DB Autotech Mod Plate Compliance

Track Sprints 2009 / 2010

Gatton - Wheels on Wide Bay - Leyburn - Oakey - Gatton 2010

Gatton Street Sprints was the first event on the DB Autotech Racing calendar for 2009. David had not driven the Westfield 'Warhorse' since he left Brisbane to work in Melbourne 12 years ago. The Warhorse was the first Westfield registered in Queensland back in 1991 by David's father Eric Blythe. It has been a regular at Gatton ever since though, this was the first time David was behind the wheel. It didn't take him long to get used to being back in the drivers seat and he was posting some very quick times, even though he was competing against other cars in his class with 125kW or more and he only had 87kW!!

The second event was Wheels on Wide Bay in Maryborough. Some work had been done to the car and David was looking forward to getting it out on the track to see what it could do. He was very competitive and was in 3rd place on day 2. Unfortunately he was pipped at the post in the final round and was relegated back to 4th place by 3 tenths of a second. David was now getting the taste for winning and some serious engineering was going to be required to get the Warhorse on the podium.

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1st Place at Oakey Street Sprints 2009

The Historic Leyburn Street Sprints is one of the biggest events on the Track Sprint calendar for Cars and Spectators alike. David and Eric had made further weight reductions, adjusted the front sway bar and bought the old girl a new set of racing rubber!! David was fast from the first lap and was starting to think that he might be in the running for a place. By the end of the weekend David received his first trophy for the season - But not any trophy - 1st in Class with a time of 57.72 seconds, 1.2 seconds faster than 2nd Place. Team DB Autotech was very excited and the team manager, Eric, was showered with a celebratory bottle of ...... beer!!! Look out Oakey - here we come!

The inaugural Oakey Track Sprints was the final event on the DB Autotech Racing Season Calendar. David was determined to prove that Leyburn wasn't 'luck' so further work was done to the Warhorse. The sway bar was fine tuned, further weight reductions, balancing and a new set of front and rear springs. The weekend started off in the worst possible way....testing on Friday revealed that one of the brake sleeves had slipped and the Warhorse had no brakes!! We managed to get a new set in Toowoomba and repairs were made in time for scrutineering on Friday afternoon!! David hit the track on Saturday morning posting a fantastic first lap time of 48.54 seconds. David said the car felt great and stuck to the track like chewy to your boot!! David continued to post faster times with every lap over the weekend and received his second 1st in Class trophy for the season. David's winning time was 45.04 seconds beating 2nd place by 1.31 seconds. Team DB Autotech was very excited and looking forward to a celebratory drink when it was announced that David was to compete in the Top Ten Shootout. After the mad panic of David trying to find his racegear and get the Warhorse to the line he posted his fastest time for the weekend - a blinding 44.834 seconds!!! David came 6th in the Shootout and was placed 8th out of 139 for the weekend. WOW - What a great result.

Look out for the Warhorse at Gatton in March 2010 hoping to continue it's winning streak!!

Check out the Photo Gallery page for some shots of the Track Sprint Weekends of 2009.