Last weekend was round 1 of this year's Tasmanian Circuit Racing Championship at Baskerville Raceway, about 30 minutes drive from Hobart. It saw the return to the track of @rjbender fresh off winning last year's championship, and my first ever race event (in any car, not just a Radical). A change of format this year away from sprints (where fastest lap over the weekend wins) to good old fashioned first-across-the-line-wins racing mixed things up a bit, and we confirmed the theory that super soft Avons won't last anywhere ten push laps 😬
After many (many) hours in the garage over the last 6+ months and a few not-so-successful test days I was as confident as I could be that SR3 #47 was race ready, and after a solid practice Friday had a great race meet, marred only by a faulty injector which meant a DNF in 1 of the 5 races over the weekend (sadly costing me a podium finish for the weekend). While @rjbender was dipping regularly into the 53 second bracket in the RSX, I was able to manage a very low 55 second lap in qualifying which I was happy with for the first real drive in anger (I'll blame the time gap on old tyres and having to shift like a real man with a clutch and snicker shifter @rjbender 🤣) and the car was absolutely brilliant fun to drive. The tuned up old gen 1 1300cc motor performed wonderfully - I was quite shocked how well it held up against the high comp 1500cc motor in the RSX.
All in all a great weekend, and this is a good opportunity to say a public thank you to @rjbender for the immeasurable support he has provided me. Rod and I had never met before, but he took a phone call from me out of the blue when I was first thinking of buying the Radical, and since then he has worked countless hours across many afternoons and evenings for nothing but thanks, teaching me everything about setting up and running the car, and providing me with tyres, parts and specialist tools and equipment to get the old girl race-ready. If it wasn't for Rod's endless support I'd still be scratching my head looking at the car in the garage, not preparing for the next round of racing. Also thanks to @rlm-dan for helping me out with some tech support on the forum as well. People like Rod and Dan are so important to the Radical community!
Sadly I don't have any video, but some nice photos worth sharing - I think the ones with Rod stalking me are a bit iconic - the two southernmost Radicals in the world racing each other at one of the southernmost race tracks in the world, with the lovely Mt Wellington/Kunanyi providing a picturesque backdrop!
Great write up Dan (@danh). I am glad to hear that your car is out on track again, it iTools fantastic!.
