Event date: 27 February 2021
Saturday, February 27 saw the inaugural round of the 2021 Traction Tyres/Yokohama Drivers Championship at Sandown Raceway. 14 members took to the track with near perfect weather conditions for 6 great sessions of action. Lap times and banter in pit lane heated up throughout the day as new members were welcomed and veterans passed on valuable tips.
A big thank you to the Alfa Club for hosting a very well run day and we look forward to sharing more rounds of the 2021 Traction Tyres/Yokohama Drivers Championship with you.
Be sure to dust off the helmet and get the car prepped to join the fun for the next round at Rob Roy on March 7.
Jon Chadwick | Member #593
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
Saturday was an exciting day for me, as I have become a part of the pit crew at Bell Motorsport. It was the first round of the Traction Tyres/Yokohama driver's championship at Sandown. It was a cold start to the morning considering we're still in summer, as drivers begun arriving and unloading. For those that had booked a garage in pitlane, they slowly unloaded their cars and drove their immaculate looking vehicles around and down pitlane to their designated garage in a slow manner, so not to make too much noise and get pinged for exceeding the noise limit before 9am.
Representing Bell Motorsport were two drivers, Rod Martin in his black E30, who races in the Garagistic E30 Racing series and Adam Sleep in his blue E30. There were also a few other E30's like Jim Tucker is his red car, as well as a few other variants of the M3 and a few 1 series too from BMWDCM. The rest of the cars there were made up of Mazda's, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Porsche.
My day was pretty easy, guiding the two Bell Motorsport cars to line up before each of their sessions in pitlane and then checking tyre pressures on their return to the garage after each session. As well as the occasional mop of the windscreen if it got dirty and most importantly keeping the drivers and Graeme hydrated with water, making sure they drank plenty during the day.
Each session ran for 15mins with five groups. So I think the Bell Motorsport drivers had 5 runs over the day, getting in some good laps. It was a good learning for Adam, following Rod around, finding the right lines and improving his race craft. On their return back to the garage both drivers compared feedback and got ready for their next session.
Thanks to Bell Motorsport for allowing me to come down and help out. I look forward to helping out at the next round or perhaps joining the pit crew for the E30 Racing series at some point!
Tim Oh | Member #538
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
Saturdays event at Sandown’s Traction Tyres/Yokohama Driver Championship was an absolute blast. Going into the event, I was fairly nervous as I haven’t done many track days before. However, by the end of the day I became more and more confident in my driving ability.
As soon as I arrived, people were very friendly and eager to provide pointers and advice to help me improve my driving skills. This included helping me choose specific driving lines and breaking points. Listening and putting to use the advice from experienced drivers that were very familiar with the track itself, enabled me to improve my driving times drastically throughout the day.
There was an awesome turn out in the range of cars that came to participate in the event. Having an E30 myself, it was great to speak to many likeminded e30 owners and the way they had all differently set up their cars. The days activities brought people coming from all around Melbourne to perform their personal best and nothing less.
It gave me a bit of pride being apart of such a passionate, friendly and inclusive community with BMW Drivers Club Melbourne. There is no doubt that you will see me there next time.
Justin Penev | Member #543
BMW Drivers Club Melbourne
