Previous Editions of Latest News
Lots to get through in this edition of Whiteline Racing News – best place to start is post Adelaide where you may recall we encountered severe turbo issues. In the past, our turbos have been imported from England, however Schwartzer have since merged we believe and we have not been able to locate records in relation to the components used when they were built. Our turbos are not a standard off the shelf part.
As we were about to load up the Cat Powered Freightliner in Adelaide for her journey to Perth, a large pool of power steering oil was discovered, thanks to a seal that had gone into the power steering pump. A cracked left hand front rotor was noted, however, that would be repaired on arrival into Perth. The SuperTruck went to Perth on Tuesday, 24th July with Steve the pilot of the tow vehicle and b-double combination trailers, with Mark now having completed the home away from home ‘A’ trailer. The early arrival was due to the Perth Truck Show being held at the Perth Convention Centre and a sponsor function appearance at Dura Lite who supply our team with intercoolers. Steve reported back the reaction on the road when the Whiteline road show was passing through was nothing short of amazing. When Steve pulled into a truck parking bay across the Nullabor right on the cliffs with ocean below, all the sleeping drivers from other trucks were up and out in force with cameras. This same reaction was experienced at Norseman, where it was night time and the roadhouse lit up with camera flashes as though an alien aircraft had landed.
Once in Perth, the same reaction was had at the Kewdale fuelling point. From there the rig was parked at the premises of WesTrac equipment, again causing quite a stir for those passing by. The Perth Truck Show was a huge success. Our tow vehicle, SuperTruck, pit mobile were on display along with the Kenworth of Peter ‘Skitzo’ Hewat and a display by Bio Diesel sponsor – ENFFUE. Our B-double combination was parked externally of the centre, but in view of those within the pavilion. Our position in the centre, was such that doors were able to be opened to allow fresh air and so the SuperTrucks could be started every so often. The crowd that this would draw was amazing. Just like a bee to honey. I have been told that some 8000 people attended this event. Street access through the city of Perth to gain entry to the Perth Convention Centre was interesting with a couple of sign posts temporarily dismantled!! The Dura Lite function was held on Wednesday 8th August with a large crowd attending – Bob busily signed posters and answered questions, so too Terry ‘Bee’ who had arrived from Auckland and was on hand to deal with the technical queries from the audience. Also arriving from New Zealand was Big Al and Jeff, all flying in a couple of days earlier than normal so they had an opportunity to get over jet lag before the weekend. Apart from the long flight they also had the huge time difference to contend with !!
I mentioned to you that Terry had been a busy bee collecting and making up turbo bits – these bits became part of his luggage, so much so was hit with a $182.00 excess baggage fee!! The team hit the track on Thursday to set up camp, not just for us but for the category. Again this year, with special thanks to Carriers Cleveland Freightlines, GKR Transport, W.A. Freightlines, Pacific National and Whiteline Transport the rigs were transported from the eastern states to the west and back. Rob Waters at Daynite Towing did a magnificent job towing the vehicles to the track and also debuted in the Daniel Bajeema Cat Powered Kenworth in the co-drivers race and managed to put in an excellent drive. Friday. Conditions were shocking – extremely heavy rain fall making conditions uncomfortable.
The media rides took place at lunch time, with our team completing some 12 rides in the wet and slippery conditions, needless to say there was some fish tailing going on with Bobby having trouble achieving traction, but all of this added to the thrill of the ride from what I can gather from some of the participants !!! Most of us have a bit of dare devil in us !!!! Good news was the turbo did the job for the rides, with the front right rotor cracking during the session. That night the team dined at Aquarium Chinese Restaurant which is close to the airport, as Mark, Sean and his partner Kim and myself were due to fly in from Adelaide. Our plane was late to depart and this combined with strong head winds saw us arrive into Perth much later than expected. At least we got to land, one of the other teams from Melbourne had their plane turned back due to the fog that had set in in Perth – that team took 18 hours to get to Perth. When we arrived it’s fair to say our crew were like dead ducks, they had been snoozing in the bus provided to us by the wonderful Joondalup Resort under a tree awaiting our arrival. Saturday morning it was a 7.30am departure to the track, which is approximately 20 minutes from the Joondalup Resort. Most of us were awake before our alarms went off because of the time difference.
Our day would consist of a practice session, qualifying and one race. Practice was held at 9.30am and in contrast to Friday, the rain had disappeared and conditions were well and truly on the improve with the forecast for Sunday even better. Bobby completed 6 laps in the Cat Powered Freightliner, with his best lap time achieved in lap 5 with a 1.03.8330 which was .0384 of a second slower than Bomber. On return to the pit, Bob would report that the Freightliner SuperTruck was down 4 pound of boost, there was water in the transmission plug, she was changing gear on her own and the left hand rear brake rotor was running 250 degrees hotter than the right side. In addition to this, as the tyres were heating up the SuperTruck had developed a ‘slight push’ which effect’s Bob’s ability to turn the Freightliner around corners. The problem with the brake rotor was thanks to a $2.00 part – the pipe union had split in half causing water to be rechannelled to one side instead of even flow on both – this was replaced. The team fiddled with set up to eradicate the push and the gear stick was removed and checked in attempt to find the cause for the gear change issue – a problem we have been faced with at other events however, of late had disappeared.
Race 1 was held at 2.53pm and was to be decided over 6 laps. Starting off pole and achieving an excellent start, Bobby led Bomber and the rest of the field into Westrac Cat Corner maintaining his lead and powering down the hill of the straight to lead into lap 2. Bobby’s dream run, taking full advantage of his pole position would continue to increase a healthy lead with Bomber, Zammit and Hewat all providing spectacular racing behind him trying to break clear to chase him down. As I mentioned, the race was to be 6 laps with our team congratulating Bob on the headset on his win, only to yell instructions to him to go, go, go – the officials had failed to put out the chequered flag so racing it appeared was still on. Bobby put the pedal to the metal and took off, winning on the 7th lap also. The officials realising the error placed race winners based on how they went through on lap 6 in which case Bobby was the front runner in any event. The only apparent issue was yet another broken rotor, this time on the back left hand side with the gear changing issue not showing it’s head in that race. Apart from winning the race, Bobby also clocked the fastest lap in the Cat Powered Freightliner with a 1.02.3200 in lap 2. We also had an issue with the noise coming out of the Big Cat Freightliner – we are only allowed to omit 95 dbls, so the crew would modify the angle of the exhausts to face more inwards to buffer the sound.
Sunday. Leaving the Joondalup Resort at 7.30am we arrived just before 8 to start setting up our merchandise facility and the boys were busy doing preliminary checks before the warm up session for the Bio Diesel SuperTrucks at 8.35am. Steve, Sean, Kim, Vicki, Bej, Jodes, Mason and myself got to it, with banners up, flags flying, merchandise on display it was all happening !!! We were selling as we were unpacking. Later that morning our mates Len and Barb arrived having flown in the night before and from that moment on Barb was flat out selling also. With special thanks to Westrac, we could totally concentrate on our racing completely with our catering requirements taken care of. Whilst really brisk, conditions were good and we were in for a beautiful sunny day. Bobby in the Whiteline Racing Cat Powered Freightliner only completed 4 x laps of practice, achieving his best time in only the 2nd lap with a 1.021460 returning to the pit pretty happy with the set up for the first race, to be held not long after at 9.40am.
Prior to Race 1, I was called upon to do the patriotic duties of the anthem – with Bomber pulling faces through his helmet at me !!! Definitely found another target to focus on !! With Bobby lined up on the grid in pole with Bomber alongside in the front row, the SuperTrucks were led out by the V8 hot laps XR8 for a couple of warm up laps – the pace car left the field and they were off for what was a 6 lap race. Bobby got an excellent start in the Cat Freightliner, leading the field into the first corner, being CAT WesTrac Corner and would continue to do so for the entire race. Bomber well and truly kept Bob in his sights waiting to pounce if Bobby made an error, but he never missed a beat. Lap 5 provided some excellent entertainment with the number 6, Volvo entry of Col Lovett spinning in spectacular fashion again on WesTrac Corner, but he managed to regain the field, with no damage to the cheers of the crowd. Taking the chequered flag, on return to the pit Bob would report to the crew that the understeer was pretty bad, making it difficult to turn the Freightliner into corners which they would attempt to rectify by adjusting the sway bar. Not only winning the race but clocking the fastest time for the entire field with a 1.021890. Race 2 again 6 laps was held at 10.55am with Bob The Builder to start at the rear of the field. With the entire field of light and SuperTrucks ahead of him, Bobby had already made up 2 x spaces by Cat WesTrac corner and was on the chase up the hill for the turn into the straight – baulked by braking traffic in front, Frank Amoroso kept the power on and as a result mounted the back right of the Cat Powered Freightliner. The result was a mangled outside right rear rim causing the tyre to go flat, which meant Bobby was driving on one wheel on the back right rear and hoping that would not go flat also. The flat tyre certainly created a handful then to add to that the Freightliner had started changing gears by itself making pull and horsepower out of corners really bad. Given the poor handling Bobby was faced with, whilst maintaining keeping up with the group, attempts to overtake were just made too difficult with the SuperTruck the way it was.
Out in front Yardy one of the light trucks who started up front was being hotly pursued by Hewat, Rose, Zammit with Bomber and Lovett having an exciting dual up around the hill into the straight, when they in fact made contact in spectacular fashion, with both SuperTrucks sustaining damage – Bobby taking full advantage of this managing to somehow miss the carnage and slipped into 5th. Again, the fastest out there with 1.03.7764 in the 5th lap, but an indication of how the traffic had slowed him down, the first lap a 1.16, then 1.07, 1.06, 1.06, 1.03 then avoiding the Bomber/Lovett crash 1.09. The SuperTrucks only have limited opportunities to pass due to their size, although having said that down the straight most races saw the trucks 3 wide all vying for a piece of the track.
Race 3 for the day as at 12.50pm, again over 6 x laps and due to poor finish in the previous race due to the crash, Bomber would get to start up front as this race was reverse of the previous race. We were again at the blunt end of the stick. From lap one to lap 6, the builder was baulked in traffic managing to climb up into fourth with a squeezing manoeuvre under Rose made possible after passing the ever wide Amoroso in the 6th lap. By this time, Bomber had developed a healthy lead with no traffic to contend with followed by Zammit, Hewat then the builder. Again an example of how slow our lap times are when we are stuck in traffic, 1.15, 1.09, 1.03, 1.05, 1.04 and 1.025748 – indicative of getting past Amoroso and Rose then on the chase for Bomber !!! Between this race and the Super Prix which would be a 10 lap race at 4.05pm, Bob the Builder attended the WesTrac Corporate facility where Managing Director Jim Walker would interview the Builder and assist Marcia with the raffle prizes. After a chat, Bob spent time signing posters and chatting with guests. Unlike last year, we got away from the WesTrac facility in plenty of time to suit up for the final race of the day !! This race, apart from being reverse grid was also handicapped with a big gap between the Lights and the Supers.
Starting alongside Bomber in the second group, Bob got a great start in the Cat Freightliner, managing to get in front of Bomber, but had a huge task in front of him. At the start of lap 2 Bob managed to get around Zammit heading up the hill around the corner to pit straight when Zammit took out the entire back bumper of the Freightliner causing the Builder to go off the track. Regaining entry onto the circuit, Bob the Builder would have to start all over again, pegging off the field and avoiding the mayheim when Bajeema went straight into the sand pit at Cat WesTrac corner on Lap 4. The SuperTrucks were never able to catch the light truck group that had started up front with Coulter, Yardy, De Gee the first three over the line, we would have to be content with 7th with a truck looking somewhat agricultural from the rear – a tow vehicle would recover the back bumper !! I guess these reverse grid races are exciting for the crowd, but certainly result in a lot of damage and repair work for teams. So in summary pole, 1st, 1st, 5th, 4th, 7th – these results would give us the weekend by 2 x points and ensure our lead in the standings for the year also. Steve departed Perth Monday afternoon with the b-double and the SuperTruck – there is a few weeks now before Adelaide, so Mark will get busy repairing the rear end of the SuperTruck which will need some chassis straightening also.
Terry, Jeff and Big Al started their long journey home Monday morning and myself, Mark, Sean and Kim were up at 4.30am to catch our flight back to Adelaide. Needless to say it will take us all a few days to recover !! We must especially thank the entire team at WesTrac for their amazing support headed by Jim with Terry, Gavin, Marcia and of course the entire Harwood clan, including, Vicki, Jodes, Bej and Mason – we appreciate everything that you do. Wayne at the Joondalup Resort, not only for sorting the accommodation side of things but also for providing the bus for our use to ferry our crew around. Diesel Motors for providing a van for moving our bits and pieces. Goodyear tyres for providing expert tyre fitting services, with John Bennion and Mark Maura. Thanks to Rosemary and Charlie of Adelaide Truck Wholesalers who came to Perth to support our team. Special thanks to Jennifer and the team at the W.A. Sporting Car Club for making our category so welcome. And our team would like to thank you our sponsors, supporters and friends of Whiteline Racing who make this whole exercise worthwhile. Until the next round of thrills and spills, Yours
in racing and regards,
Previous Editions of Latest News June-July 07 Round 2: Mallala – Australian Championship
November 06 Round 4: Oran Park – Australian Championship October 06 Round 3: Barbagallo – Australian Championship July 06 Round 2: Mallala – Australian Championship May 06 Round 1: Oran Park – Australian Championship
Sept 05 Round 6: Oran Park – Australian Championship May 05 Round 5: Barbagallo – Australian Championship May 05 Round 4: Mallala – Australian Championship May 05 Round 3: Winton – Australian Championship April 05 Round 2: Manfield – New Zealand Championship March 05 Round 1: Timaru – New Zealand Championship
Aug 04 Round 3: Barbagallo – Australian Championship May 04 Round 1: Mallala – Australian Championship Feb 04 Round 3: Pukekohe – New Zealand Championship Jan 04 Round 2: Manfield – New Zealand Championship Jan 04 Round 1: Timaru - New Zealand Championship
December 03 : New truck finshed with only weeks to spare before Timaru race!
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