The Trials and Tribulations of car 519
in Targa Tasmania 2004 004
(Steve and Rachael Coad)
Introduction
We ran this car, 1972 HQ Holden Monaro GTS350 in Targa 2003 and in Classic Adelaide 2003. Although the car is extremely well built and prepared we suffered minor mechanical failures in each of these events (an axle in Targa Tas and a broken throttle cable in Adelaide) that cost us any chance of a result. I also learned a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of the car.
So for Targa Tasmania 2004 we decided to make some changes to the car to make it more reliable, more drivable and ultimately quicker.
So we made a few little changes……
Engine
This was the big change.
It was a small block Chev 350 cubic inch and we had all the good gear in the engine but its weakness was it required lots revs to really produce power.
So we decided to give a little ‘enlargement’ and stroke the engine to 413 cubic inches and change the cam timing to flatten the power and torque curves. It worked a treat and the power curve became a power line…45 degree’s straight up !….. nice.
Maximum power only increased slightly to around 400kw at the rear wheels.
Torque is incredible,,, around 900 NM and very flat.
Steering
We have a quick rack in the car and I had complained about the steering being lumpy…or oval feeling. The power steering pump was struggling so we replaced this and its surprising the amount this changed the feel of the car. It suddenly feels a lot more direct off centre than before and took some getting used to.
Clutch
We had a twin plate clutch in the car but replaced this with a triple plate. I had never driven with a triple plate clutch before. Boy, are these a different experience. I have spent lots of time with button clutches but the strength of this clutch has to be felt. It gives new meaning to on/off I can tell you.
Tyres
We are restricted to 16 x 8 inch wheels by the rules of the event. So previously we were on 225 tyres as they were the largest we could get.
But the nice people at Yokohama recently introduced 245 tyres that would fit on the rims. So we immediately used them….
The Support
We had fantastic support from the Monaro Club of Tasmania who also helped to find sponsorship.
Right from the start they were very enthusiastic about us bringing 519 back to Tassie for another crack.
We also had great support from Motors (the Holden dealer in Launceston) who loaned us a service vehicle for the entire event. Much appreciated.
I had a crew of 4 volunteers who ran around helping with servicing and organizing everything for myself and Rachael. I rely on them much more than most would as I am not residing in Australia. We could not have come down and competed without all these people.
Public support for our car is incredible and a big thanks to everyone who turned out to watch all of the cars in not always the best weather and to all of Tasmania for letting us stage such an event. I really cannot believe how popular it is with the local spectators and I feel we should approach the event to provide entertainment to them rather than try to necessarily achieve fastest times.
It is difficult at times to maintain this approach with such influences as “red mist” and “peer pressure” from other competitors.
The Challenge
For me it was a big challenge to familiarize myself with this reconfigured car because as I live in Singapore I had not driven any car in competition since the Classic Adelaide in November 03, nor had I laid eyes on the Monaro since then.
So I was very rusty. The first time I would get to drive it would be Targa Tasmania prologue.
Prologue
The event organizers had put three modified muscle cars at the back of the field for the Prologue, Catlin’s Mustang, O’Keefe’s A9X Torana and myself.
I think this must have been to create a spectacle. The crowd is really enthusiastic about the old muscle cars. I was to go first.
So here was the big chance to see what the improved car could do. The flag drops and off I go….I stall it. That damned clutch!! So I fire it up again and take off but get about 30 meters of wheel spin. The car is incredibly loose in the rear under brakes and under power, basically just all the time. I do a 180deg spin at the RSL Club corner and stall it….again! By the end of the 4.5km stage I figure I have left solid black lines for about 3km.
The car is filled with tyre smoke, we even spin the tyres in 4th gear!!! That night I watched Len Catlin’s in car footage and it shows the whole stage is a smoke haze from my tyres. (my In Car footage is defiantly worth seeing as well..)
My time is very bad, but at least I win the award for the most spectacular car in the event. Unsurprising really considering the behavior.
But doesn’t the car half go. It has unbelievable acceleration, by far the most I have ever experienced. Mechanically the car was perfect. Little service required tonight.
Day 1
We get through this day OK, but not very fast. The car is still very loose in the rear. I kept winding the brake bias towards the front. I thought this is very unusual as I don’t normally adjust it. Again we are slow and have very little grip. We trade times with our obvious competitor Len Catlin, but O’Keefe is quicker than us.
As Dick Johnson once said “it has less grip than a dog on lino”.
That night we climb under the car and discover the brake bias is favoring the rear 80/20. This is very unusual. There is no marking on the adjuster so its impossible to tell from inside the car what it is set to. Someone had definitely wound it right back about 10 turns, either in the workshop or at the Launceston Silverdome. At least it explains why the car tries to turn me around under brakes.
Again we had no mechanical drama’s. No service required, just a basic check over.
Day 2
Its wet. Buggar! We do the sideling at snails pace. Absolutely no traction at all, but at least we are braking in a straight line. In this stage alone Len takes over a minute out of me. The rest of the morning stages are wet or partially wet. We are slow. As we head south the afternoon becomes drier. Cranbrook is a hoot, its dry and very fast. I couldn’t believe we are taking corners in 4th gear at over 180km/h and the car is still lighting up the rear tyres even at these speeds.
Rachael is nervous. I don’t blame her. Grasstree Hill is similar, but at least we are getting competitive in terms of times.
Mechanically we had no issues, it was just the usual check over and Troy’s cleaning habit…..
Day 3
The rear tyres are completely shagged. They look hideous. So we put the fronts on the rear and our last new tyres (without penalty) on the front.
The day threatens to rain but it never actually does. Although some of the stages are a little greasy.
And I have grip. Halleluiah. What a difference those tyres made. I am sure the old set were not just looking shagged, but they had been cooked on the prologue and were harder than the roads we were driving on.
I knew I was quick straight away as I caught and passed a Ferrari about 4km’s into the Howden stage.
Oyster Cove was an absolute blast dancing the car through the tricky corners. Likewise Cygnet, and I caught another Monaro in there too.
By the time I got to Longley I was brimming with confidence. The road was recently sealed (like yesterday !) so basically gravel. I threw the car through the stage as hard as I could and set a great time.
But we stripped most of the paint of the wheels arches and lower guards in the process. We had sticky tar from the front to the back of the car including inside and all over our clothes and faces. Rachael looked like a coal miner when she took her helmet off (not happy!).
Then the officials downgraded it saying it was too dangerous. Damn. And we had to have a shower in engine degreaser as well.
At the end of the day I took 45 seconds from Len and 15seconds from O’Keefe. This was starting to look better. And no mechanical issues. This is great, we haven’t had to lay a spanner to the car other than routine checking.
Day 4.
This was shaping up to be our best day yet by far. It was a bit greasy with some rain but mostly just unpredictable stages with some dry and some greasy corners.
At Symmons Plains we set fastest time of the day including all the classic and modern cars. I brake tested on the warm up lap and found the braking points to be quite greasy. So for the flying lap I was very conservative in these areas relying on brute horsepower down the straights to get a good time. I had my second biggest scare of the event (the biggest was still to come) at the corner after the finishing timer.
I am not sure whose idea it was to put the finishing point well into the braking area at the end of the long curved Symmons Plains back straight.
But I was pulling 6000rpm in 5th gear…around 250km/h….at this point and I so very nearly couldn’t stop for the corner. Even now I don’t know how I pulled it up to make the corner and doubt I could do it again.
We also went very well in most of the other stages during the day where we were quickest in outright terms of all the classics and up with the front running modern cars. I am really learning how to drive this car on the torque and can start rattling off competitive times without the drama of over-driving or taking unnecessary risks.
At this point I would have put money on us achieving a good result. I am not sure how much time I made on my competition this day but I would have been minutes.
Then we came to Natone…a voodoo stage for us as in 2001 we crashed my BMW M-Coupe badly on the very last corner. Rachael and I decided to take this stage easy and just get through.
But about 7kms into the stage I was setting up for a strong, but open left corner and changed down from 4th gear to third.
During the heel “n” toe process the return spring on the accelerator pedal snapped and got caught behind the brake line and throttle pedel.
So when I released the accelerator and went to 3rd gear the throttle stayed almost full on. The engine screamed to 7500 rpm and we increased speed significantly towards the bank on the outside of the corner. This was to be my biggest, scariest moment. I immediately threw the clutch in, jumped on the brakes and yanked the wheel left.
We hit the 2 metre high embankment at 6000rpm in 3rd gear (about 150km’h).
Game over.
We were okay, a bit sore but okay.
We were taken to the hospital for a check up and given the okay, poor Rachael had pulled a few muscles in the next and ended up with a soft collar for a few days.
Troy and the guys believed they could get the Monaro back together for the next day, but we were a bit to beaten up and sore so I called it a day……. And then went and had a lot of beers to ease the pain…….
Classic Adelaide is coming up……. ;o)
Steve Coad
