His car crashed at Sydney Motorsport Park in July and with extensive help from his mates and people he didn’t know, Humfrey has rebuilt the car. He will be competing in Round 4 of the Precision International Sports Sedan Series at Sandown Raceway this weekend.
Humfrey came through Turn 7 and the rear of the car stepped out under power. That caused the car to slew across the track and slam the outside wall near the entry to Turn 8 side on.
“I didn’t intend to be pushing, nor did it feel like I was, it ended up being too much. It snapped quicker than I could react. Unfortunately, the consequences of a seemingly nothing incident were massive. Maybe the new rear end/geometry we finished fitting and aligning that morning induced some rear bump steer,” Humfrey mused.
Damage was significant and included much of the right front with lower control arm, castor arm and tie rod. The radiator was punctured while at the rear, the rear diff, trailing arm and rear brake rotor were throw-aways.
“It was 50-50 as to whether the car was repairable, and it wasn’t until we stripped it down that we decided to fix it.
“A big group of mates came round and help remove a load of broken bits to really get the ball rolling, Tristan, Nat, Matt, Allan, Jarrad, Phil, Elle and Carline all did awesome work, and Mike and Wayne offered up some hard to-come-by bits.
“John at Racecar Fibreglass did a heap of work fixing up all the panels. Frankie from Not Scared Racing and Fabrication patched some of the repairable bits and Sam at Vulcan Panel and Paint put in several late nights.”
Humfrey said sourcing a replacement control arm was the trickiest and people he didn’t know were sending similar arms, similar but not the same. Eventually he was able to procure Street or Track control arm out of the United States and a caster arm from a ‘69 Mustang.
“The sports sedan guys in Melbourne set up a gofundme page and so many people reached out to offer support.
“Last Friday night John, Darryl, Elle and Carline finalised the work and got it in the trailer for a shakedown on Monday. Thanks to the WA Sporting Car Club, Dave, Rob and Jarrad Carey, we managed to get a few laps around Wanneroo. Was a wet track but nothing major popped up.
Big thanks to everyone been a massive effort achieving so much since the hit,” Humfrey added.
Humfrey has been a regular competitor in the National Sports Sedans for the past two seasons and is a six-time champion in his home state of West Australia.
“I would love to be in a top car, and I guess our car is top of the second five with the LS engine I built myself.
“But it is great to race against the best cars which is good to see and get ideas off,” he concluded.
