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Midget Grand Prix

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:42:18 GMT

Midget GP this weekend at western springs, and after a few fine tuning adjustments the midget was the best it has ever been. Race one saw Ricky stay back in 6th place while he tested the new adjustments to the midget. With everything working properly Ricky got a handle on the midget and prepared for the remainder of the nights racing. Race two and Ricky missed the setup and had a hard time turning into the corner however he still finished 5th. This put us straight through to the feature starting in 13th position. The team set the car up loose for this race to make sure Ricky could turn into the corner. Although very loose Ricky moved slightly up the field before a racing accident put us into the wall and out of the race. This was a racing accident and no one was to blame, and Although we did not finish the feature we learnt alot on the setup which will help us in future races! The team is now putting the Gaerte across into the CSR midget for the remainder of the season, which means we will not be racing at the Barry Butterworth however the team will be at the following meeting which is the midget north island championship. Ricky can't wait to be back in his CSR midget!

An update on the last few weeks

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:48:17 GMT

With the team spending most of the past few weeks working on the race cars we haven't had a chance to update the website. After the first round of the International Series, the team needed to get back on to the track so the decision was made on New Year's Eve to rebuild last year's TCR Gaerte to keep racing in. With only four days to build a complete car, when all shops were closed was a massive ask, however the Ricky McGough Racing team does not give up easily and we had a midget ready to race for the 50 Lapper International race. Because the car was put together in such a rush though we didn't have enough time to spend on a proper setup for the midget, so it was a handful to say the least! The first chance at trying out this new midget was in a 2 lap qualifying sprint, which unfortunately we did not qualify which meant that we did not make it through to the big race. The main thing is that the team made it to the race meeting, which was a massive achievement in itself. With another week up our sleeve we worked on the setup and had the midget ready to race at Kihi Kihi Speedway. With the setup right and the brakes working Ricky was able to keep the midget at the top end of the field finishing 4th in the first race. The second race saw Ricky have a collison with a spun midget mid corner which put him out of the race; however Ricky managed to stay up in the top half of the field for the feature until a slight mistake saw him drop back on the last lap. With the midget now dialled in the team looked forward to racing at Bay Park Speedway, which is the first time that midgets have run at this event. With the track being much wider you carry alot more speed and can run up to 5 midgets wide on the corner! First time out on the track saw Ricky hold onto 2nd place until the last lap where Brad Mosen displayed a nice passing manoeuvre to take 2nd place and Ricky finished in 3rd. A great display of the potential of this midget as the team has managed to sort out all of the small issues. With the team very happy with how the midget was performing, they entered race 2 starting from the rear of the field and were very confident that Ricky would soon start making his way through the field. After passing a few cars however a spun midget cause another 3 midgets to spin and with nowhere to go Ricky went straight into the carnage and had a light roll over. After a speedy repair in the pits the midget was back out for the feature however without realising that the safety marshals had turned the fuel off externally after the roll over, the midget just would not start. A big congratulations to Brad Mosen for winning the feature and Dayne Maxwell on coming 2nd in the Q8 Oils midget in his first ever midget race! Next weekend the team will be racing at the Midget Grand Prix at Western Springs Speedway!

Round 1 of the International Series

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:04:58 GMT

This weekend the team was racing at night one of the International Series, and with the engine back up to full horsepower the midget was once again a real weapon! Race one saw Ricky start at the front however a few setup issues meant he couldn't stay on the throttle all of the way down the straight. After a few laps Ricky started to find a way around this issue however then the midget stopped and Ricky had to pull in. Back in the pits the team have looked at the midget and like all new machines there are a few teething problems to work through. This has unfortunately put us out of the rest of the international series, however the team will be back on the track as soon as possible.

New Zealand Midget Championship

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 22:27:19 GMT

This weekend was the big meeting the team has been waiting for, the 2011/2012 New Zealand Midget Champs. Friday night was qualifying night and each competitor had to race in two heat races which determined the grid for the final race of the night. The top four places in this race went straight through to the title races. Race one saw the team miss the setup and the midget would straighten up mid corner and head towards the wall. Ricky battled on though and finished 7th. Back in the pits the team had setup guru Chris Street of CSR fabrications change the set up and the team was all ready for race two. This race saw Ricky start fifth however mid way through the race the engine started to lose power and Ricky once again finished 7th. Next up was the feature race and the engine was still slightly down on horsepower, but even so Ricky still pulled off an impressive wheel stand! However Ricky only managed to finish 6th which meant he just missed out on qualifying for the title races. Saturday night saw Ricky enter the repercharge and with Chris Street looking after our setup once again Ricky had one well handling midget! he made his way up to 2nd place and then drove defensively as this was all he had to do to qualify and get into the title races. Just when everything looked good the engine started losing power and Ricky lipped back to third place. Although the team just missed out on qualifying the bigger issue was that the engine started smoking during the race and back in the pits the team could easily see why. A main oil hose had loosened itself off causing the oil to pump out of the engine. Not wanting to risk damaging the engine the team made the decision to pull out of the rest of the night and examine the engine back at the workshop to make sure there was no internal damage. A real shame as the team was looking forward to showing what the Garage 9 Honda powered CSR midget could do. Even after the championship Ricky still holds the second fastest outright lap time at Huntly this season. The team is confident that they will be out for the next race meeting which is the 40 lapper at Huntly on the 19th of December, and after not being able to compete for the NZ title, Ricky will be hungry to show what he and the new machine can really do!!

Western Springs 26th November

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:31:04 GMT

This weekend the team was racing at Western Springs Speedway for the first time this season. After Ricky's spectacular display of his glowing and sparking brakes, the team had made alot of changes to the braking system. Race one showed that something was not right as Ricky had no brakes at all! He was driving accordingly when the car in front slowed right down and Ricky had nowhere to go but into the back of him. This resulted in the midgets bumpers being tangled which locked both cars together and both cars went into the wall. Alot of damage however the team had the midget all fixed and ready for race two. The brakes however still weren't fixed and Ricky had to just drive conservatively and finish the race. This still put the team straight through to the feature however starting off the back meant that Ricky had alot of work to do. The good news was that the team had fixed the brake issue and Ricky now had Brakes that worked! This was now Ricky's first race at Western Springs in this midget, which meant he had to quickly sort out his driving lines and find somewhere to run competitively. The next time Ricky would race here was for the International series so he needed to soak up any information he could about the track. After a hard fought battle Ricky bought the midget home in 12th place. Considering how the night started this was a good result for the team. Next weekend the team will be racing at the New Zealand Midget Champs!

Huntly Speedway 19th November

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 20:24:30 GMT

This weekend the team was getting the last few runs in at Huntly Speedway before the New Zealand Midget Championship's would be run there. After last weekend at Kihikihi, Garage 9 had been fine tuning the engine and we were back to full power! race one saw Ricky try a completely different setup as he wanted to try it out on this track before nationals. Race one quickly showed that this setup would work well, however not on this track. While Ricky was trying different lines to find one that would suit this setup, he spun out which ended the race. Back in the pits the team set the midget back to its normal setup and Ricky went out for race two. Ricky managed to hold onto second place in this race before sliding back to finish third. For the feature the team tried another setup as this was our last chance to experiment before nationals. The start of the race showed that this was set up to tight and the midget did not want to turn, which meant that Ricky was using the brakes alot to get around the track. This pleased the crowd as the brake rotor glowed red hot and had sparks flying off it! Ricky bought the midget home in 10th place, and the team had their setup sorted for the nationals. A rough night for results however a successful night for testing setups and gaining more seat time. With more knowledge on how the new midget reacts to certain changes, the team is feeling confident of a good result at Nationals on the 2nd and 3rd of December.

Kihikihi Speedway 12/11/11

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:24:59 GMT

Well this weekend was a real learning weekend with the team trying out different camshafts in the engine and different chassis setups. With the National Championship so close to the start of the season the team is using every race possible to fine tune this new machine to have it in perfect form for the nationals! Unfortunately the new camshafts the team were trying out did not work as well as we had planned and the engine lost alot of power, causing Ricky to fall behind very quickly in the first race. With a few changes the team sent the car back out for race two, where Ricky was starting off grid 2. As soon as Ricky put his foot down coming out of turn 4 to start the race the midget suddenly swapped ends! With nowhere to go the other drivers were unfortunate enough to get caught up in this incident causing alot of damage to Ricky and the other competitors. Ricky tried to restart but with the throttle jammed open he pulled in to the infield to prevent any further damage to the midget. The team is still investigating this as incident to diagnose exactly what happened so that we can prevent it from happening again. Overall the team learnt alot and the car will be ready to race Friday night at Huntly Speedway and Saturday night at Western Springs Speedway!

Racing at Huntly

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:09:25 GMT

This weekend the team was trying to get in to race at Western Springs Speedway however we were told that there wasn't enough room for us this time, so we will try again at their next meeting. However because there were still alot of midgets wanting to race Huntly added Midgets to their night of racing! Big thanks to Mark, Red, and the rest of the Huntly track for this, we all really appreciate it! As we are also only weeks away from the National title which is being held at Huntly, this was the perfect opportunity to fine tune the midget to the track and get some good practise in. Race one of the night saw Ricky start 6th and he managed to put the passes in and finish first! Race two saw Ricky start 3rd and he was trying out a slightly different setup to normal this time. He quickly moved into second position and managed to stay there for the rest of the race. The setup Ricky had wanted to try wasn't quite right however Ricky was sure he was onto the right theory, and with the track turning very rough he decided to really over exaggerate the setup. Scoring the top points through the heats Ricky was sure to start on pole...however a sudden reverse grid feature saw Ricky start from the back for this 8 lap feature sprint! He managed to make a few passes and bring the Franklin Properties LTD midget home in fourth place. A good nights racing and the team learnt alot about the new midget, and got some more seat time in at the track hosting the 2011/2012 National Midget Championship! Next weekend the team will be racing at Kihikihi Speedway which starts from 3pm on Saturday. Kihikihi Speedway typically turns very slick very fast and the team can't wait to see how this new machine will perform in the slick!

Huntly Opening Night

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:11:35 GMT

This weekend was opening night at Huntly Speedway and was the first race meeting for this season, with the all new Garage 9 Honda powered CSR midget being debuted. Race one started and it was obvious that the wrong gear set was used for this track and the engine was revving far too low to make power. In saying this Ricky finished 3rd and the team then found out the Brad Mosen was disqualified for running over the pole line and Alvin Cobb was relegated for jumping the start. This made Ricky the winner of the very first race of the season! With the gear set changed the team went into race 2 where the engine really hauled! With Ricky stuck in traffic he was trying to stay out of trouble when the number 4A midget of Dave Gick rolled over right in front of him. To save any damage to the midget Ricky stopped, but unfortunately the race rules for the night were no restarts so that was our race over. Feature race saw Ricky settle in to the conditions and when the rain started coming in, Ricky was able to adjust the suspension settings and start putting in the passes! A few laps later the race was called as the rain was really starting to set in. A shame we didn't get to finish the feature but that's part of race. A successful shake down for the new car and no the team can't wait to show the crowd at Western Springs Speedway what this new machine is really capable of!

Testing Time!

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:16:13 GMT

The time has finally come for the team to test out the new machine!! With both Angus from Garage 9, and Chris from CSR Fabrications spending the day with the team to test the new midget out, the team headed to the Pateatonga track. The day was succesfully spent wth Angus fine tuning the engine and Chris showing Ricky the differant setups he will typically be using. The team then returned to Pateatong the next day for some practise runs and for Ricky to get a bit more seat time in the new machine. We wont give away too much before the first race meeting however we will say that Ricky is very impressed with this new package! A sneak peak at this testing session can be seen at http://youtu.be/hriP612KUjw