TC2000 08/04/22

Had a great first day on the track at Tsukuba. The first session was a little intense. The tires were cold and the car felt very different to how my RX-8 used to feel. It felt light and torquey. It took a while to brave up to this and to learn what kind of grip the RE11 tires were generating. All the time being passed left right and center by the rest of the pack. I got a best of 1'13.332 on the last lap (lap 15) of the first session. Hmmm. long way to go!

Before the second session I got a ride with a pro in a Mazda supplied car. This was amazing and gave me a good feeling for how the car really worked. So back into my car again and out for the second session. Not many passed me this time and I got a best lap of 1'12.254. Big improvement but I was under-steering on important corners so lots more time in there.

I had 3 more sessions with D-Technique after that and as the petrol load got less and I got used to the car, I got a best of 1'11.740 in the first session, a 1'11.639 in the 2nd and my best time in the final session - a 1'10.897 - errrm right before getting fuel cut and deciding to head back to the pits.

Including all sessions, top 5 times for the record were:
1. 1'10.897 - 28.961 29.274 12.662 - 146.124 km/h
2. 1'11.028 - 29.089 29.175 12.764 - 147.059 km/h
3. 1'11.437 - 29.074 29.686 12.677 - 146.124 km/h
4. 1'11.639 - 29.011 29.629 12.999 - 146.223 km/h
5. 1'11.703 - 29.228 29.621 12.854 - 147.259 km/h

Looking at the best sectors, that's a virtual time of: 1'10.658. (I got a 28.821 on the first sector on a different lap). Hmmm. A 1'10 will hopefully become a more common occurrence once I sort the car out and wear down the tires a little bit more.

I'll try get some video footage up sometime soon.