So the weekend went well. Car came home dirty but undamaged, no issues at all over the whole three days. Lots of fun.
Friday was practice. I only ran 7 laps of National to test the Achilles tyres, but with 25+ cars on track, I got no representative lap times. I was able to compare minimum corner speeds to my last time at National back on my NT01s a few months ago (in much better conditions). Impressively, the Achilles were 2-3kmh down on the NT01s through some corners, and equal on others. For a 140 treadwear s-spec tyre at $600/set fitted for 195s, I'm very impressed. Signed on, scrutineered and parked up ready for Saturday.
Saturday was hot and humid.
Qualified P13 of 21, reset my Clubman PB down to 63.9 on Natsoft, 63.8 on Racechrono. First time at QR on the Z214 twin grooves, so happy enough with that. Especially with 50c track surface and 32c+ air temperature, and 21 cars on a short track makes for a bit of traffic too.
Race 1 was good, hot but dry. Finished P14, had some fun chasing Lisa Montgomerie in a high hp NA. Front runners lapped us, giving me an opportunity to get past her into the dipper, but as soon as we got to the front straight she walked past me again.
The lead up to race 2 was interesting, with the radar and our schedule matching perfectly for us to be in the marshalling area queued up to race just as the rain hit. I had made a last minute decision to switch back to the Achilles semislicks just in case, and it was the right call. A good number of cars had no wets, and either didn't start the race or immediately pulled into the pits as soon as possible. It was a slippery race, I finished p10 courtesy of all the DNFs and three cars returning to pitlane, the race leader mistaking a clampdown for a race cancel, and two others following him in. Unfortunately my gopro battery died, so no footage of that race
Packed everything up and called it a day.
Sunday brought somewhat better weather.
Although still hot and humid, the first race was while it was overcast and not quite as hot as Saturday morning, and we didn't get any rain all day. Race 3, the last Clubman race for the weekend, had me starting p10 because of the wet race on Saturday, which of course meant the quickest cars who had been on slicks all started rear of grid and got past quickly. Had some good fun battling with Shane Plohl before I managed to get past and keep it, and chase after Lisa again. She tried to let me pass on the straight after a few laps, but at exactly the same time a caution was called over the radio and I wasn't sure if she was letting me go, or slowing for something she had seen ahead. I ducked back in behind her and we carried on, finishing in that order, with me in p14.
Starting p14 for Race 4, the first National circuit race, I ended up chasing Lisa again for a few laps before we caught Anthony Bonanno in the LHD Targa NC. Lisa got past, and I followed Anthony. Unfortunately entering T4 he got loose and spun, hitting standing water just off the edge of the track between T4 and T5. I just barely got past without contact, but with front and rear footage it looks like it would have only been half a metre between us, both when I ducked left to avoid him, and when he rolled back across the track behind me. After that, the rest of the race was pretty much on my own. David Smith appeared in my mirrors while I was picking up pace again, but had an engine problem and dropped back. Finished p12.
The final race of the weekend was also on National circuit. Starting P12 and with the front runners at rear of grid again, I allowed too much room for them to pass and let a few others through at T1 and T2. Dropped back to p17, and found myself in a great battle between Shane Plohl, Francois Siebrits, David Smith and myself for a few laps. David had another engine problem after a few laps and let us by. We traded places a few times, thanks to the extra grip I had through T1 and T2 I was able to make a run into T3 a couple of times, but usually had to concede the position at T4. Eventually I got on the left side between T3 and T4, and was able to hold it and got past Shane. The next lap Francois left enough room for me to pass at T2, before reclaiming it at T3 under brakes. By T4 he had moved over and let Shane and I both pass, which is how we finished the race a few laps later.
All in all, it was a great weekend. No contact, no mechanical issues, never touched the grass, reset my Clubman PB and had some great prolonged battles. I also ended up second in class C, which is the 1:27-1:30 bracket on National circuit. Time brackets tend to allow for more luck than anything else, just depends where you fall in between brackets, but still. As Paul Ansell put it at the presentation, 'every kid wins a prize.' I would definitely recommend the MX5 Challenge to anybody who is considering making the move to door to door racing.
Now I just need to get a catch can and killswitch fitted between now and the 11th.
