O’Connor Motorsport was looking to take advantage of improved performances in the team’s XP Falcon Doorslammer during the Goldenstate Titles at the Perth Motorplex and after sorting some small issues, that’s exactly what they did.
After a promising 6.12-second pass at the season opening round on October 29, the team put a similar tune-up into the carbon-bodied Falcon for the first qualifying run.
With a trademark strong burnout, O’Connor staged the car and launched hard, however a miscalculation on fuel jetting meant that the car pulled down into tyre shake, thus ending the run.
“I thought we had it covered,” explained team driver Murray O’Connor.
“So, for the second run, we put the jetting back to where it should have been, with power levels climbing back up to normal. On the green light the car drove out hard for 60 feet before smoking the tyres. With a quick dip of the throttle, I stood back on the power, which saw the Falcon go into a wild wheel stand and a 6.62 second pass,” said O’Connor.
Even though the performance was not what the team was looking for, it was enough to make the field
Round three of qualifying saw the team pull some timing out of the engine to reduce power slightly and a small change to suspension settings, with the aim of just settling the car down in first gear.
With the car launching like a missile before erupting in tyre smoke again, it was clear that something was just not right.
Race day saw Murray and the team removing even more timing and changing gear ratios to settle the car down on the launch.
O’Connor’s experience had him identify the issue as a small fuel system component but not until the car was being towed out for round one of eliminations.
The late discovery meant it was too late to change the timing or gear ratios back to the original settings but not too late to fix the issue before the car was fired up.
The resultant 6.15-second pass not being able to get the win light against fellow West Aussie, Robin Judd.
However, with the fuel lean out problem solved the team decided on a grudge run in front of the home crowd for long time supporters West Coast Siteworks and Penrite and also for the benefit of the team’s newest sponsor, Carbon Central Network.
With the original tune-up on board, O’Connor laid down a ‘straight as you like’ 6.09 pass, a just reward for the hard-working crew.
