Author: Chris Baraciolli

Hello All, Trust you all survived the last run and more importantly the Duniam Hospitality. Well looks like everyone had a good day. Craig Ballinger once again managed to improve his times despite some fuel filter issues. Mitch McAllister despite lacking grip and power managed to put a good time together by the end of the day. Brendan managed to go slower on each run. Graham Deahl was dirty on his time on the third run which i thought was a good time but i noted he achieved his desired 1.48 on the 4th run. Chris Baraciolli achieved a great 1.48 on his first run to knock me off. Doug Edwards had brakes working on the Hillman which i observed from close range on the 3rd run where we had a great battle for
the whole run.   Peter Thomson had the B fired up well but just needs to
go an extra bit under brakes everywhere to peg us back.

Steve Duniam was standing back observing his engine bay at lunch time and noting that no fluids were flowing anywhere. Of course one does not bend down and look underneath a Jag motor or else he would of observed a substantial amount of oil on the concrete. However coming from a 4 gallon sump a couple of pints is nothing, what? I did take the time to watch Steve on his 3rd run and noted that he appeared to apply a little lateral pressure to his tyres, maybe even .1 or .2 G. Do you think this is wise as those Jag tyres may not be designed for lateral movement when they were manufactured in 1960. Even more disturbing was the effect of lateral G on the motor, was this even a design parameter on a Jag. I say these things in hindsight as we observed the performance of the brakes and clutch at Broadford which looked very tidy but apparently were not designed to take high pressure or maybe even brake fluid. Geoff Duniam on his first run with his new MGB of course ran faultlessly all day.
Nick Wood ran fast as usual but developed an oil leak from the rocker cover which wasn’t able to be rectified.
Coming events are the Motorkhana at Breakwater on 10th September. Sup Regs are done and patterns will appear soon. Coming soon is Bryant Park Hillclimb on 24th Sep, entry through MA on the MGCC Vic Calendar.

regards, Graeme

G Torque Competition Report September 2023 – Graeme Ruby
Photo’s by Rob Clark

Since my last report we have had the Aroca (Alfa Romeo Owners Club) Sprints at the State Motorcycle centre at Broadford. We had 9 competitors including our guest Doug Edwards in his very swift Hillman Hunter with XU1 holden spec motor. Being on site at 7.00am it was cold with Nick Wood thawing out after the drive from Geelong with roof down. Very well organized the Alfa boys had a familiarity session for first timers followed by a 12 minute warm up session for all competitors. Noting the amount of tyre smoke and sideways action I believe our MG/MX5 group were trying a bit harder than the 80% specified. Interestingly I found the MX5’s were not any faster except for one highly modified car.

Our first of three timed runs was very competitive with our group lining up in order of our qualifying times behind the Mazdas. Graham Deahl wanted to get me so was on my tail from the start forcing a couple errors from me but then he had a slide allowing me to get away. Nick Wood then had a good challenge with Graham, Peter Thomson and Brendan Sullivan right behind. Craig Ballinger on his first Sprint event started slowly but got quicker every lap.

Steve Duniam we later learned failed to start which was found to be a loose wire on the ignition. Doug Edwards was flying getting a very good 1.12 which considering the difficulties he was having with brakes was a great time. After this run he had abetter look and found his rear brake lining on RHR had disintegrated. Doug changed the lining between runs but continued to have rear brake issues. Chris Freeman was running trouble free but cautiously.

On the second run Steve Duniam had the MGA with 4.2 litre Jag power motoring very well down the straights but being very conservative around the corners as he sorted the car out. After the run he reported he had no clutch. Graham Deahl had a look and discovered he had no way to adjust free-play as a fixed system had been fitted. The car was half loaded on trailer and Graham and Steve fitted a new adjustable bolt. Steve was very enthused about this and offered to give Graham a big ….

Craig Ballinger ran about 5 seconds quicker and was now right behind Steve and Chris.

Myself and Nick Wood departed after the 2nd run, Nick to beat the coming rain and myself because I was getting untidy and didn’t think I could go faster. Looking at times Craig was the only one to go faster.

Times: Graeme Ruby 1.12.44, Doug Edwards 1.12.88, Graham Deahl 1.14.01 Nick Wood 1.14.81, Peter Thomson 1.15.41, Brendan Sullivan 1.16.84 Craig Ballinger 1.21.90 Chris Freeman 1.21.88 Steve Duniam 1.24.09

An interesting fact looking at the times was the differential between our slow little cars compared to the big boys which on the day were some late model Mercedes AMG and BMW race cars which did a best of 1.04 and 1.06 respectively, The fastest MX5, supercharged and modified did a 1.07 with a couple around 1.11 and the others slower than us, not that slow at all.

Coming events are the Winton Sprints on 26th August run by the Jag Club. On 10th September we have a Motorkhana at the Clubrooms. This is a Come and Try event so anyone is invited to come along and have a try or just a ride with one of the guys. This is also an invite for anyone interested, member or not to come and join us. If you have a friend, son, grandson or daughter and they are interested bring them along and they will be invited to have a try. Start time is a very civilized 9.00am. On the 24th September we have the Bryant Park Hillclimb.