Wet Race - TC2000 08/01/12

Arrived in Tsukuba TC2000 all dry. No rain. Whippee! Or at least not until about 8am anyway. We could do the preparation in the dry. That counts for a lot. I decided not to worry too much about car setup etc. for the race as it only adds tension. I expected to come last so nothing to worry about. I started with all tires at 230 thinking they would get hotter after a while. I left the suspension settings on 6F/8R which is basically my street settings as in rain I believe softer is
better.

I also decided to leave DSC off. I've been running with it off for over a year now. You turn it on once and you always have to wonder how much its really doing for you. I spin a lot so it would probably do a lot for me short term, but long term - nothing. It would have made the race and the rain simpler but you gotta learn somehow. It's easy to get a faster time with it on but definitely more educational to leave it off. DSC all Off then.

First qualification session was 8 minutes. But it involved the safety car for the first lap so unexpectedly we only had two laps. I managed to make a bit of room for myself on the first lap and then got a 1'20 on the second lap. I'm not sure if I could have gone faster though as the
grip just wasn't there and my rain skills are mostly untested. I know driving like I'm on rails is slow but Tsukuba is not exacly a place to practice drifting for the first time in the rain. I got 5th out of 6 in the GP1 group. GP1 group cars have more tuned parts than GP2 cars. There were 14 cars altogether.

Second qualification session was also 8 minutes. It was raining harder and I had some big moments going through Dunlop so I couldn't improve my time. This time we had 3 laps. But now I was 6 out of 6 in GP1 group. 11th on the grid to start. We really gonna race in this? Lol...

The start was pretty cool although I messed it up. I could only watch as two cars overtook me on the start as I got myself into a wheel spin. I guess other guys were either using DSC or were way better on the throttle than me. Still that puts less pressure on me I thought as there
is only one car behind now.

I spent most of the race following around another yellow car. Grip felt terrible though. Either its the tire pressure or the grip was that bad. I'm betting there is more car setup I could do to make the driving easier, but not sure how without lots of trial and error.

Dunlop just felt like sliding on ice after turn in. The final corner was also pretty hairy. Each time I made the same mistake and took the same tight line through it and each time I got closer to an error.

About half way through the race though I started poking my head around close to the car in front of me. It was quite interesting to think about how to pass without screwing myself in the process. Finally though the guy in front of me passed another 8 and I tried to go through too on the first corner. I didn't know that this was the last lap. I felt I could pass but didn't know how. Finally, I managed to hook up right on his tail coming out of the second hairpin and on to the back straight. Slammed it into 3rd, 4th and I crept up beside him. I had the inside
line beside him on the last corner... He naturally braked first, I braked. I was through! My first pass!

The exit of the corner didn't go as planned though. I squeezed on the slightest bit of power too early. The back flew around. I probably added to it by letting off too much throttle making the back even lighter). I remember thinking hmmm. Wonder where I'll end up. The pit wall is close. I hit the brakes, Now heading backwards, looked around me to check where the walls were, eased
off the brakes, car flung around again, hit the brakes again and stopped facing straight. Safe. Chucked it into first, saw the guys had passed me safely and headed up to the checkered flag. What a rush!

So I only barely managed my goal of being last but goal achieved none-the-less. Actually the goal was just to complete the race :-) It was a great experience even in the wet. I shall be back for more...

I have to upload the video of the race now. Will post again when I have it ready.