Wet Wonder – round recap

If you didn’t look out the window yesterday, it was raining and the track was wet.

It made for an interesting round 3 with heavy rain in the morning leading many to believe the day would be called off. Racing was delayed for one and a half hours while we waited to see if it would clear enough. Many people (mainly from other race series) didn’t have much hope and actually left before a decision was made.
It did clear a little however and racing got back under way.

The wet track made qualifying difficult, the session was red flagged twice with many cars spinning and going off track. This along with the traffic meant I didn’t even set a timed lap but Dad got out there and did well to get a 1:37.9 which put us in 39th. A great result in our car up against a field of 85 (reduced from 99 due to people leaving and cars breaking).

This put me at the back of the top grid for the first race, a race that was shortened to 18 minutes due to the earlier rain delay. Again it was wet which made it very interesting. On the first lap it was clear some people were taking it easy to avoid carnage while others were no holds barred diving down the inside. I managed to gain a good few spots on the opening lap, particularly going down the inside of the first corner where it was probably 4 wide going into it. The last corner on the first lap gave me a fright as I headed down the inside only to have a big sideways moment half way round the corner, I kept it under control and amazingly even kept the position.
Unfortunately as I mentioned it was wet and some people were too excited and ended up crashing/spinning. I came around one corner under yellow flag and could see two cars off the track on the outside, I hit the brakes and tried to turn to the inside to leave plenty of room but unfortunately there was also a car sideways on the inside. I slammed the brakes doing everything I could to avoid him. Slamming the brakes however only resulted in me spinning, missing the other car by what must have been a couple of centimetres. I rejoined at the back (only ahead of others who spun/crashed). After regathering my focus I looked ahead to see another MR2.
I had to beat him.
I spent many laps slowly catching up and in the end did manage a pass thanks to him having a big moment getting sideways in the wet. That’s when I really felt the pressure, he was all over me and I knew any mistake could see serious damage. Then the top guys started coming round to lap us. I kept saying to myself I had to master “the art of being overtaken”. It worked well for me as the MR2 behind me hadn’t mastered this art at all and I managed to put a good gap between us.
In the end I finished 36th which I thought was a great recovery, until I saw Dads effort.

Due to the reverse grid Dad started from 8th (your welcome Dad). Again it was wet, it started raining again not five minutes before the race started, and again it was shortened to 18 minutes. Both these factors would help slow the faster cars at the back down.
Off the start Dad got away fairly slowly, looking at the lights when it was a flag start. The next time I saw him though, as he came up to the hairpin, he was up to 4th. He drove great in the slippery conditions and kept up to hold the spot for a long time. A few laps in the leader had problems and pulled out, this put Dad in 3RD. Amazing to see the Red Dragon in 3rd on the fast grid. And he kept it there lap after lap as the fast cars at the back struggled to make headway in the wet conditions. They are simply faster cars however so they did make there way forward towards the end. Dad wasn’t slowing down though and only a few cars managed to catch up and make there way through.
In the end Dad finished in unofficial 6th. SIXTH.
6TH out of more then 80 cars.
An amazing result for the Red Dragon that puts my 36th to shame (na I was just setting it up for him, teamwork and all that haha).

A horrible day at the track in the rain, shoes soaked through, but another wonderful day on the track.

Well done to all those who have read through all that. I am hoping to have some videos up in the next couple of days.