NSW Formula Vee Championship – Round 2
Round two of the 2020 NSW Formula Vee Championship saw Lister Bros Racing take the #18 Polar to the high-speed Sydney Motor Sport Park for the first time. LBR were excited to be competing at one of Australia’s favorite racetracks.
LBR arrived early Friday morning for free practice where they would drive on the 3.9km Gardiner Grand Prix Circuit. Paul took the opportunity to familiarize himself with the circuit before putting in some solid lap times. A one kilometre long straight followed by a sweeping turn one, which is taken at full speed, means reaching tops speeds approaching 180km/h and significant forces on the car that are not experienced at other tracks.
Paul crushed his finger while working on the car mid afternoon after chasing an oil leak for much of the day, resulting in a trip the emergency department where an x-ray showed a fracture to his fingertip and a compression wound. On Friday night it was unknown if Paul would compete in the three races scheduled for Sunday.
Following some rest on Saturday, Paul decided he would be able to drive and put in a solid effort to qualify LBR in P12 along side the quicker Morgan Freemantle in P11. However, after only two laps in race 1 Paul suffered a hub failure coming out of turn 18 and onto the main straight resulting in Paul retiring from the race with no drive being delivered to the tarmac.
LBR swung into action, and with the assistance of some other competitors (and their spare parts!), a new hub was fitted and #18 was ready to take its place on the grid for race 2. It proved not to be LBR’s day with Paul snapping the accelerator cable when the start lights when out. Unable to deliver power to the wheels, Paul was forced to retire from Race 2.
With a never give up attitude LBR replaced the accelerator cable and started from the back of the grid for race 3. Paul drove well and completed the race after some competitive on track action, good dicing and multiple position changes within the mid field. Paul took the chequered flag in P13 to finish off the weekend.
LBR will now turn their attention to resolving a few minor issues before their next race meeting scheduled for 26-27 September at Wakefield Park. Check out the footage from race three below!