UK Racing Review #3 - Final Chapter

The whirl-wind overseas experience for Scott and the Joblin Motorsport team has come to an end. The last week of the trip was pretty full-on, with four race meetings in 7 days. Although Scott and the NZ52 'Red Arrow' showed a lot of promise on the tarmac tracks at Northampton and Birmingham, the chance to tear it up on the shale was what the team had been looking forward to the most.

The first opportunity came at Manchester's Belle Vue Stadium on Bank-Holiday Monday. The team had worked furiously the day before to convert the car back to the shale setup, and arrived in Manchester with high hopes of succeeding. Also attending the meeting was NZ58 Peter Bengston in the 338 Chris Brocksopp car. The meeting got underway in the worst possible fashion for Scott. After making a great start in the opening heat, he was caught up in a turn 1 multi-car pile up, in which he sustained heavy damage to the left front axel and torsion bar. The team did a fantastic job to repair the damage, and get the 'Red Arrow' back out for Heat 2. It didn't get much better for Scott as he copped a puncture to the RF tyre while making a pass on the opening few laps. The NZ52 car managed to survive the Final and finish back in 11th place, although a few late spins cost Scott valuable places. Utterly the best race of the night was saved for last. Scott started the Grand National from near the front of the pack, and after making a few quick passes, found himself leading for the first time. It didn't last long however, as he was shoved wide into the turn 3 wire ropes, dropping to the back of the pack. After freeing himself, the NZ52 car re-entered the field behind leader 515 Frankie Wainman Jnr. The 'Red Arrow' finally showed what it was capable of, hounding the rear bumper of 515 for the remainder of the race. Scott and the team left Belle Vue Stadium with a quiet confidence heading into Saturday nights main event.

The next meeting on the schedule was the 'Overseas' Drivers Championship, held at Coventry Stadium on the Friday night before the World Final. Although there was little on the line, it was an excellent opportunity for the Scott and the NZ52 car to rack up some more laps around the Coventry oval. Scott was the only non-Dutch competitor, and started the first two heats near the front of the grid. The NZ52 car made light work of its Dutch opposition in both races, steaming to the front in the opening few laps. The NZ-built Lintern car looked right at home on the smooth shale surface, disposing of lapped traffic with ease. With two wins from two starts, things were finally going well for Scott and the team. After a few 'complaints' from the Dutch drivers about Scott starting from near the front of the grid, the NZ52 car started the Final from near the rear of the pack. The 'Red Arrow' blasted through the field again, and was shortly challenging for a top five position. Scott chased the leaders hard, but in the end ran out of laps, and eventually had to settle for 2nd place in the Final. With the World Final qualifying taking place the following day, it was decided that Scott would only race a handful of laps in the Grand National so he could scrub in a new set of Goodyear tyres. Again, the 'Red Arrow' was on the pace, picking off a number of cars as the laps counted down. Just as Scott was about to call it quits and pull into the centre, the cars driveshaft exploded. It was a blessing in disguise for Scott and the team. If he had decided not to run the Grand National, the driveshaft could very well have broken during qualifying, or possibly even the World Final itself.

The team worked flat out on Saturday morning repairing the driveline, and arrived at Coventry Stadium with plenty of time to spare. However, things took a turn for the worse when the car returned from scrutineering. Scott informed the crew of a serious vibration coming from the gearbox. With time running out before the overseas qualify began, a split decision was made to remove the gearbox and replace it with a spare, which was kindly supplied by Murray Harrison. After removing the damaged gearbox, it was discovered that the broken driveshaft had bent the output shaft, and subsequently caused the internal bearings to fail. The team worked frantically to make the necessary changes, however the 1st round of qualifying had already began. The track was an absolute disgrace, with a every car struggling to provide a consistent lap in the wet, muddy conditions. The NZ52 finally made it on track for the 2nd and final round of qualifying. The track was still extremely wet, and Scott struggled for traction in his run. The poor lap time left the 'Red Arrow' languishing towards the pack row of the grid. As the track dried out, the lap times from the other overseas competitors got faster and faster, up to 3 seconds in fact. Scott and a number of other drivers felt robbed of the opportunity to lay down a time on the drying track, so put forward their desire to have another round of qualifying. After a lot of discussion with the Coventry Stadium officials, they finally cracked, and allowed each driver to put forward one more qualifying time. Although the track was still wet, Scott was able to put forward a much faster lap time than previous, and finished 6th fastest overall, which put him on the outside of row 9. Funnily enough, the five cars in front of him all layed down their qualifying lap towards the end of the session when the track had dried off. The disappointment of not snatching the row 3 start was evident, but Scott and the team still felt confident that achieving a podium finish was possible.

After a few non-qualifier races, and a pre-race build up, the scene was set for the 2010 Brisca F1 Stockcar World Final. Starting on the outside row in the middle of a 30 car field was always going to be a recipe for disaster. There was no give or take in the 1st corner, which resulted in a multi car pile up. The NZ52 car was caught in the middle of the skirmish, but fortunately didn't sustain any damage. The race was red flagged to untangle a number of cars, and after a comprehensive break in proceedings, was completely restarted. Scott made immense the 2nd time round, pushing his way through the field, narrowly avoiding a number of spinning cars. After just a few laps, the NZ52 'Red Arrow' had blasted through the pack and was sitting in 4th place. Scott had found some serious pace and soon hauled in and passed 515 Frankie Wainman Jnr with ease. However 515 Wainman Jnr was't going to in without a fight, and pushed Scott wide heading into turn 1. This allowed veteran 53 John Lund to sneak past also. Scott returned the favour the very next corner and slotted back into 4th place behind Wainman Jnr. The chances of a podium finish were all but lossed soon after when the NZ52 car was spun by 53 Lund exiting turn 2. Scott rejoined the field just inside the top 10 before the race went under yellows to retrieve a wall stricken car. The 'Red Arrow' was soon on the move again once to the green flag was dropped. It was all in vein however, as Scott was sent spinning to the in-feild by Dutch driver H25 Berry Paarendkooper. The NZ52 car rejoined the pack right in front of leader 1 Andy Smith. The crowd erupted when Smith half spun Scott, which allowed H217 Ron Kroonder to briefly take the lead. Scott continued to circulate at a good pace, and even passed the then 2nd placed Kroonder. Luck just wasn't on the Kiwis side however, and 1 Andy Smith cleared out to win his 3rd title in a row. The night didn't get much better for the Joblin Motorsport crew, as Scott was forced to retire in the Consolation race, and was dropped to the rear of the field in the Grand National after previously sitting in 3rd place. Although they didn't quite get the desired result, the team were pleased with the pace the NZ52 car showed during the World Final. Had things gone Scott's way, he could very well have been in for a podium finish.

 

NZ52 in-car footage - 2010 F1 Stockcar World Final

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me0vVGJQDQ4

2010 F1 Stockcar World Final

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3mcpn9s2L0

The final meeting of the tour was the World Masters event held at Northampton International Raceway. The team arrived at the track a little late, and quickly made the necessary setup changes from shale to tarmac, although Scott still missed the 1st heat. The NZ52 car started the Consolation from near the front of the grid, and held a top 5 position for most of the race, before slipping back to 7th. The top 12 finish was enough to secure him a starting spot in the World Masters Final that followed shortly after. Scott held his own for the opening few laps, but in the end, the pace became to much to handle, and he slowly started dropping further and further back through the pack. It is obvious to see why all the front runners have a whole separate car primarily built for tarmac racing, as the setup has to be pretty much spot-on for you to be on the pace. Scott really struggled to pull the Lintern-built shale car up heading into the corners, which allowed other cars to simply tap him off the end with ease. The 'Red Arrow' managed to finish, but a lap down in 18th place. The final race of the tour came to an abrupt end in the very 1st corner, when Scott was the victim of a 6-car freight train. After being spun, he was collected in the RR wheel, which badly bent the rim and caused him to retire.

NZ52 Race Results - Belle Vue Stadium

Heat 1 - DNF
Heat 2 - DNF
Final - 11th
Grand National - 8th

NZ52 Race Results - Coventry Motorspeedway - Overseas F1 Championship

Heat 1 - 1st
Heat 2 - 1st
Final - 2nd
Grand National - DNF

NZ52 Race Results - Coventry Motorspeedway - World Final Night

Overseas Qualifying - 6th Fastest
World Final - 13th
Consolation - DNF
Grand National - 12th

NZ52 Race Results - Northampton International Raceway - World Masters

Consolation - 7th
World Masters - 18th
Grand National - DNF

Scott and the Joblin Motorsport team were very pleased with the progress they made throughout the whole U.K tour. Although the results didn't quite reflect how well Scott and the 'Red Arrow' went, there were a lot of positive signs for the future that came out of this experience.

There are a number of people and sponsors Scott and the Joblin Motorsport team would personally like to thank for all of their help and support during the 2010 U.K campaign. Without the help and support of the following people and companies ,we would not have been able to partake in such a huge undertaking.

 

Team Sponsors

South Staffs Freight Services Ltd
Murray Phillips Earthmoving Ltd
Lintern Engineering Ltd
Mick Harris Plant Hire / Tom Harris Motorsport
Finntec Commericials - The Finniken Family
Hotter Engineering
Nickel Sandblasting
Guthrie Bowron Taranaki
Steelplus/Wireplus Taranaki
Hydraulink Mobile Services
Zodiac Signs
Suspension Developments
Shane Reid Auto Electrical
Spray It Ltd
Manawatu Stockcar Club/Palmerston North Speedway
Keith Stewart Dyno
Norlings Electric Motors and Pumps
Stockcar Magazine UK
Bazstox Race Photography
B&K Services

 

 

 

A very special thanks must go to the Whorton-Eales Family for all of their help and support during the NZ52 U.K campaign. Without their generous contribution, this memorable experience would not have been possible. Also many thanks to all of the crew, Kiwis and Britsh, who put in countless hours of their own time to help Scott and the 'Red Arrow' make such an impact on the Brisca F1 Stockcar scene.