TOURING CAR MASTERS
Bathurst, NSW 7-10 October 2010

Pre Race Preparation

The round at Mount Panorama is a highlight on the calendar for the racing year – the long straights, means the boys do some seriously fast racing. What was the line from that famous movie, “I feel the need to Speed”.

And there were moments where we flew higher than the roulettes.

As always, prior to any round, Mark had a pretty big ‘to do’ list and this lead up was no different.
Andrew’s No. 95 WesTrac camaro required substantial body work, completed by Mark and the Pro Paint n Panel team, a complete rebuild of the gear box was done once parts arrived from the U.S. the engine was removed to repair the oil leak from the sump, the extractors modified for greater ground clearance, the clutch was repaired which was damaged from the gear box failure at Eastern Creek, facing of the brake pads, oil change, modifications to throttle linkage, routine maintenance, mesh behind grill to radiator fitted to reduce stone damage to the cores and a new windscreen fitted with the old one pretty badly sand blasted.

The Bob the Builder 85 Whiteline Racing camaro had stage 2 of the rear suspension completed which entailed fitting a WATTS linkage and sway bar anti roll assembly – Mark has said that there is probably 5 stages required to get the rear end to where it needs to be for racing. The diff ratio was changed to suit Bathurst, part of the WATTS linkage had a remote adjustment mechanism fitted to enable easy modifications, a new windscreen and body repairs. With the parts being manufactured for the rear end, Mark has been travelling to a work shop at Mt. Compass (couple of hours out of Adelaide for you interstaters) where a precise machine and tooling is available.

Tuesday at sparrows, Bobby headed off in the transporter b-double with Mark and Brenton heading off in

the Whiteline Racing Freightliner Vito van on the Wednesday. Engine developer Gregg Hayes was suffering from a dreaded lurgy and was unable to go.

Set up in the pit was Wednesday which at Bathurst is quite a task due to the limited space for transporters – our A and B were parked independently with our tow vehicle parked up on a campsite.
Hard to describe the scene at Bathurst – camp city, flags everywhere and a semi even has a full load of fire wood which he sells by the bag !!!

Everything is thought of. The facilities at the track are excellent and the staff keep them clean at all times. The signage, the people, it’s truly unique.

We had our own little Whiteline city too, with the crew staying in bunks and beds in the two trailers. Fellow South Aussie’s Greg Keene and Amanda Sparks were renting a house close to the track and kindly offered Bob and I to join them as not all of their guests could make it ! So this was an added bonus – especially having a real bathroom !!!! Plus we had a lot of laughs, made for a great weekend.
Jim Walker and his team from WesTrac have a significant presence here at the Mount, but this weekend is saddened by the serious illness of Connie, Terry Harwood’s Mum. So unwell, that Terry decided to remain in Perth to be by her bedside. Our thoughts were with him and the family and his encouragement at the track was truly missed. Having said that son, Bradley was there to fly the flag for his dad. We put him to work as soon as he got there with a computer issue, then allowed him to head off to the WesTrac corporate tent !!

Sadly, at the time of printing this newsletter, despite putting on a brave battle, Connie passed away peacefully with her family by her side around the clock throughout her hospital stay. Our sincere sympathy goes to Terry, Vicki, Bradley and Jodie on the passing of their much loved Mum and Grandma.

Thursday morning was the start of the official proceedings with a very early scruitineering session at 6.45 a.m. Apart from a blown headlight on the 95 car and in operative front park lights on the 85 car, both were given a clean bill of health and stickered for racing. So the crew then proceeded to prep the cars for the one and only practice session at 8.45 a.m. In what was scheduled to be a 20 minute session, red flags meant we didn’t get many laps in, this in addition to a wet and cold early morning track made it difficult to assess anything.

Andrew in the 95 WesTrac camaro, despite the lack of laps, was relatively happy and on return to the pit, the crew raised the rear roll centre slightly and bolted on a new set of tyres. Bobby in the 85 car was having problems with the exhaust hitting the track creating his own fireworks display. After the session, the team took off the exhaust flattening it, which helped but still was not 100 percent.

The qualifying session was held at 4.40 p.m. again for what was meant to be 20 minutes. The entire session, however, was marred by red flags. Andrew got in four laps, but in what was undoubtedly going to be a quickie, got baulked taking the edge off it. One thing is certain, we are progressing forward with this car achieving excellent pace and good corner clearances. Mark has assessed in terms of rating us, that we are within the top three in both these areas, with John Bowe ahead. In the meantime, Bob in the 85 car was still experiencing a lack of ground clearance with the exhausts hitting the track. The track has some ‘wave’ in it, so at speed tended to bottom out with sparks flying as the exhaust would scrape on the surface. Post session the team raised the car by 10ml, which might fix the scraping, but might retard the steering performance.

Race 1 was at 3.50 and over 7 laps.

Starting out of 2 alongside Jim Richards, Jim would get the better start leading Andrew into turn 1, but Andrew was quick to rectify this and regain the lead. By completion of lap one the order was Andrew, Richards and Bullas. In lap two fellow South Australian Nigel Benson had a massive moment with the wall , this triggered the safety car, so by the completion of lap 2 Andrew led Jim and Bullas. With racing resumed, Andrew and Jim would continue to tussle for the lead, with Jim taking the lead at the top of conrod, only for Andrew to get it back again. During the 5th Lap the 19 entry of O’Brien got sideways and hit the wall. By the 6th lap Andrew was in control and was leading comfortably. Andrew would take out his first win for the weekend, followed by Jim and Bullas. In the meantime, Bobby managed to finish in 20th in the 34 car grid. For John Bowe it was not a good day with major engine issues in race 1 seeing him miss racing for the rest of the weekend. JB loves his racing and the fans love to see him race so was disappointing for all.

The win for Andrew would result in the compulsory de rating of the engine revs.Friday night Andrew and Bobby attended a Touring Car Masters event and the team laid low at the track, with JB cooking the bbq – okay if you like everything well done !!

Race 2 – Saturday 11am

Again over 7 laps, Andrew was up the front with Jim for the start. The green light was shown and the field was away. Not a good start for Andrew and by the 1st corner and been relegated to fourth behind, Richards, Bullas, Pye and then Andrew. In the meantime all hell was breaking loose when Alistair McLean’s entry stalled on the start, causing Trevor Talbot to hit Alistair then get hit by Michael Acheson. Bobby by this stage was stationery up on the wall waiting for the dominos effect to stop before trying to reenter the race. By this stage the field had gone through, so he resumed at the back of the pack. Fellow South Aussie John Nelson got caught in the drama as well and was forced to drive into pit lane. The race did not proceed until the end of lap 3. Bullas grabbed the lead from Jim with Pye remaining in third despite a massive brake lock up. Jim and Bullas would dice and change lead several times, whilst Andrew on the start of the 7th lap managed to gobble up Pye to now be in third and was looking towards chasing Jim. Andrew was unable to catch Jim and the race would finish with Bullas taking it out, followed by Richards then Andrew. In the meantime, Bobby had managed to get up into18th, but when his brakes locked up on the final corner, went into a spin, losing a couple of spots finishing in 20th. Andrew had some panel work as a result of Brett Youlden driving into him on a restart, which we had some repairs done to at the TAFE Students track panel shop.

For Andrew now having had a win and a third, the engine will be further de-rated in revs. The race Sunday morning is reverse grid of the top 8 which means, Andrew was to be in 7th for the start alongside Jim Richards, but with a reshuffle of the field, ended up out of 6th alongside Bill Pye.

With Bobby’s car the brakes were removed and checked.Saturday night, WesTrac, as is tradition at Bathurst host an amazing function at Turners in Orange. Their ballroom was transformed into a make believe glitzy casino complete with show girls and feathers, who belted out some numbers. After the intro, we were all allocated ‘playing chips’ – the idea was to accrue as many chips as you could. Those with the highest amount of chips were put in a barrel for a lucky prize draw, including IPAD, IPOD, jackets and so many special things.

Also entertaining was John Bowe’s interview– JB is an excellent speaker and always provides lots of laughs.Needless to say, Bob, Andrew and I didn’t end up in any final draw, but had to leave early from the event as the boys had an early start in the all important third race for the weekend.
Sunday morning we were greeted with an ever so light sprinkle of rain, making conditions tricky.

The starting order was reverse grid which saw Andrew out of 6 alongside Bill Pye for what was to be a 7 x lap race, but had been reduced to 6. Andrew’s start was not as punchy as he would’ve liked, but got through cleanly with some argy bargy taking place in front of him. By the top of the mountain Andrew was sitting in 4th, when he tapped Gavin Bullas at Forest Elbow, unsettling Gavin – seeing a gap, Andrew went underneath Gavin, but Gavin closed the door reclaiming his position resulting in rubbing side panels, which pushed our front right hand guard in on the tyre. With blue smoke bellowing, the tyre blew on Conrod forcing Andrew to immediately pit. With the guard so bent, Andrew and Mark called it with Andrew starting to take off his helmet, then with three crew pulling at the guard, another jacking the car up, the tyre off another on, Andrew was rushing to put his helmet back on to at least finish enough laps to gain some points. However, with the race shortened by a lap, he wouldn’t complete enough of the race to qualify for a position. Tander, Richards and Youlden would take out 1-3 respectively.

The disappointment was immense, to go from a win and a third, Andrew and the team were set for a great result. To top it off, even with the car’s bent steering and obvious aerodynamic disadvantage, it was still lapping quicker than any other car and had earlier in the weekend, just missed out on taking the lap record. In race 3, with the car damaged Andrew clocked the fastest lap of the entire field with a 2.24.50, the winner Leanne Tander who started out of pole due to the reverse grid, did a 2.25.96. Andrew was certainly on fire and was getting the best out of his 1969 WesTrac camaro. So we went from an almost certain win for the weekend, to overall 8th – the fact we registered no points in race 3 hurt. It’s a pity time was lost in pit lane with the helmet – guess the moral to this story is stay suited up until the end !!

Andrew believed he had an opportunity under Gavin and it is all just split second timing out there, closely gathered up. Andrew obviously felt pretty bad about the damage to Gavin’s car, especially given it was to be part of a huge car show the following week, so repaired his car at Andrew Miedecke Motor Group in Pt. MacQuarrie, in the meantime, good progress has been made to Andrew’s panels here in Adelaide in preparation for Tassie.

In race 3, Bobby had an excellent race and was beaming afterwards having really enjoyed himself. Starting out of 20, was pegging off the field one by one finishing in 14th. Not only was this an excellent finish, but he had improved tenfold with his lap times in the 85 Whiteline Transport Camaro. Bobby qualified in 21st with 2.39.55 lap times, but in race three, in racing conditions was now down to 2.33.1289 !! I think it is fair to say Bobby and his red beast are really starting to bond and get in sync with one another.
With our racing early on Sunday, the task of packing up got under way, then the team headed up to the WesTrac corporate facility to watch the great race. Tim and JB headed back to Yass late afternoon and for Mark, Brenton, Bob and myself we were bunking down in Bathurst until early hours of the morning to start the journey back to Adelaide. Mark and Brent in the van and Bob and I in the b-double. Andrew and Ron got away early Sunday also, in fact, Andrew flying his own plane had the advantage of winging home in time to see the afternoon of racing from his lounge chair !

Work is underway in readiness for Tasmania. As I mentioned earlier, Andrew’s 95 camaro is well into it’s repairs. Bobby has decided not to run the 85 Camaro in the apple Isle. Mark has considerable work to do to the rear handling and exhaust system, so rather than rush and take to the track with the modifications incomplete, he has decided to sit this one out, but should be on track to compete at Sandown the week after Tassie.

Talk to you all post Tassie and Sandown,

Kind regards,
Shaz

TCM Media Release
10 October 2010

Richards wins two in a row at Bathurst

Consistency was the name of the game in the Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn with motor racing hero Jim Richards taking back-to-back wins and Gavin Bullas reclaiming the series lead in round five at Mount Panorama, Bathurst (NSW), this weekend.

Getting the meeting underway with practice on Thursday morning, a wild moment across the top of the Mountain ended with the HQ Monaro of last year’s race three polesitter, Matt O’Brien nose first in the Biante wall, bringing out the red flag and putting a lot of pressure on his team to get the Australian Web Insurance HQ repaired and back into the event. But it did nothing to slow the dominant run of series leader John Bowe who once again set the fastest lap time.

The afternoon’s 20-minute qualifying session was marred by two red-flag stoppages caused by unfortunate mechanical issues for Garry Treloar and Brad Tilley respectively. The costly interruptions to the session forced several drivers on flyers to abort their laps, with many unable to post a time that was representative of their actual speed, most notably Leanne Tander who qualified down in 19th place in the Wilson Security XA Falcon.

Bowe’s outstanding run of four successive pole positions also fell victim to the red flags as Jim Richards topped the qualifying timesheets for the first time this season. Unsurprisingly, the Tilleys Automotive Valiant Pacer of Cameron Tilley was the fastest Group 2 car around Mount Panorama, while Tony Karanfilovski’s TIFS Warehousing Alfa GTAM was the fastest Group 3 qualifier.

RACE ONE
A spirited start to race one saw Richards’ Shannons Falcon Sprint lead the pack through the first turn before briefly trading places with Andrew Miedecke in a drag race up Mountain Straight. A slow start for Bowe saw the two-time Bathurst winner swamped by Brad Tilley and Brett Youlden through the opening corners.

While Richards and Miedecke continued dueling at the front of the field, Bowe reclaimed a position as the Tilley Falcon XY GT retired with oil system issues. From 19th on the grid, Tander made up nine places in a blistering opening lap.

Nigel Benson’s PRT Race Fabrication HQ Monaro missed the apex at Griffins Bend and hit the wall heavily, bringing out the safety car on lap two. Following an impressively speedy clean up, the race resumed on lap three as Miedecke led Richards, Bullas, Bowe and Youlden.

On lap six, disaster struck for Bowe and he pulled into the pits with a terminal engine problem having dropped a valve. Meanwhile, Richards was flying on lap six and set the fastest time of weekend with a

2:24.4749m, just two tenths of a second off his own lap record set last year.

Miedecke crossed the finish line with Richards right on his rear bumper with Bullas in close pursuit to take his first ever win at Mount Panorama.

Tander stormed all the way to seventh place, just ahead of Group 2 standout Cameron Tilley who finished almost 20 seconds in front of his nearest challenger, Chris Stillwell.

A close battle in Group 3 saw Phillip Showers in the Northern BM Escort slip across the line just four tenths of a second before championship rival Karanfilovski.

RACE TWO
Starting from pole, Miedecke made a poor start and slipped to fourth behind Richards, Bullas and Bill Pye as the leaders took off up Mountain Straight, but it was all eyes on the devastating pile up that remained on the start straight.

Alastair MacLean’s Dukes Body Works Camaro stalled on the grid and, as the cars behind split to drive around the stricken car, the freshly re-sprayed Dukes Body Works Torana of Trevor Talbot had nowhere to go and ploughed into the rear of MacLean, setting off a chain reaction that also claimed the Nelson Architects Porsche of John Nelson and the Falcon Fire Protection Falcon of Doug Westwood. Nelson was the only car to make a return to the grid for race three.

With cars removed and debris cleared from the start grid, the lights went out on the safety car on lap three and racing resumed as Richards led the field across the line to start lap four.

Bullas immediately turned up the intensity on Richards up Mountain Straight and shot into the lead for the first time. Richards returned serve, passing Bullas through Forrest Elbow. His lead was short lived as Bullas powered the Rain City Mustang back past down Conrod Straight. The pair continued their thrilling dice with the race lead changing six times before eventually falling to Bullas ahead of Richards.

Setting up a move on the final lap, Miedecke passed Pye at Hell Corner to put the WesTrac Cat Camaro in third ahead of the Bobcat - One Tough Animal Camaro. An incredibly intense, close race, the top four cars were separated by less than a second as they crossed the finish line.

One again the stand out in Group 2, Cameron Tilley finished ninth outright, again almost 20 seconds ahead of his nearest rival - this time it was Bernie Stack in the Gawler Body Works Porsche.

Duelling between Cameron Mason and Showers allowed Karanfilovski a chance to pull off into the distance and comfortably take his first win for the weekend.

RACE THREE
The reverse top-eight grid saw Tander on pole alongside Steve Mason for Sunday morning’s televised race and when the lights went out it was red hot action time with Mason and Tander dicing for the lead up Mountain Straight. Tander held sway.

Only a few corners into the race, Miedecke tried an ambitious, physical pass on Bullas through the Cutting that, for a heart-stopping moment, looked close to ending in disaster as the Bullas Mustang was almost turned around by the #95 Camaro. Miraculously, both cars were facing in the right direction as they exited the Cutting and the race continued without missing a beat.

However, for Miedecke, his exuberance proved to be his undoing; the contact with Bullas pushed his Camaro’s guard onto its tyre and forced him into the pits and out of the race at the end of lap one.

Tander continued to lead the field, but after Mason ran wide at the Cutting it was now Youlden pursuing her in second place.

Meanwhile Richards who started from eighth place was charging through the field, leapfrogging Bullas and Pye for fourth place. He then made short work of Mason with a swift pass at Forrest Elbow for third place.

Following Richards, Bullas put a successful move on Pye through the last corner for fifth place, while Richards was closing in on Youlden.

On the next lap, Richards tried to repeat the Forrest Elbow manouevre on Youlden to no avail, but got the

job done in a drag race up pit straight. However, Youlden wasn’t giving up to the seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner without a fight and quickly retook the position.

Behind them, as the field barrelled down Conrod Straight, birthday boy Matt O’Brien experienced one of the most dramatic incidents of the weekend as his tyre unexpectedly parted company from the wheel at the fastest part of the circuit, bouncing and rolling its way down Conrod. O’Brien did an outstanding job to maintain control of his Holden Monaro and pull off the circuit out of harm’s way.

Back towards the front of the field, Richards despatched Youlden once and for all on their final pass through Forrest Elbow, but Tander was half a second ahead and led all the way to the chequered flag to score her first race victory in the category, followed by Richards and Youlden.

The Group 2 class was turned on it head as seemingly invincible Cameron Tilley retired with a slipping clutch after just two laps. Stack then followed suit on lap four with his Porsche 911 stuck in fifth gear.
Finishing in ninth place outright, Stillwell took the Group 2 race win uncontested, almost 15 seconds ahead of McAlister and Mick Wilson as they battled for second place.

Taking bookend wins, Showers added to his race one victory with a win in race three, crossing the finish line with half a second to spare over Karanfilovski, and Mason came home in third to add another swag of points to his collection.

OVERALL
Securing three second place finishes, Richards’ experience and incredible consistency snared back-to-back Touring Car Masters honours at the Mountain, with Bullas improving from last year’s third place to second outright. Youlden made his first appearance on the podium for the season, with his strong drive in the final race narrowly edging out the Camaro of Pye.

A delighted Stillwell scored his first round victory of the season, helping him close the gap in the Group 2

championship battle to second-placed McAlister. Tied on 149 points for the meeting, McAlister and Wilson rounded out the Group 2 podium with McAlister’s higher placing in race three giving him the second place trophy while Wilson took home third place.

Both earning 172 points for the Bathurst round, Showers and Karanfilovski tied for the lead in Group 3 with the win awarded to Showers by virtue of his higher finishing position in race three. Their equal points haul means that Karanfilovski holds station at the top of the Group 3 championship table, maintaining his 20-point advantage over Showers. After a shocking crash at the Mountain in last year’s event, Cameron Mason rebounded for his best run of the season, bagging some valuable points in third place.

The Touring Car Masters presented by Autobarn now prepares to head south to the Apple Isle for round six at Symmons Plains (TAS) on 12-14 November.

JIM RICHARDS
“Our car goes well around here. Bathurst is
always a great circuit to race on and I’m pleased
with the result.

“If you come out unscathed from a reverse grid and get a good result, you’ve done well. I think some of the guys need to tone it down a fraction so we don’t have so many cars to fix after the race.”

CHRIS STILLWELL
“I came here with the express intention to beat those pesky Porsches. To come away with the win was an absolute bonus.

“The car was a total nightmare in practice - it did a left hand turn up Mountain Straight and nearly stuck me in the fence; I had my bit of concrete wall picked out and everything. Luckily we got away with it and made some adjustments and it was perfect for the rest of the weekend.”

PHILLIP SHOWERS
“My first win at Bathurst - it feels fantastic!

“I knew I had the power to pass Tony. When I got told it was the last lap I knew I had to pass him down the straight to get the win.”

Photo by James Smith

The Calendar ahead for 2010

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3