Wonthaggi 2009

[dan]

if you can say that word 3 times really fast without mistake - it magically becomes a real word

[Tim]

Happy Snaps is all I've had time to do so far...
http://www.expatsracing.com/results/Wonthaggi-2009/index.html

[dan]

i was told i had to tweak them for some extra speed !!!
good lot of varied pics there tim.

[Harry]

Congratulations to Tru Blu for their win. They've been chassing it for a few years now and the rest of you did't make it easy for them. Really good racing and some exelent stearing by teams.
Yes, there were the usual few touch ups from different people, but overall I felt that the racing from all competators was very good.
Just a few comments,
Dan, I think you picture is of one of the hill people, The ones causing the trouble don't look that good.
Finno, I knew I was in trouble Thursday when the dunnie truck didn't arrive.
I'm the resident "Kenny" and kept them as good as possible without dedicating myself solely to that task.
An interesting thing about that though, the Perminent toilets were kept cleaner by the users this year than they usually are when the truck is there. Just roll wrappers and the odd wet roll in general. An a couple of nasties!. Good gob every one.
Ducky, I spent some of my time at T1 and it was interesting to watch the quicks manouver that corner. The understeer of most of the quick bikes was sevier and I'm not supprised you only got that time out of the tyres, and roadway temp has a lot to play with it too.

Congrat's to everyone, Committee Debrief will be interesting.

PS. It did rain, even if it was only for about a minute.

[Gareth]

Happy Snaps is all I've had time to do so far...
http://www.expatsracing.com/results/Wonthaggi-2009/index.html

good Photo's there tim & a nice shot of Dan The Man and his Fast Boobies..... just the look on his face LOL!!!!!

[dan]

i rest my case re: wonthaggi.
harry, you're a genious.

[Stainless]

Oh yeah... well... I, er, um... I refuse to do another gallery or report until we win another race, yeah that's the ticket

but taz is ages away! so are u saying casey report wont be done untill then?


we had troubles with the locals, on of our cars got the back windscreen wiper ripped off and the bonnet jumped on! not very nice.
i also had troubles with people at the track crossing! people that deliberatly drag their feat will be punnished

but that has to be one of the best tracks around, you could never get bored with those corners!

[Tim]

but taz is ages away! so are u saying casey report wont be done until then?

I think I meant a 24 hour win I got the Happy Snaps done today, that's some progress.

[The Duckmeister]

My gallery.

[Finno]

2009 Ballistic Team Barossa Wonthaggi Race Report

Team Barossa kick off our 2009 campaign with the annual Wonthaggi Grand Prix which has become a regular feature on our agenda since 2007. Some team changes in the off season meant that most of the guys who rode for us through-out 2008 were unavailable for various reasons. In addition to the three regular team members of Dave Roberts, Matt Finlay and Michael Webber, we welcome ex Westminster recruits Justin Counihan and Rhys Gillet who are expected to become regular fixtures as part of the team for the 2009 season. The super quick Michael Hoile of DAS Racing also joins our team for this round as a guest rider and it may be said here we’re relieved that for this race at least he’ll be working with us and not thwarting our race strategies as he’s so often done in the past! Two Highview kids Matt Eale and Clancy Long lent to us by Expats completed the roster.

We arrived in Wonthaggi on Friday and set about renewing acquaintances, touching up the vehicle and setting up the pit and camping area, and negotiating the somewhat stressful (exasperating?) process of registration and scrutineering. The trike would be the same chassis we debuted at Murray Bridge last year with the cross member repaired, kingpins reset and an improved 'flute fairing. Saturday dawned clear and it became apparent it was going to be rather hot. We finalised scrutineering (rustling up a couple of helmets and a pair of old gloves) and finished minor detail work on the vehicle. Eventually practice got underway and we used what little track time available to familiarise the guys with our vehicle and the circuit. We ended up 10th or near enough anyway and set about replacing the worn Primo Comets (they’d completed the Murray Bridge race on the SASI/Ballistic trike) with brand new Kojaks.

I started the race as only Dave and I were familiar with both the circuit and the vehicle. Worryingly though the vehicle seemed to lack cornering speed and I was soon dropping back down the order, struggling with chronic understeer and heat from the now viciously hot sun. After 30 minutes I pitted and Mike jumped in. Over the course of an hour he got us back up to sixth but we were still far from satisfied with the performance. We checked the wheel alignment at the next pitstop and found everything to be in order, so Justin went out while we set about getting the Comets back onto a spare set of rims. At the next stop we replaced the Kojaks and from then on there were no further problems. The understeer was largely eradicated and we picked up roughly 10 seconds a lap. Amazingly they survived until the end of the race with no visible signs of canvas - a testament to the chassis dynamics and race craft of the riders. We noticed Trisled, Tru Blu and Phantom were all suffering to varying degrees of tyre wear and were each making several changes through-out the race.

All of us were still suffering from the hot weather though, we made up a larger air vent on the canopy to try and provide enough cool air but riders were still showing signs of heat exhaustion and the length of the stints were not yet optimal. We got into fifth place and continually increased the gap over Bendigo Senior Secondary, and Silver Streak while maintaining the two lap gap between ourselves and Trisled in fourth. Rhys, then Webber, Matt E, Clancy and Dave completed the first rotation of riders at around 6pm. Dave had been struggling with a cold all weekend and after his stint he struck himself off the list and was assigned to pit duties alongside Dave Malone. As the weather cooled, Mike went back in and completed a solid two hour stint with times averaging around the 2:16 mark save for a couple of slower laps after a rollover. Justin went in and rode out another hour and I put in a swift but slightly shorter stint (I moved down the order as I was suffering from an intense, heat induced headache) before Rhys blitzed the circuit and by 10pm we’d secured fifth place beyond all doubt and were gradually grinding the gap down between ourselves and fourth (either Phantom or Trisled, who were engaged in their own private battle). Through-out the night Webber did another couple of solid stints and the Expats boys of Matt and Clancy continued to impress with their speed and race craft.

Our light setup proved somewhat inadequate which cost us a lot of time and any chance of catching fourth and third places. The headlight kept slipping in its mount so instead of lighting the track it pointed down inside the nosecone instead. Battery life was also shorter than expected, or rather hoped and it’s something we’ll apply more attention to if we come back for next year’s race. The siren failed around the halfway point of the race as well. Luckily we were never troubled by the officials for it, and we never seriously bothered to fix it. Dave tried to rig something up but it didn’t work and only risked the wire getting caught in the wheel. During my third stint at about 3am I ended up having to hold onto the wire and wrap it around the right steering column while my left foot kept hitting the cord for the light and an overlooked LED flashlight was rolling around in the footwell from when we were tightening the light mounts, switched on of course which meant a lot of the time I couldn’t see for the glare against the screen! Oh, and the gears were a bit random. Despite these minor issues, accidents and rollovers were largely infrequent and the trike simply got quicker as we found our groove.

At one stage of the night for a good hour or so we were the quickest bike on the track, especially with that slight drizzle in the early stages of morning. While Rhys was able to lap on average 10 seconds a lap faster than anyone else, more than once he’d kick the tail out, or lose it completely and spin out on a corner. The first time he got going again on his own steam, and the second time he hit someone’s ute. He claimed it was a lot of fun, sentiments backed up by Luke who managed to text us from inside his Bluebird vehicle telling us how slippery and fun it was! The brief had changed and we were simply out to have fun as we’d need either Trisled or Phantom to hit trouble to catch up. Unfortunately they didn’t. Whether we might’ve caught them had we not had the problems with the lights remains to be seen, although I suspect we probably wouldn’t have. We had a few more rolls although nothing overly concerning and trike speed remained unaffected. During the last hour we pulled four laps back on Tru Blu with times around the 2:10 mark, although given the battle between Phantom and Trisled the gap remained relatively steady to them. Fifth place was a satisfying result and in line with our pre race predictions. We’ll go into round one with the same vehicle – all it needs is a bit of a tidy up and it’s pretty well ready to roll. There’s a few things we can still improve but we’ll keep our powder dry for now!

Thanks to our riders for making the trip; Dave, Webber, Justin and Rhys, and thanks especially to special guests Mike (DAS Racing), and Matt and Clancy of Expats for coming over and riding for us (thanks Tim for lending them to us at such short notice). For guys who had to familiarise themselves with the different vehicle dynamics, and circuit, they did a stellar job. Thanks to Dave Malone for dropping everything making the time to come over and provide support and assistance in the pits.

[Finno]

double post, sorry

[Tim]

Good read Finno! From talking to Matty & Clancy during the race, and briefly afterwards, they enjoyed their time racing with you guys as well.

[Finno]

We enjoyed having them.

Did I mention we were the first coreflute bike home?

[Tim Rochford]

Amazingly they survived until the end of the race with no visible signs of canvas - a testament to the chassis dynamics and race craft of the riders

= not going fast enough

[The Duckmeister]

Good write-up, Finno!

Now, Tim, where's yours!