Supersprint Round 4 at SMP Brabham
14 July 2016 / Words by Bryan Shedden, Photos by Rob Wilkins
Round 4 of the CAMS NSW Supersprint Championship was held on the Brabham (Extended) circuit at Sydney Motorsport Park on Sunday 10 July. It had been two years since our last run on this circuit.
Having been soundly beaten by ARDC at Round 3 on the North Circuit, the call for help was heeded by our Club members and we fielded a very strong team of 25 drivers. It was our best turnout for the year, surpassing the 22 we had at Wakefield Park in April. Thank you! The weather gods rewarded us with a fine day, starting very cool and reaching as high as 19°C. The track was initially wet after overnight rain, but quickly dried out and made for perfect conditions. The day was run very efficiently and drivers were given the opportunity for five runs of at least three laps each.
After considerable effort by Ed Cory, our team set up camp in seven pit garages and the odd carport. Squeezing three MX-5s to a garage maximises the opportunities for camaraderie and also minimises the cost for our competitors.
Scott McGarry had mended his broken diff from the previous round and enjoyed a much deserved day of trouble-free lapping. Likewise, Phil Abraham left his haunted clubman at home and reverted to his trusty Lotus Elise. Considering that the Phillip Island 6hr Regularity Relay is only three weeks away, it was brilliant to have most of those team members enter this round. Fingers crossed, nothing would go wrong!
Unfortunately it had to happen. Gus Elias lasted only two laps before he heard a loud bang from his front suspension and then struggled to steer straight. Limping back to the pits, his front left wheel had close to 10° of negative camber and was toeing out considerably. Closer inspection revealed that the subframe on his NB8B had completely sheared at the lower control arm! Gus believes the subframe cracking was the final result of the incident he had during last years interstate challenge at the South circuit. He was unable to get a decent wheel alignment since then but the workshop couldn't find the problem. Since Sunday, Gus has already sourced a replacement subframe and has a big job ahead to prepare the car for Phillip Island. At least it failed close to home and not 1000km to the south!
Chris White was our quickest driver (2:10.217, 1st in 4B and a new class record obliterating the old one by over 8 seconds). There were class podiums for Bryan Shedden 1st in 1B (2:22.499), Keith Monaghan 3rd in 1B (2:30.143), Scott McGarry 1st in 2A (2:22.181), Jason Russell 2nd in 2A (2:27.717), Luke Kovacic 3rd in 2C (2:15.636), Phil Abraham 1st in 3B (2:27.431), Phil Ashton 3rd in 3C (2:18.668), David Lawler 2nd in 4B (2:15.669), Ian Combes 3rd in 4B (2:21.124), Glenn Thomas 2nd in 6A (2:23.078), Ray Estreich 3rd in 6A (2:23.403), and Greg Bunn 3rd in SVC (2:22.039).
The big news was that our team scored a whopping 556 points in the Club Championship, compared to 447 from ARDC's home team. This means that we have clawed back their lead and now trail by only 30 points with ARDC on 1793 and MX-5 Club of NSW on 1763. What a brilliant effort by all the team!
Round 5 returns to Sydney Motorsport Park on Sunday 14 August, this time on the Grand Prix Circuit. It will be the last round organised by ARDC and we hope to make a strong showing once again.
Click here for all of Rob's photos
