That was fun! Wasn't sure what car to go for - 911 was a bit faster, but more likely to spin. 906 was more predictable to drive. I thought I'd give the 911 a go, as I've never raced it before.
Quali went fine - pole position with a reasonable lap. Full fuel laptime were almost the same in practice, so I'd hoped to be able to pull away early on in the race and then back off as the tyres got a bit dicey, to avoid spinning.
No such luck! Into the tight left-hander I locked the fronts and ran a bit deep; Baracus took the gap and MGoran followed him through. Long way to go, so I followed MGoran for a few laps, and on Lap 3 he went a bit wide (forget where!) and I got past into second place. Closed up on Baracus and then had 8 laps shadowing him hoping for a gap to appear. The 911 could close quite a bit around the fast right-hander onto the start-finish straight, and this caught me out on Lap 15. I got too close to Baracus' 906 rear end mid-bend, backed off and lost the rear. A slow-motion spin scrubbed all my speed off, and I got going again behind MGoran, with Baracus another 10 seconds up the road.
MGoran was hard to pass - he was driving quickly in all the right places. On lap 17 I squeezed past on the last bend, but ran two wheels on to the grass and he shot past on the brakes into T1. A few laps later I tried the same move, and this time kept it on the tarmac for second place.
Nearly 14 seconds to Baracus now, with 20 laps to go. The pit boards were all over the shop, showing gaps from 20 to 6 seconds on random laps. Not knowing how far ahead he was, I tried to do a few laps at a good pace without risking too much (MGoran was close behind still). Each lap I could see Baracus at the tight right-hander, so I knew I was closing slowly. The gap was down to 8 seconds when Baracus spun at the right-hand hairpin - I just sneaked through as he rejoined, and grabbed the lead.
A few laps later, the speed difference in the last bend was reversed and I had a very small nudge from behind from Baracus - the tail-heavy 911 piroretted, and very sportingly Baracus waited for me to get going again - thanks matey! For three laps I pulled away, but then I was stung by the same right-hand chicane that had struck Baracus - back into second place, 5 laps to got and 3 seconds down... race on!!
Tyres felt OK, so I pushed hard and closed Baracus down. On the last bend of the penultimate lap, he ran wide (Baracus - tell your girlfriend the payment is in the post
) and I got beside him. Door-to-door, wheel-to-wheel, elbow-to-elbow into T1. Had to go very late on the brakes, but with the inside line I held the position. Great fun. Finished less than a second ahead.
This was the most fun I've had racing for a while - lots of overtaking, some tricky cars and a technical track. I disagree about the '76 cars not suiting the small tracks - I think it adds to the variety that makes GTL so good. Balancing the power-grip equation around the tight bends is a nice challenge, and the relief when you get to a long straight and can 'open her up' is great.
See you all next time.
Stu