Although it seems like a lifetime ago right now, the clubs Winter Track Day, held again this year at the Winton circuit, was clearly the best one held yet. The criteria? Well it didnt rain, in fact the sun shone all-day. That was certainly a good start. Secondly the event ran without incident (apart from a slight coming together between the wall on the front straight and the rear of Gary Tierneys Cobra). And most important, well over 1,000 laps were put in by those participating on the day.   In short there was plenty of track time and the weather (as usual?) was terrific!

The event actually got off to a great start on the Saturday night prior to the event, when more than 20 or so of those participating the next day, took advantage of the clubs booking at Georginas Restaurant. Although it wasnt a late night it was full of fun and the food and wine was great.

The big surprise was the day itself. Not the weather, but the number of Drivers who decided they would come up for the event. In recent years at Winton we have been happy to run the event even if numbers were sometimes low. A roll-up of 30 or so, we felt was fine. This year it was a bit different as on the eve of the event some 69 entries had been received. That was the end of the so-called relaxing weekend and the early finish! We were delighted to have some of the members from the Ballarat Light Car Club with us on the day.

Despite the size of the field there was plenty of help available on the day to assist with scrutineering which helped get the event off to a good start and enable the event to run smoothly. In fact, the event ran so smoothly that even in the failing light at 5.00 pm there were still plenty of participants who wanted to keep going. No doubt, judging by the enthusiasm we could have still been at it until midnight. A total of 66 managed to put the day in at the circuit and for many that was until at least 4.30 pm, despite the long drive back home.

In terms of times achieved the day belonged to Simon Gischus in his very potent Nissan 200SX-R he managed to get close to getting under 1:30 and recorded a best time in the timed session of 1:30.51. In fact there were 12 cars on the day that were under 1:40.00, albeit that Simon was close to 4 seconds ahead of the next fastest car, Ken Jarrett in a Porsche GT3 (1:34.32). Close behind Ken Jarrett was Sam Markov in his GT-R, recording a best of 1:34.35 followed by Phil Kirkham.

Phil Kirkham and his crew had taken advantage of the day to do some tyre testing on the Mazda RX7 he runs in the GT Production series. A summary of the times recorded on the day is shown in the table on the opposite page.

Whilst is it was a near perfect day in terms of weather and track condition, it nonetheless proved a bit frustrating for some. Peter Kyriakidis had been fiddling with tyres all day, but was somewhat frustrated by the fact that he had been unable to get under 1:40.00. Then in the final session, when the sun was rapidly disappearing and the track temperature had almost gone as well, he managed to cane the RS 1600 to put in his best time 1:38.84 right at the very end of the day. Whatever the combination was, it no doubt would have worked even better earlier in the day.

Jeff Beable anticipating the Tour de Course a few weeks later was keen to put in a few good times at a circuit where he has not had a lot of luck. Luck and Winton unfortunately proved to be in short supply for Jeff again on this weekend as the car gave up just at the start of the timed sessions.

The Jaguar XJ Sprinters turned up in force on the day. They just seem to get quicker and quicker. With most recording times in the mid 1:40's they certainly are demonstrating not only that these cars are reasonably quick, but that the skills and abilities of the drivers continue to improve. Driving one of these XJ Sprinters around Winton in 1.45 would take a LOT of effort!

As usual there were a few who were coming to Winton for the first time and some who at not been at the track for a while. In general there were some real improvements in times over the day. One of the best was Stephen Jarrett in the Porsche GT3 who got his best time of 1:40.63 down to a very competitive 1:36.92 later in the day.

Others who performed well on the day included Mick Case in his new Porsche 911 2.7 which must have been quite a shock after his front wheel drive Peugeot. It was also good to see our first Bolwell in some considerable time with Andrew Giannopoulus giving the car its first run at a club track day.

Dee Stephen after having shown what persistance can do managed to improve her times considerably at Sandown - it would appear that she now has Winton on the agenda as the next target.

Special thanks to Simon Maas and his crew from Racesafe, Simon Aimers who did the Timekeeping, John Aust at the Start/Finish line, Tracey Williams as Pit Marshall, Carol Williams in Administration, Travis Williams and his crew of volunteers in Scrutineering and the drivers and others who gave up some time as flag marshalls. Without your efforts the day couldnt have been a success.

We will look forward to seeing you all at the Annual Spring Track Day in October.