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John Martin

  • Mexico was not a good weekend, one not to be repeated

    I had a good start in the Rookie and Practice sessions with Saturday being not so good in qualifying. Once we started the Sprint Race a puncture ruined any chance of a place in the points. The Feature was great, I had the pace of the Dutch and when I passed the Italian car, my car felt strange and a smell was strong around me and inside the helmet. I wasnt sure of any problem and asked the crew over the radio what they wnated me to do. As I continued the car hadnt changed and I felt we may have had a major mechanical problem. I did not know until later the Italian car had a problem and the smell was from them - I came in and the crew couldnt find anything wrong.

    We had the pace of the Irisih car as well and with the pit stops being so fast the race, whilst lost, was encouraging for the pace we have if everything goes right for us next race.

    Frustrated on the failure I left pit lane too quick and was penalised with a drive through. The result was not good, so I have plenty to do for Shanghai and Brands Hatch. 

    John

    Posted Sunday, March 30, 2008 11:05 PM by PatrickW | 1 Comments

  • Durban, what a weekend

    Durban what a weekend it was a weekend of ups and downs for me with Friday going pretty well just trying to learn the track and stay out of the wall which went pretty well in the rookie session ending up 3rd. Then in practice 2 we were looking good untill on my 2nd flying lap of the session i court the Lebanon car on the back straight and thought he was leting me past on the entry to turn 9 but at the last minute he turned in not knowing I was there and we made heavy contact. I was able to keep it runing and got it back to the pits where the boys went to work and were able to get me back out before the end of the session
     
    Saturday was not as good however at the start of the session we were going ok and inside the top five till lap 4 when I got it wrong going through turn 14 the fastest corner on the circuit and hit the wall hard. The marshalls were able to tow me back to pit lane where the boys went to work again, at the first glance you would have said that there is know way that you could get the car back out till qualifying but they all hooked in with an awesome effort and managed to get me back out with 6 minutes of the session to go just to check the car out make sure everything else was ok but its not the best thing you want before qualifying. Any way I did the best Icould and ended up 12th and 10th witch is not that great but anything could happen in the race and we knew our race car was faster than qualifying showed
     
    It was just after qualifying that I started to feel sick and after hoping it would go away for about an hour. I told Adam (team manager) and he took me to the medical hut and it was there that they took one look at me and put me strait on a drip witch was wierd. I had never been on a drip before it was just after that they told me i had to go to hospital witch I tryed to get out of but Adam told me I had to go so it was "yes boss" and off to hospital. Looking back I'm glad I went beacuse if I didnt there would of been no way I would of been able to race.
     
    After a very long night with not much sleep on a drip all night I signed myself out in the morning so I could race. I wasnt feeling the best and I couldnt eat or drink anything, as when I tried it didnt stay down long but the boys had put in 150% so I couldnt give up now and so I pushed on the sprint race and went ok ending up 6th which was ok considering in between the sprint race and the feature race I just slept to try to get some energy back. I was not to bad for the first few laps of the feature race but from there on I just got weaker and weaker and after the contact with Germany the steering was all bent so I just tried to keep it off the wall and finish the race and had the red flag come out a lap later we would of finished 7th by the end, though i just wanted it to finish and when it was over I was flat out trying to get out of the car but was pleased I made the finish.
     
    I would like to thank everyone that helped me at the hospital and at the track and all the boys from team AUS for there awesome effort I couldnt have done it with out them,
     
    bring on Mexico
     
    cheers John 

    Posted Wednesday, March 05, 2008 10:35 PM by PatrickW | 1 Comments

  • We bagged Points in Sydney

    That was great, slicks in the wet, on a track I really enjoy, the home crowd and so much media I felt like I was transformed into a TV or Micrphone. Man I did some of that and I thank them for their support of course.

     Yeah we have 11 points and the Sprint was loads of fun as was the Feature. When I came off on Turn 9 to let you know I was chasing the fastest lap. Sorry if I gave you a fright when I was on the grass, I know the angles there and all was good.

    So we had loads of family attend, mates from Blackwater, Formula Ford guys I raced with, AMSF supports, CAMS supporters, heaps of people. Definitely the biggest event for me in my career with such a wide spread of people from all walks of life.

    Thanks for your emails to the team and shouts og good luck whilst I was at Eastern Creek, it was a great boost!

    Speak soon

    John Martin

    Posted Thursday, February 07, 2008 5:12 AM by PatrickW | 4 Comments

  • Taupo was a learning curve

    Hi there hope you are enjoying our racing at A1GP!

    Taupo was a real learning curve for me as I had the car for the firsttime and really wanted to qualify well. I was pushing too hard and paid the price.Once the Sprint started the car felt good and my race pace was a s fast as the leading three cars. Rob told me like Webber told me to race to the grip. There was not much there with dust and wind all day.

    We got home with points and thats awesome for the team.

    Mt Feature was a nightmare after Narain punted me mid-corner and the sidepod was broke, with a leak running the side of my car all around the track. Back to the pits and the crew replaced the sidepod and radiator with new coolant and water in 5.8 minutes. So out I wnet and then Indonesia spun red soft soil onto the track and I joined him in the grass. The marshalls got me going but I had to come back for a seat belt tighten.

     Out I went and home I came for a scheduled pitstop.Learnt the lot that weekend, the one lap qualifier to pit stops to safety cars and shunts....

    Speak to you in Sydney for the Eastern Creek Round

    John Martin

    Posted Thursday, February 07, 2008 5:05 AM by PatrickW | 0 Comments

  • Living a Dream

    Years ago I thought I would get into a race car, but only dreamt about it being on the international circuit. Man I can't wait till Taupo and take te car on the track,set the car with Rob and Ash then get into it before my qualifying.

     

    Posted Monday, January 07, 2008 6:39 PM by PatrickW | 1 Comments

  • Lots going on this weekend at Zhuhai

    Well no doubt it was a weekend with loads of action.

    While Dykey was on the track I spend most of my time on the pit wall with AJ, Docko, Ash and Rob doing the pitboard lap info.

    You get the best view as the comes flying down pit straight and this also gives you a good chance to see the car setup in full flight.

    The racing this weekend was really good overall in A1GP. Our team were caught with some backmarker action and this mucked up our race strategy so Rob and Ash set up a new one for the crew on firsst stop in the feature race.

    Cars were banging into each other all over the place, the circuit is a heavy braking one.

    So we head to Taupo next month, speak to you all again then, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

    from John Martin

    Posted Tuesday, December 18, 2007 1:25 PM by PatrickW | 1 Comments

  • "ROCKY" arrives in Zhuhai

    Packed and ready to go racing again for the 17th time this year, my Dad and I left their home in Blackwater Queensland on Monday to arrive Sydney the Tuesday en route to Honk Kong with a few crew members.
     

    After touching down early afternoon it was followed by a Shark Cat ride across open waters taking 30 mins into the Skypier at Zhuhai Harbour.

    For a Rookie driver, who is not a rookie in the sense of being a racing car driver, I must adjust quickly to local environs then make way to the track for some familiarisation. This does not mean driving the track, so it's either on foot or on a push bike. I felt a little lost on arrival as there was no sign of a track anywhere apart from this huge wall like Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But once you enter a tunnel and arrive inside, there it was. A huge venue with checkpoints throughout. A very secure race track.

    Being part of this team everyone has a job to do on Day one of setup, I did my part. First thing to do was to erect the prat perch with Ash then I went for a good long walk around the track to see what the turns were like and look over the track surface. A few bumps in a few places, the surface looks low grip. I ran the first half and walked the rest. So much for a slow walk. My idea is walk the racing line and have a think on how you would come through the corner, how the car might feel, and what you would consider doing. To see the bumps better, it's good to sit and sometimes lay on the surface of the track.

    It never appears to be that way once you take over the race car and get onto the racing line in real life. I have the same impression everytime he goes racing as the first lap you do is always ten times better than ever walking as you are then in the car, you are at speed, you are lower down and have a different take on the track from what you thought was there walking it. Lap by lap it all unfolds.

    Once the famile trip was over I made my way back to hook up with his engineers to go over his impression and their knowledge of this spectacular track and venue. Ash Edwards and Rob Arnott and the brains behind team strategy on track with regard to set up for the drivers to get the best out of their A1GP race car. I gave his impression that with fast straights came slow corners, so lots of heavy braking, pulling the car up late breaking to exit the corner under the fastest speed ever possible for the best time. As Mark Webber says "Drive to the Grip"

    Before making their way back to the Hotel, I made my way around to the track support paddock to meet the local revheads and talk fast cars with Drifting Teams and some of the local Asian series crews. It's really good to see the other side of this world of motorsport

    Friday at 11am its my time with the A1 Team Australia race car out for a sighting lap. Then five more laps to bed a new engine in then it's onto the "gas pedal" flat out to help give as much feedback on the car and track to the team engineers before lead driver Ian Dyk takes over the second session Friday afternoon.

    Keep an eye on www.a1gp.com and Tickets for the Eastern Creek round 1-3 February 2008 are available at Ticketek.com.au and remember Paddock Tickets are being reserved and selling fast, please contact Layla@a1gpsydney.com
     
    See you there!
    Marto
    Posted Thursday, December 13, 2007 10:16 PM by AJONES.AUS | 1 Comments

  • Malaysia was awesome

    Well for my first blog, welcome to John Martin's world of motorsport.

    Malaysia for me was awesome from the time i got there till the time I left.

    I havent done that much PR before so I'm learning all the time which is good as it was also good to see a different part of the world that I had never seen before.

    Like when we went down to the markets in downtown KL with Pat our Team PR, that was something else, truly amazing and in the end I think we ended up going there just about every night, each time with different crew members.

    It was good fun just hanging around with the team as well. They all get on so good and have winning in their blood. You can see it from everyone's expression when I managed to move into third place for the first Rookie session. We were chasing down the Brazil car and with another lap I would have taken him as well. Jarvis in the British car had just come off a Macau win and it was his last rookie session, so he was the target for me that day.

    With the rookie drive you are part of the team the whole way. Gotchy had me in the garage, on the pit wall for Ian, helping on the grid, AJ was talking to me each time we were on track to help me learn more of what the car was doing and how the engineeer calls it as he sees it with his experience.

    Rob Arnott is a true propfessional in his job as Chief ENgineer, I felt in control all the way withRob talking to me on track.

    The circuit was mine from the Playstation so I knew it like I had raced there before, every corner.

    Cant wait to get back into the race car in Zhuhai, so let me know what you think.

    Thanks from

    John Martin  the Rookie Driver

    Posted Thursday, December 06, 2007 9:15 PM by AJONES.AUS | 1 Comments

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