Had a little practice session at Suzuka last night in the 3.0 Porker. I like running at Suzuka so looking forward to it. Today that all changed as I managed to smash my right elbow at work. Sore as hell atm and on ice trying to get the swelling down and some non-painful movement going. S'posed to be racing with WSL tomorrow night but that looks doubtful. I'll make it if I feel up to it.

Can't really comment on the league structure being the noob, the Thursday night sessions are just right for me time wise and I aint bothered which cars are being run, I'll always find something that'll make me smile. I'll leave any decisions to the powers that be.

Oh dear... I hail from the home of the current Championship leaders, so I guess that makes me a Dingle 

Very kind offer Clive and much appreciated. My best mate has a G27 which he passes on to me occasionally so I'll use that when I have it and the current financial forecast seems to predict that I should be able to purchase one myself once I've got Xmas out the way. At the end of the day, despite my many years on this rock, I've still got to learn to hide my disappointment and not let it get to me so much. I'll be around for the next Thursday event with a different mind-set and a revised strategy (I'll just start from the back and follow everyone else around... lol).

Cheers.

Alex, Clive, Mog et al...

I hear ya and I understand what you are all saying. Went through similar problems when I first joined WSL as Mog will testify. I'm acutely aware of spoiling the race for anyone, particularly so early on in the race.

I didn't get any practice for last night's event so I was feeling pretty good with my practice race pace and, quite frankly, bloody brilliant about my quali effort. I even moved up a couple of places off the line. The Fezza felt good early on  and then the world fell out of my (not so soggy) bottom near the end of Lap 1 when A N Other tried a daft move (practically on the grass) and bumped me into Postal and that was it, all confidence gone, feeling like the bad guy and losing loads of places whilst I waited and from then on everything goes downhill.

I'll persevere I guess.

@Alex: Can't agree more. As you say, as in real racing you need to give people some room but surely that applies to everyone and I was given no room, in a proper tight spot in the first incident.

@Clive: The bust wheel is a Thrustmaster F1, it's actually the pedals that are knackered but it's a rubbish affair anyway. To be honest I'd rather wait until I get the cash together to invest in a new setup rather than going down the 2nd hand route. I know I'll never be as quick with the pad BUT I consider myself pretty quick relatively and it's served me well over the years. (I'm so tuned in to the 275 S with it, 100's of laps at Solitude) I really do appreciate the sentiment and suggestions though

@Mog: You know me better than anyone else here and I think you know that once I get over the initial despondency I'll be ok  See you Tuesday squire @ Laguna

It's 5:00 am in deepest darkest Lancashire now and I got to get ready for another day at the hands of Jag and ZF.

Apologies to Postal. Think we made contact a couple of times early on. First time I got pushed into you by A N Other at the tight right after the bridge, I did back off to let you and half the field past. 2nd time was my fault entirely going into T1.

I don't think I'm cut out for on-line racing. I try to keep as safe as possible and usually end up going backwards early on because I'm so cautious but I just can't seem to mix it without getting into trouble. To be honest I'm sure the main problem is (and I'll pause while you all laugh heartily..........) that I currently use a pad to race. My wheel is bust and it'll be a while before a new one arrives on the scene. Because of that I just don't have the "control" to mix it, particularly with aggressive opponents who don't know that I'm going to be braking very differently, steering differently and accelerating differently. Think I'll give the on-line stuff a miss till after the new year when, hopefully, I'll be using better gear.

Anyways, sorry again Postal... see you all later.

I'll probably be around for this race. Can't miss the opportunity to drive my favourite PnG vehicle (275 S). As long as the day goes well at work with our visit from Jaguar I'll be there.

Now then... My first outing with SROUK and what a blast that turned out to be 

Filled with trepidation I ventured onto the track with guys that I know and quite a few guys with the sort of speed I can only dream about. I think it all went fairly well for the noob though, don't think I got in anybody's way and the first half of the race was huge fun dicing in the aforementioned battle with MJ. I was driving the car pretty hard (in JX terms) and the front right started to suffer which forced me to lose ground for a while with a couple of minor off road explorations but the race finished nicely for me as I slowly caught up the ailing Capri of phspok, got past whilst he understeered off and maintained that position to the end with the timely intervention of being lapped. Another lap and phspok might have caught and passed me again.

45 mins is longer than I normally race so I need to get a handle on tyre preservation and also how to make the car go significantly quicker.

Thoroughly enjoyed the evening, top placer for Team WSL and looking forward to the next event.

After the race at Mondello last night I'm not too sure about scoring many points against the guys here. First race so I'll be trying to keep it on the black stuff and out of everybody's way.

Hi everyone !

Looking forward to racing with you all