ECU’s, Engines and Earth!

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September 23, 2019

Alexandra Whitley

photo credit: GSG Photography

Over the weekend of the 20th of September we made the haul back to Melbourne, for the sixth round of the Australian TCR Series. Right in the heart of Melbourne is where you’ll find the famous Sandown Raceway. The home of horse power! Which wraps around the horse racing track built in the 19th Century!

I locked in another new track under my belt and learnt truckloads from being run my the Melbourne Performance Centre Team. We had a few issues with everything beginning with E! But that won’t stop us! I can’t thank them enough for welcoming me with open arms and helping me all weekend.
Both Volkswagens were sent back to Melbourne between rounds to the Melbourne Performance Centre; to have a once over, get their set-ups dialed in and a little TLC. I was excited to be back in the car and be run by a team with a great name and even better reputation. After watching plenty of in-car footage from other drivers and spending some time on the simulator I was ready to tackle another new track, we rolled out for practice on Friday. I was a little off on the times, but that was to be expected for my first laps around the place. My engineer Leigh was fantastic working with me through data, footage, getting comfortable and helping me learn the tricks to Sandown Raceway. We worked on a few changes in the car and improved by leaps and bounds in the next one, unfortunately our session was cut short due to a leaking tyre.

We rolled out for qualifying on Saturday morning, I made progress and improved each lap qualifying 18th place for race one. The start was later that afternoon and it was tricky, as the it poured with rain and stopped again we had to quickly make the call on our set-up and tyre choice.

We decided to go half an half! With slicks on the front and wets on the rear. The first few laps were tricky for everyone until the track dried out to a one lane race! We made a few positions off the start and again as others made mistakes to finish in 14th.
I studied hard over night to ensure I could do everything I can to improve on my driving and push the car to it’s limits. We had back to back races, my start was good and we we’re racy! With the Drag strip like straights the Volkswagen’s all struggled for straight line speed, we played catch up in the corners as they pulled away on the straights again. This made it hard to pass, but we drove hard and moved forward again. Suddenly the car just completely died! I rolled to a stop and couldn’t get it going. The marshals towed me back and the MPC boys got to work. Changing a computer the car fired up! But when we tried to take off and it was dead again! Eventually with 2 minutes to go until pit lane was closed, they found an earth wire shorting out which sorted our problems. We made the grid with only seconds to spare!

I got a ripper start and was side by side with the grid in front, leaping forwards in the first few turns, as we dragged up the back straight I lost one back again, we slowly made our way back forwards when we lost power again! But this time it blew smoke too. That’s not good!

I came to a stop and watched the final laps from the sideline. It was a disappointing end to the weekend for not only me, but the whole MPC crew. Everyone on the team put their heart and sole into the weekend and it would have been nice to finish on a high, as I finally got the tricks to the track sorted!
I’m extremely grateful to the MPC Team for having and working with me throughout the weekend, TCR Australia for having me back and everyone who worked hard behind the scenes to help get me to another round. With only a round to go in the series I’m determined to make the grid at The Bend, I’m really looking forward to getting back to a track were I have now turned some laps on, giving the boys hard a time and proving my potential.

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