NGPLS - Watkins Glen

[Tuesday - 16th of May]

Track Map

Due to lag, I got qualified 4th on the grid as opposed to 9th where my quickest non-lag would have put me. Luckily a reboot fixed the network issues, and I could proceed on to the NGPLS season finale at Watkins Glen. I got a very good start, actually beating the Brabham of Kristiansen ahead of me off the line. He goes for the pass in Big Bend, but I gather more speed on the outside line and re-take third. Two laps later another Brabham, this one belonging to Myrvold, passes me out of the Esses but I get third back when we pass the spun-off Eagle of Stolze just before the last corner. But then on lap 7, disaster strikes. I move back in line after having a look down the inside at The Loop, but I clip the grass and that pitches me into a big slide. I hold the slide for what seems like an eternity, but eventually I run out of track and spin off. Thus losing me three positions as I drop down to 6th.

The car in front has an accident in the Esses and bumps me up to 5th, a good nine seconds behind the next car. Up until the start of lap 17 I'm pretty much all on my own, but now I've been caught by Espen Baklid in his Ferrari, and he's quicker than me right now. Luckily (for me) he spins off exiting The Loop two laps later, and I now get a comfy 9-second gap to play with. Wanting to make the most of it I have a large slide exiting the Esses, almost going off in the process. Unfortunately another massive slide, this time in the final corner brings the gap down from a steady 4-5 seconds to two tenths of a second. Making the most of my costly mistake, he gets into my slipstream and passes me on the run down to The Loop. After pootling around on my own for a few laps I have another spin and lose more time. Luckily, again (for me), Espen has another spin. This time he's completely off the track, and this gives me 8 seconds to spare with four laps to go.

Eventually I bring it home in 5th, quite happy considering the spins and offs. Could have been better, but what couldn't have? The NGPLS season will resume again after the summer holiday. I'm not sure what car I'll be driving then, and I'm torn between the fun of the BRM (but in second division due to pace) or the speed of the Ferrari (but a possible first division due to pace).

Vader Trophy - Nürburgring

[Wednesday - 10th of May]

Track Map

So I'm watching my (now) favourite show on TV, "I Shouldn't Be Alive" which is about stories of survival accompanied with great re-enactments. Just as the show goes to it's last ad break with about 20 minutes to go, I take a look at the clock. Then it hits me, isn't there a league race now? At my favourite track no less? CRAP! Thankfully this league is always pretty slow when it comes to getting the server up & such, and I made it in with about five minutes left of qualifying. I tell you what, it's a damn good job I drive at least one lap a day at this track or I'd be in serious trouble...

So there I am at the back of the grid, quite content as a matter of fact. The first corner here is notorious for causing accidents, and a slow start from the back will minimise my chances of being collected. There's a minor accident in turn one and I manage to avoid it with relative ease. I'd told myself before the race that I wasn't going to push, I was going to stay on track and let everybody else have all the accidents. For once in my life this strategy actually worked, and I ended up finishing in 4th from 16th on the grid. I have to say, I don't feel that deserved the final position up to 4th. Mattew Parry had crashed in Tiergarten on the last lap, and flat-out refused to let me let him past again. So cheers to you Matt, a true gent!

Finally. I've managed to have a good race at the Nürburgring, my favourite track and probably the one I've done the absolute highest mileage on of all the tracks in GPL. I'm extatic!

dLeague - Road Atlanta

[Thursday - 4th of May]

Track Map

I signed back up to dLeague a few days before the race, and didn't turn a single lap until the practise session on raceday. This time I decided to challenge myself and drive the Toyota, an often neglegted car in GTP. As some of you may remember, WOSEC raced here last season so I didn't have any problems learning the track but I was still off the pace. Somehow I managed to qualify third, but after the polesitter Jan Larsen got a black flag for some reason my row on the grid was pushed up one notch and I was on pole. But just as the safety car was pulling away to start the pace lap, disaster struck and I was disconneted. I managed to reconnect before the race started, but had to start from the pitlane and (as if to add insult to injury) one lap down. The original plan was to be smooth and consistant, but being a lap down I entered bezerk-o driving mode and was pretty much flat out. It was to be the end of me though, as I plowed into the wall between T3 and T4 and that was that.

I'm hoping to be able to mount more of a challenge at the next round.

NGPLS - Rouen

[Tuesday - 2nd of May]

Track Map

I'd been suffering from pedal spiking as early as before the WOSEC race, and my times were so badly affected that I decided to open them up and see what was the problem. After cleaning out a year's worth of dust and putting the pedals back together the spiking was gone, and my laptimes improved accordingly both in GTP and GPL. I qualified 5th on the grid, and was hoping for a clean and uneventful race so I could at least keep 5th.

I got a reasonably okay start, and slotted myself nicely in line still retaining 5th position. After a 100% clean first lap for (at least) the top eight drivers, quite a rare occurance, I passed the Ferrari of Vidar Langseid as he spun off down the ditch in turn two. I didn't see a single car apart from the ones I lapped (about two) until Scierie on the second to last lap, when Vidar had managed to reel in a 20-second gap in just under as many laps. But he promptly spun off in the following corner, and I could cruise in to what I easily consider to be my most consistant race ever.

WOSEC - Bathurst

[Saturday - 29th of April]

Track Map

I was given the honours of starting and qualifying the VTR3 car, paired with Ian Woollam. Surprisingly I managed to put the car 10th on the grid, in the 20-odd car field and got away to a nice clean start. Unfortunately I got stuck behind the OATAS Jaguar, and in my bid to find a way past I had a spin in the very tight Park section. I had to wait for a long time before it was safe to re-join, but apart from another minor spin later on I gradually climbed back up the order. I even had quite the fun little scrap with the ADC69 car, but he fell back after a failed passing attempt in the Esses spinning us both around. I handed the car over to Ian in 6th, and within half an hour he was right back up to 6th again :D

Ian's stint was quick, very quick. Unfortunately it was only rather consistant, and the car I took over wasn't exactly up to showroom standards. After pitting though, I got back the missing miles per hour at the end of Conrod, and my laptimes improved acordingly. I took on less fuel than originally planned at the end of my first fuel run, as continuing with full tanks would mean that Ian would only have about ten laps before finishing. I wasn't that far off running on fumes when handing back over to Ian, one more lap and we would have run dry! Ian drove the car in a smooth and controlled manner (bloody quick at times as well, he did a 1:52.9!), and cruised in to a formation finish with the winning VTR1 car in 6th.

VTR1: 1st
VTR2: 3rd
VTR4: 4th (Quicker drivers, pre-race connection problems)
VTR3: 6th

I'm very happy with this race, and it is my best overall result in an enduro to date. The backmarkers were generally very decent, especially in the mountain section, and made the race a whole lot safer. Safety does tend to make humans a bit cocky and, well, mad, though. In Vader Trophy Racing alone we had about three seperate three wide incidents, me being one of them! The next race is at the famous Nürburgring Nordschleife, don't miss out on live driver radio on the 27th of May!