Reigning Australian GT Challenge champion Jan Jinadasa has made the biggest step of his relatively short motor racing career, upgrading to an Italian icon for season 2013, after four seasons campaigning a Porsche GT3 Cup Car.
“After winning the GT Challenge Championship last year, I decided to sell the Porsche after four years of faithful service, and at that stage I was looking to retire from competition and concentrate on work,” the Melbourne based, Managing Director of JJA Consulting Group explained.
“Trouble was, just a few weeks into my retirement, I was having serious withdrawal symptoms. I actually felt physically lost, like a big part of me had gone. Gradually, the fitness which I had worked very hard to achieve quickly turned into flab and my strict diet was no longer… strict!! So I thought the only solution to this situation that was clearly bad for my health and sanity, was to go racing again, get another race car, and get it fast!
“Having been closely associated over many years with Dean Koutsoumidis I could see how much fun he had driving his Lamborghini [Gallardo LP520], and in fact he had offered to sell me his car last year when he decided to step up to the Championship class in an Audi R8 LMS, but at that stage, I was retired.. By the time I got my act together it was too late and his car had been sold, so I started doing some research and came across the S-Berg Racing Gallardo LP520 that was owned by Karlheinz Mohnlein in Nuremburg, Germany.
“On paper it sounded fantastic. It was built in 2007 by Reiter Engineering and had contested only 12 races in European FIA GT3 in the 2007 and 2008 seasons, before Karlheinz (an avid collector) bought it in 2009. He did very little with it. It had a new engine and fresh gearbox and was well priced, so I did the deal on January 2, booked my flights on January 3, flew to Nuremburg on January 4, and bought the car on January 5..
“Unfortunately, the car was delayed in shipping, and it arrived nearly a month after it was supposed to, so I missed Bathurst and Clipsal which I regret. I’m not out of the woods yet either, as from the moment it arrived, it went straight to 01 Motorsports in Port Melbourne, where Mark Johnson stripped it to almost a bare shell within three days, and sent parts in all directions for upgrades and repairs.
“The gearbox went to Hollinger to be fully upgraded to the latest specification for that model. The engine was sent to Matt Clark at DeveloPro in Adelaide to re-build what was already a new engine, including upgrading the conrods which have historically been the Achilles heel of an otherwise very powerful engine. Through Kevin Weeks I’ve purchased Oscar Fiorinotto’s world class Supashock suspension, to replace the standard race dampers.
“It will have new brakes, rotors, hats, clutch, heat-shields, brackets, bearings and hoses… all in preparation for the third round of the championship at Phillip island at the end of May. I even managed to source spare body parts and wheels from another former competitor; Mark Seamons, so we have just about everything we need. All that’s missing now is for all the parts to come back together – and get bolted onto the car..!”
Typical of Jinadasa’s high level of preparation, something which has been a hallmark of his previous efforts in Porrsche GT3 Cup Challenge and the Australian GT Championship, the Gallardo will be resplendent in the colours of title sponsors JJA Consulting Group, Clipsal, Green Line, Lenco and Unitech. Team JJ Racing will again be a colourful addition to the GT pits, and Jan believes, a force to be reckoned with..
“I have a few ideas up my sleeve to spice things up,” he laughed. “For me this is a release, and to do something mind blowingly exciting while I still can. I think when I made the decision to sell the Porsche, I thought I had made a sensible business decision, and I took the emotion out of it, but what I hadn’t realised, was that it was that emotion that kept driving me forward and allowed me live on the edge a little.
“I loved the Porsche, but I felt I’d gone about as far as I could with that car, whereas the Lamborghini is a completely different beast, so it will require more thought, more practice and more finesse. It will be a new project, and new projects are always fun. I’m seriously looking forward to getting it on track and wringing the neck of this testosterone induced bull, because it has been such a long wait to finally get it here and get it properly prepared, the anticipation is killing me..!”
Round three of the Australian GT Championship presented by Pirelli is scheduled for Phillip Island on May 24-26.
Source : Australian GT