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!

Vader Trophy - Mexico

[Wednesday - 7th of June]

Track Map

Viva Mexico! Every time I've raced here I've had a cracking time. This race was not to be an exception, as I managed to qualify my BRM 8th with a new PB just under the 1:50 mark. The start, however, was not quite so good. I got a good getaway - better than anybody in front of me - but there was no room to get past as the road was blocked with cars ahead. I moved to the left to slot in behind a BRM, but the Ferrari of Stuart Knibbs was in my blind spot and we're both send spinning. Fortunately nobody else gets collected, but we do lose quite a bit of time to the others. There must have been an accident exiting turn one as Simon Steele's Brabham is going very slowly, and the rest of the pack is within eyesight heading into the hairpin.

I run a lap in 8th due to a spin from Chris Kirk, but a small off by myself relegates me back to 9th. Another spin by Kirk two laps later bumps me back up to 8th, two seconds behind Gav's BRM. Gav pulls away and a few laps later I pass Jannis Koopman's spun-off Ferrari. Unfortunately I suffer a spin of my own only a few laps later in turn one and drop back down to 8th, and spin again in the exact same spot on the very next lap. Jannis spins off three laps from the finish in turn one and I have an un-dramatic drive from then on, en route to a 7th place finish.

A quick lap in qualifying, a good getaway, managing to only take myself and one other driver out in the crash, being within eyesight of a car most of the time and a good result. I couldn't have asked for more. Well, I could've done without the start crash but meh, those things happen.

WOSEC - Nürburgring (take 2)

[Saturday - 3rd of June]

Track Map

Server issues last week meant that the race had to be postponed one week, and subsequently more time to practise. Good thing for me as a matter of fact, as I managed to improve my pace a bit vis à vis last week. Neil Stratton qualified my car (VTR4) 6th on the grid, and had a single fuel run before handing over to me. Apart from a small 360 spin on one of my early laps it was smooth sailing, I was even running (comfortably, might I add) way up in third at one point! After handing back over to Neil we were in 4th, with VTR1-2-3 in first second and third: A clean sweep! However, it was not to be, as I...er...made a small mistake with only a handful of laps to go (lifted a bit too late and turned in too late for Flugplatz) and ended up straddling the fence. When I was finally allowed to re-join we'd lost 4th to SFH, and as if to add insult to injury the car blew up at Hohe-Acht on the very last lap. It was a good race for VTR though: A clean-sweep of the podium!

Endurance racing at the 'ring, it doesn't get any better than this. I had a great time chatting over the radio with VTR3 drivers Ian Woollam and Neil Pearson while driving, and we were constantly taking the piss out of each other. I do whish I'd tried reversing back onto the track after my crash though, but hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing.

WOSEC - Nürburgring

[Saturday - 27th of May]

The race was originally scheduled for today, but last minute server issues has postponed it to the 3rd of June.

Vader Trophy - Lydden Hill

[Wednesday - 24th of May]

Track Map

Woo, a short track, time for chaos! I'd done no laps beforehand, but for once that wasn't too big a problem due to the tiny length of this track. That doesn't mean I had an easy time driving the track though, because this baby is not only short but also very undulating. Add a quicker car wanting to pass every two corners and you've got yourself the lovely Lydden Hill circuit of death.

Can't remember how I qualified (can't be arsed to look up the replay this time), but it wasn't too much to shout about. I managed to thread my way through the T1 carnage, and from then on I was holding on for dear life. My fingers slipped momentarily, though, and I plummeted into the doom that is the tyrewall in turn three. The rest of the race can be summed up with: Angry driving, spin, angry driving, spin, get lapped by field, drive smoothly and catch back up with car ahead, have small scrap, have accident, have spin and fall back and finally having my PC freeze up with only a handful of laps to go.

An interesting track, just a shame that I sucked so badly.

dLeague - Bridgehampton

[Thursday - 18th of May]

Track Map

Well, the final race of the dLeague season wasn't exactly what I was hoping for. I qualified in third after an hour's practise on the server (lovely track, by the way) and was running nicely in third until lap 10 until I lost concentration for a split-second. Thus slamming into a tyre wall and subsequently requiring a tow to the pits costing me three laps vis-à-vis the leader. I somehow manage to have a spin one corner after the pit exit, and bring out the safety car (n00b admin! You forgot to turn off yellow flags :p). I pit to fix additional damage during the safety car period and was just farting about until I finally made it to the finish.

The future of dLeague isn't bright, as there were only about six other entries. Hopefully we'll be able to recruit some more drivers for the post-summer season. If you're interested, there's a link to the right of this very post which will take you to dLeague's website.