A few of us had a bit of a run on the Aussie server last night. The Inspire wireless guys had a steady 100 - 110 ping with 100 quality and the DSL guys seemed to sit around the 160 mark although bman as usual had a ping similar to the wireless guys. We actually had better pings than a few of the Aussies who I think came from the Northern Territory. I experienced a couple lag problems, the first a major one which everyone got so we think it was the server. The second was a couple of cars jumping a bit but that appeared to be them, not myself or the server. Saturdays practice will be a vital test for the server with 40 cars on and 20 of them from an international pipe so it is essential that everyone makes it to test it to the limit.
We practiced for a while and I honestly thought we might be in trouble. They drafted really well, lap after lap without touching each other and setting some very competitive times. With the majority of their trucks in Aussie colours it was quite a site to see when they bunched up all around the "very small" Kiwi contingent, and we screamed around, at times 3 wide in draft trains that contained almost the whole feild.
We moved on to qualify with Snake & Bazzil grabbing 2 & 3? on the grid, Storm and myself 11 & 13? and bman down the back of the 20 odd feild of trucks.
The race got under way with no issues, Storm & I wary of the trucks who were a little loose down the back and our fears were realised when a couple of them tangled and took both myself and Storm out in the process. I was able to recover quite quickly and get going but Storm got stuck on the bank and lost a lap just getting going again. The race was in general very tense with some many Aussie cars all around us and eventually after fighting their way to the lead, Snake and Bazzil caught me up so I jumped into their train and was working my way through the Aussie seperating Snake, Bazzil and myself so I could help them out when wham, one of the Aussie gave Bazzil the heave ho from behind and he was a gonna. This guy in fact ended up winning the race but not only did I see him apologise to Bazzil after the race, I think he was apologising to others as well. He as well as a few others pushed a number of passes that made life difficult.
So Snake and I carry on for a bit and make a run for the pits which Snake over shot and consequently earned himself a black flag, so I had to leave him and carry on by myself. I managed to slot in with a group of about 6 Aussies, one of which was 2nd place, the rest around 10th, 11th etc, who I was at that time fighting for position. I have to say that the next 10 or so laps were really exciting with Aussie cars all around me, trying not to let me past and the ones behind and beside me constantly pressuring me for a mistake. Although this track is designed to allow racing side by side with all lines being fast, I believe the Aussie do not draft well because of it. During the race they were often three wide and each seemed to take different lines into the corners. I believe that if the Kiwis drive this track like the original Talladega and basically stick to a tight close draft they will do well. So anyway eventually the pressure situation I was in had to tell and the second place guy who was at the time behind me made a pass up the inside, I held a tight line not giving him any extra room, and just a small wobble from him gave me a tap and sent me out to the wall. A racing incident, I could have given him a bit more room. A lesson for the rest of you guys, whilst we don't want to hand them the race, they will be pushing the limit and they do tend to push a lot of passes because of the nature of this track. Let them go because in the long run we will catch them. Anyway the rub on the wall took all my pace and the train was lost. Left by myself I cruised and eventually met up with Snake again toward the end.
Now this was just a practice for them, but many of them put no thought into their pit strategy and I pushed mine to the limit. Suddenly I found myself in 3rd place as the Aussies all went for a splash, so I asked Snake to take the lead and help me conserve and we cruised to the end, unfortunately I ran out of fuel in the last corner and crossed the line in 5th instead of fourth as one of their guys passed me just before the line.
So all in all a great practice and a fun race. Snake got 3rd, I got 5th and Bazzil took 6th after a steady fight back from being taken out. I'm not sure where Storm finished and bman quit out after engine problems I think.
Although there were only about 15 Aussies in the race, my opinion based upon what we saw is this:
They have a few very fast guys who race this track very well. The rest are average drivers or guys who are new to CTS and drafting in trains.
They drafted well in practice but race time saw some very messy trains in the pressure of a race situation
They qualify in very similar times to ourselves
They do not communicate very well in the race and seem to race for themselves more than the team (remember it was only a practice though)
They push passes and and a few don't hold very tight lines (nature of the track as well), be aware of this when they are around you.
New Zealand WILL win this race through communication and team work, excellent drafting and a pit stratagy that has been thought out but is flexible.
See you all on Saturday night.
"GO THE KIWIS" 
. Still got a good 24hrs to go till the praccy so no need for panic 
