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Practice
33 cars were entered and only the first 32 qualifiers would actually race. Which was kind of worrying but a quick bit of maths revealed that only 31 were actually going to attempt to practice. A few guys hadn’t turned up. Weather and track was cold. Tried to increase pace on second lap. Tyres too cold and had to hold a slide through Riches. But throughout practice the car felt lively at the back. On a couple of laps towards the end I got a good run through Russell and turned in a 1.24.43. Six seconds quicker than the last time I was here (my first race last year). The sort of improvement I was hoping for. It put me 19th on the grid.
Pre-Race
I mentioned to John that the back end felt lively. Mind you a few drivers had said there was not a lot of grip out there. John asked me about damper setting and had I set up the Z-bar. I wasn’t sure of the setting and I didn’t know how to set up the Z-bar. Well the dampers needed softening and the Z-bar was way out. John did his best but the rods were too short so we got an improved set up but not the best.
Race
As we waited in the assembly area some menacing black clouds started heading our way. I was quite surprised it wasn’t raining when we hit the circuit. Off the start line I got a reasonable start but two drivers came past. I blocked everyone else and managed to head down Revett straight in what I reckoned was 21st. Bit of a gap in front of me, I came into Russell and saw a couple of cars had collided and were blocking the middle of the track. I got around them but now the guys in front were way ahead. That was disappointing and I thought I was going to have a drive to the flag but a couple of laps later the guys behind started catching me. The guy behind tried to overtake me twice on the iside to the Esses and Riches but I just held my line and braked fairly late which put him off. He finally overtook me into the Esses and on the same lap I exited Russell poorly and another driver wnet past me going into Riches. I let him go fully expecting to get him back down Revett straight. But when I braked for Sears, nothing. The wheels locked instantly, it had rained at the corner since the last time we been around. I was stunned I didn’t hit the guy in front he scrambled around and I almost did but probably because I was completely off the throttle the car was totally unsettled and it came around. As I sat on the outside of the corner I thought I might be hit by the next load of guys. I started the engine and watched them go past and two of them spin just have to me. I started moving and retook those places. For the rest of the race I cheesly continued to the flag. Not happy with the wet/dry track. I finished 21st but at one point I was 14th. It could have been so much better.
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