The debut race for our Jonnesway Tools / Xforce Exhausts Pulsar has come and gone, and the car is showing great promise! Sean Ryan and Brad Heasman both had some good seat time on the day and although set back with some technical issues, managed to get the car around Sydney Motorsport Park with no real drama.
Essentially the first shakedown on the car, it was the first time we could get some real-time feedback on the car after the 2 week development time. Our main issue was with the suspension, as the collars were coming a little loose after every race. Apparently the standard procedure is to tighten them up after every race which we didn’t realise until after they had already come apart!
In the first race of the round, we worked from 14th place to 10th place, as we adjusted to the car for the first time. In Race 2, we managed to get to 8th place only to DNF due to the suspension issues. We fixed it as best we could but still had issues and started at the rear of grid for Race 3 in 18th Position and battled our way through to 11th place for the last race. At the end of the day, the car came home in great condition with not a mark on it, looking forward to the next round after some more development!
Like in all good race stories, we came away having heaps of fun on the track with a few great stories to tell and also a little bit wiser for the next time we hit the circuit. The next planned outing for the car will be for the next round of the Pulsar Challenge in a few more weeks down at Wakefield Park.
Our little beast was only about a second off the front runner’s pace, showing great promise for a very competitive entry in the Challenge and we’re sure a bit more time prepping the car will easily have us running in the top tiers. We are about 40kg over weight, which will be shaved off over the coming weeks.
We also ran the car in the Festival of Sporting Cars regularity series for extra seat time for both drivers and the general feedback from both Sean and Brad was that the car handles very well and steers like a dream. We will need to squeeze a little more power out of the stock equipment; small things like removing the EGR valve, and some timing adjustment as well as a new air filter should give us a few more ponies under the hood.
Big thanks to Heasman Steering and Suspension not only for sponsoring the car but also helping put the final touches on the preparation such as fitting the race seat and adjusting the Yellowspeed coilovers as best they could.
LINKS
Jonnesway Professional Tools – https://www.facebook.com/JonneswayAU
Xforce Exhausts – http://www.xforce.com.au/
Heasman Steering and Suspension – http://heasmans.com.au/
Festival of Sporting Cars – http://www.fosc.com.au/
Pulsar Challenge – http://www.pulsarchallenge.com/