Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival 2009 – Friday all classes practice & qualifying

Today is day three and the big boys take time out of the Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival 2009 meaning the day-long practice and qualifying sessions are mainly focused on the support series that have joined the regular runners usually seen in Thailand Super Car. These opening acts range from one makers from Toyota for the Vios and Yaris as well as a Ladies Cup, classic Japanese and European cars, and historic Minis of all shapes, as well as a two-hour Endurance race. The weather is baking hot, the sun beats down from a clear blue sky, and the sea, which rolls almost onto the track itself, sparkles. The theme of the day on the tight-and-twisty asphalt course follows closely to yesterday’s pattern, namely a lot of structural and cosmetic damage, preferably on one’s installation lap, while pushing the front end back a good few inches isn’t considered a good enough reason to lift off. Or pit to investigate which your car suddenly handles like an oil tanker. It’s entertaining stuff though, the show is rolling right on here. The two-hour Endurance is full of dramas, it’s a bit tricky to follow the rules on driver changes or when the damaged cars (of which there is an abundance) can be worked on in the pit lane, but the field, stuffed with cars such as the Toyota Vios and Honda Jazz, zip in an out of the pitlane, which involves a tight U-turn at the inner end, with regularity. Since I moved to Thailand in the early summer I have endured a lifetime of faceless Japanese and other …