Mallory

Rounds 9 and 10 were a double header at Mallory Park
Mallory is the location of my first ever outright win and the prospect of some close racing between us and Paul.
Qualifying was very close with Paul getting pole with the first 100mph for RGB and we qualified 2nd for both races. All of the top three (including John in the Class B Spire) were significantly quicker than before so it was hard to predict the order before the times came out. The year before last, I was able to go around the outside into turn 1 in both starts so I was not too concerned about starting on the outside in the 2nd slot.

In the first race, I got a really good start and led into the first corner. It took a few steps up in starting revs through the first few races in this new car and we seem to have found the right spot, helped by the softer rear setup of this new car. From that start, I was able to pull out a slight lead, the car still quite lively but better settled than in the qualify session. I held the lead, although Paul was doing a very good job of closing down the gap, until we encountered traffic. Its always a significant factor at Mallory and part of racing of course and Paul snuck through into the lead as we came up behind two back markers. More traffic a lap later as seen on this photo helped to add a greater distance between us as well. As I pushed to close this gap, I locked the rear wheels up going into the hairpin and did my first spin during an RGB race for 3 years. Facing the wrong way around a blind corner is never a nice feeling and the video shows me waving frantically to attract the attention of the other drivers. All of them managed to miss me with the exception of Colin who just clipped the front corner. I waited until all of the cars had passed, spun the car back around and the cross the line. Thankfully it was on the last lap and I had lapped most of the field so I still cross the line in 3rd place in class, with fastest lap and a new lap record.
Here is the video for Race 1:



Mallory Race 2
John, Ian and Brian did a good job in the short time between the two races to repair the nose from the race 1 damage. The crash zone worked well and was not difficult to repair. We had the same starting position and challenger but with some knowledge of the comparative performance. Our car is definitely low on overall downforce as could be seen in the exit speed of the long Gerrards corner and the run through the fast chicane. From the Hairpin down to the start finish and the entry to Gerrards, we were quicker. Due to the repairs, we were not able to change the car much but I did alter the anti-roll bar on the out lap. I did another good start, entered the first corner in the lead again and decided to push hard early on. My first lap, from the stand stil, was considerably quicker than the same lap in the first race and the second lap around I was already under the previous lap record. This gave me a nice gap back to Paul and the car change had made a subtle but worthwhile improvement. I was able to maintain the lead through to the end of the race although I backed off for the last couple of laps following a spin from Paul at the chicane in very similar fashion to my earlier spin and the resulting loss of my closest competitor. This gave us our 4th race win in the new car and overall a good tally of points from the weekend.
Here is the video for Race 2