in expensive Wakefield Park crash
COLIN Siederss most promising V8 Supercar round to date has ended with a destroyed Ford Falcon AU.
The 26-year-old Fujitsu V8 Supercar driver was involved in the 10-car turn one pile-up during the last race of the second round of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series at Wakefield Park yesterday.
After initial investigations of the crash damage incident, the Falcon is a write-off.
The crash soured what was his best weekend, qualifying inside the top 50 percent of the field the first time he has ever achieved that feat.
Qualifying 15th, Sieders went on to finish 21st and 12th in the first two races before the car-destroying crash.
With the AU Falcon now on its way to race-car heaven, Colin is weighing up his options for the reminder of the season.
COLIN SIEDERS
" It looks like a little Ford Fiesta! he joked. - Its not too good. The cars gone.
"Mark McNally was in the middle of the track, the rest of us were coming through the track like normal and you simply couldnt see a single thing.
"Its amazing that no one was hurt in it. I was holding back on the steering wheel.
"Anytime a V8 dropped a wheel anywhere on the track, there was dust every. It didnt matter what corner it was, there was the potential for dust to fly up.
"The best way to fix it would be to have Astroturf on the inside and outside of every corner. Theyd be no dust if they were there.
"We dont really know what were going to do. Theres a few options out there for cars, but theres a few things to weigh up.
"Up until that last race, it was the best weekend we've had.
"Except for an incident with Michael Trimble where I was spun around in the first race, it was the first time that Id been inside the top 50 percent in every session.
"The car was awesome. Its really disappointing that the weekend has ended with a destroyed race car."
In the second Sieders Racing Team Falcon, David Sieders finished a promising 10th in the last race after a difficult weekend.
The Gulf Western Oils Ford Falcon BA qualified 17th, and finished 18th, 13th and 10th in the three races.
It was a case of making the car better and better as the weekend went on. The team made a wrong set-up call in Practice 2, costing David most of the session. It hurt them in qualifying, as they were unable to make the necessary gain to stay with the front-runners.
Race 2 looked promising, but a throttle issue saw him drop a couple of spots.
In Race 3, Sieders damaged his Falcon in the first turn carnage, but was able to avoid any serious damage to take 10th place.
DAVID SIEDERS
"We were a session behind heading into qualifying, and it made the rest of the weekend tougher, "he said.
"We made a wrong call in Practice 2, so we didnt get enough gain out of the new tyres. It was a shocker.
"By the time we got to the last race, the car was quite fast. We could do 59 second lap times, which is what all the leaders were doing.
"The crash at the start of Race 3 was hectic. I went to the outside to get past everybody, and Karl Reindler followed me to miss McNally and there was a clash. It was circumstance, more than anything, but we were pretty lucky to get away with it.
"I feel sorry for Colin (Davids older brother). He had his best qualifying and his car is leaving the track in a smouldering heap. I hope we can sort something out for him for the rest of the year.For the next round, we just need to get things happening in the chassis department on the Gulf Western Oils Falcon."
The next round is at Sandown, and a few of the drivers have experience there (through the V8 enduros). Weve got a few things planned for there already. I have a bit of experience there in Aussie Racing Cars and Formula Fords, so I hope we can make an impact.
