The Speads Debut
The CLIPSAL 400 race meeting was championed by Greg Steer at West Race Cars to exhibit those marques eligible for the Sports Racer Series including WEST, MINETTI, RADICAL, RALT, ADR and now SPEADS. The Sports Racer Series includes traditional sports cars complying with CAMS Group 2C regulations as well motorcycle engined vehicles log booked as Category 6 but with general compliance to Group 2C Supersports regulations. The most significant difference (other than for monoposto seating) is that floor profiles are limited to those specified as per Group 2C, to limit tunnel downforce and as a result cornering and closing speeds. Minimum race weights apply to all vehicles with additional weight for seeded drivers. RPM limits apply to all engines and success ballast will be used to harmonise performance at each round; all with a view to close racing. Accordingly, we needed to add around 50 Kg to the SPEADS and construct a new rear floor to comply.
We arrived into Adelaide not knowing what to expect. Getting the car to the track had required a herculean effort and we were all tired before we began. We needed to pour a foam seat for Neil and this wasn’t completed until the very early hours of the morning; some 3 hours sleep before practice and qualifying. Neil got the car out for practice and whilst the car was fast, he didn’t record a completed lap time because of problems with the reversing and Flatshifter systems. These problems were subsequently rectified for qualifying but a tyre pressure oversight saw Neil struggling for grip. He was lucky to qualify 7th out of 15 cars being 3 1/2 seconds off the pace.
The first 7 lap race was somewhat humbling as the leading West WR1000 and Chiron LMP5 sped off in the lead. Neil made a blinding start passing many cars off the line eventually settling into 4th position behind the new West WX10. Our lot improved when the West dropped its oil and retired. The Speads humbly finished third on its first outing still being troubled by gear shifting and now handling problems! Neil is a hard task master and acts like a human data logging system when it comes to setting up a car. His feedback from race 1 was astounding in the richness of its detail and even more so when correlated against what our video and onboard data was telling us. Many more hours were spent on fine tuning the car for the second race.
Neil starting from position 3 got a blinder of a start in Race 2. He seemed to have the pace to stay in touch with the leaders until gear shifting woes slowed progress. The car settled into a moderately fast rhythm being hotly pursued by another West WR1000 driven by Mark Laucke. This high speed dicing ended in “Channel 10’s Play of the Day” when the West contacted the Speads, spearing it off a high speed section of the track. The Speads was no longer a virgin and limped home with broken wing supports and rear body work still finishing a creditable 8th after some brilliant driving by Neil.
The battle damaged Speads started race 3 from position 8. Neil is nothing, if not consistent and passed three cars off the line before the first corner. His trail braking efforts into turn 1 saw 2 mores cars passed and he was again in position 3. The car seemed to have the pace to stay with and even catch the leaders until gear shifting problems again reared their head. The car again finished third in the race being equal third outright for the weekend.
Footnote: It seems that the SPEADS develops very high underbody temperatures that affect the Flatshifter solenoid, causing intermittent shifting from 4-5 with no shifting from 5-6. Neil was losing 2 seconds a lap having to coast some of the high speed sections of the track; being very frustrating for driver and car owner. This will be rectified for the next race with manual shift assisted by smart Flatshifter electronics for ignition cut and throttle blipping until we can better cool the solenoid!
