Snowman

Here's the race win vid. Other than trying to go from hero to zero at turn 2 and dealing with lapped traffic at the end (yep I had lapped traffic in a 4 lap race) it's not all that exciting. Still - here it is.

The Lambo is a full GT3 spec one so no it is also only RWD as per GT3 rules.

Oct 26-27 at Phillip Island. Not sure how many of the GT car will be there however since most of them will be off to NZ for a race at Tony Quinn's new track over there.

Couple more pics from the winning race.

Will try and post up some vids later. The "win" vid is pretty unexciting if I'm honest. However the rest of my weekend sure was a lot more interesting in a way than my first day. Sunday morning we had our full audit scrutiny done - of which part was to test the kill switch. What I didn't know is that a kill switch cut-off in my car sends the car into limp mode. This was only discovered as I headed out onto the track to take my position on pole for race 2. Unfortunately it meant I had to head into the pits and had a DNS for race 2. The fix for the limp mode is a simple plug into a PC and clear the fault so I was fixed 5 mins later but it was a simple lesson learnt on my first race weekend. Upshot of this was it meant for the final race I started from the back of the grid. Conditions on Sunday were dry so the top GT cars had more speed on me regardless but none the less I was able to make my way from 20th all the way back up to 5th by the end of the 12 lap race. In reality I probably would have ended up in 5th even if I started 5th as the top cars are a good few secs / lap quicker than me at this stage. But it was great fun coming through the field and was a nice learning experience including some pretty fun passes such as going between 2 cars down the main straight with only a few cm's space on each side. Was good fun and I look forwards to the next one in Oct.

I can only go backwards from here hey!

Yeah I looked into my mirror as I approached turn 1 and started laughing. Probably the wrong thing to do but I couldn't help it.

Yeah the weather played some havoc today - as can happen in Melbourne in July Anyways had Quali in the morning, track was damp (not raining) but still was a wet slicks track. Interupted with a red flag due to a porsche loosing a wheel. Never got a clean lap as a consequence but still managed to qualify in 2nd behind the Viper GT3 and ahead of the Lambo GT3 and Audi R8 GT3. Then had the first race in wet wet raining conditions. With the 4WD I killed everyone into turn 1 and had a big lead after the first lap so from there I just backed off and cruised to a win. So hopefully it rains again tomorrow for the next 2 races!

Next weekend is my first outting zeb. Final shakedown on Tuesday.

Cheers Darren. What would be SUPER would be if you had the CAN protocols for the gearbox so we could log what that is doing as well. I got most of the engine stuff from Lee but I don't have anything as yet for the gearbox.

Dane - The state series are 4 race weekends. Sandown races are 8, 10, 10 and 12 laps and PI are 6, 8, 8 and 10 lap races. The enduro races (Island Magic and Bathurst) are again 4 race weekends but they consist of 1 x 5 lap for driver, 1 x 5 lap for co-driver and then 2 x 1hr races with 1 pitstop each race for driver changes (no refueling however). Anyways - I have some more car updates. I have the new doors and side window's back from Raceglass. Rear 1/4 including the inner mould which the window sits in. Looks stock! One of the front door window's. One of the doors - total weight is 6kgs. Inner side of the mould. And fitted to the car. Color match is amazing so no painting or anything required.

About $3K with the upgraded SLM.

Another shot of the brake duct now that the calliper and rotor is in place. Can also see the brake water spray kit at the front. Motec CDL3 dash has been mounted as well.

The other big issue we have faced with the car to date has been brake temps. To date there are no real brake ducting solutions available for the R35 so the boys at Racepace have come together with the fabrications guy at Kelly Racing to design a custom brake cooling duct. At the same time they are also designing one for Chris' R33 GT-R. Again I don't have pics of the first step - but that was to come around with some balsa wood and sculpt the basis of the shape for the duct mould.Once they had this they were able to cast the initial duct which was deliberately made oversize in length. The construction is also made with a special high temp resin that is also designed to self extinguish in the event of a brake fire. It's the same stuff they use on the V8 Supercar duct construction. Next step was to check clearances with the wheels at lock. The calliper and rotors were then removed and the duct is trimmed to make a neat fit on the back side. Then the calliper was bolted back on and the front was trimmed to match as well. This intersects right along the edge of the calliper so that there is clearance for the brake lines. Next step is to show how we are collecting the air into the ducts and I will post that up when it is done.

More work has been done. The event I did earlier in the year at the Australian GP showed a continual rise in engine oil temps over +15min runs to the point where oil temps were getting to worrying levels so a second oil cooler has been installed into the centre of the car similar to the pic below (I don't have pics of my set-up unfortunately but this image was the basis for what we did)

Gearbox also includes the transfer case and rear diff. So yeah it's massive.

Steve - I want to run a front splitter and I have one ordered from Powerhouse Amuse. Unfortunately it's not due to arrive until August so I won't have it for the first event. I hope Miles doesn't mind me using his pic but this is the same unit as he runs on his beast. The main benefit with the Amuse unit however is in their under-side design.

One of the TVR's (yellow one driven by Ian Willson) is MIGHTY quick. He was doing 1.12.0's at the last Sandown round in April. Takes it right up to the GT guys and due to consistency actually currently leads the Vic Championship. It's very cool and will be plenty faster than me.

It will be my very first race. Excitafraid is the term we have created for how I'm feeling about it We have another new addition to go into the car - the new Motec CDL3 track kit with the upgraded SLM. Basically these can be configured to go into any car (no Motec ECU required) but are really easy for cars with an OBD port / CANBUS system. GPS based lap timing with automatic track recognition so no more putting becons out or programming the unit for each track you go to. The SLM can be programmed to give warnings for any settings read through the canbus or any other interface you use. So you can set warnings for engine, transmission, water temps, knock - whatever you like really. And it obviously acts as a shift light as well. Plus the I2 software is as good as it gets for data analysis when looking at lap times and comparing things like braking points at even lines through corners with the GPS tracking. Another thing I've had to get was different sized uprights for the Aeromotions wing. Regs state the max wing height can only be 250mm from the boot lid at the centre point of the car. The old height was about 295mm. With these new smaller ones it now sits at 249mm.

http://www.sandown.net.au/vic-state-circuit-racing-championships.html Based upon the last round Sports Cars (my category) had quali and race 1 on Sat and races 2,3 and 4 on Sun. I will post up the full schedule when I get it.

Sandown July 19-21. It's about $20 entry on the Sat and Sun (Friday is just optional practice but I think entry is free). Although last round they did open up Dandenong Hill for free spectating but I haven't heard if they are doing the same this round as yet. (but you couldn't get into the pits area. You still needed to pay $20 to get into there). HQ's, Historics, Formula Ford, Improved Production, 944 and British Sports are also running.

I just received a current entry list for my first race meeting in a couple of weeks. Sure looks like some fun to be had in this lot. Sven Burchartz Porsche 997 Cup 6 James Moodie Porsche 996 GT3R 7 Brian Power Porsche 996 Cup 8 Lex Lasry Porsche 996 Cup 12 Tom Hutchinson TVR Tuscan 16 Damian Hartin Lotus Exige 17 Michael Vati Porsche 993 Supercup 18 Murray Carter Corvette C06 29 Jim Manolios Corvette C06 GT3 34 Ian Wilson TVR Tuscan 35 Andrew Richmond Nissan R35 GT-R 37 Rob Smith Ferrari 430 Challenge 49 Tony Defelice Ferrari 458 GT3 63 Greg Haysom Nissan 200SX GT 66 Rod Salmon Audi R8 Ultra GT3 72 Conrad Whitlock Ferrari 360 Challenge 73 Chris Withers Lamborghini LP520 GT3 75 Steven McLaughlan Dodge Viper GT3 90 Matthew Turnbull Porsche 997 Cup S 95 Shirley St John-Cox Trumph TR7 V8 98 Joe Imperatori Python SR 302

Why not have a go at 2B then Duncan? I see an R32 ran in Sports Cars at SMP 2 weeks ago.

Yeah I look at what I'm doing to the R35 just so I can race against Cup Cars and often wonder why I didn't just buy a Cup Car in the first place! LOL

Leather dash is staying. So is the aircon! I'm pretty sure I will also be the only car with aircon I also have some new buttons. I don't know what they do but they look cool!