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Round 1 of the 2007 Australian Bio Diesel SuperTruck Nationals – Oran Park Motorsport Park


Andy Fisher officiating the hand over of the first payment to ANTRO by Bio Diesel.

The opening round of the Series will stick in our minds for a long time to come, as I will explain further into my first newsletter for the year. Since being crowned Australia 1 for the second year running, much has transpired. In terms of maintenance and development, all the usual procedures took place, such as removing the gearbox for servicing; the differential was checked over; marked up panels and side skrits replaced and refreshed; renewed signwriting; new bearings fitted; an overhaul of the turbo; radiator repairs; tuned, dyno tested the engine and the latest Century Class grill was fitted as sponsored by Daimler Chrysler.

In terms of marketing and promotional activities, the Cat Powered Australia 1 Freightliner was an important exhibit at the South Australian Road Transport Association Conference and Dinner held 17th February, 2007 exciting guests when a microphone was placed under the bonnet with Bob the Builder starting up and revving the engine, with a sound that filled the walls of the Adelaide Entertainment Centre – it gained a large round of applause by approving guests; Static display at the Pulteney Street Pre V8 Clipsal display; Static display at the Clipsal event at the Gate 1 entrance looking mean and impressive and in addition completed hot laps with John the Bomber Bomberle in his Detroit powered Kenworth which received resounding support; and on exhibition at the Adelaide Motor Show, held at Wayville Showgrounds from 28th March to 1st April. Bob was also honoured at the annual SA CAMS Awards Presentation held at the Adelaide Football Club Function Centre with a Special Achievement Award.


SuperTruck draws a crowd at the Adelaide Motor Show, Wayville Showgrounds.

Special thanks must go to our crew member Steve Underwood of All Transport Crash, who manned the Clipsal and Motor Show events occasionally starting up the SuperTruck and handing out posters and brochures to an enthusiastic crowd. In addition, South Australian Farmers Federation used the excitement of the V8 Clipsal event to hold a press conference on Friday March 2 at their offices to announce the alliance of Bio Diesel and SuperTrucks for the 2007 series, with the view of a ten year relationship. There is no doubt the securing of Australian Bio Diesel as a National Series Sponsor for the SuperTrucks has given the category an enormous boost.

The Bio Diesel involvement has guaranteed improved and increased television deals leading to great exposure for all those involved with the category with AVE Productions putting together high quality footage, coverage and commentary. Their enthusiasm in securing the sponsorship deal is already evident with release of the news as I mentioned at a special press conference called by them.


SuperTruck on purpose built trailer arrives at Oran Park for unloading (pic courtesy David Obst).

Our own Bob the Builder and John ‘the Bomber’ Bomberle were suited up and attended. Wayne Cornish and Andy Fisher officiated the conference. Rob Curkpatrick has played an extremely important role in negotiating the deal between SuperTrucks and Bio Diesel. Australian Bio Diesel see sponsorship of the SuperTrucks as an excellent mechanism of reaching the Transport Industry where they are wanting a share in the market place.

With the very much appreciated support of Mr. Steve Muldoon, National Manager for Select Trucks, the Whiteline Racing, Australia 1 Cat Powered Freightliner was transported by a CL112 Freightliner prime mover to Sydney. This was on loan whilst finishing touches were made to the new Freightliner that has been painted yellow and signwritten to simulate the SuperTruck. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite ready for round 1. When not working for Whiteline Racing it will operate between Berri and Adelaide daily. This will tow the Whiteline Workshop purpose built drop deck trailer to each of the meetings and will be driven by crew member Steve Underwood of All Transport Crash. Our workshop team including our Workshop Manager Phil and Ron deserve special thanks for their efforts.


V8 Clipsal Event, Adelaide, SuperTruck Hot Laps.

As I said, whilst almost complete for round 1, sign writing is still to be done and will be finalized when it comes time to race at Mallala, South Australia in June for round 2. The truck and trailer combination will be sign written in a similar fashion to the SuperTruck with our sponsors names on it. Steve left on Wednesday for Sydney with the transporter and Bob the Builder and Dave from SAFF left on Thursday morning. Dave was venturing into his very first experience with the SuperTrucks and stayed close to our team to ‘learn the ropes’. Dave was organising the refuelling of the vehicles at the Oran Park Track which had been delivered there with the assistance of Bomber and Hi Trans.

As Dave would find out, he would be put to good use, helping around the pits as was needed and also took some happy snaps, some of which are appearing in this newsletter. Jeff and Terry arrived from Auckland on Thursday afternoon and with special thanks to Trevor Page of Trevor Page Racing our team was picked up from the airport where we collected a sponsored people mover from Daimler Chrysler in Sydney.


Going through his paces (pic courtesy Rigg Pixx).

Friday, 20th April, 2007
Friday would see Bobby the Builder and the Cat Powered Freightliner run in two practice sessions together with the media rides. In each session we would complete 8 – 10 laps with not only our team, but the entire category finding conditions extremely slippery and laps times well down on our previous outing at Oran Park. We were unable to achieve grip, thus weren’t getting the power to the ground.

Jeff and Terry continued to juggle set ups, adjusting sway bars, tyre pressures and tyres in an effort to find the right balance.
For the media rides, one of the participants was Leanne Tander, wife of Garth Tander, an accomplished racer in her own right, who went for a couple of hot laps with the builder. All went without incident with Leanne giving Bob an approving thumbs up as she got out. Friday night the crew that had arrived in Sydney dined at Hunts Motor Inn where we were staying and as per usual well looked after by Tony, whilst Mark and I made our way up from Adelaide. This involves our flight into Sydney and a train ride out to Glenfield where the crew collected us. On arrival back to the Motel it was early to bed with a big weekend ahead of us.


Mark Jeff and Terry talking tactics (pic courtesy David Obst).

Saturday, 21st April, 2007
Saturday was a limited schedule, but an important one with qualifying taking place at 3.40 pm. We were allocated one practice session, held at 11.35 a.m. Conditions were really warm where we completed nine laps of practice. The back tyres were slipping and Bobby had a couple of spins on field, as a result of finding dumped oil on the track from the previous practice session of another category. On return however, he did comment that the truck and track were much improved compared to yesterday. On inspection after the practice session, the team would find a right rear brake rotor cracked which they proceeded to replace before qualifying.

Bobby the Builder in his Cat Powered Freightliner were quickest for the session with a 54.7918. Qualifying would prove hard yakka. Bobby was finding turning the SuperTruck in difficult and in addition, the Cat Powered Freightliner was changing gear by itself into corners. Of the 15 laps completed it wasn’t until the 14th lap that Bob would secure his quickest time and that of the category with a 55.2479 which was a much slower time than the morning practice when handling was much better. What is most impressive is the incredible handling and speed that Steve Coulter of Trevor Page racing has been able to achieve in his Isuzu SBR. Coulter qualified second fastest, followed by Bajeema, Lovett, Zammit, Rose, Bomberle and the balance of the field.


Above: Bobby doing it tough posing with Bio Diesel Promotional Grid Girl (pic courtesy David Obst).

Last season you may recall that the Builder had broken off the Freightliner gear stick, so searching for the mysterious gear change problem, the team pulled the gear stick apart. Whilst not finding anything substantial it was hoped just the tightening up of components within the gear stick would be enough to eradicate the problem. The team dined at Lockies Tavern and again headed back to the Motel for another early night for a big day of racing Sunday.

Sunday, 22nd April, 2007
The schedule for today, was warm up followed by 4 x races. Warm up was held at 8.55. The team was keen for Bobby to test out repairs made to the gear stick to see if the gear changing issue had been rectified. Bobby completed 10 x laps of practice with the gear changing problem occurring four times in the session. In addition the rear was very taily, so the team played with the balance again adjusting the sway bar to achieve optimum set up. In the meantime, we would attempt to make contact with N&K Transmissions to seek some advice on the gear issue – unfortunately we could not get hold of Nick so would have to deal with this as best we could. In the warm up sessions, the Cat Powered Freightliner was the fastest rig out there, clocking up a 54.9995 time.


Bobby chasing down Zammit’s heading into Pit Straight (pic courtesy Rigg Pixx)

Race 1, 10.30 am 8 Laps
Having qualified quickest, Bobby in his Cat Powered Freightliner would get to take advantage by starting pole and was led out for the warm up lap by the Daimler Chrysler Pace Truck used for the V8 Brut Ute Series. Jim Gibson of Truckin Life was there and am lead to believe this shot will be on the front cover of their June edition. The pace truck was on display right next to our merchandise and pit area and a good crowd enjoyed looking over it, sitting in it and collecting posters of it.


Jeff filling the Australia #1 SuperTruck with Bio Diesel.

Conditions for this race were warm and overcast, with rain threatening. It would be important for us to do well in this race, as the remaining races would see us start from the rear of the grid and handicapped. After two warm up laps of the 1.69 klm circuit the green light was shown. By turn one Bob had lost the lead to Bajeema, followed by Coulter and Lovett and the balance of the field. Bajeema had jumped the start and was given a drive through pit lane penalty, however, it would be a few laps before he would actually do the drive through.


Bobby taking a closer look – man and his machine (pic courtesy of David Obst).

Into lap 2, Bajeema still led into the straight with Bob running alongside into turn one. Bob having the outside run, sat in behind Bajeema followed by Coulter and Lovett and the remaining field. Lap three much the same, except on turn one when the inside line wasn’t there Bob went around the outside and this time was successful taking the lead, followed by Coulter, Lovett and Bajeema was now in fourth. Lap 4 Bob was still leading and Bajeema went in for his pit lane drive through and by lap 5 had developed a healthy lead, with Bomber in the middle of the field making good progress through the traffic. Laps 6 – 8 Middleton continued out in front, with the rest of the field fighting for minor placings. Apart from winning this race, Bob was quickest out there with a 54.6470 achieved in the third lap.


Bob the Builder leads the pack. (pic courtesy JC Smith).

Due to winning race 1, this now meant Bob would start from the rear in race 2 and Bajeema would be given a huge advantage as a result of the stop/go penalty which saw him finish last, therefore would start up front. This would mean Bajeema could get a healthy lead while we would still be battling our way safely through the entire field.

Race 2 – 12.05 pm – 8 laps
Starting from the back of the field between laps 1 – 4 Bob gradually started making his way through the field into 9th, with a noticeable vibration having developed. With four laps to go, Bob managed to get around Lovett and was now chasing Zammit and did this successfully. By lap 8 had moved into 5th and coming around for the final bend to take the chequered flag an unexpected gear change dashed his chances of grabbing third. The visibility in this race was pretty bad, with a number of competitors running off the track causing quite a lot of dust.


Mark, Jeff and Terry discuss set up for the SuperTruck.

Again, the Cat Powered Freightliner was fastest on the circuit with his quickest time in lap 7 of 55.2888 once he had been freed up of the traffic which had been baulking him badly for most of the race. As predicted Bajeema, starting out of 1 would finish 1, followed by Bomberle and Amoroso.


Peter ‘Skitzo” Hewat has a meeting with the wall, luckily Bobby gets through unscathed. (pic courtesy Rigg Pixx).

Race 3 – 1.50 pm – 7 laps
The light trucks started up the front, with Bob starting off the second line in the second group of SuperTrucks. Laps 1 – 3 Bob would make his way through the traffic without incident and by lap 4 was in fourth. Bomber was also making good progress through the field and was now in 7th by this stage. Lap 5 the status quo would remain when on lap 6 coming into the straight Bob would get around Lovett now in third place and was now chasing the very quick Coulter truck, and Hewat. Entering into lap 6, Hewat turning onto pit straight lost control and hit the wall very hard – in fact so hard took out part of the wall. On impact the Hewat no 81 entry became airborne by some 15 feet. As a result, the race was declared and when this happens the race results are determined by going back one lap. Coulter and Middleton went over the line 1 and 2, but because the entire field had not completed the lap by passing the start finish line, that lap was disregarded.


On starting grid waiting to be let loose. (pic courtesy David Obst).

So, even though he crashed, Hewat was declared winner, with Couter in 2nd and Bob in 3rd – which was a great result from the rear of the grid for a start. Middleton was again quickest clocking a 54.8617 in lap 5. On return to the pit, the team discovered the front right brake rotor had cracked.

Race 4 – 4.50 pm – 10 laps
Again started rear of field – I guess one advantage is you can see who it is you need to catch and get around !! Laps 1 – 8 things were pretty hectic whilst the Builder made his way through the traffic managing to get into 4th, clocking up his fastest time and that of the entire field with a 55.5063 on this lap. Having gone through and now on the 9th lap, whilst negotiating a left hander disaster would strike when something mechanically failed, causing the SuperTruck to turn hard right ploughing into a tyre wall at high speed.


Red flag as Bobby hits the wall.

The race was red flagged immediately with crews rushing to Bob and the Cat Powered Freightliner. The race was declared and as had happened earlier, taken back a lap, so Bobby would finish in fourth, behind, Bomberle, Zammit and Bajeema. Myself and the team were not permitted to enter the track and were anxiously awaiting the news that Bob was okay. Word got back that he appeared okay but was being taken to the medical centre at the track.

Damage to the SuperTruck was substantial. The crew tended to the truck and I tended to Bobby.


2 x laps to go, last race, what is thought to be a lock up of the limited slip diff, Middleton meets the wall. (pic courtesy Rigg Pixx).

He had been placed in a neck brace with an i.v. where it was decided that due to the impact and severity of the crash and the pain he was experiencing in his neck that he be transported by ambulance to Liverpool Hospital for a thorough check over and xrays to eliminate any cracks to vertebraes. The doctors and medical team at Oran Park were most caring and helpful and so too CAMS chaplain Richard Cormick who offered great support at the track and if need be in the days to follow should it have been necessary for Bob to remain in hospital in Sydney. In the ambulance, Bob kept asking me about the truck, where he finished for the day etc !!!


Aust 1, loaded up and home bound for repair (pic David Obst).

At approximately 11 pm Sunday night the doctor taking care of him at the hospital was satisfied there were no cracks and we were allowed to leave. Our crew came and picked us up from the hospital – still in their uniforms – I will never forget the visual of the mini Cat army coming through the doors !! We are a close knit team and something like this had rocked us. Every team in the category made contact with us, so too many sponsors, supporters and staff of Oran Park for which we are most grateful.

Mark arrived at the depot as soon as the SuperTruck arrived back from Sydney and is well on it’s way to being repaired and will be ready for the June meeting in Adelaide. The bonnet, radiator, intercooler, timing cover, suspension, diff, brakes all need repair or replacing. Investigations to this stage regarding the cause of the accident indicate that the limited slip diff locked, thus causing drive to one side only of the SuperTruck – the diff is away being pulled down and checked over. For the weekend, snatching pole in qualifying, winning race 1, 5th in race 2, 3rd in race 3 and 4th in race 4 would see Bobby win the weekend and lead the championship.

Television for this round will be as follows: SBS Speedweek – 13th May; Fox Sports 1 Inside Speed – 16th May.

Up coming events (so far) for the Whiteline Racing team include, racing in Adelaide in June, Perth Truck Show at the Perth Convention Centre in July, Dura Lite Customer Day, Barbagallo Raceway in August, Extreme Horsepower Show, followed by Mallala and Sydney.

I think that just about covers it! Thanks again for all those people who have called and offered support – we greatly appreciate it and look forward to talking with you all soon.

Yours in racing and regards,
Shaz


The loan Freightliner towing the new Workshop trailer.		CL112 Freightliner towing the Whiteline Workshop purpose built drop deck trailer… signwriting was not quite finished before we had to leave for Oran Park.

Bob accepting the cams award.