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.
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2 comments:
Well done Boss. I am sure the times will continue to come down. It sounds like great fun. Keep it up.
Fun is what it most definitely is. I may not actually be racing anyone in the races but the voyage of discovery to see how fast I can eventually get the thing to go is a hoot.
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