WWW Winter, Winton, Wet weekend. Once again Winton Raceway lived up to its reputation as a bleak and cold location for round 4 of the 2008 JAGDAIM XJ6 Sprinter series. Snow was visible on the mountains, the drought had broken and with abundant rain, the infield at Winton racetrack resembled a swamp.

Rob Sinclair’s weekend was delayed with his sprinter’s final preparation, resulting in a very late trip up the highway. If Rob thought that it couldn’t get any worse he was in for more surprises.
The sprinters arrived to a wet, greasy track that lacked adhesion. Wheeler, Pearmain, Mackrell and Duncalf were the first group onto the track with Sinclair, Randall, Kenna, Crosbie, Larkins and York in the second group. Wheeler set the pace with (1.43.81) with Pearmain a good second behind (1.44.95) followed by Mackrell (1.47.57) and Duncalf (1.49.34). Randall led the second group with 1.50.54 from Rob Sinclair’s sprinter having tuning problems with his engine, suffering a lack of power @ 3500 revs resulting in a very slow time of 1.51.77. Next in line was Kenna 1.52.61, Larkins 1.56.50, Yorke in the V8 sprinter 1.57.15 and Crosbie 2.03.67. Mike Crosbie was running in his new engine but with the temp gauge running on the red line and he headed back to pits.

Crosbie decided to drain all the fluids from the new engine with the hope that this would solver his heating problems. Meanwhile, several sprinters were trying to re-tune Sinclair’s triple carburettors to cure his misfire problems. Larkins was trying to locate a small oil leak from the front seal but was more concerned with changing his wet tyres as the rain had not appeared and the track was drying.

The second session commenced with a drying track providing very little grip, further restricted with the low track temperature and the chance of rain. All these conditions were reflected in the times with no change in the positions and very little in the times. Wheeler was faster, 1.43.72, along with Pearmain 1.44.77, & Mackrell 1.46.76. Duncalf was slower 1.51.02, but Randall was quickest in the second group 1.49.64 ahead of Kenna 1.53.36. Another mover was Yorke dropping down to 1.53.75, with Sinclair still having problems and slower 1.55.51. Larkins was quicker on his dry tyres 1.55.80 as was Crosbie 1.57.47 with his engine still overheating.

Back in the pits the other drivers pitched in help solve Sinclair and Crosbie’s problems. Larkins was borrowing needles to change on Sinclair’s carburettors. Meanwhile a large hammer was used to reshape the radiator cap seat on Crosbie’s car to overcome its overheating problems.

The track was finally drying out but there were still large puddles on some of the corner lines for the start of the final session. Wheeler (1.44.04) and Pearmain (1.44.98) were both slower than the first two sessions, ahead of Mackrell but he recorded his fastest time for the day with 1.46.03 and Duncalf (1.50.66). Randall in the second group was faster with1.49.72, with Larkin’s best lap for the day (1.53.81) just ahead of Crosbie (1.53.85) who ignored the temp gauge and recorded his fastest lap. Kenna was next 1.54.19 just ahead of Yorke (1.54.42) and a very disappointed Rob Sinclair coming in last (1.58.26).

Both Rob and Mike have only two weeks to fix their problems before the running of the 6 Hour relay at Phillip Island.

Wheeler took the round win from Pearmain and Trevor Mackrell who has now moved to second spot on the JAGDAIM Championship table. The big loser for the weekend was Rob Sinclair who has now moved spot just 2 points behind Mackrell.

The JAGDAIM XJ6 SPRINTER 2008 SERIES moves to Phillip Island for the second last round on Sunday 21st September with the final round to be run at Sandown on Saturday 1st November 2008. Good luck to all the sprinters running in Phillip Island 6 Hour on 31st August 2008.

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS TABLE AND LAP TIMES FOR 2008
JAGDAIM XJ6 SPRINTERS SERIES

DNC Did not compete
* NTL No recorded timed lap
** New Lap Record

Ross Coles
Secretary
Jaguar XJ Sprinters Drivers Association
Contact: 0417351304 or email: secretary@jagsprinters.org