Bob McMurray writes from the Toyota Racing Series........
Hampton Downs Saturday 4th February 2012
Let’s go racing!
Qualifying today and then race one of the weekend.
Before we start lets go for a lap of the track.......
On a flying lap we go over the start finish line at around 240kph in 5th gear and immediately start to think about braking for turn 1, shift down to 4th and the enter turn 1 and hang on in 4th gear at around the 135kph mark.
Accelerate and out from turn 1 and get back into 5th gear and up to 200kph before braking again and changing down to 4th, then 3rd and taking the right hand, slightly uphill turn 2 at around 100kph, changing into 4th, still climbing slightly, and getting up to 122 kph around turn 7, (called turn 7 as after turn 2 the track is due to be extended and turn 7 will be on the return to the existing circuit....geddit?).
Anyhow, leaving the now named turn 7 we accelerate again up to 180kph, still in 4th, and then down to 3rd, then 2nd for turn 8, a sharp right hander.
Around turn 8 at 70kph then up to 3rd, 4th and we reach 170kph as we then brake and get down through 3rd and 2nd for the signature downhill ‘corkscrew’ turn 9. A difficult corner that must be taken close to the apes without climbing the kerb and then getting the power down as soon as possible without losing traction at the rear and over steering off the track.
Out of that turn and foot flat down through 3rd, 4th and up into 5th and we get up to 210kph changing down to 4th then 3rd before settling the car and taking the long ‘sweeper’ of turn 10 at 117kph while gently accelerating up into 4th, 5th and even 6th at the terminal speed for the track of 240 kph as we get back to the start / finish line and get back into 5th where we start it all again.
That lap should have got us a time of 1:01.335 and put us on the front row of the grid.
I say “should” as I think the boys (and girl) will go faster than that for the pole position shoot out later today.
I saw the TRS / Fujitsu motorsport show featuring the Taupo 3rd round of the series on Sky TV last night (Friday).
Another good, well produced show with great commentary but the ad breaks promoting the Manfeild round next week (not produced by the show’s sponsor or Toyota) never once mentioned the fact that it was the ‘2012 NEW ZEALAND GRAND PRIX’ for goodness sake!
You would have thought that it was worth mentioning wouldn’t you?
Especially as the NZGP is now so international; the last event of the best international series that this country has ever seen; the title is currently held by a Kiwi; the ‘GP’ title is a rare one indeed outside of Formula 1; it is at the home of the Toyota Racing Series and it’s the BLOODY GRAND PRIX!!!
So for goodness sake SAY SO!
Are the promoters embarrassed to say so?
Does the title not mean anything?
So what’s the problem?
If you want to get more of an idea about the NZGP and in fact the TRS series look at nzherald.co.nz/video/news/video and listen and watch Eric Thompson talk about it.
At least there is somebody who values the title, the event and the very fact that the history of motorsport in New Zealand, the very fabric of our most famous New Zealand race drivers, the heritage of our motor sport in this country, is inextricably linked with the Grand Prix.
For Christ’s sake cut out the petty politics that seem to be rife and endemic in our sport in this country and start working for the common good.
Daily rant done and I feel better for it .........thank you.
To the day.....
Warm, puffy cloud, light breeze and...raincoat in the car!
The TRS two seater had another passenger today.
2012 season TV commentator Jonathan Green was getting to first hand grips with just how a TRS feels and judging by his ‘excitable’ comments when he expedited his egress from the rear seat, he thought it felt fantastic!!
That should make good Telly!
Qualifying got going just a little late and the drivers spent the first few minutes getting some TRS Michelin rubber down on the track after the other classes, racing on different construction tyres, had been out on track.
After just 5 minutes however the red flag waved and this was for Felix Serralles who had crashed off track.
Overnight he had slept badly and had woken with a very sore shoulder and neck. His neck was so sore and stiff that he could hardly turn it and once he got in the car the problem worsened and he simply could not control the car properly when it got a little out of shape.
He will get to somebody who knows about these muscle problems for them to have a look but at this point, straight after qualifying, he is a doubtful starter for this afternoon’s race.
The qualifying continued and as the green light came on the cars made a frantic dash out of their respective garage areas to get down the pit lane first.
It honestly looked as though they were simply going to trip over one another such was the shoving and pushing going on.
The race was also on for pole and was a real battle between Evans, Cassidy, van Asseldonk, Marciello, Auer, King, Hill and Bonifacio. All of whom were at the top at some time or another.
After another 10 minutes it really was all on as the top runners came in to put some new tyres on and got out to do their best and boy, was it ever.
Really exciting and the end of the session saw Evans on top with 1:00.602, Cassidy on .604, van Asseldonk on .685.
All three within one tenth of one second of each other then fourth to seventeenth all within another one second.
It also means that the grid for race 3 will be Evans and Cassidy on the front row with just 15/100ths of a second separating their best two average lap times.
Damon Leitch suffered a broken sway bar and qualified 14th which will affect his chances of keeping his 2nd place in the TRS championship adversely so he needs a good race later today.
Race 1 started without Felix Serralles who was really suffering with his neck problem.
TRS Series Manager Barrie Thomlinson took him to the medical centre in Pukekohe to see if something could be done but it was felt it was better that he skip today’s race.
A decision will be taken overnight as to races 3 and 4.
Josh Hill had an engine problem at the very end of qualifying so that unit was changed for a fresh one for the race and Dmitry Suranovich sustained some damage after going off track after the chequered flag was waved for the end of the session.
The race started and there was immediately an exchange of handbags between Cassidy and van Asseldonk, twice, which let the Netherlander driver through to second place and Cassidy relegated to third. Nick was predictably less than happy about that after the race.
Chris Vlok also had an ‘incident’ and spun out but rejoined.
The result was Evans first and never seemingly worried, van Asseldonk second and Cassidy third.
Not the most inspiring race but for Evans it as a win that marked a remarkable comeback to the series.
Pole position and a race 1 win. Can’t do much better than that!
The championship positions at the top now are......
Cassidy 606
Leitch 545
Van Asseldonk 490
Hill 466
All on for tomorrow then.
As I write this the race results are under investigation and an inquiry is going on into three incidents involving, firstly, two cars jumping the start, then the incident between van Asseldonk and Cassidy and a further incident between Vlok and Moh.
More on that later........
Bob
See also
- Bob's Blog: Friday at Hampton Downs
