Grats to the podiums and finishers in both races and once again Geoffers gives us some ridiculous laptimes to chase!!
I really do enjoy these ridiculously over powered monsters. I find it more akin to wrestling crocodiles than driving, so it must be good for my physical fitness ??
Race 1
I missed a race or two earlier in the season and had a full compliment of Impala drives to use up, so although Bridgehampton is not the ideal track for it I have to use them somewhere. I actually spent a good few minutes fighting the Impala in offline practice finding a setup that allowed me to get the darned thing around corners. I knew that this tank of a car was going to destroy tyres when driven in anger...(OK! when driven by me), but figured that 18 laps would be OK.
I never did a full race distance but relied upon the HUD estimate to tell me how much fuel I would need......this proved to be a mistake as I started the last lap
.
I botched the start and lost 2-3 places and I knew that the car was very prone to sliding off track on cold tyres, so I had to wait until the end of lap 2 before I could deploy the afterburners up the S/F straight. Geez but that Impala is fast in a straight line!!! ( has anyone else noticed the hesitation in the throttle when you floor the gas with this car??) and passing was a foregone conclusion provided I was within 50mtrs as we entered the straight.
I passed Tony, Fulvio and Rog to get back to 4th spot by about half distance, with the leading trio in a race of their own way ahead.
The tyres were wearing as predicted but I would need to protect them if I wanted a driveable car by lap 18. That would have been OK if Rog had not decided to contest 4th place!! His close attention also probably had an impact on my fuel consumption and I was forced to push hard in an increasingly uncompliant car, pulling a small gap on the straight which he recovered on the corners, until I ran out of fuel just 300mtrs from the flag.
Race 2
Ok, I had got that Impala out of the way and now I had the Firebird, which I was heartened to see many others had selected.....maybe I had got something right for once??!!
The difference between the Impala and the Firebird was enormous. The Impala had to be wrestled into corners and a feather light touch on the gas to avoid squirming off the track. The Firebird was a delight, instant turn in and I could stand on the gas at mid-corner and exit without drama.
It took me all of the short practice session to adjust my driving but I was looking forward to enjoying some racing instead of a work-out!!
But then the race started and I discovered that I was DQ'd?
No idea why, but quite disappointed not to have joined the fun
.
Grats to the podiums and finishers.
On to the next ......................