Competing in Australia's fastest racing series - Formula Holden

 
Peters Racing and 2002

It would be easy to dismiss this season as a failure. We made a series of errors on and off the track and the reliability that was our key to our success in 2001 was gone. I started it all with a driving failure in Phillip Island and from there the pattern was set.

There are a whole lot of positives though. From the data we have gained we know we solved a lot of the technical problems that we were working on. We have made some solid gains in our technical plan as shown by the numbers we see in our data acquisition system.

The season ended with 106 Silver Star points, 30 Gold Star points, a number of class wins and a best outright result of 5th. We were down on power throughout the year and although we compensated for this by using less downforce to maintain our tactical postilion on track left us always grappling for mid-corner speed.

One major characteristic of the season has again been the huge commitment made by the volunteer members of the crew.

Kevin Hill, Paul Charal, Chris Parham and Pete Duldig provided support in the Adelaide area. They all put in time and money to play a part in preparation, transport and track work. In the background Marshall Flanagan at Hothouse communications has helped us with raising the quality of our proposal materials. Although Doug Veale at Cantech was busy this year with some personal business he made time to provide rectification help as the mechanical problems cascaded. Next year we will be relying heavily on his undoubted skills to avoid a similar result.

The Gerhardt clan in Canberra as a whole provided eastern sates support at the tracks and Gil has diligently been pursuing sponsorship opportunities for us for 2003. Garrett made the mega trip to Darwin and in doing so probably set a record for the amount of time spent in transit lounges.

John Mahoney was at all the Victorian meetings and Kresten came along to provide logistical support.

Andrew Lydon who is based in Sydney was at the NSW meetings and has hopefully added to his experience now that his karting career is getting into full flight.

I would also like to thank the management team of the Formula Holden Association for their support. Brian Shead has helped us in a number of ways and we are truly grateful for his efforts. It's disappointing that we didn't get to the last meeting of the year as they desired but the cost of that would have been our inability to commit to next years series.

Our engine development program is on track to deliver the first of our next generation engines in plenty of time for the start of next season. We are incorporating some new technology here to lift our straightline speed. The early meetings on next years program are the horsepower tracks that we will gain the most from so by mid season we will have a strong indication of the way it is turning out by June.

Roger Oakeshott won the Silver Star this year after a pretty consistent run and some serious speed at times. He has worked at it hard and we congratulate him for making the most of the opportunities that presented themselves. Still, he should look after that cup, as we will be wanting back in good condition next year.

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