Excuse the lack of pictures, iphone is on the blink.
Just back from the first race weekend of the season.
Looked like it would be a good weekend, a healthy grid and friday weather was great. However the weather turned on friday night/saturday morning, went cold, extremely windy and we had heavy rain before quali meaning it was lethal on track. Made a late call on tyres for quali so had to rush to get to the assembly area, it had started by the time i got there. To make things worse i didnt have my scrutineering slip with me, they used to stick on the cage but now they dont and id forgot to attach it somewhere, they wouldnt let me out! By the time i'd gone for it there was only a few minutes left so only managed 2 flying laps of wheelspin and hilarious understeer/oversteer and left foot braking! It was so slow it was painful, 20+ seconds slower than a decent dry lap! To my suprise it wasnt just me and everyone was struggling, id managed to bag Tricolore Pole Position, however there was a Hyundai Coupe next to me as the conditions had really shaken things up.
Race 1
Thankfully the weather improved and it dried out totally, it was still massively windy though and not warm in the paddock so i gambled on R888's for race. This it turned out was a mistake as there was plenty of track temp to make the Dunlops work. It did mean i could go harder at the start but after 5 laps or so the tyres were just about past it. I'd led from the start as the Hyundai's arent a problem in the dry but simon got past in the Saxo and i couldnt stay with him. Thats how it finished, Simon 1st, me 2nd and Andy mitchel further back in 3rd in the 205. My fastest lap was a 1.35.5 which was 0.6 off simons best and 0.3 slower than my times from last year!
Race 2
Changed the R888's for the Dirrezzas for raace 2 and a few clicks here and there on the dampers made for a totally different car and it felt really good from the off if a little oversteery. Had the pace to stay with simon for the first couple of laps until there was a safety car, perfect, ready to have a proper go at the saxo on the restart, however i fell asleep i think and massively let him off the hook on the restart and was kicking myself, car still had the pace come the end too with overall fastest lap on lap 9 with a 1.34.7 0.5 seconds faster than last year. Pretty uneventful race but keep an eye out at 7.35 for me hitting the bump on the first banked corner, flat out at an indicated 120mph and it wanted to oversteer, 1/4 turn of oppo and some new trousers required!
Same result as race 1, Simon, me and andy mitchell 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
Russ
