August 2022 DTC

By Bride Moran.

It was a lovely warm day, spring was just around the corner. The DTC entry list was low on numbers which meant we had lots of runs in store. I’d be lying if I said we weren’t just a little bit nervous.

Today was the first day out in our rebuilt race car. What if it has all been for nothing! Only today would tell. Gideon had kindly sequenced Andrew to have a run first. So out he went, and boy did it go! Screaming at 13000 revs like a lunatic, first gear all the way.

Next up it was me…. I might have been a bit overwhelmed. Eyes the size of dinner plates and a WD (wrong direction) for my first run. That’s okay, plenty more runs to go. I’m getting my harness, helmet and gloves all sorted for my second go round, when Gideon shows up. He’s got a stupid grin on his face and the laminated A3 track map with him. Helpfully he explains where the start line is etc. I’m sure I politely said thank you and then drove up to the start line. Second run is a navigation success, and I’m getting a bit more used to this thing. My third run is a 3+ second improvement!

Andrew’s next run was a bit exciting for him I’m sure. Stuck throttle, kill switch and coast back to the pits through some traffic cones. We sit out a couple runs taking panels off and carefully checking over everything. The culprit being the pedal box, one of the few items that survived the fire. Some suspect dust indicating that a rock or clump of dirt had gotten stuck under the accelerator return.

Not to worry, we’ll send Andrew out first again to be sure. And seems everything is working well. That’s means I’m up. It’s another nervous run, and just to be sure I never went full throttle. I finished the morning session with a 53 flat. A bit far from Lindsay’s blinder of 46 seconds! But I’m happy none the less. It goes and it’s fun!

The afternoon session is a bit less exciting, thankfully. I have a bit of capacity to watch the cars around us have a run. There are always a few competitive dual entrants to enjoy. And Michael Blessas had a very pretty new toy (Andrew and I are both a bit jealous). He was making the most of his Series 1 Exige by entering both events and getting double runs! He had no need to even get out of the car between runs. It turns out to be a good day for all. I improve my time by almost 8 seconds on the long track, and somehow Andrew tops the times. Looks like this rebuild project had been worth all the weekends and long nights.

I guess we better hurry up and finish the body panels for the last round of Morgan Park, and give it a real test.