COFFEE CLUB INDY 400 RACEWRAP

Again the streets of Surfers Paradise became the location for a festival of action over the course of last weekend.

Oh and there was some V8 Supercar action as well. We have some pretty spectacular events on our calendar, all very unique and offering something for everyone. Indy is without doubt party time, with some good old fashioned Ford vs Holden action alongside. It is now described as ‘schoolies’ for adults and turns the Gold Coast on its nut for about a week. I’m sure the ‘Coasties’ have some tolerance for the week, but whatever the case everyone is having a good time for one reason or another. This has become a bit of an annual holiday for our family. We usually head up the Sunday before and spend some time with the kids and do one of ‘The Worlds’. This year it was Dreamworlds turn, with an afternoon at White Water World thrown in for good measure. The kids had a blast, going on the ‘Giant Drop’, the ‘Tower of Terror’ and the slides. The children had a great time as well!! You can’t knock the Coast for the weather. Or the fact that the Sun wakes you up at 4.30am!!! What the hell are they thinking not having daylight savings? If they moved the sun an hour in the right direction people wouldn’t be cranky in the afternoon from being woken up so early!!

After a visit to Champion Ford for Castrol, a truck night for Beaurepaires, an Auslec store appearance in ‘The Valley’ for Lawrence & Hansen and the launch of the new FG Series of FPV’s at Metro Ford in ‘The Valley’, it was down to some serious driving type activity. We also had the annual V8 Supercar Lunch at Jupiter’s Casino in Broadbeach that attracted a healthy crowd of around 400 of our closest V8 Supercar fans, all set for some Indy action. 2007 was a good round for Ford Performance Racing, even though we didn’t quite get over the line. Well not for a round result anyway. The Castrol FPR Falcon won the final race after crashing into the pitlane in race 1 and having to come back from the rear of the grid. So speed was not an issue. 2008 started well for both FPR Falcons and after some running in the two 50 minute practice sessions, both cars finished up in the top ten after topping the timesheets before putting on our green tyres for the end of the session. For those that may not know, the Indy circuit is very hard on brakes. What does that mean? Here’s a refresher for you all. With four big stops over 200 kmph around the circuit and the highish ambient temps, the brakes reach temps of over 1000 degrees C. What happens is they get to a point where they don’t want to stop the car anymore and that’s why you see quite a few people running through the Chicanes up there. So you can imagine that when following cars closely and with no cool air running through the front brake ducts, stopping can sometimes be difficult. So after the practice sessions, we were feeling confident for qualifying in the late afternoon.

Qualifying came on Friday afternoon. The circuit had cooled down somewhat, which usually means quick times. The first session was pretty elementary, both Frosty and I moving through to segment two. After heading out briefly on the original set of Dunlop’s, we made our way onto the second green set. It was taking a long time to get temperature into the front tyres to make the car turn effectively through the chicanes. Usually the car is at its fastest on lap 2 or 3, but it took until lap 5 to set our fast time. Then on the sixth lap while on another fast time the red flag was displayed for an incident and the session was stopped. This meant I didn’t finish that lap and I would start 11th. Damn!! Anyway Frosty had qualified third so it wasn’t all bad and car 6 had some good pace to contend with, which meant the races would be good. Race 1 on Saturday afternoon started well with a good start, although a couple of cars that I managed to pass on the way up to turn 1, cut through the first chicane and didn’t redress the positions, so I was down a couple of possies before the second corner. Most of those cars were penalised after the race, but one wasn’t and I spent the whole race behind him. The culprit was Lee Holdsworth and that was frustrating, as after the pitstop we set the fastest lap of the race but couldn’t use the speed due to being stuck behind. In the end we finished in 11th.

Races 2 and 3 were held on Sunday. After a less than perfect getaway I scrambled down into turn 1 in around 11th. Cam McConville dive bombed the Castrol FPR Falcon at turn 3 with ‘tyres a blazin’ which forced me wide and allowed another three cars by. We had made a couple of changes meant to improve the car on full fuel load, but it wasn’t working as planned. We didn’t manage to move forwards a great deal until after the stop. The car started working a bit better and we ended up 12th. Race 3 and I made a much better fist of the start. Going into turn 1 things were getting a bit willing as JC and a slow starting Lowndes and I went in together. I was spat out of the chicane, which was great in a way as I picked up a few possies, but of course I would have to redress them. I did so within the first lap, but the car was great. We had made some more changes and the car was a heap better, it’s just that it was almost impossible to pass with the hot brakes. The FPR boys smashed the pitstop and we vaulted up to 8th, right on the group from 4th. In the end it was where we would finish. That’s Indy for you. Even with car speed to run with the top three, there was nothing we could do about getting past the cars in front. The round was a clean sweep for Jamie Whincup, with Garth Tander finishing second and Frosty in third. I must say it was the toughest Indy I have done for a while, as it was so hard to pass. The competition has definitely got hotter over the past couple of races, which again makes it more difficult, but I guess that’s the nature of the Series at the moment. It still leaves us in 6th position although we slipped to 2nd in the teams Championship. Now is crunch time for the top three in the Series. There will be some great action in the next few rounds as its now game on and the chasers will have to start getting aggressive if they want a piece of Championship pie.

Next up we are off on our Middle Eastern jaunt to Bahrain. It has been a happy hunting ground for FPR over the past two years, with the team taking out the event on both occasions. The contest should be exciting, so stay tuned to the seven network.

All the best.

Richo.