Interstate Challenge at Winton - 23rd March 2014

28 March 2014 / Story - David Lawler, Photos - Neil Choi (AROCA)

A group of 10 drivers from the MX-5 Club of NSW has ventured to Winton to defend the Interstate Challenge title, which had been won from the Victorians at Wakefield Park last November.

Most us arrived at Winton on Saturday, some doing the AROCA circuit training day, and others the open practice session in the afternoon. For many it was our first visit to Winton, which provides short and long track variations, both with a challenging combination of tight corners, a fast sweeper, some bumpy areas, and a few walls disconcertingly close to the track.

A few tentative laps by the first timers, a few slides and the odd spin, and we gradually got to grips with the track. On the last lap of Saturday practice, Patrick Bramston suffered a major oil leak which he assumed was due to a blown turbo. Once his car had been brought back to the pits, and while he was out helping clean up the oil, the rest of the NSW MX-5 crew checked out his car, and pronounced a blown oil pipe and not the turbo as the cause. His car was left at the circuit, in readiness for repairs next morning.

Thanks to the Vics and particularly Tim Emery, the Deputy Motorsport Captain of the MX-5 Club of Victoria & Tasmania, for their efforts in making us feel welcome, with a drinks and socialising session followed by dinner at a local hotel. We of course received lots of "useful" advice on the best way to drive around Winton, like go through the sweeper in 2nd gear at 60km/hr, hugging the kerb. Yes, very useful, ... for making it easy for them to pass us! It was all light hearted and a lot of fun.

Sunday morning dawned clear, which was a relief after the predictions of rain in the lead up to the event. However, what was not so good was that Patrick found the problem with his car was much more serious than we had thought. A sizeable hole in the sump of his engine indicated there had been a major failure in the bottom end. That was the end of the event for him, and it made the task for the rest of us in defending the Interstate Challenge title a bit harder.

A few minor adjustments in the placement of NSW MX-5s into their corresponding Vic MX-5 club classes were required, with Ralph Thompson bumped from Super Modified to Open class due to his car lacking the rear shelf carpet, and Russell Maxwell was moved from Modified to Super Modified.

The NSW competitors were Gustavo Elias, Bryan Shedden & John Karayannis in the Clubman class, Peter Battisson and Peter Browning in the Modified class, Mel Keller & Russell Maxwell in the Super Modified class, David Lawler in the Restricted Open class, and Ralph Thompson in the Open class.

Then it was on! An untimed practice run followed by 2 timed runs on the Winton short circuit in the morning, then 3 timed runs on the Winton long circuit in the afternoon. The track is quite tight, twisty and bumpy, and I am amazed that a field of V8 taxis, .... erm supercars, can get around it without taking each other out.

Bryan Shedden was running his NB for the first time, and found a few teething problems, with an overheating engine, non-functioning ABS, and a major lack of grip from 4 year old rock hard tyres which lead to a few off track excursions. I loaned him my old set of KU36s which Bryan fitted to his car and immediately improved by 2.5 seconds around the short circuit. Mojo restored!

John Karayannis was suffering from a lack of rear-end grip, and despite a number of changes to suspension settings and tyres pressures over the day, never quite found his usual form.

Also in the clubman class, Gus Elias was easily the best of the NSW drivers, however, he was still outclassed by the best of the Vics unfortunately.

Ralph Thompson drove skilfully to win the Open class, and was glad of his bump up from Super Modified where his best time would have scored a 2nd.

The rest of us did our best, but in the end the Vics won 4 of the 5 contested classes, and came out winners with 69 points to our 56 points. To make it worse, I had forgotten to take the Interstate Challenge trophy to the event, and had to endure a lot of good natured stirring from both sides as a result. Lesson learned.

Thanks again to AROCA and the MX-5 Club of Victoria & Tasmania for their roles in hosting the event. I look forward to visiting Winton again.

Lap times and NSW class places for the NSW drivers are available from the track day results page here, and the updated club 2013/2014 track day championship point scores are here.

More photos from Neil Choi of AROCA are available here.