Motorsport deep dark rabbit hole...

A few of you that know me know of my addiction to motorsports.....

This season has seen a change to the livery of our car to tart the old girl up.
We've raced the car in the South Island Endurance Series for the last 6yrs or so.
This year we put in a big effort and came away with the trophies.
1st in Class 5 (0-2000cc)
1st 4 cylinder car
1st 2L car
2nd in Am/Am cup
8th overall.

We were the first home built car in a field of factory built race cars worth in excess of 500k each. So i think we did ok for a bunch of dudes doing it for the fun of it.
Our season budget was probably the same as some of the other teams tyre budget for 1 race alone!

The season wasn't without dramas on track and off.
We lost a very close friend and fellow competitor to a road accident that wasn't his fault. That really gave us a shakeup and a big realization that shit happens and we need to live for now while we can. Enjoy life and keep those friends and family close to us!

On track we had handling and brake issues but worked our way through them between rounds. Tyre supply had been a major impact on our season and we only managed to have enough after begging borrowing and stealing from other teams.


Tv3 has coverage on this Sunday, of the NZ Champs we competed in a couple weeks ago down at Cromwells Highlands circuit. You might even see some absolute twat getting interviewed....😆

I blame the commentators curse for our outcome as the LF wheel tried to exit stage left and put us out of the NZ Champs.


Few pics of the mistress my mrs hates..

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Last pic is the old livery we ran for last few years.

Well done mate! Much worse things to spend ya hard earned coin on.

Yep between cars and shooting, they keep me poor for sure

Top effort there mate


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If you like fishing, check out the Reel Action Fishing Podcast presented by Aussie, Michael Guest. He was a rally car champion. If you didn't know that already, he'll remind you every 5 bloody minutes! He talks as much about car racing as fishing.

Epic result mate. Ive been a petrol head since before I had my DL, and I got that the day I turned 15. I've had my crack at motorsport decades ago now and certainly know the addiction and how expensive it can be, and what can be achieved without the massive budgets many have.

Bloody great effort man. Very well done.

Good old Toyota eh, does it run forced induction of any kind?

Its a pretty much stock 3sge motor. We just put itbs and a link ecu on it.
Just under 200hp at the wheels.
For a car that weighs 1251kg dry it doesn't go too bad. She's been on a big diet as well.
Got a new fibreglass front end to go on thats wider for the 18" wheels we need to go to as well.
I've also changed diff ratio to a 4.8 so that we can use 6th gear. Its technically supposed to be on rev limit (7800rpm) at the end of the front straight at Ruapuna in 6th. But its not quite there.
We're adding a whuhan whistle soon. That'll hopefully give us another 100-150hp.
Thatll put us into a different class though and we'll be competing against the likes of the TCR cars in Class 4. We need to find 10s a lap to be competitive ��

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Originally Posted by cambo

Its a pretty much stock 3sge motor. We just put itbs and a link ecu on it.
Just under 200hp at the wheels.
For a car that weighs 1251kg dry it doesn't go too bad. She's been on a big diet as well.
Got a new fibreglass front end to go on thats wider for the 18" wheels we need to go to as well.
I've also changed diff ratio to a 4.8 so that we can use 6th gear. Its technically supposed to be on rev limit (7800rpm) at the end of the front straight at Ruapuna in 6th. But its not quite there.
We're adding a whuhan whistle soon. That'll hopefully give us another 100-150hp.
Thatll put us into a different class though and we'll be competing against the likes of the TCR cars in Class 4. We need to find 10s a lap to be competitive ��

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Now it's time to learn the Dipper. My favorite place to pass. Oh wait, too many wheels..... :P

Well done Cambo,iv watched a few of those races,but the camera is nearlly always on the big boys 500k cars.Il keep a watch out for your little beast on Sunday.Those bloody mercs got a nice sound and can fly ah.

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Originally Posted by 257weatherby

Now it's time to learn the Dipper. My favorite place to pass. Oh wait, too many wheels..... :P

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Dipper is 1 of my favorite parts of Puna.
Don't know why they don't use it more often.
Think the gt3s are scared of it lol

Had a guest stay at my BnB about a yr ago.His mercedes parked out on the street,i asked what the BT name stands for,Byturbo he said,i just spend 10k up in Auckland on it.New exhaust and got it dina? tuned.He showed me the print out,wtf 635hp,895 newton meters of torque.He said heres the keys,take it for a drive.We went out to the car,he started it up,that V8 sound made my eyes water.what a beast of a car.His biggist mistake was he didnt know iv watched Bathurst for the last 50yrs.I quietly drove down the street,my son n law was out side washing his VW,hope in we going for a quick drive.Got on to the canel road and did a couple of quick runs up to about 130-140ks,this merc could fly,just thro you in the seat.I thort i better get this car back home.Man could kill himself in it or some one else,a car not made for wet roads and you had to respect its power.Tyers are not cheap either.

Just seen your car cambo,front left tyer flat or ding?great racing.Gary Derrick use to have the house beside me yrs ago.Expensive cars there allright.

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Originally Posted by Trout

Just seen your car cambo,front left tyer flat or ding?great racing.Gary Derrick use to have the house beside me yrs ago.Expensive cars there allright.

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Driver hit the ripple strip bit hard leading onto the bridge. The lower balljoint bolts shared off and the wheel tried to exit stage left. He had to do a complete lap with that wheel hanging out the side to get back to the pits.
Was too much damage for us to get back out on track unfortunately.

At least yr car cheaper to repair than the supercars.

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Originally Posted by Trout

At least yr car cheaper to repair than the supercars.

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Thankfully the car still has most of the factory components so we can go to a pick-a-part and get bits. Still hurts the piggy bank when shit goes wrong.
Whole thing with endurance racing is to come first, first you must finish. Durability and reliability is everything.
So glad we don't have to order specialty parts out of Europe thatll cost the earth like all the GT3s.

The old man's done it this year in a slower than most porsche. I went to the levels race and helped out. Luckily bot much to go wrong with the factory porsche. When a $700k merc takes out a Honda crv down the front straight it certainly puts things back into perspective of how much money is flying around

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Originally Posted by PerazziSC3

The old man's done it this year in a slower than most porsche. I went to the levels race and helped out. Luckily bot much to go wrong with the factory porsche. When a $700k merc takes out a Honda crv down the front straight it certainly puts things back into perspective of how much money is flying around

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Same merc hit us twice at puna.
Lucky we were able to finish. Surprised the tyre stayed inflated the wheel was that buggered.
Speed difference is quite huge on the straights but we found most of those GT3s held us up in the infield, or couldn't go round the corners any faster.
They just got there and pulled away 10x quicker.

Have just seen the bill sent to 1 of the teams that was running 2 Porsches in the endurance series....not including the damage repairs... 625k

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Originally Posted by cambo

Have just seen the bill sent to 1 of the teams that was running 2 Porsches in the endurance series....not including the damage repairs... 625k

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Ouch! I was spending 40 a year without the basic bike/s cost and was always stretched, always chasing for a little more sponsorship - how the fuck do the car guys find that kind of dough?!! (and in a country with 3rd world dental care.....) racing is a nasty evil addiction that makes one a slave to finding that next 10th of a second, and you get to discover the crazy that comes out when the red mist come down.......