Tall Guy Racing - Past Events 2004
Tall Guy Racing - Past Events 2004 |
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17 December 2004, Night Speed Drag Wars Round 4, Champion Dragway
12 December 2004, Pukekohe Car Club Motorkhana / Autocross Round 1, Ramarama
3 December 2004, Night Speed Drag Wars Round 3, Champion Dragway
3 October 2004, Toyo Tarmac Series Bent Sprint Round 5, Hiwi Road Tauwhare
25 September 2004, Taupo Car Club Dual Sprint Round 5, Taupo Race Track
18 September 2004, Taranaki Car Club Dual Sprint, Manfield Race Track Fielding
12 September 2004, Taupo Car Club Dual Sprint Round 4, Taupo Race Track
29 August 2004, Hamilton Car Club Autocross, Hamilton Car Club Grounds
21 August 2004, Taupo Car Club Dual Sprint Round 4, Taupo Race Track
14 August 2004, Hamilton Car Club Rally of Waitomo *
8 August 2004, Toyo Tarmac Series Hillclimb Round 3, Sainsbury Road Mt. Pirongia
25 July 2004, Toyo Tarmac Series Autocross Round 2, Bay Park Carpark
24 July 2004, Taupo Car Club Dual Sprint Round 3, Taupo Race Track
18 July 2004, Hamilton Car Club Motorkhana, Hamilton Car Club Grounds
11 July 2004, Champion Dragway Winter Dragwars Round 6
4 July 2004, Hamilton Car Club Working Bee
26 June 2004, Taupo Car Club Dual Sprint Round 2, Taupo Race Track
20 June 2004, Toyo Tarmac Series Motorkhana Round 1, Horotiu AFFCO Meat Works Carpark
13 June 2004, Champion Dragway Winter Dragwars Round 4
23 May 2004, Taupo Car Club Dual Sprint Round 1, Taupo Race Track
16 May 2004, Pukekohe Car Club Motorkhana Round 1, Mercer Fuel Stop
* Did not compete. Helped to run the event.
This night was a 'slippery' night with no traction to be found anywhere. The times were no better than the previous round, despite the Falcon being fitted with a big bore. While the times were no better, the sound certainly was. The Falcon made a fantastic racket going down the track.
My first race proved just how stupid Holden drivers are. I was lined up against a late model V8 Holden ute. His dial in was 14.60 and mine was 15.80. That meant that I was supposed to leave 1.20 seconds before him. The start lights are set up to do this - I get the green light 1.20 seconds before him. However, this fool decided not to wait for his lights and instead left as soon I got my green light. His reaction time was listed as 'LB3A' meaning he left too early for the computer to be bothered timing it. Being a much faster car (despite the Holden badge) he comfortably beat me to the finish line and simply assumed that he had won the race. He ignored the 'LB3A' reaction time on his time slip. He ignored the word 'WIN' with arrows pointed to my half of the time slip. He ignored the fact that his number was not announced as going through to the next round. Instead he lined up again. He did his burnout. He moved up to the start line and waited for the green light. Then he proceeded to look mightily silly as he backed his vehicle out of the way after someone politely asked him to move his losing heap of shit Holden out of the way so that the winners could continue the racing.
The second race wasn't nearly as interesting, except that I actually won it. In the third race I left well before the green light and hence lost. It started to rain shortly after my last race so the event was called off. There was no burnout competition which was rather disappointing. Full results here. Photos here.
This was a combination event with the Pukekohe Car Club running a motorkhana and an autocross at the same time. I think this is an excellent idea - two lots of racing on the same day. I managed to forget all of my documentation (racing licence, log book and Hamilton Car Club membership card), but the lovely people of the Pukekohe Car Club let me race anyway. Thanks ladies!
The event was held on grass. This meant a lot of restraint was needed on the throttle to prevent wheel spin. Some people were more restrained than others. The autocross proved to be a lot of fun. Several corners were quite fast and the line between drifting and spinning was very thin. This was the first event I did with the new (lowered) suspension. As the field was quite bumpy in places, I managed to knock off one of the mud flaps. I think I'll just pull the rest of them off. The motorkhana was a standard affair. The Falcon is just too big and too unmanoeuvrable to do well at motorkhanas. But it was lots of fun anyway. I managed to do all the courses correctly and not knock over any cones. Photos here.
Another go at the ¼ mile. Surprisingly, there was a lot of grip on the track and I was able to get a record time of 15.836 seconds which is faster than my V8 Fairlane. Unfortunately, this happened on the first race and resulted in me going under my dial-in time of 16 seconds. There was also the obligatory burnout competition which is always great entertainment. When will the Jappers learn to leave the burnouts to the big Aussies?
I absolutely nailed the first race. My dial in time was 16 seconds flat and my total time for the run was 16.183. I lost the second race, but it took me quite some time to figure out why. It turns out that the timing didn't quite work the way I thought it did and I actually ran under my dial in time and hence 'broke out'. Never mind, I know for next time. Full results here. Photos here.
This was a fantastic event. The course was very fast with some very high speed corners. Unfortunately, the clutch in the Falcon was well and truly worn out. This made it impossible to put down any real power, because the clutch would just slip. This was quite frustrating - the were places where I wanted to absolutely nail it, but couldn't. However, it was still very fast and I enjoyed myself. I'm really looking forward to doing this event again next year with a good clutch!
Also somewhere during the day, the Falcon ticked over the 329000km mark. Photos here.
We finally had a wet day at Taupo. There was a small turn out and the start of the racing was delayed. When we did start the rain had eased, but the track was quite wet. Racing on a wet track was fun. Braking was a real challenge as it was so easy to lock up a wheel. Coming out of the hair pin, it was easy to push the car into an over steer slide. Through the esses, I had a number of 'moments' including the one time that I completely lost control of the car. I 'fish-tailed' a number of times before finally turning the car around. I ended up in the middle of the track, facing the wrong way with the engine stalled. Fortunately, I was able to get the car started and off the track before anyone else came along. No damage was done, which is more than can be said for some others. This guy was planning on selling his car after this event. Bummer!
After we were done racing, we had a prize giving. I was one of four people who had attended all five dual sprint rounds. I won a 'Fluffy Dice' Award, which was nice. Photos here.
Manfield is just out of Fielding which is a very long way from Hamilton. I took a half day off work on Friday and drive down to Dannivirke on Friday afternoon. Typically, Dannivirke was freezing cold. I stayed the night with some relations. Saturday morning I drove Manfield. There had been some rain and the track was a little damp. It was the first time many drivers had driven around Manfield so the session started with some driver training. Unfortunately, I did not have a passenger seat or a rollcage so I was not able to use my car. Instead I got a ride in this car. It had new slicks that needed 'scrubbing in' and brake pads that needed bedding in. The driver (sorry - I forget his name) was using the opportunity to take people for a ride and point out the driving lines. It was quite an experience, even if it was just a fairly sedate drive around the track. Only the once did he completely floor it - the acceleration was unbelievable. I'm thinking I might need to get some of that sort of acceleration into my Falcon somehow.
After that it was on to the actual dual sprints. Racing at Manfield is fantastic. The Manfield track is twice as long as Taupo, but most cars' lap times will only be about 1.5 times that of Taupo. That means the average speed is a lot faster than Taupo. At the end of the front straight I had the Falcon wound up to about 170 KPH.
I managed to get the Falcon nice and warm. Its temperature gauge has the word 'NORMAL' across the normal temperature range. In normal day-to-day driving the needle gets to the 'N'. Around Taupo the needle gets up to the 'R'. At Manfield I had the needle all the way to the 'L'. The floor of the Falcon around the transmission tunnel became too hot to hold my hand on. I also went through quite a bit of petrol. I started the day with half a tank. At lunch time the Falcon was empty and I put in another half a tank. At the end of the day the Falcon was empty again. That translates to about 60 litres of petrol. In comparison, when I drive from Hamilton to Taupo (153 Km), do the dual sprints and drive back I usually go through about 40 litres of petrol in total. Photos here.
Another great day driving around Taupo Race Track. Photos here.
I broke the Falcon! I bottomed out the front of the car going down the 'big dipper' part of the course. I broke a black strip of plastic that was at the bottom of the bumper and probably meant to be part of the 'body kit'. The strip was not very big and would only have been cosmetic so I am not bothered that I broke it. I simply unscrewed it and took it off. So I have removed a bit more weight!
The day was thoroughly enjoyable. The surface was dry dirt. It was slippery, but not impossible like mud would have been. I was able to do a good amount of drifting without going too far and turning the car around. In the last round I tried very hard to keep the Falcon straight and not let the back slide out. I also tried to keep the wheel spin to a minimum. This knocked about three seconds off my time, but was not nearly as much fun as going hard. I knocked over two cones (actually the same one on different laps) in the first round and 'rocked' one in the last round.
In the results I came forth in my class! An impressive effort, until you consider the fact that there was only four in my class. I didn't do that well overall, either. I came in last place. Oh well, I was more focused on having fun (which I certainly did) than doing well in the results. Photos here.
I finally slid off the track! Somehow, I screwed up the left hand turn at the end of the main straight. I was braking too hard while turning and the back end slid out. I applied some reverse lock and held the slide. I thought I might be able to recover, but then the Falcon suddenly found some grip and snapped back to the right. I was not able to correct it fast enough and spun clockwise off to the right of the track. By this stage I had slowed down quite a bit and so managed to bring the Falcon to a stop without hitting anything. I waited for a gap in the traffic and jumped back on the track.
I experimented a bit with tire pressure. I did the warm up lap (were I slid off the track) and first race with 46 psi in the front and 40 psi in the rear. This proved to be too much, so I reduced it to 30 psi all round. This seemed much better. I have now been informed that 36 psi in the front and 32 psi in the rear might be a better setup so I will try that next time.
The Falcon made a friend. This XF Falcon was stuffed with a great big V8. It also had some nice big feet and modified suspension. It was driven by Logan who had a 'moment' at the end of the main straight when he locked up the rear wheels and stalled the engine. He left a very long pair off black lines to be admired by all. Photos here.
For this event, I was assigned to help out with stage 5 / 11. Stage 11 was the same as stage 5, but in the reverse direction. I started the day by helping with the 'tapping' on the stage. Tapping involves putting tape across the driveways and gates to remind the residents that the road is closed and that it is very dangerous to go on the road. Some locals strongly object to this, but we had no problems on our stage. Most of the rest of the day was spend marshalling at this intersection. This simply involved making sure that no one tried to drive into the closed road. There were no problems and I got to talk to a couple of interesting locals. I rounded off the day by going to a spectator point and watching the cars go by at speed. Photos here.
Unbelievable weather! The sun shone, then it rained, then it absolutely teemed down, then it hailed, then it went back to sunshine. Then it repeated the cycle several times!
This was one event I was very nervous and apprehensive about. In a motorkhana or autocross, if you screw it up you might knock over a traffic cone. No big deal. However, in a hillclimb, if you screw it up you go either straight into a bank or straight off a bank. Not a very nice proposition either way.
On the practise run, I took things very easy - only driving a bit faster than I would have on a normal Sunday afternoon drive. I soon realised that it wasn't nearly as bad as thought and that I had probably worked myself up a bit too much about it. On the subsequent runs I was much more aggressive, but still didn't push too hard. By the last run, I was fairly happy with my performance. I was satisfied with the level I had pushed the Falcon, although there might have been a few more seconds to be found if I had of done had more runs. My best run of the day was 1:12. The overall best time of the day was a staggering 54 seconds. This means that I didn't do so well in the points department. In fact, I have ended up with fewer points than I got at the autocross which I totally screwed up! Oh well, I had fun and kept the Falcon straight, which is the main thing. Photos here. Full results here.
Well, nothing got hit or broken, but apart from that, the event very nearly resulted in the worst possible result. Autocrosses are not overly complicated. The idea is to drive around a course marked by traffic cones. The cones are laid out in such a way so that there is always two large cones with silver strips marking the entrance to each corner or section. You are supposed to go between the two big ones and around the others. It seems that the Tall Guy has a bit of difficulty with this concept. The first run of the day was a practise run. On a practise run, the time does not count - it is supposed to be a chance to take it easy and make sure you know where you are going. Not for me. I was far too enthusiastic and totally lost control of the Falcon twice (photos coming soon). I missed some cones. I put the Falcon into a large understeering slide while trying to go around one of the tight corners too fast. Not a very good effort for me, but probably rather entertaining for those watching.
I decided to cool things down a little for my first attempt at a timed run. However, I still was too enthusiastic - just not as much as before. I also managed to screw up the very first corner (see below), although I didn't realise it until someone pointed it out later. I took the corners too fast, but managed to avoid totally losing control of the Falcon.
So then, I decided that I needed to calm down and take things easy. I decided that the focus needed to be getting around the course correctly rather than quickly. So when I lined up at the start line, I was thinking, "Controlled aggression. Take it calmly and controlled." Unfortunately, I was still thinking about this at the first corner. I should have been thinking about the corner. I realised at the last moment that I was heading around to the right of the outside cone instead of going on the inside of it i.e. doing exactly what I did last time. I swerved sharply to the left to try to get on the inside of it - and actually succeeded. However, now I was going at completely the wrong angle and too fast. I could not swerve the other way sharply enough to avoid going around the next cone the wrong way (see below). This has to have been the most unique way to screw up the course of the day. Realising that I had screwed it up, I decided to have some fun with the rest of the course (it's only rubber after all).
Now I only had one attempt left. If I screwed this up, I would not get a time at all for the entire event. So I drove like a grampa and finally got right (see below and notice how much easier it was to do the corner 'correctly'). It was a slow time, but at least it was a time. This is how I should have done my first attempt. Nevermind, now I know for next time. Photos here. Full results here.
Lessons learned for this type of event:
| The very first corner of the Toyo Tarmac Series Autocross Round 2 | ||
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| Attempt One The Tall Guy screws it up. |
Attempt Two The Tall Guy screws it up badly. |
Attempt Three The Tall Guy finally gets it right. |
Another fine but very chilly day at Taupo. We were sharing the track with the Taranaki Car Club so there were many cars and things were fairly hectic. I think my times are improving, but I still did not manage to win any races. At least I kept the Falcon on the track (unlike someone else who shall remain nameless). Thanks to Mark and Lynda who came and visited and took some photos. Photos here.
A great day's drifting in a fairly muddy field. In many cases, there was a bit of 'over-drifting', which is great fun but not really the fastest way to complete a course. It was impossible to find any traction anywhere (this seems to be a reoccurring theme). There were three courses with four runs on each. Unfortunately, I did not realise that the overall places were to be determined by the total time taken to complete each course not just the best time. Had I known that, I might have driven a little more conservatively. Anyway, due to a couple of big 'over-drifts' I did not do so well and finished last out of four in my class and 15th out of 17 overall. However, I didn't hit a single cone. Photos here.
The Falcon had some problems starting a few times. The worst was when it refused to start after I stalled it in the middle of a course. After needing several jump starts, I finally realised the problem was the bolt through one of the battery terminals wasn't done up tight enough. Once I fixed that, there were no more problems.
Not the best day's racing. The Falcon (or should that be the Falcon / driver combo) was very slow and inconsistent. On most of the runs, I still get the throttle wide open in second gear with out wheel spin. This (sadly) was not due to massive amounts power, but complete lack of grip. After nine practice runs, I decided on a fairly slow dial in time of 17.2 seconds. If course in the first race I had nearly the best time of the day with 16.88 and so 'broke out' by heaps and lost the race. Full results here. I'm starting to think this car is not very suitable for drag racing. The day wasn't a complete right off though - there were some interesting cars to look at and some excellent displays of environmentally unfriendly tire disposal in the burn out competition at the end of the day. Photos here.
The fastest time of the day was nearly half a second slower that the last round. This is a big difference and makes me think that maybe the engine is starting to object to being thrashed at this stage in its life (320000 kms). I might need to think about getting it reconditioned.
In life, you have to help those who help you. So when the Hamilton Car Club grounds needed some work, it was time to get stuck in. The main job was to chop back the lower branches on the trees on the boundary line. This was so that any cars that go a little wide in any motorkhanas aren't damaged by low flying branches. We removed many branches and piled them up in the middle of the field for what will be a very large bon fire. I think the intention is to have the bon fire at the next Guy Fawke's, but I think it would make an excellent 'fire hazard' at the next motorkhana. A large amount of rubbish was also removed form the downstairs shed of the clubrooms. Most of the rubbish ended up on the bon fire, along with about a dozen old tires that were lying around. Not only is this bon fire going to burn for a week, it is going to smell great too...
Photos here. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take any 'before' shots.
Another good day at Taupo. After the practice, I noticed a strange smell from the engine. It turned out to be power steering fluid leaking from the top the power steering pump. The cap does not seem to screw down tight enough despite no obvious damage or wear. I used some duct tape to hold down a rag over the cap to prevent the fluid from going all over the engine bay. This actually seemed to prevent further fluid loss. In the process, I also managed to burn myself on the extractors. (Mental note: extractors are very hot after a practice or race.)
The racing went well - despite the fact I didn't actually manage to win any of the races. The times are coming down and I'm starting to figure out just how late I can leave the braking and how hard I can push the brakes before locking up a wheel. In fact, at the end of the 'grudge' racing I noticed that the front wheels were a funny dark colour (similar to the 'shadow chrome' mags). I realised it was very fine black dust. I said to the guy I was talking to at the time, "What the heck is this?" He had a look and said, "Oh, that's just dust from your brake pads..." While driving home, I noticed that the brakes don't seem to work quite so well any more, so it might be time to replace the pads. A few photos here.
Upgrades wanted after this event - same as the last round at Taupo.
This event was organised by several different car clubs, including the Fiat Club Waikato and the Mini Cooper Enthusiasts Club. So, as you would expect, there were a lot of Fiats (very strange cars) and Minis. One in particular, was a tiny Fiat Bambina that happened to to line up behind my great big Falcon (photo here). It was driven buy an old guy who certainly was happy to give it heaps. I also got my first event sponsor sticker [the Tall Guy wipes a small tear from his eye]. Thanks to Toyo Tires for sponsoring the event.
The first half of the day went very well. I managed to post the fastest time for the first course (slalom). The second course (clover) would have been the perfect 'drift' course, if I had a LSD. At lunch, I was 8th out of 45. The two courses after lunch were tighter and involved some 180 degree turns. The Falcon is far less suited to these types of courses and I dropped back to 19th. This is still a fairly good result and the remaining events in the series will be more to the Falcon's liking. Full results here. A few photos here.
Upgrades wanted after this event - same as the last motorkhana.
Footnote: It seems that someone got the Falcon mixed up with someone else's car and, hence, the above results are not quite correct. In fact, they are pretty far from the mark. I did not post the fastest time for the slalom (my time was the third slowest). I wasn't 8th out of 45 at lunch or 19th at the end of the day. I ended up 35th. So much for thinking that I might actually be getting somewhere...
This was my first attempt at taking the Falcon down the quarter mile. It took a few runs to get used to launching the Falcon without huge amounts of wheelspin (quite different to my Fairlane, which is an automatic and has a limited slip diff). Best time of the day was 16.391 seconds at 142.80 kph. This is a slower time, but faster speed that the Fairlane and shows that the problem was getting off the line. Fitting a limited slip diff should be good for at least half a second.
The first race was a disaster. I had a truly crap reaction time of 1.153 seconds (a 'perfect' reaction time is 0.500). The middle yellow light (the one that I need to use) was not working and I also suspect the dial in times were not entered correctly as my opponent and I left at about the same time (I should have left 1.4 seconds before him) and I do not remember thinking that I had stuffed it up. Anyway, I also totally screwed up the second to third gear change, so even if I had a perfect start I would have still lost the race. Better luck next time. Full results here.
At least I had a better day than the poor guy who probably wrote off his 1978 Holden Premier Stationwagon. During the burnout competition, one of the back tires caught fire. Before the (hopelessly inept) fire crew finally managed to put it out, fire had engulfed the whole rear half of the car. Broke my heart to see a vehicle like that gutted by fire, even if was a Holden. Lessons learned:
Upgrades wanted after this event:
This event was a not-very-competitive event especially targeted at novices and inexperienced drivers (which suited me fine). The practice laps and first race were a little daunting - not knowing exactly what to expect and making sure I didn't hit anyone else. After the initial race, I found I could concentrate far more on driving lines, gear changes and how far I could push the Falcon. The day consisted of a practice run, three dual sprint races and 'grudge match' style races at the end of the day. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough petrol to risk more than one grudge match. (Mental note: make sure you have at least half a tank of petrol at Taupo for a day's racing.) Full results here. Photos here.
Upgrades wanted after this event:
A very enjoyable day trying to drive fast around traffic cones. The Falcon was a bit big for some of the courses. Overall placing was 26th out of 41. Class placing (2000+ cc, 2WD) was 5th out of 9. My car was one of three 'big Aussies' to finish within half a second of each other (out of about three and a half minutes total time). Full results here.
Upgrades wanted after this event:
Purchased 1992 Ford Falcon S for $3000 (way too much for a racecar, but oh well). Has 322000 km on the clock.
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Content last updated 21:46:23 24-01-2005.
