Last night was another eventful one for me.
It started when I was fairly late getting to my PC, then turning it on and finding that my oldest son had been using it for homework and I now, for some reason had no (according to Windows) graphics or sound drivers :rage:
I did the graphics first, got the sound drivers on, but didn't have time to get TS working properly, hence my somewhat fractured appearance (I managed to get TS working properly after the event and tested with Steve - thanks matey).
Race1
By the time I got on, it was time to roll to Quali.
I always qualify with my race fuel load in (I'd rather quali a bit lower than forget to put fuel in)
and this time that was probably a good thing, as it was my first real track time. Got a decent lap in and ended about 4th with Knut, Steve & Peter ahead of me. Got a decent start and was dicing with Steve & Peter for 3rd (Knut was gone, and Ulli got a flyer up into 2nd), but in braking late to try and go round the outside of Peter (a bit cheeky, tbh), I went off piste and was last.
So started the drive back, and in a way this was probably the best thing that could have happened, as this way I had a lot of racing ahead of me. The next few laps were an absolute joy, but they were bittersweet because I so nearly picked the Alpine for the previous RDHGP and didn't. Now, as I was throwing in lap after lap at quali speed and carving through the field through the confidence the Alpine gives you, I was kicking myself for going with the Healey. Still, spilt milk and all that.
Along the way I had some good racing with Kris - he & I often found ourselves together in the League, me in a Healey, and he in his Alpine - and now I had the chance to turn the tables and let him know how it feels to be swarmed by a Renault while driving a Healey
I think it was during this stage that we went past a stranded Steve on the downhill last turn as he mentions, and that put Warren and Peter ahead of me.
Had a memorable dice with Warren & Peter, where I was a lot quicker through some of the turns, but the Healey & the Shelby had enough torque through the various straights to keep me at bay, so it was a real to-and-fro battle. There were a couple of times I had a sniff of Warren's inside line, but couldn't do it safely and so backed off until it was going to be a clean and safe pass. Warren made any attempt at passing the Healey a distinctly unappetising proposition, perfectly legitimately of course, but I finally got past at the inside of the downhill right hander and started off after Peter in the monstrous Shelby.
Freed from the constraints of tracking Warren and anticipating his braking and turns etc. I was able to pull up to Peter relatively quickly, but again it became a battle of to-and-fro with me all over him in the turns until he got the power down, and then him pulling away from me like I was parked
. The last turn gave me a great run on Peter, where the Alpine is full throttle all the way, and the bigger cars have to come off to make it, and so that was just about enough for me to be close enough to outbrake him into the first corner for P3. As it was all twisty after that turn, I opened up a gap, and set off after Ulli in the Vette. Came upon Ulli with about 3 laps to go, and managed to squeak past into P2 using the Alpine's uncanny ability to stay tight on the inside of turns, where the Vette's weight drifted it wide. After then it was a relatively quiet drive to the end, even though I took about 2-3 sec out of Knut, I suspect that was due to him nursing the Vette home rather than any real blistering pace on my side.
Great and mistake free drive by Knut for the win, and a superb recovery by Steve to complete the podium.
Race2
Chose the Elan, as did a few others including Mr Palmer who had previously expressed no love for the little chap from Norfolk. His laptimes didn't really reflect that antipathy as he broke into the 1.51's during quali. I was more than satisfied getting to within 0.4 with race fuel in to get P2, but I knew that Peter & Warren in the brutally fast TVR & deceptively capable 904 were just behind.
Got a decent start, good enough for Peter (who harnessed all that torque beautifully), Steve & me to be pretty much nose to tail for the next couple of laps. I got an amazing run on Steve out of the last corner and into the straight, but the extra speed I was carrying meant that I went straight on in the braking zone for T1, and once again I was P Last
.
Got up to to 6th behind Steve & Peter in P1 & 2 (whose battle just going by the times on XD looked epic), and Warren & Knut in P3 & 4, but going into the right hander up onto the mountain, I was side-by-side with Ulli who I was battling with for P5. I got the inside line, a better run and a half car overlap, but Ulli kept on contesting the corner, and then something happened which caused Ulli to go off. I don't think it was contact as I felt nothing, if it was I don't think it was my fault, but I decided to wait for him anyway just to be on the safe side. I'll check the replay to make sure. That pretty much ended my chances of catching Warren & Knut so the rest of the race was pretty quiet, I took a few seconds out of them, but they were still 15 & 16 secs ahead come race end.
All in all, a very enjoyable evening, cementing my love for the smaller, lighter cars - it seemed like everyone enjoyed the races. I'll do a few more split field events so we have multi cars on track, but keep the closer matched cars together. We'll have a TC65 event next Thursday, and I'll add in a mod car or two to bulk up the field.
Assuming you're all up for that of course...
