Race 5 - Phakisa Freeway

Race3 - East London

Wow. What can I say about this track.....absolutely - insane. It is SO FAST, I loved it!!!! WOWNESS :P These Formula Vee cars got up to 220kph....and my neck is sore from trying to keep my head from getting sucked out the car :)

Practise and Qualifying

Arriving at the track, us newbies got bombarded with stories of Potter's Pass, how crazy it was, the dangerous crashes there, the minimal run-off area, and how scared we were going to be. I just shrugged it off. My whole mindset was like that going there. There was no expectation, and I was going to take things as they came to me. So, I'll make my own judgement on Potter's Pass when I get to it.

I got to it in the 1st practise, and didn't take it flat out :P My mind was so focused for this weekend. I had 3 practise sessions and qualifying on the Friday, so I thought I'd go at my own pace such that I reached some sort of limit by quali. Courtney and the other new guys went balls to the wall from 1st session, I didn't feel the need to :) Nobody timing me again, Alan Holm rocked the track in a 1m32.9....the next guy was in the 1m34's hehehe. I was liking the track, the speed you reach is incredible....there's nothing like it, screw computer games :D I was also enjoying that midfield section, it was quite tricky and challenging!

Well I got going at my own pace. In 2nd session, Potter's Pass was flat out the 1st try....was awesome :) Just because it was fast. With the new Dunlop semi-slicks, this corner was just an above-average-sweep. Quite an overrated corner I thought, to be honest....so that was done. Went at my own pace to get the braking sorted out and learn some other corners....was a very physical track, my arms were really struggling hehe. But I was getting close to the limit without much risk. I didn't run off-track once....even though a couple sideways situations. Comes with the territory. I was even experimenting with some setup changes....which worked too. Things were running smoothly.

Qualifying arrived and I just put the corners together, not really on the full braking limits. Tried to slipstream others but got caught up with the drivers in other parts of the lap. Things went ok, but other drivers were eyeing me out in the pits after that. They reckon I was going well....and I think I was going ok. Ended up 5th on the grid....so things were not too bad!! But was still 2sec down on Alan Holm...the guy's engine was incredible...in practise I tried to slipstream him, but all I did was keep up!!! Down that long straight, I should have passed him even before Potter's....but I didn't even catch him.

I got noticed after that qualifying....even got a TV interview hehe....so ermm...I'm not too good at chatting in front of a camera....but I think it went pretty well :D Will see when it comes out on SuperSport later.

Race1

I was pretty focused. Knew what I had to do: just stay in the leading pack's slipstream. I could keep up with them throught the rest of the track just about, in practise I kept up with frontrunner Dennis Johns like that.

But I missed the lights going out at the start. Noob. It wasn't so bad, but the wheelspin I had added to the bad start....I just got swallowed up by the pack!! Crap...after that I thought I could get back with them if I just drove decently and kept up the pace in the slipstream....but...enter Trevor Bland. The guy was dive-bombing me in every corner he could get a chance. It was so dangerous sometimes, we actually hit wheels the one time, and I dived onto the grass to avoid him. I was not impressed at all, with this stupidity we were losing touch with the front guys.

I also started being a bit aggressive with him when defending my lines, and that became a whole other story in the pits after that....I did nothing illegal, I made sure of that. I was just harsh. Just like he was doing to me. I may have done a couple moves that I shouldn't have, but it should have been dealt with better. The politics of him knowing everyone and me not knowing anyone...things got annoying in the pits. Oh yeah, I finished that race in 8th. That fact really feels like an aside comment, since this Bland thing destroyed my name in the pits.

Race2

I put aside the bullshit going on in the pits, it wasn't that big, just a vibe I got from people that Trevor obviously got to first. Anyway, even though I was damn unfit, and really tired at the time, I got my brain in order. Watched the lights properly this time (hehe) and got a decent start off the line....just followed everyone down to the 1st corner...sliding around on cold tyres flat out through Potter's and Rifle....down into Cocabana...I enjoyed that corner. It was banked and dipped at the apex, and just rose on the way out....like a mini roller coaster going through there :)

The infield section was great, tough on cold tyres....not a lot of grip through here...but this was the part of the track that scared me the most, even though it wasn't the quickest. So easy to lose it and wipe out into the wall :/ The sweep after that section is aggressive. You have to fight the car to keep the apex, and also let go of the steering wheel with one hand to shift to 4th gear halfway through the sweep...it's intense.

The race was going well. I was keeping up with James Leach, but the lead pack was breaking up as those front guys were just insanely fast. I was having a nice dice, but keeping momentum so that we still had a chance of catching guys in front of us....I wasn't making any errors, things were going great. The only gripe I have with this moment was that I did not latch onto James's arse through these laps. I always kept this 0.5sec gap in front of me....I was not confident in running right behind him. It is something I must work on in races to come...

With 2laps to go, I was running in 6th position, working 'together' with James Leach with slipstream to catch the guys ahead of us....but then my accelerator cable snapped :( That was quite disappointing, running in a strong position, and my first DNF :( But that's racing, it was going to happen sooner or later.

So as my pace and consistency improves, I am learning other aspects of real racing too. The little politics in the pits, and even more crazy close racing. There are a lot of mindgames to play and follow, it was never just about the racing on the track. This championship is going to be interesting indeed :)

Race3 - East London Preview

The next race date is coming up fast...East London on the 19th May...the original Grand Prix circuit. This picture of the track layout is all the knowledge I have of this circuit. I can only remember seeing a couple corners of it on TV, it's not in any game that I can practise on, and I can't find any onboard footage. So this will be a whole new experience.....I only have 3 practise sessions to learn it too! Situated at sea level, we are going to get the most power out of the cars....and I'm tired of hearing how scary this track is :P


Anthony Taylor: ARE YOU READY FOR POTTERS!!!

me: dude, im ready for anything ;) time to kick ass or die trying hehehe

Ant: You're gonna luv EL ...it's frigging fast!

me: yah i heard a lot about east london.....more power at sealevel, potters pass, etc etc. but who cares :P i'll see when i get there eh ;) top8 is calling....top8 top8 top8 top8 top8 :D


Let's see what happens. I'm itching already :)

Did Simracing Really Help?

Looking back at my races, I see that I would be pretty much nowhere if I had gone into Formula Vee without any simracing experience (have not done karting at all).

I don't need any help with racing lines, I can figure it out by myself. What's fast in the game is fast on track - it works. I was taught to be patient....don't let any emotions get in the way, and maybe even channeling the emotions to make you faster or more consistent....but most of all I learned patience, just to keep your head sane and calm in the craziest of situations....and to keep pushing, at every moment.

When I was hopelessly slow, I didn't give up. In simracing I'm usually the slower guy, I may have been the pace setter once or twice, but mostly chasing. You have to concentrate on certain things, and basically focus on where exactly you need to improve the time. It has to be done, and you end up doing it, instead of farting around feeling sorry for yourself.

The most joy I can take from simracing is the actual wheel-to-wheel duels I had online. These battles helped me strategise subconsciously on when and where to be on the track to force an error, make a pass, defend, etc. When attacking a driver, it's quite difficult in some circumstances to watch him and also drive the corner properly (seeing as you will be off the normal racing line you're used to), and you build this cool awareness of knowing exactly where the driver's car is, and what he is probably doing. I had some interesting battles on track at Kyalami...very interesting :P There is no way I'd be alive today after overtaking someone around the outside of T1 if I didn't have that awareness of what to do, how to slide off-line without getting in the other guy's way (ie: crash into him). You also learn to size up a driver's nature very quickly, how aggressive he is, etc. And after that, you know exactly what to do with him. It's very cool, no screwing around wondering what to do :P

Example of a tough simracing duel

There's some occasions where it doesn't work out. In rFactor I'm sure as hell I could defend my position against a relatively aggressive driver around the outside of T5 (Sunset corner, fast righty), but it didn't work out at all. It's so dirty off the racing line, I ended up going sideways through there, and too close to crashing.....wow I learnt the hard way :P Under no circumstances ever get onto the dirty line :P

You see, simracing seems to have helped. But it's all a matter of application. Real and Sim are totally different. Simracing will teach you the raw basics, the underlying truth to what being fast really is about. But it can be total trash and absolutely useless. It's up to the individual to identify certain similarities, and find a way of applying that knowledge to make it work. It's hard to totally trust a computer game, seeing it's just a fudged approximation of what someone thinks feels like real life. Its obviously flawed, and can't go flying into corners on the real track without basing knowledge of what the car is going to do from experience WITH the car itself. I certainly won't base my trust in simracing like that. But there's quite a bit else that I can gain from rFactor, I'm sure I haven't figured out the full potential of how simracing can help in real racing.

I have raced 2 events and my best finish now is 11th, with the car still intact. If some other simracer had the same opportunity, he/she could have done a lot better. Or much worse. It's all about how you can apply what you've learned, and figure it out in the shortest amount of time. Quite interesting, I still got lots to learn on track, and I'm enjoying this experience.

How is the Real Thing Different?

Well, after my race at Kyalami, I thought I would have driven enough to make a few observations between real and sim racing.

There's the poop factor. You are travelling in a race car at some speed, and although you're in a controlled environment, you are always on the limit (wouldn't be much of a race if you weren't) and things can go wayyyy wrong in an instant - you're in control, and you have the responsibility. If you crash, that's it. In rFactor you can throw the car anywhere, flat out anywhere, because there is no consequence. Personally I'm not really that scared of doing harm to my body in a crash, I'm just worried about what it would cost afterwards. I'd like to keep racing thank you, but this mentality makes me slow. I'm sure it does. Where is the balance of putting it all on the line and being 'mature' about it? Patience.....a different patience to what simracing taught me.

The cars are not the same. You're not in the same machinery, this is quite a big factor of course :P But nobody quite realises this when you sit and watch on TV. All those cars out there are all in different condition....so much time to gain in pure maintenance alone, and that only if it's the same model of the car. There are quite a few chassis types and body shapes out there.

When you sit and wonder why you're slow, you can only do it sorta like this:

Just a printout of the timesheets. In rFactor you can exit to the pits, click on the faster guy and watch onboard with him to see where you're going wrong. But that's never enough, you end up asking him for his setup, to which you can compare side by side, and make changes in a few clicks of a mouse button. To change the anti-roll bar in a Formula Vee, you'd have to get it made, strip the entire front end to get to the inside of the front suspension, put it in, and finally when everything is back together again (probably a couple days later) then you have your new anti-roll bar 'setting'. Man you'd better hope you were right about that change....Being in the right gear at the right time is so important. In rFactor I have a habit of staying in a higher gear and keeping the revs low...it's faster. If you do this in real life, or at least in a relatively low powered vehicle like a Formula Vee, you'll be so bloody slow. Have to rev the crap out of it at every opportunity. It's also pretty easy to misjudge your speed entering a corner when you're concentrating on downshifting smoothly - you get the downshifts right, but you're just in the wrong place at the wrong speed in the corner...quite annoying, and you feel like a noob.

Driving the car is different. It's a car. In a game, its a wheel and pedals with basically no feedback. There really isn't much physical consideration of the goings on of changing gear, for example. My mind was well prepared for racing lines, etc, but the thing that got me in the end was the downshifting. You simply can't learn the tricky and evidently important stuff in a game - impossible. Being bashed around the car is kinda distracting too :P Everyone knows this is the main difference, the physical part of racing, so I don't need to go into that much. All I know is that I have to get a lot fitter for the next race :P

So what can you learn from simracing then? Totally useless? Ehhhh I think it taught me a lot....get your ass to the next post lol

Race2 - Kyalami - [Part2 - Saturday]

Qualifying
Right. Saturday is here and its qualifying for the 1st session....so I really had to be mentally prepared before I went out for this one. Which I think I was! I got my mind in order, had some things to try out as I still don't know the circuit enough to be fully on the limit....

So I went out and started to try different gears for some corners, and 2nd gear was still giving me grief as normal. Tyres and brakes were a bit cold, so no laptime would come of these experimental laps anyway....but woah when I got to the last corner, there was an oil flag being shown. I could see some water across the track.....and HOLY CRAP the car got unsteady through there, was shocking :P After the session we learned it was anti-freeze, so no wonder it was so slippy. Anyway, some of the top guys came up behind me, so I had to let them through which made me lose time always....I needed to put a good lap in sometime soon. Symm Grobler came past me, and thats when I decided to go....he is usually one of the top drivers on the grid...he was about 1 second ahead of me. I felt I could follow him nicely throughout the lap....in fact....I thought I was gaining on him!! But then the chicane came along and I missed 2nd gear...had to quickly punch it into 3rd gear, but lost a lot of time and watched Symm pull away....I got through the anti-freeze okay, but lost time as I'm sure everyone else did. I wanted to try somehow to keep up with Symm who was a bit in the distance....I had an unbelievable first few corners, it was really on the limit. But then a freakn red flag came out :/ John Lerm crashed at Sunset corner, and that was scary. Drove past and saw he'd hit the notorious inside wall....his car was totally wrecked....let alone my awesome lap :P

Came back in the pits and went to see what laptimes I had done, and to gauge where exactly I was on pace, as nobody had timed me on Friday. It turns out I qualified 10th with a 2m01.4...ahead of me was Courtney with 2m01.2. Pole time was 1m58.4....and what was funny was seeing Symm Grobler in 5th position with a 1m59.9.....hehhehheh his fastest lap was the one where I was gaining on him slightly. Things looked good ;) Come on you piece of shit 2nd gear....

Race1
Between sessions, big Dean and I sort of figured out my 2nd gear issues....the linkage was slightly loose at the back. We tightened it up a bit, and hoped it would make it better. It was such a long wait to the race....the programme was delayed by at least an hour, and nobody even knew if we were going to even get the 2nd heat in!!! An hour later meant it would be run in the dark :P The 1st heat was reduced by 1lap....so the race was only 7laps :/ It's disappointing that there's so few laps in Formula Vee races, but that's how it goes.

I felt confident about the race. Courtney and I decided to not fight each other....we wanted to work together to catch the group ahead of us, who had qualified on 2m00.1....so this race would be interesting!! The start came up quickly....got to the right grid slot (yay) which was on the inside. Lights went out and I thought I had a decent start....well, that was until 2 guys came flying past me!!! I backed off a bit for the 1st couple corners, as I didn't feel like crashing. Shouldn't have done that, lost more places :/ There was some tangling in T3, and Gert van den Berg spun round...others were involved, so managed to get a couple places...Courtney was behind me (he had a bad start) and slipstreamed me before Sunset corner...I tried to hold it around the outside, but errrr that didn't work out very well. I oversteered so badly on the marbles, I thought I was going to fly off and crash :/ But I held it together by some miracle, with nobody else hitting me. The rest of the 1st lap was decent, but thinking back to it, my mindset was all wrong. I wanted to stay a couple car lengths behind the guy in front of me, to get comfy with the car...NO!!!! I should be racing these guys, c'mon...but I was getting 2nd gear now, and that was good.

But somehow things were not working out for me....some driver had a problem I think going into the hairpin, and I got held up which allowed Johan Gouws past me. GAARRGH I got held up by him for a few laps :/ Could not find a way past...finally I got a better run coming out of T3, and nailed him into Sunset. I immediately pulled a gap on him, but started getting gear issues again. Began to get frustrated and even wasn't changing gears cleanly, pushing the clutch only halfway and going across start/finish in neutral....stupid shit like that. It started to get a bit of a nightmare. Wow but had some scary moments....some guy spun ahead of me coming out of T2...the dude didn't know which way he wanted to slide. He was all over the place, and I just didn't know which direction to choose to avoid him :/ Thought I was going to hit him but managed to get passed okay....wanted to start catching the guys ahead, but wasn't driving well at all. Without knowing it, I was overdriving the car. Going into T3 I went in waayyy too hot....was well sideways, and by the time I caught it, I was already into the gravel. Took a nice trip bouncing along in the litter, cursing and screaming and watching Gouws drive back past....I just gave up.

Got back on track and just cruised to the finish basically, since it was the last couple laps remaining....there was nobody near me in front, so no hope of catching. My issues with 2nd gear creeped in again, and just wanted to get it sorted for the 2nd race. Looking at the timesheets, I finished in P13 :( Quite disappointing...I managed 2m01.6, but wasn't sure how, as that was the lap I overtook Johan Gouws into Sunset, and I'm sure I missed a gear on that lap. Yet again, disappointed by my 1st heat like I was at Wesbank Raceway.

Race2
Since most of the categories races were shortened, and some were even combined, we managed to get a 2nd heat in the dying light. I smiled between sessions. I knew where I had gone wrong, it was all mental. This time I was confident for the 2nd race, and was focused on the job ahead. Big Dean did some last minute fixes on the linkage at the back, and it clamped better. Man, I hope it holds....

Starting from P13 wasn't ideal. There were some slow drivers ahead of me, and wanted to get past them as soon as I could....but let's concentrate on race start first, shall we :P I felt I was too tame in the 1st race, so I got into an aggressive mindset. Starting on the outside now, and I got a decent start again. A bit of wheelspin, and some drivers behind were putting pressure on me. But into T1 I just went flat out :P Kept it around the outside, so I was on inside for T2 and T3....it worked out okay. Someone had gone off in front, there was just dust everywhere. I was in that aggressive mode, but knew I had to calm it down. Was definitely overdriving the car in the 1st race, but now I was hooking up the corners nicely, and getting 2nd gear well. I was much much quicker than the guys in front of me going into the scary corners. Before the race I told Anthony Taylor that I had tried to take Sunset flat out (which didn't really work eehhehe)...he just stared back at me wide-eyed....I guess it's not quite the thing to try :P So the drivers in the pack I was in were even braking for Sunset, and I was just tapping off. Got a great run on them going into the next corner (Clubhouse), and kept the extra speed to outbrake them.

I had some absolutely unreal battles with guys....wheel-to-wheel isn't even the word hehhe, it was just crazy stuff going on. This is even crazier with the knowledge that if I flip the car, I will probably die hehehe seeing as I have very little head clearance to my roll-over bar. But it worked out okay. Missed 2nd gear going into the chicane (just because I didn't blip the throttle enough) which allowed the guy behind me to get a run into the final corner. I defended quite hard, but he stayed on the inside none-the-less: I was dealing with an aggressive dude. Okay, nice. So I kept on him coming out the last corner and got a run into him going into T1. This is no place for messing around side-by-side, but I was going for it anyway, screw it :) went around the outside of him into T1 flat out....at this moment my life flashed before my eyes :P we both went wheel-to-wheel through T1 and T2, the scariest corners on the track. By far the coolest moment of my racing "career" lol....I think I pissed him off with that though, as he just divebombed me going into T3. SCREW THIS GUY, I really needed to be battling with the guys ahead for God's sake. Some other driver took advantage and followed him through T3 while I was vulnerable around the outside :/ Managed to destroy them into Sunset and Clubhouse as usual, so that worked out :)

Had to now catch the guys ahead with only a couple laps remaining. I pushed hard, the group in front were 4 drivers, including Courtney....on the last lap I managed to catch them, and things got real interesting. Courtney was busy sliding around in front of me in places I couldn't take advantage of :/ It got to the final few corners, I was definitely going to divebomb someone, it just had to happen :P It turned out Johan Gouws missed a gear coming out of the bottom of the Mineshaft...so everyone was scrapping into the chicane. Was going to line up whoever was ahead of me to divebomb into the last corner, but Johan was already going to do that on me :P Screewww that, I kept it around the outside and punched out the corner nicely. We were running side-by-side driving to the finish line....I shifted to 3rd gear a little earlier, and he jumped slightly in front. Then he shifted and was his turn to drop back a bit. I wasn't even looking ahead, was just watching him and smiling as we crossed the finish line together :D It was anyone's guess who got it, it all depended on where his transponder was placed relative to mine!!!

Checked the timesheets....Johan and I registered exactly the same time....but had me ahead ahahhahha :D finished P11, but it should have been P9 if I hadn't been dicing so long with those other two early on in my race. Yeeeeee but this race was a thousand times better than I had at Wesbank :) Such a crazy track, and some awesome action with guys going into mad fast corners....I thought I would have got a 1m59 in this race, as the gears were fine and I felt I was pushing. But my FL was only a 2m01.0 :/ I was highly confused about it....in quali I did 2m01.4, and that was with a missed gear and the anti-freeze last corner....very very odd. Courtney's FL was a 2m01.8.

Thinking about it afterwards, I think I really need to follow someone faster than me to get me going. When I was driving alone, I thought I was going fast, but in reality I wasn't :/ So that's nice, I feel I'm learning things as I'm going along. Of course I'd be learning things, it's only my 2nd race meeting, but I mean I'm conscious of the things I have to improve. I'm just glad I have an awesome car under me. Knowing how good new tyres actually are, I could have been running really well at Wesbank Raceway.....here at Kyalami though, it's left me with a bit of head scratching :/ I'm 2.7 seconds down on the fastest lap, but I really think I should have been 1.5 seconds down (at the worst) instead. Have to improve next time, but I think I know what to do...

The next race is at East London in a couple months....the old F1 Grand Prix circuit :) The F1 guys used to race there before they moved to Kyalami....so, this will be enjoyable to say the least :) One of the corners includes the notorious Potter's Pass. I've heard about it, I've seen it, I haven't even driven it yet and I'm already scared :/ Here we go again Zaahir...

Race2 - Kyalami - [Part1 - Friday]

I slept nicely that Thursday evening. I felt I really got nicely focused for what to do, and seemed pretty calm going to the track. Just tried to keep focusing and to not get nervous. What did get me a little nervous was how wet the roads were...it had obviously rained early morning, and was drizzling a bit on the way there.....sure it’s fun and everything being on a wet track, but let me learn the track first :P Oh and the Johannesburg traffic pissed me off a bit :P I ended up getting to the track on time though! Can’t afford to miss a session when I only have 3...

Getting to the pits, it was nice seeing my baby again :) With new tyres and rear shock fixed, as well as new brake pads. But greeting big Dean wasn’t very nice....he told me I had a misfire, soooo that sucked. There was no time to fix it for 1st session, so I’d just have to go out and learn the track a bit and get everything warmed up anyway. Took a look at Courtney’s car which made me jealous :P He has a TOTAL REBUILD of the car. Basically everything was new. Everything. He had a freakn new car there hehehe....wouldn’t mind swapping…

Before heading into the 1st session, I wanted to find out from guys what gear to be in for which corner, what to watch out for, etc. But the session came too quick and had to go learn it myself. Anyway, big Dean told me to just chill out and bed in brakes and tyres, plus the track was pretty green from the rain, so there was no way I could push from the outset. The rFactor computer game on Kyalami was my only hope LOL....driving out on track made me smile....and made me a bit surprised too. Smiling ‘coz hell, I was driving on Kyalami for God’s sake....but surprised ‘coz the track seemed quite small and narrow....it’s quite big compared to Wesbank, but quite smaller than I’m used to with rFactor. Gradient changes seem a lot more noticeable as well, and there’s bumps in the rF Kyalami that just aren’t there on the real surface :P Quite odd....anyway I drove around with my foot on brake pedal occasionally, to just get the brake pads bedded in. The engine misfire was quite bad, so I had no power anywhere. But it felt good to drive around on the track, been waiting so long for this moment :) Attempted my notorious 2nd gear downshifting, and it was bad as usual hehehe. But it wasn’t grinding, 2nd gear was just difficult to select, felt very hard. Session was over pretty quickly, I think I only got 3 or 4 laps in....and they were useless laps, so nothing to learn really.

Second session went okay. I could start to push now, and try figure out the track...it was basically dry now. Misfire was sorted out inbetween sessions, so I had power again. I’ll try to briefly describe the differences of the real track to the rFactor one. There are some real scary corners on this circuit :/ and quite a few 2nd gear corners, so that sucks :P Anyway, the first 2 corners of the track are hella scary. There’s no way I’m trying taking that 2nd corner flat out (some other FVee driver said he was)....that thing is SO tight...and you are really travelling at quite a speed. Turn3 is real tricky too, I didn’t know whether to shift to 3rd gear before the initial kink, or cruise into there in 4th and downshift after that....either way, that corner is real scary, and damn tricky. Sunset corner (turn4) is so cool. I thought that would scare me, but it’s just so much fun. New tyres ROCK by the way, I have a lot less understeer! Can’t quite take sunset flat out, I tried once and the back-end started stepping out (scary). The Esses are pretty cool too...nice gradient changes, and you really throw the car into there. Wesbank hairpin is bloody weird :/ It’s nothing like the rF Kyalami, the line is quite odd and different, and seems so much narrower. My arms started to hurt going through here...getting 2nd gear for this corner is a bitch too, ‘coz I’m busy concentrating on getting 2nd, and the line and speed is so important, so that ends up getting messed. Was still struggling with engaging gear, the damn thing just wouldn’t go in....as for Mineshaft corner....the run down to there is quite a steep downhill!!! I was amazed, as you can’t really feel this in rFactor. Taking Mineshaft flat out is quite some concentration :P back-end always wants to step out, but you keep it going and stay sensitive to the steering wheel. On the brakes at the bottom of mineshaft isn’t very fun, car shudders quite badly – but not as bad as it was back at Wesbank Raceway. The chicane/kink thing is a bit of a joke. Being a 2nd gear corner, it sucked already...but it’s so small and stupid. It’s much flatter than what it is in the computer game, but the kerbs are high, so you can’t ride anything there. Going into the last corner there aren’t those bad bumps you get in the game either, it’s pretty smooth. The only noticeable bumps on the track are in the Esses....your arms really get mushed around when the feedback comes through the steering wheel!

I felt the session went okay. There were some corners which I still needed to learn fully, but it just felt great to push on such a circuit.....WOW :) Didn’t know laptimes yet, I am alone here at the track....so, no pictures or video either :( MAJOR bummer. Anyway, I didn’t need to know laptimes...when I’m on the limit then only I’d like to know where I’m losing time. Right now I know I’m losing time everywhere hehehe....fastest lap of the session was 1m58.3 I think by Peter Hills. I’ll see if I can get within 5 seconds of that?? The track is tricky, most corners are not straight forward...and I’d imagine there is so much time to gain in all of them. This is why to me 5 seconds is not a lot :( Hope I can learn more in the 3rd session.

And no, I didn’t :/ This session was pretty crap. I asked around for some tips with some of the tricky corners and gear changes....had some things to try out! Oh it appears I may have gearbox issues according to big Dean....would make sense why hooking 2nd gear is such a bitch. May have to rebuild the gearbox for next race, but nothing I can do now. Anyway, the 3rd session was a pain....I couldn’t get a clean lap in, always someone ahead of me, or slowing down, or some shit. I tried experimenting a bit with the corners I wasn’t sure of….but nothing seemed to work. I’m also still scared of that 2nd corner :P and a couple other places.

And just like that my practice was over. I really feel I need quite a few more laps to sort things out. This weekend is too short :( All that is left tomorrow is qualifying and the races!!!! I don’t even know what laptimes I’m doing, or totally comfy with the track. I’ll get some laptimes in qualifying tomorrow now that I have my transponder....but that’s a bit late isn’t it? :P The weekend is going too quickly, I hope I end up hooking things up and enjoying myself.....and I REALLY hope I’m not that slow. Even though the car feels real good, I feel I’m going to perform worse than at Wesbank....just need more practice.

We’ll see how it goes. Right now I need sleep :) And grow some balls. Being a pussy through some corners is just not on.