Rather a disappointing day ... Car ground to a halt just one and a half laps into Free Practice this morning. Turned out that the fuel injection metering unit seized, yet another 'first' that no-one seems to have come across before, and again a unit that had been recently rebuilt... Albeit could be as simple as some grit in the fuel ... Had a massive amount of help, particularly would like to thank Geoff and Grant Kelly, and Michael Heaton who've spent a lot of time with me today; Ian Watt who has loaned me a replacement metering unit (but it's not exactly 'plug and play'); Brian Richards and my pit buddy Californians who've loaned tools etc. As of now the car is still in 1000 bits, but I'm confident now that it'll be running by Race 1 tomorrow, and starting from the back of the huge grid can be great fun! Not only that, but there's specialist fuel injection man in N. Melbourne who can sort it before we head to Tas ...
Bit grumpy right now, but standby for more upbeat report in 24hrs...
Friday, 18 March 2011
Thursday, 17 March 2011
At last ...
Been an interesting day... The Good Shepherd David Ogg met me at the Olsen this morning and we had a hot slow run through the Melbourne traffic to get the TR Roadworthiness test completed, then we went up to VicRoads to get the "Club Permit" red plates that mean we are now road legal here at long last (although gaffer taping them the inside of the front and rear windscreens may not be 100% 'by the book'!)
Off we go to Phillip Island. I arrive mid-afternoon to find I'm missing a briefing for International drivers that no-one had told me about, and not only that but there were familiarisation laps available to overseas drivers this afternoon. Now this was a small snag ... When we'd parted this morning we hadn't been too concerned about what stuff went in which car, so Nic and the kids had my race suit, gloves, boots etc., but very handily I had a bag of dirty kids clothes and a fresh packet of nappies/diapers for Freddie. Fortunately I managed to get a briefing, two laps of the track with the organisers, and Nic was on the island and bundled the kids back in the car to come and bring me the stuff I needed.
So, completely unexpectedly i have been out on track this afternoon, they may have been familiarisation laps officially, but I guess some were more familiar than others as a few boys were not far off race pace ... only a small number of cars out though, so plenty of track. Sadly my first run was curtailed after just two laps when one of 3 Maserati 250Fs here span into the pitfall ... Ouch, driver unharmed, but that's a bad way to start the weekend. On the third lap of my next run I come across my own pit garage buddy - Jonathon Ornstein from California in a CanAm car - pulled off the track with what turned out to be a terminal engine failure... Felt very sorry for him, just hope Garage 12 isn't jinxed... I ran another 8-10 laps, then pulled in for fuel and to check the car over; with lots of people coming up to chat I never got back out again before the track closed. No problem, I wasn't expecting to get out at all today, and the few quiet laps will stand me in good stead tomorrow.
Super circuit, lots of long corners, and more undulating than it appears on tv. Great meeting and everyone very friendly, and excited to see a Pom come all the way to take part! At one point I was on track with 2 250Fs, a GT40, a Lola T70 Spider, and a couple of F1 cars, of which one was Alan Jones' 1981 World Championship winning Williams!
Off we go to Phillip Island. I arrive mid-afternoon to find I'm missing a briefing for International drivers that no-one had told me about, and not only that but there were familiarisation laps available to overseas drivers this afternoon. Now this was a small snag ... When we'd parted this morning we hadn't been too concerned about what stuff went in which car, so Nic and the kids had my race suit, gloves, boots etc., but very handily I had a bag of dirty kids clothes and a fresh packet of nappies/diapers for Freddie. Fortunately I managed to get a briefing, two laps of the track with the organisers, and Nic was on the island and bundled the kids back in the car to come and bring me the stuff I needed.
So, completely unexpectedly i have been out on track this afternoon, they may have been familiarisation laps officially, but I guess some were more familiar than others as a few boys were not far off race pace ... only a small number of cars out though, so plenty of track. Sadly my first run was curtailed after just two laps when one of 3 Maserati 250Fs here span into the pitfall ... Ouch, driver unharmed, but that's a bad way to start the weekend. On the third lap of my next run I come across my own pit garage buddy - Jonathon Ornstein from California in a CanAm car - pulled off the track with what turned out to be a terminal engine failure... Felt very sorry for him, just hope Garage 12 isn't jinxed... I ran another 8-10 laps, then pulled in for fuel and to check the car over; with lots of people coming up to chat I never got back out again before the track closed. No problem, I wasn't expecting to get out at all today, and the few quiet laps will stand me in good stead tomorrow.
Super circuit, lots of long corners, and more undulating than it appears on tv. Great meeting and everyone very friendly, and excited to see a Pom come all the way to take part! At one point I was on track with 2 250Fs, a GT40, a Lola T70 Spider, and a couple of F1 cars, of which one was Alan Jones' 1981 World Championship winning Williams!
Monday, 14 March 2011
Great News
Great news this morning ... The car is now free to leave Gibson Freight, all I have to do now is take it for a Roadworthiness test, then to the offices of whichever club David Ogg has organised to support my temp road permit application, then round to VicRoads for the permit... Should be a breeze now .... Wish I hadn't said that!
More confident of getting on track at Phillip Island on Friday than I had been a couple of days ago ...
Hopefully some real petrol-fuelled stories to come soon ... Might still include stories of wildlife encounters and sandcastles for the sake of the broader audience...!
More confident of getting on track at Phillip Island on Friday than I had been a couple of days ago ...
Hopefully some real petrol-fuelled stories to come soon ... Might still include stories of wildlife encounters and sandcastles for the sake of the broader audience...!
Sunday, 13 March 2011
First taste of competition
Whilst the car might be still locked away, here in Lorne we have found other competitive opportunities ... The Lorne Sandcastle competition ... At the point we registered I reckoned we had a reasonable chance of a podium (we were the second team to enter!), so we constructed a 'Proper Anglo-Saxon Castle', complete with Norman Keep, crenellations, inner and outer defensive Walls and moat, to keep the marauding enemies at bay - in fact the marauding 'enemy' was 10 month old Freddie - look Son, at your age I wasn't expecting any creative input, but if you just want to destroy it, can you attack someone else's! Our castle was modelled on Arundel (I'm a Sussex boy!) - anyway the rest of the Aussies turned up, made Geckos, turtles, Mermaids (bit saucy too considering the age of the audience...) and sea monsters... I did think of calling for a Stewards' Enquiry as it distinctly said sandCASTLE (but didn't want to explain 'gamesmanship' to a 4 year old) ... we were 'Highly Commended', the only genuine 'Castle' to be so.
Later in the day, Emily and I were climbing some steps up from a viewing point above the coast, when we came face-to-face with a Koala, maybe 3-4ft away, he/she (they're fluffy, i've no way of knowing!) ambled off completely unperturbed; we, on the other hand were very excited to see one so close in the wild.
This blog is supposed to be about the motorsports elements of this trip, hopefully I can fulfil that promise soon and get away from stories of the beach or wildlife encounters!
Later in the day, Emily and I were climbing some steps up from a viewing point above the coast, when we came face-to-face with a Koala, maybe 3-4ft away, he/she (they're fluffy, i've no way of knowing!) ambled off completely unperturbed; we, on the other hand were very excited to see one so close in the wild.
This blog is supposed to be about the motorsports elements of this trip, hopefully I can fulfil that promise soon and get away from stories of the beach or wildlife encounters!
Thursday, 10 March 2011
I've had a specific request for an update on the activities of the band (more specifically the groupies of the band) that was staying at our hotel in Melbourne. Well, I'm as disappointed as you will be to report that today's rockstars really aren't like those of our generation ... Having heard no wild late-night shenanigans I asked the concierge as we left what they got up to, and the wildest thing he could report was that they got their laundry done! Of the ladies travelling with them one might indeed have been the Mum of one of the band members too, (allegedly)- I'm sure John Bonham's Mum never toured with him...
At the recommendation of Melbourne-based Targa competitor David Ogg, I found myself spending 45 minutes in the convivial company of Mariana from Sao Paolo, practicing my Portuguese ... Before you leap to conclusions, she was programming and cutting XL logos to stick on the car for Targa. Also ordered some logo'd t-shirts from some local 'dudes' who mainly do hoodies ... I had more to talk about with Mariana!
We've now moved down to Lorne, about 40kms down the fabled Gt Ocean Rd, fantastic scenery and views, but a Subaru Forester isn't what you want to be driving, even if it is a hire car!
Emily and I went to check on the TR yesterday, still sitting in 'jail' at Gibson Freight, pending completion of paperwork, Customs Bond is paid, Quarantine guys are booked, after that I can take the car away, but only far enough to get an inspection to then get the local VicRoads Registration papers that I will need to use the car on the road here. Been a laborious and time-consuming process to be honest, but hopefully we are near the end, although it's now clear that I won't get the chance for a daybreak blast down to the 12 Apostles in the TR, which I was hoping to do to test the in-car camera set-up. Shame. I can report that the car started, a bit hesitant, but after blowing six weeks of salt out of its throat it did run clean ... I think it's looking forward to getting out on parole!
At the recommendation of Melbourne-based Targa competitor David Ogg, I found myself spending 45 minutes in the convivial company of Mariana from Sao Paolo, practicing my Portuguese ... Before you leap to conclusions, she was programming and cutting XL logos to stick on the car for Targa. Also ordered some logo'd t-shirts from some local 'dudes' who mainly do hoodies ... I had more to talk about with Mariana!
We've now moved down to Lorne, about 40kms down the fabled Gt Ocean Rd, fantastic scenery and views, but a Subaru Forester isn't what you want to be driving, even if it is a hire car!
Emily and I went to check on the TR yesterday, still sitting in 'jail' at Gibson Freight, pending completion of paperwork, Customs Bond is paid, Quarantine guys are booked, after that I can take the car away, but only far enough to get an inspection to then get the local VicRoads Registration papers that I will need to use the car on the road here. Been a laborious and time-consuming process to be honest, but hopefully we are near the end, although it's now clear that I won't get the chance for a daybreak blast down to the 12 Apostles in the TR, which I was hoping to do to test the in-car camera set-up. Shame. I can report that the car started, a bit hesitant, but after blowing six weeks of salt out of its throat it did run clean ... I think it's looking forward to getting out on parole!
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Kind of difficult to quibble about the costs of the 'Family Holiday' side of this trip, considering the costs of motorsport elements... But it did concern me rather when we arrived in Melbourne this morning to find our hotel is really rather nice, is about 50yds from a Lamborghini showroom and that we were sitting at breakfast next to a Rock Band from the US who are playing here tonight -sure they aren't exactly Springsteen, ZZTop or Nirvana (rip) but I'll be scrutinising my bill nevertheless to ensure I'm not paying for any tv sets they lob out the windows in the early hours ...! If I suffer a sleepless night after the flight here I might just pop down to the lobby to check out the Groupies... Mind you the band looked to have an average age of about 15, so maybe their Mums won't let them stay up late...
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Car has arrived
The good ship Orchid was scheduled to have docked in Melbourne on March 2nd, so I hadn't expected to hear from the freight forwarders until a couple of days after that; however at lunchtime on the 2nd itself, I was surprised to receive a mail advising that the car was already at the Forwarders' Depot, and awaiting Customs Clearance and Quarantine inspection. Very exciting to hear.
We leave Singapore tomorrow evening, arriving in Melbourne early on Sunday, so I hope to get everything sorted early next week, and get the car parked safely in my friend, David Ogg's, garage. I also need to get some stickers made up to reflect the sponsorship I have secured late on from XL Insurance, my employer. I need to get some t-shirts printed up too.
Then I need to get on with the family holiday part of this adventure, before my wife runs out of patience! I'm not sure I'd mentioned yet that on top of all this petrol-fuelled adventure, we are also travelling with 4 year old Emily, and 9 month old Freddie!
We leave Singapore tomorrow evening, arriving in Melbourne early on Sunday, so I hope to get everything sorted early next week, and get the car parked safely in my friend, David Ogg's, garage. I also need to get some stickers made up to reflect the sponsorship I have secured late on from XL Insurance, my employer. I need to get some t-shirts printed up too.
Then I need to get on with the family holiday part of this adventure, before my wife runs out of patience! I'm not sure I'd mentioned yet that on top of all this petrol-fuelled adventure, we are also travelling with 4 year old Emily, and 9 month old Freddie!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)