++COMMENT++
Runde Datum
10 Aug, 2014 7:00 AM
Rundenzeit
1:30.000
(+8.15s)
Außentemperatur
13° C
That was a great event! Noel put in an amazing drive today and surprised Richard and I in qualifying by breaking past our laptime goals during quali! Looks like all issues are sorted with the car and he's found his speed in it.
I was pushing in quali and I didn't think I'd have the speed to beat him in the final time attack. I was on a set of 295's the day before, and I was just trying to push too much out of these new 265 TD's. I was sliding through some corners and oversteering on exit and I think I was just overheating them.
Richard struggled with brakes and a failed wastegate hose bolt in quali, but I think CanJam helped him out to get him back to full power for the Time Attaack round. I knew the second that separated he and I would be well made up for competition.
I was desperate to find some time for the final Time Attack session. I even closed the windows for better aero! I went out with the goal to put in a clean 1st lap and try to ramp it up from there. I thought that I gapped myself to Noel about 6 to 8 seconds. Enough that I could see him for motivation, but not so close that I would catch him on a single mistake and have to lift. I like having a rabbit. But every lap I kept making mistakes!
Lap 1 - completely blew the apex of turn 4... Richard must be closing on my ass.
Lap 2 - wide in turn 2, but now Noel is closer! wide in turn 6, late on the throttle... that's three mistakes. If I'm catching Noel with these errors, Richard must be beating me and Noel?! But I can't see Richard in my mirror yet.
Lap 3 - Damn! Noel's now less than a corner away. I can do this. Clean clean clean! I go a little deep in to turn 11, I was trying to hold third so I don't lose 0.2 seconds on another upshift, but I'm off boost and Noel opens the gap. I do Turn 12 a little faster than he does, but then I go wide in 13. 2nd gear exit and a bunch of CanJam power, and I make it up by the end of the back straight. Through the chicane onto the front straight I always short shift to fourth so I can hold the throttle down after the last kink. This should be a good looking finish... but I grab second instead of 4th! Put it in third and try for fourth again and Damn! 2nd again!!! Lap three is done and my best lap went out the window. Did I break the gearbox??? It's a brand new short shifter, but how am I screwing up the simple three-four shift multiple times??? I haven't made this mistake all weekend?!?!
Thank god I made that mistake from low revs in third and barely put it into the rev limiter. At least the fuel light was on when I crossed the finish for the third time, so I knew we had fueled it right. (Not so, for OTA! That's another story.)
Pulling off the track, I was sure that I had lost it to Richard on mistakes. I was hoping for second at best. When I dropped off my transponder they told me I had a 1:34, but that must have been bullshit. I struggled to get into the 1:35's in quali WITHOUT mistakes like those. Then Corwyn and Chris greeted me in the pits to let me know that I had won the class and I was STUNNED. If lap 2 was THAT fast then high 1:32's should be possible on a hot and dusty day like that. My time: 1:34.23, Noel 1:35.049 and Richard 1:35.063. What a great class to compete in!
A bit too much wind noise, but you can hear some BOV and revs.
Lessons learned: Don't get too close to your rabbit and don't put in a short shifter the day before competition.
Thanks guys! That was some great competition and I'm looking forward to TMP!
Kommentare