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[BOATS] More improvements for 321Ignition
by Sean Henshelwood
(Archived)
Further improvement for the 321Ignition team
Rnd#2 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships
Lake Centenary, Temora, NSW
27-28 March, 2009
Heading into the Temora round of the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships, team-boss Greg Harriman was full of anticipation for an improvement in form..
“When we were in New Zealand we organised some new impellors for the jet unit as well as a new grille; we expected them to arrive for Melton, but they didn’t get here until just after, so I’m expecting there will be some performance gains for Temora,” he said.
A cautious start and some fine tuning saw improvement over the course of the opening rounds, although the immaculate 321 Ignition boat still remained outside the top ten by the close of qualifying.
“It feels fast, much faster than it was at Melton, but whilst we’ve improved, so too has everyone else..” Adam Doyle agreed, “It feels great; really fast, but the lap times just don’t show it..”
By the close of qualifying the 321Ignition team were sadly forced to pack up having missed their second top ten this season.
“I’m at a bit of a loss to be honest,” Harriman admitted. “The boat feels fast, the MoTeC data shows a throttle trace of close to 95% full throttle, yet we’re still as much as four seconds a lap off the pace.
“There are some modifications I’d like to make to the cage and also the seat position after Griffith. Sadly we only have five weeks between the first three rounds so there’s no time to make any changes, but I’d hope by the fourth round to have all that sorted.”
321 Ignition’s engine tuner Col Parish too was surprised by 321 Ignition’s lack of pace, but admitted that the Mackraft hull looked skittish on the water. “The Temora course put you over the cross wash a few times and that really tests a boat. The 321 Ignition hull suffered the same fate as a number of boats over the weekend and it started to hop across the wash, and that’s just not fast. We tried a lot of things to dial it out, but just couldn’t find the sweet spot.
“Greg’s already proven that he can drive – when he and Nathan [Pretty] shared the boat late last year, Nathan was only half a second faster than Greg.. If we can find that sweet spot with the boat and Greg’s four seconds faster, all of a sudden he’s a contender for the top five. It’s at times like this when you just have to work at it and bide your time – it will come..”
The 321 Ignition Racing team now prepares for the third round of the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships scheduled for Griffith in central-western NSW over the Easter weekend (April 10-11).
You can catch all the action from round two of the 2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships on SBS Speedweek on April 5 (2:00pm EST - check guides) and on FOX Sports 'Inside Speed' on April 8 (8:30pm EST - check local guides for confirmation).
321Ignition Racing is proudly supported by; 321Ignition Magazine, Brumby’s, Parish Automotive, ACE Truck Bodies, SKIN Industries Pickering Smash Repairs, Meridian Motorsport and Phicom Extreme Communication.
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2009 Continental Tyres Australian Superboat Championships
International Group A (points after Rnd#2 of 5)
1. Slade Stanley (91), 2. Nathan Pretty (81), 3. Ted Sygidus (76), 4. Rohan Smith (75), 5. Tremayne Jukes (68), 6. Brooke Dixon (63), 7. Robert Colman (50), 8. Greg Mercier (46), 9. Darek Sygidus (39), 10. Daniel Walton (22), 11. Simon Zarb (18), 12. Greg Harriman/Adam Doyle (12), 12. Mick Manini (12), 14. Brendan Donnelly (10), 14. Shane Loughnan (10), 14. Darren Watkins (10), 14. Tony Whalan (10), 18. Kevin Laugesen (5), 18. Damien O’Leary
www.321ignitionmag.com
www.v8superboats.com.au
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