Amber Anderson was as busy on the track as she was off, last weekend, at Sandown International Raceway, where she competed in a record field of Porsche 944 Challenge race cars.
If her performance, with a seriously under powed engine, is anything to go by, the male-dominated category had best get their act together before the next event.
Anderson put 17 other competitors behind her to finish 11th in the Sunday feature race.
As expected, her two on-board mascots – animated alien characters Petey and Jadyee – did just the trick and forced other drivers into mistakes that ultimately benefited the talented Melbourne lawyer.
The weekend got under way for Anderson earlier than usual with a track side glamour photo shoot, courtesy of Momentum Animation Studio’s Rachael and Dylan Perry – with superb styling by Leah Gallin from Illustrious Lingerie.
Since its last outing, the race car had received some fresh suspension and steering components so Anderson used the Friday practice sessions to adapt to the increased mid-corner speed and exit balance.
Qualifying was at Saturday 12:07pm – Amber headed the alien #99 racer onto track, setting 19th fastest time with a 1:32.0076 on very old rubber.
However, track density was high and she was caught behind slower cars.
A red flag situation forced her to pit, only to once again become stuck behind slower cars – consequently the time did not reflect her true performance.
Race 1 – 6 laps – Amber got the jump on two cars before turn 1 only to get hemmed in by several slower cars. Sandown is definitely a power circuit and it was clear that car 99’s engine was going soft - a fresh one would be needed for the next event. Now where would you get the best parts?
Whilst the new suspension package gave the car a much better cornering package, most other cars could pull several car lengths on the two long straights. Result: 17th.
Race 2 (8 laps) was considered a non-championship event and in all reality probably shouldn’t have even got a start considering it was pitch dark!
However, the recent Bathurst 12-Hour started in the dark so Amber definitely had one up on the boys - once again.
AA made a great start but found the shift light so bright she was forced into short shifting to avoid being blinded. Pressing on she made up two places to bag 15th.
“I didn’t expect that at all, said wide-eyed Amber.
“The strangest things happen in racing and I reckon that’s why I love it so much. You’ve always got to be on your toes for the unexpected. Which reminds me of Bathurst and how many odd things happen. No wonder the Supercar 1000 is such an entertaining piece of TV each year.”
Race 3 – 8 laps – Another strong start and Anderson moved into 12th by the first corner and into 11th by turn 2.
The Sandown kerbs can help in some places and in others become a hindrance – touching one of the higher kerbs changed the front end balance somewhat but seemed to come right again whilst under a safety car period – several cars had expired around the track and officials deemed they should be removed before racing could recommence.
It ended up being a two lap sprint to the end and Amber held her position, finishing 11th, with the majority of the field behind.
The final race of the day didn’t start in the dark, for a change!
Starting off 11th, Amber once again got a great run into turn 1, moving to 9th. It was hard and fast at the front going three wide into the kink at the end of the back straight – with Amber in the middle.
“I knew I was down on power but could hussle the corners better and I wasn’t going to get out of it so we all went into Jetstar at the pretty much the same pace. Cullinan’s car was loose and I could see he was going to get caught up in himself which is what he did next corner so I stuck right on his tail after that. But can you believe it – I was about to pull 4th and he just rotated leaving me nowhere to hide. Philipson, Comand and Lewis-Williams slid either side and somehow I managed to not fully t-bone him.
In the fracas, the already sad engine was going further south - further than even Tony Bullimore usually goes on his upside-down Whitbread Classics – and once again Cullinan got the jump at Jetstar. Coming on the final turn Cullinan (alias Bill Murray) was obviously busy watching Groundhog Day on his in-car DVD and managed to repeat the exact same spin in front of Amber again.
“Can you believe that he did that twice! I almost t-boned him again!”
Anderson got going again to cross the line in 12th, with an engine that performed more like a diesel econovan – definitely a fresh one for Phillip Island on June 9-10.
All things considered it was a fairly positive weekend – Amber was faster than most of the boys and once again they all learnt that she’s not there to make up the numbers.
Special thanks to Momentum Animation Studios, Affordable Airbrushing, Veganpet, Steve Tupek, Mike Abay and the team at Consolidated Chemical Company Racing for their support. And as always Mum and Dad too!
Suddenly there was a phone call – it was Allan Simonsen and he was in Shanghai to shakedown some Ferraris for the upcoming Asia GT Championship whilst on his way back from his superb 2nd place at the Valencia Le Mans Series race, in Spain.
“Hey Amber hear you got bad engine, said Allan in his usual Danish direct style.
“Don’t worry we get the fast China bits – Phil Hughes just arrived so we get real weapon together for PI…