TC1000 07/07/03

Couldn't believe I was off to Tsukuba on Tuesday. I mean, I'd just driven 300km up to Fukushima at the weekend. Had 2 full days of Gymkhana madness. Drove back to Tokyo. Worked 1 day. Now 1 day later again, TC1000 awaited! How mad is that?!

This was another D-Technique day with the deadly duo Deki-sensei and Kato-sensei. Those guys have amazing energy. I wish my Japanese was better so I could soak in more of what they are trying to teach me. My Japanese is improving though and perhaps my driving is too :-)

John was in group B and I was in group A. This was nice as it meant that we could take some outside footage of each other around the track. My previous best time at TC1000 was 0'44.41 so that was one of the days targets. I remember it being quite hard to get under 45s the last time out although I did nip under it a few times. This time around it was quite easy. I think the gymkhana helped me improve quite a lot. Unfortunately I couldn't climb into the 43s range. I got an early best time in the first session 0'44.119 and couldn't top that although it was pretty easy to keep close on clear laps.

I actually span out quite a lot in a few different places, sometimes due to too much throttle on the exit, others too much brakes trailing on entry or the car not taking a set early enough for the corner. All self-inflicted anyway :-) Its healthy to spin though because it forces you to think. Its also important to know how to spin properly so practice helps! - or so I keep telling myself! Its also quite a lot of fun to see another car spin infront of you. You can see them go from really early on. You can tell from the noise and the pitch of the car.

I got some good practise in on the inner hairpin. I'm still not happy with that corner but I did manage to try a few different things. Its all too easy to go wrong there and I feel that's where I can gain more time next. After the 3 sessions were complete, all I could think about was how quickly it was all over. I wanted to go karting or anything to continue on the rush that driving gives you. Luckily I didn't though as I'm quite tired today, 1 day later :-) There will be another day.

Here's some in car footage from the second session. Taking the outlap nice and easy and then playing catchup. Quite a lot of cars sliding around out there including myself. I actually span out only once in this session. Those tires are making quite a lot of noise... I started them off at about 195 and didn't check them after that. Hope to get more time out of them as I only got them in February! Must post a photo when I get a chance.