Mosport Grand Prix

Threw that away with poor maths on fuel, and hitting the wall a couple of times too many.

After getting pole and early pace should have done a lot better, but well done to Tim on the win.

We shall practice our fuel strategy planning for next week!!

Exciting last few minutes in Qualifying.

Started with a nearly full tank, Was running a comfortable 3rd when Nick then Allen pitted a lot earlier than i thought. My car felt great and was very slowly pulling away from Tim, i think i had about 5 secs when i pitted but as i came into my pit i had to pass a stationary car and somehow i overshot my pit box and it didnt refuel me, so with only 4.0L left i had to do another (very slow) lap.

Filled her to the brim and pushed as hard as i could and started to catch Todd in 4th, made a pathetic attempt at a pass at the entry to the fast right after the back straight causing me to go off track and Todd to repass. Sorry Todd, my bad :(
Spent the rest of the stint catching Todd and then making silly little mistakes and losing time.

This being my 3rd race in a row today (lol) i think started to take its toll on my last stint, i started making mistakes albeit reasonably small until 2 laps before the end i completely missed my braking point going into the tabletop and smashed into the wall and creamed my suspension so much i couldn't drive in a straight line safely so had to pit and was stationary for an agonising 60secs and kissed good bye to 2 places. Cruised the laps 2 laps to a finish a disappointing 6th.

Grats Tim, Allen and Todd.

Ugh, terrible performance from me.

Mosport is an incredible track when you're driving it on your own. The roller-coaster mix of sweeping bends, blind crests and plunging drops makes it a challenging and enjoyable place to be with the CCWS cars. Unfortunately, the tight nature of the track, combined with it's lack of overtaking oppertunities mean that Qualifying and Fuel Strategy are of paramount importance.

Things started badly when I arrived late for practice. I have my own little routine that I go through when I do any race and this was disturbed tonight by visiting relatives, the buggers! LOL!

I was careful to find some space in qualifying but my first hotlap was blown when I came across two spun cars at Moss Hairpin. I had to take to the grass in avoiding both of them. I was still able to pull out a 56.6 (good enough for 3rd on the grid) but I had seen 56.1s in practice mid-week and was aiming for a 55.9. I tried for a second run, but blew my engine after having to abort one flying lap and then trying to squeeze out another.

This came to bite me in the race. I was having to drive ultra carefully to avoid driving over the back of Allen (although I did give him a little love tap in the hairpin on one occassion) in the corners. There really is no way to overtake on this circuit, you have to sit tight to the guy in front and hope that he either: a) has to stop before you or b) chucks it off the road. I knew Allen wouldn't chuck it off the road so I was hoping that I could beat him in the fuel run.

In the event, it didn't matter because after getting a run on him through T3 I ran wide and dropped it on the grass. I spun and wound up in 8th. I now needed to carve my way back through the pack. I managed to find a way past Todd without too much drama but Barret Erickson was a much more difficult proposition. I would drive right up to his rear end on more than one ocassion but the contours and winds of the circuit just didn't lend themselves to me finding a way through. I decided to heap as much pressure on him as I could. It worked and he made a mistake, but unfortunately, he lost control quite badly and obviously damaged his car heavily as he retired soon after. I felt bad about the fact that he had retired, but I had a race to chase after.

After my first stop I had made it back to 5th and I now had Maurice up my chuff. Now it was my turn to put up with the pressure! Well, what do you know, I binned it! Race over and done after 29 Laps.

Congratulations to Tim, Allen and especially to Todd on an excellent result!

Good riddance to this track. Every series I ran here this week, I plain SUCKED.

I put in one flying lap in Q before stuffing it into the wall, but don't think I would've gotten much more anyway (I completely forgot these cars have boost) and was fine with starting at the back.

Fiddled with wing settings right up to the last second ... Wasn't sure three full tanks of fuel was going to get me to the finish line, so I dropped the wings some, then wisely changed my mind and changed them back, and made it to the grid with five seconds to go.

As it was, after my first stint I could see I was going to make it on fuel (and that the front left tire would last a run) and so settled in to make a race of it.

Pretty mistake-free drive for me. Made some passes when the getting was good, and followed when it wasn't.

Good run guys. I had fun.

Great to see Todd n Tim continuing to race here, thought you might just have done longbeach as a practice for the world champ race.

I thought I'd nabbed pole by 3 thousands when Bri snatched it at the very last. I advised my team mates on fuel strategy although only Mau followed it, so I hold my hand up in getting it wrong, I think I just went on the longbeach fuel :-(

Anyway, had a great race with everyone, particularly Nick who traded fastest laps throughout the first stint with me. Nick went in 5 laps before me for fuel which got me wondering but I was enjoying myself so much that it wasnt till after my 1st stop I got a nagging doubt that I'd calculated fuel wrong. Then I realised Tim was doing a 2 stop and I completely forgot to fill it up going into my second stop. Then on my 3rd stint OG tried to be helpful in being lapped so for good measure I hit him up the arse, sorry m8, did a drive thru but felt really miffed having to as I felt it wasnt my fault. When I came out Tim had 5 secs on me but I knew I had to come in once more and he was done. Filled for the last dash with Tim 26 secs in front and suddenly I'm gaining time in every sector on him, a second here, 2 seconds there and that glimmer of hope dangled in front of me that I might just catch him. At the flag I'd got the gap to 5 secs and asked Tim if he was outta fuel, No he replies, just giving laps back! lol. Good win m8, well deserved.

Next time there wont be a fuel cock up!

Well, well... I will take a luck-win any day.

Miffed my car in qual but still got a good lap in later in the session. Nothing to be excited about but I needed everything I could get as passing would be tough to say the least.

Almost miffed the car twice on the first lap of the race but got lucky to keep it on track. After that I realized that I could not drive anywhere near another car. I had to let the guys ahead pull away a second or two and the car started feeling better. From there it was just running the tank dry for two stints and doing the short-fill for the final stint. The 3 stoppers were behind me after all the stops and I had a healthy lead over Allen with 15 to go. I decided to give laps back to those between Allen and I and held onto the couple second lead I had in those final 2 laps.

Cool to win a CCWS race (take that Joe!)

NP Allen...It wasn't your fault..I was trying to let you by a corner before, but I thought I would loose the car into the wall, so I moved to the left to give you the racing line as you had so much speed and contact was inevitable... I wish you hadn't pitted as it was a pure racing incident... Car was a bit damage, but came back to pits and I got it fixed in like 35 secs, so not a big loss....My loss came in the 1st. lap when I was trying to avoid 2 "Almost-Spinning" cars and went off track to avoid a collision... Other than that I kept myself alone for the next 25 laps... I found 3 seconds this time compared to prior events, by lowering the wings by 2 and hardening the springs in the rear...

CONGRATULATIONS TIM!