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.

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.

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!

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).

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.

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!

Vader Trophy - Solitude

[Wednesday - 26th of April]

Track Map

The start was an absolute mess, the field taking over a minute to actually make it through the first two corners. I'd started in 9th but due to me not getting too badly involved in the carnage, I crossed the line after lap 1 in 6th. A small spin late in the lap relegates me to 7th, and another one exactly one lap later puts me back down in 9th. On lap 6 I overtake Chris Kirk's slow Ferrari, I also get to practise my three point turn after spinning in the twisty section near the end. Two laps later I have a rather exciting completely sideways moment under braking for Schatten, but luckily my front wheels in the grass bring the car around and I continue unharmed. A mass disconnection on the next lap bumps me up to 4th, and that's where I (un-offically) finish. The offical result had a coutback to the last lap before the mass-disco, so I actually ended up in 8th.

They didn't call this place "Solitude" for nothing!

NGPLS - Snetterton

[Tuesday - 18th of April]

Track Map

I did some testing beforehand this time, and actually came pretty close to my old PB. From 11th on the grid in a 13 car field I shoot through to 10th by Riches, due to two cars blowing up. Another car is passed between Riches and Sear, but I leave my braking a bit too late and go off. I get going dead last, but manage to pass two spun off cars in the esses plus two more in the Bomb Hole. A good little scrap is had with my quasi-namesake Espen Baklid until I have a little off at the end of the fourth lap. He is gradually reeled in, and by the eighth lap I'm within striking distance. It takes me until the end of lap 10 to get by, as he makes a slight mistake exiting the final chicaine. He manages to stay close for several laps, but when trying to pass me six laps later in the hairpin he spins, almost collecting me. A Lotus has also spun off, so I advance one position up the order.

A few laps go by, and my sock is feeling a little loose. I bend down to adjust it on lap 21 heading towards the Hairpin. Whoops! Was that my left rear wheel that just overtook me? That's right ladies and gents, I broke the third rule in Esben's Big Book of Racing Rules: Never, under any circumstances, adjust your socks while driving. I lose two positions after resetting, but one of them pops their engine on the run down to the esses. Despite this, I still have another Eagle on my tail, and can't do much as his superiour straightline speed promotes him to my position on the run down to the hairpin. Espen spins off in the esses on lap 24 and hands me 6th. I spin in the hairpin with five laps to go, but keep my position. Unfortunately this means that I get lapped by the leader (embarrasing, I know) and I pretty much cruised in to an alright 6th place.

I could have done much better, I really need to cut out this crashing/spinning off business. It's not doing me any good :P

I now have a mascot!

That's right, the ever unlucky prehistoric squirrel Scrat is now my mascot. I went to the cinema with my little (6 year old) sister today to watch Ice Age 2, and the little feller was such an inspiration. Watching him getting up and trying again and again and again to get that ever elusive nut, despite the most heartbraking of failiures and injustices. His never-say-die attitude makes him a true role model, so here's to Scrat!

SSCA - 12 Hours of Daytona

[Saturday - 8th of April]

Track Map

This was quite the spur-of-the-moment decision, as Brendan Kaczmarek (Northstar Racing captain) didn't ask me to join in until the day before on Friday. He originally had enough drivers to comfortably enter two cars, but now he only had himself and Andras Kiraly (from SFH, VTR's toughest rival in WOSEC). I hadn't planned on doing anything that day, and Brendan is a good buddy of mine, so I was glad to help out. It did mean learning to drive the Mazda though, the only car I haven't actively driven in GTP yet. The Mazda runs in it's own class for this series, due to it being so incredibly slow.

I started the race in the #24 Sauber and Brendan in the #124 Mazda. Not surprisingly, he out-qualified me (come on, I had a day to prepare :P) and ran near the top during all of his stint. Then, right on cue, directly after starting my second or third (can't remember) fuel run, mum and dad announced dinner. Brendan had already decided that the Mazda was taking priority, he wanted the class victory. I agreed, and simply parked the Sauber in the pits and rushed off for dinner. When I returned, I found that Brendan had let some random guy do a stint in our car. He wasn't all that good, and actually got us an un-clearable black flag. The car got disqualified and I was fuming. In hindsight though it was a good thing, because three drivers sharing two cars for 12 hours doesn't add up anyway.

I then go to do some testing offline, and just when I'm happy with the setup Brendan comes on the radio and reminds me that he's lost second gear. A few minutes of tinkering and I've got a setup ready, then Brendan comes on the radio again to tell me that we've also lost third! I quickly set the ratios for fourth and fifth (going all through the box to include first would be too risky). I then hop in and do a fuel run without much drama at all before handing over to Brendan, who did half a fuel run. During which he also lost fourth and mysteriously CTD'd, I jump in with my sequential shifter set to first and fifth gears only. I did another fuel run before handing over to Andras Kiraly, who just arrived, who did three very quick fuel runs. I then do one final fuel run, before handing over to Brendan who was set to do the last three.

By that time we were leading in class, but another CTD for Brendan suddenly put us back to second behind the 336team from Russia. He eventually caught and re-passed for the class lead, and the 336team also had another disconnection. Basically we were in the clear as long as Brendan could keep the car on track for another hour or so. By this time it was 3 am for me, but I wasn't willing to leave because that would involve missing the finish! He eventually cruised home to an easy class win, and also his first finish in an endurance race for a long time. The win also secured us each a free shifter! There was much rejoice :D

Vader Trophy - Buenos Aires

[Wednesday - 29th of March]

Track Map

I managed to completely forget about this race, and the only real reason I actually took part was the fact that I randomly joined VROC because I was bored. I'd done a few laps beforehand, but not really enough to really know the track all that well, and after practise I was still way off the pace. The actual race consisted of me plodding around by myself, spinning off and getting lapped. More exciting things have happened to chartered accountants...