Highlights!

[DAVID PATERSON]

What have been the highlights of your racing career so far? Your greatest sucesses/highest achievements and the most fun/best day you've had.

[DAVID PATERSON]

OK then i'll start.
1989 I came second in a handicap race, after starting off scratch.
That same year, my first in the sport, I won the encouragement award for the club championship.
1991 I came second in class at a club sprint, debuting my new RT Charger.
1994 I came third in class in the Club Championship.
1997 & 1999 I was runner-up in the Club Championship.
1998 I came second in the consolation race at Historic Lakeside and was Club Champion.
I also managed 24 race meetings over 3 1/2 years without a single DNF, DNS or DNQ

Not all that impressive, but hey, i've had fun, **** loads in fact!

[Crash Test]

Darn scruitineers....it took them that long to find THAT nitrous tank?

How many times have you put the datto in Club Cars?

[marcus]

not many highlights for me I guess my first race meeting was a highlight..to actually be out there and doing what I always wanted to do was awesome.

as for racing ..probably when I came home in second place late last year after starting in mid pack..somehow i made it to the front..dont quite know how was just quicker than everyone ..but that guy in the lead was a tough nut to crack and I just couldnt find a way past..but was very satisfied with that result ..my best to date..also that it was the first time I had beaten my team mate in a straight out fight ..which was very satisfying because he has won the championship for the past 3 years running and to beat him was pretty cool..allthough he didnt like it much

[DAVID PATERSON]

I ran the Datto regularly with the club cars for a couple of years.

[elephino]

Highlights...hmm..

Coming 2nd while still a junior in a motorkhana. Also winning the junior khana championship and then the following year the main one...shame it was only the Volvo Sporting Car Club.

Also my hillclimbing...first in class most times. The one time I didn't mind being 2nd in class was when I was in a Barina (stupid little car really) and was beaten by a Lotus Cortina. 62s up the Wakefield Park hillclimb in a Volvo 440 was pretty good too.

[DAVID PATERSON]

At the annual Lakeside Historic meeting in September 2000, I came 4th in a 3-litre Touring Car race. I was ninth on a grid of 22 cars and they were dropping like flies, i thought if this keeps up I'll win the bloody race.

[Vandas]

Four Outings in the Mazda RX7 (twice to Calder and once each to Sandown and Winton), have seen me break a hub in the gearbox, and blow an engine. Great record, but at least my lap times are tumbling. hehehe. And because I blew up my 13B Standard I am being given a 13B Bridgeport with close ratio gearbox, which means a major step up in horsepower, and a lot more fun for me. So well David and the rest of you blokes think how lucky all your careers started off when compared to me.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally posted by Vandas
.............. I am being given a 13B Bridgeport with close ratio gearbox, which means a major step up in horsepower, and a lot more fun for me.

Oh I think that you are very lucky. I have to pay for all my engines so I can't afford to make those kind of mistakes.

[Vandas]

Yeah you're right, but how am I supposed to pay for engines. I work most of the time on the car, no one pays me for it. And I work in bars the rest of the time to try and keep myself afloat with every little hazard life throws at me, like fines, bills, expenses, etc. In this sport we all love so much, you need a corporate backer or there's virtually no chance to get started until you have the level of disposable income which allows for State Level racing. If you compare my level of luck with say Paul Weel, whose Dad bought him his first Touring Car and Transporter and everything because he hurt himself too badly while motorcross riding. Well I seem to be lacking in the luck department. But then if you compare my luck with some mates of mine, who have to battle everyday working their arses off just to make ends meet and keep their road car going, well I am a very lucky guy. It all depends, and everyone is going to be jealous of what someone else has, or even feel like they have missed out. Although I am very happy with what I have, very happy. Just upset that I blew up my first engine in under 4 meetings.

[racer10]

In 1997 Rookie of the Year honors. 2nd in the points championship, with one feature win, several seconds, and numerous top 5's.

--1998 Track Championship in a faster class. 5 feature wins, 5 heat race wins, and 5 pole positions. 17 podiums in 21 starts!

--1999 Once again moved up in class. 2 pole positions, several top 5's, one feature win.
--2000 Raced in 12 races. finished on the podium in at least 8 of those. Running in the top 3 at all 12 but mechanical trouble cost me some races. I was even leading one of those when a spark plug wire came off, and running second in another when I blew a tire.
Overall, GOD has blessed me in all my racing ventures. Even back in go--karts. We have never had a season that we thought was just horrible. He has been very good to me. I hope to move into a touring series very soon, and if anyone out there needs a good, young driver that is in top physical condition, I would love to talk to you. Will relocate! (Quite the salesman ehh?) GROOVESTICK@HOTMAIL.COM

[DAVID PATERSON]

Our club championship is now over and I'm runner up again. That's three times now in the last four years. If I hadn't won it in '98, i'd have a very good consistency thing going here.

[Crash Test]

Dammed Gary Brown...

Was it a close thing in the end?

[DAVID PATERSON]

No, the first 3 were well spread out. Garry Brown won easily and I was a long way ahead of Geoff McCrystal, who narrowly beat Darren Borg.

[DAVID PATERSON]

I found this thread while I was looking for another and thought I'd dredge it up, so the new people can offer their own stories, and to allow me to add some of the highlights I've had in the last couple of years.

[DAVID PATERSON]

I've finally won a race, after 12 years of trying, it was a Division 2 race, but a win is a win and I've now run in the support races at the Bathurst 1000. Now that's a highlight.

[David Towe]

I've had a couple of race wins, but anytime I get back to the pits in one piece it's a highlight for me.

[stuart05]

I've only competed once, in a mini-Enduro, but passing the chequered flag after 3 months of build up via my ARDS test, a small fortune spent at Demon Tweeks, and not to mention 30 years of dreaming, was the most exhilerating feeling ever.

[mhayter]

Not really a highlight, but looking back it was one of the funniest moments. Croix 2002 racing with Caterham Graduates I had a "DNF - Blocked in". Taking evasive action to avoid a spinner I stopped on a piece of grass between the gravel trap and the wall. Put the car in reverse to get back on the circuit only for a damaged car to stop right behind me.

[DAVID PATERSON]

Originally Posted by mhayter

Not really a highlight, but looking back it was one of the funniest moments. Croix 2002 racing with Caterham Graduates I had a "DNF - Blocked in". Taking evasive action to avoid a spinner I stopped on a piece of grass between the gravel trap and the wall. Put the car in reverse to get back on the circuit only for a damaged car to stop right behind me.

How bizarre! That must be an unusual DNF. The car's fine, you just can't get access to the track.....

[Chris Y]

Welcome back David - thanks for resurrecting this thread

[dtype38]

Highlights....

1997, TKM 100 kart, first kart meeting outright win!
1999, Jaguar XJS, first class win
2002, Jaguar D-type, Donnington, first race meeting in a "real" sportscar
2005, Jaguar D-type, Croft, first pole position - first race win
2006 - last weekend, Jaguar D-type, first win at Brands Hatch

Can it get any better?

[carsten.meurer]

great thread !

i feel every time i drove to perfection in my own eye is a highlight, and the
last one is always the best !

even though i never was lucky, loosing out on the most unusual mechanical
failures from karting till today - maybe due to lack of cash - i am happy with
the 25 years of racing i have done, and the people i got to know and
so many established greats who helped us out !

result wise highlight has to be north western int C A100 european cchip,
coming home 4th after being 110th or something after qualifying in mixed
conditions in 1987. never forget m.schumacher coming to me after the race,
telling me he tought i was nuts giving him my prdiction before the prefinal to
recover to top10...

in touring cars it has to be a race on the old ring in 93, putting a 1000cc
frogeye sprite 30th overall on the 180 car grid for the eifel klassic.
beating second car in class by 40odd seconds in my only lap in qualifying on a
unknown car. winning the race after a great battle with some minis was
superb !

in single seater it must be the cash starved 02 season in the classic formula
ford championship. being on pole for the first race on the ring by 3 secs,
winning all races but the final in monza ( 2nd ) and starting from the front
row all the time.
it was a highlight because we got the team effort perfect, working ahead
of problems and on a shoestring, showing we can not just spring the odd
surprise being underdogs, but be up front continiously.

generally i feel priveleged to have won on most of my favorite tracks:
the ring, pau, cadwell and been on the podium on most major european
tracks.

i hope the true highlight has still to come...

[Notso Swift]

Quote:
Originally posted by Vandas
.............. I am being given a 13B Bridgeport with close ratio gearbox, which means a major step up in horsepower, and a lot more fun for me.

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

Oh I think that you are very lucky. I have to pay for all my engines so I can't afford to make those kind of mistakes.

Knowing this guy makes this hilarious. Very fortunate to have daddy to pay for every thing, yet complains at having "only" 4 new tyres each meeting... some of us racing against him get by on that in a year!


Anyway to the topic at hand

I have listed in my club bio that competing in every session and driving on to the trailer is a high light for me, it only happened once per year in 2005,2004 and 2003!!! (Don't get out as much as I would like, so it is not as bad as it sounds) Some problems are small, some have been large. One weekend I drove the car to scruitineering, and pushed it out as the brand new clutch separated (faulty rivets) and scored the fly wheel. Another time I drove 900 km to race, only to have the computer drop into safe mode… and so it goes.

Other than that my first outright race result. Class wins are common, but I have only had one outright.
OK, so it was a repocharge to qualify for the final. But being a 1300cc car (at the time) and racing in a class that includes V8’s up to 6 litres I felt really special. There were a lot of “faster” cars behind me but it was wet and the circuit (Phillip Island) really rewards balls, despite favouring faster cars with a couple of long straights (In the final there was a 90 kph top speed difference between the winner and me, yet we both take turn 1 at 180 kph, it is just I don’t brake, David FYI Ray Hislop data logged at 273 kph on a damp PI track)