In what seemed to be something that you never thought was going to happen, finally a full racing season was announced, and the excitement started to build for round one of the Aussie Racing Cars with Supercars at Sydney Motorsport Park.

But the race didn’t start when we got to the track, the team was racing to get modifications done to make the car more competitive over the season with the biggest being an upgrade to a water-cooled engine instead of the older air-cooled engine. Fitting the engine was the easy bit, but a hold up in parts to complete the conversion meant we received the engine the day before the race and with the conversion that needed to be carried out in wiring and installing new components really pushed us to have it finished just as it was about to be pushed in the trailer and transported to the track.

All Hands on deck to get ready and racing!

A quick check over the car and it was time for the practice session of the race weekend. With any practice session its not just a chance to dial in the car and driver for the race weekend, it’s a great time to bed in fresh brakes and take care of any issues before the event. Only one minor issue plagued us with the throttle cable dislodging itself and only giving ¾ throttle, but I was still able to come in at 15th out of 27 fierce competitors.

With the car back in the pits we carried out any necessary repairs, put our fast setup in on what looked to be a dry day and pushed out for qualifying with spirits very high in the team, but as we sat on the out grid and the 1 minute whistle blew a storm raced through the area and soaked the track, not giving us enough time to fine tune for the wet meaning a slow qualifying run and a trip to the back of the grid to 23rd, an unfortunate turn of events meaning our weekend wasn’t going to be as easy as we hoped.

Eyes and ears were forward for race one, we had to nail the setup and drive like hell to gain spots, and as the weather twisted and turned all day, we decided to go for a setup that would compliment the conditions being either wet or dry, a move that worked to our advantage as I drove from 23rd and finished 15th in race one, an 8 spot gain in grid places.

Day one finished and it was time to clean the car down, check over everything and pack up ready for the Saturday, and by the time the morning broke we were greeted to clear blue skies and a slick track with only some corners affected by water drain off from the night before.

Keeping with the same mentality with our half and half setup, our goal was to crack it into the top ten to get us back in position for the last 2 races of the weekend, and whilst I was able to shoot forward into 9th having the car dialled in for all conditions proved not enough to hold the spot, dropping back to 11th on the last lap. Finishing in 10th would have meant we started race 3 in pole position due to the reverse grid, but not to worry as we were happy we gained 12 spots in two races to put us in a fighting chance.

Small setup changes as the track stayed dry for the day were made to make the car a missile and all hopes were high as we rolled out for race 3 on the Saturday, but our luck unfortunately decided to run out as off the start I launched off the line at the same time my left axle sheered it self in half, stopping me dead in my tracks and sending me back to pit lane, A DNF followed along with a bruised ego. Fixing the axle was easy with a replacement slotted in the spot in no time, packed and cleaned up the car and got ready for the final day on Sunday for our last race.

The weather had been plaguing us all weekend, but mother nature finally made up its mind and stuck with a wet and drenching Sunday. Our biggest worry was not the race itself but if we would be able to race at all, with parts of the track under water the racing was held back until all necessary part of the track were fixed for the event.

Due to our DNF we were starting from grid spot 16th, it was make or break to get back to where we needed to be, and with a fantastic start I was able to push into the top ten by turn 2 on the opening lap. Being a wet track, our car did suffer from some disadvantages compared to the new spec cars as the have a wider wheelbase and rear track of 50mm wider, meaning getting the grip down when needed proved to be difficult, but as we battled around (and got some great Tv time doing so) we came back in a humbling 14th spot which placed us 15th total for the weekend.

Just another day in paradise at the racetrack!

With round one being done the team sets it sights on our next round In Tasmania on the 25th -27th of march with Supercars and can’t wait to get back in the car to do it all again!

Aussie Racing Car Round One Report 2022