Tin Tops

On the weekend of April 18th and 19th, we attended the annual ‘Tin Top Titles’ event at Willowbank Raceway, Queensland. We decided to go to this event rather than the K’Archer Nitro champs in Sydney as it was a 2 day as opposed to a 3 day event, and it was a good excuse to get away from work for a few days, with a days travel to and from the event, and the fact that willowbank generally runs large events alot more smoothly.Plus the fact that Mini Jam wasn’t an option in the Sport Compact Group series this year.

Willowbank put on great weather for the weekend, despite having to unpack at our motel west of Brisbane in a large thunderstorm on the Fiday night before.
Arriving early Saturday morning at the track, we had to hunt for a spot in the pit area, managing to find a spot (the last spot probably) between the trees that worked out quite well through the weekend, especially in providing shade. I’ll have to remember to set up a spot the day before to avoid disappointment next time I attend a large meet like this.

We also trialled using a tow car this event, using a friend as driver to the staging lanes, with mum getting over her nerves doing the staging lanes, end of run pick up and return to pits run. I’ve always had to drive my RX7 to the staging lanes, with pushing assistance by fellow team racers, and drive back to the pits after the run. As I was doing this event ’solo’, we didn’t do too bad for first timers, it took a few laps to figure out the best way to do it; it will run alot smoother next time.

I knew it was going to be tough racing at an event like this. You need to be spot on with reaction and dial in times, well within 0.1 of a second! But if you don’t race you never get the practice! I was going to this event knowing that I would have a slight chance considering having run 3 9.5 second runs in a row at a previous meet at WISD. So staging, transbrake application and reaction times would be the main concern. Not as easy as it would seem!

I totally fluffed the first 2 qualifying runs at the start line, but the car felt strong none the less. Trying to bring the revs up before full stage didn’t work like I wanted it to, so I employed the KISS principle for the third, staging first before using the transbrake - netting a 9.6 with a slight gear change mistake.

We only had an hour before the first elimination run, which was enough to get the parachute packed and car sorted. I dialled in a 10.8, as I decided I would have more of a chance with a granny start - low rev transbrake start- to concentrate on the reaction time and worry about ET at the end of the strip. Well the result was a loss on 3 counts: too slow reaction, beaten at the other end by .089 of a second, and i broke out with a 10.6 ET.

That’s Racing!

Plenty of video from Saturday night and Sunday can be found here.
Pics of 7SINS found here.

The good points about drag racing that continually appeared at this event is that everyone around you are willing to help each other out. It doesn’t matter what car you race, other racers have ‘been there done that’, willing to share hints and tips, share stories. You certainly drive away all the better for the experience.

Another good point to share with novice racers is that you can’t expect to go racing and win first time out. The cars pitted next to us had been racing the same car for 20 years, and hadn’t won anything!! You have to remember that a race is won or lost by less than 0.1 of a second, and even before the green light!

See you next time at the track.