CAMS Offices (Sports House) Cnr. Caxton & Castlemaine Streets, Milton Q 4064. Meeting Start - 7.45pm approx. Pre Meeting Drinkies and Feed up at the Paddo Tavern as usual.
DAMIEN CROSTON had his most successful meeting to date aboard the DCR Fabrication and Motorsport Gemini Sports Sedan, coming home a fine second overall for the weekend at the third round of the Queensland State Championships at Morgan Park Raceway over the weekend.
The event not only netted results of second, third and third outright in the three races, but also a personal best lap time around the 2.1km long circuit of 1:07.1975sec, proving that recent development work on the car is heading in a positive direction.
“It was a very good weekend, and the points haul was fantastic,” said Croston.
“The car performed very well in the races, especially after we put some newer tyres on the car for Sunday, and if it wasn’t for a massive head wind down into Gumtree Corner, it would have been even quicker.
“On Friday we were chasing the set up of the car a bit, and I think with a rear sway bar fitted and some more improvements to the car, we should get into the 1:06sec backet."
The weekend for the most part was a fairly lonely affair for Croston, with the outright cars of Glenn White (Capri) and Anthony Cox (turbo-charged Gemini) just out of reach, with Croston’s naturally-aspirated Gemini clearly ahead of the remaining under two-litre and invited machines.
A quality field of Sports Sedans will line up for the fourth and final round of the State Championship at Morgan Park on November 7-8.
Between gaps in his State Championship campaign, Croston took in the Mount Cootha Hillclimb, following in the wheel tracks of his great grandfather, who competed on the mountain’s winding roads the 1920s.
Although the rough and bumpy layout was not suited to the modern Sports Sedan, Croston finished a respectable 32nd outright and fifth in class out of a field of over 200 competitors, after earlier running strongly within the top-20.
Damien’s father Richard Croston also campaigned the family’s historic Nota KM200, which will be the team’s single entry at the event next year.
Mount Cootha was followed by a non-championship round at the Shannons Nationals in August at Morgan Park, where persistent throttle position sensor issues coupled with degrading fuel tank foam, made for a trying weekend.
Following on from the Shannons round, much work was done to the car including new water and air temperature sensors, which proved their worth in the warm weather at the State Championships.
Big Changes in Store for 2010
The new season will see the DCR Fabrication and Motorsport Gemini Sports Sedan step up in class, with the fitting of a turbo charged engine to see the nimble Gemini join the outright contenders.
The team at this stage is unsure whether to stick with a four cylinder engine or to move to a rotary power plant, either way, the new engine configuration will be turbo charged.
In addition, the rear geometry of the car will be significantly changed with the addition of a new Eurospeed cambered rear end, giving the car a V8 Supercar styled Watts Linkage set up.
DCR Fabrications and Motorsport would like to thank the ongoing support of their sponsors, especially PowerPlus Fuels, Pine Rivers Bearings, Leda Suspension, Chip Torque, Damien Emery Engineering, Trump Card Race Products, Northside Engine Balancing and HPC Queensland.
Find out more about DCR Fabrications and Motorsports on the net at www.dcr.net.au.
