The MTAQ Racing team has returned from the second round of the Queensland championship and it was overall a very pleasing weekend with a bit of bad fortune thrown in to the mix!

We were able to achieve our best ever starting position of second in Saturday mornings all important qualifying session, and in doing so broke the existing track record! (ourselves and the pole sitter were the only 2 cars to achieve this). By achieving this we lopped a whopping 1.1 seconds off our previous best lap of the circuit. The cool conditions assisted with this, but it was a very pleasing achievement indeed and backs up all of our effort and work we have done.

We were able to back this up with a comfortable second place finish in Race 1. We didn’t quite have enough race pace to run with the winner, our good friend Cam Wilson. But we had a comfy gap back to the field and it was a straight forward race for us. This equals our best race result to date!

Race 2 started out the same way, and was looking to be a copy of race 1 – until we had a problem with a fuel pump failing at mid distance. This was a brand new fuel pump we replaced after Bathurst, so to have it fail is very frustrating. It wouldn’t pump half a tank of fuel.. and we had to limp home with a crippled car – ending the race 18th.

Race 3, starting 18th we were able to tear through to 7th, and that was about as high as we could get, with another 7th in race 4 after some of the most intense racing we have had in Excels to date.  The problem is that when you get back into the front group, the cars are so closely matched that even with a few tenths of a second of pace over your opponent, it is very hard to pass at Warwick. So we had speed but got caught in the battles, and this underscored the importance of qualifying and starting at the front.

So we ended the weekend 7th overall, but have been able to improve our championship position from 15th to 9th. This wasn’t reflective of our true speed and potential, and without that fuel issue we should have had at least 4 x 2nd placings.. and maybe challenged for the win in race 3/4. It is slightly disappointing, but I am really buoyed by the fact that we have had our best qualifying and race finish, and we also broke the track record – these things we can take away from the meeting with a great deal of satisfaction.

Another pleasing aspect is that we have been getting a great deal of quiet applause from our peers in the pit lane. It is obvious that we don’t have the resources some of the other teams do – but what we do is we put in the effort, make the absolute most of what we have, and try very hard. People see that even when we get knocked down with bad luck, we don’t sook, but rather just dig in and keeping trying and keep fronting up, keep thinking of the next tweak, and trying our best. It is humbling when your competitors openly acknowledge this and admire you for it, especially in a class that is so intense.

The winning car on the weekend  – Cam Wilson and his Zenith racing squad, is a team that has won 2 Australian Excel championships and dedicate themselves full time to the business of excel racing -competing in both the Queensland and Victorian titles this year as well as running customer cars and parts inventory. They are seasoned pros that are at the top of their game, and are constantly developing. So for our small outfit to be challenging toe to toe, it is enormously satisfying and we are punching well above our weight – by several divisions!

Our next event is one of our absolute favourites – without any racing! The RACQ Motorfest car show in late july is a cracking day out. Held at Brisbane’s Eagle farm horse racing track, last year it attracted over 10,000 people at we will be there again this year with Nathan and the innovation crew.

From there our next on-track event is only 4 weeks away – The Shannons series event at Ipswich’s Queensland Raceway. This is our biggest local event of the year, and Ipswich will be the toughest round so far. It is also our bogey track, so we will be working hard to maintain our competitive position and hammer home a good result. Being our only real local event of the year, it is good chance to come and see us in action!

1 Jul 2019