Experiments the Word at TVR.

It was all about trying different things for TVR at last Saturdays meeting at the Perth Motorplex.

Craig Vosbergen had it easy……well compared to his dad and team mate Bert he did anyway. Both drivers had expressed the desire to try things, experiment with what they know, but in two very different directions.

Craig is getting ready for the biggest race for the Late Models at the Motorplex when the track hosts the Australian Late Model Nationals, so with a number of the front runners away for the weekend competing in New South Wales at Parramatta it looked like the perfect time to try out some ideas on the handling of the Worldwide Construction Machinery/Racin Tyres & Accessories #8 Rocket. Bert went down another path.

He was experimenting too, but this is a project that started developing nearly 20 years ago, his Pantera Super Sedan. Yes it’s changed but the principals are still the same.

Gone is the big thumping V8 from this rear engined beast, and in its place sits a high horsepower quad cam, turbo and supercharged V6. And as can be expected the gremlins need to be worked out.

Plus he raced his Worldwide Construction Machinery/Valvoline #4 Late Model as well!!!!

It made it tough for the fittest 61 year old in sedan racing, and it affected his results from the weekend. In all Super Sedan races the veteran racer finished on the infield, but it was expected with the new motor still in the developmental stage. To top it off the Late Model didn’t fare much better, as damage from contact with other cars heeded his progress, which at time had him heading towards some good results.

“It was always going to be hard, and I wont run two cars again its too hard a deal” he commented after the night. “The little one has a miss in it, you can hear it and everyone says it chucks flames out all the time and the Late Model went from good to worse. I was up as high as third in the first two races, and everything went to ‘poo’. I hit a car in the first one, lost a coil spring in the second and hit the wet patch that my son hit as well in the final and both of us hit the wall.”

Ah yes that wet line on the track, as Bert said Craig hit that to and was not happy about it. After a pleasing run in the second race where he moved through the field to be closing on second as the checkered flag fell, it all ended with numerous damaged panels after a slippery surface in the final caused the #8 machine to slide into the wall.

“If you ask the gentlemen at the start finish line what I said to him before the start of the race ‘Why the hell have you wet the track on the top half and not let us roll it down this is what’s gonna happen’…….and it did (in regards to the damage he and many others received during the event)” He said after the final outing for the Late Models. “I’m a bit bemused by it all at the moment. Its disappointing only being able to race on half the track and not the top which showed to be the place to be in the Sprintcar final”.

Apart from the final he was happy with the cars handling earlier in the evening. “It worked well and I’m sure we would have been fast in the last one too. But we found out some more about this car and look forward to using that info when we race again in a few weeks time”.
           
P.S. Get excited as it won’t be long - Drown will be in Town……