A major last minute boost for the Victorian State Sports Sedan Championships with the news that local motorsport vehicle preparation & development company Grunt Performance have come on board as a naming rights sponsor.
The deal which at this stage is for the first two rounds will see competing cars cars carry the Grunt Performance banner on their windscreens at Sandown and Phillip Island.
Australian Sports Sedan Association president Jason Clements told In Pit Lane that the association was delighted to have a Grunt on borad and the association hoped that the relationship can continue into the future.
“Liam and Stef run a family owned business in Langwarrin that specialise in race car preparation and construction, they run a few Improved Production cars in the State series and we’re delighted to have them on board for this opening round and hopefully in the future as well.”
Numbers for the opening round of the championship is well up on previous years and according to Jason more cars are just around the corner.
“We have the new Victorian Touring Car Championship cars on track with us this year and there’s three of them for the first round and for this round as well we have the under 2 litre guys as well so it’s good to see them back.
“There’s around eight new cars under construction in Victoria and maybe four, maybe five will be ready to be on the track later in the year.”
Grunt Performance Owner & Manager Liam Dunn siad that Sports Sedans were an ideal class for a company like Grunt Performance to be involved with.
“We really see a lot of potential in the class, it’s been fantastic so far but we really think that there’s more that they can do (to grow) and we want to be a part of that.”
Mr Dunn said that Sports Sedans offered a rare opportunity for self expression and creativity in a sport increasingly dominated by one make series.
“From a car builder’s point of view there’s so much freedom (in Sports Sedans), You can really build a car to suit the client and that car almost ends up with a personality… We can take a left of field idea and put that in to play, so from my point of view I really enjoy the category.”
The diversity of the class was well in evident on day one of the new year with everything from under 2 litre four cylinder machines all the way through to huge 750 BHP six litre V8s.
Dean Camm won the weekend’s opening race in his Corvette Trans Am but the fight for second was a thriller with Rick Newmans immaculate Improved Production Falcon fighting all the way with the Commodore of Paul Pennisi with the Ford coming out on top.
Chas Talbot gave his latest toy a great debut with the Camaro coming home in fourth.
Lee Partridge was the first of the under 2 litre cars with his RX7 finishing an impressive eighth outright.
The Sports Sedans return to the Sandown circuit tomorrow with two races including a ten lap feature race at 4:45PM.
In Pit Lane will have news and highlights of all three races on our first show for 2018 this Tuesday night at 9PM AEDT on the In Pit Lane YouTube channel and In Pit Lane.COM.
The program will also feature on Melbourne’s C31 free to air and in prime time at a date and time to be announced soon.
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In Pit Lane & RMITV Student Television would like to thank the Australian Sports Sedan Association of Victoria for their great support of the program and community media.
For more info on Sports Sedans check out their website & follow their facebook page and to learn more about Grunt Performance click HERE.
