There is going to be a lot happening in Formula Vee between now and the end of the year, with two more State rounds, two more Clemenger rounds, a AASA round, the Nationals and the V8 round. With all this going on, a number of you will be financially and/or time stretched, but I cannot impress on you highly enough the importance of maintenance between meetings.
Maintenance should not be limited to mechanical checks, but also must include visual checks, i.e. presentation of your car. I see a number of cars at the meetings with huge oil leaks or body panels that do not fit properly or are held on with race tape or the bottom of the nose cone has been torn off and is held on with tape.
If you have a bad oil leak, fix it, or if your car has suffered panel damage, please get it repaired properly. You can get small fibreglass repair kits at Supercheap or similar and they are not rocket science to use and it makes the cars so much more visually impressive. With the V8 round coming up, in my opinion, the two most important things will be presentation and driving standards.
You will be racing in front of, arguably, the “greatest show on wheels”, so we don?t want to be racing around with body panels flapping in the wind or oil pouring out or cars spearing off into the sand traps on every corner. In 2008 I was fortunate enough to be involved with Synergy Motorsport and Paul Laskazesky when Paul won the Formula Ford National Championship and also Wall Racing with the Carrera Cup and Australian GT Championship programs, and through those programs, I attended every race track in Australia and every V8 and GT meeting.
The atmosphere is amazing and it is something that once you have experienced it, you want more. If you want to be invited back to the V8?s you must present exceptionally well and the driving standards must be exemplary. If everyone presents and drives as well as they did at the first Clemenger round at Sydney Motorsport Park (no red flags the whole meeting) we could be in with a chance to get re invited, but if we don?t, well…… As far as technical goes, the National Technical Committee (NTC) has approved a number of technical items and these have been presented to the FVAA Board of Management (BoM) for approval.
The BoM has approved these items, but CAMS has requested that all the items be presented to them as one package, rather than individually, and all items must have approval by each State. I presented these items to the FVANSW Committee and it was evident that there was an anomaly in the wording for one item. I have spoken to Michael Lloyd (National Technical Director) and with the help of David and Jason Cutts, we have reworded the item and presented it back to the NTC for approval.
By the time that you read this report, the reworded item will have been before the NTC and I believe, accepted. The items as a package will then be submitted to the BoM for approval and then on to CAMS. Once CAMS approves these items they will publish a Bulletin, or possibly just place the new items in the CAMS Manual, it will depend on timing, then the approved items will be okay to use. I think I said in a previous report that the wheel turns slowly!!!6 – Whilst I am not at liberty to reveal these proposed technical changes, I will say that two of them are engine related, one is ignition related and one involves the modification of an item that is attached to the engine.
No, not the gearbox. Some time ago I reported on the engine that was in a car that was sold from South Australia to New South Wales, and when the engine was stripped, it was found to be non compliant in a number of areas. A report was sent to the NTC and then to the BoM, and the two original Sealers that were involved in sealing the engine in South Australia were spoken to, and both received a two year suspended sentence.
In a nutshell, if there is a concern with any engine that they were the last to seal, they will lose their sealing privileges for a time to be determined. They are also to attend an “update seminar” to refresh their sealing knowledge. I will point out at this stage that NSW Sealers have attended two “update seminars” this year and both proved very positive. The gearbox that was built and sealed by the same person in Victoria and double sealed in NSW, was recently dismantled in front of the Victorian CAMS Formula Vee Scrutineer, and I am very pleased to report that no anomalies were found, and the gearbox was compliant in all respects.
Whilst it was the general feeling amongst the NTC and the BoM that the gearbox would be compliant, it had to be double sealed and then inspected whilst being dismantled, to remove any doubt. The Sealer concerned received a two year suspended sentence. I wish to thank David Cutts and Edan Fleming for their help with the dismantling of the South Australian engine, and Kim Black and Corinne Perry for their assistance with the gearbox issue. It is very much appreciated.
I have yet to make a start on the Video to assist Sealers, and I know this excuse is done to death, but I have been short of time, and I am loath to admit, enthusiasm. David Cutts has offered the use of his factory, Leigh Porter has offered the use of an engine and Morgan Freemantle has a camera that he has offered, it is just a matter of getting all these items together to make a start. We have had an offer to edit the Video and make it look less amateurish and the BoM will look at covering some of the associated costs, I just need to get my finger out and make a start. That?s about all for this magazine, but remember, when you are at the V8 round, look good, drive smart.
Lyall Moyes
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