300, it was a fair bit of trust they put in me to let me start one of their cars, especially with not much prior experience. Everyone was nothing but supportive and encouraging through the whole process.

I'm still boring colleagues well into the afternoon with the replays on www.motorsportstv.com.au pointing out the little silver smudge in the back of shot "that's me!... aaaaaand that's me!"

Stuart

[zossy1]

lol I know how you feel!

Just for you Craig

http://youtu.be/wDuUhOZAf3A

[mazmad]

Gee thanks

[brendanstacey]

lol @ the mychron4 being used. I was contemplating that myself before but just bought a solo.

Funny that with the Lotus clean sweep on the podium. Although I would rather have seen another Lotus on the top step instead...