Wakefield 300 2014.

zossy1 · Postby **zossy1** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 9:42 pm

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

I'm poor, what can I say?

Besides, I had a Mychron 4 w/GPS sitting in the garage, and when I priced a circuit-based GPS lap timer, I couldn't justify the expense.

brendanstacey · Postby **brendanstacey** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 11:06 pm

So you had a spare? Makes sense then - I wouldve had to take it on and off the kart.

Postby **mx5racing** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 2:00 pm

A fantastic weekend for the TargaRacing team at the Valvoline Wakefield 300. We ran 6 cars in the 2 events and came away with some great results including a race win for Adam Dodd and Terry Nightingale in the B Main Race in a NC and a 4th in the Main Race with Brian Anderson and Gerry Murphy in the M3.

The M3 with Brian at the wheel was leading the race with only 25 odd laps to go when a incident on track called for the safety car to be deployed at which point whilst slowing, he was hit by the vehicle behind. This caused damage to the rear bumper which then resulted in a meatball flag being issued and a trip to the pits to remove the remainder of the bumper.

Other great results for us included David and Rob Viner finishing 5th outright and 2nd in class in the Targa Racing NC just behind our great mates from Qld, Peter and Robyn Lacy. They were just ahead of Paul Shacklady and Anthony Carter in the Targa Racing BMW 130 who finished 6th outright and 3rd in class. The other NC of Nick the Greek and Greg Quince was running very strong in the top 3 when it was used a brake by the car behind and this cracked the exhaust. It battled on for a few more laps however the crack spread causing damage to the wiring and it had to retire.

Our other car the Toyota 86 finished a strong 8th place outright and 5th in class. This was the cars first endurance race and apart from a few battle scars performed faultlessly all day.

I can't thank our team enough for their great work, in particular Zane for his tireless efforts before, during and after the event. Also big thanks to Stuart, Andrew, Mitch and the boys for their help during the pitstops.

As always it was great to catch up with all our Vic and Qld mates and those from NSW we only see now and again.

Cal · Postby **Cal** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:04 pm

Who was the dickwad in the NC dicing for the lead of the B main race on the final lap, while being many laps down on the leaders? That was gold. I lol'ed.

little decks · Postby **little decks** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:11 pm

Cal wrote:Who was the dickwad in the NC dicing for the lead of the B main race on the final lap, while being many laps down on the leaders? That was gold. I lol'ed.

That was me... don't really appreciate being called a dickwad... Unfortunately we had lost all of the time in the pits as the front wheel hub collapsed and I wasn't sure how many laps I was down... and I sure as hell wasn't going to give up, but hey if that is how you think I should go racing you can PM me for my phone number and we can speak about how much of a dickwad I am.

You would note if you check natsoft that I was consistently 2 seconds a lap quicker than the leaders, and even quicker again in the wet...

Cal · Postby **Cal** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:17 pm

LOL relax...... really it was you? You should know better man. Your dad is a mate of mine and I reckon he'd have thought that was as ridiculous as I did. Anyway, sorry for calling you a dickwad.

You guys were fast no doubt. At 1.08s, why weren't you in the main race?

little decks · Postby **little decks** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:24 pm

Cal wrote:LOL relax...... really it was you? You should know better man. Your dad is a mate of mine and I reckon he'd have thought that was as ridiculous as I did. Anyway, sorry for calling you a dickwad.

You guys were fast no doubt. At 1.08s, why weren't you in the main race?

My Dad was extremely happy with how I drove... he was on the pitwall encouraging me to push, along with the rest of the team.

We entered the B race because the car we drove has a standard 2l engine with an exhaust, intake and tune from Deckspeed racing and had only ever been able to crack a mid 11 at Wakefield on the tyres that had been used, I had never dríven the car before and due to the weather on Saturday I had no idea of what I could do in the dry we nominated div 4 as a guess but thought we would struggle to even get into the 10s, the first dry run I had was when I drove out of the pits for the race... During the race we were in a good spot and Dad and Michael decided that if we put some of the old Michelin slicks they werent using for the A race on the car we might have a shot... We did that and they were still shocked I got into the 1:08s... but I only did 1 lap under a 1:09.

little decks · Postby **little decks** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:29 pm

And I should add again... I had no idea how long over the 5 minutes we went in the pits and I had already unlapped the whole field twice in my stint... so I had no idea where I was so I raced... Adam Dodd had no idea where I was either or he wouldn't have blocked... should he have known better as well Cal?

Cal · Postby **Cal** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:30 pm

You missed the point. The last lap board was out, perhaps you didn't see it. Anyway, try and see it from my perspective and have a chuckle. You would have had to unlap yourself 7 times.... in just over a minute. :lol:

In my opinion, you should not have put their race in jeopardy.

I've have to say though, 1.08 in a car as mildly modified as you say, is a hell of a time.

little decks · Postby **little decks** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:39 pm

You missed my point... I had no idea of where I was... I did not get a blue flag at any point in my stint... I did not have any radio to let me know who was were... I had no idea how long I was in the pits for... I didn't jeopardise his race at all... I gave him a tap in the rear coming down the hill in a straight line, but backed off so as not to do so in the corner and upset his car... I then went around the outside of the fish hook instead of diving down the tiniest gap he left on the inside because it was obvious there would be contact... he ran me wide off the circuit but at the end of the day I took the outside and that was the risk I took... but how in any of that did I jeopardise his race? I can send you the video If you would like?

Cal · Postby **Cal** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:46 pm

I was going to say just drop it dude, but I'll bite. How can you "gave him a tap in the rear coming down the hill" on the final lap of a 280km race when you are 7 laps behind the leader (ok you didn't know where you were, but you sure as hell knew you weren't racing for the lead) and not put his race in jeopardy? Wasn't the only car you hit either was it?

little decks · Postby **little decks** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:51 pm

Think about how hard you could tap someone in the rear bar in a straight line in a car with comparable horsepower, it was light enough to not leave a mark on my car, I know that, if you lose control of a race car because somebody basically bump drafted you, shouldn't be out there in the first place.

SKYHI · Postby **SKYHI** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 7:33 pm

The fact that you were in the pits for 5 minutes for repairs meant that you had to be down 5 laps from the leaders by the time you rejoined. It didn't take a rocket scientist to work that out, and I'm sure you and your crew were fully aware of that. Even if you had "unlapped the whole field twice" you were well and truly out of it when it came down to the last lap dice. There's a time and place to race hard, but that wasn't it.

There's no doubt you're a handy steerer, but a couple of the moves you pulled on Sunday just weren't on. A little patience and a cool head go a long way in motorsport.

little decks · Postby **little decks** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:22 pm

Look, everyone is entitled to their opinion and whatnot, and I definitely concede that there was 1 move on a gentlemen in a BMW where I was not far enough up the inside and I backed out too late and tagged him, however the only other contact made into a corner was when a driver in the Targa Toyota 86 just turned in on me... I looked at my video and at the other car after the race and my wheel hit him square in the drivers door after I had checked up because it was clear he was oblivious to the other cars around, if you consider where the wheel hit the door, the front of my car would have been past the "A" pillar but I heard later that he was not happy and feels that I punted him off, but I defy you to find a form of motorsport where that far up the inside isn't good enough.

At the end of the day this was only my 6th or so race meeting in a car, spread over 4 years, so I am still tallying up the experience and I will take what you all think on board, but at no point over the weekend did any official feel the need to pull me aside, nor was I given any bad sportsmanship flag, I think that the decisive way that I made passes on every car in the field proved that I was for the most part patient and cool headed.

I am not really sure which moves you might think were not on but if you give me a heads up I can go and have another look at the footage.

Cheers,

Chris.

mazmad · Postby **mazmad** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 7:20 am

That was awesome, so much fun! As 300 first-timers we did some things right – and some things wrong.

We started the B race from way back, position 30 I think. Moved up 10 spots within 5 laps, and got to 5th at one point. Out crew did a truly fantastic job but due to team management’s insistence on safety and our veeeery slow refuelling system, we had a 12 minute pit stop. A few brain fades from the starting Driver didn’t help either

. But we finished 14th even with all that and on semi’s, survived with no contact, learnt a lot, and had a HUGE amount of fun.

Driving standards varied, some very good drivers, in fast and slow cars. And some shockers who defended much faster cars like it was the ‘1,000. And some who didn’t know you were there. Our approach – unless you knew them, trust no-one.

Very proud of our team, they were truly fantastic, and hopefully they will all front up again for the next one!

Don’t have any photos from John yet of the on-track action but there are some pics on flickr of the pit lane action.

Here is the flickr set:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90593207@N06/sets/72157641842217015/

Craig.
Team Nevco / CPD Racing will be back!