The Hamilton ITM 400 race yesterday was definitely a test of endurance. When you get a street race with wet weather, painted white lines and water can be a recipe for disaster. There was also a lot of glare late on, so it was good to get the car
home in one piece - and the icing on the cake was finishing as top Kiwi in eighth place.
It was a weird race and in some ways a comedy of errors for us at times. At one stage, the boys in the pits dropped the car with only three wheels on. One of the guys thought all the tyres were on. They weren't. They dropped the air jacks and my wagon was sitting on just three, which took some valuable time.
Like plenty of other drivers yesterday, I also overshot the pit garage. When you are coming down pit lane and on to wet concrete on slick tyres, there is basically zero grip. It's like an ice skating rink.
The guys were on the radio to me saying "very, very slow". I was - but not slow enough. I came in at a safe speed but still sailed past the box. I ended up half a car length too far. The boys had to push me back and then re-do everything they would have normally done.
On reflection we also could have gone to wet tyres one or two laps earlier which cost a few seconds.
At one stage, I had oil on my windscreen but I thought it was water. When I used the wipers it just turned into a milky blur. I battled with vision for a while - it was a smeared screen - but the saving grace was when it rained.
But despite all those things, we chipped away. It is very important when things don't go to plan to refocus your mind immediately and I think I did that. At one point, the boys in the garage told me we were the quickest car on the track. We did a few things more wrong than right yesterday but we came away with the result - so it is one of those lucky ones.
We have to race again in two weeks in Perth so it is important not to give the boys in the garage too much repair work to do.
Today we will be looking for a better qualifying performance - it is a must.
Fabian Coulthard:Three wheel drama on a skating rink
Fabian Coulthard shows Amber Peebles his office. Photo / Supplied
Opinion
The Hamilton ITM 400 race yesterday was definitely a test of endurance. When you get a street race with wet weather, painted white lines and water can be a recipe for disaster. There was also a lot of glare late on, so it was good to get the car
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