2011-2012 season start for Macdonald Racing
Wednesday December 7, 2011

The 2011-2012 season for Macdonald Racing has been that of a hectic one. We apologise to all the fans for lack of information at the start of this season due to personal & work commitments.  Rest assured we are back on track with some exciting new things coming this way in the new year.

Just to re-cap the events taken place to start the season off.  Nathan kicked things off at Charlton Raceway in September, after qualifying mid-field for the feature race.  After an early race mishap in which Nathan was forced into the wall trying to avoid an incident ahead, managed to move into 2nd position behind Rodney Pammenter once the race continued, but subsequently retired onto the infield after suspension failure caused from the earlier incident.

Due to work commitments, Nathan stepped out of the drivers seat as Shane saddled up for the Toowoomba Steering & Suspension Carnival of Flowers cup the weekend after which was paying a whopping $5000 to win.  Shane qualified well over the 2 nights of racing to start the 50 lap final in 6th place.  Shane started running the high line and managed to move forward a few positions before the engine shutdown.  Shane pulled onto the infield and managed to fire the car back up (which was a mystery to all the crew).  Shane re-joined at the tail of the field, and was pushing to gain some positions back when he clipped the wall and retired with a flat tyre.

The next event was the Gympie 30/30 event, in which 2 drivers compete in the same car running qualifying heats and two feature races at the end of the night.  After last years event was rained out (Shane & Nathan qualified on the front row), this year wasn't much different, except that the two brothers qualified the Toowoomba Steering & Suspension/Forbes Batteries VZ Commodore out of pole position.

Shane was to steer the first 30 laps, with Nathan the second.  Shane jumped to a handy lead at every re-start, and was destined to win the first event, but a slight error in the tight hairpin corner at Gympie saw him run wide and get out in the wet part of the track (thanks to earlier rain) as the race leader spun causing a stoppage.  Slight contact from another car broke the steering knuckle on the left side.  The car was repaired for the second of the 30 laps races for Nathan to drive.  Having to start at the back of the field, Nathan only managed half a lap when he lost 2nd gear in the gearbox, which was attributed to the earlier incident.  Nathan managed to keep the car going in another gear and was credited with 7th place at the end of the race.

Shane was offered a guest drive in the Ashley Barron Ford Falcon (yes FORD!) on the 29th October.  Due to Ashley busy running the event at Kingaroy Speedway as President, former QLD champion Shane Macdonald was asked to strap into the #44 AB Trailers Falcon for Round 1 of the Quantum Racing Industries South West All Start Series.  A strong contingent of competitors turned up mounting to 55.  Albeit, Shane qualified extremely well in an unfamiliar car, starting out of position 2 for the 30 lap final.  Robert Trapp led the race early until Shane moved into the lead after several laps and that's where he stayed.  Shane was however very lucky to finish, after struggling to steer the car all night with power steering issues, and oil spilled onto his feet as he crossed the finish line.

With Nathan unable to attend recent events due to work commitments, Shane switched manufacturers again back into Nathan's car for Round 2 of the Quantum Racing Industries South West All Start Series.  Shane was leading the series point score coming into the second round.  With the track surface turning out to be dry & slick, Shane qualified in 6th place and moved up to as high as 4th at one stage, ultimately finishing 6th after Rodney Pammenter went past on the final lap.

Shane still leads the point standings for the South West All Start Series, with fellow Toowoomba competitor Shane Langton in 2nd place and Gympie resident Aiden Raymont in 3rd. Shane will be looking to extend the margin as the series continues at Charlton Raceway on the 17th December for Round 3.

The team has made several key reliability improvements to Nathan's car, developed from learnings from the misfortune suffered at the start of the season.

Meanwhile work has begun on Shane's new VZ Commodore he plans to build, with the aim of having it ready for the 2012-2013 Australian Title to be held at Charlton Raceway.

Shane files the chequered flag around Kingaroy Speedway. Photo by Sue Roza (Trackside DVD's)

 Work has begun on Shane's new car.

 

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Macdonald Racing for the 2011/2012 season is supported by -

Toowoomba Steering and Suspension
Forbes Batteries & Communications
Linmac Automotive
Mac Graphix
Repco Toowoomba