So we finished the car at 3AM the morning of the Saturday hahaa.... Talk about 'last min racing', thanks is in order to my mates Luke, Marc, Taylor, Lee and Trackster for the efforts put in through till 3AM.
Check out the finished product!!!!
There was some really crazy pics from the event including these couple I found from Stewart Wilkins
But as the morning rolled on so did the dramas, as I was lining up for a good old car check over the power steering belt jumped off. As I knew this was already an issue I quickly took the car back to my pit and changed the whole power steering pump over. I had a spare second hand one and thought I should change it over as its the only thing that hasn't been changed. I had that fixed and the car was cleared to run.
First up was practice as always and I decided I would run on a pair of YOKOHAMA S Drives 255/35/18's. As I hadn't even driven the car yet since the entire rebuild I was amped to give it a blast. I always use the first practice session to get back to grips with my car, push the limits within reason hahaa...
hmmmmm yeah right Jake.......
O_o hahaha I got it!!!
After realising how slippery the track was and the fact I was struggling the get the 360rwkw to the ground I chose to run the tyre pressures another 10psi lower then normal. Only issue now was worrying about the tyres de-beading mid-slide. But due to the way the Equips bead I wasn't too worried.
So after practice was done it was back in the pits and time to chuck another fresh pair of YOKOHAMA S Drives 255/35/18's on the rear. Notice the awesome shiny new engine bay :P Thanks to Hi Octane Performance Coatings.
I made sure this picture was in here so you don't think I just drive the car!!! haha
Now with the car back on Fresh YOKOHAMA S Drives I was ready for Qualifying. This is where I get nervous and pumped as I love putting down an Awesome run. I normally just warm the car up as soon as I get out of track so I can hit up my first Qualifying run straight away.
With the car all ready thanks to my awesome crew I was ready to go.
My First Qualifying lap is always a smooth easy going one. Once I nail a half decent first one its all out on the second one.
I came back into the pits to get the crew to check pressures and make sure everything was sweet. I was having a lot of trouble getting power down so we made a few adjustments and went straight back out again for qualifying lap number 2.
With a decent run in the bag already I decided to push my limits on the second run!! I finished the run with a lot of confidence so I was sure it was going to put me in a good place for the Battles. Now that the Qualifying was over I decided to save tyres and stay in the pits while everyone practiced with the remaining 20mins we had.
While the crew went over the car and got it ready for battles I pulled the car out of the garage so people could check it out up close. While this was on we were awaiting the scores for Qualifying.
BOOOOM It was announced I qualified 1st place. This put me up against who ever won the bottom 16 battles. I was pumped to be going up against someone who had been battling all the way through from the bottom 16 as they would be all amped and ready to go. Would make for an exciting battle.
First battle was up and I was eager to get on track!!
I was up against Jack Colins in the R31 skyline.
Was a good battle and was awesome fun. I won which put me through to the top 8
Without changing tyres we had to go straight into the top 8 battles. I was now up against Jarrod Ridgway who I knew wasn't going to be an easy battle. Jarrod's car is very grippy and works crazy well. I was the lead car in the first run while Jarrod chased
Jarrod was following close so I knew I had to make sure I could do the same and follow him where ever he went.
I won the battle and went through to the final 4. It had been so long since I had Driven Mallala in my own car and I was so excited to be in the Top 4 again.
The crew put on another fresh pair of YOKOHAMA S Drives 255/35/18's and let the pressures down to try get some traction on the slippery Mallala track. I was up against Corporal Pickering!!! :)
I was to lead being the higher qualifier and Christian was to follow. Christian was on R1R's so I knew we were about to put on one heck of a good show!!!
As we got through the esses I was struggling for drive and Christian was all over me.
I was pushing hard all the way through the end of turn 2 trying to get drive out of the car. Knowing Christian was on me I knew I had to do as much as I could to win the battle.
It was now my turn to chase, the fun part ;)
I was on Christian enough to call a re-run. It was bloody hard to keep up but I pushed as hard as I could.
Now with the re-run I was following again and Christian was Chasing
Obviously Christian was pushing hard but he was going to hard he smashed the tyre barriers on turn 1!!
Now it was my turn to push just as hard. We line up again and wave each other off the line for the final time. As Christian takes off I struggled for drive but managed to catch him out the esses.
Just after the esses into turn 1 Christian went backwards into turn 1 which slowed me down too much to continue and I pulled out before I hit his car. Due to Christian not coming to a full spin it was called his way from the judges. This means I lost the battle and was now in the battle for 3rd place.
I was up against old school James Mardle in his S13. Ive battled James a few times and its always been exciting. I was straight up against him and leading the first run as I qualified higher. With the YOKOHAMA S Drives on the limits I was going to take this last battle easy....... haaaaaaa yeah right!!!!
Full noise!!! was off and killing it but then on the last corner disaster struck. Oil pressure went to 0 on my gauge and I instantly backed off. Looked behind and a crazy amount of smoke was still following me. I knew something was wrong so I instantly shut the car down and rolled to where I stopped on the track. Quick check under the hood to make sure it wasn't on fire and I sat down waiting for the final battle to take place. All I could think was "I have to leave for WTAC in 2 days and I need a new motor :( ". This also means I had to forfeit the battle and ended up with 4th place.
After the Final battles ended they came and towed me back into the pits. The crew looked more devastated then I did. We tried looking at the issue but it was dark, we had no light and Andy from ASR was keen to check it out back at his workshop.
Before the day was over though they had the presentation. Which also means Victory skids, by far the most fun part of the day especially when you get to do them yourself haha. While the presentations went off to my shock I was called up.
I won the Best presented car for the event! The crew and myself always make sure the presentation of the car is perfect so receiving this trophy was unreal. Thanks heaps to everyone at Mallala from Clem to all the officials and fire marshals for making the day happen. Was a great day out and I now have 2 days to get the car ready so I can leave for WTAC in Sydney.
Peace
-Squid
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