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The Sky Is The Limit Articles
The Friday practice session allowed the GT-R based teams to work on their race setups while
the other teams were still working at putting in a quick qualifying time. The GIO team
practised changing the brake pads, as well as the disc rotors.
Saturday's top ten shootout saw the fastest 10 cars in the field have a single lap on a clear
track to try and get the pole position. Drew Price cut a 2m 16.30 second lap for his run in the
second Gibson GT-R. Mark Gibbs pulled a very clean and quick lap of 2m 13.88s. Mark
Skaife drove a awesome lap and recorded a 2m 12.84s. Skaife later said "It was a pretty good
lap, I got bit untidy in a couple of spots, but that is about as good as we could do."
The starting positions were settled: Skaife on pole (Richards would actually start the race),
Gibbs in second, and Drew Price in 4th behind the Glen Seton Sierra. The top ten was made up
of three GT-R's, four RS500 Sierra's, and three VN Commodore's.
The Saturday afternoon was spent with a little more practice changing the brake pads. The
Gibson team were able to change the pads in about 35 seconds, the GIO team about 90
seconds. The reason for the difference in times was the Gibson cars were using 4 spot
Nismo/Alcon calipers, while the GIO team had 6 spot calipers that took a bit longer to change
the pads with.
Raceday October 6 1991
The GIO team scored a prize before that start of the race best presented race car. The race
start was a different story the GT-R's were expected to make their normal quick getaway,
but Jim muffed the start and allowed the Gibbs car to lead into the first corner. By the end of
the first lap Gibbs had a 2.75 second lead over John Bowe's Sierra. Jim Richards was able to
out brake Bowe to claim second during lap 2. By the third lap Jim was in the lead.
The second GT-R of Drew Price had briefly scrapped for 5th place with a group of
Commodores, but began to drop back with a very soft brake pedal. Price had to pump the
brakes before each big corner.
Jim was lapping in the 2m 18s times, and by lap 6 had a seven second gap back to the GIO
GT-R. Bowe was able to overtake the Gibbs GT-R shortly afterwards, claiming the fastest
time down Conrod of 283 kph. Lap 10 had Jim leading Bowe by 11 seconds with Glen Seton
back a further 2 seconds.
By lap 20 the lead was out to 13 seconds over Bowe, with Gibbs sitting in 5th place. Bowe
pitted early allowing everyone to shuffle up one spot. On lap 29 the second Gibson team GT-
R pitted for a 27 second pitstop a fresh set of tyres and a load of fuel. The brake pads weren't
changed as Drew Price had got used to the soggy brakes. The GIO team pitted on lap 32 for a
front brake pad change which was done in 1 minute. Rohan Onslow took over the driving
and resumed in 8th place. The team examined the old pads to monitor the wear, they were only
half worn but the team decided to change the pads at every stop anyway.
The second Gibson GT-R began to have troubles around this time. The first problem was a
bad vibration and handling from the fresh tyres. Price bought the GT-R into the pits for fresh
rubber and a check over. The vibration was gone. A couple of laps later a turbo hose blew off.
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The Sky Is The Limit Articles
During the pitstop to rectify that problem, the team changed the brake pads. All these dramas
saw the car drop to 32nd place, 15 minutes behind the leading Richards / Skaife GT-R.
Jim pulled the GT-R into the pits on lap 36 for tyres, fuel and Skaife. The stop was completed
in 25 seconds, and dropped the car into second. Skaife pulled a blistering 2m 16s lap, more
than 4 seconds faster then Dick Johnson who was currently leading. Dick pitted, handing the
lead back to Skaife.
At lap 40 Skaife led the Seton Sierra by 37 seconds. The GIO GT-R was back in 9th position,
with the Price / Waldon GT-R way back in 30th. The pace of the leading GT-R was such that it
was lapping other cars in the top ten by the second hour.
The Price / Waldon GT-R pitted again on lap 45 for a quick diagnostic to work out why the
car was off song. An intercooler hose was replaced, and Garry Waldon left the pits to find the
car back at full health.
Skaife pulled into the pits with a lead of 2m 5 seconds over John Bowe. The stop took 50
seconds for a full load of fuel, tyres, a brake pad change and Jim Richards to take over
driving. The GT-R resumed still in the lead. On lap 69 the GIO GT-R with Rohan Onslow
pitted for a pad change, he resumed in 7th place after a 52 second stop. The Gibson team
started planning a rear brake pad change they had initially planned to change only the front
pads, but got the pads ready for the next stop. The rear pads took much longer to change than
the fronts. Out in front, Richards was in cruise mode. The gap back to Glen Seton was around
the two minute mark. Seton was pushing his Sierra very hard, but Jim was able to respond
easily matching the 2m 19's that Seton was pulling. Jim potentially could go 2 seconds a lap
quicker if needed.
The GIO GT-R had a minor incident it nudged a Commodore, breaking the left front
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