[Wednesday - 22nd of July]
Track Map
Got punted off in the long left-hander after Flugplatz as I was re-joining the track (barely missed the guy in question when he went off in Quiddelbacher Höhe). Which was a shame, because I had a patient and well though out strategy that was going beautifully until then. The rest of the race was just anger and not fun in the slightest.
[Wednesday - 5th of August]
Track Map
Race 1: A horrible disaster of a race. Punching bag of the field. Quit in a seething rage after defending my position into T1, and all the way to Rosaleda, where I got flipped onto my head by some genius who forgot to take into account just how sluggish my BRM is under acceleration compared to his car.
Race 2: Got into a good rhythm, but got tagged by a Ferrari during a slow spin (sorry) and that was the end of it. Kept plugging until about two laps to go when, upon trying to reset my car, the sound flipped out and made the car un-driveable.
08 September, 2009
15 July, 2009
Vader Trophy - Vallelunga sprint event
[Wednesday - 8th of July]
For once, it had come to my attention that the next round of the Vader Trophy series was happening. I had a look at my calendar two days before the race, and saw that I wasn't doing anything on Wednesday, so I decided to download the new track (Vallelunga) and do some practise before making my GPL comeback. I'm really glad I did, because although it's quite a simple track to learn, Vallelunga takes a long time to master. Added to the fact that it's a really fun place to drive as demonstrated in the onboard video below as well as the little blurb of a video below it showcasing one of Vallelunga's hidden surprises... It also lends itself very well to the VT Sprint race format, where we run two shorter races with superpole qualifying for the second race.
Track Map
Those of you familiar with Grand Prix Legends will notice that I'm driving the BRM. Those of you who aren't: There are seven available chassis available in GPL, and I just so happened to pick the heaviest, most powerful and "slowest" of the seven. To answer both demographics with the same response: I've always enjoyed a challenge! Besides, it's kinda my "thing" to drive the BRM. As a result of this, I was obviously not expecting to win any prizes in qualifying and fulfilled my expectations by qualifying dead last in the 12-car field.
Fortunately I was able to drive with my patented "Clean head in lap 1" and subsequently dodged all six cars that had the compulsory Vader Trophy Lap one enormous accident. I pootled around in P6, having a jolly good time for about a lap before Gavin Wilson, in his Cooper, caught me halfway through the second lap (following a massive tankslapper from me coming out of the "Trincea" kink). I managed to superbly defend my position until my outside wheels caught the grass coming out of "Curvone" on the third lap, spun, and lost four positions. P10 after 4 laps. Rats! I did, however make up two positions thanks to Stewart Grove having a little spin in his Cooper entering the esses, and Stuart George's race turning into a disaster on that very lap. P8 afer 5 laps.
I then started to experience the concertina effect: I started closing in on Max West in front, at the same time as Nick van der Voort was baring down on me in my mirrors. Fortunately I managed to avoid getting squeezed completely, no thanks to my braking a bit too late for the "Cimini" corners, and having to stand on the brakes in order to avoid an embarassing accident with West. For whatever reason, he stuck to the inside and ended up going over the grass on the inside and then running wide, allowing myself and Nick through. There never really was any doubt that Nick was quicker than me, but I thought I'd make life hard for him as I valiantly defended my position until he finally snuck by with a well executed move into the first corner at the start of the 8th lap.
I managed to stick with him until the tight hairpin just before "Semaforo" where I spun out under acceleration, also letting Graham Bridgett through (who'd had a spin of his own a lap earlier). I rejoin the action with Stuart George hot on my tail. He hounds me until the "Cimini" corners on the next (and final) lap where we catch up to Graham Bridgett. Unfortunately, Max clips Stuart and Graham pulls away, leaving me to cross the line in P8, a substantial improvement from where I started the race!
I set a new PB in qualifying, and thanks to Kevin Williams, Stuart Knibbs and Gavin Wilson's misfortune, I found myself 9th on the grid. Once again, taking it easy, I picked my way though the smoke, debris and flying cars/body parts to find myself in 6th going into the first corner. Neil Stratton span off the track coming out of "Trincea" and I was in 5th. I then had a spin of my own under deceleration coming out of the first of the "Cimini" curves and dropped down to last at the end of the first lap, chasing Stuart Knibbs' Ferrari. I then proceeded to throw away what little chance I had at an exciting race with a spin coming out of the infield hairpin (in exactly the same manner as in race 1) and losing a bunch of time. The rest of the race was basically plugging in consistently fast laps and picking up the pieces left from other people's accidents and other suchlike misfortune.
That is, until the penultimate lap where I had a massive slide coming out of "Curvone", which allowed Gavin Wilson to close right up on me in his Cooper. We went side-by-side through the final corner, me on the outside, and I have the inside line for the first corner. Somehow I manage to accelerate sufficiently to surge slightly ahead of Gav before the esses, but inevitably out-brake myself and wash over to the right side of the track for the right-hander with Gav right beside me. Luckily for me, Gav suffers a small dose of wheelspin and I get the racing line for the hairpin. Had I been forced to the inside there, he surely would have made it past into and through "Semaforo". Naturally I get a small slide exiting the "Trincea" kink and Gav pounces, going for the outside heading towards "Cimini" for the last time. We go side-by side through both corners and it's now turned into a manhood/stupidity challenge as we accelerate towards the super-fast right hand kink. We actually touch going through the right hander, but GPL's netcode was feeling generous for some reason and didn't propel us both sky-high. I drew ahead and clinched 8th position by a single tenth of a second.
To briefly sum up the race: There's still life in the old girl, and Gav is the best guy for side-to-side battles!
The next round is at the Nordschleife, a track some would call my speciality. I've already started practising a tiny bit, and I can't wait for another exciting evening of Grand Prix Legends!
For once, it had come to my attention that the next round of the Vader Trophy series was happening. I had a look at my calendar two days before the race, and saw that I wasn't doing anything on Wednesday, so I decided to download the new track (Vallelunga) and do some practise before making my GPL comeback. I'm really glad I did, because although it's quite a simple track to learn, Vallelunga takes a long time to master. Added to the fact that it's a really fun place to drive as demonstrated in the onboard video below as well as the little blurb of a video below it showcasing one of Vallelunga's hidden surprises... It also lends itself very well to the VT Sprint race format, where we run two shorter races with superpole qualifying for the second race.
Track Map
Those of you familiar with Grand Prix Legends will notice that I'm driving the BRM. Those of you who aren't: There are seven available chassis available in GPL, and I just so happened to pick the heaviest, most powerful and "slowest" of the seven. To answer both demographics with the same response: I've always enjoyed a challenge! Besides, it's kinda my "thing" to drive the BRM. As a result of this, I was obviously not expecting to win any prizes in qualifying and fulfilled my expectations by qualifying dead last in the 12-car field.
Fortunately I was able to drive with my patented "Clean head in lap 1" and subsequently dodged all six cars that had the compulsory Vader Trophy Lap one enormous accident. I pootled around in P6, having a jolly good time for about a lap before Gavin Wilson, in his Cooper, caught me halfway through the second lap (following a massive tankslapper from me coming out of the "Trincea" kink). I managed to superbly defend my position until my outside wheels caught the grass coming out of "Curvone" on the third lap, spun, and lost four positions. P10 after 4 laps. Rats! I did, however make up two positions thanks to Stewart Grove having a little spin in his Cooper entering the esses, and Stuart George's race turning into a disaster on that very lap. P8 afer 5 laps.
I then started to experience the concertina effect: I started closing in on Max West in front, at the same time as Nick van der Voort was baring down on me in my mirrors. Fortunately I managed to avoid getting squeezed completely, no thanks to my braking a bit too late for the "Cimini" corners, and having to stand on the brakes in order to avoid an embarassing accident with West. For whatever reason, he stuck to the inside and ended up going over the grass on the inside and then running wide, allowing myself and Nick through. There never really was any doubt that Nick was quicker than me, but I thought I'd make life hard for him as I valiantly defended my position until he finally snuck by with a well executed move into the first corner at the start of the 8th lap.
I managed to stick with him until the tight hairpin just before "Semaforo" where I spun out under acceleration, also letting Graham Bridgett through (who'd had a spin of his own a lap earlier). I rejoin the action with Stuart George hot on my tail. He hounds me until the "Cimini" corners on the next (and final) lap where we catch up to Graham Bridgett. Unfortunately, Max clips Stuart and Graham pulls away, leaving me to cross the line in P8, a substantial improvement from where I started the race!
I set a new PB in qualifying, and thanks to Kevin Williams, Stuart Knibbs and Gavin Wilson's misfortune, I found myself 9th on the grid. Once again, taking it easy, I picked my way though the smoke, debris and flying cars/body parts to find myself in 6th going into the first corner. Neil Stratton span off the track coming out of "Trincea" and I was in 5th. I then had a spin of my own under deceleration coming out of the first of the "Cimini" curves and dropped down to last at the end of the first lap, chasing Stuart Knibbs' Ferrari. I then proceeded to throw away what little chance I had at an exciting race with a spin coming out of the infield hairpin (in exactly the same manner as in race 1) and losing a bunch of time. The rest of the race was basically plugging in consistently fast laps and picking up the pieces left from other people's accidents and other suchlike misfortune.
That is, until the penultimate lap where I had a massive slide coming out of "Curvone", which allowed Gavin Wilson to close right up on me in his Cooper. We went side-by-side through the final corner, me on the outside, and I have the inside line for the first corner. Somehow I manage to accelerate sufficiently to surge slightly ahead of Gav before the esses, but inevitably out-brake myself and wash over to the right side of the track for the right-hander with Gav right beside me. Luckily for me, Gav suffers a small dose of wheelspin and I get the racing line for the hairpin. Had I been forced to the inside there, he surely would have made it past into and through "Semaforo". Naturally I get a small slide exiting the "Trincea" kink and Gav pounces, going for the outside heading towards "Cimini" for the last time. We go side-by side through both corners and it's now turned into a manhood/stupidity challenge as we accelerate towards the super-fast right hand kink. We actually touch going through the right hander, but GPL's netcode was feeling generous for some reason and didn't propel us both sky-high. I drew ahead and clinched 8th position by a single tenth of a second.
To briefly sum up the race: There's still life in the old girl, and Gav is the best guy for side-to-side battles!
The next round is at the Nordschleife, a track some would call my speciality. I've already started practising a tiny bit, and I can't wait for another exciting evening of Grand Prix Legends!
28 January, 2008
2008 GPL World Cup - Round 1
For the third time ever, there is a Grand Prix Legends World Cup, and this time I'm in it! The format is much the same as in any international tournament, with group stages before the elimiation rounds. Norway is in Group F together with the Czech Republic, Spain-3 and Québec. Now on to the race!
Track map
I qualified my BRM in 10th, a mere hundredth of a second ahead of the second BRM of Radek Petera from the Czech Republic. I was running comfortably in 9th, chasing Radek who had gotten ahead of me, until I spun off exiting the final corner on lap 4. This dropped me down to 15th, but I gradually worked my way back up to 10th until I spun off again in the same place on lap 20, losing one spot. I managed to re-take my position, and was catching the 9th placed Québec Ferrari towards the end, but the leader caught me and screwed everything up :p. The gap was 2 seconds at the line, compared with about 18 fifteen laps earlier.
The only BRM I didn't beat was Radek, who finished in 8th, but I reckon I could have finished ahead of him had it not been for mistakes early on in the race. In the end, though, Norway was the strongest team and I'm looking foreward to the next round :)
Track map
I qualified my BRM in 10th, a mere hundredth of a second ahead of the second BRM of Radek Petera from the Czech Republic. I was running comfortably in 9th, chasing Radek who had gotten ahead of me, until I spun off exiting the final corner on lap 4. This dropped me down to 15th, but I gradually worked my way back up to 10th until I spun off again in the same place on lap 20, losing one spot. I managed to re-take my position, and was catching the 9th placed Québec Ferrari towards the end, but the leader caught me and screwed everything up :p. The gap was 2 seconds at the line, compared with about 18 fifteen laps earlier.
The only BRM I didn't beat was Radek, who finished in 8th, but I reckon I could have finished ahead of him had it not been for mistakes early on in the race. In the end, though, Norway was the strongest team and I'm looking foreward to the next round :)
26 March, 2007
VT6 summary 2006/2007
There's still one race left to be run in VT6 at Sebring, but here's a quick summary of my season so far. The season started off at Mosport Park where I had an average race following not a whole lot of practise. I had a few good fights with Chris Kirk in the Ferrari, but he was always going to be the quicker of us two and I saw the last of him on lap 16. From then on it was just a matter of cruising in to a strong 8th position, unfortunately one lap down due to going off just after the Andretti "straight" near the end of the race, and winning the Division 2 race. We then moved on to Clermont Ferrand, a track where I've raced at many times before and have thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was having a hell of a time before the race, fine-tuning my old setup and smashing my old best times to smithereens. Sadly, something happened come raceday and I'd lost quite a lot of pace and consistancy. I qualified 14th on the grid and after much spinning and crashing somehow found myself in 8th when I crossed the line, winning the D2 race yet again.
Next up was Watkins Glen, one of my favourite tracks, to be run with the shiny new sprint race and superpole format! For the first race there was a 15-minute qualifying session where I managed 8th on the grid and was running way up in 4th at halfway before spinning and dropping back to 8th. Then came the superpole, where one driver each had one shot at a pole time! I managed 9th on the grid this time and had a similar race as the previous one, except I didn't quite manage to get up to 4th, but in return managed to salvage 7th for the finish. Once again, D2 winner in both races. We then moved on to Dundrod, a smaller version of the Isle of Man TT Circuit. This was a complete disaster of a race, COMPLETELY unrelated to the fact that I hadn't even installed the track until 5 minutes into qualifying....ho-hum!
I fared slightly better at Spa-Francorchamps, but more inconsistancy didn't produce more than a 7th place from 8th on the grid. I had an exciting race, though! The most exciting I've ever had at Spa, seemingly always with a car nearby. Once again I won the D2 race, and this is about the time when the league admins started questioning my being in the second division due to romping home with the victory whenever I raced. Another D2 victory at the Watkins Glen 1948 course, despite much crashing, confirmed my jump up to the first division. This is when Dutchie newcomer Nick van der Voort came along, not only taking a fairly easy victory at Mexico but also beating me in the process! What nerve! I managed to win back some dignity at the next round at Leipzig, coming home in 8th after fighting tooth and nail for position with him in the closing stages.
Given how closely matched me and Nick were in the last two races I was allowed back into the second division in time for the next round at the principality in Monaco. Unfortunately for Nick he had rather a bad race and didn't really put up much of a fight. Not much happened in my race and I cruised in to a relatively safe 7th position overall, winning D2 again. It was all to go Nick's way at Snetterton though, when my internet mucked up and disconnected me in the middle of both sprint races. Needless to say, Nick won both races in D2 (the only D2 driver running that night apart from me) and took a large chunk out of my lead as we headed on to his home race at Zandvoort. Unfortunately for both him and the D2 championship he had a dreadful race and ended up finishing last out of all the 10 cars entered for the race. I had a smashing event, clocking up a new PB in qualifying and driving my nuts off to finish 5th from 8th on the grid. I wasn't able to attend the next race at Bathurst but even though Nick failed to finish, the D2 championship was already secured. The final round at Sebring will be run next Wednesday, on the 4th of April.
Next up was Watkins Glen, one of my favourite tracks, to be run with the shiny new sprint race and superpole format! For the first race there was a 15-minute qualifying session where I managed 8th on the grid and was running way up in 4th at halfway before spinning and dropping back to 8th. Then came the superpole, where one driver each had one shot at a pole time! I managed 9th on the grid this time and had a similar race as the previous one, except I didn't quite manage to get up to 4th, but in return managed to salvage 7th for the finish. Once again, D2 winner in both races. We then moved on to Dundrod, a smaller version of the Isle of Man TT Circuit. This was a complete disaster of a race, COMPLETELY unrelated to the fact that I hadn't even installed the track until 5 minutes into qualifying....ho-hum!
I fared slightly better at Spa-Francorchamps, but more inconsistancy didn't produce more than a 7th place from 8th on the grid. I had an exciting race, though! The most exciting I've ever had at Spa, seemingly always with a car nearby. Once again I won the D2 race, and this is about the time when the league admins started questioning my being in the second division due to romping home with the victory whenever I raced. Another D2 victory at the Watkins Glen 1948 course, despite much crashing, confirmed my jump up to the first division. This is when Dutchie newcomer Nick van der Voort came along, not only taking a fairly easy victory at Mexico but also beating me in the process! What nerve! I managed to win back some dignity at the next round at Leipzig, coming home in 8th after fighting tooth and nail for position with him in the closing stages.
Given how closely matched me and Nick were in the last two races I was allowed back into the second division in time for the next round at the principality in Monaco. Unfortunately for Nick he had rather a bad race and didn't really put up much of a fight. Not much happened in my race and I cruised in to a relatively safe 7th position overall, winning D2 again. It was all to go Nick's way at Snetterton though, when my internet mucked up and disconnected me in the middle of both sprint races. Needless to say, Nick won both races in D2 (the only D2 driver running that night apart from me) and took a large chunk out of my lead as we headed on to his home race at Zandvoort. Unfortunately for both him and the D2 championship he had a dreadful race and ended up finishing last out of all the 10 cars entered for the race. I had a smashing event, clocking up a new PB in qualifying and driving my nuts off to finish 5th from 8th on the grid. I wasn't able to attend the next race at Bathurst but even though Nick failed to finish, the D2 championship was already secured. The final round at Sebring will be run next Wednesday, on the 4th of April.
25 March, 2007
NGPLS Autumn 2006 summary
For me, the NGPLS Autumn season started at the second round at Monaco, having missed the first race at Kyalami due to reasons explained in the "summer holiday" post. Due to my awesome memory I forgot to tone down the graphical add-ons for the Monaco race and I found myself having to retire due to the horrendous framerate I was getting. Quite a disappointment after my last NGPLS race here where I romped home to a superb and controlled finish. It went slightly better next time round at Spa-Francorchamps, where I finished a brilliant second only seven seconds behind the winner, from seventh on the grid. I had a similar performance in the next round at the fast and twisty Solitude track, finishing third from fifth on the grid. At Silversone I was faced with the largest grid of the season, with 19 drivers squeezing onto just one server this time (we usually split into two servers due to 19 drivers being the maximum server capacity for GPL). It was an average race, nothing special, and I finished pretty much in mid-pack in eleventh after starting fourteenth.
Then we moved on to Le Mans Sarthe, a race I was very excited about because I love the track. Unfortunately I suffered a catastrophic mechanical failiure (unvoluntary disconnect) and was forced to retire, salt in my wound after being involved in a crash early on the first lap. Then it was my favourite track of them all, the Nürburgring, the Green Hell. For the first time in my NGPLS career I managed to pre-qualify for the top server (more than 19 drivers, remember) but in hindsight it wasn't any fun at all. I was all on my own near the back of the 11-car field and came home in eighth after starting ninth. The NGPLS circus then made a stop at the Snetterton circuit where I had yet another mediocre race where I both started and finished in seventh. For the final race of the season at Watkins Glen we had another full fielded single server where, considering that, I did rather well to finish tenth from fourteenth on the grid!
My three non-finishes (one of them being the DNS at Kyalami) were my three results scratched from my total points. I ended up in fifteenth overall, not bad at all and pretty much where I'd expected to be. On the whole, not counting the retirements, I had a pretty stable season with a few good results which I am quite proud of.
Then we moved on to Le Mans Sarthe, a race I was very excited about because I love the track. Unfortunately I suffered a catastrophic mechanical failiure (unvoluntary disconnect) and was forced to retire, salt in my wound after being involved in a crash early on the first lap. Then it was my favourite track of them all, the Nürburgring, the Green Hell. For the first time in my NGPLS career I managed to pre-qualify for the top server (more than 19 drivers, remember) but in hindsight it wasn't any fun at all. I was all on my own near the back of the 11-car field and came home in eighth after starting ninth. The NGPLS circus then made a stop at the Snetterton circuit where I had yet another mediocre race where I both started and finished in seventh. For the final race of the season at Watkins Glen we had another full fielded single server where, considering that, I did rather well to finish tenth from fourteenth on the grid!
My three non-finishes (one of them being the DNS at Kyalami) were my three results scratched from my total points. I ended up in fifteenth overall, not bad at all and pretty much where I'd expected to be. On the whole, not counting the retirements, I had a pretty stable season with a few good results which I am quite proud of.
Autumn 2006 roundup
Some of you may have noticed a distinct lack of postage since the autumn of 2006, and I can only say that I drastically lost interest in writing out my race reports on my blog. However! Since I'm feeling very bored at the moment I have decided to give a quick summary of the massive amount of races I have raced in since then. I shall split it into three parts, the first two parts being my GPL Leagues (Vader Trophy and NGPLS) and the third being GTP Endurance races (SSCA). Be prepared for some very long posts, but I hope you'll find it at least somewhat fun to read. With that out of the way, let's get cracking!
24 August, 2006
End of summer, start simracing!
My summer holiday has ended, school has started and so have the simracing leagues. But first, let me tell you what I've been up to. First I flew to England with nobody but my 14-year old sister for company to go and visit our Uncle and two of our three scottish cousins-via-marriage. We stayed there for ten days before driving back to London Stanstead airport...where we missed the check-in by one hour. This is when things get eventful, folks! Luckily we had Grannie and Grandad to keep us company/look after us/buy us another plane ticket, but this plane didn't go to the local airport but to one on the other side of the country on the east coast. So mum and dad phoned a friend back home who agreed to drive us to the train station where we'd hop on the night-train and arrive at Kristiansand the next morning where we'd leave for Denmark for our family vacation. Confused yet? No? Well, my sister has a boyfriend and she hadn't seen him for a good...i dunno...two weeks? She was feeling quite distraught (oh, please) so she got dad to change our train tickets to take us all the way home to Stavanger on the west coast.
Our seats on the night train was very (and I mean very) VERY inadequate. BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T BLOODY RECLINE SINCE THEY WERE UP AGAINSTE THE FUCKING WALL! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Ahem, sorry about that. So, I left in search of two vacant seats next to one another so I could catch some sleep in a highly comfy foetal sleeping arrangment. Dad picked us up when we eventually arrived and I went straight for the bed, where I stayed for a long time before I got woken up and told to pack my stuff for Denmark. Enya (my sister) wasn't coming since she so badly wanted to be with her boyfriend. Fine by me to be perfectly honest, it saves me being squashed together in the back seat with her and my other little sister like a tin of sardines. We arrive in Kristiansand sometime later and catch the boat to Denmarkland. Here's a map which I hope will settle the confusion induced by this last paragraph...
We got to the apartment we rented and in our two weeks there I went karting in the wet (drifts ahoy!), went to legoland (great pictures ahoy!), went karting in the dry (speed ahoy!), went to the zoo (lions ahoy!) and just hanged around (TV ahoy!). Then we travelled all the way back to Kristiansand and onward to our hut on a relatively small island in Mandal. My other sister came over with her boyfriend on the second day before I left on the third day to take the train home by myself. After a good month away from my hometown, my bed, my computer...I was feeling rather homesick. I got home, lugged my bags the 0.7 miles/1.2 kilometres (mainly uphill), had a shower and REEEEEELAXED! The rest of my holiday was spent here at home, sweet home.
I've already had one race, that being the dLeague race at Le Mans. But I retired before half-distance with a broken camshaft, so I didn't feel like it was much to shout about. I was also supposed to race in the NGPLS opening round at Kyalami this Tuesday, but school (and waking-up-at-7:30) induced fatigue plus the fact that we only had one server with limited room for drivers meant that I sacrifieced my spot so fresh and happy drivers could race instead of me. Next Thursday dLeague will be racing at Oulton Park, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, here's one of my many shots I took at Legoland (I'll post a link to the full gallery when I get that sorted out).
Our seats on the night train was very (and I mean very) VERY inadequate. BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T BLOODY RECLINE SINCE THEY WERE UP AGAINSTE THE FUCKING WALL! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Ahem, sorry about that. So, I left in search of two vacant seats next to one another so I could catch some sleep in a highly comfy foetal sleeping arrangment. Dad picked us up when we eventually arrived and I went straight for the bed, where I stayed for a long time before I got woken up and told to pack my stuff for Denmark. Enya (my sister) wasn't coming since she so badly wanted to be with her boyfriend. Fine by me to be perfectly honest, it saves me being squashed together in the back seat with her and my other little sister like a tin of sardines. We arrive in Kristiansand sometime later and catch the boat to Denmarkland. Here's a map which I hope will settle the confusion induced by this last paragraph...
We got to the apartment we rented and in our two weeks there I went karting in the wet (drifts ahoy!), went to legoland (great pictures ahoy!), went karting in the dry (speed ahoy!), went to the zoo (lions ahoy!) and just hanged around (TV ahoy!). Then we travelled all the way back to Kristiansand and onward to our hut on a relatively small island in Mandal. My other sister came over with her boyfriend on the second day before I left on the third day to take the train home by myself. After a good month away from my hometown, my bed, my computer...I was feeling rather homesick. I got home, lugged my bags the 0.7 miles/1.2 kilometres (mainly uphill), had a shower and REEEEEELAXED! The rest of my holiday was spent here at home, sweet home.
I've already had one race, that being the dLeague race at Le Mans. But I retired before half-distance with a broken camshaft, so I didn't feel like it was much to shout about. I was also supposed to race in the NGPLS opening round at Kyalami this Tuesday, but school (and waking-up-at-7:30) induced fatigue plus the fact that we only had one server with limited room for drivers meant that I sacrifieced my spot so fresh and happy drivers could race instead of me. Next Thursday dLeague will be racing at Oulton Park, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, here's one of my many shots I took at Legoland (I'll post a link to the full gallery when I get that sorted out).
22 June, 2006
Vader Trophy - Le Mans
[Wednesday - 21st of June]
Track Map
After a series of 3 quick laps, all within about a second of each other, I was looking forward to this one. I sandbagged the first part of qualifying due to the crash magnet that is Dunlop corner here at Le Mans. I then realised that on PB pace I could qualify well up in the top half of the grid, so I emptied the tanks and got ready to do a flyer. Coming up to the end of the outlap I was brutally denied due to the screen freezing up. With only a handful of minutes left in qually I instantly hit the reset button, and made it back in with about three minutes to spare. So I was still at the back of the grid, back to plan A.
Instead of the usual dump-the-clutch-and-blast-away I leisurely engaged first and let the field build up a small gap. As soon as I saw the cars start to fly through the air I had plenty of time to slow down and avoid them. Unfortunately I fluffed it in Tetre Rouge and re-joined in the middle of a group of three cars. Jannis Koopman in his Ferrari couldn't seem to get past me and my dual-engined BRM on the Mulsanne straight (or Hunaudierés), and was constantly ducking in and out of my slipstream down the massive straight. We eventually reeled in Richard Dickson's puny little Cooper (haha!) and I went side-by-side with him under braking for the Mulsanne Hairpin. He was later on the anchors than me and so was Jannis, as he couldn't get his car stopped in time, thus punting me into the sand bank.
There must have been an accident in Indianapolis on the next lap, because I was suddenly right back up there with Max West's Cooper. We catch another Cooper under braking for Maison Blanche (and not wanting to exit the track in a ball of flames) so I ease off a bit to give them a bit of room. I get a good run on Max exiting Dunlop, but he moves over to the left and I have to ease off. He runs wide though, and I can pass him on the outside of the right-hander in the esses.
Rich misses his braking for the Mulsanne Hairpin and re-joins behind me, and Jannis has a spin in the esses on the next lap. Ian Woollam also makes a mistake on the lap in Arnage which brings him within striking distance, and a little mistake in Maison Blanche sees me zip through to 7th overall! Apart from having a small spin in Tetre Rouge on the next lap the rest of the race is just a cruise to the finish. Not exactly a leisurely cruise though, with a 3:21.8 on the last lap.
All in all I'm happy with the result, but it's a rather bittersweet one. With this result I jump back into the lead of the second division championship, but not being able to make the last round will almost surely make me lose it again!
Track Map
After a series of 3 quick laps, all within about a second of each other, I was looking forward to this one. I sandbagged the first part of qualifying due to the crash magnet that is Dunlop corner here at Le Mans. I then realised that on PB pace I could qualify well up in the top half of the grid, so I emptied the tanks and got ready to do a flyer. Coming up to the end of the outlap I was brutally denied due to the screen freezing up. With only a handful of minutes left in qually I instantly hit the reset button, and made it back in with about three minutes to spare. So I was still at the back of the grid, back to plan A.
Instead of the usual dump-the-clutch-and-blast-away I leisurely engaged first and let the field build up a small gap. As soon as I saw the cars start to fly through the air I had plenty of time to slow down and avoid them. Unfortunately I fluffed it in Tetre Rouge and re-joined in the middle of a group of three cars. Jannis Koopman in his Ferrari couldn't seem to get past me and my dual-engined BRM on the Mulsanne straight (or Hunaudierés), and was constantly ducking in and out of my slipstream down the massive straight. We eventually reeled in Richard Dickson's puny little Cooper (haha!) and I went side-by-side with him under braking for the Mulsanne Hairpin. He was later on the anchors than me and so was Jannis, as he couldn't get his car stopped in time, thus punting me into the sand bank.
There must have been an accident in Indianapolis on the next lap, because I was suddenly right back up there with Max West's Cooper. We catch another Cooper under braking for Maison Blanche (and not wanting to exit the track in a ball of flames) so I ease off a bit to give them a bit of room. I get a good run on Max exiting Dunlop, but he moves over to the left and I have to ease off. He runs wide though, and I can pass him on the outside of the right-hander in the esses.
Rich misses his braking for the Mulsanne Hairpin and re-joins behind me, and Jannis has a spin in the esses on the next lap. Ian Woollam also makes a mistake on the lap in Arnage which brings him within striking distance, and a little mistake in Maison Blanche sees me zip through to 7th overall! Apart from having a small spin in Tetre Rouge on the next lap the rest of the race is just a cruise to the finish. Not exactly a leisurely cruise though, with a 3:21.8 on the last lap.
All in all I'm happy with the result, but it's a rather bittersweet one. With this result I jump back into the lead of the second division championship, but not being able to make the last round will almost surely make me lose it again!
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