MEL’S EXCEL-LENT ADVENTURE – PART THREE
Former Castrol Cougar Melinda Price continues to recount her return to racing, in this feature she looks back at her first race meeting back behind the wheel.
This very article was featured in Auto Action issue #1833 on sale from April 7-20.
A new team and new car deserves a new look, and Caz has got me covered with a custom OMP race suit.
But the star of the show, the buggy, deserves a new look too, so it’s off to see (ex-Supercar racer) Alan Gurr to get wrapped.
Now the car and I are both looking the part, we’re looking for a track to do some laps. There is no availability at Morgan Park or QR prior to race day, so I’m starting to stress.
Not even two weeks earlier I’d been sent a picture of the main straight at Lakeside with someone paddling down it in a canoe following the floods, but incredibly the water is gone and there’s a Thursday test day!
There’s still a list of jobs to finish the buggy off, so the next 3 days are dedicated to getting to Lakeside Thursday.
Since the project began, there have been two people who have been there helping every step of the way, and without their time and knowhow, I wouldn’t have had a hope in hell of getting to this point – so massive thanks to Jasen Hannigan and Josh Hunt.
Excel guru Jasen Hannagan finalises the buggy preparation
At this set-up phase of a new team costs are at a maximum, so having experts like this helping me out is an invaluable asset.
I’ve made a lot of friends in the racing world over the decades, and a couple more of them have jumped onboard with some support including familiar racing personalities in Charlie O’Brien (Coombahbah Plaza) and Todd Wanless (Raw Metal Corp.)
At last, the car is complete. I have my two sets of tyres and wheels all mounted and expertly buffed, labelled and wrapped, and just one last thing to do on the way…
Get this new Fataz power plant onto the dyno for some running in and to confirm the expected kilowatts within. Off to Scott’s Rods we eagerly go in anticipation, and the results confirm what we hoped for, our new power plant is a little rocket!
Finally, our test day is happening, we are at Lakeside and I’m off. I’ve never been to Lakeside before and all week people have been telling me how unforgiving it is if you make a mistake.
I’m trying to block it out, but in the back of my mind all I can think about is that the first race is next weekend – and I HAVE to be there.
Nothing can go wrong today, there isn’t any time or resources left to fix a broken car. I’m building up my speed and confidence as the sessions go by, and we are trying a few setup changes and progressing along nicely.
Then it starts to rain! I don’t want to take any risks, so I sit out the next session to watch the other cars going around and assess the conditions.
Eventually I put my big girl pants on and went back out there, completing the day with a pleasing 30+ lap stint in drizzling conditions and achieved the target time.
Aside from the fact that I’d love another ten test days before my first race, we have one in the bag now, and are officially ready to race!
Before I know it race week is here (whoop whoop) and the dream is about to become a reality. By Tuesday night the van is loaded with the buggy in tow and it’s GO time!
There is a half day practice at Morgan Park, so we head off early.
‘Team Castrol Excel,’ Jasen Hannagan, Melinda Price and Josh Hunt.
Warwick is a busy little town, and I was caught o guard by the lack of accommodation when I tried to book months ago, so I’m camping at the track in a caravan kindly lent to me by a friends’ parents (thanks Wayne), which I think is going to be fun. I’m super excited, and nervous too.
We hit the track and the new engine is definitely the goods, but surprisingly the lap times aren’t that much faster than the original shakedown!
A few teething problems, equipment (lack of) issues and limited sessions left the vibe pretty poor in the pits on Wednesday, and we were scratching our heads a bit.
As soon as gates open again Thursday afternoon I’m there ready to set up camp, hang my Castrol flags and make Garage 81 my own until Sunday.
My car is the best looking excel buggy around (I could be biased), and I’m proud of how the whole program is coming together for the big debut.
Only one thing left to do now, and that’s drive the wheels off it.
‘Now that the car and I are looking the part – the only thing left is to drive the wheels off it!’
Sadly, that’s not what I did on Friday. I was slow… really slow. Super disappointed at how far behind the fast guys I was.
People were passing me everywhere and I soon started to realise how super competitive these guys are – no prisoners – not even for a corner – not even in practice.
The intensity on track was massive, I’d had a few touch ups already, and I needed to STEP UP. A (large) proportion of my competitors are 15-year-old kids. P-platers straight out of karts. They are fearless, invincible, motivated with plans of taking on the world – and absolutely hosing me!
The data revealed all and I had a lot of work to do.
A lot of soul searching happened Friday night and I woke up on Saturday ready to strap the qualifying tyres on and wring its neck, which is exactly what I did.
The car felt amazing and I was a different driver.
With three corners to go I was on target for a qualifying time that was seconds faster than any lap I’d done there before…but alas…on the exit of the sweeper the back of the car began to turn around and eventually went past the point of no return.
I slammed on the brakes to avoid skidding across the wet grass into the wall, flat spotted both my front tyres down to the canvas, and qualifying was in the bin. So close…but ultimately nowhere. So, I’m starting Race 1 from position 41.
I can’t even see the start lights, there’s a marshall with a green flag to let us know when they go out.
In a bumper field of 40+ cars there is always going to be plenty of action, and we only got a few racing laps in before the safety car came out and race 1 finished in single file. I’d moved from 41st to 30th.
Starting P30 for race 2, I was excited about gaining many more positions and getting closer to the front for the start of the 18-lap final on Sunday.
I got a great start and was up to 27th on lap one before I was turned around in the flip flop. I’m probably lucky the car wasn’t destroyed to be honest.
I copped a couple of other taps on the way through and managed to limp home last again.
Pretty disheartened about the day so far, what happened on Saturday night reminded me why I love this sport so much.
There was damage to my rear suspension which we needed help to repair, and my fellow competitors jumped onboard to help without thinking twice.
Plenty of girl power in the 2022 Queensland X3 Series: Left to right, Rachel Tomkinson/Alice Buckley/Melinda Price/Holly Espray and Stevie Chant.
Holly Espray came to the rescue, and I have a lot of respect for this chick (one of 5 female excel racers on the weekend which is great).
She builds and looks after her own cars, has a great understanding of all things excel, and drives fast.
The buggy is back on track of with a few battle scars, and is put to bed for tomorrows’ final.
The final is underway and as expected there are excels flying off the track and puffs of brake smoke at every turn. I manage to pick cars off one by one with some really good dicing, kept out of trouble and in between a safety car and a damaged exhaust made it up to P26.
Far from the weekend we wanted but I made it through. The weekend has shown that the buggy certainly has the pace, and the driver does too if I can just string it all together.
It’s been somewhat of a baptism of fire, but I’m as motivated as ever to master the art of excel-ling and give it my all as the year continues… Stay tuned for more insights.
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