Hi there, hope this is of interest and inspires you to go motor-sim-racing :o)
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21/01/99 - Practice Session One, Portland Int'l Raceway
Best Lap: 1:17.306
Personal Fastest: 1:17.899
Pretty satisfying session. I mainly concentrated on learning the circuit, it's
quite different to what I'm used to in a Champ Car. We made a few setup
changes, nothing significant but we were able to gain time in the Festval Turns
more than anywhere else during that session. I would have like to have been
faster, but I'm sure we'll be there by Saturday's qualifying session.
~Rob Swindells Racing
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22/01/99 - Practice Session Two, Portland Int'l Raceway
Best Lap: 1:17.124
Personal Fastest: 1:17.124
No setup changes were needed today. My practice just paid off and I found
nearly all of the time through the festival turns. Also, the last section was
hurting us a bit yesterday, but I managed to get it all under control. I'm
hoping for a front row starting position tommorow in qualifying.
~Rob Swindells Racing
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23/01/99 - Qualifying, Portland Int'l Raceway
Pole: 1:15.583
My Position: 22nd
My Time: 1:16.851
I'm bitterly dissapointed about this result. Even though I managed to post my
fastest ever lap at Portland I'm miles off the pace. I don't even want to think
about the race.
Qualifying Results 3/29 Race No. 5 Portland Int'l Raceway
1.945 miles 25 laps
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Pos car# Driver Time
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1 99 J Davies 1:15.583
2 45 F Biela 1:15.620
3 44 J Bintcliffe 1:15.630
4 55 TPTCC99 1:15.635
5 46 O Nige 1:15.661
6 21 R Ravaglia 1:15.781
7 12 C McLean 1:15.818
8 4 B Jones 1:15.823
9 40 J Richards 1:15.834
10 22 J Winkelhock 1:15.866
11 3 C McConville 1:15.965
12 15 M Adderton 1:16.039
13 95 R Searle 1:16.180
14 22 A Kaplan 1:16.185
15 30 T Searle 1:16.253
16 16 T Sheumack 1:16.294
17 89 P Pickett 1:16.451
18 45 D Auger 1:16.462
19 79 B Tweedie 1:16.507
20 16 B Holden 1:16.541
21 56 J Henderson 1:16.593
22 129 R Swindells 1:16.851
~Rob Swindells Racing
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23/01/99 - Race, Portland Int'l Raceway
Winner: Frank Biela
My Position: 9th
Well... I got a fantastic start and was upto 12th, when we all arrived at the
chicane. In the melee of the first turn I managed to spin Cameron McConville
and came out of the chicane almost side ways. But I held 11th. That was great
for me, it seemed as though I was competitive again! Coming around towards the
end of lap one, I was now on the tail of Jim Richards' Volvo. I pulled along
side him at the end of the back straight, but he had the inside line for the
next corner. We dived through the next sequence of corners, side-by-side
narrowly avoiding to take each other off. But my perseverence was rewarded with
10th as I out-braked him into the final turn. Almost imidiately at the next
corner, lap 2, I nearly wrested 9th from Joachim Winkelhock! But Jo kept his
line and I was blocked. For the next lap or so I gave chase almost getting by
at that first chicane. Unfortunately it wasn't to be, after coming under
intense pressure from Richards in his Volvo, my challenge on Winkelhock was
postponed, rammed from behined and spun around by Richards at the chicane on
lap 4 I lost valuable time. I lost more time on lap 9 when at the final turn I
out-braked myself and ploughed straight on into the dirt. I didn't hit anything
however and I had enough of a gap to Richards' not to loose a position. After
that I just didn't seem to have the pace to do anything about Winkelhock. I
closed the gap to 3 seconds by lap 22 and had no pressure from behined anymore,
but still managed to get caught out by severely worn tyres. I outbraked myself
at the first chicane and plouged on into the wall. The damage wasn't too
serious, so I went steadily on my way. 10th eventually became 9th when
Winkelhock got it all wrong in the festival turns on lap 23 - another driver
caught out by worn tyres. He had to pit for repairs, but at least 9th is better
than what I was expecting after my dismal qualifying performance!
Race Final 3/29 Race No. 5 Portland Int'l Raceway
1.945 miles 25 laps
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Fin Str Driver Laps Led Pts Qual Reason Out
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1 2 45 Frank Biela 25 25 1851:15.620 Running
2 6 21 Roberto Ravaglia 25 0 1701:15.781 Running
3 5 46 Our Nige 25 0 1651:15.661 Running
4 4 55 TPTCC99 25 0 1601:15.635 Running
5 3 44 John Bintcliffe 25 0 1551:15.630 Running
6 1 99 Jamie Davies 25 0 1501:15.583 Running
7 7 12 Cameron McLean 25 0 1461:15.818 Running
8 8 4 Brad Jones 25 0 1421:15.823 Running
9 22 129 Rob Swindells 25 0 1381:16.851 Running
10 13 95 Ron Searle 25 0 1341:16.180 Running
11 9 40 Jim Richards 25 0 1301:15.834 Running
12 14 22 Adam Kaplan 25 0 1271:16.185 Running
13 11 3 Cameron McConville 25 0 1241:15.965 Running
14 15 30 Troy Searle 25 0 1211:16.253 Running
15 17 89 Paul Pickett 25 0 1181:16.451 Running
16 12 15 Mark Adderton 25 0 1151:16.039 Running
17 21 56 John Henderson 25 0 1121:16.593 Running
18 19 79 Bob Tweedie 25 0 1091:16.507 Running
19 16 16 Trevor Sheumack 25 0 1061:16.294 Running
20 20 16 Bob Holden 25 0 1031:16.541 Running
21 10 22 Joachim Winkelhock 25 0 1001:15.866 Running
22 18 45 David Auger 24 0 971:16.462 Running
Race time - 32:44.413
Average speed - 89.111mph
Margin of victory - 4.477sec
Caution flags - 0
# of lead changes - 1
Weather - Clear 70? E 0mph
~Rob Swindells Racing
