Mt Fuji overlooking the circuit
23rd was a public holiday so Tom, James and Simon (and his NSX crew) we all decided we'd give it a go. Seeing that it was a holiday we were worried about having to compete with too many cars on the track but in the end it wasn't too bad.
Tom and I wanted to start the day by attending the first 2 early sessions but when we proceeded to buy tickets we were told that these 2 sessions were for beginners only and one wasn't allowed to exceed 180km/h on the straight and have a faster lap time than 2'30''! Bummer !! Tom decided to skip these sessions and join the S4 instead(faster cars with roll cages etc) and I decided to sit them both out until a proper NS4 session at 1pm came up. I didn't last long. Seeing that I woke up at 6am to enjoy the day I wasn't going to sit on the sidelines and twirl my fingers so I bought the remaining beginner's session ticket and went out there.
DC5 in front of the main straight
It was a drag ! Drivers were truly inexperienced and I was forced to brake on the main straight just to stay above the lap time limit. The only good thing that came out of it was I'd been experiencing a lot of oversteer in that session and upon return adjusted my rear suspension damper which made a world of difference in the NS4 session later in the day!
My goal was to beat 2'11'' and I was truly going to push for 2'10''! As the video below shows I beat my personal best and arrived at 2'09''55 on 2 laps which were relatively traffic free ! I was extremely happy ! What a way to end the year !
Capturing the achievement here on my way home
Tom's Mazda next to yours trulys
The irishman who got me hooked up on racing !
It's been almost 12 months since I started going to Fuji. I came here and got my first ever lap time of 2'29'' something. Back then it was something, 12 months later I am down to 2'09''! I've learnt a lot ! I've experienced a lot ! And as Tom rightfully observed I was no longer just rocking up and tracking my car but spending a good hour or so prepping my car before a session, a sign of a truly dedicated racer he said ! :)
Hope you enjoy the video ! 2010 will see me tracking more at Fuji and Tsukuba and hopefully improving as time goes on ! I'll try to steal a lesson and a drive from one of them GT300/GT500 drivers to see what they can do in my car and attend some driver training here and there !
Happy New Year !
