The 2018 Off Road Racing season has come to an end for the SMU Racing #7 Jimco with the car continuing to find some gains throughout the year. The team entered four races for the year winning two races and three prologues. Finke Desert Race was the disappointment with a car that wasn’t quite right from a set up perspective. Importantly the team spent some crucial time suspension testing with a new set up debuting at Pines with great success, which will hopefully springboard the car for 2019. A big thank you to Cameron at Racer Imports in getting this right.
Pines was a great finish to the year for the team with the car super consistent all weekend and not missing a beat – largely due to the efforts of Tim Collard who preps and maintains the car before and on race day. The team managed to salute in the Prologue, short course and win the main race by just under 15 minutes which was a great way to kick-start the 2019 campaign.
Since the team’s Pines accident in 2015, SMU Racing changed to Mickey Thompsons and have finished the Teagle Excavation ARB Pines Enduro for a 1st, 2nd and 1st. Something about those MTZ tyres that are getting the job done!
The challenge next year is to find that next 5-10% which all teams will be looking to find. Our Ford 3.5 litre twin turbo Ecoboost continues to be developed and has delivered in spades, still running the same internals since debut in 2016. Reliability, fuel efficiency and of course engine development by Shane Wilson being the key reasons for the success of this Direct Injection engine to date. Integral assistance from Xtreme DI, AVR Performance and Quickbitz dyno have made this development path a successful one.
A massive thank you to our partners in 2019. We have a very loyal group of partners and without them we cannot race at the highest level.
In no particular order….
Dutton Garage
Shane Wilson Competition Engines
Xtreme DI
Mickey Thompson Tyres Australia
Racer Imports
Albins Off Road gear
HJC Helmets (KT Autosport Australia)
AVR Performance
Quickbitz
Dynamic Wheels and Tyres
Flexicut Engineering
Livid Lighting
Race Paint
Jimco
Offroadracing.com.au
It goes without saying that these partners provide products and services of the highest quality. You cannot afford to take chances in our sport with next best, and we are proud to be partners, that are in our opinion, the best.
Lastly a massive thank you to the team during 2018, Tim, Shane, John, Nigel, Mark and Ray who have as always made massive contributions throughout the season. It goes without saying this is a team sport and not for the faint hearted!
Looking forward to doing some races together with Justin Anderson in the #75 SMU Tatum net year. After some time out, there were some great building blocks put in place for a cracking year next year!
Wishing everybody a happy lead in to the silly season and fun in the sheds until next year!
GO SMU
Thanks to Brett Lehmann for cracking photos from Pines
