1955 Round 2 - New South Wales TT

Darren Andrews wrote:

Ryley Wyans wrote:

likely absent - weather permitting I'll be out of town. Have fun down under gentlemen!

Teases us by turning up once, putting on a great show and then disappearing again....

Looking like I'll actually make this race, back by popular demand

Absent for this one. Have fun!

Present

Present

Will try to be there.

Present

Absent

Present !

Looks like I'm free to race. Don't get too excited though, I don't expect to last the first attempt over the mountain. I can't get this car, track and me combination to work at all.

I should be there!

Maserati destruction tech reporting for duty.

Present! sorry for the lateness!

Present

Connection perdu,avant le départ

Gérard Ryon wrote:

Connection perdu,avant le départ

Désolé Gérard, j'ai relancé le warmup pour t'attendre, et tu as rejoins juste 1 minute après le départ

I didn't have time to tune my setup for those slow corners, as I was away the whole weekend. The car was very good in fast turns, but man, it was almost undrivable through The Dipper. I was losing at least one second in that section alone. Yet I spun three times. Sorry for causing troubles to those behind me. Had some nice battles throughout the race, was looking forward to finish it, but then I missed a gear and blew the engine with only 4-5 laps to go. We were warned that the engines are waaaay more fragile after the last update, I only have myself to blame.

Anyway, it was a great weekend from (sim)racing point of view. I got a chance to drive a proper race car for the first time in my life. I never thought that running a Formula 4 on a runway could be this exciting. Hell yeah it was I'll report more once they send me the onboard video.

I hadn’t expected to make this race as the sister in-law was planning to visit. She had to cancel, so I got to race at Bathurst. Though it meant I didn’t get much practice or preparation, and I’ve never really driven here before.

This was also the anniversary of my first online race. Unfortunately, it also felt much like my first online race. I could not get the hang of this car and track combination and felt like I’d learned nothing this past year. I had under and over steer, usually in the same corner, and it felt like there was just no grip at all. Darren sent me a set-up but I was still crashing everywhere.

Anyway, I worked away at it and finally found a setup where the car felt controllable (not quick or comfortable, but at least not 100% certain to crash at the first sign of a corner). It was a very weird setup – max FBB, max front toe, max castor and camber, higher front tyre pressure, and max front fast bump – or something like that.

Qualifying started okay and I set times similar to what I'd been doing in practice. As the track rubbered in I got quicker too. I was on a very good run and was one and a half seconds quicker than my best when I came across two slower cars over the mountain. I lost most of that time. Looking at my best lap and what I lost on that lap, I might have been within a second of Darren, which I wouldn’t have believed at the start of practice. And I achieved my main ambition to not be beaten by the 1.5l gang. It was also a pleasure to line up alongside Jackson.

For the race, I expected lots of attrition with the walls, off camber corners, twists and slippery surface. And so I decided just to drive my own race and see what would happen (like normal then).

I made a good start but didn't realise what had happened upfront. I took to the grass going around Jonathan's D-Type (he breezed past 3 wide on the next straight). I went on the outside and got a bit held up in a train, which let a few others by on my inside. Worst of all, Donat got past and I had thoughts of spending the rest of the race back in 1.5l class with a 2l car.

I was cautious first time into Quarry and had Mark and John right on me. Fortunately, John had Mark and Olli fighting with him so I got some breathing space as we climbed up the hill. I was also able to get right back to Donat who was stuck behind the D-Type, which then spun in front of both of us out of the Dipper. We both avoided him ok.

Onto Conrod and I was lining up to pass Donat. I knew I had to get past early or get caught up with the 1.5 and lose the 2ls. In my mirrors, I could see a big car (Olli in the Ferrari) rapidly approaching. I hoped he could see what I was doing and I thought there was room... Donat stayed tight to the right, I stayed close to Donat and the big car came thundering past us both - three wide on lap one! Not what I'd planned. Olli did go wide and onto the grass with two wheels but it all went ok, if a bit scary. I checked the replay and think there was just enough room for all of us.

I was cautious again at T1 as it has been my worst corner all week. Meanwhile, Donat kept me honest all the way over the mountain. At the Elbow we found Olli who had had a spin. Ollie got going again and finally got past me on Mountain straight only to have another moment at Quarry, which let me back at him. Up the hill his engine blew, giving me a timely reminder to watch the revs.

All this let Donat get back on my heels and he closed right up as we approached the Elbow for the third time. The little 1.5l couldn't keep up on the straights though, and I finally had some breathing room.

I figured the better 1.5l drivers would make more use than I could of the rubbered-in track, as the race went on, so I decided I had to try and build an advantage early without taking risks. It also became clear I wasn't going to catch Scooby as he slowly extended the gap.

So that was it for about the next 9 laps. By then I had a comfortable gap front and back.

Austin flew past on the Conrod to unlap himself and I started to worry about the leaders coming through. First Rhys came through on about lap 13. He caught me through the Hollow and I didn't want to hold him up. The car was also still quite twitchy so I wanted to let him through quickly in case I lost it in front of him. I did my best to stay wide and out of his way as much as possible - I hope it was okay. In the next few lap Martin then Niklas lapped me. A couple of laps later Franek went past up the mountain. No dramas.

My lap times but fairly consistent for the first half of the race but then dropped by a second to two seconds later on as I tried to be careful and was being lapped. That stage of the race was pretty tiring: worrying about the engine, not crashing and keeping an eye on my mirror. I was getting tired and got a bit close to the barriers out of Forest Elbow. I think it was around then I over-reved on an upshift. That got me really worrying about the engine. I started lifting even more on the main straight for the two obvious bumps and also a hidden bump where I noticed the revs spiking.

The only other incidents of note were a slight scare when I came across Martin's wrecked Ferrari. There was a piece of suspension in the road but I avoided it or it did no damage anyway.

And starting lap 24, I finally spun at my least favourite T1. Looking at the replay it was pathetic. I was being ultra-cautious and gently nudging her into the turn then, with very little throttle, she gracefully turned around on me. Fortunately, I didn't come close to hitting anything and had a big gap to get going again. From then on it was an even more cautious race, trying to maintain concentration and not stress the engine. I also managed to lap a few backmarkers who were all very obliging - thanks all.

After the difficulties I had with this track/car combination, I was very pleased to finish the race. I finished without any damage other than some slight panel scraping from the walls and finished in the top 10 with a third in class.