What a great weekend it's been, second place in my fourth D1NZ pro event! After a long day Friday getting the track sorted and making sure the car was all sweet we left the track. Waking Saturday morning the rain was falling and looked like it was going to be a repeat of last year...
Pic, NZPCBut it wasn't to be, by lunchtime the sky had cleared and the sun was out. Practice went OK but I did push a little too hard a few runs and end up tapping the wall and pushing the left rear guard in a bit. The 1st run qualifying I just laid down a smooth, clean run without pushing it too hard. I learned from Taupo that I don't do well if I mess up my 1st run it just messes with my mind then I seem to make more mistakes. The 2nd run was a bit better but the 3rd was the best, pushing harder to the clipping points and making more smoke.
Battles is where its at, Battle #1 against Fanga Dan was interesting.. I had followed him a bit in practice and while the big commy didn't seem that fast, it did make a lot of smoke so I just sat on his tail for my chase run then he made a mistake out of the last corner and spun. All I needed to do was a smooth lead run and it was mine! But I nearly stuffed it up by not getting enough speed in to the 1st corner and needing a lot of hand brake to stay drifting, managed to hold it together and WON.
Battle #2 Gaz, "oh sh*t" I was thinking! I made a smart comment to him just before the battle "sweet now I get to beat another D Corp boy!" (sorry Gaz). Well, it must have helped cos I chased him OK then on his chase he made a mistake, lost his speed and spun on the 2nd corner. Holy crap, I Won again!!!
Battle #3 Darren. This boy from the Naki can drive! I just chased him hard then pushed hard on my lead run and took the win.
Battle #4 Curt. The final battle to see who would take out the round.. I chased hard but didn't get close enough coming into the section and he got a bit of a gap on me, then he was all over me in the chase run and he took the win. ME 2nd and so stoked!
What a weekend! High powered cars and big cars look cool drifting cos they make lots of smoke but on a tight track like Mt Smart I don't seem to have trouble keeping up with them.. my car doesn't just bag the tyres up when I hit the gas - it just gets grip and goes forward. There's something about night drifting that really gets the crowd going, the sick fireworks on the night intensified the awesome vibe. Thanks so much to my sponsors, I couldn't do it without your help. Here's to another podium finish next round in Whangarei.
To see more photos, check out the full NZPC gallery at http://www.performancecar.co.nz/news-5900/codys-d1nz-round-4-report-with-300-images
