VN Production Saloon

[delcowizzid]

and a bunch of good cunts they are at said orchard

[VNracer34G]

To be sure mate, the uncle of my other production commy mates whos a painter moved to Gizzy a few months ago and he's living at said orchard now too and delcowizzid i just know you'd get on with him real good too

[delcowizzid]

i might have to take a week off soon and head up.once i get a bit of cash behind me again we are sort of overstaffed so time off shouldnt be an issue

[VNracer34G]

Thats funny mate earlier today the Missus asked how far Rotorua was from Wellington? she reckoned you could come and crew for me

Racing last night got rained out, the call was made about 10.30am so i made a start on reattaching the left rear inner wheel arch to the 1/4 panel - bloody seams blown apart from all the abuse, finished getting that all welded up and beaten back into shape this morning rolled it out to the carport and gave it a wash then had a big dung out of the shed to get ready for a spruce up - the missus wants the car looking half decent to go to Rotovegas. Sent a txt to painter mate and rather than reply he bowled over for a cuppa as the Missus, the littleun and i were masking off the numbers and stuff and i Frankied the bumpers back together. When he said he could get the white on today i bolted for supercheap for some compressor oil (that got hauled out today and tanks drained during the dung out) and it is ON. He's coming to put the red on on wednesday, The missus got a list started and some of its already done - will be taking a few extras as the track is SHITLOADS further than five minutes round the corner. Its normally a three and a half hour drive to Vegas, add another hour for towing - thats if we get through the Waioeka Gorge, if not add about four hours to go the Napier/Taupo way.

With last night meeting being rained out they've called our final meeting for the season for the weekend after Easter.

[VNracer34G]

The cars repainted and looking real shiney, couple of bits and peices and its trailer ready. Been sorting out tools and spares to the point i could load up and be on the road within and hour. Had a look at the entry list on the Rotorua Speedway website and of the Twenty cars (there limit for Productions ) Six are from Gizzy, 3 Hondas, a Toyota and a V3000 Mitsi; then theres a few from Huntly and the rest from Rotovegas. Looked at the clubs facebook page with the missus at lunchtime today and from the aerial photos there its almost egg shaped, she pointed to the pointy end and said that'll be where i'll have trouble

Its been pissing down and blowing hard for days now and parts of Gisborne are under water and the forecast is for more of the same shit. Over in Rotorua the weather seems to be a bit of a lottery for Easter so we've delayed departure - we were heading off tomorrow evening. Now its a waiting game.

[Holden202T]

sounds like every time i wanted to go to the drags!! had to decide an hour before leaving time if it was game on or off

[VNracer34G]

Thursday the missus saw the weather radar and it was real ugly for Gisborne, then she rang the sister in law in Rotorua who said it was sunny there. The Waioeka gorge was reopened for traffic a week ago restricted to 8.00am ~ 5.30pm one way with temporary traffic lights to control flow both ways, Thursday was the first time it was open round the clock. I knocked off work at 3.00pm and hurriedly got the car ready and on the trailer, packed up and gapped it.

she pointed to the pointy end and said that'll be where i'll have trouble
.

She weren't fucking wrong

After scrutineering i asked the class rep if there was any chance of going out for a squirt before the meeting started - a courtesy Gisborne usually allows out of town drivers. The answer was no - bugger! Going on what i've been reading up i increased rear stagger and added some to the front to keep crossweight close to what it was and set tyre pressures to close to what i run on our banked track, then Mr & Mrs from said orchard showed up, Mr has run lots of different tracks and had ideas on pressures etc so i just handed over my guage and left him in charge - the only person i'd do that for so thanks mate

Production Saloons were the first race of the night so i was going out totally cold without even a chance to see how any cars got around the track.

Race one; Grid 10:
As i was strapping myself in and heading off for the dummy grid the mate poked his head in and said "its a pole line track" - What the....??? Got onto the track and the race got underway without drama, gingerly made my way round 1&2 (the pointy end) two wide with me midtrack outside another car and holy shit did it sledge wickedly, managed to get it pointed at the back straight and it hooked up hard and pulled the motor down then hauled down the straight, still outside another car i felt my way round 3& 4 not prettily by a long chalk. Another lap under my belt and i clicked what "pole line track" meant, dive down to the pole line at the end of the straights and swing it round with the left front wheel almost hugging the pole line yeehaa! Had a ball but still had major issues getting around the pointy end, got a bit too confideny coming around 3 & 4 and gave the wall a bit of a slap with the rear quarter coming onto the front straight but it didn't slow me down any. Got passed by a couple of cars and got by a few too, thought i finished seventh as did the crew but according to official results came 14th with 7 points, go figure.

[VNracer34G]

The mate gave my tyre pressures a bit of a tweak and i gave it another half a turn of toe out to improve steering bite, we had a chat about my motor getting pulled down in revs coming out of the corners and i suggested going down a tyre size right rear to get a few more revs on. It was decided to leave it till after we found out what more toe out and a pressure tweak did.

Race two; Grid 20:
I managed to keep out of the argy bargy going on and went around a gaggle of cars scrapping it out on turn two to come upon one of the two other RWD cars out there, a VN/VP like mine - swung inside it, hit the gas and left it for dead - then i stuffed up my entry into turn 3 and got passed by 36G - then the lights went orange for a stoppage so i grabbed the spot back under the 'last completed lap' rule - he didn't get another chance and chased me for the rest of the race once we wen't green again - flew past the other RWD a 2.0MKII Escort too and finished 14th. My motor was still getting pulled down especially out of turn two so went down one aspect ratio on the right rear.

Race Three; Grid 2:
I've raced with the Mitsi from Huntly that was on pole a few times before and figured i'd let him take the lead after the start and slot in behind him and hound him which was working well till going through 1/2 on the 2nd lap as i was hanging it out i got tapped in the left rear and turned around, stayed up it to spin around onto the infeild rather than try and catch it and hit the wall. Rejoined at the back knowing my nights points were fucked and gave the poor car shit and had a ball - not bogging as much, better steering bite and a fuckit attitude saw me claw my way back to 15th. 2nd to 19th to 15th sheesh.
Rep came up to me after the race and said the referees saw me get turned around and were not taking any action WTF? She got sent packing back to the tower but still they did nothing to the guy who spun me, with all due respect to the referees BULLSHIT!!!at least the refs in gisborne go to the effort of lying and claiming they didn't see anything (when i'm on the recieving end - they certainly see it if i cock up).

[VNracer34G]

Well my results might have been shit but i learned heaps and all in all had a blast, i'm keen as mustard to go back and have another crack at it with different gearing and tyres.
The track is fucking mental and we met some really cool and freindly folks, having three days without rain was a bonus too. The car has several new dents and scars but with one meeting to go i'll just bash out what needs it to keep clear of fouling tyres and leave it at that.

Full credit to the Rotorua Stockcar Club for running a really good meeting, tightly and smoothly run with really good facilities for competitors and spectators as well. Thanks Guys and Gals i doubt you've seen the last of me and 34G.

[delcowizzid]

allways fun driving a new track