Nationals Update – Numero Uno
So the dust has settled on the first national at West London, and my report for RACER has been submitted… so now time to sort out my Lazy post (kinda fitting it’s taken so long for me to post, given the name, hehe).
Ok, so new season, whats new?
To be honest, not that much, all the usual suspects were up there, even with the large number of team changes going on.
In Mod, you still had Moore, Grainger and co up front. Interestingly, it seemed to take Andy a while to get into his stride, he came from being a bit middling on early sat, to TQ the final round on saturday, and then taking all three finals… maybe a case of removing some rust from the system 
The HB proto looked good on new and old tyres, as did Glenn Domans 416, if anything it seeming more comfortable on older tyres, and spot on in the wet!
Chris G was very quick in the first two rounds with the Mi4, some 6seconds clear of the filed! However, he didn’t have very good finals, managing to have an incident in the first turn in every one! The car also seemed to struggle a little on old rubber, a bit of similarity with RedBull F1 car.. a bit too hard on the tyres!
ProStock was pretty much a Schumacher affair, with 5 out of the top ten being the british make, albeit all bar one being Mi3.5’s. Rob West and Jay Westwood were the two to watch in this one, Jay having a bit of a mare on saturday (and almost going home!), but coming on strong in the finals to take the win.
So onto my own experience… well, it was a weekend of frustration really. In the first Q round, it was going ok until the rain arrived in the final minute, making the track really greesy. Was quite happy to see that despite that, I was 28th in round… however, it the weather did effectively loose me one “new tyre” run, as you have to start on new boots
Second round, new boots again, and put in a good time to go 25th, although made a few silly errors. Third round, final set of new boots (sunday was forecast to be wet wet wet, so thought it best to use them while I could!), and went 23rd in round, although again with some silly mistakes. Still, couldn’t be dissapointed as I was lying in 16th overall overnight!
A KFC, 3 Buds, and a kip in the car later… it was sunday morning, and suprise suprise, it was damp!
However, by the time everything got going there was potential for it jut to be damp, rather than fully wet. Being in heat 6, I was paying close attention to the weather… lo and behold, it changed it’s mind 5mins before the run. Cue a rapid change from dry electrics to wet ones… and thats when I had the biggest issues of the weekend! Managed to pop the negative wire off the battery plug by reverse connecting it in a rush (something I’ve now solved with a bit of red heat shrink rather than black). Thankfully the speedo still worked, but with no soldering iron on, it was a case of tape it in place and hope.
Amazingly, it lasted 3mins, until I barrell rolled it out of the first turn, and with the tape being damp, end of run. I was hoping though that I would have got a score in, but on returning the pits, discovered that I’d also plugged in the PT the wrong way round, so it wasn’t counting…. chalk that up to the rush before the start 
Anyway, the final qualy the rain decided that it wanted to make a proper job of it for a short time at least, with puddles everywhere. With all the wet electrics in the car, a bit of an increase in ride-height, and wet tyres on, away we went. quite simply, the car was great in the wet, ending up 3rd in the heat, and 15th in round! If only I’d done the same in round4.. who knows.
With the scores on the doors, turns out that some people had had even more inconsitent meetings (I always seem to fall foul of this in Rnd by Rnd), and despite counting a 25, 23, and 15.. I was pole in the D, dropping 15 places from the overnight, grrrr!!!!
The finals were fun though. I struggled a little in the first one, mainly as other guys around me had saved a set of new tyres for the finals. Despite how good the car was on the older boots, there was a deffinate advantage to running new ones. Posted the fastest lap time, but just pushed too hard, and ended up 3rd.
Second final was unbelivable really, impressed even myself. Got the most fantastic start ever, and the car just was working exceptionally well from the off. First lap was 2s faster than anyone else, and by the end of the race I was 4 up the road, even after having backed off a bit in the final minute. And if I thought that was good the next final would be some of the most fun racing I’d had in ages…
Basically, the rain came back right before the run, not heavily but enough to make the track very damp. If I’d have known how bad it was, I’d have gone with wet tyres (and maybe even starting at the back), but at the time it didn’t look too bad. BIG mistake :p It was very obvious from the first turn, when the car just decided turning wasn’t going to happen. Sorex32’s and wet tarmac are not comfortable bed fellows.
However, it turned out to be very fun, as for lap after lap, myself and Steve Lander were battling for 1st. I was quite a bit faster, but couldn’t find a way past, Steve making it really difficult. I did manage to get by cleanly once, but had taken a bit too much kerb, and was requested to give the spot back. Ended up finishing 2nd, but it was someone else’s turn to have a PT issue, as Steve’s only recorded nine laps, and I bumped up to 1st, winning the D, wOOp!
So a nice new plastic trophy on the shelf (hmm), and on to Halifax. Knowning roughly where I am now, I reckon a B final place at one of the rounds is the target… I just hope it’s dry!
Written by ed.
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Bit of a rain lottery then!
Got any pictures of wet boxes?
(I love that Google Adsense was displaying a ‘debt problems’ advert at the bottom of this!)
got a few, but not too clear…. I’ll add them in a new post