Pukekohe - NZ Round One
Round One of the New Zealand V8 Ute Championship didn’t go totally to plan. . .
I was excited to debut the Gallagher Falcon. It was looking awesome and when we rolled out for practice session one on Friday morning it was going even better than it looked! Friday was good and as the day went on we made a few improvements with the set up and we were happy with our pace. In the afternoon I had some fun scaring a few people in the Hot Lap session which was a good way to end the day.
Saturday saw qualifying and race one ahead. I put it comfortable on pole which was a great way to kick things off. I can’t say it was all rosey from there! I started from the front and pulled a gap on the opening lap of the first race before disaster! When you are doing 220kph into a 60kph hairpin brakes are quite useful… A loud bang from the rear end before the brake pedal went spongy under my foot wasn’t a good feeling! The front left tyre locked and I sailed straight ahead off the end of the back straight and found myself parked in the gravel trap with my head in my hands. I was gutted to say the least! Luckily I got towed out and managed to roll around for the remaining laps and salvage a few points for last place. We found the flange on the end of the axel housing had broken away and rotated around which ripped the brake hose off. The Gallagher - Western Motors crew worked hard to fit the new rear end so we were back in the game for Sundays races.
Sunday was a challenge. We started race two from last and I made my way through to 7th, not without a bit of excitement. I ran wide through the turn one sweeper and the engine stalled so I lost a couple of positions but won the Citizen Watch for the ‘Time out’ biggest moment of the weekend so I guess I have to look at the positives in those situations and it is a pretty cool watch.
Race three I got my ducks in a row and pulled it all together. With the average points haul in race one and two I started from grid 11. The Gallagher Falcon didn’t miss a beat and we carved through the field to the lead for a couple of corners but couldn’t hold onto it with the grunt the Holden has. It was good to end the weekend on a high and show we mean business. I came away from the weekend in 4th place in the championship. I’m confident that we will be fast at Ruapuna in Christchurch so I’m looking forward to closing the points gap.
If you can make it along to Round Two of the NZ V8 Ute Championship, I look forward to seeing you there.
Round One of the New Zealand V8 Ute Championship didn’t go totally to plan. . .I was excited to debut the Gallagher Falcon. It was looking awesome and when we rolled out for practice session one on Friday morning it was going even better than it looked! Friday was good and as the day went on we made a few improvements with the set up and we were happy with our pace. In the afternoon I had some fun scaring a few people in the Hot Lap session which was a good way to end the day.
Saturday saw qualifying and race one ahead. I put it comfortable on pole which was a great way to kick things off. I can’t say it was all rosey from there! I started from the front and pulled a gap on the opening lap of the first race before disaster! When you are doing 220kph into a 60kph hairpin brakes are quite useful… A loud bang from the rear end before the brake pedal went spongy under my foot wasn’t a good feeling! The front left tyre locked and I sailed straight ahead off the end of the back straight and found myself parked in the gravel trap with my head in my hands. I was gutted to say the least! Luckily I got towed out and managed to roll around for the remaining laps and salvage a few points for last place. We found the flange on the end of the axel housing had broken away and rotated around which ripped the brake hose off. The Gallagher - Western Motors crew worked hard to fit the new rear end so we were back in the game for Sundays races.
Sunday was a challenge. We started race two from last and I made my way through to 7th, not without a bit of excitement. I ran wide through the turn one sweeper and the engine stalled so I lost a couple of positions but won the Citizen Watch for the ‘Time out’ biggest moment of the weekend so I guess I have to look at the positives in those situations and it is a pretty cool watch.
Race three I got my ducks in a row and pulled it all together. With the average points haul in race one and two I started from grid 11. The Gallagher Falcon didn’t miss a beat and we carved through the field to the lead for a couple of corners but couldn’t hold onto it with the grunt the Holden has. It was good to end the weekend on a high and show we mean business. I came away from the weekend in 4th place in the championship. I’m confident that we will be fast at Ruapuna in Christchurch so I’m looking forward to closing the points gap.
If you can make it along to Round Two of the NZ V8 Ute Championship, I look forward to seeing you there.
