Pole and second at TRAK Round 4 - 22 / 11 / 05

Round 4 of the TRAK Indoor series has been completed this past sunday at the Acorn Centre in Torquay. With Justin not in attendance it opened the meeting up with myself, Mike and Mark looking for our first wins of this series.

Into qualifying and I was off the front and able to open up a gap at the start of the first heat. The car didn't feel very fast though and as a result Mark caught me but crashed only a few laps after i'd let him through so I was on provisional pole after round 1. Into round 2 and we decided to run a set of our old batteries in this run for a direct comparison to our newer cells as I still wasn't convinced of their performance.

IB3800's - went well...

The run was a second faster but as the additive goes down on the carpet throughout the day you should be getting a much bigger improvement in the second heat so I don't think there is a huge difference in the cells. So, with one round to go Mike had stolen provisional pole with a very fast run ahead of Mark, myself and the ever improving Wayne who had the top three well within his sights at this point. Into round three then and Mike had very kindly lent me a set of his new cells to try in this one to compare to mine. It was role reversal time as when Mike was struggling for pace at a meeting last year I was convinced it was his cells so lent him a set of mine, he duly went on to prove me correct on that day by using my cells to knock me off pole! So, with his cells I felt compelled to get my own back and duly knocked him off pole after a close last qualifying heat with Mark ;-) In truth Mike probably would have kept pole had it not been for a stripped spur gear at the start of the heat.

In the gap before the finals myself and Mike took the oppurtunity to swap cars. The results could best be described as interesting and I think we were both pretty determind not to be left behind by our own cars! ;-) Mike felt my car was well balanced and was fairly shocked by the fact that it behaved the same way every lap. Having driven his car I can see what he means!

Every lap was like an adventure and it was anyones guess what was going to happen when you turned in, saying that though after a few laps of practise I was getting to grips with it a little more, except the odd mammoth slide and desperate fight for control onto the straight which had the dads roaring with laughter, we heard you guys from the rostrum! ;-) I think we each learnt something from the drives, Mike learning how much easier my car is to drive than his (although slightly sluggish acceleration) and me learning that a very edgy and at times frightning car can be very fast. Maybe if we could find a middle ground somewhere between the two we could race with Justin ;-)

As you can see, some major work is taking place on the car following this meeting!

Finals

So, back to our own cars and it was time for the final. I led away from Mark, Mike, Wayne, Sean, John and Lewis (back to the touring cars, good decision!) The top positions remained unchanged for the first few laps of close racing but Mike was the first to drop back when a marshal stepped out right in front of his car on the main straight leaving me and Mark a small gap at the front. It wasn't long though until Mark managed to overtake me as I ran slightly wide in one of the bends, the irritating thing for me was that I found I wasn't being left behind and was now looking for a way back past, very evenly matched times then! As the race went on I was still close behind Mark, at one point I got past but let him back through again as I just tipped him into a half spin by accident entering the corner. It was around the three minute stage when I just felt the car lose a little acceleration (which it hadn't felt like with Mikes cells) and Mark just began to edge away, coupled with a small incident I made when lapping John, Marks lead was now around the length of the straight but he seemed to be slowing slightly as we entered the last minute. I also had a pretty big incentive to go quick as Mike was reeling me in, into the last 2 laps and Mike was now with me and we were both getting close to Mark, another 2 laps and I think I could have caught and re-passed as he was slowing but another 2 laps and Mike could have had both of us, such was the closeness of the final. So, a win for Mark in what was a great race with a very close finish. Wayne was the only other driver on the lead lap, again a strong performance as he wasn't that far behind at the finish. Sean, John and Lewis rounded out the placings.

Next up is round three of the South West Series being held at Plymouth next week, see you there...

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