Race Dates and Reports
ROUND 1 - EASTER THUNDERBALL
Qual 3rd, Dropped to 9th, Out in round 1 elims. Thank you to Cathy and Travis for Crew duties. After racing a back fire set the right hand carb stack on fire, burning the filter, sound proofing, paint. I was able to put the fire out with my extinguisher and then helped back to the pits where we cleaned up as much of the powder as poss. I wasnt hurt, but quite shaken and very glad I was able to put it out before it got too dangerous.
Car is being checked over by Rob Judge (RNJ Motorsport) and I was able to get a lift home.
ROUND 2 - BIG BANG
An amazing weekend and the first annual Beetle Burner Team Gathering. Unfortunatley as I approaced the start line for an early practice run on Saturday, the engine stopped. It was quite unspectacular and not under load, but the engine appears to have seized solid. So all aspirations of some fast times had to be shelved, but Nick, AJ and Jo and myself made the most of the weather and watched some very close racing.
The car is back at HQ and the engine will be removed and re-built over the next few weeks. NEXT BURNER EVENT IS ROUND #4.
ROUND 3 - SPRING NATIONALS non burner event
ROUND 4 - SUMMER NATIONALS
Qualifying; ignition problems cause a failure on track, then fuelling was a problem meaning I qualified in last position (12th) with no idea of what time the Burner would run. In to eliminations and I beat Jacob (Audi 80), on a 16.72 run with a 16.70 dial. Then in eliminations 2, I beat Martin (Scirocco) with a 16.76 pass, and put myself through to the ¼ final. Up against Lucy in her Fastback, I broke out with a PB (16.59) and lost out, she again hit her numbers with superb consistency.
First outing on the AirSpeed UK built 1776cc motor, finishing the event in 3rd position, adding 310 points to the championship moves Beetle Burner up to 12th overall. Burner also won the RNJ Car of the Meeting award, topping off a very successful weekend.
ROUND 5 - BUGJAM
Saturday morning drama of leaving the car paperwork at home soon faded as I got into the business of qualifying. Nick, AJ and his helpers were on hand to get me out on track and make the first couple of practice passes during the RWYB session. Suffering from wheelspin and a stiff headwind, ET’s were in the high 16’s. However during Q2, I dialled in 16.60 and ran 16.69, my best qualifying performance yet. With a sportsman field of 34 cars, this was only good enough for 5th position and by the end of the session it was a 10th place performance. In sportsman class if you are 0.04 seconds off your dial in you were only good enough for 3rd position at BugJam.
And that’s where it ends really. Heavy rain bought the meeting to an early close and points are to be awarded according to the qualifying positions. Which is actually good news for Beetle Burner, as those drivers in the top 10 are generally below us in the championship, meaning we should move up a couple of places in the overall standings.
During the last passes on the strip the car was underperforming (over about 4.5k revs) and this developed into a nasty engine rattle on the way home. I have whipped the rocker cover off to find that one of the valve adjusters has been ‘eating’ the valve stem, meaning the valve clearance was all over the place and making a horrid rattling sound. Im hoping this should be an easy fix with a set of lash-caps, as I intend to rework the heads at the end of the season anyway.
Just 2 more race meetings to go and Burner is a contender for a top 10 finish in the championship.
ROUND 6 - OPEN SPORT NATIONALS
Burner gets a new PB 16.547s @ 79mph. However our nearest rival performed very well this weekend, bumping Burner down one place in the championship.
So, heading to the National Finals there are 3 sportsman competitors who we must beat to gain places in the standings. A difference of plus 200 points over these guys and girls is what we are after to confirm our place in the top 10.
Naturally, looking down the table Dennis Cox in his turbo’d Buggy will be looking for a 340 points margin over the Burner to push his way into the top of the table. Its all to play for and is guaranteed to be an exciting weekend of very competitive racing. How will the Burner perform? Will it hold up under the final push on the last few runs? How consistent will the car and driver be? Join us at Santa Pod for the National Finals and celebrate a fantastic first season of racing in VWDRC Sportsman.
ROUND 7 - NATIONAL FINALS
A great weekend of racing to finish off the 2009 season. Massive thanks to Jodie for her amazing support (and continual tolerance!), thanks to AJ who managed to help out while nursing a very bad back, and to Nick for his help (hope all is okay with your car Nick).
The week preceding the event was very tricky with both Jodie and Imogen falling ill. Several hospital trips later and both were thankfully on the mend. Friday morning the doctors said that Imogen was ok, so Friday night we made it up to Santa Pod. AJ did a sterling job with the catering and sleeping arrangements, Ta.
So to the racing. Well I was feeling decidedly unwell for the first qualifier, delivering a rather poor performance. 17.4 seconds, one of my slowest passes this year. Into the second qualifier I adjusted my dial-in to compensate for my slow time, but feeling a bit better I was much more aggressive off the line and up through the gears. This did result in a faster time, so fast in fact that I broke out and ran a PB time of 16.338s!
In the final round of qualifying I dialled in 16.35 and ran 16.45 again a very quick time for the car, and this 0.1 second margin was enough to give me number 8 qualifier position.
Sunday and into the first round of eliminations I was to face the championship leader, Lucy. With a 7.5 second wait on the line my nerves got the better of me and I pulled a red light. My first of the season too, so I wasn’t too impressed and the language in the car was rather colourful. As I stomped through the gears and accelerated hard up the track, there was a moments’ hesitation before a big bang and total loss of power. When recovered to the pits by Russ Weir (thanks) , I found the distributor drive shaft had pushed out causing the backfire and loss of ignition. This problem is a re-occurrence from earlier in the season and was easily rectified to enable us to return home safely. Definitely something for me to strengthen over the winter.
An excellent weekends racing, another PB, great weather and enough points gained to put Beetle Burner Drag Race Team into 8th position in the 2009 VWDRC Sportsman Championship.
Once again, thanks to all involved and to the sponsors, engine guys, the VWDRC racers and crews, friends and family. We’ll stay in touch over the winter with progress on the car and will keep you informed of the 2010 season.
Organisation
Free tickets; Are you available to crew for the Burner?
Drop me a line at BeetleBurnerDRT@yahoo.com
