:ALBERT PARK CIRCUIT POST RACE REPORT:
Once again I'd like to start by congratulating everyone on the brilliant race. Clean and fair all around and a pleasure to be on track with you. May the current trend continue 👍
As for this weeks meeting I was really looking forward to it. Melbourne is one of just a few tracks I consider myself to be quite good at, so I atleast expected a better result than last week. Qualifying didnt go as well as it could of, found myself in the gravel at 3 quite a few times brake testing, I kept dropping wheels off track in search of tenths hear and there, and instead of putting in a banker I just went for the smash hit. Should of calmed down looking back but you know what racers are like eh
Qualified 6th which I was happy with in the end. Didnt get into the groove as quick as I thought but I was on the third row and poised!
The first corner is always a hairy affair and I wasnt about to repeat my mistake of last week. I made sure I was on the brakes early and I managed to follow the lead trio around the outside of a pirouetting pair of F1 cars. Feeling lucky I made my break and lined up my next target. I thought if I had any chance to be on the podium this week I had to try and get ahead early. Steaming down the short straight from 2 I made an opertunistic pass on the brakes to take 3rd. I could see 2nd place just in the distance so I stepped on it trying to catch up. Hadnt expected to catch so soon however
Just a few corners later and I almost drove straight up the chuff of a limping douqa through 10. I didnt know what was happening at this point so I took to the outside and dragged myself into first place. All I had to do now was bring it home!
Lap 2. Haha, not three corners in and I'd reached my achilles heal. That dreaded turn 3 gravel trap! Argh!!
In one swift mistake I went from 1st to 4th. Beached and slightly angry with myself I tried to pull my car out as quick as possible. Thankfully, maybe, I regained on track just ahead of stevi. I passed someone who'd managed to plant themselves in the wall at 4 as well so was promptly back where I was the lap previous in 3rd.
From here on in it was a battle of attrition between me and Stevi. He managed to keep a constant margain behind me and so the pressure was piling. Lap 3 and I almost dropped it into turn 9. Bringing Stevi right on my tail and trying to hound me into submission. I made enough silly mistakes to let him get close and at the end of lap 3 he gave me a love tap in my behind
but he let me back past so all was well. Lap 4 and still trying to stay ahead, when just after turn 7 a message flashed up on the bottom of my screen. I thought 'I'll read it on the straight so I dont mess up', and then promptly missed my braking spot and handed 3rd over to stevi
Lap 5 and i was on a mission to catch back up! A great lap 5, followed by a solid lap 6 saw me right back on the exhaust of stevi after he'd obviously made a mistake or two. Still chasing him down i got great drive out of turn 12 and rode the slipstream before a late braking manouvere into 13. I took a really tight line through the corner just incase stevi was going to make a counter attack, but I managed to keep track position for the final section. Shortly after I made a customary mistake checking behind me and then proceeded to miss my braking point. Needless to say I dropped a position.
Entered the pits on the same lap. At this point I realised my mistake in putting on another set of options!!
Sigh. Decided to take advantage of the grip and go on the attack again until nearer the end of the race. I cant remember much after the pit stop to be honest. Me and stevi came out pretty close from the stop but I cant remember if I took the position back or just put in some fast laps till the end. However it wasnt all smooth sailing.....
:ALBERT PARK CIRCUIT RACE RESULTS:
:ALBERT PARK CIRCUIT ONBOARD OPENING STINT:
.... You'll notice in the video that there is still a minute of footage after the pit stop and fade to black. Basically I recorded this part just to show I'd used both sets of tyres. You dont see all of what happened, but on lap 11 I came back into the pits and put on primes. At the end of lap 11, literally a metre or two past the pit entry on the start and finish I got a puncture!!!
I had to limp around a whole lap with three wheel on my wagon! Note the 2:19 lap time!
What happeded next I couldnt quite believe. On the same lap that I put on my fourth set of tyres, 9 corners in and I get another flaming puncture! At this point its all you can do to not cry, so I just chuckled to myself. Watch the video and share in my misery!
So there we have it, started 6th, pitted 4 times and finished 7th. All in all, I guess it could of been worse
Thanks again for the good clean fun guys. And with this, the post race report for Melbourne is concluded 👍 Dont forget to check the opening post for new race schedules and championship standings!
Please also note the time has changed back to GMT. For anyone in the UK just ask if you're unsure and we'll all do our best to help 👍
:CHAMPIONSHIP FEEDBACK:
A couple of things I wanted everyone to talk about this week. Number one is the puncture issue. I think we've all felt the pain of having a seemingly random puncture now, but I am still reluctant in turning damage off. I know this week one of us suffered a damaged nose cone and stratergy comes into play as to how you're going to deal with that. No damage at all in my opinion wouldnt be right. Also it was very unfortunate that Junky couldnt continue to race with us because of a connection problem. The week before it was D34NO.
My questions are these.
- With the recent news that the long awaited patch is almost upon us, who here would consider restarting the championship with the patch in place and damage set to full?
- Alternatively who here would prefer to continue the championship as is and just pick up the patch as and when its available, all the while leaving damage set to full?
- Finally on this matter who here would like me to turn damage off, resulting in no punctures but also no penatly for driving like a loon?
- Also, should somebody suffer a connection error within the first 30% of the race, who would be willing to have the race restarted?
In other news, it seems DonkeyFuzz will not be coming back to the series and so a position has become available and I wondered if any of you guys knew someone who might be interested. Clean and fair drivers is a must, I will otherwise have to just put out a role call.
Thank you.
.
