Ravage Racing Media Release

MEDIA RELEASE, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, SEPTEMBER 18 2006

LILLIE FIGHTS BACK FROM EARLY ENGINE WOES TO FINISH ON THE PODIUM AT MALLALA

Ravage Racing’s Dean Lillie fought back from some early adversity to finish Round 5 of the STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship at Mallala Motorsport Park on the podium.

After engine troubles at Phillip Island last month, a new engine had been built for the LPGAS1 HSV GTS. Within two laps on track in practice, though, engine woes again struck.

“It’s very deflating,” said a disappointed Lillie. “It was a brand new engine. We got out there, did one and a half laps and it died. It must’ve picked some filth out of the oil cooler, which jammed the oil pressure valve open.

“It’s the same oil pressure cooler that we did three races with at Phillip Island and didn’t have a problem there, so it’s one of those strange things.

“I was really looking forward to running this engine. I had it on the dyno on Tuesday and it had a massive amount of grunt. Thankfully Steve Cramp is lending us his spare engine again, which we are extremely grateful for.”

With the spare motor fitted, Lillie turned a lap of 1:16.7415 in qualifying to secure sixth on the grid. The Melbournian progressed through the order in Race 1, eventually taking second place.

“Qualifying was really our first session for the weekend, and I’d only ever done about 10 laps here before the weekend,” said Lillie. “So I was still getting used to the track and there was a ton more time in the car for qualifying.

“A couple of cars had problems in Race 1, but we were able to stay out of trouble and bring it home in second place.”

Lillie’s weekend met another setback for Race 2. Instead of starting on the front row of the grid, he started from pitlane and without power steering. He fought on to finish ninth, and ended his weekend with sixth place in the final race.

“On the warm-up lap for Race 2, the power steering pump hose blew out of the rack,” explained Lillie. “I came into the pits to check what it was, and all the oil had emptied out. We started the race from pitlane and did the ten laps without power steering; I had arms like spaghetti by the end of it.

“We borrowed a pump and hose off Mark Cohen for the last race which was really good of him. I was chasing Peter Floyd and he was having brake problems and went off.

“Once I got past Floydy I making serious inroads on the lead pack. I set my fastest lap on the last lap, but ran out of time.

“The Pirelli tyres were fantastic again. We put two new tyres on the left hand side of the car for qualifying with two used tyres on the right, and used those same four tyres in qualifying and for all of the races. Even with the hot weather they didn’t go away at all, they’ve got barely any wear on them.”

Aggregate points from the three races placed Lillie on the podium, sharing third place for the weekend with BMW driver Beric Lynton. Lillie remains fifth in the series standings, on 216.5 points.

“It’s good to pick up another podium finish for the year,” he said. “To be as quick as we were with Crampy’s standard spare motor which is about 60hp down on ours was good but frustrating at the same time.

“The LPGAS1 HSV was handling perfectly. I was driving the wheels off it in the last race and it just kept getting quicker and quicker. Our pace through the corners was as good as, if not quicker than Floydy, but he would just pull away down the straight.”

The next round of the STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship will be at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania, on November 10-12.

“Fortunately it wasn’t a massive engine blowup, so we’ll be able to fix it between now and Symmons Plains,” said Lillie. “A lot of the niggling problems we have had this year could've been prevented with a test day, but we haven't done one yet this year because the budget hasn't been there.

“So once the engine is fixed, we’ll bite the bullet and do a test at Calder to make sure everything is sorted and that the car is good to challenge at Symmons Plains.”

Between now and then, Lillie will race the LPGAS1 Holden SS Ute in Round 7 of the Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series, at the Lexmark Indy 300 on October 19-22.

Ravage Racing thanks LPGAS1, Sprintgas, Martini Racing, A&P Plaster, Oz Bore Directional Drilling, EFI Dynamics, Holden Motorsport, Pirelli, Toperformance Koni and Knight Windscreen Repairs - Eastern for their support.

For more information about Ravage Racing, visit www.ravageracing.com.au

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Media Resources (click for high-res) ::

After Round 5 of the STS Turbo Australian Performance Car Championship at Mallala Motorsport Park, LGAS1 driver Dean Lillie is fifth in the series standings.
(Ravage Racing / Dirk Klynsmith Photo)