Ross suffers blowout one lap from Season End
Last weekend Cambridge driver Nick Ross was right on target to take a final championship position of 12th place for the 2006-07 season when, with one lap left to run in the last race, his Parker ENZED Commodore suffered a puncture, thus resulting in a DNF left the team 17th overall.
"I broke a roll bar about four laps into the race which (later) went through one of the tyres and we had a blowout with one lap to go which cost us 12th place in the championship" said Ross. "In that last race we had passed everybody we needed to pass to move up the championship table, then my front right tyre blew and that was that."
The highspeed blowout occurred down the back straight just after the kink with Ross narrowly escaping a serious crash into the barrier after losing steering in the Parker ENZED Commodore.
"It happened at around 215kph and was a little bit hairy - you can't brake because if you do it too hard it's going to send you off in the wrong direction. So you have to try and slow the car down gently and pull it over, but something went wrong with the steering rack as well so I couldn't turn left. I glanced off the inside wall and rolled down the back straight to the hairpin." he said.
Incredibly Ross was not injured other than in spirit due to ending the season in that way and had to watch the remainder of the race from inside the car on a nearby big-screen. Reflecting on the first round of the season (where the team scored no points after three DNFs due to a new engine failure) it seems that Pukekohe has been the thorn in the side for Ross with him continually aiming to make up for the lost ground there.
"We had a good chance to move up and everything was looking good with one lap to go but unfortunately that was the way it ended" said Ross. "We're still ruing our first round because the points are that close... but that's just the way it is."
The previous two races, taking place on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning were not without their own disappointments with Race One never really happening due to regular appearances of the safety car. Ross found himself stuck in traffic as the Parker ENZED NZV8 tourers freight-trained around the circuit. Whereas some other drivers at the back were able to drop back and put in some fast lap times thus moving them up the order in the grid for Sunday morning's Race Two.
The ruling for this season was to base the Race`Two starting order according to the driver's lap times from the first race. Ross qualified 15th for the first race of the weekend, placed 15th in it but was unfortunately pushed back to start in 20th for Sunday's Race`Two. After doing some "hard yards" to move up in the order again he eventually brought the Commodore home in 15th once more.
In Race three, the full reverse grid saw Ross start off in 18th. He managed to get up to 12th before the safety car came out for a massive ontrack fire in one of the other NZV8 Touring cars and on the restart Ross managed to maintain his position until the blowout ended his weekend.
Looking to the future, work has already begun on putting together a new Holden Commodore race car for next season and the team plan to start testing in around 10 weeks. They hope that in the off season they will be able to pull together a competitive budget through sponsorship which will ensure they are a front contender for the 2007-08 season.
When the V8 Supercars come back to New Zealand next year they will be heading for the all new temporary street circuit in Hamilton. Ross is very much looking forward to competing there as a home track at what will most probably be the final round for the Parker ENZED NZV8 2007-08 season. The date is yet to be confirmed.
"It will be an awesome circuit and fairly fast with a couple of tight corners. There won't be a lot of run-offs and you will have to keep off the walls. Once the drivers get used to it it will be awesome. For some of the guys who haven't done a street circuit before it may be a little different" said Ross.
With the NZV8s over for another season NIck Ross now goes on to compete in the North Island Endurance series with Ian Booth in a Lexus V8 powered Toyota Altezza. The first of three rounds is at Manfeild on Saturday the 5th of May.
"I broke a roll bar about four laps into the race which (later) went through one of the tyres and we had a blowout with one lap to go which cost us 12th place in the championship" said Ross. "In that last race we had passed everybody we needed to pass to move up the championship table, then my front right tyre blew and that was that."
The highspeed blowout occurred down the back straight just after the kink with Ross narrowly escaping a serious crash into the barrier after losing steering in the Parker ENZED Commodore.
"It happened at around 215kph and was a little bit hairy - you can't brake because if you do it too hard it's going to send you off in the wrong direction. So you have to try and slow the car down gently and pull it over, but something went wrong with the steering rack as well so I couldn't turn left. I glanced off the inside wall and rolled down the back straight to the hairpin." he said.
Incredibly Ross was not injured other than in spirit due to ending the season in that way and had to watch the remainder of the race from inside the car on a nearby big-screen. Reflecting on the first round of the season (where the team scored no points after three DNFs due to a new engine failure) it seems that Pukekohe has been the thorn in the side for Ross with him continually aiming to make up for the lost ground there.
"We had a good chance to move up and everything was looking good with one lap to go but unfortunately that was the way it ended" said Ross. "We're still ruing our first round because the points are that close... but that's just the way it is."
The previous two races, taking place on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning were not without their own disappointments with Race One never really happening due to regular appearances of the safety car. Ross found himself stuck in traffic as the Parker ENZED NZV8 tourers freight-trained around the circuit. Whereas some other drivers at the back were able to drop back and put in some fast lap times thus moving them up the order in the grid for Sunday morning's Race Two.
The ruling for this season was to base the Race`Two starting order according to the driver's lap times from the first race. Ross qualified 15th for the first race of the weekend, placed 15th in it but was unfortunately pushed back to start in 20th for Sunday's Race`Two. After doing some "hard yards" to move up in the order again he eventually brought the Commodore home in 15th once more.
In Race three, the full reverse grid saw Ross start off in 18th. He managed to get up to 12th before the safety car came out for a massive ontrack fire in one of the other NZV8 Touring cars and on the restart Ross managed to maintain his position until the blowout ended his weekend.
Looking to the future, work has already begun on putting together a new Holden Commodore race car for next season and the team plan to start testing in around 10 weeks. They hope that in the off season they will be able to pull together a competitive budget through sponsorship which will ensure they are a front contender for the 2007-08 season.
When the V8 Supercars come back to New Zealand next year they will be heading for the all new temporary street circuit in Hamilton. Ross is very much looking forward to competing there as a home track at what will most probably be the final round for the Parker ENZED NZV8 2007-08 season. The date is yet to be confirmed.
"It will be an awesome circuit and fairly fast with a couple of tight corners. There won't be a lot of run-offs and you will have to keep off the walls. Once the drivers get used to it it will be awesome. For some of the guys who haven't done a street circuit before it may be a little different" said Ross.
With the NZV8s over for another season NIck Ross now goes on to compete in the North Island Endurance series with Ian Booth in a Lexus V8 powered Toyota Altezza. The first of three rounds is at Manfeild on Saturday the 5th of May.