16. February 2010 by admin.

February 12 -14

Hi Sponsors, friends and supporters,

We flew to Palmerston North on Wednesday so we could get set up on Wednesday night ready for Thursday’s unofficial practise. Things started to go wrong when our plane got turned back to Christchurch with mechanical problems and we ended up arriving in Palmerston North in the dark.

We went to the track on Thursday morning to get ready and the rain started. It rained on and off all day so it wasn’t a very successful test day. As usual my car was really fast in the wet but we didn’t get a decent run in the dry.

Friday, February 12, official practise: Friday was a better day weather wise and we had 2 x 30 minute sessions. I was really struggling to put in fast times and I was about 1.5 seconds off the fast guy’s pace. On Friday night we changed the rear springs in the hope of settling the rear of the car down as it had been really loose on Friday.

Saturday, February 13, Qualifying: We had qualifying on Saturday morning and the Zero Fees Stealth felt better straight out the gate. After qualifying I was on grid 4 only 0.357 of a second off the pole time. This was huge improvement over Friday so we thought the car was right.

Race 1: I started on grid 4 and at the start I got into a real battle with the front cars. It only lasted a few laps and I started slowly dropping off the leading bunch which was really frustrating and I ended up 5th. The car had had a small miss and when we found a loose terminal in the wiring we thought we had it fixed.

Sunday, February 14, Race 2: I was on grid 5 for this race as another competitor had beaten my time in race 1. I knew after the warm up lap that the miss was fixed so I thought that the car would be good. Once again I battled with the front bunch for a few laps and then dropped away to finish 5th again. We went over the data and found that my fastest time was in lap 2 as it had been in qualifying and race 1. After going over the engine we thought we found a leaking inlet manifold gasket so we replaced it in the hope that that was our problem.

Race 3: I was on grid 5 again and once again got a good start but started to slow down after lap 2. I stayed in 5th pace until the end so at least I was consistent but not in the right position. We don’t know what the problem with my engine is and I’m really lucky that the guys at Toll Tranzlink are bringing the car home for us to sort it out before the final round in Taupo in 5 weeks time.

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12. February 2010 by admin.

Zoagn New Zealand Formula Ford championship

Because the meetings were only a week apart and we had a really busy week I have combined 2 reports.

Teretonga, January 15, 16, 17

Saturday qualifying; I came in after the first lap of qualifying to report that my car had started jumping out of second gear, with only 20 minutes to qualify I was sent back out to do as good as I could. I managed to qualify 6^th which wasn’t too bad so I was starting race 1 on the outside of the third row.

Race 1: When the lights went out I got a great start and headed off around the outside of the really fast loop passing some of the cars in front of me. As I was going around the car in third place he turned out and put a front wheel under my rear suspension and sent me off into the tyre wall at about 107 mph. The race was red flagged and I was carted back to the pits on the back of a truck with a really badly damaged car. After a visit to the ambulance to have my really sore checked out it was back to the tent to help with repairs. We got the car fixed and ready for race 2 and headed home to bed.

Sunday, Race 2: I was back on grid 7 for this race and as I started heading towards the front of the field one of the other competitors spun as I was passing him and he rolled back in front of me and took the left rear suspension off my car so it was my second dnf of the weekend. We repaired the car again ready for race 3.

Race 3: I was on grid 7 again and when we started once again I made up some places, I touched the back of one of the other competitors by accident going down the straight and I got a drive through penalty for it, so my bad weekend continued and I ended up 9^th, my only points for the weekend.

We had a really busy couple of nights getting my car ready for the next round as it was sorry looking sight.

Timaru Round 4, January 22, 23, 24.

We had practised on Thursday as well for this meeting and we had a real struggle getting the Zero Fees Stealth to handle in the dry. After the first session on Friday morning dad took the shock absorbers off to find that the right front one had been damaged internally in my big crash in race 1 at Teretonga. We fitted the old ones from last year and went out for the last session. The car was much better and although we had missed all the set up time because of the shock we thought we could get on top of it.

Saturday, Qualifying; We woke to rain on Saturday so we set the car up for a wet track. On the first lap, one of the other competitors put his car in the wall when he aquaplaned off the track. After a red flag period we went out again to finish qualifying. My car felt great and I just worked away at getting some good clean laps in, I ended up on pole position by 0.7 sec which is a good gap in Formula Fords.

Race 1: I started from pole but I soon realised that my car was understeering more than it should. I carried on and ended up getting 6^th which was a much better start than at Teretonga.

Sunday, Race 2; Once again the rain came back so we had a wet race, I was on grid 7 as the times from the first race were faster than qualifying. At the start the car in front of me stalled so I got a slow start and a couple of laps into the race 2 cars in front of me tangled and I had to take to the grass to avoid them which set me back a bit. I set off after the front cars again and started picking them off slowly. When I got up to 3^rd I thought it would be impossible to catch the next car as he was so far in front of me but I was surprised at how quickly I caught up to him, the lead car was too far in front for me to catch but another lap and who knows what might have happened. My lap times were so good mum said she thought I must have webbed feet.

Race 3, I was on grid 7 again and at the strart we got into a real battle until the car in front of me missed a gear and the front 3 cars got a break on the rest of us. I battled away and at the end I got up to 4^th so it really was a much better result for the weekend.

I have climbed back to 4^th place overall now after dropping to 6^th after Teretonga.

My shocks are away being fixed now for round 5 so I should once again have a really quick car.

I was really lucky that one of dad’s friends Kevin Murdoch helped us for the 2 rounds as I sure kept the team busy.

It was pretty hard racing at Timaru as the weekend before I had gotten pretty knocked around in my big crash. Between sessions I lay on an air bed in the trailer and mum iced my back.

Once again thank you to you all for your help and support with my racing.

Regards and thanks

Damon.

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12. February 2010 by admin.

Teretonga, December 5 –6, 2009

Hi Sponsors, Supporters and friends.

To wind up the year we raced at the South Island Formula Ford round at Teretonga.

We practised on Saturday in brilliant sunshine which was really good after the cold wet weekend in Christchurch the week before.

Sunday morning dawned wet but not cold and by the time we went out for qualifying it had dried out and the sun was out.

My car was going really well with its new brake pads that Ernie at BNT had had made for me. I had a great day racing and finished with 2 firsts a second and a sixth. This happened when I crept forward on the grid and got a 10 second penalty which put me back from third to sixth.

Brendon, my 14 year old brother, also raced at his first car meeting and went really well, he ended up with the 4^th fastest time in the last race so he was very pleased with himself.

I have a break now until mid January when we have the Teretonga round of the National Championship.

I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year and thank you once again for your help.

Regards,

Damon #87

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7. December 2009 by admin.

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17. November 2009 by admin.

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