7. December 2009 by admin.

Hi Sponsors, friends and supporters.Round 2 New Zealand Formula Ford Championship.Ruapuna, November 27^th, 28^th, 29^th.

We spent Thursday setting up the tent in the pits as at the last moment we were told there was no practise on Thursday as the track was double booked. Late in the afternoon we were told there would be 3 20 minute sessions from 5 till 7 o’clock. The car felt pretty good but we still were not happy with the brakes. We put another set of pads in between sessions but I glazed these up and still with no luck. We cleaned off the glazing so they would be right for the first session on Friday and cleaned the car up and put it away.

In the first session on Friday, the brakes once again glazed up and I was really struggling with the car. We got a set of Carbon metallic pads to try in the afternoon session and once they heated up made a huge difference to the car. I was happy that we had the braking problem fixed.

Saturday, Qualifying

Saturday dawned really wet and cold so it was going to be a wet session. We set the car up for the wet and got ready. I went out and got the brakes warmed up before trying to hard but when I started to push harder my next problem appeared. I couldn’t get the brake bias far enough to the rear so I kept locking the front wheels. I qualified 5^th so it was better than I expected. When I got back we changed the pedal so I could get more rear brake in the wet and I was ready to race.

Saturday, Race 1

I lined up 5^th for this race but the inside line on the track was really wet so I got a slow start and went back to 8^th before the first corner. As my brakes warmed up, I could push harder and I got back up to 3^rd place, I tried to get into second but the other driver weaved on the track to stop me so I had to settle for second.

Sunday, Race 2

I was on pole for this race as I had set the fastest lap in race 1 by over 0.5 of a second. I got another slow start and went back a little but was helped by some of the other drivers tangling at the first corner. I climbed up to second and was really starting to push hard when I was caught out by my brakes all of a sudden working really well and my car turned in better than I expected and I had a little off and went back to 3^rd at the finish.

Sunday, Race 3

I started this race on grid 4 but once again I didn’t get the best start and I had to fight back from 8^th. By now I was used to the new brakes and could push really hard. I passed several cars going into the hairpin under brakes as they were working so well. I got back to 2^nd but the lead car had to big a lead for me to catch up. I settled for second in the race and this gave me second place over all for the weekend which when added to my second at Pukekohe has given me the overall lead in the championship. We will be testing some new brake pads in the next few weeks before round 3 at Teretonga to sort the brake issues and also trying to find why my car is all of a sudden slow to get off the line at the start.

I’ve got a club day at Teretonga this weekend which is a round of the South Island Formula Ford series so it will be a good test for the national round. I’ll be joined on the grid by my younger brother Brendon in his first race meeting in the 1987 Van Diemen that I started driving in 3 years ago.

Thank you for your help and support as without it my racing wouldn’t be possible

Regards

Damon, #87.

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17. November 2009 by admin.

Hello sponsors, friends and supporters.

New Zealand Formula Ford Championship. Round 1. Pukekohe. November 6,7,8. 2009.

Thursday: We arrived at the track on Thursday morning in pouring rain to put the tent up. As we were putting the tent up dad slipped over and broke 3 ribs so it wasn’t a good start to the weekend.

We spent most of the day changing the engine over ( It took longer with dad out of action and just me to help Phil my race engineer ) as Phil had just finished freshening it up for the new season.

I still had time to do the last practice session of the day which was used to run in my new engine and because of the wet track I couldn’t go too fast anyway.

After we packed up on Thursday night Phil and I went to the Auckland Airport to pick up mum and my little brother Brendon. This was one weekend when I was really pleased Brendon was at the racing. He worked all weekend helping Phil on my car and it would have been really hard without him. On Sunday night he said to dad that he didn’t realise that car racing was such hard work.

Friday: this was official practice day and we had two practice sessions, one in the morning and another in the afternoon.

Saturday: Qualifying: I went out in qualifying and my car felt really great and ready for a good qualifying time. I tried several times to get a good slip stream in the head wind down the long back straight but no one wanted to help me out, so I sat at near the bottom of the list until with only a minute to go I set off on a fast lap by myself and managed to get up to 2^nd place without a tow and only missed pole by 0.1 sec. I was really pleased with this as it proved what I thought that I had a really fast car and the off season work had really paid off.

Saturday: Race 1: I started on the front row for my first time, on grid 2. I got really good start and led into the first corner. I led for most of the race but one of the other competitors made a really desperate pass on the last lap and because of a yellow flag at the hairpin I couldn’t re pass so I had to be content with 2^nd place. I was really pleased with this as my car felt really good and was strong until the very end of the race.

Sunday: Race 2: I was on grid 2 again and got another perfect start to lead into the first corner. I got passed on the long back straight but I wasn’t too worried as I had lots of car speed and would get back later. I tried passing several times but I got brake tested so I couldn’t pull off a pass. On one of the attempts I was going around the outside up Ford Mountain when the other driver pulled across in front of me and put his brakes on again. I had to brake and pull off the track at really high speed to avoid a huge crash and as a result I got pushed back down the order and only got back to 3^rd before the finish. The other driver got written warning for his trouble so hopefully there won’t be any more dangerous driving to contend with.

Sunday: Race 3: I was on pole for this race as I had set a faster time in the previous race than the qualifying times so this was another first for me, being on pole. I didn’t get such a good start this time and I was 2nd into the first corner but got into the lead on the way down the back straight and we started a real slip streaming battle for the lead. When I was in 2^nd the car in 6^th tried to get straight to the lead but only made it to 2^nd. He pushed us back from the leader and even though I was catching at 0.5 seconds a lap there weren’t quite enough laps left to bridge the gap to 1^st. In the circumstances I was more than happy with 2^nd which gave me second overall for the weekend.

With dad being out of action this was a really tough weekend and I owe Phil a really big thank you as without him I don’t know what we would have done to get the car onto the grid.

My car is now on it’s way to Christchurch for round 2 at Ruapuna on November 27,28,29. Hopefully we can continue with our good start to the season.

Best Regards

Damon  #87

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6. November 2009 by admin.

Hi Sponsors, Supporters and Friends!

The 2009/10 season has rolled around really fast: it doesn’t seem long ago that I was racing at Pukekohe at the end of last season.

During the off season dad and I have done a lot of work to improve the car.

We have fitted new Koni double-adjustable shock absorbers, which have made a huge difference to the handling. The bottom rails in the chassis have been replaced, as they were well past their “use by” date with lots of extra rivet holes, bends and dings along the length of the car.

We also took a huge amount of time to make new moulds and body panels to smooth up the airflow over the car and increase the straight line speed. This is the change that most people will see. We did lots of study about aerodynamics before we started and so far the results have been really promising in testing.

The car left for Auckland on October 29 and dad and I fly up on November 4 to pick up Phil Straver, my engineer, on the way. Phil was my engineer last year, which is really good as we all work well as a team and hopefully can continue with the good results that we finished last season with.

You will see from the photo of my car that I still have a space to sell on the tail section so if you know anybody that may like to advertise let them or me know and I may be able to help them.

I’ll send out my first race report after we get back from Pukekohe.

Race dates for this season are as follows:

Pukekohe, November 7 ^- 8

Ruapuna, November 28 ^- 29

Teretonga, January 16 ^- 17

Levels, January 23 ^- 24

Manfeild, February 13 ^- 14

Taupo, March 13 ^- 14

Regards,

Damon #87

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