ROOZ NEWS Season 15 Rd 6 Tokyo R246 (part 2)

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Welcome to part 2 of the League race reports from Tokyo R246. In this part we will here from the Division 3 and 4 reporters.

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Here is the Division 3 report, brought to you as always by smokinscotty:

Yoi ichi-nichi meito! or G'day mate from downtown Tokyo!

Ten drivers from division three took to the streets in what would be 29 laps of torturing tyres, different pit strategies and different race paces.

Qualifying got underway and the guys who had shown pace in practice were quickly at the top of the table. Once again it would come down to tenths of a second as to who would come out on top. In the end Scotty turned in a 1:30.235 taking pole from BeauAlbert. Stumbles put in a great lap and slid into 3rd. Fourth was locked down by Groover, which was great to see given the hardships he had gone through last round in the States. S_Close would grab fifth ahead of Slambobagan, Gary, Dutch, S54VED and Hatfield rounded out the pack.



At this round strategy would be paramount. As the car was hard to drive with worn tyres, it would be those that could maintain composure while the car misbehaved who would reap the most reward. The fact that the circuit wore the tyres far more rapidly than any circuit so far this season meant that people were trying three different race plans to try and get to the end as quickly as possible. Some would try one stop, some two and even a couple of three stoppers!

As the lights went out it was Scotty who got away cleanly, while Beau bogged it down a little coming under fire immediately from Stumbles and Groover. Sadly at turn one Groover would grab too much throttle with too much lock and spit the car sideways in front of S_Close and into the barrier. S_Close was left with nowhere to go and drilled the side of the purple car, copping a penalty. Both dropped to the rear of the field.



After only five laps Scotty had darted away from the pack with a healthy four and a half second margin. Stumbles was clinging to the back of Beau who had second locked down, and an interesting battle erupted between Dutch, Gary and Hatfield who was making his way up the leader board impressively.



At the end of lap seven, Scotty's pace was wearing off, as were his tyres. Beau began to close the gap, shaving off two seconds in as many laps. Noticing he was bleeding time he, like Stumbles, would come in early for fresh rubber and a splash of fuel to try and keep up the frenetic pace from the opening stanza. The three stoppers had shown their hand.

On lap ten the two stop players started making their way in for their first stop, Firstly Slambo and Dutch came in, with Beau, Gary and S_Close coming in a lap later. With the pit stop cycle taking place, Hatfield took the opportunity to hit the lead for the first time. Groover and Hatfield would pit next lap, promoting Saved to the point for the first time this season although Scotty was coming fast on the fresher rubber. After closing four seconds in one lap, Scotty got back to the front coming onto the front straight.



Saved's plan to one stop the race was hurting him, losing some ten seconds a lap to the leaders but sticking by his plan and trying to save on down time in the pits. At lap 15 Beau was maintaining a solid pace, and reeling in Scotty who once again had a decent lead but was struggling on used rubber. The real action was once again between S_Close, Gary and Hatfield, battling it out within a second of each other. It was great to watch.



By lap 23 Scotty was out in front but yet again Beau was carving down the margin with ease. Scotty would go on to pit his third and final time, surrendering the lead and a significant margin to Beau. Scotty re-entered in fourth behind S_Close and Hatfield who had both come from the back of the pack and were looking good for strong results. On lap 26 S_Close, battling worn tyres, ran wide at the sweeper. This allowed Hatfield a lane to drive up the inside of him, and Scotty who was on the fresh rubber was able to hug the kerb and maintain speed. The three would go three wide and everybody made it out cleanly!



With three to go, Beau was commanding the race, doing consistent 31 second laps, with a safe 20 second gap to second place. Scotty would give it his all to try and catch the chrome crusader, setting a PB and fastest lap of 1:29.942 just two laps from the end of the race, but it wouldnt be enough. Beau wins with 16 seconds up his sleeve, enough time to savor the win, cruising by his pit crew and acknowledging their efforts.



Hatfield would do a great job to come from last on the grid to collect third, no doubt greatly appreciated given his lack of confidence in his pace during practice and qualifying. Job well done. S_Close would be next home limping his car to the finish with badly degraded tyres, but doing just enough to hold off Slambo who was coming but also suffering for grip. I'm sure both drivers were pleased to make it home with fuel in the tank, making up for the tragedy at Daytona. Gary would follow them in, having bumped a few walls on shagged tyres, ahead of Groover who had his fair share of ups and downs. Stumbles was kicking himself coming in eighth, a place well below what his pace could have achieved but a few unforced errors saw the pointy end of the field get away from him. Saved's plan of one stopping unfortunately didn't work out with him needing to come in for a second unscheduled stop late in the race.

The day belonged to Beau, who proved to have a greater level of consistency than the opposition especially when the car was wearing the tyres. He was able to maintain the best pace and inevitably win by the comfortable margin he deserved. Congratulations Beau, taking your maiden win amongst the ROOZ community, and with a stellar drive to get it. Fantastic work.



Next we head to Spa for the final round of the season, with an endurance race to once again test the nerve and planning of the drivers.

Sayonara,

Good Luck, Have fun!



RACE QUOTES:

smokinscotty (2nd): What a great race! Put in a lot of practice and managed to find the outright pace, but wasn't good enough on used rubber and with the rate I was chewing up tyres I knew I would need 3 stops. Got a great start and managed to get a gap on the field, but knew it would need to be a big gap to make the strategy work. As my tyres and my times faded I could see Beau catching me at a great rate and I knew he was going to be far quicker over the distance. I stuck to my plan and gave it my best. I'm very happy to run second to Beau tonight, he was very consistent even as the tyres went off, great drive mate! I'm also very happy with taking fastest lap, getting into the 29s even though my last sector was half a second slower than the previous lap! Going three wide with Hatfield and Serg is right up there with one of the best moments racing in Rooz. Domo Arigato everyone!

S_CLOSE (4th): Couldn't replicate my good form from this week's practice, were I was easily getting into the mid 30s( yeah after the update). Qualified 5th and had an awful start on the outside, groover lost the back out of the first turn rumble strip and couldn't avoid the nudge.
After that, running second last, just put my head down and tried to be consistent. All along my strategy was to undercut on the second pit stop, but stuffed it up and went in a lap earlier (end of lap 18, du'h). Tried to make the best of it and got up to second, but Hatfield and Scotty were gaining fast and I made it very easy to let them through, looking at the rear view mirror instead of the road. I burned my tyres during this process
and couldn't catch Hatfield after that, he was faster though. Had a gap to manage to the end and took it easy on the last couple of laps to avoid mistakes. So fourth at the end of the day was not too bad. This puts me in battling position for third place, which will make the last race quite exciting, looking forward to saying bye to this car as well.

Slambobagan (5th): Never really liked this track couldn't find my lines all night pin balling off walls somehow managed 5th thou so not to bad. Actually last stint I got a 30.4 which is fastest time I've done round that track. Perhaps I needed more practice for this one. Well done to beau and Scotty you guys smashed it tonight.

Stumbles01 (8th): Ahh, a night of "what if's" for me. Managed to get online for a heap of practice for this race and was pretty happy with my pace at one of my "preferred" tracks. Tested a 3 stop strat and thought that it would be quicker so decided on that. First stint went well and actually considered staying out and going the 2 stopper, but as I neared the pits, made the decision to stick with my plan. Nearing the end of my second stint, I caught s45ved who looked to be doing a 1 stopper but I was stuck behind for just over a lap and that brought Beau right onto my tail. Some spins and collision with the wall at turn one was the end of my night (none of which happened during practice) and I was left a bit disappointed crossing the line. During testing of the 3 stopper Sunday afternoon, I managed to do a 1:30.219, but couldn't get that during the race.

S54VED (10th): Its true I was going for a 1 stopper, but it all started going bad from the start.. Had S_CLOSE all over me and got caught up a bit in the racing. My goal was trying hard to save my tyres as I was going long, so was going at about 90% which Im sure was slowing up the guys behind me. But the pressure and mixed up with the other cars I used too much grip out of them to make the 1 stop work. Pit on lap 15, which was a bad decision, as lost over 10 secs per lap on both 14 - 15 with no tyre grip. Mistakes in strat didn't stop there. Thought I was already running last after going a little deep into turn 1 letting Stumbles and Dutch past, so decided to pit again (although tyres were still at 8, and this stop also meant I did move to last), but then trying to push I did a slide through the fast chicane losing about 10 seconds and eating out the tyres (cancelling my benefit of pitting). Very disappointing result for me as I did a bit of practice and pulled off the 1 stop staying in the 32s/33s (post patch) which was the goal.

Great report there smokinscotty. Congratulations to BeauAlbert6 for his race win, and also to smokinscotty and DRZ-Hatfield on the final podium positions.

Now we move on to Division 4, with our regular DoogleDave bringing the report:

This week saw Division 4 teams head to Tokyo to tackle the tyre-shredding R246 circuit.

With wear set to fast, the teams would make their pit crews earn their money this round as they set their strategies in place to make the most from both their tyres and their fuel.

Qualification saw the familiar drivers posting quick times and it was Blindman that notched up an impressive 1.30.9xx early in proceedings. Doogle, not to be outdone pushed on and managed a 1.30.706 to claim pole position for the race.

As the lights went out the field powered off the line and it was Blindman who made another great launch to pass Doogle and lead the pack into turn 1 for the first time.

Unfortunately for many a recent PD glitch which set the on-screen view to cockpit on the grid took a few by surprise and upon exit of turn 1, Emmo tried his best to toggle through the views, which took his concentration away and before he knew it he had ploughed straight into the wall at turn 2, dropping from a well-earned 4th place down to last (10th).



With Blindman and Doogle heading the race Kart and Emmo rounded out the rear of the field, whilst the remaining drivers battled on fighting for a better position.

Doogle trailed Blindman coming down the main straight and made a pass that stuck, shooting through turn 1 to take lead position. Into turn 1 for his second time around Turbo hits the anchors late and couldn’t stop in time before hitting the wall, dropping back to 8th position. As he departed the scene, Emmo turned up to do the very same thing, dropping him back to last position again.

Meanwhile, Kiwi kept great pace and was keeping with Doogle and Blindman as they continued the high pace which had now started to create a gap back to 4th place.

3vil, Molch and Ad2 duked it out mid-pack until Molch ran wide into turn 5 allowing Ad2 to pass by. It didn’t last long, as Ad ran up against the wall, letting Molch back past.

Lap 4 saw Blindman and Doogle well out in front now and they had created a gap back to Kiwi, still pushing hard in 3rd place. Coming through turn 2, Ad2 made a move on the new guy in the division (Samsung), moving up into 7th place. Moments later, Kart ran wide out of turn 2, hitting the wall. This mistake saw Kart drop back to last position.

Turbo caught up to Samsung and started to put pressure on him, testing his nerves. Unfortunately, Samsung blinked and hit the wall as Turbo dashed past to leave him behind.



By lap 6 the field had spread out around the track, except for Turbo and Emmo, who were enjoying a close-fought battle as they put pressure on one another around the circuit. Some exuberant “jandal” from Emmo out of turn 3 saw his Macca fishtail and dance, but with finesse and a touch of good luck he managed to bring the car under control and got going again. Turbo pushed on ahead trying to maximise on Emmo’s lapse.

Up front Blindman lead the race with Doogle in chase close behind. With tyres now in the 7’s and 8’s, the Macca began to become more of a challenge to drive at high pace.

Lap 7 saw both Turbo and Samsung pit early. Most of the field jumped into the pits on laps 9 or 10, right on schedule for a 2-stop race, but it was Blindman out in front who continued to push on until lap 14, entering the pits very late, hoping his planned 1-stop strategy would pay dividends come the end of the race.



As Turbo approached turn 1 on lap 14 he again pulled up too late and took out the bank of tyres against the wall on his way through.



After Blindman’s late pit stop, he was on the hunt to chase down the leaders again to make up his lost time, trying to gain as much advantage as possible for when the leaders took their second pit stop. By lap 15 Blindman had caught back up to 3vil and snuck into his draft down the straight to pull off a successful pass under brakes into turn 1.

3vil, who wasn’t quite ready to hand the position over to Blindman, took it back immediately on turn 2, but with the slightly quicker pace that Blindman had he was able to move ahead through the sweeping right hander of turn 4 where he powered ahead, eager to keep his pace as high as possible.

Lap 17 saw the field spread out yet again. With Doogle in the lead, Kiwi, Molch, Blindman, 3vil, Ad2, Emmo, Samsung and Kart clocked up the laps as they pushed on with tyres and fuel now starting to fade. Turbo took the opportunity for his 2nd pit stop to refuel and take on fresh rubber.

With Samsung now on slippery tyres, he pushed too hard through turn 5, losing control and pin-balling off both walls, losing position to Kart. Turbo, now on fresh tyres caught the pair and a 3-way battle formed at the rear of the field.



Turbo kept the pressure on Samsung and at turn 5 on lap 18, Turbo passed by Samsung and was now on the bumper of Kart. Meanwhile, Blindman continued to keep the pedal planted and hunted Molch down on the main straight at the start of lap 19.

Lap 20 saw some more action in pit lane as Kiwi and Ad2 came in for new tyres and more fuel. Blindman had since caught Molch and was all over his tail until finally passing at the entry to the right-hander after the fast-chicane section.

Doogle decided to take his 2nd pit stop on lap 21, taking on tyres and fuel and both 3vil and Emmo had the same idea. As they sat in the pits, Blindman and Molch flew by. Molch managed a fantastic manoeuvre under brakes to pass Blindman upon entry into turn 1, assuming the race lead. With both drivers now pushing their cars to the limit, Molch hit turn 4 slightly too hot on his slippery tyres, forcing his car to run wide, which opened the door for Blindman to pass by on the inside.



Molch decided to pit the following lap to take on badly needed tyres and fuel. Doogle, who now passed by, resumes 2nd place and was on the chase to catch Blindman before the flag dropped at the end of the race. With 12 seconds to make up, Doogle pushed at every opportunity to shorten the gap by each sector and with Blindman’s tyres slowly fading, his lap times started to blow out little by little.

Ad2 and Turbo battled it out for 6th position and Ad jumped into the draft down the main straight and took his chance at passing him by. Turbo went in very deep under brakes but Ad2 had the inside line and managed to hold Turbo out. Emmo followed the pair not far behind, pushing to catch them to contend for 6th place. As the trio approached the final turn into the main straight at the end of the lap, Emmo got by Turbo who was suffering badly from worn tyres.

With tyres now getting very slippery, Turbo took his 3rd pit stop on lap 23 whilst 3vil chased down Molch to battle for 4th place.

By lap 24 Doogle had shortened the gap to Blindman by 4 seconds and was now trailing by 8 seconds. Blindman fought hard to keep his pace high but with tyres half worn he now began to wonder if his 1-stop strategy would pay off.

On lap 26 Emmo caught Ad2 and made good ground through the last turn onto the straight to move up into Ad’s draft. With a successful passing manoeuvre at the end of the main straight Emmo moved ahead of Ad going into turn 1 and with fresher tyres Emmo slowly created a gap over Ad who now struggled with his worn tyres.



Meanwhile Doogle had kept his pace high and the gap to Blindman was now down to 1 second, with only 3 laps to go. With Blindman now within reach, Doogle bided his time and sat behind in second place, catching some free draft in sections to maximise his fuel.

With Blindman’s left tyres now on 3 the Macca started to become a handful. Down the main straight Doogle jumped into the draft and then passed by, taking the lead with 2 laps to go. At this point Doogle pushed hard to make gains over Blindman, who fought to keep up but with tyres now down to 2 on the left hand side of his car could not keep the same pace and the gap to Doogle slowly increased.

3vil passed Molch very late in the race but hit the brakes too late coming into turn 1, hitting the wall and letting Molch back through into 3rd place.

With a lap to go Ad was running on fumes so quickly jumped into the pits to take on some fuel to see him complete the race. Blindman, now with the needle on empty continued to drive as hard as he could in order to stay ahead of Kiwi and Molch who were gaining quickly from behind.
Blindman’s tyres now hit 1 on the left and running through the final turn before the main straight the Macca let go and Blindman spun out. Kiwi and Molch slipped through the gap to both move up for a podium win, with Blindman making it to the line in 4th place.

Doogle took out his 4th victory for the season as he crossed the line 21 seconds ahead of Kiwi, with Molch 1.5 seconds behind Kiwi.



With the Division 4 championship now sewn up by Doogle, Blindman, Turbo and Kiwi will battle it out at Spa for podium places in the championship.



RACE QUOTES:

DoogleDave (1st): I am wrapped to come away with another win - and to make it three in a row. And I finally managed to hit the jackpot with a win, pole and fastest lap (one of my goals for this season). If you had spoken to me last Friday night after running some practice laps around Tokyo I was ready to count this week as a right-off and use this as my drop round. No matter what I tried I just couldn't do any better than the 1.33's and with the car all over the track I wasn't looking forward to Sunday's race at all. Saturday saw a bit more practice and managed to hit a few 1.32's but it wasn't until Sunday when things really fell into place. I managed to find my line and markers and from there the times just started to drop, bottoming out with a 1.29.9 on a (for me) near perfect lap. This thankfully boosted my confidence and I was now looking forward to the race again. When quals started I wanted to jump out of the gate and set a good time straight up but it took a few laps to loosen the tyres a little but eventually managed a 1.30.7xx to take pole from Blindman (by 0.2 sec). Having a practice run with Blindman earlier in the day I knew he had great pace and would push me to the limit - which of course he did. Managed to get a reasonable start this week but still got beaten to turn 1 by Blindman who was just too fast off the line. For the first 10 laps Blindman and I pushed on and created a gap on the remaining field and I wondered what Blindman's strategy was for his pitstops. Lap after lap Blindman and I attacked and defended as we swapped a few bumps here and there as we fought for the lead position - all in good fun though. On lap 10 (I think) I decided to take my first pitstop and noticed Blindman continue on. I decided to top up with 30L of fuel and threw on new tyres, then raced back out on track to resume my race. As the next couple of laps unfolded I kept watching Blindman's name on the leaderboard to see when he went into the pits. I can't remember the lap but it was a few after mine and I then realised he was attempting a 1 stop race. Courageous I thought. In the testing I'd done earlier I knew that the tyres went off very quickly beyond 10 or so laps so I hoped my 2 stop strategy would help me to chase him back down near the end of the race. After my 2nd stop (where I took on 55L and new tyres) I got back out on track and took the bull by the horns and threw the Macca around the track as fast as I dared in an attempt to whittle down the gap to Blindman. As I came out of the pits he was +12 secs up on me and within a few laps I had dropped that to about 4 seconds. I knew his tyres must have started to go off by this stage so kept the pressure on until I eventually caught him. For the next couple of laps I took it easy behind him, biding my time and loaning some free-draft in sections to further the fuel I had in my tank. Once I made it past Blindman I tried to keep the pressure on and with only a couple of laps to go I didn't want to take my chances with him at close quarters so I tried to keep my pace high. Coming into the last turn with a couple of laps to go I saw his marker on the map pointing in several directions and figured his tyres had finally given out and not long after saw him drop down the leaderboard as Kiwi and Molch passed him by. From there I drove the rest of the race conservatively to make sure I didn't run out of fuel before the finish. What a dream season I have had - one I doubt I will be lucky enough to ever replicate again in the future. Looking at the lead drivers from all the divisions for this season there has only been one other driver who has been more dominant, the one and only BJH. Whilst I may technically tally up more wins for the entire season, BJ is still the season champion in my eyes (complete domination). Well done BJ! Now with the almost certain promotion to Division 3 for next season I will have my work cut out for me just to keep up with those guys!

K1W1-DRIVER (2nd): Well done Dave, just to fast mate. Happy with my grid position. Race started well, tried to keep up with Blindman and Dave but their speed was too hot so settled into my own pace hoping to hold on to third. I notice a big grip change between qualifying and the race start proper. Pitted on lap 9 and continued on wondering what kind of tactics Blindman was up too. Kept my nose clean and head down always watchful of the gap closing and opening between Molch and I. Last lap with Molch getting closer and worried about fuel to my surprise there's Blindman running on steel rims gifting me second. A good race,very close for third in the championship will come down to the last race at Spa.

X-3vi1m00n (5th): It was a good race for me with minimal mistakes. I just wasn't consistent enough to pass Molch, and I wasn't close enough to capitalise on blindman's mistake.

emmo46 (6th): I managed to get a bit of practice in for this race, didn't find much speed but was comfortable. I qualified a surprising 4th with a PB of 1:32.153 which was still nearly a second and a half away from pole. I got off the line well to be challenging up the inside at the first turn but had to keep it in tight around the corner and had to fight wheelspin as I exited allowing a couple of guys to repass me on the outside. As we headed to turn 2 I noticed the stupid system had switched me to cockpit view and I unwisely attempted to get back to my preferred bumper view. As I fumbled through the cycle trying to get to bumper view I completely missed the turn in to turn 2 and barrelled head on into the barriers, Last again %$^#. I gathered it up and set off bulldozing a concrete barrier for a few yards up the track. I was chasing Kart for the covetted 2nd last position down the main straight heading into lap 2 when I misjudged the braking (it felt like I had less grip) and headbutted the barrier in turn one. So much for my plan to steadily sit with the pack. It took me a while to settle down and re assess the situation, after a few laps I managed to pass Kart for 9th and then got by samsung for 8th as he sat sideways on the track. At about the five lap mark I could see a group of three cars about 10 seconds ahead and made it my mission to close on them. Turbo pitted on lap 7 which moved me to 7th and I set about closing the gap to Ad2. I didn't pit until lap 10 which allowed me to bask in the glory of 4th place for a lap. I came out of my first pit stop back in eighth behind Turbo and Ad2. I was catching Turbo and he pitted again on lap 14 to let me back up to 7th. The gap to Ad2 was holding steady at about 5 seconds for most of the second stint but I closed on him a little before our second stops. My second stop was on lap 20, a lap after Ad2 and as I exited the pits he and Turbo screamed by. Turbo seemed to be struggling and Ad2 got by him and then I closed on him and managed to pass him at the last corner just before his third stop. We were then set for the run to the flag, Evil had been in range at one stage and I came into the pits behind him for my second stop but during the third stint he just powered out of site. I began trying to cut Ad2's lead back and by lap 26 I was close enought to get the draft down the straight. We touched at max speed which sent me scraping along the pit wall but then as we braked for turn 1 Ad2 left a gap for me on the inside which I took advantage of to move to 6th place equalling my season best place at Fuji. Ad2 danced in my mirror for a lap busting to get the place back but then had to pit for fuel. The chase made it an interesting race for me but I think if I hadn't cocked up the first couple of laps I might have been in the mix with the big bunch of cars fighting for second. Hopefully I can have a good clean race next week at Spa, a track I enjoy. Then I will gladly say good bye to the macca.

Ad2mny (7th): Even though I did not finish well, I still had a good race. Qualified in 7th with a pretty dismal 32.6xx but I knew I had no hope of running near the front, not with Dave doing 30's. Got away fairly well beating molch off the line and we all avoided carnage into turn 1. emmo had an incident into turn 2 trying to adjust his view, running in too hot and colliding heavily with the wall. My first lap was a bit like bumper bowling, and I had damaged my right front in the fast right left on the back straight. Into the final double right I ran in way too hot allowing both evil and molch through. Lap 2 we all passed turbo nose first into the wall turn 1 and I managed to pass molch at the back chicane but a slow exit put him back in front. A draft got me back past on the front straight but both he and samsung got past with a crap run onto the back straight. I drafted back past samsung on the straight again and set off after molch and evil. Slowly reeled evil in over next few laps and on lap 9 I finally drafted past on the front straight. I had a strategy all worked out for fuel but my brother was watching on and I totally forgot how much to put in, so I filled it up and went back out. I came out behind turbo and molch was a fair way ahead now. When evil pitted next lap he came out back ahead too. So was 7th in the second stint until on lap 14 when I tried a draft move on turbo on the main straight. He tried to outbrake me but ended up in the barrier at turn 1 in a shower of tyres. BLINDMAN and evil were just up ahead but I couldnt seem to make up any ground. Made my final stop on lap 20. My on-the-fly calculation said I would only need just over half a tank for the final stint, so I put 20 litres in which put me at about 55 litres. I should have put 30 in. i came out of the pits and turbo was roaring up behind me. I got flustered and hit the inside wall, coming to a dead stop and causing turbo to rear end me, gaining a penalty and I'm sure some damage too. I waited and let him past, and now I had emmo not far off my tail. I drafted past turbo on the straight and put my head down to try pull away from emmo, but watching my fuel gauge I knew I was in trouble. emmo reeled me in with 3 to go even though i was driving as hard as I could (sorry for the accidental block on the straight amigo) and on the second last lap I had to stop for fuel. turbo passed while I pitted putting me in 8th but the poor guy ran out on the last half of the final lap, gifting me back 7th. I said to my brother for the last lap with 1 lap old tyres and low fuel load I'd try for my fastest lap, and I put my headphones on both ears and pulled out a 31.738.

disturboed (10th): I had a rubbish race which totally went against everything i had planned and prepared for. Chose my strategy and went in confident of another podium at one of my least favourite tracks. Practice and quali went ok, started 5th on the grid. Then it went all pear shaped. As soon as the race started the car didn't feel right, slippery as all buggery, understeering like someone was lifting the front of the car up. I stuck to my planned 3 stop strategy but hitting the wall several times cost me about 40 seconds all up at various points in the race, so negated any advantage the new tyres had. Then I second guessed my fuel calculations and put in one litre less per stop, and ran out of juice at the top of the circuit before the downhill run. If I had stuck to my 30L per stop I would have been fine. Crossed the line in dead freakin' last. Horrible.

Nice read DoogleDave, and congratulations on the 'jackpot', pole, win and fastest lap. Well done also to K1W1-DRIVER and molch_82 for the final podium positions.

Stay tuned for part 3!

Division 3 Reporter/Photographer: smokinscotty
Division 4 Reporter/Photographer: DoogleDave
Tables: DRZ-Hatfield
Editor: Jamie (Ad2mny)

Cheers Beau. I get the quotes from the division threads mate, so share your thoughts on the race within a couple of days after the event and it'll be in there.