Clayton Pyne Racing

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11/12/2006

Clayton Pyne endured a tough weekend in the final round of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series at Phillip Island on the weekend salvaging 21st overall. A critical pre-qualifying oversight ensured Pyne would start far down the order than was expected.

"When we found the oversight, we knew straight away where approximately 1.5 seconds of laptime had disappeared", Pyne lamented. "It's certainly ahead of us in the race later today, but I am confident we have the car speed to push forward".

Griding up in 26th position for race one, it certainly was ahead of him - but not for long! Pyne launched from the line in what was the best opening lap of the race by any competitor, charging forward no less than nine positions to 17th by turn four (Honda). However, Pyne's run to the front was to be halted by the right front tyre rubbing on the guard, making the car impossible to steer with any consistency. After two laps the #90 VX had to lift off 2-3 seconds per lap and float frustratingly back through the field.

"I just couldnt steer the car properly once it started to roll after initial turn-in", Pyne explained after the race. "I held on for three laps as best I could, but the steering jammed hard at lukey heights & I nearly fired off. The boys had been suggesting I should lift, but as long as I could hold position I wanted to see if I could hang in there. But after the incident at lukey heights, I decided I had to drop my corner speeds down to minimise the rubbing on the guard. I really wanted to showcase the speed we knew we had in qualifying and move forward to a top 15 result, but it just wasnt to be today".

The culprit of the steering problems was deemed to be due to the decision to move to a softer front end suspension configuration for race one - this allowed the car to roll a little more in the front, which caused the steering issues. The entire outside shoulder of the tyre had rubbed away, taking a significant amount of the tread width with it.

Race two started much the same as race one, with the #90 Auto One VX charging forward from grid spot twenty three to position 18. However, a clutch problem ensured Pyne again had to resign himself to a result far short of the speed the team had on the weekend.

"The race was looking good in the early stages & we moved forward, but the clutch acted up right from the word go. Despite good preparations, we didnt reach our potential this weekend".

Pyne's attention now turns to the 2007 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series. "At this stage, we are formulating our plan for next year's series. My focus continues to be on our quest to form win-win relationships with those looking to leverage motorsport - either in a personal sense or to boost the bottom line", Pyne explained.

Pyne, having raced against many of the sports young guns as a go-karter, has mixed it with the best in the world & has proven himself when on equal footing. Having only raced three times in a V8 Supercar, Pyne immediately showed great speed & racecraft - certainly one of the surprise packet privateers of the year. If additional support can be found for season 2007, many believe this first class honours graduate may achieve the same on the track.

See all the updates during the off-season at www.claytonpyne.com