The Minda Motorsport team made the journey up to the sunny state of QLD for Round 6 of the Australian Formula Ford Championship, making his return to the team was #10 Jesse Dixon, who missed the Sandown round to test a Formula BMW in Malaysia. MMS also took on local driver and 08 team member #63 Martin Swindells, who was having his first run since Round 2 at Winton.
#63 Martin Swindells #10 Jesse Dixon
In the preceding week Minda Motorsport had a good shake down at Phillip Island, giving the team the chance to make sure all was OK with the cars before the round, and it also gave Nick McBride some more seat time. On the same day Minda Motorsport tested with state driver Matthew Brabham and Formula Vee stand out, Jack LeBrocq ,both doing a fantastic job.
The teams weekend started on a high note with Minda Motorsport again winning best presented car for #74 Nick McBride. This is two meetings in a row, with the team winning it at the last round with #8 Tom Tweedie in the Kanga Batman Tafe car.
Both Practice 1 and 2 went as the team had planned, and these sessions were used as familiarisation sessions for all 4 drivers.
Qualifying was at 8:45am in beautiful sunny and warm conditions, the team had spent a long time going over the data from the previous days practice sessions and came up with what they thought was going to be a good car and plan for all 4 drivers, and it was. Ben Walter, #25, did a great job qualifying 4th on his own, missing out on a tow, "If I had got a tow I could have been top 2, but I'm happy to be next to championship leader Nick Percat". The next Minda Motorsport driver was #10, Jesse Dixon, who did an exceptional job to qualify 7th on his return, "It was great. The car was awesome, and to be that close the front makes all the hard work worth while, two tenths would have put me in 4th" In 9th position was #63, Martin Swindells who stated "the team put their new shock package into my car for Qualifying, and it's a different car, just so much better to drive over the bumps. I love it." Next was #74 Nick McBride in 11th position "I'm disappointed with 11th; I was well inside the 10 in practice. I just need to work on it"
#25 Ben Walter # 74 Nick McBride
Ben Walter was straight away in the contest running with championship leader and highly experienced Nick Percat, until a missed gear dropped him back a little. Ben fought hard and finished a very credible 5th "We had pace, just missed that gear and that was enough to drop of that pack" Walter said.
#10 Jesse Dixon had also made a mistake at turn 2 and spun with team mate for the weekend #63 Martin Swindells. Jesse fought hard to make it back to 11th "Great race, I was in a rhythm and the car was great. One mistake cost me, but I'm still very happy" and for a P plate driver it was a promising turn of speed.
#63 Martin Swindells, had a DNF, after a rare ignition module failure, leaving the car on two cylinders, "I'm not happy, but the cars good, it's just one of those things. Let's get onto Race 2" said Swindells. Nick McBride was also having a good run, running inside the top 10 when he had a top gear failure "What do you do? It was new and it looks like I have taken the edge off the dog and it wouldn't stay in gear" commented McBride.
Race 2 again saw Ben Walter make a good start and was into 4th by lap 2, and was engaged in a race long battle with CAMS Rising Stars lead driver Scott Pye, "Scott made a great move under brakes so I yielded, but another top 5 is great. Looking good for Race 3." said Walter. Jesse Dixon had another fantastic race fighting the whole way with his more experienced peers, his great work all ending on lap 5 when Dixon and CAMS Rising Stars driver Luke Ellery came together under brakes at Turn 3 "I miss judged Luke's braking mark and had to go to the right to miss the back of him, and as I did he turned in and we hit: This pushed Dixon back and he drove a fine race to come back and finish 9th.
In the process Martin Swindells and Nick McBride had been slowly chipping away in equally impressive drives from the rear of grid after the Race 1 DNF's, to finish 10th and 13th respectively. "I had a ball and loved it, just love this car as it is" remarked an elated Martin Swindells, Nick was less happy "It's an OK result, but I'm really struggling with the bumps, I need to work a bit harder" said McBride.
Race 3 was started with high hopes from the whole Minda Motorsport team, after the team's cars pace in races 1 & 2. Sadly Jesse Dixon was given a 27 second penalty for Race 3 after his coming together with Luke Ellery in Race 2, and was sent to the rear of grid. With a fantastic drive this future star finished in 11th, "What can I say, I felt I drove well, and the car is just awesome. The result on paper does not show the team's real pace, so I'm really looking forward to my next round at Indy" stated Dixon.
With another steady drive #74, Nick McBride followed Jesse finishing in 12th "It just hasn't clicked this weekend, I was fast at Sandown, challenging for a podium and here I'm just off my game. So let's more forward to Phillip Island where I'm sure I will be competitive" said McBride. Martin Swindells, #63 was on a roll in Race 3 , running in the main group and bringing home a well deserved 7th, "That's ace, I loved it" remarked Swindells. Ben Walter, #25, was also in the act with a real chance of a podium result for the weekend, it looked promising for Ben and the Minda Motorsport team. Unfortunately Ben ran wide into turn 2 on lap one while 4th and dropped back to last, ruining any chance of a podium. Ben then put his head down and charged back to 9th, but little reward for what was otherwise a great weekend for Walter "What do I say, it's a real opportunity wasted. We had pace and I was well within my limits, I dropped a wheel off at the fast Turn 2 and away it went. The result that got away I suppose" sighed Walter after the race.
The team now moves onto its next outing, firstly a test at Phillip Island next week and then onto the next national round at Phillip Island on the 11th - 13th September. From there it will be concentrating on the task of winning the Victorian State Championship where it currently lays second by 1 point in the pre 96 class, and second by 3 points outright with Jon Miles in the teams Spectrum 010, busy times ahead.
Race 1 was held in the early afternoon heat, and all the team was looking forward to an exciting race after a very successful qualifying that morning.
