Tobia Kipper Racing ventured north from the teams home base in Melbourne Victoria, to the open sweeping track of Eastern Creek, some 40mins west of Sydney. Having just contested the wild and wet Winton round and having come away with a bag of points, all was looking good for Kipper with the forecast showing the high chance of rain once again! With racing being held for the first time over the Queens Birthday long weekend, and racing scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
Kipper and team arrived at the track on the Friday to complete his usual pre-race preparation, which this time included some wet running at MAKO TRAC prior to flying south for the race meeting. Saturday basically was a non event, with the track covered in many rivers, and the rain continuously adding more water to the already saturated track surroundings. It was decided early on that there would be no track running until at least lunchtime, which ended any hope of the Formula Fords getting track time, so it was left to plan for the rest of Sunday and Monday!
Practice 1, was a 10 minute session held early on Sunday morning, with
the only use to Kipper of a few laps to bed brakes, and make sure the
car was ready for Q1 only a few hours later…
Qualifying 1, also a reduced session, now 15 minutes, meant that
getting a clean lap in the vital window that is the green tyre life of
the AVON control tyre was going to prove a challenge for all. With such
a limited amount of track time, judging the grip level without spearing
off on the “ice-like” grass was always going to be hard. “I just never
got it all together in the early laps when the tyre was at its peak, we
just have to now make the car better over a race distance, and try to
make up some grid slots” said Kipper after finishing the short Q1
session 14th.
Race 1, was looking like it could be difficult for Kipper, with a
suspect clutch and brake pedal, two of the problems that the team
worked on in the few hours that they had from Q1. With the brake
problem found to be a sticky master cylinder, and fixed quickly, it was
onto the clutch issue. However it was soon deemed that to fix the
problem it would require more time than was available. It was decided
that Kipper would have to attempt to race without the clutch for race
1. Usually this would be a problem, however Tobia doesn’t use the
clutch for either up or down shifts, so the only time it would be
needed would be the start, which as we all know in such short races to
get away cleanly is vital. “Basically the team and I ran through what
needed to be done to get the car off the line without the clutch, and
it worked a charm! Passing two cars before turn 1” said a happy Kipper
who raced onto a fighting 8th. “We also made some big steps with the
car, an! d it showed in my race pace” added Kipper.
Race 2, with clutch fixed overnight, and now starting from the 4th row
of the grid, Kipper made another good start, this time with the aid of
the clutch, and raced with the leading group of 4 or 5 cars. Ashley
Walsh running 1st had cleared out to what would be a race winning lead
when there was a coming together of 3 cars, with Percat, Lowe, and
Linblom all crashing at the high speed turn 1. “It was pretty willing
between those guys, and having seen the previous laps from the box seat
it was only a matter of time before someone came together” said Kipper,
avoiding the crash and bringing his 011b home in his best result for
the year 5th. “It was great to race with Moffat and the boys in the
dying laps, and a boost for our overall speed being able to hold him
out and pull a small gap also”.
Race 3, starting 5th, Kipper drove a smart race knowing that he was in
the running for another good haul of points, however tyre wear was
starting to play a part, and Kipper was suffering from a lack of rear
grip. Holding onto 6th was the aim with a hard charging Grant Doulman
battling it out with Kipper in the final laps. “It was a great dice
with Grant, he got me around the back of the circuit but I worked him
over out of turn 12, and pulled out of the draft to pass only to have
him move defensively to the inside however I then just held my line and
drove around him on the outside of turn 1 which was pretty special!”
said a delighted Kipper, gaining more points and speed with every event
he contests.
Kipper and team now look forward to racing at what could be called a
home round for TKRacing! His home state of Queensland, with the
Queensland Raceway holding round 5 over the weekend of the 20th-22nd
July.
Stay tuned to Network 7 for all the latest Formula Ford action, with
broadcast times to be announced via the Formula Ford website.
http://www.tobiakipper.com
http://www.borland.netvelocity.com.au
http://www.formulaford.com.au
http://www.makotrac.com
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