ARDC Multiclub - Eastern Creek, 25th February 2007
Eastern Creek, 25th February 2007
With low key testing in 2006 of chassis developments coupled with many months of solid work towards the end of 2006 we managed to see the first appearance of 1 new customer Avoig Elise & a new Team GioVa machine for the start of our NSW 2007 club racing at Eastern Creek raceway. Leading up to the Eastern Creek meeting there was much anticipation from George Koutros the owner of the new #72 being his first outing to such a big track. Certainly the last week demonstrated the anxiety levels that can be expected prior to racing by newer members to the premier class.
The first race meeting of the year also saw the arrival of the Lombo’s two new Anderson/Honda’s - this meant there were 4 brand new 250 Twin’s making their first appearances at NSW club level racing. If my recollections serve me correctly this is the first time such an event has occurred.
The appearance of the new Avoig Elise saw plenty of keen interest from club members & fellow racers at the track. We were asked plenty of eager questions by some that showed interest. By the days racing we managed 2 solid enquiries for machines to be built.
Despite the high level of fan fair, the Black/Greens debut performance was less than impressive on paper as result of an intermittent electrical problem that was being chased all day - however we did managed a hand full of laps that clearly indicated the strength of the new machines future at the sharp end of proceeding. Rest assured there was disappointment with the days racing as there were high expectations of results. It can be argued that you’re only as good as your last race….so not a good start.
There was constant flurry of activity between races that saw most of the electrical components changed from ECU, coils, plugs, removal of the kill switch & so on. The only remaining components that weren’t changed were the rectifier, stata & condenser – in any event our efforts throughout the day netted no results despite the cracker starts. Many thanks must go to Adrian Lombaro for kindly allowing us to use electrical components from his stricken machine to get us going. Currently the electricals have been removed from the kart for testing but it appears a loose bullet connector within the wiring loom may be the culprit to a bad days racing…..oh well that’s racing.
Amongst all the highs & lows of the days proceeds George Koutros managed to secure a second place trophy on his first outing in his new Avoig. This is a terrific achievement given George has never driven a Twin. His machine ran faultlessly all day & by all accounts he is still sporting a huge grin for his efforts…..well done George !!
We look forward to our next race meeting & furthering the developments of the Avoig chassis. GioVa racing have a schedule of testing in place that will ensure a very high level of performance for future machines that are built for both in-house & customer usage.