WOW. With home life getting in the way (litter of 7 puppies) of time at the wheel, I was restricted to about 3 days practice for this event. I had been unhappy with the gear ratios of the GT-R so sourced out a Youtube video on how to balance the GB which helped massively to give me drive off the slower corners which led to the straights which in turn is where the Nissan strengths are... the straights.
Qually: Pre race practice and a Qually sim saw a 1.59'75 so after the BOP adjustment i thought that if i could repeat it i could at least hold my mid week spot of P2 but it takes a special kind of special to contact the wall on your out lap and damage the car and any chance to hold onto a front row start was gone before the start of the lap.
Race: Pit strategy... 2 stop or 3 stop??? Decided on a 3 but with a short 1st stint, a longer 2nd and 3rd stint to give me a run to the flag on fresh boots and low fuel
Race start from P5 it is and i drop a spot to Tyson off the start with XL having a drifting moment in front of me as he crosses the line and another to risky after 20 mins of holding him off or up.... I get to my scheduled stop at the 40 min mark in 5th spot unlucky Tyson and Jono... I set out to make up as much time as i can with fresh rubber. You Beauty up to 3rd. Into the 2nd hour and Keedan returns with Norm and myself all within a second and i settle in and enjoy the show in front of me. Keedan retakes the lead and i get Norm after a great 15 min battle. The next 20 mins is why i enjoy this series so much. In regular Sunday racing a 4th div gumby like myself would not be able to stick with an all time top 5 Raceonoz driver like Keedan but that is what i managed to do over the next 20 mins getting to my 2nd stop at the 1hr 40 mark. rejoin just behind Norm and again time to push,
Into the final hour and Keedan pits with 50 to go and rejoins 5 secs behind me, I have 25 mins to my last step.... how long can i hold him off. I get to my stop still 2 seconds in front of Keedan with the realisation that a podium is within reach. So 25 mins to go... 23 secs to Keedan and 12 secs to Risky... 20 minutes to go and the fresh yoko's and low fuel is paying off with the gap to risky back 8 secs. 10 mins to go and the gap is now visual and i set my FL 2.00'088. 5 to go and the gap to Risky is 3 sec and Keedan is only a further 3 secs down the road.... CAN I?????
Am seriously sorry for the tap at forrest on the final lap Risky but an immediate redress squared the ledger.
This photo is on lap 37 ...
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