MG Motoring 2016 | Page 44

MG Car Club of South Australia ginally quicker than Circuit Excels. Front wheel drive with a locked diff is something different to the LSD in the Honda so another new experience. The wheels always want to drive straight ahead so turning the wheel takes some effort. This was great fun and Scott did well. In the earlier really wet conditions the Pulsar appeared to be the quickest car on track. Being familiar with front wheel drive was a help for Scott. The third session was in the Sieders Racing Team VE Commodore ute with Matt Chahda in the passenger’s seat. SRT run in the V8 Ute series and prepare the Jesus Racing Team cars. By this time most of the track was dry so Scott had a ball. His description of the experience was something along the lines of “that thing is nuts!”. With plenty of horsepower, locked diff and minimal rear end weight it was a lot of fun. He had been warned to only push the accelerator hard when the car is dead straight, he found out that was good advice! It was easy to slide and on one occasion he managed to step it out quite dramatically, and catch it. Three very different cars were a test of the drivers’ adaptability and particularly for Scott’s group who only had five laps to do it on a track ranging from wet to almost dry. A modern, four cylinder, rear drive car with ABS & traction control, an older four cylinder, front wheel drive car with a locked diff and a modern, V8, rear drive ute with a locked diff made it a challenge stepping from one car to the next. Add to that an unknown circuit which started out wet and partially dried along with faster and slower traffic. No wonder he was exhausted at the end of the day! At the end of the session Scott’s lap times were 10th in the Ute, 11th in the Pulsar and 17th in the 86 but he was unfortunately not chosen to go through to the next round. It is interesting to note that the fastest time in each group did not go through as more factors were taken into consideration. Rhys also did not go through. This was a great experience for Scott and he is most grateful to the MG Car Club of SA and Webber Davies Conveyancers, John and Sue Davies, for their generous support of his participation. The learning of a new track and new cars and the opportunity for public exposure was valuable. 42