Just realised it was on the weekend ahaha
I shall have to see what' I have on over the weekend..

Might come down for the day again and help out where I can.

Thanks for the offer Pete. We will be in the same garage as last year. Jeff will be there too but he is driving a MX5 Turbo this time round.
No worries Ethan

The Wakefield 300 2013 has been run and what a experience it has been .
Very different from the other Wakefield 300's I have competed as I entered my SW20, first time for a Toyota MR2. It was the only Toyota in the field but not the first to compete.
The difference to 'arrive and drive' is very different as you have so much more work to do. It was almost a 'do or die' approach as people were pressuring me to enter the car instead of talking about it so I just pulled out all stops to make it a reality. We were behind the eightball right up to the last hours before the race, but we did start and finish the race which was the number one goal.
There were five crew and two drivers involved who managed pit stops, tyre temps and pressures, fuel stratergy and refuelling, timing and managing the drivers on track. Without these guys, it would not have happened.
The car was unable to run to its full potential over the four days due to a over boost/boost creep problem. We spent 20 hours trying to get this under control but we unable to get it below 1.8bar under full load/rpm(7500) so we decided to manage boost with throttle control where we would change at 4500/1.4 bar/50% throttle. The tune was very good as it didn't blow up but the water injection would not engage as we were below the threshhold of operation so we suffered high intake temps. If I didnt have the head built for extreme punishment we would not have finished the race and the engine would not be in any fit state of operation. The only time I gave it everything was starting the race from pit lane and giving it everything until the braking zone in turn 2. This displayed the power of this engine as it flogged one of the fastest cars in the race from a standing start. The car was a 550hp/1280kg 6.0ltr Chev powered Series 6 RX7. When I can prise the video file from his hands I can show what happened. We both took off, in 3 seconds the MR2 was missing. Unfortunately we could not continue this speed due to high boost concerns so we slowed back down and nursed the car around till the end of the race.
It was not without its ups and downs with many lessons learnt and some very interesting studies on heat management, fuel burn, importance of sound electronics and wiring, turbo characteristics under extended high pressure enviroments, tyre managment, fastening systems and how they react to heat and load, heat expansion of components including manifolds, throttle body, cables, engine cover, brakes, driver erganomics and stress managment, fatigue, managing the team in a positive direction or negative direction.
We finshed 92 laps of a potential 137 laps due to mainly electrics.
The first was the fuel pump switch dropped a wire causing the engine to stop on track. We brought out the safety car, was towed back to the pits where we fixed it, changed drivers and fuel then when back on-track about 7 laps off our class competitors.
10 mins later we had the seconf driver back in running on three cylinders. The wiring to the coil over plug system was getting punished with some abrassive soldering causing shielding to break down causing shorts in the system. This was quickly taped up for the interim, a rouge connector was tidied up and off he went again. Was OK for a few laps then back AGAIN! There was a coil with the mounting tab broken off which failed. So this was removed and the only spare available was fitted. Back of four cylinders, problem solved.
All OK for a while then he was back in the pit with no power. ECU was OK, then I realised it was the same symtoms as my first stop so it had to be the fuel switch. The switch was fine so traced it back to the fuse to find the 30amp fuse was blown. With none in site, I raced out the van and removed the only 30amp fuse on the van, installed it and it was up and running again. There was a short debate to wait till the end of the race so we only did two laps but I said 'no, just get out there and race', so the co-driver(Robert Field) was sent out for the final 12 laps of the race but this was not without incident. With only 10 laps to go, Robert was punted of track though the 130km/h kink that leads onto the back straight! The dorian was lost, the MR2 experienced its first battle scar, I saw it all and laughed and joked at what had just unfolded before my eyes. He managed to get the car back on track, got back up to pace and became the last of the finishers, 34th from 47 starters, first MR2 to start and finish the third longest endurance race in Australia.

Solid effort!  Sounds like it would be have been a blast to be part of the pit crew, and a great learning experience.
 
On to the Bathurst 12hr next?

Thanks Fredhoon,
One of the MR2 guys was working in the pitcrew who did have a great weekend. It would have been far better if there were less problems with the boost creeping. We are looking at the Winton 300 in November, with a crew required. If your interested, just add your name to the list. There is also talk of a 300 at Queensland Raceway which we certainly aim at attending but may not happen till next year.
As for the 12hr, that's my drinking weekend for racing and the car will not meet the requirements to enter and my budget will also come no where near the requirements!
Peter came along on the Sunday and the Saturday and really enjoyed what he saw and is under consideration of enter next year. If he bite the bullet, he will need a team,drivers and has a great car to start with ( 3.5ltr SW20).
Friday practice was brilliant. Open pit lane from 9-4. You just head out when your ready and drive. You could do a full simulation of the race if you like.
From 4-5, it was passenger rides.