FT Birmingham

Fun race! Some close nose-tail racing. I got Inkman on the last set of corners we were side by side for a photo finish!! Alot of Fun. Good Job OGR!

Congrats to the podium.

this is really long, but since only Ryan has made a post-race post, and i write these primarily so i can remember the fun races (and this one was particularly fun from my perspective), i'll indulge myself...

a report from the back:

unfortunately, it took 45 minutes for me to gain entry to the server. first i was being told that you all were in "race" session and the session was closed. then when the settings showed "practice" i was only given an F3 as a car option. of course that wouldn't work. tried all sorts of stuff to resolve that and finally sold, then re-bought the rTrainer and gave it one last try before unregistering. that did it.

qualifying was nearly over and i only managed to get my out-lap in so i'd be 19th of 19 on the grid. this didn't really bother me as it was my first rT competition and my only real goal was to see if i wanted to run these next season.

but now my problem was: which of my 3 test setups would i go with. i was expecting to make that decision in practice by comparing against how others were taking some critical corners and how fast they were through them. so i just picked the most stable and ran the warmup session to try to settle into a proper mental state.

track attrition did it's thing and by about lap 4 i was 14th, chasing Inkman and Bissonnette. a few laps later and it was Inkman (11th), me (12th) and Holt (13th) nose to tail as we came through the corkscrew where Ryan Ansoon had apparently just spun. i wasn't on the gas soon enough and failed to use all the track. Peter got a good run on me, taking the position at the chicane as i was forced to lift a bit.

meanwhile, Ryan was back on track and all over me with Edwards right behind him. he almost got me at the top of the hill before the plunge to the front straight. in my mirrors i saw him pull even with my rear wheel as i was arcing toward the apex. i made a correction to leave him room if he was going to press it, but as i did i saw he'd backed off so i continued to turn in. he lost momentum here and i gained a bit of room on the straight.

on lap 11 i'm chasing Kevin Inkman, with Holt in front of him and Edwards behind me, when Kevin goes totally sideways at the top of the left-right combination at the end of the back straight. He makes a great save, but i sneak by behind him.

now i'm 10th with no one immediately ahead of me, the car feels great and hasn't put a wheel wrong all race. so i try to to see if i can open a gap.

but now, for the first time since my last off-line practice maybe 4 hours before, i'm approaching that left-right rollercoaster at the end of the back straight with no one ahead of me forcing me to lift earlier that "normal" so i'm not quite sure where "normal" is. i'm also carrying more speed. then i don't straighten the wheel quite enough and as it bottoms out the car gets squirrely and i can't shed enough speed before the crest of the hill. i wind up in the tire barrier.

back to 14th by the time i rejoin, steering askew and minus a front wing.

soon Gooden and Sandman are behind me and as i let them through at the same spot i lost it the previous lap i understeer into the grass, skip my way accross it and ease back onto the track.

before long i have Tim Carty right behind me and i'm wondering if i can hold him off for this last lap. but as i came around what i expected to be the last two turns, i passed an off-track Gooden. and found Sandman waiting for him on the front straight. unfortunately for Tim, Wyatt pulled out in front of him and his race ended on that lap, while i continued on for one more.

it was unfortunate, because at the bottom of the corkscrew i found Peter Holt nosed into the barrier and gained P13. not sure if Tim would have gotten by me, it would have been fun to find out, but it's pretty certain he would have also passed Peter at that point.

although i didn't actually have to pass anyone all race, i did spend the entire race in close chases and trying to plan or prevent passes. thanks to all who were around me for a very fun race.