Zwartkops - 21/06/2008 - Round 5

First indications: rocking engine!! I certainly noticed a dramatic improvement instantly. The top 2 or 3 drivers still have better grunt, but this new engine overhaul at least allows me to stay in the slipstream...

Throughout the sessions I was struggling with some pretty chronic understeer, I lost an insane amount of time in the slow corners on the circuit, probably 95% of the laptime lost to the front guys. We set the car up for as much oversteer we possibly could, and still I got understeer. Dean reckons it could be my front shocks that are giving up, but he is going to work on some other things for the next race...for now I had to just live with it.

I qualified 5th, and really thought I could do a little better. I was battling with the overall grip from the tyres, they only really got enough heat after a few laps of running. I think just about everyone in the top10 were running new tyres as well....the race was going to be tough. Race 1 was highly boring. I changed some things with tyre pressure to try get more heat, but the balance was all off and that was quite surprising. Race 2 was much better after I rectified the pressures, and was running just behind the battle for 3rd/4th place.

With my handling problems, I don't think I could have stayed in 4th place for a long time. I just hung back, waiting for the last lap or so to take an opportunity to steal 4th or perhaps even 3rd....and I certainly had plenty of opportunities to take 4th during the race, but chose to wait and wait. The problem was, I couldn't see the lap countdown board, and I had no idea it was the last lap.....the guy in front made an error going into the 3rd last corner, I basically overtook him and then chose to wave him past....for a chance to catch the 3rd place driver quicker. To my horror, we crossed the finish line to a checkered flag. Highly embarrassing. I threw away 4th place like a n00b!!! Never thought I'd make such pathetic judgments....

I'm still missing that element of racing close to other drivers in simracing, and its showing on-track. I need to learn to try and drive over the guy in front of me if I want to be in a decent position to gain the most out of slipstream. I still leave an annoying gap which really shouldn't be there......

Anyway, the next race is at the cRaZy-fast East London circuit in 3weeks. Hopefully my understeer problems will be sorted out. Certainly my engine is not good enough to really challenge the top guys, but it's really decent enough to be a threat if I can make the time up in the infield and cling on for dear life in the slipstream down that massive straight.....I am really looking forward to this race and the following races as well. The massive engine disadvantage I've had all year has now been wiped clean...

Not Enough...

The next race at Zwartkops is coming up fast...the next 3 races are spaced 3weeks apart from each other. Crazy stuff. I also now have the least amount of money in the bank ever, and owe a lot of people money :P Hectic times. Just gotta survive this somehow....

I'm really not using simracing to its full capacity to help with my Formula Vee racing....maybe a couple years ago. I just race in a local league for fun, without much preparation. The races are not the same as the other leagues I've driven, I don't get pushed and put under pressure, there is nobody I have to chase and do 100laps to find an extra 0.05sec. There isn't that urgency or sustained period of time on the limit. My mental game has dropped significantly, and I really need to get back into things, back into the crazy leagues.

The main reason for this is of course my PC performance, which prevents me from even practicing with the big guns, but I'm slowly trying to get the thing up to a decent spec so that I can push 100% of the time, and increase the limits of an on-the-limit lap. My mental racing peak was 2years ago without a doubt, I definitely feel much weaker. Simracing is for 'free', and I know it can help more.

I really want to do well at Zwartkops. But this is what I hope for every race. What needs to change? My mental game needs to be supermassive going into this. Something huge that will warrant a change. My engine is being rebuilt, and cylinder head replaced, so I'll see how that performs. Either way, whatever state that car is in, I need to push that thing like never before. Not that I havn't been on the limit already, but it needs to be more. The transition might take a few races, but the limit I am at is hopeless. The next level awaits....I have set my goal by the end of the year!

Time and effort........