HE has changed series, but for Bathurst driver Nathan Goulding his goal for 2020 remains the same - chasing a class win in his 1963 Morris Cooper S.
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While all racing is currently on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, if it resumes Goulding will target the Historic Group N Association's NB class title.
He made his debut in that series earlier this month, making the switch after being crowned a 2019 class winner in the Historic Sports and Racing Car Association's Group N championship.
"I joined another group, which is the Historic Group N Association and that's sort of a split off group from the HSRCA - they are all different groups now," he said.
"Remember when rugby league had Super League and NRL - well it's that sort of scenario in motor racing at the moment.
"The reason I did that ... is that the new group is not as expensive.
"I've decided to do it on a bit of a budget this year because of how much it cost me last year rebuilding engines and diffs and all that sort of stuff. It's a little bit more low key and laid back.
"They had one round in December where they started their 2020 championship, but the plan was, when I looked at it, you could drop one round anyway and if you race in the other four or five they've got, you are still a chance of winning that championship."
Goulding made his debut in the new series at the HSRCA Autumn Festival at Wakefield Park earlier this month.
Given he is still running in and tuning his car following an engine rebuild late last year, Goulding did not push the limits across the three races he contested.
"It took me probably a session or two to get back in the groove, but by the race on the Saturday afternoon I was nice and competitive, right up there with the other guys and going good," he explained.
"The car handled fantastic, set-up wise rapt. It was a bit down on horsepower just because we haven't wound it up yet, so I was in that conservative mode. But everything went perfect all weekend, I finished every race, the car did the job very nicely.
"In between now and whenever we might race next, it will go on a rolling road or a dyno or something like that and get it tweaked up a bit."
In the first race, a seven-lap affair, Goulding ran fourth in class and sixth outright.
As he indicated, he improved across the two races which followed, placing second in class in both and fifth and fourth outright respectively.
There was a nervous moment when a car in front of him almost flipped, but Goulding survived unscathed.
"We were all dicing for second place, we were all in a conga line so to speak. The Mini in front of me has hit the ripple strip and launched himself up onto two wheels," Goulding explained.
"He has basically driven into the back of the Torana which was in front of him, which stopped him from rolling.
"I remember sitting in the car thinking 'He's going to roll that and I'll go to the inside because his momentum will take him to the outside'.
"Then in the milli-second I did, he's run into the back of the Torana and they both dropped down to the inside of the track, so I had to jump on the brakes and get around the outside of them. it was pretty hectic."
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