Faram Aviation Group
We did it… 1NZ!!!
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Speedsport Images Fantastic images of the car and team. Thanks GT!
2010/2011 Season – After being on our back foot due to the delay in having our engine freshened we finally hit the track 3 days before x-mas! Talk about playing catch up. We attended the final meeting at Rotorua before the NZ Championships. Race one was simply spent circulating breaking in the engine. Race two – hammer down with a car handling well, yet loosing traction down the straights. This engine really has some bogey over last seasons. We came in & made some changes to get the power to the ground with race 3 seeing us take a second off the lap record for the season. We came away knowing we had a very fast car. However thereafter was chaos!
NZ Champs – Finally following the rain off, Race 1 off grid 2. I was more than happy with this draw until I missed top gear off the start line! Initially I got the jump on Grid 1, so intended to turn down for turn 1 upon selecting top gear. As mentioned, missed the gear & there after I was in for the ride to the wall with the whole field pushing like hell behind me. Greasy track, (being race one for the night), so straight in & up I went with what felt like the whole field bouncing off me. Lots of superficial damage yet what ended my night was the fire crew dumping two loads of fire extinguishers into my engine bay due to an oil fire on the headers. There was no way I was going to risk running the engine after what we had been through during the off season without seriously ensuring none of the powder had made its way past the carbruetor! So that was the end of our championship contention. This coupled with the rain off & timing of the event (the team, myself included, struggled with its timing due to family x-mas obligations) made for the most un-enjoyable championship contest in my racing career!! Still all part & parcel of racing.
Our following meeting was the Gold Cup in PN. Again due to not having raced at all for the season I was on my back foot. I totally missed the gearing in race one & race two saw me get clipped on the inside of the front left bumper while entering turn 3. I was going in hard & fast which saw the car barrel role onto the top of the fence before coming to rest on its side. I was pissed with myself & am sure the track announcer could hear my language above the racquet he was making! This time I felt it, yet not until I was on the infield, & came away with torn rib cartledges & sternum with the doctor telling me not to race for 15 weeks!!!!!
Consequently I couldn’t lean out the door of the helicopter & fly either so I decided to park the car up for the season & concentrate on business & family. Was great as got to spend a month on the road in America!
I attended a few meetings ( Speedfest / Autumn Nationals / HB Easter & closing) as a spectator, which was hard as I was very tempted to go for a skid, yet stuck to my plan of keeping the car fresh for next season.
So for the first time in my racing history the car has been fully overhauled (again after only a matter of laps!) & is ready for the 2011/2012 season before the 2010/2011 season came to an end!
Until the next season, relax!!
Cheers,
Joe & the 4B Team
