Another Faltering Baby Step

Sunday went about as well as I'd expected - continued to brake later, carry more speed through corners etc. Got my gearing about right now as well I think... still got a lot of mountain to climb, but I'm away from basecamp at least.

Race 1 - After a wet familiarisation session first thing (dryingish but the back of the track was wet with no dry line - Clark especially was like ice) in which I just tip-toed around, the track had actually dried out for the most part in time for the first race. Got a bit swamped at the rolling start as I'd drawn second place on the rookie grid - when the cars beside me started going three-wide into the first dip I thought it might be an idea to just let them get on with it. On the second lap Jason Ogg pretty much stopped at the hairpin so I got past him for a lap, next lap around I saw him leave the hairpin with a four wheel drift on so I didn't fight him too hard when he went by as he looked to be on a bit of a mission. Concentrated on trying to keep him in sight from then on, finishing 6 seconds behind him at the end. No retirements from this race so that was a 20th place finish. Race 1 Result.

Race 2 - Huge gap until this race (6 races and the lunch break) so there was plenty of time for the rain to come back - which it did. Just at the end of the lunch break the heavens opened and the track was soaked. Mostly stopped in time for the Saloon & Sportscar and Kart races which were out before us but it was still fairly wet for our second round. Not sure what to expect in my first wet race, I let the two guys behind me at the start through and kept a beady eye on the field. For the first four laps or so I pretty much kept up as they all decided to fight as normal, in turn pretty much holding up the whole field as it meant some slow exit speeds. When a dry line started to appear they took off a bit but Jason had a moment at Clark towards the end, spinning off. The marshalls gave him a helping hand but by that time he had been lapped. Can't have been far off it myself but finished on the lead lap again (and not in last place for the first time!) which I was dead chuffed with given the moist conditions. Race 2 Result.

Final - Got swamped again at the start (these rolling starts are kind of difficult to gauge as the field tends to speed up and slow down all over the place on the way to the line) so just settled into last place and got on with trying to shave a tenth or two off my times (hadn't come close to the the low 66s I'd mentioned I wanted.) Had a couple of sideways moments and missed a couple of gears at the hairpin but enjoyed my little "testing session" as the track was bone-dry and the sun was out so I could hop the kerbs and so on again. Finished 52 seconds down on the leaders in the 10 lap race which is actually better than I've achieved in most of the 8 lap heat races so that's a tiny bit of progress, plus set my best timed lap so far with a 66.055 so I suppose it's mission accomplished again. The other newcomers are improving at a decent pace as well though so I always tend to finish the same distance behind them, but I'm not too worried about that - got to be realistic! Race 3 Result.

I'll see if I can source a couple of photos from the meeting and the Championship Standings will be linked to when they are available. Next round is in 1 month on the 24th of June.

Mad day...

Just about ready to head for the track for race day - weather forecast is awful but it seems okay-ish so far out there. I'm 30 miles north of the track though so you never know what conditions await...

After the chaos of my working day (truck from Glasgow carrying the stuff I deliver left late and then broke down at Stirling so I had to drive from Dundee where I would normally meet him and then out to Stirling, get the stuff and get going) things seemed to be ok, with the first session starting at 15.40 I had plenty of time. Cue arrival of text from Aly Hunter at 10.30 while I'm in Elgin saying Legends have changed to 14.00 and 16.00.... Fly down road, grab stuff and get changed in Perth and barrell to track! Made it with 15 minutes to spare.

Made sense to change the times in the end - we were due to test with the XR2s and that would have been a bit busy so instead we were out at the same time as the Historic Sportscars which was interesting. Having an expensive Ecurie Ecosse Tojeiro Jaguar roar past you on the straight was an experience!

First session was a bit mixed, had a double 360 spin at the chicane but then latched on to Carol Brown who was going to show me a few lines and so on. Second session was great - I tried straight-lining a few corners to stop "turning so much" which I was told was losing me a lot of time and sure enough, it felt good. Ended the day feeling really good about things. The weather was nice and sunny though, don't think that'll be the case today!

No timing, sadly - hopefully if we get a bit of dry running today I can see if I've improved my times yet.

Round 2

Practice day tomorrow for the second round of three races on Sunday. Looking forward to hitting the track again tomorrow afternoon (sessions are at 15.30 and 17.40 for the legends) to see if I can pick up a bit of pace. Can't remember offhand exactly what my best time so far has been but I believe it was a high 66 second lap. Would love to get a 65 something this weekend but low 66s is probably more realistic. Been giving a lot of thought to how I was driving at the first round and it was pretty conservative for the most part - going to try being a bit braver in the praccy sessions.

Weather for Saturday is ok (bit dull but supposed to stay dry) but I don't think there will be any progression in lap times on Sunday - it's looking like it's going to be at least showery, if not raining most of the day. That'll make for some interest! If it is indeed wet I'll be concentrating on staying on the black stuff, regardless of how much slower I end up being. If I play my cards right and simply finish there could be some decent results in the offing if a few people end up off track and beached in the gravel. Add to that there are 18 cars on the initial entry list compared to the 21 (20 ran) last time and hopefully I'll get a few more points this time!

Video

Y'know how I said I didn't know how to rip a dvd to put the video of my spin online? I still don't. Instead, here's a highly technical "hold digital camera up to the screen" version instead! Youtube

Also, here's the timetable for the second race meeting of the year in a few days. Timetable. I'll post some thoughts about what I hope to achieve in the next day or two.

Getting there...

Thankfully the long wait will soon be over - a week tomorrow I'll be rushing back down from Inverness (in a totally law-abiding and safe fashion of course) to get to Knockhill for the Saturday practice sessions. My job has me up at about 01.30 am (yes, in the morning...) Tuesday to Saturday and I usually get back home at mid-day. Assuming there are no delays I have plenty of time to have a bite to eat and head to the track as the first practice session is generally around about 14.00 but via the medium of Sod's Law it's safe to say I'll get away a little late that day and be in a blind panic to make it to the track on time. :) Timetables and so on for next week to follow as they become available.

Saw the TV show with the first round a couple of days ago - managed to miss it when it was on as I was down at Silverstone (had a good time there - the racing was good but was a bit disappointed in how International events seem to treat the fans more like an irritation than anything else) and the timer didn't work but got a DVD copy from another Knockhill racer. Only made it on screen once (which is once more than expected!) when I had my spin, but it was cool to get a namecheck and at least the commentator made it clear it was my first meeting so at least everyone watching knew I was a rookie! Was going to try and rip the 20 odd seconds of footage out and put it on Youtube for people to snigger at but I've no idea how!