CME_Racing

15/03/2022

So this week's race at Okayama for round 7 of GSRC was almost a perfect race.

The day started with me putting in a qually time of "1:28.006" to secure P2 behind Tony Baker, with Grant Gill behind in P3 with a time of "1:28.007" making it super close at the front of the grid.

The rolling start to the hour long race went off without a hitch, and Tony Grant & myself set the pace for the first few laps until Grant had a spin putting back in the pack.
I was happy to let Tony lead for the race and just sit back and save fuel & tires ready to attack at the closing stages.

Keeping Tony in range till lap 18 I pitted first for fuel & no tires one lap before him that had me come out in P1 after his stop.
From there he was on the hunt to take back P1.

This went on till lap 34 where a an attempted pass dive bomb that was never going to work, had me turned around and ruining our chance of a zero X incident race.
So now the hunt was back on for me to catch up and retake the position.

Fortunately two laps later, I pitted before Tony and this time only needing a 10L splash of fuel to make the end, had me hoping he wasn't on a two stop strategy. Luckily two laps later he had to pit.

The karma police were out in force that day, as I had a 10 second lead on him after his pit and only two laps for him to catch up.
So head down no mistakes had me come across the line for a win 8 seconds ahead of P2..

Shame about not getting the perfect race with no incident points, but still another hard fought battle right to the end.

Next weeks track will be interesting, as I have never raced there before so all one can hole for is a clean race.

15/03/2022

Better late than never for the Imola race report. HaHa.

So Round 6 of GSRC was at Imola, this time as a one hour race with reduced fuel, so pit stops & fuel saving will be a factor.
I qualified in P6 for the start of the hour long race and all went to plan slotting in with the front runners to hopefully keep it clean till the run to the end after the last pit stop.

Well that didn't go as planned. I made up a spot to P5 on lap 4, only to be turned around that sent me back to P13.
From there I had to battle on with a damaged car until the first pitstop, but on lap 13 things went real pear shaped when trying to avoid a spun car blocking the track, I just clipped the front bouncing off into another car.

Now with a totaled car, I had to pit for repairs. Luckily the pit entrance wasn't far, so top up of fuel & a new car, I was back out on track in P15.
The next 10 laps had me work my way up to P7 just before the last splash of fuel to the end.
Next time past the finish line had me placed back to P13, but with others still to pit for fuel I managed to get back to P10.

As the race progressed, I worked my way up to P6 while holding off P7, and after putting the pressure on for several laps took P5 after he made a mistake on the last corner to the finish.

That was short lived as I had a moment that dropped me back to P7 and with only 1 lap to go, I pressed hard to gain a spot but couldn't get there in the end.

Although not the result I was hoping for, I still had some good racing and was keen for round 7 at Okayama.

01/03/2022

Last night was round 5 at Monza for the GSRC series. Expectations were high for some good racing and hopefully a better result than last week, and I wasn't disappointed on both.

Qually went ok with a P7 for the start of the first race, with 12 laps ahead.
With a good rolling start & everyone well behaved going through the first few corners, saw a little group up front pull away by the first lap. I managed to avoid some incident's laps later and found myself in a battle for 3rd & 4th with Mick Fisher for most of the race.
A small mistake by Mick at the start of the final lap had him chasing me for his spot back, but our pace was so close all race I managed to bring it home for a P3 win..

The second race of 20 laps and a mandatory fuel stop, had me starting the race in P3. Another well behaved rolling start saw the front of the field through with no issues.
I settled into P4 for the long haul ahead, but found myself back in P3 soon after, and pulled away with the top 2 from the rest of the field.
By the time the pitstop came around I had a comfortable 7 second gap on P4 and a 11 second re-fuel had me come out with P1&2 on their heels. The remainder of the race was textbook with no challengers even with a little fuel saving towards the end, bringing me home again in P3.
Congrats to Mick & Sam who worked well together all race and gapped me out of slip stream making it hard to get in on their battle.

Again, well done to all drivers and undoubtedly the best split for clean racing in the series.

Next week we are off to Imola. Fingers crossed for another great race.

22/02/2022

Unfortunately due to injury, I only managed to run the first race at Detroit in the ProAm split. As a result I didn't score any points and it had me dropping into the AM split for this week's event.

This turned out to be a good thing, as the racing was fast & all drivers were very respectful. Although my results may not have reflected it I had some of the best racing in a GT3 so far.

This week's round 4 of GSRC takes us to Watkins Glen. I managed to quali on P5 for the start of 12 lap race one.
The front group of 5 managed to get a good gap on the rest of the field by the first lap, and jostled for position throughout the race. I managed to gain P3 for the back half of the race, but clipping a wall 3 corners from the finish gave Brett Bradbury the run on the last few corners to take a podium spot from me.

Race two consisted of 20 laps with a splash-n-go for fuel. Starting in P4 the front runners again gapped the field to duke it out among ourselves. I managed to gain P2 on the second lap and held off the competition for several laps.
Mick Fisher managed to grab back P2 right up to the pitstop where he pitted a lap early. The next lap I went for the "jump him in the pits" gamble, but pushing it too hard into the pits with an over speed, got me a 40 second hold. To rub salt in the wound, a refueling ball's up my end had me re enter towards the back of the field.
I managed to claw myself back through the field, and had a great last laps battle with Ed Bacon for P10 - 11. Unfortunately I ran out of laps to pass Ed and came home in P11.

All up I had some of the best racing in this class & look forward to the next round at Monza where hopefully I can get better results or at least the same great racing.

08/02/2022

Fresh out of the paint booth. The new CME 488 EVO Ferrari for the GSRC GT3 series.

08/02/2022

The CME lads bringing it home at both ends of the grid for Round 2 of the GSRC GT3 series at Detroit.. U guess who's who.. 😁

19/12/2021

The lads did a sterling job in the Dalby 1000 at Bathurst.
The boys started from P12 to work themselves up to P1 by lap 88 and were looking strong to take the big W.
Unfortunately while in close battle behind another car, a spun car at the top of the mountain gave Brenton no options to avoid that ended up blowing the motor with a full on frontal hit. Race rules dictated a black flag if you needed to tow, and with the engine blown, that was game over.
Besides the results, it was an action packed event with some stellar driving by the top runners.

19/12/2021

The lads managed to Qually in P6 for the big race. Tune in and watch all the action.

Some 66 Drivers, 33 Teams will take to the Famous Mt Panorama for a grueling 1000 kms to Raise much needed funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, P...

18/12/2021

Don't see this as much as I would like.. 😂
Some great battles with the Audi & Supercars around here. Would make an interesting event.

17/12/2021

Updated ZB Holden livery ready for team mates Brenton & Matt to tackle the mountain this Sunday for 1000 kms around Bathurst.