Had a funny evening/night.
First up was the Skippy league race @ Brands. I've had a couple of races around there and been very comfortable, i've also done a load of TTs to try and improve my consistency and focus on clean lapping, which has helped a lot IMO.
End of the first lap and i screwed up the 2nd to last corner but managed to save it, let a car go past on the racing line into the final corner and braked early, but i guess i didnt brake long enough and got on the power too soon and ended spinning a rear wheel on the outside exit, getting in the way of half the field and eventually someone hitting my stationary car mid-track. Lost 40sec on the next guy although just about got the position on the exit of the last corner for the flag.
At 1am i signed up for the MX5 race at Okayama, thats the first race i'd done since giving iR a proper try, felt comfortable enough jumping straight in with no time to practice. Track loads up, i exit the pit, take T1, line up the left handed T2 only to find this isnt the same config! Fortunately its just half the track, less to learn/remember. Seemed okay in the 2 laps i got.
Put the car on the grid, im waiting, clear lights come up, i get some revs going, red lights on, and like an idiot i upshift and hit the brakes realising what i'd just done in a split second. 'Towed' to the pits, wait there for 40+ sec, 10 sec penalty for JS, and by the time im out of the pits the leaders are 8sec behind me.
Still finished mid-pack, no incidents, and 10sec clear of the leader
Then to Zandvoort. I've never been a fan, and never done many laps around here but know it loosely from DTM races. I did a few laps there yesterday to get an idea, best i was managing was low 1:12.xx but i did qual, managed a 1:11.6 which i was pleased with, and for the race i started 2nd, managed to stick with the leader for about 4 laps and pull away from the rest, and went the full distance without any mistakes and i'd made tons in practicing, especially the 'shortcut' section from club to full circuit, that corner just kills me every time. Backmarkers were helpful, and ended up being a nice clean albeit uneventful race, but the other guy was clearly much faster and more confident on some of the corners i just wasnt willing to push that hard in a race.
So 2 terrible races and a positive one, i dont care if i finish last if i can just come away from the race without making stupid mistakes through loss of focus. But im starting to feel much more confident with the car, and theres times when its sliding away and im holding onto it, sometimes i'll have to brake/throttle jam it to save, but often just a little correction or hold the slide and let the weight settle, something i havent been able to do until recently.
First up was the Skippy league race @ Brands. I've had a couple of races around there and been very comfortable, i've also done a load of TTs to try and improve my consistency and focus on clean lapping, which has helped a lot IMO.
End of the first lap and i screwed up the 2nd to last corner but managed to save it, let a car go past on the racing line into the final corner and braked early, but i guess i didnt brake long enough and got on the power too soon and ended spinning a rear wheel on the outside exit, getting in the way of half the field and eventually someone hitting my stationary car mid-track. Lost 40sec on the next guy although just about got the position on the exit of the last corner for the flag.
At 1am i signed up for the MX5 race at Okayama, thats the first race i'd done since giving iR a proper try, felt comfortable enough jumping straight in with no time to practice. Track loads up, i exit the pit, take T1, line up the left handed T2 only to find this isnt the same config! Fortunately its just half the track, less to learn/remember. Seemed okay in the 2 laps i got.
Put the car on the grid, im waiting, clear lights come up, i get some revs going, red lights on, and like an idiot i upshift and hit the brakes realising what i'd just done in a split second. 'Towed' to the pits, wait there for 40+ sec, 10 sec penalty for JS, and by the time im out of the pits the leaders are 8sec behind me.
Still finished mid-pack, no incidents, and 10sec clear of the leader
Then to Zandvoort. I've never been a fan, and never done many laps around here but know it loosely from DTM races. I did a few laps there yesterday to get an idea, best i was managing was low 1:12.xx but i did qual, managed a 1:11.6 which i was pleased with, and for the race i started 2nd, managed to stick with the leader for about 4 laps and pull away from the rest, and went the full distance without any mistakes and i'd made tons in practicing, especially the 'shortcut' section from club to full circuit, that corner just kills me every time. Backmarkers were helpful, and ended up being a nice clean albeit uneventful race, but the other guy was clearly much faster and more confident on some of the corners i just wasnt willing to push that hard in a race.
So 2 terrible races and a positive one, i dont care if i finish last if i can just come away from the race without making stupid mistakes through loss of focus. But im starting to feel much more confident with the car, and theres times when its sliding away and im holding onto it, sometimes i'll have to brake/throttle jam it to save, but often just a little correction or hold the slide and let the weight settle, something i havent been able to do until recently.
