Monday, 14 April 2008

ROCKINGHAM , RACE 1


So far the weekend had been a bit mixed as far as the weather was concerned. Very cloudy, but every now and again the sun would break through raising the temperature of the track and air considerably, then for the clouds to return and the temps to drop again.

The first race was scheduled for the Saturday afternoon, and so far the rain had stayed away, so it was a dry race, and slick tyres.

Starting 8th on the grid meant I started on the outside of the track near to the safety wall. This is the normal racing line, therefore it is the cleanest part of the track and has the most amount of grip. This was perfect as I needed to make up a few places as soon as possible while the tyres were cool and everyone else was being a little cautious.
As the lights changed, I got a great start and made up a place almost straight away and then another place on the way around the first lap.
On the second lap there was a bit of contact between the cars in front and I was able to make up another place, so by lap 2 I was into fifth.
All seemed pretty good, I was closing in on the group of cars in front and was planning on making a move as soon as I could so as to not loose the momentum.
On lap 4 I got caught under breaking as I locked a wheel and ran wide loosing a place, but I had the pace to run at the speed of the leaders providing I didn't have any more trouble from the small flat spot on the front tyre.
As the race went on there was a few changes of position up front and  I managed to capitalise making it back into 5th place. It wasn't going to last for too long as the flat spot had got worse over the past few laps, and it meant that every time I braked heavily the wheel locked up when the flat spot met the tarmac.
Eventually this was to end up in contact with another car in an overtaking attempt, that bent the steering and the suspension making the last couple of laps very difficult indeed, and dropping down the field to 8th, where I ended up finishing. 

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