What a change in weather since the last round held here in May. It was cool and cloudy, but the sun shone at times on the Friday Practice day. And then the sun shone for the rest of the weekend despite overnight rain on Friday and Saturday nights. The Intrepid Three of the last Phillip Island Practice Day were reduced to the Terrific Two (appelation controlle), being Neil Anderson in his magnificent and pristine Estoril Blue Racer, and your faithful Scribe in his Ruby Red and genteelly battered E30. Said Scribe was anxious to see if his car would now go better since replacing the left front wheel bearing, which was presumably causing the troublesome left front wheel lockup that had been plaguing him over the last two race meetings. And it was not just the owner having trouble, as Co-driver Ando had experienced self same lock-up BIG time at the Winton back straight in the Little Red Rocket during the recent Dutton Rally. So the resulting almost square tyre was replaced with a spare, and out to play we went.

First Practice session in the morning saw Ando out in Group Five, honing his skills, but with one eye on all those fancy new gauges he had fitted: water temperature, oil temperature, oil pressure and even an oil pressure warning light. Rumour has it that weight has increased due to the need for an extra battery to run all those electricals! Ando was HOT coming off his big win at Calder a couple of weekends back. The sessions were not officially timed, but the on-board lap-timer showed Ando was lapping in 2:02 and 2:01s, before finally breaking under 2:01. This led him to exclaim that 2 minutes would be cracked this weekend. Your Scribe was likewise chuffed to record similar times, including a 2:00.7. And no more brake lock-up! All up we just got four Practice sessions in, which was a little poor, value-for-money wise. But at least we got to tune our tyres and suspension settings, and pick out and refine our racing lines (no, not the ones about how we would have won the race but the brakes failed/clutch broke/crank-angle sensor went!).

At the end of the day we locked our cars in the garage, and cruised back to our digs in style in Ando’s comfy Landcruiser. Later that evening we were joined by Geoff Bowles with pit crew nephew Stephen, then David Knight and coach Bruce, for dinner at a local eatery, before joining for coffee Phillip Showers, Julie and offspring in their apartment. It bucketed down with rain overnight, but cleared by the morning to a cool but sunny day.

Saturday saw the arrival of Andrew Fuller, and Michael Stillwell in David (Stilly the Kid) Stillwell’s silver E30 accompanied by Race Mechanic Brendan. Graeme Bell appeared later, running his white Racecar and later recording some great times. The E30 Racers all shared adjacent garages and car parks, so there was much opportunity for ribbing, misinformation and general rhubarbing. Ando’s Jenny had provided a table, stools, a kettle, biscuits, coffee, tea and even Milo! We set it up in the garage - Welcome to Café Workshop. Documentation and Scrutineering over, it was time for Practice/Qualifying. Flying Phil qualified fastest (1:58.43), a whisker in front of Fearless Fuller, followed by Ando (1:59.something), your Scribe (2:00.80), Bowlesy, Sleepy (slow due to driving from the back of the car courtesy of a loose front seat) and finally Michael Stillwell in the cleanest car at the track (was that five or six times a day he washed it?).

Race One in the afternoon was short (five laps only), with Flying Phil, Fearless and Ando ahead in the middle of the grid, followed by your Scribe directly in front of Bowlesy and Sleepy, and then Gentleman Mike. Your Scribe, having mucked up several starts in the past, was determined to get it right this time. Preflight routine, warmup all done. In gear on grid. Check. Handbrake off. Check. Revs up on appearance of 30-second board. Check. Watching red lights. Check. Go! Prompt start, so why is everybody passing? Uh oh, started in THIRD gear! I keep telling everyone that my gearlever is too loose. Wave Bowlesy and Sleepy goodbye as they roar past. Get sprayed by stones from Commodore overtaking off the track in the gravel – is that legal? Anyhooo, on Turn Two several cars including mine get to pass Bowlesy who has been pushed wide and spins elegantly around, capturing on film an erratically driven Suzuki Swift that un-Coully whacks (? deliberately) into the adjacent yellow RX4 of Rolf Mamers. Desperately trying to keep Fearless in sight, and being pressured relentlessly by Phil, your Scribe overdoes it at Turn 12 and shows Phil how to do PROPER car ballet but IN THE DRY. Despite reliving a similar spin at the same spot in the M3 some years earlier, Your Scribe, undeterred after a flat-spotting four wheel lockup, sets out in pursuit of the overtakers, bumping around on four square tyres. After a great little dice with the RX4 and the Toyota Corolla of Matt Holzmann, your Scribe comes out ahead and then catches and overtakes Fearless just after Southern Loop (OK, OK so he broke a rocker, but I still passed him). Up ahead Ando and Flying Phil are having a Great Dice, Phil right up Ando’s exhaust when, on the last lap, Ando loses it BIG time over Lukey Heights and ends up in the newly installed Kitty Litter, a few metres from the wall (a heartfelt thank you, Mr Lindsay Fox!). Showers powers to the finish line followed by Sleepy behind an RX7, then your Scribe, Bowlesy and then Meandering Mike ahead of six DNFs, including Ando and Fearless.

Back in the pits, it is re-weight the wheels time for the Red Rocket and Bowlesy’s car. Meanwhile, Ando is excavating several square metres of soil and Kitty Litter from the underside of his Blue Bullet, revising his former love of Lukey Heights. Much adjusting and tinkering ensues in the aftermath, while Michael takes off another few microns of paint while yet again cleaning his car. Fearless leaves after the offending broken rocker is found and repair is abandoned, disappointed that he has to compete in another race meeting to wrap up the E30 Championship which he leads by a fair margin. We all retire to our respective digs, most of us piling into Ando’s Landcruiser for the trip back to Cowes. Jenny, Brooke and Hayley join Ando for the night, and later we all meet up at Phil’s for take-away pizzas and a review of the videos of the race.

Sunday dawns cold but sunny, and we all meet up at the track to prepare for another day’s racing. The Perfectionist seems a little disappointed that his car is going so well that he doesn’t have to do anything to it (like change the engine between races or something). Race 2 is a six lapper, Phil is on Grid 10, Sleepy on 12, your Scribe on 13, Bowlesy on 14, Michael on 17 and Ando at the back courtesy of the DNF. Your Scribe gets a great start, driving round a stalled Mazda RX7 but drops back several spots due to another gear misselection (bloody sloppy gearlever!). Ando works his way up from the back of the field and I see him approaching around Southern Loop, as I am being harassed by the Un-Coull Suzuki Swift who pulls up on the inside but then proceeds to deliberately run me off the track onto the gravel. Fortunately I recover but have had to brake and Ando goes through in hot pursuit of said offender. Ando draws up on the inside at Siberia, clearly the faster car, and Mr Un-Coull swerves into him, causing Ando to brake suddenly to avoid a collision. Ando is furious, shaking his fist at the Demolition Derby tactics of the offender, flying after him past Hayshed and up onto Lukey Heights, where The Great Offender goes off at high speed, crashing into the barrier despite the sand trap. Ando, mesmerised by the unfolding events, hits the grass and slides sideways down towards MG corner, as I fly past and onto the finish line, Ando recovering quickly enough to catch up to Meandering Mike to come in second last.  Of the E30 Racing Group, Sleepy comes first at overall 11^th position, followed by Phil, Bowlesy, the Red Rocket, the Blue Bullet and the Stillwell Silver Slider. After lunch and a long wait, we are ready to go racing again.

Race 3 was an 8 lapper, with Sleepy on Grid 11, Phil on 12, Geoff on 13, your Scribe on 14, Ando on 17 and Michael on 18. This was a really great race with very close and even competition between Bowlesy, Ando and Yours Truly, Sleepy having pulled away out front and Phil dropping back in the field after an “off”. Bowlesy led initially, defending his lines brilliantly and slowing up my Red Rocket through the corners, so that Ando was able to catch up and eventually both overtook me after yet another missed gear between turn 11 and 12. Then Bowlesy made an error and Ando went through followed closely by the Red Rocket. Thereafter followed some very close racing and bumper to bumper action, the Red Rocket sitting centimetres from the tail of the Blue Bullet and getting a great tow down the straight, despite some frantic weaving from Ando. Then, on the last lap, Ando overshot Honda corner and I led Bowlesy past and just managed to hold him off to the finish line despite some brilliant and desperate lunges, followed by Phil and Ando, with Michael not finishing.

What a great weekend! No crashes, no injuries, good weather, a great and much safer track, close competition and wonderful camaraderie. Cannot wait for the next race meeting.

Your Scribe,
The Spin Doctor