A quick spin at Lake Mountain

The requisite amount of smoke blossomed off the front tyres as the Team MINI CarPoint entry scrabbled for traction away from the line and out came the next instruction: "40 metres, left five, off camber on exit..."

I lifted early, conscious of cold tyres and tipped in... Into a full 360-degree spin and then some... We hadn't even made it through the first corner!

What a way to start a run – let alone a whole event! Less than 10 seconds from the start we were stationary in a pall of tyre smoke. At least we hadn't hit anything!

Hurriedly I grabbed reverse, stalled, stormed into a handbrake flick, stalled again and we were on our way.

I was cursing so much that I barely noticed the stretch of ice on the road three-quarters of the way up. Didn't even see the other spinning car's tyre marks. And worst of all hardly listened to one of Justin's calls. When we reached the top of the first 9.8km run all I wanted to do was hide my head...

And then came the news: MINI teammate Spencer [Lowndes] following had spun one more corner on... And then Tim [Leahey] having heard the news the pair of us had gone around had done the same thing on the same corner as yours truly! And Team MINI weren't the only ones...

Suddenly I didn't feel so bad... Nonetheless the paddock WAS calling us the MINI Precision Driving Team.

Amazingly not one of the MINIs had a mark on them -- something that couldn't be said of some of the other entrants that went wayward on the tricky alpine course of the first-ever Lake Mountain Sprint. Fortunately nobody was hurt, apart from some pride...

MISSION PARTIALLY ACCOMPLISHED
The work of the same team that pioneered the Mt Buller Sprint, the Lake Mountain event was confirmed just a scant few weeks back. Supported by the Lake Mountain Alpine Resort and the nearby township of Marysville, the race took in eight runs of an identical 9.8km course staged on the tarmac road to the resort located just 80km to the north-east of Melbourne.

With four runs on each day of the weekend event (May 27-28), competitors' final times were calculated using the total of the runs.

Team MINI entered the event to support the growth of tarmac rallying Down Under and also for development time. Our cars were built just in time for Targa and it was hoped that Lake Mountain would give us a chance to get to know them better.

That doesn't mean we weren't keen to grab some all-wheel drive scalps along the way though. Targa proved that our JCW MINI Cooper Ss can post some impressive point-to-point times and we were hopeful the same would be said after Lake Mountain. I guess it was mission partially accomplished.

In terms of development we learned a couple more lessons and technician David Ortolan and team manager David Vervaart went away with suitably enlarged 'Wish' and 'To Do' lists. We're convinced we need to look for some lost horsepower -- our MINIs were giving away over 35km/h to most of the field -- and we're also looking at suspension set-up. The joys of competition...

In the wash up it was clear that we'd erred when it came to tyre choice. Swapping our Targa Dunlops for softer but not soft enough Bridgestones proved a mistake. Despite our best efforts it was nigh on impossible to keep heat in the MINI's rear hoops in the sub-5 degree C temperatures. Combine this with some pretty aggressive breakaway characteristics (the Dunlops are much more progressive) and we've almost got an excuse for spinning. Though not three times...

You see Team MINI CarPoint's first oopsy was not the end of our spinning shenanigans. I managed two more, again at the very start of the stage, and Spencer one more: a frightening snap spin at full noise in fourth gear. Somehow he and co-driver Chris Randell managed to miss both armco and rock wall as they pirouetted up the road. Not fun.

It's hard to describe the disappointment that floods through you when you realise you've blown it. Imagine what it's like when there's something important at stake!

After a drama-free Targa I was looking forward to trying to hone some of the skills our 'expert' drivers and co-drivers had passed on. Learn how the car responds to left-foot braking, trying some of the alternate lines Tim and Spencer had been suggesting, lift our pace notes a level to incorporate more information and concentrating on using more of the road from the start to the finish. As it was after spinning it was hard enough to concentrate on the basics. Back to square one it seems.

The good news for Team MINI was at least the tyres worked well enough when up to temperature and the team's overall honour was upheld by Tim and co-driver Paul Flintoft.

With plenty of tales of daring do, Tim and Paul posted three sub-5min times and a best of 4:54.83 to finish an impressive sixth overall in the event. Those in front read like a Targa who's who including only one two-wheel drive -- a 300kW-plus Daytona Coupe driven by one P Brock.

Spencer's result was an impressive 12th overall with a fastest time of 5:06.80. Co-driver Justin Hunt and yours truly finished 16th, only managing to get down to a 5:17.90. Can you spell detuned? Hell, we did a 5:32 with a spin on run two!

After our Targa run I had frankly expected to do better. There's some comfort in the fact we were able to post four spin-free runs and piece together some good section times in Sunday's tricky patchy conditions.

Like a great drive of the 18th hole after an average game of golf, these were the runs that keep you coming back for more.

AT THE POINTY END
There was, of course, more to the inaugural Lake Mountain Sprint than three spinning MINIs. In its first running, the event attracted support from sponsors Mitsubishi, Mazda and Motor magazine and strong community acceptance. Expect to see the event back bigger and better (with a summer date!) in 2007.

A total field of 30 cars fronted the starter and, as noted above, included some of Targa Tasmania's stalwarts and fastest runners alike.

Fastest run of the event and the overall win went to the Lamborghini Gallardo of Jason and John White. The White Hot Racing Lambo posted a best time of 4:36.46 on the last run of day one -- a pattern repeated by all but a handful of teams. The Whites' overall time was 38 min 33.75sec -- almost 20sec clear of second.

Second overall was the Daytona Coupe pairing of Peter Brock and Mick Hone with a total time of 38:53.32 and a fastest run of 4:37.40. Learning much from the car's recent Targa outing Brock reckons there's plenty more to come from the rapid V8-engined coupe. Look out Targa West competitors -- the open roads of the WA capital will suit the super-fast Daytona.

Third overall was the Porsche 911 Turbo of Blackie and Stoneman with a fastest of 4:46.95 and a total time of 39:30.27.

The Mitsubishi Evo VI of Beaumont and Cole was fourth (39:37.49, 4:49.13 fastest) and the first WRX home that of the Fords (40:14.57, 4:52.09) finished fifth.

Special mention should be made of the efforts of STi runners Bruce Williams and co-driver Ben Searcy. Fighting mechanical gremlins and a DNF on day one, the pair posted fastest runs on the last three stages including a 4:42.19 on the last stage of the event.

And for the first time, Team MINI was at the pointy end. Indeed Tim's sixth overall deserves another mention if only to stress the achievement given the issues we had with tyres and patchy conditions that favoured all-wheel drive point-and-squirt techniques. Check out the official results at lakemountainsprint.com.au and look at what Mr Leahey beat home and tell me he wasn't trying!

Spencer and Chris led the team home at Targa and Tim and Paul at Lake Mountain. Does that mean it's Justin and yours truly's turn next? Dream on Sinkers, dream on...