Down But Not Out, Round 3 ReviewWords By Team CTS Drift Disaster struck at round 3 for Team CTS Drift with a mechanical failure putting the team out of contention early in Sunday’s battles. Early signs were good for the team with some very speedy runs on Saturday, and some promising looking tandem battles during practice with some of the other big name drivers and teams. After preliminary qualifying the team was placed well in third position and went home looking forward to Sundays big race day. Leighton commented 'We had good car speed due to some testing we have been doing recently, and are working the Toyo R1R tires even harder than in Queensland. I'm really looking forward to battles tomorrow.' Leighton’s start to Sunday was less fortunate however, breaking the Differential on his first practice lap of the day. The team was quickly onto the problem, and had the diff changed in a P.B. Of thirteen minutes. Unfortunately this meant a change of diff ratio's was necessary, and with this, Leighton was unable to improve on Saturdays qualifying and the team slipped back one spot to fourth. After a bye in the top 32, it was in the first battle that disaster struck. A Close first run with 'Team Peers' Darren Appleton left Leighton looking for more grip, and while trying to warm his rear tires over the back section of track there was a resounding 'snap' was felt through the car, as both drive shafts broke, leaving the team unable to continue. Bill Bromley commented 'It’s certainly not the way we wanted the round to head, but unfortunately, 'that’s motor sport' as they say. The Team has learned some valuable lessons from this, and we are already well underway with finding a solution for this problem, look for bigger and better things from us at next round.’ As the car was towed back in the team wasted no time moping about the unfortunate situation and fitted a new pair of drive shafts immediately. ‘We have duty to our sponsors, to keep the car circulating and get as much exposure as possible.’ Commented Mark Tilbrook ‘We also have a bit of team pride to uphold and show that every team has a bad day and misfortunes but we can bounce back quicker and better than most. Plus this allows us to have a bit of fun and little bit of extra testing of different settings never hurt anyone.’ Leighton then had his first go at the Extreme Entry competition and also entered the Team Drift Competition along with Eugene Arendsen and Simon Podlewski which was fittingly named ‘Team 180’ with all drivers using 3 different versions of the model. ‘Team 180’ went on to win the Team Drift Session and everyone finshed the day with a smile. Team CTS Drift would like to thank all of its sponsors for there support both at, and leading up to the event, and vow they will be back at the pointy end for Round 4. Toyo Tires Drift Australia Series Mallala Motorsport Park Top Eight Toyo Tires Drift Australia Series Standings |
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