Since the teams racing at Palmerston North there has been a fair bit going on in the workshop.

73a Superstock Debut
After missing out on making its debut at palmerston north and the weather not helping matters, the new car hit the track for the first time at the Auckland Teams Nationals. Bryce sat out the first race but gave the car a hammering in the second race, unfortunately after giving a decent hit the dry sump pump moved and knocked off the bottom radiator hose. Bryce kept the car going though until the end of the race, with a fair few dents and quite a bit of steam, it was a good introduction for the chassis. For the second night the suspension setup was changed and the car handled much better, and even though it was a handful Bryce set the fastest lap in the race against Rotorua. Like most new cars it has seen some minor problems all of which have been fixed. For this coming week even more has been changed to get the balance right and once Bryce gets use to how the engine responds I'm sure we will see him setting some fast lap times.

Of course with any new car it needs to be painted, and for the first time in around 6 years the Marx Motorsport cars will have the same paint scheme. Yes we both came to a compromise on the colour, so out goes the 53a blue, green and orange, out goes the 73a dark purple and has been replaced with...............well lets wait until saturday for that surprise.

53a Superstock Catchup
After its time at Palmerston North the car was repaired, with some steel work, new tires and a replacement rocker cover. Unfortunately after all this the engine decided that it didn't want to start. It had to be a electrical problem as there was no spark coming from the plugs. Now the HPX ignition system we use only has 3 wires making it very simple, unfortunately that means the time from diagnostic to running out of fixes occurs in a very short space of time. Finally after a lot of hunting around I managed to get a replacement trigger sensor. Replacing the sensor solved the problem and the engine fired up first time. The new cooling system that Dad built is working really well, with the exception of the fan belt coming off the engine has been running very cool, not even breaking a sweat pass 100C (212F). This means you can push the engine hard all race and not having to back off. Of course the car hasn't had to run 15 laps yet, but we are still very confident that it will keep within the right limits.

The second night of the Auckland Teams Nationals was the first time for a while I got to use the car. First race and off grid 2 I got a great start and headed under the starter for the first 3 times around out in front. Unfortunately I mucked up the entrance to turn 1, got way to wide and lost traction in the marbles and was past by 3 cars. Got going again and back up to speed with not loosing to much more until turn 1 again where again I went wide and lost another place. However I held 5th until the end, but really happy with how the car had run.

The second race however was a much different story. In the first race I had used a different steering wheel which made driving more comfortable, but I had to reuse mine in the second and it was a real handful to control. The race ended abruptly when coming out of turn 2 I clipped a spun car, flicking me around. I had brain fade and instead of driving forward and turning I hooked reverse and backed off the track. When attempting a forward gear the car stalled and I flooded it with fuel. After a few unsuccessful restart attempts I had to wait until the towie gave me a push start.

Since then a replacement body has been sanded down and the car has been repainted to match the new 73a Superstock.

I've also updated the Auckland Superstock season points chart and while first place looks to be settled, its going to be tight for second and third placings. So we are now looking forward to this weekends "King of the Park" event at Waikaraka Park.

Catch ya......MadPhil