This weekend, I decided to run both classes TC and F1. I knew it was gonna be a stretch going by people's reactions when I mentioned that I'm doing both..
Saturday saw a practise day, with open track split into sessions for each class repeating each hour. I made every run with both classes, even though the rush was strenuous.
TC - I was in the fastest class, 13.5 Boosted. I ran on a set of old tyres. By the time I removed them for practise session 5 of 7. They had done 20 runs. I was really happy with the cars feeling and was always within the top10 times. Sadly, when tried new tyres, the car had so much more front end, I had only 2 runs to try and find a setup that worked. I added rear wing, softened the rear of the car
and added flex to the car. This helped, but i ended the day with still too much front end in my setup.
F1 - This was my first time ever on tarmac with an F1 car. It felt pretty nice to drive at times, but I was learning so much each run. Thicker side damping, soft springs and plenty of droop seemed to help and gave me a car that seemed competitive against the rest of the field. Really happy to be on pace as I had know idea what to expect.
I felt my Mi6evo TC required some attension, so overnight Aaron and I spent some time making some changes. I reduced the 20grams I had been carrying with some weight saving, rebuilt the shocks with thicker rear damping for slow speed improved slow speed rotation, and added some rear wing. A feature unique to the new Aerox Razor body I was running.
Sunday (Race Day) Today, similar to the saturday was a scorching hot day. Not what I needed for the rush that was racing 2 classes! However, armed with a set of shorts bought from sainsburys the night before, I felt better prepared.
Practise - We had one round of practise. F1- My car seemed quite good on the old tyres. Drivable but lacking some steering. I didnt worry about that as new tyres would liven the car up for Q1. TC- On a 3rd run set of tyres and having made the changes over night, the car felt great and I was 3rd fastest even on old ish tyres.
Q1 F1- On new tyres my car was crazy aggressive at the beginning but as the tyres wore in, I felt one of the fastest on track, and finished 2nd in round. Happy with that start to F1 nationals outdoors :)
TC - My car hardly got going, just enough to make it to the pit lane on lap one. A really strange situation. It was almost like I planned it as being on new tyres in q2 would be handy.
Q2 F1- I tq'd with a better additive prep the car was good at the start. :) Tc - my car was aggressive on new tyres. Not as bad as saturday but it was still not quite right. Was definately holding me back in the first half of the run. Really sad about my mistake in not trying new tyres earlier on saturday. I missed out on TQ in the round by 0.5 seconds.
Q3 F1- I crashed near the start so pulled off to protect my tyres as I had 2 good scores with 2 needed to decide the final grid, so no pressure for q4. TC - The opposite situation here than in F1. Having missed Q1, I needed a good score to ensure even an A final position. Sadly, some insect started stinging the back of my legs and wouldn't stop. I was trying my best to get over it but finally gave in. (probably my most unusual DNF ever!) I really wanted that score because now Q4 was needed so high pressure.
Q4 F1 - I crashed while leading and on to set a time good enough to take pole. I lost concentration which im really annoyed about. I was listening to the computer which caused my mistake, something to work on for sure! :( TC - Disaster happened. Again, oversteer at the start, and I made a terrible mistake and ended up on the grass on lap 1! Worried about being out of the A final while counting a score with a time almost the fastest in the day, I had to try and keep calm, I didnt do that very well as I was driving with panic, costing myself time with silly errors. Luckily, I just about came back to finish 7th which put me 7th on the A final grid. My time was enough to TQ the round and be 3rd if I didnt have the first lap crash.
In the finals I drove badly, as did others which was annoying. I wont go into that but it made me not want to talk too much about the finals. I finished down the order in both classes. Starting 7th was also going to be hard in TC, so my aim for next time is qualify up the order where hopefully its easier to avoid incidents! Not my best weekend but 2 A finals so I'll take it, but also, use it to try and learn many lessons and improve for next time!
I'll rebuild my touring car after some rough racing this week. Then, KO Grand Prix at WLRC this coming weekend. Looking forward to try and put my bad driving day behind me and enjoy a great event at nice track :)
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