Phillip Island Classic 2016

[rgh0]

The best historic meeting in Australia and one of the best in the world IMHO

Unfortunately not such a good meeting for me this year as after a good qualifying and doing my best time there in about 10 years and a successful first race on Friday my clutch started giving problems and i was having trouble selecting gears in the next race on the Saturday. I swapped the slave cylinder out (thats a lot of fun at the track on an Elan with a big exhaust !!) and while it was OK in the paddock it that did not help in the second Saturday race once I got to racing speeds and temperatures and I ended up changing gears without the clutch which made it a bit unpredictable on whether I got a gear or not and it was not doing the gear box any good either as there was a severe vibration from the transmission area coming up through the gear lever. So I packed up Saturday night and missed the races on Sunday.,

Had a few other friends with problems also - Cooper FJ with a blown donut !, Lotus 7 with 2 pressure plate failures with the plate retaining straps bending - same failure repeated after he swapped the pressure plate for a new one on Friday night, Lotus 23 that brushed the wall with not to much damage fortunately... thats racing.

Engine out when I get time to find out whats wrong with the clutch. That gear box rebuild I was planning may have to come forward also.

cheers
Rohan

[l10tus]

How frustrating!

What makes were the competition cars made up of ?

Better luck next time!

Regards,

Phil.

[rgh0]

In my category which is group S production sports cars there are 3 divisions

Sa - post war to 1960
Sb - 1961 to 1969
Sc - 1970 to 1977

Typically also divided into capacity classes - usually under 2 litre, 2 to 3 litre and over 3 litre

In Australia there is two types of historic racing categories

Categories for actual race cars of defined time period which must be built and run to the same specification as they raced in during the period- no replicas allowed only actual race cars from the period

Categories for production cars from a defined time period with limited modifications allowed from production specifications. Group S is a production car category. If you have a real 26R you race it in Group M for racing and sports cars 1961 to 65. If you have a modern replica 26R there is no historic category for it in Australia as 26R body mods and lightweight components are not allowed in group S. Allowed modifications for the production based categories ( Groups S for sports cars and Group N for touring cars) are essentially all internal to engine, gearbox and diff and not visible

There were 53 cars in the Group Sa and Group Sb under three litre race. Another 44 in the Group Sb over three litre and Group Sc race.

Car types in my race Sa / Sb under 3 litre race at Phillip Island

MG B
MG Midget / AH sprite
Alfa GTV
Sunbeam Alpine
Turner Mk2
Mercedes 190 sl
Triumph TR2,3,4,6
Austin Healey 100, 3000
Porsche 911
Datsun 2000
GSM Dart

cheers
Rohan

[SJ Lambert]

We camped next to Troy Ryan with his Sprite, Troy kept his foot in it when he ran wide in turn one during a race on Saturday!!!

I got a shot of him headed toward the Hay Shed.

Had to be satisfied with a photographer's media pass as the race car is still a work in progress - but I must say this years' event was as good or better than any in recent years!!

F5000s were sublime again, the Kiwi contingent was as strong as ever too!

[rgh0]

Yes Troy certainly is prepared to and has the skill to keep his foot planted on the accelerator when lesser mortals would be lifting off

cheers
Rohan

[SJ Lambert]

Frank Harris decided discretion was the better part when things got hairy for him in turn 1!

[prezoom]

A number of years ago, I had the opportunity to attend a seminar, conducted by Bob Barnard, on the course and safety design of the Phillip Island circuit. Much time was spent on runoff areas, construction design and placement of guard rails, and the placement and composition of the tire walls along the guard rails.

Of course many photos were shown and the overall view of the circuit was included. At the completion of the seminar, I must admit, Phillip Island was added to my bucket list of courses that I would love to visit a drive.

[SJ Lambert]

Lots of photos on this link

http://forums.autosport.com/topic/20137 ... rch-11-13/

[rgh0]

some great photos

cheers
Rohan

[SJ Lambert]

The McLaren M8F & variants were awesome!