To say round 1 of the 2017 NZ Offshore Powerboat series was a disaster for BCRacing would be an understatement.
Yes we had an absolute shocker and this has already threatened our championship hopes, but this will only make us stronger and just means we have to get better.
Last week started with the team struggling to sort out a gremlin in the port engine of our latest Super boat 400 “RefurbGroup” and unfortunately we never resolved that gremlin.
Every time we sorted one issue, another one would arise and every time we tested the boat the computer would go into guardian at 6,000 revs.
The best we could do is send the boys out to start each race and gain valuable championship points.
With all the time and effort spent on “RefurbGroup” we had next to no time to sort out NZHL, but luckily for us the work we had done in the off-season was right on the money and she was on song straight off the trailer.
The countdown to race 1 began with a huge amount of anticipation, as we would be lining up against HiJinx Racing – An experienced crew with a great set up and we could see from the testing they had already done that they had dialled their boat in very well.
This is why we set this class up in the first instance, hard close racing where set up, reliability and crew ability is what wins the day.
Race 1 started with HiJinx Racing pushing NZHL wide which is the oldest racing trick in the book, thing is all it does is get our boys fired up which is exactly what we want.
Karl backed off the throttles just a fraction so Chris could steer NZHL through HiJinx rooster tail and take the inside line, which put NZHL in the ideal attacking position.
With HiJinx still running a wide line and Chris’s experience on the wheel of NZHL, we were able to catch HiJinx halfway through lap 1.
Coming into the hairpin turn at the end of the front straight Chris and Karl showed HiJinx how hard you can actually turn these rocket ships by sneaking NZHL in between the markerbouy and HiJinx while still retaining momentum and accelerating out of the corner to a 50mtr lead.
This allowed Chris and Karl to now run their own lines and maintain their lead over HiJinx, even increasing it to 200mtrs by midway through the race.
Click on this link to watch on-board footage of NZHL and HiJinx battle in the first lap: https://www.facebook.com/NzHomeloansRacing/videos/1409912249053805/
With 70% of race 1 completed and NZHL maintaining a solid lead over HiJinx racing, all was looking good for a great start to our championship hopes.
That was until a fuel injector in our port engine gave a cough and splutter resulting in #4 cylinder leaning out – what happens when a 2 stroke high performance outboard leans out? BANG!!!
NZHL lost all power in the port engine and our boys speed was reduced to around 50mph, a far cry from the mid 90’s they were achieving and therefore easy for HiJinx to get past and take the win. The good thing is our boys kept NZHL going right to the end and were able to finish race 1 for valuable championship points.
Last night team BCRacing was back in our workshop stripping down NZHL’s port engine for a complete diagnosis, only to reveal our worst fears – One totally destroyed engine, which will probably end up as a coffee table.
So now it’s on the phone and the internet to locate and airfreight in a new engine from somewhere, so we can do it all again in a few weeks in Beach lands on the 18th Feb – Come on down and watch the boys do battle again.
