#laptimes

[thefastest]

Easy weekend

[scrawnsenior]

Oulton Park Ducati Cup Rd2

After a bit of a torrid weekend at Silverstone I went into Oulton wanting to get back on course. I always set quite specific goals prior to a race weekend to give me something to focus on. They are also realistic goals. As a racer the goal should be to win, but at National level outright winning is not achievable. I do not have the skill or experience to do it so there is no point kidding myself that I do.

I had a plan for Oulton that involved not getting arm pump, scoring points and setting a PB laptime. To achieve the first I had to pre-emptively do something before I even got on the bike. As a team we are lucky enough to have a physio with us at every meeting. I don’t visit Sue very often but when I do she always works wonders. To prevent the onset of arm pump, which plagues me at Oulton Park, she taped my forearms and gave me a little roller gadget that gets cooled in the freezer. I also had to change my riding slightly to reduce the risk. Relaxing on the bike a little combined with physio meant I didn’t get any major issues with my arms over the weekend.

As is the norm free practice is just that. An opportunity to get tuned into the track and also check my gearing and settings from my last visit in 2018 were about right. I finished the session 14th and just a little over a second slower than my fastest lap in 2018.

Qualifying is done on new tyres so I expected to see an improvement in lap times but not necessarily position as everyone else goes quicker too. As it turned out the session was a bit sketchy. With rain threatening I was keen to get out and get a quick lap in before the track was wet. On the first flying lap there was a short sharp shower and even though the rain flags and lack of adhesion flags were flying at all the marshal posts the track seemed ok. I chose to stay out and push on just in case it rained again. For the first few laps I was in 8th position but I could see by my pit board that the lap time wasn’t going to hold up unless it rained again. I pressed on but as the quicker riders realised that the track was ok my position slipped and I ended up in 15th and went just over .5 of a second quicker than free practice.

Race 1  went well. The bike felt good and gearing seemed to be working. My sector times and speed trap times weren’t far off the mark so that tells me I need to up my corner speed to achieve better lap times. Initially I got a good start and was up to the back wheel of my team mate who started a couple of rows in front of me. I made a deliberate decision not to dive up the inside of him as I had seen he had a less than ideal start. Ultimately he is a lot quicker than me so there was no point risking a big orange and white heap in turn one. As it was he nearly put himself in a heap on the exit of turn one by running off the track and getting a bit out of shape. I ran with the main group for the first half a lap. Danny Shaw ran wide at Shell oils so I took the chance to get by him. I then set to getting by Scott Pitchers. It took me a lap and a half of looking on the brakes into the chicanes and the final turn. I even changed down one too few gears at Lodge because I was so focussed on out braking him. Someone tried to pass me as we went up to Deer Leap but I held my line and he went away. Not sure who it was. I finally got Scott by getting a better drive out of the banked hairpin at Shell Oils and out braking him in Brittens Chicane. I could then see I was making good progress catching the pink bike of Lee Devonport so I kept at it. I had to tuck in on the brakes into Shell Oils on the next lap as Danny Shaw came by. Close but safe racing is always fun. I tried to use Danny to pull me along and my plan was to be with him when he made a move on Lee so I could capitalise too. As it was the red flags came out due to Lee’s team mate, Pete, going down at Druids. With 6 laps done the result was called so I had finished 14th and a lap time that meant 14th on the grid for Race 2. A 1:45.1 which was over a second a lap quicker than I did last year.

Race 2. Following the cancellation of our warm-up session on Monday morning I chose to go with what I knew on gearing. The plan was to try something different for warm-up and make a call before race 2. Rather than risk it I rolled out for the grid with the bike exactly as it was for race 1. The only difference was that I was one place further up the grid. Again a decent start but this time it felt like I got leant on a bit at turn one so I ended up running up onto the paint at the apex. That unsettled the bike a little so I didn’t quite get on the gas as quick as I should have. That had a knock on effect and I was in 16th by the time I crossed the line at the end of the first lap. Michael Tustin ran wide at Shell Oils on lap 2 so that was an easy place gained. I then had to work out how to get by Paul Slade. End of lap two I took my chance, good drive out of Lodge and up over Deer Leap meant I had the run on him down the start/finish. I stayed central and went under him on the brakes into turn one. Job done and I concentrated on being consistent. I was lucky enough to do a track walk with Mr Bridewell on Friday night so implementing his wisdom whilst racing was my sole focus. I tried a little too hard on one lap and nearly highsided between Hizzys and Knickerbrook. Clearly TB has a bit more talent than me. 

I could see the three in front of me scrapping and on lap five something happened on the brakes into Hizzys chicane leading to Craig Currie running on and through the long lap section. That dangled a little carrot for me so I started working to catch him. At this point my pit board was crucial. With three laps to go Tustin had regrouped and the gap behind was down from 1.6 to .6 due to a combination of mistakes by me with gear changes and fatigue. I knew I had to work hard to keep 14th place so I pushed on with two laps to go and ended up getting the gap back to 1.4 by the time I crossed the line. It also meant that my last two laps of the weekend were my fastest and a 1:44.7 on the final lap stands as a PB at Oulton. Pushing all the way like that meant that scoring points, no arm-pump and my fastest ever lap around this circuit were all achieved. Winning.

Along with all of the action on track I also managed to work with two new members of the team all weekend. I showed them around the 959 and got them up to speed on what needs to be done on the preparation side so that the bikes can be raced. Huge thanks to both of them for taking it all in and applying it to ensure the bike was just as it should be for me to achieve personal goals and put the team on the public stage. 

Images Barry Clay

Results sheets screen shots from TSL website here:

https://www.tsl-timing.com/event/191804

[forgeline]

Repost from @camaro.family. The @camaro.family #QuickChangeCamaro got an 8-hour suspension swap at the @speedtech_performance booth the LS Fest West last year 😀👍 We installed all new @speedtech_performance suspension, @baer_brakes front and rear, @forgeline wheels, and @bfgoodrichtires Check it out on the Speedtech Performance USA YouTube channel. Prior to the upgrade, our lap time was 39.5 seconds. After the upgrade, we ran 35.083 - #speedtechperformance #baerbrakes 😀 ___ Follow our partners @americanmusclehd @boosted_cars @torq.army . . . . . . #67camaro #silverandblack #forgeline #protouringcamaro #protouring #baer6p #bfgoodrichtires #speedtech #lsfestwest #lsfest #lasvegas #laptimes #trackday #autocross #autox #bigbrakes #forgelinewheels #forgedwheels #customwheels #GA3 #notjustanotherprettywheel #doyourhomework #madeinUSA #🇺🇸

[thefastest]

The 1,100bhp Porsche Taycan Turbo GT SMASHES Tesla Model S Plaid lap record at Laguna Seca Raceway with a time of 1.27.8s 5 seconds faster than the Tesla

[thefastest]

Easy Sunday

[thefastest]

Happy 2023

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[thefastest]

Top 10 Fastest Production Cars around Nurburgring: The Ultimate Rundown, Updated July 2021

[forgeline]

Repost from @doghouse_performance. ・・・ Forgeline GTD1s on our customer's Viper ACR. Square 18x12” with 325/620R18 Pirelli DHCs. After we get the ABS dialed, this thing should fly around MSR. @forgeline @dodgeofficial @pirelli_motorsport #doghouseperformance #srt #viper #acr #forgeline #gtd1 #laptimes #pirelli #texas #performance #forgelinewheels #forgedwheels #customwheels #forgedmonoblock #GTD1 #6Lug #notjustanotherprettywheel #doyourhomework #madeinUSA #🇺🇸 #wheelwednesday