Sigh.
I was amped, but it was quite disappointing. I was struggling with the brakes all weekend, it seemed something had gone amiss in my front suspension after eliminating several possibilities and wasted practice sessions.
These cars are violent under braking, usually if you brake too hard, the wheels start vibrating and shake the entire front end of the car like crazy....so you have to ease on the brakes a bit at first. Mine started to vibrate like it wanted to kill me, no matter how I braked. Seriously, on some corners it would be so bad that my hands would be thrown off the steering wheel and my knees were bruised from being bashed around the cockpit...it was basically undriveable. I was 2 seconds a lap slower than I had been the last time I visited Kyalami. How lame. At least the gearbox was fine...
Played around so much with the setup to try get rid of the vibrating wheels that I hardly had time to work on my racing lines and such. I qualified a hopeless 8th, with a laptime slower than when I first visited the circuit. We changed some things for the race, and I had to somehow nurse the brakes and race against other drivers...was so cool!! I had epic battles, crazy fast and violent too. I didn't really care how slow I was going in the end...I should have had 7th in the 1st race, but I was penalised and pushed back to 9th - there was a safety car period during the race, and James Leach had overtaken me as the yellow flags were out. He waved me passed, and I took back my position...which I was not supposed to do. So I got a penalty, yay. The 2nd race was legendary, I fought my ass off till the very last corner of the race, it was really tricky to drive like that but it came off okay. I ended up 6th....it looks like some of the slower guys gained a miraculous 2 seconds a lap with the new tyre compound...I really need money badly!
I definitely gained time by trying a few different lines, and a better strategy while dueling with other drivers. Even though I was 2 seconds a lap slower than I achieved last year. Next race is in Port Elizabeth, I hope I find sponsors in time so I can make that race and try apply things I am still learning from simracing. I also really need a video camera on my car to capture the insane battles I am having basically every race!! hehehe :)
Edit: Looks like I got 5th in the 2nd race....someone jump-started!
No comments:
Post a Comment