The Racefix Motorsport Debut.

Whilst it wasn’t the fairytale racing debut I had mapped out in my head, my very first race meeting was a flying success - even after not turning a single lap in quali or race 1.

I’ve owned the race car for a little over 6 months now so this weekend is a moment i’ve been thinking about for quite some time with the past week being a very nervous lead up!

I arrived at the track on Thursday evening to unload the car and drop the trailer off at the track which was one less thing to worry about on Friday morning. Friday rolls around and it was pretty uneventful. I opted to run Friday practice on the very old hankooks that were second hand on the car when I bought it and after 2 sessions the wires were hanging out of the rears so I called it a day happy with both mine and the cars pace on old boots.

The main goal for the weekend was to get a stack of laps in, learn and get signatures on my provisional licence, with that said I was still feeling confident for a decent quali result after a good Friday practice. Those ambitions were quickly shattered when the car did something very strange on the 3-4 then 4-5 gear change followed by walking around down the straight on the very first lap of the day. Having never driven on green A050’s before it could have very well just been how new tyres feel or some uneven pickup from the road. Coming into T3 the car felt very vague, almost as if a wheel was about to fall off so I played it safe and pulled well off the road so the session could stay green.

Once the car was back in the pits we jacked up the left hand side of the car and noticed something very wrong with the rear wheel, the rear upper control was no longer connected the subframe… far from ideal but I was relieved that it was a fairly simple fix and we would be able to get back out for the rest of the weekend.

Jezza, one of the mechanics from PVS was already heading out to the track for race 1 so he kindly swung by the workshop to grab some replacement bolts out of the PVS parts car. Upon his arrival we realised the rear upper control arms used a non factory bushing with a threaded insert that was fitted before we took ownership of the car. A quick bunnings run was fruitless with not a single M12 UNF bolt on the shelf. We returned to the track, drilled the insert out to use the factory bolt and only just missed heading out for race 1 which was heartbreaking given how hard Jez had hustled to get the car fixed. Jez suggested it would be best if we took the car back to the workshop, put the full OEM arms out of the parts car and get the race car on the aligner to make sure nothing else was damaged. Considering some cloudiness over the legality of the bushings in the arms it was the right decision and i'm extremely grateful Jez donated his evening to helping me get back out on track for Sunday where we would start race 2 from the rear of the grid.

I was fortunate enough to have a friend of Racefix Josh Muggleton on the radio to walk me through my first race and ultimately keep me focused and level headed. With absolutely nothing to lose in race 2 all the nerves seemed to subside and I got on with my very first race - after a rubbish start from the line that is. I got into a rhythm pretty quick and while Andrew in the 125i lead class D and seemed to run away from the pack pretty early on I was tucked onto the back of the Cade Golf and Tierney 86 with a class C BMW 1 series in-between us. Danny in the Tierney Automotive 86 managed to slip past the class C car and join back up with the VW Golf of Sean Cade. My in-experience meant I let some key passing opportunities slip which were vital given the straight line handling the Class C car had which meant I stayed separated from the front runners of my class for the rest of the class. Nonetheless I was pretty chuffed to move up 6 spots in my first ever race.

With something now to lose, only being 1 row away from a win in the trophy race the nerves certainly set back in for the start of race 3. My start was definitely better but a funny ignition cut we’ve been plagued with reared it’s ugly head which combined with my mega slow gear changes from the very tired gearbox meant I dropped almost all of the spots I gained in race 2. Thankfully the 86 is very good under brakes so I was able to slip into a gap at T2.

The next chain of events happened very quickly and I found myself in a slow moving train on the inside of 3-4 whilst I left the door open for some of the quick Fiestas of Stewie Follows and Tim Weston to take the inside right past me into T5. Again some in-experience of not defending bit me in the arse with Dimitri Agathos creeping past over corporate hill and David bailey in the Mini Cooper driving straight past into the last complex of corners.

Dimitri is a very experienced racer so whilst our 86 had the pace on his Pulsar he didn’t make it easy to get by which was awesome fun to be driving so close with someone I trust at the wheel. Slipping back in behind the Mini is where I stayed for most of the remainder of the race burning up my front tyres trying to make lazy passes that weren’t really on. Eventually I realised what I was doing and took a slightly more calculated approach to the rest of the race after I woke up from my nap on the safety car restart and used the strong points of the 86 through T1 and under brakes into T2 and T4 to get past the mini on the final lap of the weekend. 

Overall it was a cracking weekend and i’m absolutely bitten by the bug - just when I thought I couldn’t be more hooked on cars if I tried, it’s happened. It’s a little bit of a “one that got away” type weekend. We had great pace and I reckon we were in with a crack had we actually qualified but as i’m told, that’s just motorsport. It was still a great weekend of learning, driving and overall experience and there’s still STACKS to learn. Onwards and upwards to the next round in early July - not before we throw a fresh gearbox in it as 4th and 5th is crunchier than a bowl of dry corn flakes!

I also owe a huge thankyou to my awesome sponsors Prestige Tyre & Auto Services, PVS Tuning, Racefix Parts & V-sport for helping us get to the race meeting in the first place!