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Saturday Practice
Its hot and
dry. Everyone's complaining about brakes, or
rather, lack thereof. I'm still on foreign-used
tyres and found a matching pair for the front of
the car, but there's no grip in them so its
understeer at every corner (it doesn't want to turn
and goes straight on). After three laps the brake
pedal is on the floor and I'm into the turns too
deep and too fast - particularly the
hairpin.
Race Day
Very hot
and dry. I get hold of a set of Nissan brake pads
(thanks to Robin & Rishi). 50% of my car
problems are solved - there's still no grip in
front, so I know it won't be easy.
Race 1
Still very
hot and dry. I'm on grid position six, inside the
third row. Good starts are very important - you can
pass more cars before the first corner than at any
other time in the same distance. I get a good one
and am first into the top corner, with Tanko and
the rest hot in pursuit. By the end of lap one,
Tanko's Shell car is filling my mirrors. We arrive
at top corner once more, I turn in, look to the
inside of the corner on my right and see the Shell
car - full lock on and wheels locked up - heading
directly to my driver's side door. I turn left onto
the slippery stuff to avoid being t-boned and he
passes me on the inside. Nice one Tanko... I file
that one away in my mind. The rest of the race is a
balancing act for me. I'm on the edge of going too
fast trying to keep up (and losing more time in the
process) and not going fast enough to stay with
him. No one to worry about directly behind... we've
put some distance between ourselves and Silbourne
in the Sikkens car, who in turn has done the same
with the rest. I can see where Tanko's car turns in
easily and even has a little helpful oversteer, but
I can also see him making the odd mistake. Driving
as precisely as I can within my car's limits, I
slowly, ever so slowly, begin to reel him back in.
But its not to be... the race isn't long enough so
I settle for second place.
Race 2
I'm in
eleventh place, inside the fifth row in this crazy
TTASA (Trinidad & Tobago Automobile Sports
Association) 2-3-2 grid arrangement. I don't get as
good a start as before and arrive at top corner in
the middle of the pack on the inside line. We go
around top corner, Da Costa Jones and the following
lefthander two and three abreast, bumper to bumper,
front and rear. Its a fast-moving traffic jam.
Everyone's trying to give and get room and to pass
someone. We make it round the first lap and into
top corner two abreast again. Between the exit of
top corner and the entry to Da Costa Jones, I feel
the flat tyre. Its my left front. I go wide on Da
Costa to let the others by, onto the infield of the
lefthander as I watch the pack pull away. Points,
points, points... that's all on my mind as I
stumble as quickly as possible back to the pits. No
points if you don't finish. I enter the pits via
the back of the circuit, stop in front of the Speed
Promotions shed and fly out of the car. I'm
shouting "I need a wheel!" at the top of my voice,
trying to get someone's attention. Everyone's
watching the race, and no one notices at first. I
run into the shed and grab the first spare wheel I
find and finally get some help. They take control
of the tyre change while I buckle back up. I lose
two laps during this chaos and rejoin the race. Two
things happen - I get that focused madness that
drives me to new levels of determination and the
car starts handling. It now turns in nicely,
particularly on righthanders and this is a
right-hand track. I start passing cars, almost
anywhere I meet them. Before I know it I've passed
the leading bunch, but I'm two laps behind and the
race is over. I'm classified tenth.
Post Mortem
Its been a
demolition derby. Almost all the cars are bruised,
some very badly. I personally can't understand why
this should be so. If these guys were driving
single-seaters some of them might be dead. They've
got to adjust their driving attitudes. My car has
come through unscathed and I know I actively
avoided contact. I also know that I was
lucky.
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