Neil Martin took his TR7V8 out for the Modern Regularity event on Sunday 28th June and whilst he enjoyed the first couple of runs, including placing 3rd in Run 1, he became increasingly frustrated with traffic that made consistency difficult. So rather than just try to be “regular” as it were, he decided to see if he could improve on his previous best lap time. With regularity out the window, Neil posted a best lap time for the day in Run 4 with a 1:31.57 – improving with each outing . . . . good on ya Neil!

The MSCA Sprint series was back in full swing with Round 2 held on Sunday 5th July. The weather was cold, and the rain held off until mid afternoon, so we enjoyed a reasonable day at the track after waiting since Round 1 way back in March. The 6-Hour Relay was held in between, but some of us didn’t run in that, so it has been a long wait.

We had three Triumphs out for a fang, Rod Carey’s GT6, Neil Martin’s TR7V8 and Roger Lange’s GT6. Rod has a relatively new engine in his car, and whilst it is not an overly powerful unit at this time, it is sufficient for Rod to get used to the car, which is quite a different handful from the AMI Spitfire that he has punted over recent times. Rod best lap for the day produced a time of 1:27.02 and a big smile!

Neil Martin’s day got off to a shaky start after arriving at Mallala only to find that he had left some important stuff at home and had to go back to Adelaide to get it. He was last through scrutineering, but then put his mind to track work and improving on his previous best time – which he did! 1:30.80 – now to break into the 1:29’s!

I had a good day as well, qualifying 3rd quickest and placing 3rd after the first sprint with a best of 1:19.98 even though the cold conditions produced some significant under steer in my little GT6 – something I wasn’t used to, as the car has had very good turn in up to now. I can only put it down to the cold, and to a slippery track, and efforts to adjust tyre pressures didn’t do much for the next run. Some confusion in form-up saw me lose my position at the front of the grid for the start of the second run, but it was good fun chasing and overtaking much of the field. Not good from a fast lap time perspective however. And then it rained . . . . definitely not good for a car on slicks. A high percentage of cars on road tyres did go out in the rain however, with the drivers enjoying the challenge of car control at speed in wet conditions. Round 3 of the Sprint series is set for 16th August.

Tom Hutchinson continues his racing in the Victorian Circuit Racing Series with a great performance in Round 3 held at Sandown over the weekend of 18th / 19th July. With two qualifying sessions, Tom placed 4th and 1st but I am not sure if that meant he had pole position for Race 1 or not. I can only presume that grid positions were based on the fastest time overall. Whatever, Tom produced an excellent result for Race 1 surrounded by Porsches, a Lamborghini, Maserati and other exotics, with a 2nd place and a best lap of 1:17.08 – anyone who knows Sandown will agree that this is very fast! Tom continued his good form with 3rd places in the following two races. A great weekend that sees Tom sit at equal 2nd on the championship table with one race meeting to go – Phillip Island later in the year. Go Tom!

Team GT6 is off to Wakefield Park for the All British Race Meeting set for 3rd August, preceded by a Super Sprint on the Saturday 2nd Aug run by the Austin Healey Club for the CSCA (the NSW version of MSCA). Trevor Lindsay, Rod Carey and myself are all looking forward to this great weekend of club level motorsport – full report in next month’s issue of TRak. NB – TRak editor Richard and his brother are also making the trip to experience the fun and report back to the TSOA membership.

Full details of all upcoming events can be found on the Competition Calendar found elsewhere under this tab.

That’s enough from me . . . see you trackside!

Roger