Mt.Fuji Autosalvage Fuji Vintage GT

I was determined not to get carried away racing anybody else- this track demands all my attention just to keep myself in one piece. For the most part I stuck to that goal successfully; I ran my own pace and let others cars go on a couple of occasions. I had a couple of tires off here and there, but only one that really scared me- I got off early in 300 and just barely squeaked to a stop with my nose right up against the tire barrier at the last corner. Had to back up to get back on track, but it could have been much worse- I had to escape to pit many a time during the past couple of weeks after leaving a lot of parts strewn all over that barrier.

My only serious contact came in lap 2, when Miguel and I came nose to nose as can be seen in the screenshot. I saw him go around, and gambled that the spin would take him to the bottom of the bank and I could squeak through- but his car stayed in the middle and we both took a solid shot. My car didn't seem any worse for the wear, but it came back to haunt me later when I forgot to tell the pit crew to ignore the damage, and spent an extra 40 seconds listening to them bang away on the car. I was very lucky it didn't cost me any spots.

Barrett ran a superb race, with Mike Miller pushing him hard most of the way, well done guys! Nicely done also to Ray for keeping that Vette out of the weeds to round out the podium! As for me, I'm thrilled just to hang on for this one. On to some high-speed fun at Riverside!

Sorry guys for chat in race, unintentional, didn't realize i was pushing key. Started race good, having nice dice with miquel i think, someone lost it on banking and i try'd to avoid but chop the throttle and you loose it. Almost missed him too, no real damage. Went for scheduled pit stop and no button. I did Saturday durng practice, just dont know. I had fun and congrats to all.

Boy what a race - my head still hurts. I never felt comfortable enough at this track & it showed last night. On lap 1 I saw Miguel spinning so I slowed down & went off:( I made it back with no damage & got back a few spots. I touched the sidelines later & got a bit of damage. Into the pits on lap 15 for front tires & fuel - 4'47 second stop! They were fueling & I started the engine up after a while to get ready; waited, waited, waited. I turned the engine off again & what do you know? They resume fueling up. Then the tires :( Finally out of the pits I let Mike & Barrett by & lost it just as Barrett gets by. I had 1% engine life left on my XD hud. Damn thing was smoking & making funny noises. I ran a few laps with it then pitted a couple of times trying in vain to repair the damage. I parked the car & got a beer then went out for another lap or 2 but the damn car died in the last turn before the s/f line. I was hoping for a push so I didn't get another dreaded DNF but I lucked out.
Congrats to all who finished & I hope for better luck at Riverside.

Congrats Bill on finishing - glad you changed your mind.

Home life was much more settled this week - we actually ate dinner more than an 30 minutes before the race. I was just hopingto keep rubber on tarmac/concrete/paved stuff for the duration. T1 L1 scared the bejeezus out of my and hopefully my extra caution didn't cause too much grief behind me. From there I knew I wouldn't run with Barrett and Mike - and knowing I would need tires at my stop meant third was the best I could expect. A couple of slides but nothing too serious in the damage department and one spin in T1 on my second lap after pitting - with fresh tires to boot - later and it was relief seeing the checkered flag pop up. One other thing tonight - I turned off all of the on-screen info - which meant I couldn't get distracted by it and I didn't have to resist the temptation to peek at it made a difference as well. On to Riverside....