Nippon Races 3,4 & 5 (Pembrey Vids and Pics)

Sorry this a bit late lads but heres my latest installment, and please no coments on my driving, its not the best and I am no touring car driver, just a fat lad having fun


Friday saw me, Richy and Mike take a 3 hour drive through the torrential rain until we reached a dry but rather windy Pembrey race cicuit where Tim Clarke in the Evo had already done some morning testing. We unloaded both Civics off the trailer and went out for the first session to learn the track and get a feel for the Civic again. Session 1 saw some slight understeer porblems which was sorted for session 2 by knocking the pressures up from 20psi to 24psi. The last session was a bit damp so decided to stay on the Silverstones so see how they worked and once warm, they were pretty curse impressive.
Testing over and all cars back in one piece and ready for racing.


Qyalifying...................

I made sure I was out at the front and once passed the 4 MR2's, I had a clear track in front of me to get some good times in. Soon enough though Dixon was up behind me and it was clear their new front splitter was doing its job so I wasnt expecting an easy ride like Snetterton. After that the track got a little crowded in places so I did what i could to get a good time but wasnt expecting a miracle.
Times and Race start positions in and the GT250 boys looked like this.......

2nd - Dixon (1:06.178)
4th - Me (1:07.250)
6th - Mike Clark (1:08.441)
14th - Andre (1:12.465) (tyres delaminated in qualifying so not a happy chicken)


Race 1................

Having perfected my starts, I managed to get off the line pretty quick and get the inside line on Dixon taking him on the hairpin. For the next 6 laps he sat on my tail and with the pressure on, my defensive line into the hairpin was my undoing outbreaking myself and letting Dixon slip by on the inside. 2 laps later and I left the braking really late and crept up the inside of the hairpin, only to realise I was still in 3rd and not in 2nd so again lost out. I sat on his bumper for the next few laps only to have the car completey cut out after hitting the bump strips a little hard (this was a mechanical error on my part). Having unbuckled myself and got the car started I then realised I couldnt pick up speed as they would black flag me for having my harnesses undone, so struggled to buckle up with my helmet on and still moving. Luckily only the Suzuki swift passed me and I managed to get going with the Civic of Mike Clark closing me down coming into Honda curve. Thankfully 2 laps later the chequerd flag came down and I ended up 5th Overall and 2nd in GT250 and fastest lap time in GT250 with a 1:06.720
Congrats also go to Tim in the evo for taking the overall win, Mike for takind 3rd in GT250 in his first ever race and Dixon for taking the GT250 win


Race 2........................

Another great start until I missed 2nd which let Dixon retain his position into the hairpin. On exit we had our own little road train on the go with the Scooby up front, Dixon 2nd, the Swift in 3rd and me in 4th with the quicker boys dissapearing into the distance.
This little bumper to bumper road train lasted for about 4 solid laps until one by one we slowly got past the Scooby, but I ended up in my own little battle with the Swift which let Dixon gain a little distance on us both which although annoying, ended up with me driving as hard as I could with both me and the swift making some mistakes (one which involved a 90mph jaunt across the pit straight grass meaning I lost a lap due to missing the timing beam) but having a great battle none the less. Dixon came into sight on the last lap due to splitter problems and I crossed the line 2 or 3 feet off the Swifts bumper finishing 5th overll and 2nd in GT250.
Again Mike Clark taking 3rd in GT250, Dixon taking 1st in GT250 and Maxim Taylor in the RX7 beating Tim to the chequered flag to take the overall win.


Race 3.........................

Being a 20 minute race this time I was determined I wasnt going to finish 2nd again but with the weather looking like rain, it wasnt going to be an easy race. We were lucky to have a free practise before the race so went out to see how slippy it was and find where all the standing water was.
Then just as we were called for Race 3, the heavens opended and it looked like it was going to be a wet race so a quick tyre change and we were ready to go. There was 2 green flag laps and there was already a dry line so it was looking like out tyre change might have been in vain, but I wasnt going to let it stop my trying.
Once again I got a great start which put me straight into 5th behind the gaggle of 4WD and Turbo cars, and after 2 laps I was already pulling away from the GT250 boys and battling with the Scooby of Martin White. 3 laps later I managed to squeeze past through the hairpin after 3 failed attempts and carried on with charge. On lap 8 I noticed that Mike Clark had also passed Dixon and started to get closer on each lap which started to concern me. I think this was down to my early and bad braking into the 2 tightest turns on the track, but my in-field speed was pretty good so hoped I could hold him off. It wasnt long before we were hitting back makers and after a few more laps I had manageg to pull away enough to take the pressure off a little, although that didnt stop me from having 2 trips to the grass and a few worrying moments.
The chequred flag came down with me finishing 4th overall and 1st in GT250 with Mike Clark taking an impressive 2nd in GT250 and Dixon unfortunately being black flagged on lap 10 due to Splitter problems.
Maxim also managed another overall win with Tim in the evo not far behind.....apparently the battle betwwen these 2 was immense!!!

So there you have it, a long, hard but fun weekends racing with plenty of trophies won so smiles all round.
Thanks to those who came to watch/help out in the pits as it was much apprecited especially as the weather wasnt the best at times.


As always I wouldnt be competing if it wasnt for the help, support and endless favours from Richy and Simon at Performance Autoworks who have maintained the car and made it as good as it could ever be, aswell as storing, transporting and running the car at each and every race meet which is an absolute godsend.....Cheers guys!

I'd also like to thank Julian at Rare Rims | Rota Wheels UK for sorting me out a few sets of Rota Clubstars and a big thanks to Andy and Alison at http://www.VtecDirect.Com for their ongoing help and support for this season which is greatly appreciated


The following videos are brought to you courtesy of a Kristof Kam

Race 1 -
Nippon Challenge - No37 Kris Dunlop - Pembrey Race 1 on Vimeo

Race 2 -
Nippon Challenge - No37 Kris Dunlop - Pembrey Race 2 on Vimeo

Race 3 -
Nippon Challenge - No.37 Kris Dunlop - Pembrey Race 3 on Vimeo

Race 3 - Trackside
Nippon Challenge - Pembrey Race 3 - External Footage on Vimeo









Thanks for reading and the next 2 rounds are at Silverstone next weekend th June :thumbsup:


Kris!

Good result cant wait to see it at silverstone looked as though in the tight bends your car had the advantage do to its wheelbase