The weather forecast had been consistent for a whole week that the weather would not be perfect and believe it or not the forecast was 100% accurate. NMC and PMC were combined for this round due to PMC’s low numbers. It was great to see new member Karl Shields appear for his first race meeting with NMC both he and the car performed well but as Karl only had dry tyres he retired the car after race 1. It was Andrew T's first race with the LSX engine in the 05 Commodore but off course the conditions did not allow us to see it at its best.
Qualifying
While it was not damp when we arrived that soon changed and during qualifying with moisture on the windscreen and at different places on the track, everyone was suitably cautious with a bit of slipping and sliding but no damage which was to be the situation for the rest of the day, (for our members anyway) even when the weather worsened.
Fastest qualifier in Class A was Tony G (southern) followed by Bruce M and then Andrew T, Class B was Tony v, Paul B and Stu R.
Race 1
Everyone started on dry tyres even though it was slightly damp and on its way to getting damper, some people might even call it wet. There was some great driving in difficult conditions which saw Tony G (southern) and Andrew T changing to wets during the race. The overall results were interesting with the field lead home by Colin M, then Bruce M then the rain meister, Stu and Michael C.
Race 2
The meeting at this stage had been declared wet and this race was the first of our handicap races and while the driving on the track was pretty near faultless the griding up was much less so, with the northern Tony G starting from completely the wrong place but did the gentlemanly thing and declared himself ineligible for points, Colin however was unaware that most of NMC were starting from pit lane, then misunderstood the directions from the grid marshal and drove the wrong way down pitlane to get to his correct position while another of our members was deemed to have jumped the start. I am pleased to report however that once the race got under all went well, with the faster guys having to pass more cars than usual due to us being combined with PMC, there was the odd comment from some of the PMC guys that some of the passing was a bit tight but all in all a great race. The overall results were northern Tony G who disqualified himself, Tony V with the fastest lap of the race followed by Colin, Bruce Tony G (southern). There was the odd mechanical issue in this race with Andrew T having and electrical issue which briefly held up Michael and Stu allowing Paul to sneak past all of them. David Howell in the Commodore he shares with Rowan Tonkin unfortunately had to retire with drive train issues.
Race 3
Even a duck would have called this wet, and while the grid line up was better than our second race but still not perfect with Michael C being deemed to have jumped the start again (whoops).
The overall results were Tony v, again with the fastest lap time followed by Bruce M and Andrew T, the northern Tony G and then Paul.
It was great to see a few non competing members at the track just checking up on things and staying for a very pleasant beer after the day had ended.
Quotes of the day
Tony v: These wets are really good I wish I had bought some years ago.
Tony G (northern): I really f...ed the start of race 2 please don’t give me any points.
Paul