11/08/2026
Race report!! Video links below.
Huge day on Saturday as we took on One Raceway in the mighty MX5. Kerry came with me to crew for the day 😍 we left home at 4am and it was about 6 degrees, it got colder as travelled and when we arrived at the track in Goulburn at 6:20am it was a balmy -5.4 degrees ❄️❄️ time to put the big coat on to set up and get ready. Getting the car of the trailer was interesting as it didn’t want to start, water and oil temps showing a solid zero 🤣 eventually it started and the day officially begun.
We were first out at 9am for qualifying and it was still 1 degree. I was able to warm the motor up, water temp up to 70+, oil to around 50, gearbox and diff were still sub arctic. Start of steady and build temp. Trouble was as soon as I got airflow through the car all my fantastic ducting for summer just ripped water and oil temps out of the motor…… can’t wobble around all day, so time to just cross the fingers and send it. Temps were mid 50’s to 60 😳 car felt good, good power from the Roland tune and good grip from the alignment tweaks. Resulted in a new PB lap time for me of 1:06.79 which put me 4th outright and 1st in class. I was also only 0.1s off being on the front row. Super start to the day.
Racing was super quick and clean all day. The treaded tyre guys are quick out of the blocks but then we come back at them after a few laps which makes for great racing. I was pretty unlucky with my starts most of the day. I either got a great start then had nowhere to go, or I duffed the start and got swamped. Either way, we raced hard and passed cars. I finished race 1 in 3rd outright which I was pretty stoked about and to be honest a little surprised, but hey my lap times were super good. Race 2 was the same, finishing a strong 3rd outright and 1st in class.
Race 3 was a bit different. Starting out of P3 right behind the pole sitter Paige. I got a crappy start, had to dip the clutch and have another go at it, but Paige got an even worse one and we were very close to making contact. I looked in the mirror and no one was behind me…. That means they are beside me, if I moved either way it would be contact, so bit the bullet, stayed put and watched them all come past 😔. Head down and crack on. It did make for a great race with Jamie, going side by side many times but just couldn’t get by. Finished 4th, still a huge result for the little non-turbo 2.0L MX5.
That was enough to finish the day 1st in class with Jamie a close second. The car is still straight, nothing is broken and we picked up the silverware, all in all a great day out. It even warmed up a bit, so we only needed 2 jumpers on 🤣
Huge thanks to the people that support me without whom none of this would be possible. RaceAway Track Time, Ace Media, Tubby's Tyrepower Kirrawee, South Gundagai Automotive. There is a couple of rounds to go, plus a likely interstate challenge later this year and plenty of space on the car if you are interesting in getting involved for the remainder of this year or even next year let me know.
Qually Lap - https://youtu.be/19WadGA0axY?si=lCgy2sFNna0bEPp0
Race 1 - https://youtu.be/ICnlDbp4cDw?si=jYjJ66f76BGxwwNK
Race 2 - GoPro failure 😡
Race 3 - https://youtu.be/c_gmKaNtEsc?si=bpM1YQnDOmgq4Mcc
Ace Media photos from the event - https://galleries.acemdia.au/client/mra-round-6
