Coastal

What a difference a day makes. Less wind, a better nights sleep, and a lovely blue sky. Today should be good.

It turns out that we're using two different circuits over the weekend, with the Coastal today, and the International tomorrow. This means we need to run qualifying sessions on both circuits, so the easy answer is have both a qualifying session and race on each of the days.

Qualifying is late morning, so a fair bit of time to wonder around the paddock and watch the other cars. Dry conditions mean the new tyres were needed, so since they've not been scrubbed in I needed to take the first few laps gently to avoid damaging them. Problem was, when I started pushing the car, the rear end was very loose.... except in the Rocket complex where is just under steered.

The times confirmed the handling problems; my qualifying position down in 9th place. With luck, the fact the tyres have now gone through a heat cycle should mean that they will be OK for the race... so need to get a good start!

Off the line the car bogged down a bit, but I didn't loose too much into the banking. I hooked onto the back of Chris Lovett, but we both ended up off the circuit on the exit; kicking up lots of stones and gravel in the process. After the first lap, the dash started to warn that the water temperature was too high, and a few moments later I spotted a small amount of steam escaping from under the bonnet!

I killed the engine, and coasted into the pits to prevent further damage. On popping the bonnet it was easy to see the problem... there was a massive hole in the radiator. The windscreen also gained a variety of cracks. So my first DNF of 2008, but assuming the engine is still OK, car should be easily fixed for the second race tomorrow.