One year anniversary

It was one year ago on this very day that I first felt the draw of Tsukuba as I rounded its corners for the first time.

The circuit always daunted me. People talked about it ripping up your tires in a couple of minutes. They said that its crash barriers stole your paint, your body panels and sometimes swallowed whole cars. I was always jealous of John though when he'd take off every 6 months to drive on the circuit. How could he be brave enough? After watching him round its banks once, I was sold on the idea. After all, John was driving pretty slowly... or so it seemed in comparison to the RX-7s...

My first introduction was Kurihara-san who drove my car in group B. It was an amazing experience. The car did things I never thought it could do. He drifted on one corner when he took off DSC. It was a wild ride and while I kept banging my head off the door, it wasn't one bit scary at all. He did a 1'13 something.

I remember he let some air out of my tires after we stopped before it was my turn to go out onto the circuit alone. I'd take it easy, see what happened and how it felt. I wasn't as nervous as I'd expected I would be. Nobody forces you to drive fast and I already knew what the car could do and what DSC was for. I can't remember much from the experience. I know I had no problems with under-steer though :-)

One thing I do remember is that I had a lot of trouble braking and changing down before a corner. The back would judder as I missed blips and I was thanking the gods that I had DSC to stop it getting nasty. It was then I decided to try toe'n'heeling for the first time to sort things out. I got it right first time, and about 40% of the time after that on my first day. It's a very special feeling to get it bang on. I shall not forget that - nor the other times where I'd forget things like using the clutch, or braking :-)

One year ago, my best was 1'15.888. Nows its only 5.7 seconds faster! Have I really improved? I wonder what I'd do in my car if I was back there now. I think it would be really interesting to see. I feel I've learned so much. I think a 1'13 should be doable given the old tires and the stock suspension. I have no idea though :-) I can't actually believe that I got a 1'15.888 on my first day when I think about it. All balls me thinks. Thanks for the introduction John!