Many thanks to all of those who took part in the GT Championship and struggled with the pitstops. I think we all suffered somewhere with discos in the pits
, but as the season progressed things gradually improved. If Hristo had not insisted in exposing the lack of fast laptime data for the Mk1 Ford in each race and making a mockery of all my careful calculations, the stop times for all other cars might have been a lot shorter!!!
The season finale at Spa was, I think, the first race of the series where no-one ended their race because of the pitstops? There were several DNF's but they were related to crashes or engine failures ( myself included!! with 1 lap to go
:'( )
I think that the pitstop times are slowly getting more accurate with each race that we have ( no doubt members will give me their views on that, and all feedback will be welcome ) and last night I found myself suddenly plunged into battle with cars that had, or had not yet, made their stops which was great.
I did not qualify too well in the 2D, mainly because I suffered a disco when on my quali lap with about 5 mins to go
. I had to crash my computer and totally reboot with much gnashing of teeth and swearing. I was back in the pits with less than a minute to go so had to accept where i was on the grid.
The Chapp 2D certainly had the grunt to pass cars and I was happy to sit back for a lap or two as the tyres warmed up and the leading trio diced for the lead. Fulvio had a "moment" in his Ferrari and I picked up a place, but he was soon back up to speed and looking very determined.
I think it was on the 3rd racing lap that I thought my race was over when my screen went black, but the sound track continued, approaching Malmedy
I knew that there were cars behind and I frantically hit the "Esc" key trying to quit and get out of the way. After about 5 years ( well OK it was probably 5 seconds ) the screen suddenly lit up again and I was nose first into the hedge but still upright and the engine still running??!!
A quick "U" turn to get the car facing the right way and we were off again...PHEW!! But by this time the leaders were a distant memory and I was all alone. Gradually I reeled in Phil in his Mirage and he made life very difficult for me to make the pass even with the extra power of the 2D, You certainly had that Mirage going well through the turns Phil!! I got alongside after Stavelot and we were side by side for a while. I hope there was no contact Phil, but I noticed that you went off?
As the pitstops played out I stayed out and tried to take advantage of the clear track that I had by putting in some fast consistant laps. This closed the gap to the leading bunch and I passed a couple of cars whilst they were idling in the pits. After my stop I was closing on the leaders and had just got them in sight when I made a rushed downshift through Stavelot "POP"....................bleeeeeaaaaaghhhhhh and smoke in the mirrors
rats!!!! blown engine.....Shift-R.........StopnGo 1 mile behind the leaders with Fulvio back on my tail!!!!! The next few laps were great racing with Fulvio as he used the better handling of his Ferrari against the now full fuel load and cold tyres of my 2D to get past and take the place. Eventually he caught a wheel on the grass at Eau Rouge and had a half spin, I was through, but still he did not give up and hassled me until my tyres offered some grip through Masta and I was able to ease away. I was still not safe as I kept catching glimpses of that red thing in my mirrors...one mistake and Fulvio would be all over me again. Then he vanished, I presume that he had an incident at Stavelot?.
For the last few laps I pushed on hoping for a retirement ahead as there was no chance of closing the gap in the remaining laps. But the only retirement was ME as the engine exploded as I approached La Source on the penultimate lap.
Grats to teammates Paul ( for beating me in this race
) and to Doni for keeping the Fujikawa challenge going right to the flag. Unofficial grats ( subject to moderation
) also to Team International for the Team Trophy.
I hope that you all have the Christmas that you want and hope to see you all in the fun races over the holidays and in Season 24 in the New Year.
