Hello all,

Sorry the update took this long but I was hoping that I would have some
positive news from Motorsport NZ, but as always it is a very frustrating
process to get the officials to admit they got it wrong and even harder to
actually get agreement what the result should be. But lets start at the
beginning of 2 very difficult racing weekends, which did end with Clark
winning his first NZV8 trophy!

Down south in Teretonga we arrived with a redesigned fuel system and
looking at last years data brake temperature was not expected to be a big
issue. We arrived at sunny track although air and track temperature were
still cool we knew we would be chasing the changing conditions all day.
During first practice we quickly found out that the brakes temperature was
a big issue as they overheated and Clark reported a very soft brake pedal.
In the data we could later see a good improvement in brake efficiency from the
new standard disks and pads with more heat being generated in a shorter amount
of time. Teretonga is one of those tracks with only one major braking area so
it is a difficult balance between them not overheating and keeping enough heat
in them so they work at their best. Still 7th place with some clear
improvements to make was a good start. Practice 2 went well initially making
some changes to the setup to monitor the tyre temperatures at a much hotter
track, when Clark left the pits for a second time there was no fuel pressure
and also the second set of fuel pumps could not get any fuel to the engine.
Later in the pits the car started immediately leaving us guessing on what the
issue had been. We reviewed the whole system and the problem has not
happened again, but still some valuable track was lost. During qualifying the
track was really getting hot and Clark reported inconsistent handling of the
car and managed only P11 0.016 seconds of P10 and 0.059 seconds from P9, that
is
how close the racing is in this class.

On Sunday the weather was much the same, cool with a lot of sun, based on
the qualifying session we made some more adjustments to the car for Race 1
but this time the gearbox started playing up and Clark finished the race
without second gear. In the end he lost only 4 places and set the 8th
fastest lap-time, but very frustrating and even more so when we found that
the spare gearbox also had a fault. Luckily we had a third one and that one
worked as required, but the gearbox specialist clearly was not having a great
day when he rebuild these units. So again a lot of time was spent to get the
car ready for race 2, with little time for setup changes and fast rising track
temperatures.
Again the cars handling was unpredictable during this race but everyone was
struggling with all lap-times almost a second slower then the first race.
Clark only managed to gain 1 place but the issues resembled a previous
situation and although we had checked the shock absorbers the day before
we now found one was definitely not working correctly, another freshly serviced
unit for the weekend let us down and we had been chasing the wrong setup
problem.
Still good hopes for a recovery in the reversed grid race starting
near the front, but our competitors had other ideas and as soon as the
second corner Clark got a big hit loosing a couple of places and another 2
cars ran into the side of the car in the next few laps dropping Clark even
further back.
Finishing P17 with the 9th fastest lap-time and nearly all panels of the
car badly damaged and no penalties for any of the other involved cars made
it a very frustrating end of a weekend. Still we need to take the
positives away from the weekend, we learned more about the car and found some
good improvements in specific areas but we need some more time to integrate
these improvements in the overall setup of the car.

So the team had a busy week rebuilding the car and driving north to
Timaru Practice day started with a consistent drizzle and by now we know
what to do with this car to make it perform in the wet. Sure enough Clark
was setting the pace and finished the session at P1. Trouble is that in
the last few rounds we had very little running in the dry and as practice
time is very limited you have to get it right from the start. We finished
the second session in P13 only 0.1 seconds from P9 and 0.6 from John McIntyre
in P3, to show how competitive qualifying was going to be. And
although we improved the lap-time in qualifying by 0.8 seconds on new
tyres, so did a lot of other competitors and when the dust settled we
ended up at P16 again only 0.155 seconds from P8. Indicating the we are
not far off, and only need some small improvements to make the car more
consistent and bounce back into the top 10. We have scheduled 2 test days
in Taupo after the next round in Manfield to do this, there is simply not
enough time to do it earlier although we are still trying to find another
testing opportunity.

Race day started dry with grey clouds and although the locals said it
would stay dry minutes before we went to the pits a very light drizzle
started. Not enough for wets yet and in the warm-up laps a dry line became
clear, a few cars that had wet tyres on decided to change back and would
have to start from pit-lane. Then just before the start during the
national anthem the drizzle got more intense and when the cars went away
for their formation lap Clark slid of the track just warming up his
tires. The race was started in very dangerous conditions and we called
Clark in to change the tyres like the cars that still were
in pitlane had already done. What followed was pure mayhem and several
cars got badly damaged when trying to race on slick tyres in these
conditions.
The race was suspended and everyone raced into the pits to change tires,
at the restart probably no car was in the right place, Clark was 5th
behind the safety-car but it was unclear if he was a lap
behind or not. What rules had been applied to allow all this is still
unclear but in our opinion the result was both unsafe and unfair, these cars and
the pit-lane crews are not equipped for a race in pitlane to see who can change
the tyres fastest. Just imagine what it would be like if we had a full field of
30 cars instead of 22, no one got hurt in the end but that was probably more
about luck then anything else.
We had a little extra time so managed to make the crucial adjustments for
a wet setup on the car and it worked again. Resulting in Clark passing the
leaders and driving away from the field and at least winning that race on
television. But the published results had him classified as last and a lap
down on the winner and the 2 cars that pitted at the same time, a bit of
joke really since we passed those cars and should have been classified on
the same lap. We have a ruling from the stewards that Motorsport NZ has to
clarify the rules before the next meeting and further reviews are taking
place, so I guess we will have to wait and see.

Race 2 was dry but since we had to start from the back of the grid we used
it as a test session although we made some progress in understanding what
the car likes and doesn't like, the lap-times were not that great. At the
start of race 3 the situation was much the same as race 1 but this time
the organizers declared the meeting wet and everybody lined up with wet
tires. We started the reversed grid race from the front and although we
again could not undo all the changes to the dry setup the car was still
good enough in the wet. When you are leading those 22 laps becomes a very long
race, we kept Clark informed on what was happening behind him and he got into a
good rhythm with a 5 second lead over P2 and brought the car home without any
further problems and in the end a 3 second lead. A well deserved result that
nobody in pitlane is disputing, now if we can get the car as good in the
dry....

We will keep working on that,