We arrived at Round 3 IDC global warfare bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to rock. After round two of IDC not going to plan with catastrophic failure of the tow vehicle sadly eliminating us from getting to the track it was all to play for at Round 3 of the IDC. Now with an uprated gearbox installed in Syril & two test days under out belt we were ready!
The atmosphere in the pits was electric as the hype around this event has been massive, with drivers from all over the globe attending to try to take down Ireland’s undefeated winning streak of 12 years!
Morning practice saw very changeable weather with massive downpours, then half an hour or so later the sunshine came out to play & the track started drying out. This made it very tricky to set the car up to the relevant suspension settings along with tyre pressures as it was constantly changing! We had some dry, fast smokey laps & some wet tentatively almost tip toeing it around the track laps as Mondello Park race track in the wet is “interesting” to say the least…
So we started to queue up for our 1st qualifying lap & the heavens opened with mass fury!
As we were only the 6th or so car to go out the track was almost river like & with the rubber that had been laid down on Fridays practice & that morning it was VERY testing.
We came into the corner in 4th gear with a very slight weight transfer and a small dab of the wand and instantly spun!
“Damn” I thought so the pressure was really on for the second qualifying lap.
Watching the clouds & praying it dried out we queued up for our second qualifying lap & hoorah it was a dry track!
We went in all guns blazing & bar a slight straighten into the hairpin we did a great lap sitting us in 10th position…
The track dried out further still & as more cars carried out their qualifying laps we ended up down the list in 24th position.
I was paired up with Paul Stryker in another PS13.
Battle commenced with Paul leading the first lap being the higher qualifier we carried more angle through the second corner but sadly hit a VERY slippery patch causing a spin. 10-0 to Paul
Second lap & this time I was leading again safely through the 1st & 2nd clipping point but sadly overcooked it just after clip 3.
Paul took the win from our battle & he went on to finish 3rd.
Just when I thought it was over for myself & Syril for the weekend I was informed that FBS (Fueltopia Barrel Sprint) was still open for competitors.
So off we went – always good to try new things & gain further exposure for sponsors & to show Syril off to his adorning fans once more.
We had a few practice runs & then carried out our timed qualifying…
We waited for the results & had qualified in 4th place – result!
carried out my head to head with a chap in a competition BMW and was pipped to the finishing line with 1 second separating us, sadly that was us out of the competition.
After the fun filled day Syril was polished ready to go on display for the Sunday which he did for a few hours but then we were invited again by FBS to carry out some “fun laps” to entertain the crowds which of course I jumped at the chance so on went the race suit & off we went doing what we do best – entertaining the crowd!
By early afternoon I parked Syril back on display with the other IDC competition cars allowing both kids & adults wishing to sit in Syril do so, then I went to cheer on my fellow drivers in the pro top 32 battles.