David’s Diary – The Racing Team heads to the 2018 Australian Hyundai Championships
The 2018 Australian Hyundai Championships is almost here, with the event this weekend (Nov 18/19) at Wakefield Park in Goulburn NSW.
It is the World Championship of Hyundai Racing, our Grand Final with over 60 competitors coming from all over Australia to test themselves against the best in the land, and the MTAQ Racing Team will be amongst those trying to win the crown.
Our preparation for this event has been a little fraught, with the car developing an electrial problem during testing, which proved to be very hard to track and pinpoint. I am happy to say that thanks to the fantastic MTAI team, we have overcome it and the car ran well in it’s final test session last Saturday, but it has set us back a little in getting ready for the big dance this weekend. That is ok though, a few little dramas is a part of what we do.
A special thank you to Jeff, who has spent many hours back at the Institute with us at night working on the car to get it right for this weekend… Thank you Jeff – MTAQ Racing Team member of the month for November!!
Whilst we didn’t get to test everything we wanted to at our track test last Saturday, we have been able to improve the car again since the last race meeting so I am comfortable that the car will be competitive. Each time we go to the track, we improve and we are at the point now whereby I think we can hold our own. Saturday’s test was the best the car has felt, and I think we have really turned a corner (pardon pun).
We have caught up an enormous amount of ground on the leading teams since we debuted in May, but this event is a big step for us. The competition will be very intense, and is by far the biggest challenge the team has faced in it’s short history.
In terms of the event, we have to navigate our way through 2 Qualifying sessions, 4 heat races, and a repecharge heat to get to the Grand Final race. The final will be 23 laps of the Wakefield Park circuit, over 2.5 times our normal state championship distance. Winner takes all! It is an endurance race by Hyundai standards, so it won’t be a flat out charge which could play into our hands somewhat.
The key to winning will be making the front tyres and brakes last. With the circuit being tough on the tyres, suspension set-up and driving the car with finesse will be vital. We are taking a bit of a different approach to suspension set-up than the majority of the field, and this direction worked quite well for us last time out. Our car has always looked after it’s tyres well, and I think Wakefield park will suit it so I am quietly confident we will have a bit of an ace up our sleeve.
Our strategy for the Grand Final will be to not get caught up in dogfights early on, and just let the race unfold, baby the car along and keep the leaders in range in the early stages. I expect the front guys to go crazy early on, so we will just tuck ourselves in behind and enjoy the show. Then if all goes to plan, we will start to make our move about half distance once the edge has been sapped out of the front runners and hopefully pinch a few spots in the back half of the race.
After the Melbourne cup and Spring horse racing carnival, I suppose in horse racing terms – we hope to be “hitting the line strongly” after getting the sit on the rail. The well ridden nag that comes from the pack at the turn to mug the leaders on the line. Hopefully that nag is black, orange and yellow!
I am not going to boldly declare that plan will work – but I think we can say a job well done will be to finish in the top 10. Given the level of competition, and our place in the learning curve, I think this would be an excellent weekends work. The mindset is to win, and we are preparing to challenge to achieve that – but need to be mindful that our main opposition have been racing these cars for 4-5 years, and have well developed machines and a lot of experience. But we will have a very good go at it!
There will be a live stream of all the races over the weekend at http://www.thenationals.com.au/live/
