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Latest News News Archive

Series News - IZOD IndyCar Series

by Shark, Sunday, August 08, 2010

IndyCar @ Mid Ohio

In what was my first public series race in over 2 months, I took to the track in my favorite car, the Dallara IndyCar. Starting in grid spot 12 out of 20 drivers at a circuit I only downloaded the night before for a V8 Supercar race at SimRacing.org.uk I was hoping for a clean race and to pick up the odd spot through other driver's misfortune whilst continuing to learn about the track and the car in it's latest incarnation.

A clean start saw me pick up 11th straight away over the line and then another position into T2. On lap 4 I came across 2 cars in the middle of the track in penultimate corner. Unsighted and unable to slow enough I locked brakes and took to the grass. Somehow I managed to get the car to stop 1cm from the tyre wall and get no damage. After rejoining the track I was back to 11th. 3 laps later and I was back up to 9th and then not long after I was up to 8th.

Daniel Tuerk who had patiently been following me since lap 4, clearly had a lot more pace, but with clever non-blocking, car positioning and being slow in the right places I was able to hold him off for 13 laps before he eventually got by and sped off into the distance.

After the pit stop I took at half distance I remained 9th, but was in touch with Ronny Kuritz who I chased valiantly, but didn't quite have the pace to keep with and I ran the whole second half of the race with no change in position to finish 9th.

Some further practice after the race saw me improve the car setup and my time by nearly a whole second so there is plenty of hope, should I race again, for being top 10 once more.

Full race results here.

Series News - UKiR

by Gizmo, Friday, July 16, 2010

Gymer Wins Inaugural UKiR "Anything Can Happen Fridays" Race

Having just been confirmed as champion in both ORO Late Model Season 3, and UKiR Daytona Prototype series, Dave Gymer picked up yet another trophy by winning the first ever UKiR AnythingCanHappenFridays race with a victory from pole position in a hard fought 40 lap thriller.

Practice was dominated by newcomer Adam Miles, and technical problems at the end of practice meant that Dave had to qualify on an untested setup. He led the session until the dying seconds, when his ORO sparring partner James A. Barrington took it for a few seconds before Dave snatched it back with a last gasp lap.

The Shark driver got away well and the car felt good for the first 9 or 10 laps, and he was able to keep a small gap to James and Adam behind. Then something happened to the balance of the car and the #7 really stuggled for about 10 laps, which let James past and put Adam right on Dave's tail. His tyres started to come back around lap 20 and James got a black flag for an inadvertant cut in turn 3 that dropped him back. Adam's car was now an ever-present threat and only a cut track flag for him gave Gizmo some temporary respite.

The laps counted down and the Team Shark Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS was clinging on by the skin of its teeth. Coming out of the final corner on the penultimate lap there was a three car pile up in progress on the start line and he had to slow and then defend into T1, but the rest of the lap went smoothly and he clung on to take the win.

Series News - UKiR

by Shark, Tuesday, July 06, 2010

3rd Place @ Infineon

Thanks to a setup from fellow Team Shark driver Gizmo, I had my best qualifying performance to date in the Riley dipping a shade under 1:27 which gave me 4th in a small grid. With the additional benefit of a couple of hours practice I think that's the first time this season in I felt I got the most out of the car in qualifying.

For the first half of the race I maintained my 4th place as Gizmo pulled away slowly in 3rd and the two fast guys at the front tore off into the distance. However, I really struggled with the tyres towards the end of the first stint as I had over-driven them keeping ahead of James Steel, aka Mr Oily. This let Mike close right up behind me after Oily's demise and we entered the pits together. Mike got the jump on me in the pits by not changing tyres, giving him a 7-8 second lead out of the pits. I couldn't have done the 2nd stint on the same rubber and with the fresh tyres I quickly closed the gap to him coming up right behind him with about 9-10 laps to go.

Unfortunately as I've said before with like-for-like machinery at Infineon it's almost impossible to overtake unless you are 2 seconds a lap faster. As it was I was up to 1 second faster, but the only overtaking points are the 2 hairpins and I just couldn't keep close enough through the preceding fast corners in both cases to even think about having a go. My only hope was a mistake so I just kept with him, waiting and hoping for a mistake.

Meanwhile, ahead in 3rd place Gizmo crashed into the wall forcing him to drive with a bent car for the last 10 laps and then not too long afterwards Mike also lost it and crashed into the wall after clipping the grass in the fast chicane near the end of the lap. This left me on my own to chase Gizmo's bent car and eventually as I closed on him he went off at T1 and I sailed through to 3rd place.

Results and Championship standings.

Series News - Late Model

by Gizmo, Saturday, June 12, 2010

Triumph at Road Atlanta

A fourth win of the season from pole and with fastest lap was the perfect result, aided considerably by Tero's T1 off and Rusty and Elias both changing tyres in their stops.

Didn't get a great start but was able to take my choice of lines through the opening corners and get a small lead. Started on 10.9 and planned to take 9.5 without tyres at the stop, but by halfway through the stint it was obvious I was using a wee bit too much fuel for that to be safe, and given the gap I had over the scrap for 2nd I added 12.3 just before half distance.

That got me out in 3rd ahead of Tero and from there it was really just a matter of being careful and waiting for the front two to pit and hand the lead back.

Annoyed with myself for picking up a completely unnecessary 1x off track at the top of the Esses when I just wasn't concentrating and ran wide on the exit. There was no need for me to even risk a spin there.

Obviously it's a little disappointing for the field size to be a bit depressed but I'm a firm believer in making hay while the sun shines. My fourth win of the season means my championship chances are looking very promising going into the second half of the season.

Series News - UKiR

by Shark, Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Riley @ Sebring

Team Shark drivers Michael Wrightson, Pete Allnutt, Dave and Simon Gymer lined up for Round 2 of the SimRacing.org.uk UKiR Daytona Prototype series at Sebring.

Qualifying saw a mixture of results for the team. Dave started in a highly respectable 3rd, with Michael in 6th, Simon in midfield in 13th and Pete struggling to find a good lap in 20th position.

For me, the first lap went off quietly, everyone settling down to get a clean first lap in, but it was then soon into furious action for the next few laps. A four or five car battle ensued with some great, close racing, eventually seeing Simon and James Steel come out ahead of the pack.

At half distance I pitted for fuel only, adding another 9.9 gallons (having started on the same) and opted to leave the tyres as they were. Tyre wear seemed ok and it didn't feel like it would be a problem to get to the end on the same set.

A few laps later James who was only 3-4 seconds behind before my pit stop, pitted himself, but I guess he changed tyres because he was then 16-17 seconds down for the second half of the race.

It seemed like all the action was over at that point with me just needing to keep it together. With a consistent lap time in the 1:57s, occasionally dipping into the 1:56s and occasionaly making minor mistakes to drop into the 1:58s all was well. However, Adam Kell who had previously been running ahead of me having made a later pit stop, came out 4 seconds behind me. I thought he would catch me quickly, but he didn't, only slowly gaining on me. The last lap he was only a second behind, but it wasn't close enough and I managed a decent last lap to stay 8th.

Race result and championship standings.

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