Well you have to some times wonder where you went wrong? The 2nd round of the S.A. State Championships was not really a memorable one for the team. After only completing 6 laps in practice on Friday we had to retire with a gearbox that had locked up! Thinking our chances for any points may have been dashed we returned to the workshop to see if we could get back for qualifying on Saturday morning. After a late night we were back at Mallala and ready for qualifying in the morning. After a really ordinary qualifying session we were almost at the back of the pack in 22nd. “I was extremely disappointed after the effort we put in last night to not be a little more competitive” said Daniel. We decided not to waste our new tyres, as we had not scuffed them in on Friday as we planned so we continued through the meeting on our practice tyres. At least we were salvaging some points by competing.

We learnt a huge amount about set up on the car to get the best out of the package as it was. By continually tweaking the chassis we managed to go quicker each session, but never any further forward than 15th. Definitely character building and overall it was a steep learning curve where we learnt a lot about our suspension and tuning of the car. Says Daniel “We were obviously disappointed with our placing, but in the scheme of things we were please to have fixed the cause of our gearbox failures and have a trouble free mechanical weekend again”. Looking ahead we will be venturing to Sandown in Victoria we hope in June to gain some data for the Clemenger International Freight 2010 National Series to be held there in July. Congratulations to Ben Porter, Daniel Reynolds & Michael Kinsella for being on the podium for the S.A. round of the series and to all competitors for putting on a great weekends racing, and showcasing what exciting close racing Formula Vee can deliver. Well done to all.

The team has been working hard to make sure we are ready for round 2 of the S.A. State Championships which also includes the Clemenger International Freight 2010 Formula Vee Australian Series Rnd 1. Racing is this weekend at Mallala Motorsport Park on Saturday and Sunday. We are attending practice on Friday 30th April. Please come and support our efforts this weekend if you are in the area. Results will be posted next week so stay tuned.

After a mixed round 1 of the S.A. State Championships we have been busy in the workshop.

After qualifying in 4th spot and finishing 5th in race 1 we were less than satisfied with the effort. A few adjustments to the car and we were out for race 2. This went to plan and Daniel managed a faultless drive to finish in 1st place and set the fastest lap in the race. This was the first win for the Calibre One Jacer. There was some great close racing with several lead changes. Daniel stole the lead with an outside pass on Rhett Payne into the 2nd last turn and held him out to go on and take the win.

From hero to zero in race 3 starting off pole Daniel was to only make it around the first 2 corners before the entire field drove by and he headed for the infield. "I lost all drive on the exit from turn 2 and found I had no gears" reported Daniel on his return to the pits. "This is my first mechanical DNF in 3 seasons and I was devastated" explains Daniel. He thought he had destroyed the gear box.

Back in the workshop and the trouble has been found. It was a minor failure of a spacer that keeps the side gear engaged with the spider gears. No debris had made it's way into the box so with all seals still intact in the box, it was a straight forward repair and refit. All is back into the car now, so a bit of a polish and we are ready to have another go. With some further developments in progress perhaps a trip to the dyno may be required. Over all a mixed round with some high's and of course ending on a low but the Jacer is making progress as we come to terms with it's characteristics.

Please tune in to Channel 31 in S.A. a new motorsport program is being launched and Daniel was interviewed for the show at Mallala that weekend. The show is called "Heaps Fast" and is due to air near the end of March 2010. See website puremotorsport.tv.