2017 CSCA Supersprint Results: MG Car Club Sydney CSCA Round 2

mgcarclubsydney
7 April, 2017

Sunday, April 2nd saw a great field of drivers out at Sydney Motorsport Park for the second round of the 2017 CSCA supersprint season, hosted by the MG Car Club Sydney in conjunction with MG Car Club Newcastle.

Read on for Steve Perry’s report, which wraps up the day’s motorsport.

2017 Supersprint Results: MG Car Club Sydney & MG Car Club Newcastle CSCA Round 2 Sunday April 2nd

SYDNEY MOTORSPORT PARK: NORTH CIRCUIT in the the Combined Sports Car Association (CSCA) Supersprint Series

Steve Perry, Sporting Secretary

MGCC Sydney and Newcastle held their annual joint CSCA Round for 2017, with sincere thanks due to our many club volunteers and Officials from both clubs, who worked hard to make this event a success. This year we had 36 volunteers plus several others who assisted with scrutineering, making a total of over 40 people plus catering & ARDC track personnel required on the day to run an event for 101 drivers.

Sonia Luthi in the Suzuki Cappuccino

Event Management

John Finch from MG Newcastle as the Clerk of Course (ultimately responsible for the safe running of the event on the day)
Wendy Maher from MG Sydney as Chief CAMS Steward (ensuring the event was run as per CAMS requirements)
David Atkins from MG Newcastle as the 2^nd CAMS Steward (working with Wendy ensuring the event was run as per CAMS requirements)
Brian Sutton from MG Newcastle as the Chief Scrutineer (responsible with his team for the checking of competitor vehicle safety items)
Gregg Noonan from MG Newcastle as the Event Secretary (responsible for entry processing and all CAMS & ARDC track Admin requirements)
Lisa Drayton from Eldee timing (Responsible for time keeping and overall results reports)
A crew of five from Firechase Australia (responsible for event attendance for crash rescue, tow truck and fire incident management)
One crew of two from Paramedical Services (responsible for ambulance and medical incident response management)
Ted Dial MG Newcastle and Steve Perry MG Sydney, (responsible for the volunteer duties allocation, radios, briefing and management)

Entry Office Admin

Gregg Noonan and Mike Snow from MG Newcastle (responsible for CAMS and Club Licence checks and entry paperwork)
Lindsay Trevitt from MG Sydney assisted with scrutineering paperwork

Starter and Dummy Grid

Marion Baxter as the chief starter from MG Newcastle (responsible for authorised release of vehicles onto the track from the Dummy Grid)
Peter Rose & Steve Perry from MG Sydney & Peter Andrews from The Datsun Owners Club (assisting Marion Baxter with car line up and scrutineering label checks)

Flag Marshals

(appointed in pairs and in threes to be responsible for the safety of drivers and themselves over a nominated sector of the racetrack)

Start Finish line: Gregg Noonan, Mike Snow & Doug Rae (MG Newcastle)
Flag Point 1: Greg Hunter & Chris Fernance (MG Newcastle)
Flag Point 2: Barry Eastmead (MG Sydney) and Jeremy & Nick Farr (MG Sydney Supporter)
Flag Point 3.4: Ingo Weinberger (MG Sydney) and Narelle Murphy & Steve McLeod (MG Newcastle)
Flag Point T4: Tony Farr and Tom & Stuart Gibson (MG Sydney Supporters)
Flag Point T15: Col Harper and Brian McKenzie (MG Sydney)
Flag Point T17: Don Beck and Robin Swann (MG Sydney)

All the volunteers were most cooperative and supportive of this MGCC event, and this resulted in the day running very smoothly, and so both clubs are extremely appreciative of the donation of your valuable time for this event – well done! A real thanks goes out to club member Wendy Maher who with husband Gary Maher, have both acted as Stewards for many car cub events over many years, however Gary is currently competing himself in his beaut Escort, and so no time for “officialling”.

All drivers should also be aware of what voluntary work happens behind the scenes in the lead up to such events, and the many duties carried out on the day on your behalf to allow the safe running of an event purely for your enjoyment on the track in a safe manner, at minimal cost. Drivers should at least wave to officials on the track on your slow down lap in acknowledgement of this unpaid effort made on their behalf!

Of course if your car is unavailable for competition, drivers should be prepared to volunteer to assist others at an event or two while repairs are underway! Life should be about some give as well as take, especially as part of a not for profit car club!

My very special thanks goes to Barry Eastmead from our club who regularly turns up at our sprints, as well as organising for several friends & MG supporters (such as Tony, Jeremy & Nick Farr and this year, Tom and Stuart Gibson) to assist on the day, which is of great assistance to myself, and our other regular supporters in Ingo Weinberger, Lindsay Trevitt and Brian McKenzie – well done gents!

We also had several recent MGB competitors in Peter Rose, Robin Swann, Don Beck, and Col Harper help us at the track, as they enjoy watching competitors up close and seeing the various type & mix of cars running, as they are all motorsport drivers and enthusiasts, and we welcome their collective experience and advice.

Many thanks and my sincere appreciation on behalf of our MGCC and all drivers, to all the volunteers for making the huge effort in getting up early and making the trek to SMP out at Eastern Creek. All of you ensured that our annual supersprint was a good success, and I trust you all enjoyed your day up close to the action. We had a few car tow-ins however, and one unfortunate Lotus had a big lose in the fast Turn 1, and then had an argument with a concrete wall. The driver was checked and was fine.

We had 13 drivers enter from our MGCC supporting this event, and all had a good day after some light showers cleared to an excellent afternoon and friendly air temperatures – with up to six runs or more available and 36 laps was achieved by one driver!

Peter Richards in his MGB V8 Roadster

It was great to see a few MG Bees in CSCA Class C2, as we had Regularity competitor Phil Powell running his quick cross flow engine powered Bee setting the pace for MGBs with a very quick 1m 20 sec lap in a set of 29 laps, a new runner Greg Smith (back driving a well prepared and presented ex-Peter Whitton Group S MGBGT – good to see this running again after an engine re-build, and at least a couple of seconds quicker) joining Garry Williams who also has a rebuilt engine. Greg Smith had his first CSCA sprint last year, and certainly enjoyed being back at the track, completing some 28 laps. Peter Richards ran in his beaut V8 roadster in class C4, however had some issues early on and unfortunately suffered some technical problems resulting in only 4 laps and a tow truck ride home – best of luck with some repairs Peter! We also had Bob Baldwin return this year in his beaut road standard MGB in Class A2, and it was good to have his enthusiasm back again, resulting in 1^st in Class A2, in a huge field of 1 over 22 laps.

Chris Scheffer is a CSCA regular, but has swapped his well finished Sebring replica MGB for a race prepared MX-5, and he was joined this time in a drive by his son Francis, who seemed to be really enjoying this car on the fast North circuit!

Alan Nolan in the Nola Chev

Regular drivers Alan Nolan in his very quick historic V8 Nola Chev sportscar ran 4^th fastest for the day and 1^st in his Class R3 in just 12 laps due to the wet track in the morning, Ernst Luthi in his classic Alpine Renault also picked up a 1^st in Class 2AC in a field of 1, Sonja Luthi in her sleek little Suzuki Cappuccino completed 22 laps, Richard Rose in his MX-5 with 25 laps and Gary Maher in the classic Ford Escort did 25 laps, and all had smiles as a result of a very enjoyable day at the track, all completing many laps.

Great to see a new club member join us at the track – Max Wasson brought along a current BMW for some well controlled laps in a very keen set of 34 laps for the day! Max has done quite a few track days over the years, but not a CSCA supersprint, so this was a nice outing for him.

Look forward to catching up again with our MGCC drivers at the next CSCA Round in May, run by Jaguar Drivers Club.

Alphabetical Results: MGCC Round 2 (Total of 101 competitors)

Entrant	Vehicle	Best Lap	Class Result	Competitors	Outright
Bob Baldwin	MGB	1:33.71	1st in A2	1	97th
Ernst Luthi	Renault Alpine	1:27.85	1st in 2AC	1	82nd
Sonja Luthi	Suzuki Cappuccino	1:44.67	6th in 2AM	6	101st
Gary Maher	Ford Escort Mk1	1:30.87	4th in 3AC	5	93rd
Alan Nolan	Nola Chev	1:10.03	1st in R3	5	4th
Phil Powell	MGB	1:20.35	2nd in C2	4	48th
Peter Richards	MGB V8	1:37.14	3rd in C4	3	99th
Richard Rose	MX-5	1:28.86	17th in 3BM	17	88th
Chris Scheffer	MX-5	1:19.99	4th in 3AM	6	47th
Francis Scheffer	MX-5	1:22.23	6th in 3AM	6	61st
Greg Smith	MGB	1:22.46	3rd in C2	4	62nd
Max Wasson	BMW	1:21.20	7th in 2BM	9	55th
Garry Williams	MGB	1:23.93	4th in C2	4	72nd

Thanks to all the Officials and Volunteers and the member drivers who all contributed to make this event happen!

NOTE: Coming Events;

Next CSCA Supersprint: Jaguar ROUND 3 at Sydney Motorsport Park at Eastern Creek – NORTH CIRCUIT: Sunday 13^th May 2017. Entries are open on com.au, followed by the Healey Round 4 at Wakefield Park on 1^stJuly 17.
REGULARITY: The next NSW meeting will be the FoSC Meeting at Wakefield Park on 20^th -21^st May, then the ARDC Historic Meeting on the GP circuit at Sydney Motorsport Park over June 10^th 11^th and 12^th June 2017 – entries are open on com.au.

Please contact me, Steve Perry for the Supplementary regulations and Entry Forms for future Supersprints, if you wish to give your car a good hard run without the worry of any Police or back seat drivers!