Hi all,
Long time no blog so here we are again.
Geraldton has come and gone with some super fast racing.
The track was hooky and did develop a few major ruts but not to much too worry about for most.
Caroline had a good run starting from front in the feature and leading all the way to the flag from Mick Doble and Nathan Chant.
Anthony Riffici made a good comeback but pulled out of the feature with fatigue I think.
Shane Webster continued his fast improving way and was at the pointy end with a fifth.
We had 2 dnf's, heat 3 and the feature, I give Shane advice on setup and his car handles beautifully, I set mine up and it is a right pig, why is it so? Same set up but such a different result.
Anyway the Geraldton surface is looking good for the big meets this year, pity we have run our last meet this year at Geraldton, I am in Europe from Late March until early May so we finish the main part of our season after the State Title.
We are on the hunt for a 2008 or 2009 Maxim or J&J raised rail, tall cage chassis to try, do you have one in your shed you want to part with? Must have a body kit fitted and be very straight.
Give me a call on my mobile, the number can be gotten from the Limited web site.
We want it before the 6th of February so we can have it ready for the fast Friday on 12th February.
Well have to go and pack, I am off to Koolan Island on a work trip so we will not be in Moora this weekend.
Good luck to all who run in Moora.
Catch you.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Geraldton here we come.
Hi all
Well we have been down in Bunbury last weekend for the sponsors and practice day.
I went from team owner and driver to Crew Chief for two new drivers to have a go in our 360.
The track was smooth but dry and slick and after the first run we had the car set up right for some real fun driving.
Aldo was the main driver with Norbert's daughter's boyfriend Shane also lining up for a run.
They both had a great time and showed immense promise, I think we will get at least one new driving member out of it.
While we were there I had some interesting chats with a couple of powerhouses of the Sprintcar Media World.
Our main topic was the promotion of the limited division in a national magazine, we should get some press soon you would think given we consistently outnumber all other divisions but the opens.
Whilst chatting to one particular journo we talked about the politics of Sprintcar racing, it is hard to imagine how we get so many groups with different agendas in the sport.
From tracks with favourite drivers to clubs and associated body's with favourite drivers to teams that just hate each other, it is a big ask to get our sport moving in the same direction.
So onto Geraldton, The cauldron of pain for visiting drivers, the Limiteds are strong here, probably the biggest number of cars in one spot.
Last year our team ran here three times with two very hard stops (Upside down) for the car and a good run in the Armstrong Cup until we overheated.
There will be another new (returned driver) here this year, Anthony Rifici returns in the ex Benkesser ex Aussie #1 Tatnell car.
Not sure about the Armstrong clan, I know Caroline will be there but am not sure about Michael.
Mick Doble and Nathan Chant will be the movers and shakers I think but we are slowly getting more and more power to the track so maybe we can at least give them a run for there money.
Shane Webster continues on his merry way progressing quickly from being lapped to moving up to and soon into the traffic.
Word is that Geraldton has become Hooky so this will be a new experience for us as in the past it was a little slick, Mick tells me this is because the sprintcar gang has moved into the club ranks and gets more of a say in track prep.
Anthony King still awaits a new or repaired chassis after his Muster mishap but with some luck we will see him again this year.
Well folks need to go and get the car prep started, if you are in the pits on Saturday make sure you come over to the Gold trailer and say hello.
Catch you
Monday, January 4, 2010
We have a winner.
Mick Doble has correctly named the team.
Shane Webster's crew filled his tank with unleaded fuel.
Steve
Sunday, January 3, 2010
The day after the muster.
Hi all,
No after muster poetry here, just the state of the event through Crabbe coloured glasses.
We had a very ordinary night, heat one had us fast asleep off pole, poor gear selection and poor car set up saw us go from pole to 4th by the end of the race.
Heat two had us about where we should have been during the first heat with set up but still not quite where we should have been, started last, passed a few cars but still we had a poor run.
The feature saw us starting off of position 8 with the 8 320's half a lap ahead, so really we started out of position 16, I got away well and the car got hooked up, some laps at a moderate speed to try out the lines and then we gassed it, we were lapping well and pulling in the leaders slowly, then Anthony King had a coming together with another car and ended up in the wall, the reds came on and I thought "beauty, we will restart nose to tail".
Somehow I ended up starting from 7 on the restart so had made up 9 positions to that point.
At the greens I had to try and round up Carolyne, I had passed her just before the reds came on but after unwinding a lap I was relegated back behind her, Carolyne had her foot on the gas but kept running low out of turn 4 and lost some drive there on a few occasions, so around the outside I went, we stayed a bit higher than most and passed most of the cars in the feature around the outside.
Finally in the last lap I got by Darren Francis, now Darren and I go back to the first muster I ran, that year I got stuck behind him and Mick Doble got by me for the feature win, last year I pulled a somewhat shaky pass on him going into turn 3 for the last time that almost had both of us in trouble, so it was good to go by him, I really wanted to get a couple more laps in as Gibbo in his 320 was still ahead of me, and I have just got to beat him one day.
So we finished in track position 5, 3 limiteds and 1 320 in front of me, those poor heat finishes really cost me.
Well done to Tim King for the feature win, he was quick.
Overall points winner was Mick Doble, Mick is undoubtedly the man to beat this year and we hope to be putting some more pressure on him over the next 2 months leading into the state title.
The Davis boys are slowly getting back on track, Todd had his motor working well and just needs the laps now to get back up to front.
Gavin is reporting in every couple of days from his Middle Eastern pipe fixing job and tells me he will be back by the first week of February, and should be able to get his car ready to do a couple of meetings before the state title.
Dhuy still is having dramas with his engine, Bernie Cook and Ian had a chat long into the night discussing why an engine continues to burn out plugs and pistons.
Dhuy had the services of the Watson's Express house car and like me has not yet got used to an engine that actually makes power and how much more difficult that can be to drive, but all of us were glad to see Ian out there at last getting some laps in, and he was stoked just to get the laps in unscathed, but disappointed that he did not go a bit better.
After the feature Carolyne and I had a chat about what we have come to know as "Tail tank blindness".
Now I am the first to admit that I suffered from this disorder for a long time, this year I have tried so hard to find new lines to run, I have gone higher and higher learning the craft of being able to move around on the track to enable a passing maneuver to be done, with out the need to slow down, once you have slowed up you are stuck at the same speed as the car in front and have to wait for a mistake to happen to get by.
I first became aware of this at Geraldton last year, during a heat race Carolyne was on my tail and I saw her put her nose up the inside for a few laps, I was holding her up with a poor drive and eventually moved up and slowed to let her through, after the race I went over to have a chat and Rickster was giving her a talk about following other cars tails, it was as if a light was switched on for me, I realised that I was worse than Carolyne by a long way, this year we have really tried to use the momentum that puts you on another cars tail to get you by, it has been slow but by the end of the year we are expecting all of this to make us a faster team next year.
You can work out which drivers suffer from this easy, we are the ones who go hard from the front and drive fast, then when we run from inside the pack we tend to not move forward.
Take my advice drivers and forget about running on someones tail, it may take a while to get the hang of it and you will most definitely go slower to start, but it will pay dividends in the long run.
Of course none of this applies if it is a one lane track but even if you try it on a one lane track and you go backwards at least you are trying.
Some of you may have read my blog some time ago about sabotaging your own team.
So I have a quiz for you with a prize for the first person to respond with the correct answer.
Family and friends of the guilty team may not enter this competition.
Which team in the 320/limited feature failed to finish due to them filling their fuel tank with unleaded fuel?
Prize is a voucher for $50.00 from Parr Motorsports.
Happy new year all.
No after muster poetry here, just the state of the event through Crabbe coloured glasses.
We had a very ordinary night, heat one had us fast asleep off pole, poor gear selection and poor car set up saw us go from pole to 4th by the end of the race.
Heat two had us about where we should have been during the first heat with set up but still not quite where we should have been, started last, passed a few cars but still we had a poor run.
The feature saw us starting off of position 8 with the 8 320's half a lap ahead, so really we started out of position 16, I got away well and the car got hooked up, some laps at a moderate speed to try out the lines and then we gassed it, we were lapping well and pulling in the leaders slowly, then Anthony King had a coming together with another car and ended up in the wall, the reds came on and I thought "beauty, we will restart nose to tail".
Somehow I ended up starting from 7 on the restart so had made up 9 positions to that point.
At the greens I had to try and round up Carolyne, I had passed her just before the reds came on but after unwinding a lap I was relegated back behind her, Carolyne had her foot on the gas but kept running low out of turn 4 and lost some drive there on a few occasions, so around the outside I went, we stayed a bit higher than most and passed most of the cars in the feature around the outside.
Finally in the last lap I got by Darren Francis, now Darren and I go back to the first muster I ran, that year I got stuck behind him and Mick Doble got by me for the feature win, last year I pulled a somewhat shaky pass on him going into turn 3 for the last time that almost had both of us in trouble, so it was good to go by him, I really wanted to get a couple more laps in as Gibbo in his 320 was still ahead of me, and I have just got to beat him one day.
So we finished in track position 5, 3 limiteds and 1 320 in front of me, those poor heat finishes really cost me.
Well done to Tim King for the feature win, he was quick.
Overall points winner was Mick Doble, Mick is undoubtedly the man to beat this year and we hope to be putting some more pressure on him over the next 2 months leading into the state title.
The Davis boys are slowly getting back on track, Todd had his motor working well and just needs the laps now to get back up to front.
Gavin is reporting in every couple of days from his Middle Eastern pipe fixing job and tells me he will be back by the first week of February, and should be able to get his car ready to do a couple of meetings before the state title.
Dhuy still is having dramas with his engine, Bernie Cook and Ian had a chat long into the night discussing why an engine continues to burn out plugs and pistons.
Dhuy had the services of the Watson's Express house car and like me has not yet got used to an engine that actually makes power and how much more difficult that can be to drive, but all of us were glad to see Ian out there at last getting some laps in, and he was stoked just to get the laps in unscathed, but disappointed that he did not go a bit better.
After the feature Carolyne and I had a chat about what we have come to know as "Tail tank blindness".
Now I am the first to admit that I suffered from this disorder for a long time, this year I have tried so hard to find new lines to run, I have gone higher and higher learning the craft of being able to move around on the track to enable a passing maneuver to be done, with out the need to slow down, once you have slowed up you are stuck at the same speed as the car in front and have to wait for a mistake to happen to get by.
I first became aware of this at Geraldton last year, during a heat race Carolyne was on my tail and I saw her put her nose up the inside for a few laps, I was holding her up with a poor drive and eventually moved up and slowed to let her through, after the race I went over to have a chat and Rickster was giving her a talk about following other cars tails, it was as if a light was switched on for me, I realised that I was worse than Carolyne by a long way, this year we have really tried to use the momentum that puts you on another cars tail to get you by, it has been slow but by the end of the year we are expecting all of this to make us a faster team next year.
You can work out which drivers suffer from this easy, we are the ones who go hard from the front and drive fast, then when we run from inside the pack we tend to not move forward.
Take my advice drivers and forget about running on someones tail, it may take a while to get the hang of it and you will most definitely go slower to start, but it will pay dividends in the long run.
Of course none of this applies if it is a one lane track but even if you try it on a one lane track and you go backwards at least you are trying.
Some of you may have read my blog some time ago about sabotaging your own team.
So I have a quiz for you with a prize for the first person to respond with the correct answer.
Family and friends of the guilty team may not enter this competition.
Which team in the 320/limited feature failed to finish due to them filling their fuel tank with unleaded fuel?
Prize is a voucher for $50.00 from Parr Motorsports.
Happy new year all.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Tis the day before the muster.
Twas the day before the muster
and not a competitor in sight
the Crabbe shed is all closed up
secrets kept nice and tight.
Tyres grooved in secret
Engine tuned to win
Hope we don't melt a piston
or engines off to bin
Coyle's tuned the chassis
Crabbe's tuned the head
This poetry is getting hard
So I'm off to bed.
Well Banjo eat your heart out, a poet I am not.
Hi all,
Sorry for the long time between posts, but with all the seasons cheer going on not much has transpired down my way.
I got my first tune up about not keeping this up to date so I thought I had better pass on some of the goings on around the place.
* Tim King has a brand new Maxim and is looking very quick (I was spying at practice)
* Anthony was also at practice and had some dramas getting all the horsepower of Glen's motor onto the track, I left before the end of practice and have been told he was getting it well sorted by the end of the night.
* The Armstrong clan are ready for Kwinana with the new US rocket ship engine in Caroline's car.
* Rickster and driver are also ready to go.
* Todd has his cam sorted, Geoff had to be resuscitated after blowing a gasket whilst trying to remove valve collets, Norbert gave CPR and solved the problem.
* Michael Armstrong's US motor is in transit and Carole is saying that the 23rd in Gero looks like a likely day for its unveiling.
* The Dhu meister is up at Rob Watson's, he is still having drama with his engine melting plugs, even when the fuel is pouring in and methanol fumes overcome you they still melt, hope they have it sorted for the muster, if so watch out for an inspired Dhuy on the fast groove, he was at practice and after his first drive the fire was in the eyes.
Well folks, see you all at the Muster, hope the track is nice and hooky, it is going to be good if we can get all this new horsepower in the club turned into speed.
Thanks for the tune CA.
Crabby
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
