Final Queensland Raceway Sprints for 2003

[kenhenry]

The final round of Saturday Afternoon Sprints for the year is being held at Queensland Raceway this Saturday.

The only change to the usual format is a BBQ and trophy presentation after the final sprint session.

As usual all are most welcome and it would be great to see a full grid of MINIs again. Once again come along, watch, participate, become someone's official video taker or professional heckler

Details are as follows:

Remember to wear a long sleeve shirt and long trousers.

The costs for the day are as follows:

$55.00 - Track License, good for 12 months at any AAA affiliated track.
$40.00 - First 7 laps
$25.00 - Second 7 Laps
Third set of 7 laps are free.

Those that paid for their license last time need not purchase another this time around.

Timings are as follows:

11.30 - Sign On
12.00 - Safety Brief
1.00 - On Track, depending on numbers driving

Come along, have a go, or just watch. It is certainly a lot of fun For more information go to www.queenslandraceway.com.au

Usual meeting place at McDonalds at Goodna at 10.00am

[m1n130]

Hi All, I'm a no show this month due to running in my Works Kit (just wait until next year ) Hope you all enjoy your day and have a blast. Catch Ya - Rob

[ppi]

I think I can get along again for some fun.
I hope we can see a gridfull of MINIs there.
I'll most probably meet out there.

[brett]

Can't make it this time sorry, This is my busiest time of the year God bless Christmas
Well have fun, Good luck ken. Where are you in the championship?

[kenhenry]

Brett,

Sitting 10th outright in class after only 3 sprints. Had a look at the top 20 and it appears unlikely that I could be pushed out of the Top 10. However, it would have to be one hell of a drive on Saturday to move up any positions, as 1 and 2 are within 3 points of each other, I would expect both will definitely be there. Even if I could score fastest lap of the day, the absolute best I could theoretically achieve would be 6th for the year. Although, that would feel bloody fantastic after only 4 drives, I think I'll have to settle for 9th or 10th.

Shame you can't make it mate. It's always good to see you.

BTW, I figured out why your compressor is still working - It was my cigarette lighter fuse that blew.

Have a top Christmas and hope to see you early in the New Year.

[tm75tm]

Would love to get out there but I have a boat on the hardstand being neglected , which I really should finish the work on........... good luck.

Rob ,

pm me so I can arrange to get your esky back to you.


-t.

[robbo mcs]

Quote: Originally Posted by kenhenry

Brett,

Sitting 10th outright in class after only 3 sprints. Had a look at the top 20 and it appears unlikely that I could be pushed out of the Top 10. However, it would have to be one hell of a drive on Saturday to move up any positions, as 1 and 2 are within 3 points of each other, I would expect both will definitely be there. Even if I could score fastest lap of the day, the absolute best I could theoretically achieve would be 6th for the year. Although, that would feel bloody fantastic after only 4 drives, I think I'll have to settle for 9th or 10th.

Shame you can't make it mate. It's always good to see you.

BTW, I figured out why your compressor is still working - It was my cigarette lighter fuse that blew.

Have a top Christmas and hope to see you early in the New Year.

Hi,

Good luck for your next drive day.

Glad to see that after only a few drive days you are counting points, working out scenarios, best times etc Obviously you have been bitten by the competative spirit.

How are you tyres going?

Good luck for next year in the competition. I am sure with a full year the mini will do some serious damage

Keep me posted on the dates for your meets next year. If I can possibly make it up there I would love to attend

Robbo

[kenhenry]

Quote: Originally Posted by robbo mcs

Hi,

Good luck for your next drive day.

Glad to see that after only a few drive days you are counting points, working out scenarios, best times etc Obviously you have been bitten by the competative spirit.

How are you tyres going?

Good luck for next year in the competition. I am sure with a full year the mini will do some serious damage

Keep me posted on the dates for your meets next year. If I can possibly make it up there I would love to attend

Robbo

Robbo,

Thanks for the encouragement. Competitive, but not stupid - I'd rather lose a second here and there than send Black Betty back to Brisbane on a flat top.

As for the Dunlop D01JS's, they've now had 4 sets of sprints at Queensland Raceway (rotated each time front to back). It's now time to flip them on the rims during the Christmas break. They are showing signs of a good work out on the outer shoulders after 84 hot laps and 24 warm up and cool down laps plus a couple of weeks on the road where I ran out of time to put the road tyres back on.

Unless the wear pattern accelerates, I am guessing another 8 to 12 sprint days. They were overly soft today, with track temp just short of 50 degrees. I guess it might boil down to how many sprint days we have with temps this high.

Anyway, the season's over with today's times a second off my best. That intercooler spray of your's is looking more and more a necessity. That and an oil cooler. Know anyone that has Santa's email address?

As for the dates of QR's sprint days, I'll PM you, as soon as I have the complete list. From memory, Boo expressed an interest for sometime after he gets back. My licence covers Wakefield as well, so I might look for a sprint date sometime around August to coincide with my ski trip.

Anyway, have a top Christmas and I look forward to meeting sometime.

Ken

[swamos]

Ken,

Sounds like you had fun. How many MINI's turned up today. Did chrissy put the squeeze on our numbers??

Steve

[Boo]

Quote: Originally Posted by kenhenry

Robbo,

As for the dates of QR's sprint days, I'll PM you, as soon as I have the complete list. From memory, Boo expressed an interest for sometime after he gets back. My licence covers Wakefield as well, so I might look for a sprint date sometime around August to coincide with my ski trip.

Anyway, have a top Christmas and I look forward to meeting sometime.

Ken

Definitely I will probably be up there in April or May.. Would be great to show you around Wakefield or even better yet if you could make it down for a Burrows drive day at Eastern Creek.
On the subject of snow, I am looking out my window as i type and it is absolutely bucketing down and has been all night...

[kenhenry]

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo

Definitely I will probably be up there in April or May.. Would be great to show you around Wakefield or even better yet if you could make it down for a Burrows drive day at Eastern Creek.
On the subject of snow, I am looking out my window as i type and it is absolutely bucketing down and has been all night...

Boo,

Good to hear from you. Didn't read your name to start with, and thought Robbo was taking the P*SS out of me about the snow outside his window. You lucky mongrel - can't think of a better place to spend Christmas than Whistler. I trust the good times will continue.

As for Eastern Creek, I only have a AAA licence, which covers Wakefield. I don't have not a full CAMS licence. I don't think Eastern Creek is AAA affiliated. What's the deal with their sprint days with regard to licences?

I hope the 2 of you have a great Christmas and New Year.

Ken

[kenhenry]

Quote: Originally Posted by swamos

Ken,

Sounds like you had fun. How many MINI's turned up today. Did chrissy put the squeeze on our numbers??

Steve

Yeah, back down to me and Evil. Actually, a very quiet day all round. Only about 80 cars all up, with the ALFA Club making up about a quarter.

Only problem for the day was they didn't match up the cars to well. A number of times there were 5 or 6 cars on the main straight at once. Made it very interesting for the spectators on the wall though.

In my first sprint, I had just passed 1 ALFA, had 2 in front of me to go. The one immediately in front of me pulled out as I did. I played it safe and pulled back in, just as a 300ZX Turbo pulled passed me and the overtaking ALFA. OK, so three cars wide in front of me. The CV8 Monaro pulls up beside me, waiting on the Z to get out of the road. Meanwhile another ALFA pulls out beside the one I had already passed.

You can imagine approaching the Turn 1 braking marker with 3 wide, 2 wide and 2 wide, with me in the middle against the wall. It was time to start praying that nobody made a mistake.

What a spectacle on Turn 1, the fastest turn on the circuit.

Z gets through, CV8 on his tail, then 2 ALFAs side by side, me holding line, but ready to go any where to avoid the mob if something went awry, and then the next 2 ALFAs. Seven out of eight cars on the one turn proves they didn't grid with any parity yesterday. Main problem was last sprint of the year and everyone wanted to maximise points. Thrilling, but not my idea of "friendly" Saturday Arvo Sprints".

On a normal day where they have worked the grids properly, you may see 3 cars close together, but never 5, 6 or 7. By the way the only car in the 8 that wasn't in that melee was Evil. At that point I didn't even know he was in the same grid as me.

Anyway, the main thing was that everyone brought their cars home safely.

[Boo]

Quote: Originally Posted by kenhenry

Boo,

Good to hear from you. Didn't read your name to start with, and thought Robbo was taking the P*SS out of me about the snow outside his window. You lucky mongrel - can't think of a better place to spend Christmas than Whistler. I trust the good times will continue.

As for Eastern Creek, I only have a AAA licence, which covers Wakefield. I don't have not a full CAMS licence. I don't think Eastern Creek is AAA affiliated. What's the deal with their sprint days with regard to licences?

I hope the 2 of you have a great Christmas and New Year.

Ken

At a Burrows Drive Day all you need is your drivers license and $450 It is pricey but you get a lot of track time... we can get a couple of hundred k's done by the end of the day and you have instructors to teach you the lie of the land also....

As for Whistler, well let me just say two words......"FRESH TRACKS" ......

Happy Christmas to you also.... I am slightly jealous of you all, the Pajero just doesn't handle like the Mini This whole trip Melody and I have been saying "I wish we were in the Mini"

[robbo mcs]

Quote: Originally Posted by Boo

At a Burrows Drive Day all you need is your drivers license and $450 It is pricey but you get a lot of track time... we can get a couple of hundred k's done by the end of the day and you have instructors to teach you the lie of the land also....

As for Whistler, well let me just say two words......"FRESH TRACKS" ......

Happy Christmas to you also.... I am slightly jealous of you all, the Pajero just doesn't handle like the Mini This whole trip Melody and I have been saying "I wish we were in the Mini"

Hi Boo / Kenhenry,

Boo,

I hear it is dumping snow Fortunately, it is only around 4 weeks till Katie and I will be there!

I'm glad that you are slightly jealous of all of us mini2ers, we are having a ball with our cars. The mini is way better than a pajero. Also, we are all slightly jealous of you and melody! Just remember, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and SWORKS will seem twice as good when you get back, especially with the works kit

Kenhenry,

As Boo said, you dont need a Cams license for the burrows track days. Just a cool car and the money! It is worth it! My record in a day is 60 laps of eastern creek (240km). Also, you get to mix with true exotic supercars!

For your information, if you are trying to organise things with a ski trip, the dates in the ski season next year are :

Burrows Drive day : 4/8/04

NSW BMW club track days : 17-18/7 2 day event at Winton Victoria (1 hour past the NSW / Vic Border). First day is driver training, second is a supersprint.

If you cant make it to those, let me know when you are going skiing and we will try and meet up

Robbo

[kenhenry]

Thanks Robbo,

I would love to make one of those dates. I book my ski trips for the same week each year as I check out - which must make it about the second Sunday in August.

Can't be just a coincidence. I only just finished emailing you and Boo with the QR dates and an aerial photo of the track, when your post came through.

Ken