Round 3 - Las Vegas GP - Post Race Chat...

Having had no practice until an hour before qualifying, i thought i would be toast....

but then no one else had practiced much either!

Race 1 - after the re-start got away cleanly and missed the carnage behind me....

Race 2 - Added weight to myself (60kg), spent most of the race pushing hard chasing Dano and cooked my tyres, go close a few times, but then the tyres would let me down. Well done Dano !!

Race 3 - Added weight to me (60kg) and Dano (25kg), got in front and was able to look after the tyres while maintaining a gap back to Dano and Benny.....

I was quietly confident when I saw I was still 2nd in practise right before qualifying.
I had driven a few laps that morning in hope of being on the pace later on.

I still managed to qualify last or 2nd to last, I don't remember. But I predicted the races were going to be about keeping the car off the walls.

Race1

I made a reasonable start and watched everybody struggle with race fuel and cold tyres.I took it easy and managed get into 2nd after the first few corners behind Kiwi.
After a few laps JD closed in on me after recovering from the 1st lap dramas. I let him have an easy pass trying to avoid being pressured into a mistake.
A few laps later I made my way back past a 3 wheeled JD at the final chicane and finished 2nd. That final chicane was like a minefield, if you get it slightly wrong you can end up destroying the car. I knew that from practise.

Race2

I found my way through the first set of corners cleanly while Kiwi and Benny struggled again.
Benny had a bit of a mare which was probly down to no practise.
Those 60kgs on Kiwi's car helped me get away. He kept closing in on me and then finding a barrier to slow him down again.
And I won! Yay!

Race3

Kiwi got away better this time and I spent the whole time staying on his tail hoping for tyres to go off but it didn't happen.
Benny had a bit of a slow start but made amends in the middle of the race to catch up with me on the last lap.
Then through the final chicane where I was getting slower and slower as the night went on, I made a meal of it exiting really slowly and had Benny run into the back of me, but we both held it together and finished. Sorry Benny.

Another fun nights racing thanks guys. The track was tough and damaging but I just saw that as a major part of the challenge.

Jumped on the Server at about 7:30 but had to deal with kids till about 7:50 so had 10min practice before qual my stupidity.

Race 1 and 2 were just shocking for me and I had to stop in both races just to finish. I certainly didn’t spoil any of the mechanics there was no panel inc roof that didn’t need to be fixed in either race. I had times when I was quick but couldn’t do it for more than a couple of laps before I hit something and the more I hit the worse the car got. But I enjoy the series and cars so although wasn’t competitive I still soldiered on as I was still having fun regardless of my position and at the end of the day all points count.

Race 3 had a good think about my problem before the race and although I hadn’t practiced I normally do come to grips with tracks a lot quicker than I did Sunday. I came to the conclusion that I pretty much had been getting the inside of the wall creating all my damage. I normally drive from the low front bumper view which is in fact really about from the firewall and you actually hit the front sometimes that you can’t see. So for the start I switched views to the over the bonnet view to give it a try in the last race, struggled the first few laps getting use to the change and had a spin loosing 16 sec’s to dano. From about lap three got into a rhythm FINALLY and with being able to judge the car position better started doing some good times. Pretty much did between 1:33.1 and 1:33.6 every lap to the end of the race which coming from struggling to complete two laps the two previous races was a big improvement. Managed to close right in on a Dano with a about a lap to go and tried to pressure him into a mistake but I was really a lap or two of being able to apply any real pressure. Out of the last Chicane got caught with Dano slowing way more than I expected and ran straight into the back of him thank god I didn’t destroy his car as I hit hard sorry about that mate you did slow but as car following my job to make sure I don’t make contact. Came home third again but at least in this race did with some dignity.

Great Night looking forward to the remaining races

I don’t think I catch Kiwi now but with Dano’s performances over the last two rounds and taking two wins he has set me a challenge to have a crack at second in the championship overtaking me this week well done mate and great performance Kiwi to be the clear leader heading into the last few rounds of the series