We had a great family day out yesterday at the classic. Watched from MG and from Siberia, then joined the luncheon for half the afternoon and finally watched from the outside of turn 12. Lots of action! I took some average photos with my point and shoot...
Jack was thrilled to be given the opportunity to sit in the Talbot-Lago grand prix car!
I took this little snip of the Groups A & C cars coming through Siberia. Great to see the Ignis car out there again!
ACTION. Unfortunate Group S race 4 crash at the end of lap 1. Our mate Bryan Taylor in the red Porsche.
Neil,
That's race 3 and BT is all fine aside from one bruised toe and one stiff shoulder from the HANS.
That's great news! I'd heard he was going to be okay but wasn't sure the extent of injuries. Bloody terrifying crash.
I saw the crash as i was heading toward the gate at the time. Worst crash i have seen.
(http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2162/mar2012011.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/405/mar2012011.jpg/)
(http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/3998/mar2012013.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/402/mar2012013.jpg/)
My near miss.
Yellow flag spoilt my start. Then very focussed on exiting turn 12 fast for an overtake, very very lucky for the near miss, turned very religious then, lucky that Nick Taylor didn't hit me.
Neil lucky on so many levels, looked like good fun unti lthe accident
That was close Neil. You would be looking at the car in front and trying to get a good run onto the straight, and then you see brake lights, arghhh.
Quote from: hmd on March 12, 2012, 05:24:09 PM
Neil,
That's race 3 and BT is all fine aside from one bruised toe and one stiff shoulder from the HANS.
That's great news hmd, I heard he had broken his arm, I'm glad thats not true.
It was a frightening incident, I will post some footage from my in car tonight.
I see some of the photos are up on sdpics.com - none of the Sc cars yet though.
http://www.sdpics.com/cgi-bin/e-store/index.cgi?direct=8000~Motor_Sport/9000~Cars/06~Historic_Racing/62~9-11_March_2012_-_PHILLIP_ISLAND_HISTORICS
I have a passing infatuation with Bill Magoffin's "other" race car on the weekend, shown in the attached borrowed picture.
Quoting the owner:
"GTAm was built by Autodelta to group 2 specs in March – May 1976 but with an injected 2L (Spica) like US cars. Other cars were converted from the handful ( estimates vary from 12-25) of road cars brought in to homologate with parts supplied by Alfa subsidiary Autodelta Australia. Run by Alfa as the works entry at Bathurst in '76 with John Leffler and Richard Carter."
QuoteI have a passing infatuation with Bill Magoffin's "other" race car on the weekend, shown in the attached borrowed picture
Your not alone there Evan, i had a good look at the car on Friday. I thought the original Simmons wheels looked great. The size of the rear brakes would also get most of the group s guys wishing. Overall the quality of the restoration is outstanding. I also managed to catch up with Rob Panetta who did most of the work on the car . I know Rob reads this web site every morning instead of newspapers so hopfully he can pipe up with a few more detailed insights
Quote from: alfagtv58 on March 13, 2012, 10:09:40 AM
I will post some footage from my in car tonight.
OK, I may not be posting my in car footage tonight as I'm having 'issues' with youtube and google accounts and passwords and linking them and.....I need a teenager to show me how to do it.
QuoteOK, I may not be posting my in car footage tonight as I'm having 'issues' with youtube and google accounts and passwords and linking them
I know what you mean about getting technology to work when you need it . We might all have to come around to your place and watch it on your computer Phil.
I have just been watching Neil's clip over & over. I still don't know how he missed that 240Z . Just great skill hey Neil.
Hi Paul G
The Alfetta GTAM is just a great piece of history.
Car went real well on the weekend at Phillip Island.
Has a close ratio gearbox,but huge gap between 4th + 5th gears
Car developed a fuel issue= having to put fuel in it after every race. 10-15 litres every outing.
I originall sold those rims to my best man= Bruce James,many years ago,and are the same type of early Simmons wheels that the car raced on.
After car purchased,all 4 gaurds replaced with originals and the original 1980 Bathurst race stickers applied.
Will consult Bill to add to the above,and maybe a pictorial of its transformation to what it is now,if anyone is interested.
Was great to meet up with you Paul,and the many other Victorian Alfisti.
Robert
Robert, great to meet up with you too and thanks for the favour. I only had a brief glance at the Alfetta which is my favourite and it is a GT. I wish I had more time to have a more detailed look and chat about it.
Would be nice to get more details on the history and development of the Alfetta, would make a great read.
See you at another meeting soon.
Neil
PS: issues being addressed!!!
Not Alfa racing but from fellow GpS'er in Sb/c, Alex Webster, some close racing.
Seems tactics in Race 3 is to wait for all to spear off at Turn 1!!!
I gave up on my old you tube user name and created a new one! Seems I still buggered it up by not uploading as wide screen ::)
Here is my footage from the aborted race 3. And, yes I know, my synchros are stuffed :P
Phil,
Thats about a close a look as you would want to get.
Race 1 below.
Race 2 to come later and Race 4 is missing, I suspect the camera battery died mid race, so I dont actually have any footage from that one....while the first lap and a half was interesting, most of that race was pretty lonely and boring anyway.
Thanks for the footage Phil and well done in avoiding everyone .. same goes for Urs, Neil and the rest of the Alfa guys ... as has been said before ... that's as close as anyone would want to come
I was just going to reserve the space below Phil's to put up my Race 1 where I was the chase car for part way until I got tired and sat out for a nanna nap.
Put vision up later tonight, there is this thing called work which gets in the way of good racing.
Hey Neil, thought you had to do some work
Quote from: Neil Choi on March 14, 2012, 01:24:31 PM
You need to see this.
Bloody hell!! That's like a Michael Bay movie, but with a better storyline.
Bloody hell!!
Amazing and a real relief to see the driver of FF 57 climb out unassisted after that roll over. Lets add that footage to the driver ed package in August.
Race 2 - I need more horsepower >:(
Great in- car footage Neil + Phil
Crashes are always good ,from a spectators point of view,,but I would rather not see them happen.
Always great to chat with Neil + Phil
Gotta love the way those Alfa engines REV,and those great gear ratios.
Even better to see Alfas put pressure on those Porsches.
Found a new place to watch the action= turn 4= right hander,while loading cars on the trailer.
Some interesting lines,,but I guess,,there are no lines in motor racing.
Thanks for the entertainment guys.
Such an enjoyable weekend,and perfect racing weather for 3 days
Robert
My race 1 as a chase car to Phil, some gear change errors and a nanna nap saw me out of the race.
Excuse No. 174.
Still getting use to engine and gearbox, took me all weekend.
Oh, yes, we all need more power, Phil.
Here's Hugh Harrison's in-car from Group C & A Touring Cars Race 3.
awesome Mick / Hugh.
Love the work under brakes into Honda !!!!!!
Giving those BMW's and Commodores a hard time.
The car could do with 6 gear down the straight.
Cheers,
Simon
Really interesting watching the gear change points in the ignis car. Vastly different to the Group S 2 litre cars. Victor/Choderboy/Ben, do your cars have similar gear change points? I'm wondering if its a V6 thing or a slicks thing or a combination of both?
my new favorite footage, Hugh awsome drive!
QuoteVastly different to the Group S 2 litre cars
I don't think to many group s cars or even club sprinters are in 5th gear
before you get onto the main straight. Just a long wait after you stop accelerating until turn one though.
Quote from: alfagtv58 on March 15, 2012, 07:06:24 PM
Really interesting watching the gear change points in the ignis car. Vastly different to the Group S 2 litre cars. Victor/Choderboy/Ben, do your cars have similar gear change points? I'm wondering if its a V6 thing or a slicks thing or a combination of both?
It's an Autodelta box with 1:1 5th gear thing....
My change points are much the same as you and Neil, other than I hold 4th around Southern Loop, grab 4th a bit earlier on the run into Hayshed, grab 4th a bit earlier before turn 12, and usually end up in 5th just before the first sign over the top of the main straight. Which could be as much a function of revs as anything else, mine doesn't do a lot once you get past 6500, at about 6800 it's certainly time for the next gear.
Video below from December PI if you want to have a look for yourself....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-R63O4Wra8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-R63O4Wra8)
Thanks J&H, that makes sense. I tried holding 4th through southern loop last year, while I think it may have given me more corner speed through the second part of the corner, I had zero pull coming out of it and lost a couple of spots as a result.....I have gone back to grabbing third mid corner again.
I will chime in too, with testing at PI in Feb and the initial races, I too found with our 2L car around Southern Loop, it is okay in 4th through first apex but exiting second apex it is almost off cam. So I tried two approaches, 4th for 1st apex and change to 3rd mid corner for 2nd apex (ie like Phil), very much a handful, then I tried going to 3rd into 1st apex (possible problem) and continued around for 2nd apex, so no disrupting gear change. 1st approach is probably better but needs practice. Need to gather data for corner speed analysis.
My 2 bob.
QuoteI tried holding 4th through southern loop last year
Interesting discussion, for what its worth in my twin spark GTV during club sprints i have gone from trying to hold third gear and revving the crap out of it to just leaving it in 4th and concentrating on steering and trying to get the lines right. The standard twin spark won't rev as hard as the hot nord engines but sure has the torque to get you out of the corner and keep accelerating.
We are getting way off topic on this thread....anyway, all this depends on what gear & diff ratios. I know Neil and I are both running a 4.3:1 diff, hmd tells me he has a 4.1:1 so his approach may be different again!
Phil,
confirm on 4.1. I am o/s so will post some vids next week when I am back.
Quote from: Choderboy on March 15, 2012, 10:43:21 AM
Here's Hugh Harrison's in-car from Group C & A Touring Cars Race 3.
Looks like the camera worked out well - did you end up using my mount?
Hoping to see Hugh in action this evening at Albert Park.
Here you go, back on topic and more histerics. My Race 4 which was a bit better. Raced against those with more cylinders and got caught by Lyndon again. Ran out of puff at the end, felt like fuel.
Good compilation neil, Thanks for sharing . Just had a quick look at the couple of years of Natsoft results. It looks like you are about 6 secs faster than last year and the car is about 10 sec faster than 2 years ago. Who knows sub 2 mins next year ???
Quote from: Paul Gulliver on March 17, 2012, 04:13:14 PM
Good compilation neil, Thanks for sharing . Just had a quick look at the couple of years of Natsoft results. It looks like you are about 6 secs faster than last year and the car is about 10 sec faster than 2 years ago. Who knows sub 2 mins next year ???
Gully,
lol the next 2 seconds will cost Neil a lot more than what he has spent already :D
He might have to bolt Damon in next year to save the budget
Race 2 for your entertainment.
Posted Gary's race 2 with Martyn and Glen
http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=8578.0
Quote from: Neil Choi on March 18, 2012, 12:18:54 AM
Race 2 for your entertainment.
I like the 1:15 to 1:20 bits ;D
My race 4, got jumped by Gary then a Lotus 7 passed me under yellow, took a couple of laps to unwind that then by the time I passed John Lenne and the MGv8 I ran out of time to catch up to Neil and Lyndon
Here is Gary's race 4 chasing JL in 105 then HMD in Alfetta once he caught up.
All good fun.
Some pics from VHRR site, courtesy of Martin Creely Photography.
Some Alfa's, of course.
1st pic of the Gil Gordon Alfetta GT being my favourite.
Some frightening photos of Bryan's crash
http://www.motorsportretro.com/2012/03/porsche-911-crash-photos/ (http://www.motorsportretro.com/2012/03/porsche-911-crash-photos/)
Amazing that he walked away. Testament to the quality build of his car......in fact testament to roll over protection (cage) in general
My race 2, nothing interesting apart from first lap dive bomb at Honda.
Also watch Neil's wheel at the start, should there be penalty for that >:(
Race 1 start a little dishevelled after the spin by the De Tomaso off the line.
Enjoyed myself and good to meet many fellow Alfa fans from VIC & NSW.
Started building the next car already. See you in 2014.
A mate sent me this don't know who took this picture of the Porche Careering to the ground in Sc Race 3.
Glad I was'nt the driver.
A couple more.
A gallery of pictures by club member Peter Ellenbogen.
Enjoy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterellenbogen/sets/72157629358648206/
A bit old, but Victor got me onto some software (and drugs) and I went nuts, here is the result.