Fired Up!
This weekend is round 5 of the Super GT Championship at Sugo which is based close to Sendai City. The Japanese rainy season has officially came to an end and with it has brought super humid and hot conditions. Normally Sugo at this time of year, is still in the rainy season and brings the unknown in terms of weather. In past years Sugo has given race fans, brilliant races, with changing weather conditions and plenty of lead changes. This year although the weather seems more stable it also brings an unknown as most teams have no recent information with high road temperatures at this particular circuit. Tire choice will be essential in order to fight for the win this weekend. Sugo is an exciting circuit with it's tight twisting first half but the second half is fast and flowing. The last corner is probably one of the most challenging corners in motorsport. You enter it going down hill and at the apex it starts going up hill which gives extra grip. The last corner is very important to get right as it leads onto the start finish straight which is up hill so any mistakes on the exit (about 210km/h) can see a change in position. I have had many great races at Sugo but have yet to win a race in Super GT, although I have won twice in Formula Nippon. So this weekend I'm aiming for the win!!
26 Jun 2010:
Malaysia to Ireland
A few weeks ago my brother-in-law (Clive Kilpatrick) who is also a mad motorsport enthusiast, competed in the Mourne Rally in Northern Ireland. He had a troublesome time to with but over came all troubles to pick up Group A trophy! Well Done!!
http://www.ckmotorsport.net/
21 Jun 2010:
Points make Prizes
I'm now back in Tokyo after a tough race weekend. The weekend started out good with 3rd position in the first timed pratice session, from there it became more difficult, as we couldn't find a solution to some handling difficulties. Yuji Tachikawa, my team mate, qualified us in 7th position for the race, which was good considering we had 50Kg's handicap weight. Although we felt we could have qualified higher if the car setting was more to our liking. We choice a hard compound tire for the race that proved to be very good. I started the race in 7th and unfortunately had small contact with Loic Duval, driving the number 18 Honda, causing him to lose some positions. This resulted in a drive through penalty dropping us to last position. The drive through penalty came around lap 10 so I had to drive to limit to make up lost ground. I managed to pick off my opposition 1 by 1 as they pitted, our Bridgestone tires were working perfectly with our Lexus SC430 setting faster laps then the leading cars. When we pitted in for our compulsory driver change we had risen to First position! However when we cycled back onto the track we were in 8th position. Yuji Tachikawa then had a massive fight with last years champion car (TOM's) and although much faster than the TOM's car he lost a lot of time on the leaders and therefore lost a chance to fight for the podium. In the end we claimed 6th position which unfortunately didn't reflect our true form. Overall it was a really exciting race with many different leaders giving the fans a great race. I'm now completely focused on Round 5 at Sugo in 4 weeks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxijES7wIHE
17 Jun 2010:
It's Go Time!
It's almost race time again and I've been well traveled between Fuji Round 3 and this weekends race in Malaysia, at Sepang Circuit. This past week, I traveled to Phuket, Thailand with my girlfriend for some relaxation, but also to get used with the extreme humid and hot weather that Thailand and Malaysia give! I managed to get some training in between riding an Elephant, sailing a private yacht, Snorkling with the marine life, and checking out downtown Pantong. I will upload all the pictures from my travels next week so you can see what I've been up to. Tomorrow I will be heading to the circuit to meet with the team and go through car set up with my Engineer. The Sepang circuit has given me up's and downs in the past, with 3 podiums and some not so good results but this weekend I'm gunning for the podium again!
31 May 2010:
Isaac Lyons Dominates in America
Isaac Lyons dominated Round 7 & 8 of the Skip Barber National Championship at Lime Rock Park. From the first official practice he set his sights on Victory topping every session including, both qualifyings sessions and races. Race 1 looked easy but Isaac had to work hard to keep the lead in the early laps. As the rest of the field tussled over the other podium places Isaac consistently opened the gap to the finish line. Race 2 was far from easy even though Isaac lead all 26 laps of the race. The lead changed 1-3 times a lap with his main competitors being the championship lead Spencer Pigot and Dennis Trebing (3rd in the Standings). At the line Isaac snatched a brilliant win by 0.02 seconds. Isaac is now only 5 points of the top of the Championship standings after giving his competitors a taste of whats ahead.
http://www.skipbarber.com/News/Article.aspx?articleID=1961
25 May 2010:
America Bound
This week I will go to follow my younger brother Isaac's Championship, Skip Barber. Its an American based championship and the race will be the support race to the Grand Am. He is currently 2nd in the standings so with some good results he can claim the lead!
http://www.richardlyons.net