Biante Touring Car Masters
Round 3 – Hidden Valley NT
19-21 June 2009

Well Darwin – where triple road trains through the ‘burbs is the norm, Murdoch look-a-like utes are a dime a dozen, the white and yellow pages combined with street directory is only one inch in thickness, where black cockatoos and biting midgies are ever present – this would prove to be a hot, hot, hot weekend for more than the weather conditions! In what was an uneasy start on Friday and Saturday, all would improve for a more than respectable outcome on the Sunday, but more on that later

(pic courtesy of James Smith)

Darwin was abuzz with the whole racing thing hitting town – life is laid back and the locals very friendly and welcoming. Bob and Bomber set off for the trek north on Tuesday morning, as ‘bump in’ for the transporters was Thursday morning. The boys encountered a relatively uneventful journey up, with the odd bull, camel and horse crossing their path and assisted two stranded tourists along the way. Mark flew up and joined the team on Thursday and I arrived on the Friday. I think half of the population of South Australia was on the same flight – I was never short of someone to talk to !! Engine builder Gregg was unable to make the trip, as he was delayed in returning from Brisbane where his drag team had been competing the week previous.

Prior to departure, work carried out on the 69 Camaro included modifications to the rear spring, changed the diff ratio, fitted different gearing, repaired the exhaust damaged at Winton, fitted a drink bottle to help Bob cope with the extreme heat inside the car during racing and installed a oil heater in the dry sump tank.

(2 racing fanatics, Rex on the left, Vince on the right - forget that it was 30 plus degrees!)

Friday would see the Biante cars take to the track twice, once for a practice session at 9.40 and Qualifying at 11.50. For the practice session, the team left the tyres on from the Clipsal event to circulate to get a feel for the track as Bob had never raced on this circuit previously. On return from practice, Bob commented that he liked the track, but there were curves and tight turns including full 180 degrees turns to add interest. Completing 12 laps, we were 14th fastest some 4.9 seconds off the pace of that of Bullas, Bowe, Richards and Marget.

This track also has a very fast and long straight which is 1.2 klm long and given the speeds the cars reach, is why turn 1 would prove a handful in terms of braking and getting around the corner cleanly.
On return to the pit, the team fitted two new tyres to the front only. On entering the circuit, Bob had just completed his first lap, was heading down the straight into turn one, when the brakes locked up, causing him to spin backwards into the path of the 99 entry of Steve Makarios, in his Falcon XY which he had passed on the inside line making contact with our rear boot on his front left, with both ending up in the sand trap.

Bob was able to re enter the track, but the news was not so good for Steve who required a tilt tray tow truck. Bob would continue to complete 9 x laps for the session with his best lap on No. 7 which meant he was 15th fastest in the standings. On return to the pit, the crew went about bashing out the rear end damage and on inspection found that all the tyres had been flat spotted. As type and quantity of tyres is controlled, we needed two more tyres. This meant approaching the officials for permission to do this, as there was still one more qualifying session, plus three races, no way would the existing tyre pool see us through.

The trade off for the 2 x extra tyres was that when we ran in Qualifying 2 our time would be disallowed and we would only be able to use Qualifying 1, so even though we were 15th now, if the rest of the field achieved better times than Bob in Qualifying 2, he would now slip further down the scale. Richards, Bowe and Bullas were the top 3 qualifiers at this stage.

On Friday night, Bob and I attended a promotional event at series sponsors Rare Spares with a handful of other Biante drivers, following this, we caught up with Andrew Miedecke at the Boardwalk Café at Cullen Bay for tea. With a full weekend ahead, we headed back to Howard Springs where we were staying for a early night.

The wild life a plenty at Howard Springs – peacocks and ibis roam, especially in the morning waiting for the crust off your toast possums scurry at night and whilst we are unsure of method of entry, discovered through the night a ‘critter’ had taken to a weight watchers cake bar and a tea bag of all things !!

Qualifying 2 was held Saturday at 9.55 a.m. Bob only completed 4 x laps to get a feel for the car, given his times would not be applied, there was no point in staying out there wearing out tyres. As mentioned previously though, two other cars had put in better times than in their qualifying one so were now ahead of Bob which resulted in his official placing as 17th for race 1. Fortunately, the 99 entry that Bob got tangled up with in Qualifying 1 was back out there putting in 13 laps, which was good to see. Up the pointy end were Bowe 1, Richards 2 and Bullas in 3.

Race 1 was held at 1.54 and was over 12 laps, with a standing start. A good start ended abruptly with Bob spinning wheels when the 33 entry of Greg Keene stalled on the start – Bob was able to squeeze through cleanly and then began pegging off the other entrants that had started behind him, but had got ahead when Bob had the drama on the start. On lap 6, in the notorious turn 1, Bob again had a brake lock up, which this combined with the action of O’Neill and Nelson both South Australians driving Porsche’s and trying to out brake one another saw a coming together resulting in damage now to the front right guard.

Surviving this Bob would continue to complete the final 6 laps, making up ground to finish 13th with Bullas, Bowe and Tilly taking out 1, 2 and 3 respectively, all travelling in the 1.18’s for that race. Richards finished back in 8th the result of a black flag for jumping the start which meant he received a pit lane drive through penalty.

On return to the pit, the immaculate camaro was starting to show some battle scars !! The front right was pulled out and yellow tape applied – it actually looked pretty good. Bob was feeling somewhat dejected, but was keen to put it behind him for two good races on the Sunday. Saturday night the team dined at Howard Springs Tavern, where we caught up with Steve and Cameron Mason’s Team.

Race 2 was held on Sunday morning at 9.15 a.m. again over 12 laps with Bob starting out of 12th position. With the green light the race was on, with Bob getting a good start, only to lose 6 x spots in turn one which because of the last race on Saturday and qualifying on Friday had him somewhat over cautious – he was now back in 20th.

Bullas, Bowe and Tilley were up front battling it out. With each lap Bob was making ground, passing those he started in front of. Lap 3 was 18th, with action a plenty when the 99 entry of Makarios had more drama crashing into the wall, this time demolishing the right hand front and played no further part in racing for the day, by lap 5 Bob was 16th, 6th lap 15th and by the 11th lap 12th which is where he would finish.

In the meantime mid race, Bowe was having dramas of his own with a sticking throttle, a brake lock up and no front brakes, this meant the battle for honours was between Bullas, Tilley, Marget, Mason and Richards however, Richards accidentally bumped off his fuel switch when changing gear and whilst he got going again lost valuable time, which resulted in Bullas, Tilley and Marget finishing 1, 2 and 3. Richards would finish 6th and Bowe 9th. Bobby put in some good racing times in the 1.21’s.

On return to the pit, Bob commented he was very tentative going into turn 1 as he wasn’t quite sure how he would find the Camaro under brakes after the previous day and given there was no warm up, the race would be the first time he would get to test it out. Having said that though, was pleased to finish cleanly and 12th was a respectable outcome. Bob also commented the camaro had developed ‘push’ mid corner, but it was decided to leave the set up the same rather than make changes that couldn’t be tested prior to the next race. Bowe with his initial engine dramas in his own car which saw him run the rest of the weekend in Hunter’s HQ, was having a hard time of it also.

(pic courtesy of James Smith)

Race 3 was held at 12.00 and again over 12 laps. The top 8 from the last race would reverse on the grid. After getting a reasonable start, the turn 1 curse would show itself again losing 4 places forcing Bob to yet again play catchup. This he continued to do throughout the race, having got up into 9th by the 8th lap, getting a little untidy coming onto the straight on the 11th lap, but kept it together. For the entire race, positions 1 – 5 would be a feisty battle between Bullas, Tilley, Bowe, Richards and Edwards which is how they would finish.

Finishing in the top ten was a great result given the events of the weekend, this resulted in finishing 12th for the round and is 8th in the series standings thus far. Next was the job of packing up and a catch up at the track with Andrew and George Miedecke plus their crew – George was competing in the V8 Utes. On return to Howards Springs a very intense game of Uno took place with Jeff and Cameron from Mason Racing joining in – it was a great way to wind up the weekend.

The next round for Biante is in Queensland, to be held on 21-23 August, however, prior to this we have another Super Truck round at Winton on 15th & 16th August.

On the Monday, the team were busy ordering front guard and rear boot parts for the repairs needed to return the Camaro back to her original pristine condition. The transporter is due in Wednesday and work will commence immediately to prepare for Queensland. The boys are hoping to get testing time in prior to the next event – Look forward to bringing you all up to speed then.

Until then, yours in motorsport,
Kind regards,
Shaz

For further information

Sharon Middleton
Director
Whiteline Racing Promotions P.L.
mobile: 0418 826 272
email: shaz@wline.com.au

Whiteline corner in Darwin.

Left to right – Mark, Ron, Bob, George, Andrew, Bomber taking it easy after a hot day at the track.

Bomber and Mark assessing the dire tyre situation.

More of Whiteline Corner in Darwin.

Impact of boot damage – even the pillar has a twist

Boot damage after Qualifying 1 – Friday

courtesy of James Smith