It was an interesting race for me.
Zero practice, but I had a setup for a previous race that seemed to work well for the Connaught. Frustrated that prib was suggesting that a sub 2:00 was possible, but small mistakes prevented me claiming that sort of time.
I almost bogged down off the grid like Clive , and I had to dip the clutch to get the revs up again and that allowed me to out drag Mr Loynes to T1. I fully expected his Maserati to drag him back onto my tailpipes and I would be an easy pass down the straight. But by living "on the edge" for the first few laps I was able to pull away and establish a nice comfort gap.
The advantage of running in clear air is that you can judge your braking and the lines through corners without having to compromise them for another car. I found that when I did a fast lap the brakes were in better condition as I crossed the line than when I was 1.5-2 secs slower??
Once I had a lead of around 300mtrs I tried to ease off and simply respond if Clive threatened to get too close. Easier said than done and I think on one lap the gap halved
...which was a shock! Pushed for a couple of laps to stretch my lead again and all was well until I looked at the fuel.......17 laps to go, using 0.5 galls per lap. Amount in tank 7.9 galls??!!!
The rest of the race was a tactical nightmare as I tried to maintain my slender lead by short shifting and coasting into corners. Clive was appearing more frequently in my mirrors and the gap was down to less than 100mtrs in places. By driving very cautiously I saved around 0,75 galls and had enough "spare" fuel on the last lap to cross the line with 0.2 galls left and the engine just beginning to misfire. Had Clive's Maserati got within attack distance I would not have been able to put up any sort of fight,,,,, but don't tell him that
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Grats to Clive, Fran and Phil for making it to the flag and commiserations to those who did not.