Super GT Soaked

What Goes On In Soichiro's Name
Super GT is notorious for the varying weather conditions from track to track, for instance running through monsoon season in Indonesia before returning home to Japan in the heat of August. But the weather in the summertime is no more predictable than it is on the island the rest of the year. When the sixth race of the season started at 1 p.m. at Suzuka Raceway, the sun was shining and it was a sticky 91 degrees out. The track temperature had escalated to almost 124 degrees in the few hours the sun had to beat on the asphalt.

Eight laps in, the Cerumo SC430 (No. 38) had managed to catch and pass the leader, but the hard charging meant a pit stop at lap 25. By lap 32, The No. 8 ARTA NSX (Ralph Firman/Daisuke Ito) running a stable but steady pace, was able to take the lead, with the Advan SC430 following close behind. The real threat came in the form of the Impul Z (No. 23) that, despite having had a collision on the race's inaugural lap, was back on track and lapping the course seconds faster than the leaders. By lap 36, the Z had passed the ARTA NSX and was the new race leader.

But Zs drink gas faster than NSXs do. By lap 51, it was time for the Z to get its fill of Japan's finest octane infused swill, and the ARTA NSX was once again in the lead. There, it fended off the ever quicker Tom's SC430 that had been working its way through the pack the entire race. It had already moved in behind the ARTA car by lap 52 and the pressure was on.

The ARTA car did a valiant job of defense for a full 81 laps with the SC430 stuck to its tail. By lap 133, the skies opened up and rain poured by the bucketful. With most of the cars still on slicks, the soaked track soon turned into a dangerous place to be. Three laps later, the ARTA car went into the pits, along with the SC430.

On lap 142, the infamous Takata Dome NSX demonstrated how slick the conditions were with a spectacular spin and crash, despite being on rain tires. As is characteristic of the weather in Japan this time of year, it was a mere eight laps later that the rain ceased. The Tom's car immediately gambled and fitted slicks. A lap afterward, the ARTA team made the same decision. This decision would decide the NSX's fate as being unable to pass the Tom's SC430.

When the NSX made it back on course, it promptly became stuck in slower GT300 traffic, which allowed the SC430 to open up a lead of a full 10 seconds. It was over for the ARTA team. Despite having finished in second place, it's worth noting that the NSX carried the maximum load of handicap weight-second place was an amazing feat and enough to keep the ARTA car at the top of the points for the season thus far.

Last and Lastest
2007 Turkish GP-Disappointment And Encouragement Rolled Into One RaceLet's be honest-Honda hasn't had the best year in F1. While this August in Turkey was no exception, it was a relative improvement to the lackluster performance we've seen thus far. For Jensen Button, anyway.

Both Button and Ruebens Barrichello had a tough time during qualifying and later ended up having to change the engines in both cars, landing the duo starting positions in last and lastest, respectively. On top of that, Button's start was compromised when he ran wide to avoid the pirouetting car of Jarno Trulli. But things changed midway through the race when Button started to get into the groove. It was like a scene from Days of Thunder; Button roaring through no fewer than 10 cars during the course of the 58-lap race. The performance landed him in 13th place-nothing to write a letter to mom about, but given the circumstances pretty kick-ass nonetheless.