State Race Series in '95: Sandown
In mid-1994, I was looking for a bugeye (my first Sprite) to be dual road and racecar when one day at Phillip Island sprints, Shane Ambry told me about an ad that had come in for the magazine - Phil Read was selling "Fluoro". The price seemed good. I had seen the car at a recent national challenge and it seemed OK then. I spoke to everyone I could at the meeting and everyone encouraged me to go ahead, so I called Phil and arrange to look at the car the following weekend up at near Shep. Well I bought the car then and did a Mini club sprint at Winton a week or two later. It was certainly different to what I was used to. It was also clear that some things weren't right. The first thing I found was that the anti-tramp bars and the panhard rod were binding up. This was fixed by simply removing them! There were lots of problems with the car - it wasn't such a good deal after all but you live and you learn.
I did an open race meeting at Winton (blew my 3.9 diff) then did the 6 hour relay race in the inaugural Team Blat. That event was a real mixed bag. I had a great time on the track but the car spat a clutch throwout bearing on the dummy grid! A great effort by fellow club members saw me get out on the track for about 1/2 hr before I broke a half shaft. Since fluoro used a wire wheel banjo, no-one had a spare and my day was over.
A suspension overhaul, a new engine followed and reco'd gearbox before my next event - the Eastern Creek 6 Hr. Unfortunately I only got 4 laps behind the pace car during practice before my event was over (stuck, then bent valve).
I ran this car on and off for a couple of years, but it had its problems. One of the main problems was that it had been the subject of a bodgy rotary conversion some years before. The front end was butchered pretty badly. It had also seen a big accident at some stage and was 45mm shorter wheelbase on the left hand side.
Somewhere around this time, I repainted the car a light blue colour and ditched the bolt-on flares for a sculptured look. However, the name "Fluoro" stuck. This paint job was my first attempt at spray painting and I guess you could tell!
At a State Race Series meeting in '98, I ran off the track at Phillip Island in the wet while avoiding another car's big moment. This was terminal for the old fluoro. The long agonised-over rebuild of the front-end panel work became a mute point. The hit exposed even more problems with the front half of the shell and so I decided to retire that shell.
Fluoro was re-shelled in '99 and made it back on the track at Phillip Island for anorther very wet race meeting. It needed some sorting out, this proceeded while I continued to compete - at the Oran Park Healey races, then at the 1999 Healey race at Mt Panorama (Bathurst). I had an upgraded race motor at Bathurst but had some mechanical dramas there (valves hit pistons) before doing reasonably well in the wet (2nd) race (despite losing 2nd gear at the end of the 1st lap).
I had a big drama at Sandown in 1999 when the brakes failed at the end of the front straight. The double bearing hubs wore through the retaining springs on the rear brakes. I have since reverted to original hubs, though I now know how to avoid a re-occurance of the problem. The car was working pretty well at Sandown and I was very happy with the car's handling for the first time since I had bought Fluoro!
I have since done Lactos 2000 with new navigator Matthew Lambert. I was really enjoying the new handling of the car and we were making good times and having a lot of fun until a misunderstanding over pace notes saw us run off the road and DNF the event.
The handling and water pump problems fixed, the car's most recent outing was the 2001 National Challenge. I'm still tweaking the handling a bit, but the car points turns and stops well and is a very predictable and forgiving car to drive.
It isn't the fastest car out there, but it isn't the slowest either. It is certainly extremely competitive against similar cars (Group Sb). With its new CH plates, and all the road-going paraphenalia it has finally turned into the sort of dual purpose car that I really wanted in the first place. It has gone from a lightweight, pure racecar on slicks to an all steel, road/race car. Interestingly, it now handles better, is faster than the original fluoro and is a much better overall package.
I have learnt a lot about Sprites through Fluoro (I've tried nearly everything at least once, and also learnt what not to do!). I have also had a lot of fun with the car and I look forward to more adventures in "Fluoro".