First round for the trucks, but the final round of racing for Oran Park with the curtain coming down to make way for progress – in the not too distant future, on what was the venue for some of the largest sporting events will soon be transformed into a housing estate. This was the round that initially was scheduled for April, having been postponed. For the Whiteline Team it was not without it’s challenges and I must say the normally ever reliable Whiteline Racing, CAT powered freightliner was extremely ‘naughty’ and would prove to be temperamental for the entire meet. A surprise really, given that in the final round at Mallala in November, 08 all was good with Mark doing minor work prior to this round, which included repairing a bonnet hinge, swapping the suspension configuration to left hand drive from the right hand drive required at Mallala, checked the shocker pressures, ride height, corner weights, wheel alignment and a general check over. Up early Friday morning, as we were on the track early for practice with our qualifying session at 10.30. There were no races for the main drivers, so theoretically it should have been a cushy day – but this was not to be the case.
9.00 a.m. was the practice session, in sunny, but brisk conditions, with Bob the Builder only completing 4 laps and drove into the pits. The Freightliner was just a handful, the minute the builder would deviate off a straight line the wobbles would start, it was shaking terribly in the front end and was worse when the brakes were applied. Bob actually described it to me a little more colourfully than this, but to meet publishing standards I have modified the text ! On return to the pit, the team checked the steering damper which was found to be okay – the damper takes the shimmy out of the steering, they changed tyres, but on the surface nothing major was appearing. Qualifying was held at 10.30, which the Builder would complete 8 laps. With the call from Terry over the headset, fans on, water on, Bob was on his way for the first lap. Bob immediately came over the radios saying, he had a miss and it wouldn’t pick up, eventually clearing itself. The Freightliner was still being a handful and apart from the front end issues by lap 6 had become taily to boot. With this in mind, the Builder slowed down to allow the field to go around him to set up a clear run on his own. On braking the steering wheel was coming out of his hands, with Jeff standing in pit lane able to observe a major issue with the steering damper. On return to the pit, the Koni damper was bent like a banana.
We then got on the phone to Mercedes in Sydney, where we had 2 x dampers delivered to the track, however, they were a slightly different type, more of a light weight damper as opposed to the heavy duty Koni. The crew were puzzled by what could have caused the damper to bend. Apart from chasing this problem, they changed the fuel filter due to the miss and fitted a new turbo. They rebuilt the turbo taken off to have on stand by as a spare. The rear right rotor had cracked and was replaced. On further investigation of the front end, the king pins were found to be loose, only finger tight. Despite all of the above, somehow, the builder in his CAT powered Aust 1 Freightliner managed to grab pole position with a 54.7292 followed by Zammit and Waters in the magnificently presented No. 2 Kenworth, also Caterpillar powered. So, for the rest of the day, the crew waited on delivery of the damper, fitted it and carried out further checks on the front end. Charlie Zammit of SRZ Racing who owns Direct Power Steering was offering assistance and as a precautionary step, put together another steering box overnight in case we needed it for Saturday. Thing is, by the time the crew finished working on the truck it was dark, so we would have to wait until the morning warm up to know whether the new damper and tightening of the king pins had rectified the problem. An early warm up session would confirm our worst fears, the wobble and handling in the front end was worse than Friday !! The builder only went around the once and came in, declaring there was no way he could drive it like that he said it “would be suicide” to try and attempt a run, not wanting to hit the wall or put any other team out.
That meant, the steering box built by Charlie overnight would be installed. As a result, we would miss the first race of 6 laps held at 10.00 – bugger. The builder would have started out the position he qualified, which was No. 1 and we were certain of a win – it was a blow for us and we were really disappointed. The race honors for the first race went to Zammit with Waters second and Coulter third. Race 2 was held at 11.20 and over 6 x laps. The starting order was as per how you finished in race 1, again we won the boobie prize, with a no start in race 1, it meant we were at the back of the field. On entering the track and on the warm up lap, the Builder was not at ease with the Freightliner, she was a handful with Bob spinning on the warm up lap in front of the grand stand much to the delight of the crowd !! Turning her back around the builder sprinted around the circuit to catch the field when the green light was shown.
By turn 1, the Builder had rounded up 4 of the light trucks. By the start of the second lap, the race was being lead by Zammit, Waters, Rose and Coulter with Falk making a charge. By the start of the third lap, Bob had got into eight and was looking to take on Amoroso which he successfully did on turn one, only to spin on the back of the circuit, again experiencing shudder and bad handling under brakes. Regaining composure and returning to the track, Bobby was conscious of collecting some points, but was only able to finish 10th, with an extremely exciting finish up the pointy end with Dobson and Zammit going over the line with only a miniscule of a bonnet separating them, in third was Waters, Falk, Rose, Amoroso, Coulter, Yardy, Fletcher then Bob. ANTRO this year have fitted all the trucks with gps units to monitor speed. This race would reveal that whilst Dobson won the race he was penalized 3 points for speeding so too the 96 entry of Amoroso.
On return to the pit, the Builder was still complaining of the lack of handling in the front end and the thumping he was experiencing through the steering. Mark checked the left hand shocker which was losing air, but not enough to cause the serious problems we were experiencing on the track. Race 3 was 7 x laps held at 1.55 pm and was reverse grid and with the events of the day so far, meant Bob would start on the 2nd line. Feeling somewhat nervous about this given the handling issues. The warm up lap added to this with the ever apparent wobble still with us. With the pace car off and the green light illuminated, the race was on and by turn 1, Bob had hit the lead with the rest of the field also getting through turn 1 unscathed. Whilst totally ill at ease for the entire race, the builder managed to increase his lead taking out a convincing win, with Coulter, Zammit, Amoroso, M. Seton, Falk, Dobson, Waters, Yardy, Rose, Fletcher and S. Seton rounding out the field. Again, the gps units would see points deducted for speeding, with Falk losing 9 points and Amoroso losing 10 points !! Bob did have a hearing with officials regarding possibly jumping the start, however, the Stan Seton entry dropped back and pulled aside due to his oil pressure light coming on. This combined with the Seton dorian which the timers use to clock the laps being further back than ours gave a conflicting version of events of the start – we were given a reprimand.
Race 4 was over 10 laps, reverse grid but handicapped with the light trucks at the front of the field. By the start of the 7th lap the Builder was in 7th with Coulter, Yardy, Zammit, Falk, Dobson and Amoroso in front of him. On the start of the 8th lap Amoroso and the Builder were alongside one another into turn 1, with Amoroso having the inside line, with Bobby pulling in behind, by the 9th lap, however, Bob got the inside line and was able to complete the move on turn 1. On the final lap, Bob pegged off Falk and would finish in 5th, behind Coulter, Zammit, Yardy and Dobson, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively. Again speeding would come into it, with Falk penalized 3 points. On return to the pit, the front right tyre, which was a newby was badly scuffed up which further adds fuel to the front end handling issues. From the weekend, we would come away with pole, a win, fastest lap of the weekend and placings far enough up the table to come third for the weekend. Given we were not the winners for the weekend, we were really pleased to see Steve Zammit take the weekend, fresh from his honeymoon and marriage to Kylie, his Dad Charlie is one of the very original forces behind truck racing, so being the last ever meeting at Oran Park it was fitting their team enjoyed the success. They are a great family with Charlie getting in and helping so many other teams to ensure a full field runs on the circuit.
After the racing and the pack up, an “Ode to Oran Park” was held. Tony and Kathy Parich owners of Oran Park were there, so too many of the drivers and team owners from yester year. A large screen showed old footage of racing. Stories were shared, memories re lived, emotions flowed and a great night was had by all. Tony Parich announced that the new estate would have streets and roads named after well known and title holders in V8 Supercars and the super trucks. Given Bobby has won four titles it will be interesting to see if he ends up with a listing in the latest edition of the street directory !! I am led to believe other steps to keep the racing history alive will be a street, like in Hollywood walk of fame, with names in the pavement and retaining of the Oran Park tower to be transformed into a block of shops for locals – I guess we will have to sit back and see !! Another nice story to share is that of retired Colin Lovett from the TRN team, he and Ben Rose ran 6 and 16 super trucks, however, this year Ben is running solo in the No. 6 entry. Whilst at the track to support Ben, Col these days can be found driving his local school bus. Given that 18 of the 20 students at the school rely on Col – it is important that he turns up each day !!! Col reports he is loving it and enjoying seeing the kids each day on his bus. Well done Col !! Next morning Trevor Page helped our team get to the airport to catch our planes, while Singo jumped in behind the steering wheel of the transporter for the journey home to Adelaide.
Obviously, the front end of the Super truck will be fully reviewed on it’s return. The final round in Adelaide in November all was fine, so to have such serious problems whilst it has been sitting is somewhat a mystery. Mark will have to go back to the drawing board. Next round for the trucks is not until August at Winton in Victoria, but I will be in touch after the Biante round in June, where the Builder competes in Darwin. Yours in racing,
THE RACING CALENDAR FOR 09… The Australian SuperTruck Series 2009: 2009 BIANTE Touring Car Masters:
Previous Editions of Latest News May 09 Round 2: Biante Touring Car Masters – Winton March 09 Round 1: Biante Touring Car Masters – Clipsal500 March 09: Introduction to Biante Camaro
November 08: Mallala – Australian Championship November 08: Oran Park – Australian Championship July 08 Round 3: Barbagallo – Australian Championship May 08 Round 2: Mallala – Australian Championship April 08 Round 1: Oran Park – Australian Championship April 08 Round 2: Timaru – New Zealand Championship January 08 Round 1: Timaru – New Zealand Championship
November 07 Round 5: Oran Park – Australian Championship October 07 Round 4: Mallala – Australian Championship August 07 Round 3: Barbagallo – Australian Championship 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
August 03 : Truckin' Life December 03 : New truck finshed with only weeks to spare before Timaru race!
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