Post Rd8 Amaroo

How did you guys go tonight?

My night went pretty much according to plan. Disastrous.

Qualifying

I figured i didnt have much to lose, so i chucked on Soft tyres and went for broke. Managed to qualify 7th with a 51.8
Havent been under 52.5 all week so i happy to get a pb on the last lap of qualifying.

Race 1

I got a decent start and was running around in 6th for a while behind Dan. But i started to make mistakes and fell back basically. Had a couple offs and finished 13th, last of the finishers.

Sorry to Floydie for ramming him into the second last corner, who then went into Wally and spun him around. I ploughed on through, but felt bad so i slowed and let them back by when i had a chance.

Race 2

Started 11th or so, and jumped a few people on the grid. I was going around in 7th for a while behind Billy. Had a decent battle with Berlsy for about 10 laps. Was happy to trouble him for a while. With a little more risk, i probably coulda taken him. But i didnt want to make a mistake and destroy his race.
Had a couple hairy moments, and fell back a bit.

Somewhere along the line i came off the track and had to dive behind a metal barrier and do some offroading to get back into the track, luckily just got inside the timer line.

I think i screwed up my fuel levels or something, cos i seemed to be the only idiot that pitted during the race. I pitted 3 seconds behind Wally, then came out in 8th behind Corty by 22seconds. So yeah. FAIL.

Came in last place of the ppl that finished.

I guess troubling Berlsy for a while was the best part of the night. He usually disappears into the distance, as soon as he gets by me. But i stayed with him this time. For a bit.

Cyas next week.

Firstly, what a great roll up tonight Also, for me personally, racing tonight in close proximity with Webber, GrpC, Dan, Wobbly & corty, was some of the closest and fairest racing i've been a part of (as i'm sure it was throughout the field), great job all

Qual - Webber's lap was incredibly fast... i have to say i saw the time and thought "i can't get near that", although with abit more effort i got into the 50s and about half a second off, which i thought was good


Race 1 - Got a good start and tried to challenge Webber right from the off, i nearly got underneath him at the end of lap 1 into the Lake Corner, but he covered well and held the lead. I spent the first half of the race battling with GrpC, he got past me at the Dunlop Loop early on, and i thought he was gone. I was able to stay in touch though, and later in the race managed to sneak back through into 2nd, before losing the spot to Dan a few laps later who had the Skyline flying. My tyres were cactus by mid-distance, so the last part of the race i had GrpC and Corty all over, but i was holding them off.

On the last lap though i spun out of 3rd at Mazda House... i had to go around the tyre wall to get back onto the track and rejoined in 5th... except that when i crossed the finish line it said i had to do another lap and put me in 11th.... i was out of fuel too so i ran out on that extra lap...... between Lakeside & Amaroo i'm not having any luck with these timing beams!


Race 2 - When we jumped to the second restart, we drove off on the formation lap and i noticed my FFB had gone, leaving the steering very touchy with no feeling. Sometimes going lock to lock can get it working again, but this was to no avail.... I tried to battle on with it early on, but the steering was so sensitive that it wouldn't ave been fair with other cars around... i tried a pitstop to see if that worked but it didn't, so i retired. A shame because i really do love the track.... and to rub it in, when we restarted the event at the end of the race, my FFB started working fine again... lol

Can't wait to Oran Park and the final sprint round next weekend

My lasting memory of Amaroo Park is doing it in the VL Commodore in the very first TCL series here, with Racer69 dominating every race in his R31 Skyline. I qualified the dog, I mean Holden in second, but got the jump at both race starts, held off Racer69 for a while, but he easily got past for the win.

Knowing how to drive a Commodore round here meant the Sierra was a piece of piss in comparison (it handles so much better and has even more POWER). The toughest part was braking for the left-hander round the back, and keeping the FR tyre warm.

PB'd in qualy at 50.4 or so, even though Shano tried to put me off with his awesome stories about old ATCC and Alan Jones's Williams FW07B.

Races - both races I had to defend hard in the first lap against some very quick drivers on cold tyres, Racer69 in race 1, and Dan_gtsx in race 2 (I think). After that though the Sierra made things too easy, but it was great fun watching the epic battles in the rear view mirror, which make for great replay viewing.

Very satisfied to finally conquer this track.

PS - bad luck those who dropped out in race 2, well done Wobbly in your return, and hope we see Shaz again soon Wal

Edit - Wally - Racer69 came in 5th in race 1 but SLS has him dropped down to 9th because of that missed timing post, could he be reinstated?

i'll let luke decide that himself, so it's up to you racer69

I have warned people before about missing timing points when spinning.

however, catching up the other race manager system has resulted in slightly different points.. probably due to people not finishing 75% of race etc


i believe with prac that racer still has ample chance to catch you in the series with 5 races remaining, but if he really wants those points back and webber and everyone else is ok for it then we might see if we can do something


w26

really enjoyed last nite but wasnt expecting much learning the track and trying to re learn the sierra in 1/2 an hour didnt instill me with much hope of a result

just went with calder setttings from season start and a few tweaks got it better but im still a little of in either handling or my handling of the dog, sorry sierra.....managed to be running near fronr ish in R1 on softs as to be honest they seemed ok on the long run i did in praccy b4 the race, and to be fair were only lethal with about 6 laps to go but times dropped massively and car felt aweful on low fuel, had some great dices throughout but span out in last lasts to finish 7th or something, not bad, not great

race 2 very happy with my result here and managed to upset a few of the fast tcl boys had a great dice early on with dan very close and clean but the rs power overcame the skyline and pulled away had to come from far back but past a few guys and got into p3 and caught grpC had a few good tussles.....altho nearly took him out when the rs power gave me a chance and i decided to try to overtake in that flat out 5th gear bit after straight, changed underpants and carried on eventually past grp c for second and pulled a bit of a gap and we seemed to be pulling webb in quite quickly, got within a sec or so and it remained static for a long time, with about 5 laps to go tyres went again and Grp C got me so i settled for 3rd hoping 4 a mistake or 2 upfront which never came.

all in all p3 with 2 of the top guys not that far in front of me with a lot of seat time in this mod was as satisfying as a win under the circumstances, great fun

cheers all WOBB