Sunny Darwin was actually more like chilly Darwin. At least that’s what the locals described it as. Coming from Albury, where we are lucky to see a maximum over 15 degrees, it was lovely to spend some time in the somewhat warmer weather.
It was also nice to race at Hidden Valley in more pleasant conditions. The last two years that I have raced in the top end, the weather has been really hot, mixed with quite high humidity. Cabin temperatures can reach almost sixty degrees, so to have the lower ambient temperature outside, made inside the cars slightly more comfortable.
The races were less than comfortable from a result perspective, however, our outright speed in the races over one lap was very good, we just weren’t able to get the tyres to keep life in them for the whole race. The extremes of weather that they experience in Darwin seems to be taking its toll on the track surface and there are also quite a few bumps in the braking zones, which makes it very easy to flat spot tyres. In race two, I did just that and had to make an additional pit stop to change the left hand front tyre, which dropped me down the order.
In race three, I was the victim of a fairly basic error by Jack Perkins. I’d made several attempts to pass him as I had quite good pace and once I did manage to get past him, on my way back through the field, he spun me around which I thought was pretty poor form on his part.
I actually tried to catch up with him after the race for a bit of a chat, but what probably was more disturbing about the whole incident, was the fact that he wasn’t even prepared to speak to me about it.
V8 Supercar is one of those sports where not everyone necessarily has to get along, it is a competition after all, but we all have to line up together at the next round, so it helps to stay on speaking terms.
I am now going to spend a couple of days taking in the sites of Darwin, and soaking in a bit more of that warmth, before heading back to Albury to get myself prepared for our next round in Queensland.
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