TVR Griffith @ Mondello International - Thursday 5th March 2009

[Andy Marsden]

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Servername: RACEDEPARTMENT.COM
Class: TVR Griffith
Track: Mondello Park International (Default)
Weather: Dry
Practice: 1900 GMT
Qualification: 1930 GMT
Race: 2000 GMT (2x12 laps)
Notes: Click here to read the password and golden rules!


Important: Please pay special attention to Racedepartment's 2 Golden Rules:

1.If you hit another driver and disadvantage him, we expect you stop and let the other driver regain his position on you. If this costs you many places (eg first few laps) then consider this a penalty for your driving infringement. Doing this shows respect to your fellow drivers and will encourage drivers to be more careful. Please use some care when letting the other driver regain position, do not immediately stop your car on the driving line where it can cause further accidents.

2.Late sign outs or no-shows prevent others from entering club events. Some series have really hot seats and can be filled with ease for two or three times. If this happens too many times we are forced to terminate your club account immediately. Last sign out possibility is 1 hour prior to the start of the event (practice).

Not following these rules will result in your membership of the racing club being terminated at once!



Entrylist:

1. Matt Crouch
2. Hans Sneep
3. Stuart Thomson
4. Simon Bacon
5. Knut Omdal Tveito
6. Warren Dawes
7. Amir Margalit
8. Ben Tusting
9. David Cuthill
10. Driver
11. Driver
12. Driver
13. Driver
14. Driver
15. Driver
16. Driver
17. Driver
18. Driver
19. Driver
20. Driver
21. Driver
22. Driver
23. Driver
24. Driver
25. Driver
26. Driver
27. Driver
28. Driver
29. Driver
30. Driver

Reserves:

1. Andy Marsden
2. Driver
3. Driver
4. Driver

 

[Simon Bacon]

Ahem....not at my best tonight. The TVR will go alongside the 911 as cars I cannot drive.:scared:
Plenty of fun had though, still love Mondello as a track. Race 2 was memorable for bit of lapping with Warren, ta mate, was getting lonely back there, but ultimately whatever I tried I couldn't tame the TVR.

Mustangs at Cadwell Saturday - that's more like it.:whoo:

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Yeah that was fun - Report to follow :good:

 

[David Cuthill]

That was tough.

Qualy in 2nd. I was all over the road straight from the start, hitting Warren on lap two then spinning and hitting about half the field - sorry guys. Only after the race did I notice I had the wrong set-up loaded. It really was hard work and I staggered home around 5th.

Race two was a bit better with the proper set-up. Started 2nd last and was soon up to third then second. Ben got past and took off into the distance leaving Amir to battle over second place. Swapped positions a few time as we each made mistakes but I made the last mistake, coming in 3rd.

 

[Warren Dawes]

Well that was fun, in a sort of masochistic way. These TVR's are very touchy at the best of times, but on Mondello it was even more difficult. If you settle into a nice rhythm and kept the concentration up, you could put together a few good laps, but one small lapse and it bit you hard.

Race 1 was ok, I managed a steady race and was building up to another close finish behind Amir, but the tyres gave out on the last lap and I visited the sand three times in that lap. Doh!. Finished P4.

Race 2, bad start, got pushed off track along the straight,, and had Matt hot my tail, and he and Simon soon passed when I made a big boo boo. Decided to spend the race keeping Simon company, and we had some good laps. The highlight was watching Simon get it hugely sideways, slide across the grass in a massive 4 wheel drift, neatly lining up the track again after the turn, and driving on again like it was totally planned. :rotfl:
When Simon put it into the sand pit and wall, I waited for him to rejoin, but he eventually gave me the sad news "Broke it", so I took off to see if I could catch Stu and Matt but a couple of laps later I repeated Simon's crash, ending my race.

Thanks to all the fellow masochists who dared to try this one, and Grats to Ben who was clearly in a class of his own today. :worship:

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

Wow. That was foolish of me. Thought it was over rather early, but I have a lot to do so I went straight to work... stupid! For next event I will clear my schedule as best I can:good:

 

[Stuart Thomson]

So the TVRs then... as I remarked to Warren during practice, "the slower you drive, the quicker you go". The Griffths rewarded patience and punished laziness. I had both ends of that particular spectrum last night.

Practice was very much about probing where to be aggressive (pretty much nowhere), and where to be gentle and smooth (prety much everywhere). The times being posted started at 2.00 ish, then 1.59, 1.58, and while I was getting quicker, someone always seemed to just move the times down as I was getting on a par with the previous quickest, then with about 5 mins to go David did a mid 1.57, to which I thought "whoa!"

I went out with about 3.5 mins to go, to try a certain sector and line out, thinking I'd keep lapping until the session changed. I just finished a timed lap as the session changed. A 1.57.1 !

Went into quali with a bit of confidence, kept my race steup & fuel load, and managed to pop in a 1.56.4 just nicking pole from David. My first pole @ RD that was just me being quickest, rather than being 8th in the previous race

Race1: Was fine in the lead for about the first 8 laps, felt quick, comfortable. Ben & Amir were always there or thereabouts, but I had a bit of a moment going into one of the tricker corners, which allowed them to close up a bit, and I began driving too cautiously. They both got past, and I made the mistake of enjoying watching their battle too much that I dropped a sec or two off them. Then Amir went onto the beach at T1, and I drove home to take second to Ben.

Race2: Simon Bacon put in a blistering quali performance to set the pole ( :wink2: ), with me in 2nd (we'd decided to go with the random order we were in and forego Prac & Quali). A less successful race for me, I deliberately tried to be a bit more aggressive, as I was a bit annoyed at losing my pace in Race1. The TVR bit me in the arse and I had a couple of moments, allowing Ben, Amir & Dave to drive away from me. To cap matters off, when I tried to catch them, things went from bad to worse, and I just about managed to keep the car on 4 wheels, as I nearly tipped over after some "topographical surveying", allowing Croucher past. Deep breaths being taken, I set off in pursuit, and managed to close right up, only to be a bit eager on the throttle, and give back all the ground I'd made up. Gah! Unfortunately for him Croucher also decided to go "Strictly Ballroom" too, and I got past hime as he was doing the Tango on the grass. Finished 4th.

So, Pole, 2nd & 4th. Really cannot complain with that. :dance2:

Another great evening with the Gentlemen Drivers of the GTL Franternity.

The next events we have coming up are:-

Saturday 7th March :- The first of our Saturday Car Of The Month Enduro races. Mustangs @ Cadwell Park
Thursday 12th March:- The Return of the Caketins! - Abarths @ Mallala

Hope to see you all there.