Manfeild - NIFF Round 3

Thank you for opening my newsletter for the third round of the championship - I had a blast this round.

Practice and Qualifying

It was a good refresher to be racing at our home track this weekend - sleeping in my own bed has got to be some sort of performance advantage. I was excited because Manfeild makes some of the closest racing there is: three long straights connected by two corners, so there's plenty of opportunity to get the tow.

We went out in qualifying and set down a fast lap really early in the session. Knowing I'd maximised what we had underneath us, I came in and parked the car for the remaining 13 minutes, watching the timing to make sure we stayed on top. We had the start to the round we wanted - pole position.

Race 1

Going into Race 1 I was confident about our pace, especially given we'd only done a few laps in qualifying. I led the field to the grid and waited for the five red lights. Off the line we took the lead into Turn 1, but not without challenge - through the entire infield I was side by side with Toby, our main championship rival. The whole race was full of action, and the brakes had a workout.

Race 2

We only tweaked minor things in the setup, but had high hopes. The lights went out and we cleared the field by Turn 1, coming under no threat early. Toby was hanging in the tow and kept the pressure on, eventually getting in front and pulling a gap while I was under attack from behind. I made it back into the draft and was well in the race, but came off second best again.

Race 3

After resolving a few issues we'd found in our end-of-day checks, we carried confidence into Race 3. We built a huge lead over Toby in the opening laps, but battling with other cars dropped us back quickly - the same pattern we'd had all of Saturday, swapping positions right to the chequered flag and again coming off second best.

Race 4

The lights went out, and shortly after, so did the safety car for a Turn 1 incident. I led the restart and the race was on - a repeat of the close racing we'd had all weekend. Then we had an issue: the brake pads. The front brakes lasted a solid 27 laps on the new compound, which meant the rears were doing most of the work, and the car felt like a go-kart under brakes with the rear sliding into every corner. I had the bias wound all the way forward, but it still wasn't enough to stop properly. We hung onto 2nd - but only just.

What a finish to the racing of 2024. This event we found the areas of improvement for myself and the car. We're ready to tackle them in the off-season and come back even stronger for the NZ Championship.

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