CLEMMIES FIRST RACE (...AND MINE) - SUPERSPRINT REALLY
7th November 2004
When building Clemmie and up to six months after registration I had absolutely no intention of doing any competitive activities at all. It was going to be just cruising and general fun activities around the place and that has certainly proved to be the case so far. A million grins!!! But all good intentions seem to get tested. On 8th August I went up to Mallala to watch some of the local clubbies having a run at the MSCA Supersprints. After asking a few questions and generally getting a feel for how things worked I found that preparations and modifications were minimal and the costs (CAMS license, membership of MSCA, helmet and fire extinguisher) would work out to be no more than a couple of decent speeding fines. So when you put all that in context the decision to have a go became inevitable.
I was already a member of the Sprite Club so joining the MSCA was easy and only cost $15. My application for MSCA membership also included an application for a basic CAMS license as well. (Cost $83). A couple of weeks later a letter from CAMS arrived asking for a report from my Doctor about my diabetes and my ability to manage it and be safe on the track. This arrived on a Friday so I wrote a letter to my Specialist to ask for a report and slipped it under the door of his rooms on the Sunday afternoon. I rang midway through the Monday morning to see if I could pick up the report on the way home from work that night. I was given the news that that the Doctor only came into those rooms on a Friday and that the letter had been placed in his in tray. I phoned him on the Friday and convinced him that I was fit enough to do the basic speed work that I had requested the license for. He wrote the report by hand and said it wouldn't be typed until the following Wednesday when the typist came in. I rang on Wednesday to see how things were going, but due to a public holiday the previous Monday the typist would not be in until Thursday and anyway it was no use trying to pick up the report because the Doctor had to sign it on the Friday. I rang up on the Friday to see if I could pick it up that night only to discover that he was on leave that week and wouldn't be available until the following Friday. Finally I was able to pick up the report on the next Friday night on the way home from work. When I opened the envelope at home I discovered that the original CAMS letter was not with it as required. So on Monday morning I rang again to see if the staff could check my file and get me a photocopy of the letter. They were able to do this and I picked it up at lunchtime that day. 22 days after I had originally put the letter under the Doctors door I faxed it all off to CAMS.
3 days before entries closed for the sprints and still nothing heard so I rang CAMS to see what was happening. Because I live in SA they had sent the report to a CAMS Doctor in SA for his opinion of the report and nothing had yet been heard. The CAMS person said to put in the entry and use the license number that was on their original letter, then if I hadn't heard anything within a week to give him a ring again. I spoke to the competition secretary of the MSCA and she said they didn't need the actual license but must have confirmation of the license faxed by CAMS. So the entry form and $65 entry fee was duly sent off.
In the meantime the preparation of Clemmie was happening in a fairly piecemeal manner. I had fitted some thick plastic contact over the headlight lenses a month or two back and had cut out some numbers from some light blue contact (Not sure whether they will work or not). I also need a blue triangle to indicate the position of the battery. I have purchased a helmet ($399) and fire extinguisher ($50) and mounted the extinguisher to the transmission tunnel. I had been looking for some bridging straps or saddles to pop rivet to the top chassis rail running under the bonnet so I can mount a leather strap to secure the bonnet and finally managed to find some at a boat place on West Terrace which stocked these.
I thought I had to fit a secondary throttle spring as well but after emailing Roger Trethewy who races an MX5 he said that you don't need one as the MX5 has a number of springs incorporated in the fuel injection system and the requirement only referred to carburetter engines. I ran into him at the "Climb to the Eagle" a couple of days before the sprints and enquired about the secondary bonnet fastening system that the sup regs said were required. He thought that the system of four fasteners (two each side of the bonnet) should be sufficient so I thought I'd give it a go rather than put a leather strap on that might not be necessary.
The day before the sprints I went to Auto Sport on Magill Road to enquire about a blue triangle and race numbers ( No 74). (I had decided the light blue ones were not going to do the job.) They were out of 4's so I only got the blue triangle which cost $4. I was glad they were out of numbers! I bought a roll of black contact from K Mart for $3 and cut out my own numbers from that. In the afternoon I removed the spare wheel and rearranged the load that I would end up taking. I checked tire pressures and wanted to put a couple of extra pounds in the drivers side front, so I tried pumping it up using a foot operated pump. All that I managed to achieve was to drop the pressure to 10 psi.!! So it was a slow drive down to the local Service Station. There was no air hose attached to the outlet so I had to get the attendant to find one for me out the back. I finally managed to get the pressures to where I wanted them. I gave the helmet a final try on and having removed the passenger's side seat packed it in there. I'd also packed a bag with a complete change of clothes in case the lousy weather we'd been having continued.
Came Sunday morning and the sky was clear and the sun was out. It looked like being a beaut day. I left at 7am and had a good trip up to Mallala. After arriving, unloading and settling in it was time for scrutineering. I drove Clemmie around to the scrutineering area and then went to the office to have my club membership and temporary faxed CAMS license checked. The person checking was the secretary of the Sprite Club and the MSCA so that made everything go more easily than it might have. Clemmie was about five or six cars back from the checking bays so every few minutes I would push the car forward a car length or so. I finally made the bay and the scrutineer had a young trainee with him. I took the bonnet off so they could check for engine oil or coolant leaks and for general condition. The whole process was quite painless and I was through in about five minutes or less. No problems with throttle springs or bonnet securing devices. I got my bright orange OK sticker placed on the roll bar and I was now ready to be let loose onto the track.
Once practice started I made my way down to the form up area behind Terry Clarke in his Amaroo Clubman. I was going to try and follow him around. After some smart comments about my "Omo bright" white overalls by the form up marshall I was finally out on a race track for the first time as a competitor. The only thing I can really remember about that first practice was how quickly I fell back from the Amaroo and how fast a couple of cars that passed me seemed to be going. The car felt as though it was sliding a bit but felt quite controllable and I grew more confident quite quickly. I was still all over the place as far as lining up for corners and getting a decent line through and clipping the apex and all the other beaut technical stuff that you read in books. We were only given four timed laps of practice so you had to get your wits about you pretty quickly. All too soon it was back to the paddock and cooling down. As I was coming in I realised in my haste and excitement that I had forgotten to put my visor down….derrrrr!! I could smell the brakes so they had obviously been given a bit of a work out.
Photo by: maximumattack.biz
I checked with the formup marshall to see if I could do another practice session as this was my first time. He said to see how things looked about 20 minutes before the session was due to finish and if there looked to be a couple of spare places to join in there. I did that and managed to get out again. This time on my second lap I came into turn 2 a bit hot and the tail stepped out. I managed to hold it and gave it a bit of throttle to hold it there. Bad move! The tail slowly kept getting further and further out of line until I was about 60° to the direction of the track. At this stage I was pointing at the concrete wall that runs along pit straight. I tried reducing the throttle but did it a bit too much and the front gripped suddenly and we snapped around in the opposite direction and speared off the track backwards. Red face (embarrassment). I had stalled the car but got going again and motored off into the distance and managed to complete the session without any further silliness.
As soon as I was back in the paddock it was time to attend the compulsory drivers briefing in the scrutineering area. There we were told the rules of the day. In brief these were, 10 cars on the track at any one time (groups based on practice times), start off side by side in pairs, can start individually if you raise your hand, no passing under brakes or in corners, flag signals – yellow, red, chequered. That was about it. By this time practice times were up on a board in the scrutineering area and you could work out which group of 10 you were in. I was 82nd out of about 96, so obviously have a fair bit of work to do. My time was 1:41:774. The 20 valve Kestrels do around the 1:24 – 1:25 mark.
While I was watching a couple of sessions having their runs one of my fellow Clementé owners Tony Dickenson and his wife Beryl arrived to watch my motor racing debut. I thought that was great for them to make that effort. I reduced the front tyre pressure by a couple of pounds to see if that would help keep the tail a bit more under control. It was now time for me to move to the formup area. There is room for three groups of ten cars to line up and the formup marshals direct you to a parking spot. Finally I was out on to the track and around to the start line. I didn't have to put up my arm as the driver alongside me had already done so. I took off at the fall of the flag and did my four timed laps without passing anyone or having anyone pass me. I was a little more circumspect this time on the corners and whilst I was moving about and sliding everything was under control. I was going deeper into the corners before braking as well. I was changing down gears after I had finished braking so I will be able to become smoother and save a bit more time later on when I learn to heel and toe properly.
Photo by: maximumattack.biz
At the end of each session (when everyone has had a run) there is about a fifteen minute break while lap times are posted and this decides the groupings for the next session. I managed a best lap of 1:38:26 which was about 3½ seconds better than my fastest practice time. I think this was due to improving corner exit speed and going in deeper under brakes. When I returned to the paddock I noticed that the oil temperature increased after I slowed down and stopped. (Will have a chat to the MX5 guys and see if they have any problems and whether an oil cooler might be necessary). The brakes fade fairly quickly once you are going fast and using them often and hard really tests them out. During this session I was hitting around 150kmh just past the kink in the main straight. I also discovered that the engine does have an electronic rev limiter by hitting it twice in second gear. I saw 7,500 RPM on the clock in 3rd gear at one stage and I was staying in 4th down the main straight. (That should be good for 170+ if I can ever get that fast).
After the same procedure I completed my second session and when I got out of the car there were a half a dozen or so clubbie drivers in a group and I gave them a grin that was wide enough to drive a train through. They laughed! I managed a 1:37:24 this time so improved by another second. The third and last run was just as enjoyable as the others and this time I managed to crack 160kmh down the straight. My best lap was a 1:36:990 so I had improved again, although not as much as before.
That was it for the day so it was a matter of packing up and heading home. A day that of course can never be repeated but I hope there are many more like it and I'm sure I'll enjoy them just as much. (The next one is a twilight supersprint on 27th November)!!
I enjoyed the experience more than I thought I would and I had expected it to be fantastic anyway. I think I gained more confidence in my own ability and certainly in the integrity of the car. Once I get past the stage of trying to do 50 things at once and relax and let the whole experience flow I reckon I'll be able to think my way around the track and make the car do what I want it to do. Just this small taste has convinced me that this will all be possible so I'm looking forward to improving my skills and having fun and getting out of the car with that big silly grin on my face again and again.
Kym Ninnes
10th November 2004