What an experience that was!
I feel sorry for the little 4 and 6 cylinder cars on the start line, with all those big V8s drowning them out!.
Race 1.
Somehow managed pole in the "slower" of the Cobras. My first on RD! :-D
For a little while it looked like Warren may have locked out an all Aussie front row, but first Stu and then Gary in their Corvettes had something to say, and split us up.
Got a fairly good start and managed to lead away into the first corner. Pushed fairly hard for the first couple of laps to get a lead, and then the tyres started feeling the pain.. So it was time to watch the gap and try and keep it fairly constant.
Toward the end, Stu had jumped into second and was closing, but he ran outta laps, which gave me my first RD win :desire:
Race 2.
For some unknown reason, I had picked the 427 Cobra.. 300+ kw of fury, wrapped up in a car that weighs a touch over 1000kg... Had done a couple of laps in offline practice, and I was definately not confident of being able to keep this NASA space ship on the island.
Managed to edge out Gary in his Shelby by .1 of a second for pole again, with Stu in 3rd(?) and Warren scrambling his little Elan around for 4th.
Come race time and Stephen was stuck "under" the track, so the race was restarted with a 1 lap "super pole" style quali.
This time I definately wasn't confident of pole as it was taking me a lap or 2 to get my eye in, but I pushed (no sliding though!) and managed pole again, from Gary, Stu, Sam(?) and Warren.
Off the line and I think all the V8's turned their rear tyres to smoke. Gary and I ran side by side, but we were both conservative into T1, and not being able to see where he was, I didnt wanna close the door on him.
Sam took advantage of our caution and slipped into the lead to grab P1, while Gary got past me for P2.
The race got interesting for a bit, with me all over Gary, while Sam got a little break on us... I managed to get an excellent run out of the final turn, and with the help of a draft got alongside Gary for T1 but the Cobra didnt want it and the rears locked a little and speared across the track at Gary. I wasnt able to pull it up in time to miss the gravel, so as I crawled back I watched Gary and Sam disappear in the distance, and Amir come up in his Ferrari.
Had a battle with him for a few laps, until I was able to pull away and start trying to bring the gap down.
Everytime I started to get some big inroads, I'd make a mistake and the gap would blow out to 9-10 seconds again.
By the last 4 laps, the rear tyres were about shot, making accelerating an opposite lock affair...
Sam DNF'd in the final 2 laps, which gave me 2nd, behind Gary and ahead of Avi.
It was interesting to watch the Cobra Vs Shelby down the straight, as the Cobra was faster accelerating, and I was able to catch Gary, but as soon as I pulled out of the draft, the more aerodynamic shape of the Shelby gave it a slight edge towards the end of the straight.
I'm really enjoying this sprint racing, especially with the different cars!
Thanks for tonight Stu. Was awesome fun, as usual!
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