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Mechanical Problems Hamper Lillie |
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Sunday, 20 August 2006 |
| Attachment 16896 |
| Mechanical problems dented the charge of Dean Lillie during Round 4 of the STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship at Phillip Island Raceway. (Ravage Racing / Dirk Klynsmith Photo) |
Mechanical problems dented the charge of Dean Lillie during Round 4 of the STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship at Phillip Island Raceway.
With Lillie having finished on the podium at Phillip Island last year, coupled with strong pace shown to date in 2006, Ravage Racing headed to their home circuit quietly confident of a good result.
Things were going to plan in qualifying, with Lillie recording a time of 1:46.3098 aboard the LPGAS1 HSV GTS during the early stages of the session. That lap, though, would ultimately be his only timed lap, when an engine problem reared its head on the very next tour.
“I had a couple of warm-up laps, then did a fast lap,” Lillie
explained. “I saw the time on the dash and was pretty pleased with it,
but also knew there was more time in it because I’d missed fourth gear
on the back-straight. On the next lap I was looking to go quicker, but
the engine expired.”
Fellow HSV GTS driver Steve Cramp loaned Lillie his spare engine for
the remainder of the weekend, allowing the Victorian to remain
on-track. In the opening race, Lillie ran as high as third place,
before being slowed by an oil surge and eventually finishing seventh.
“Steve Cramp was good enough to lend us an engine for Race 1, so we
really thank him for that,” said Lillie. “We fitted that engine and it
was going well.
“I was sitting in third place and it was all looking good, but then I
started losing oil pressure in the left handers. It dropped me down a
few positions which was a shame.”
In Race 2, Lillie was on a mission, charging through from seventh to
third by mid-race distance. He maintained that position at the
chequered flag, finishing under a second behind race-winner Peter
Floyd. A similar result was on the cards in Race 3, before a broken
power-steering rack intervened.
“Getting third place was awesome,” said Lillie. “The car was really fast, from start to finish.
“I sat behind Peter Floyd and Beric Lynton pretty easily, and with
three laps remaining I decided to have a bit of a go, but I just didn’t
have any grip in the slow corners. We got the car back to the pits and
discovered that with the warmer temperatures, the tyre pressures had
crept up a bit too high.
“We fixed that for Race 3 and put on two new tyres and it was looking
pretty good again, but then a power steering rack blew and eventually
ended our race."
On hand to lend their support to Lillie’s weekend was over 60 guests from Ravage Racing’s title sponsor LPGAS1.
“It was a sea of blue, with their guests and cars at the track,” said Lillie. “They had a ball.
“When we got third place in Race 2 they were all very excited. It
would’ve been great to get them another podium in the last race, but I
think they enjoyed it all the same.
“We’re extremely grateful for LPGAS1’s support, and pleased to be able to give them a good weekend at the track.”
Next up, Ravage Racing will head to Mallala Raceway in South Australia
for Round 5 of the STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship on
September 15-17.
Racing from Phillip Island can be seen next Sunday, August 27, on SBS’ Speedweek at Midday.
Ravage Racing thanks LPGAS1, Sprintgas, Martini Racing, A&P
Plaster, Oz Bore Directional Drilling, EFI Dynamics, Holden Motorsport,
Pirelli and Toperformance Koni for their support.
For more information about Ravage Racing, visit www.ravageracing.com.au
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 January 2007 )
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