I agree with Hristo as regards the slower cars winning the "fast circuit" races.
I was fortunate enough to have a choice ( some choice !! lol) between Fezza, BT14 and Cooper. I tried the Fezza and although with some slipstream it could be persuaded into the 1:13's, it did rely solely on having a tow truck in front. Once out of any slipstream and it could lose a second or more per lap easily.
The Bt14 just did not seem to have any outright pace, it handles well enough on tighter circuits but at Enna it seemed the wrong car on the wrong track.
At least the Cooper had the FVA engine, even if for some strange reason Cooper decided that their FVA would not produce the same power output as the other FVA's?? and just to make it more interesting they added a few kilos of lead as well!
But it at least had some grunt and was just favourable to the Ferrari.
With Matras and Protos cars in this race I guess that both Hristo and myself knew ( although we never discussed it pre race) that to stand any chance we just had to tuck in behind the fast cars and wait until the final laps before attempting ANY moves. To score any points we needed to be in touch with the leading group all the way. The start was critical as we could not allow anyone to get away so I for one risked max revs to be sure I stayed with those faster cars down to T1.
I had decided that as the Cooper was slower on straights I had to have a setup that allowed me to really attack the corners and carry as much speed through them as possible. So exiting T1 I was comfortably with the pack and prepared to settle in for the next 30 laps and go along for the ride. All of that changed as we started lap 2. A pair of cars tangled ahead and avoiding action was needed to skip between cartwheeling F2's...suddenly there were only 3 cars in the leading group!! Two of those were handicapped cars and 1 was a Matra!! This was not in the race plan. If Nicky in his Matra made a break I don't think Hristo or myself would be able to close the gap. The next few laps saw Hristo and myself working hard to stay within Nicky's slipstream and begin to work together to help each other.
Eventually Hristo and myself found ourselves 1 & 2 with Nicky close behind in 3rd. Now, we could start to work the slipstream between us and carry each other around. After afew laps we sorted out where each was quicker and where we could swap places to maximise our pace and for the next 20 laps we maintained the pressure, with Nicky looking all too comfortable sitting in 3rd spot.
I'm sure Hristo was peddling as fast as he could ( I knew that I was just about on my safe limit!) but we could not shake off nicky in his faster Matra
. I figured that if we could not beat Nicky in the final laps, at least if we kept the group of 3 cars clear of the field then at least we had a podium waiting.
With about 10 laps to go Prib told me that we had edged approx 100 mtrs lead from Nicky, almost out of slipstream range?, so now was the time to give just a little extra push and try to break free?
I'm not sure if it was our slightly quicker pace, or a small mistake by Nicky , but suddenly the gap grew to 400mtrs and we were clear. But with 10+ laps still to go I felt that Hristo and myself were still open to attack from a faster car so I was happy for us to maintain our slipstreaming arrangement
But now I was beginning to focus on my move on the last lap.
I knew that with just a little tow from Hristo the Cooper had the grunt to pass him before the S/F line, but if he was behind he might just have enough tow to get past me. Therefore I had to be behind him out of the last big corner.
Prib showed 2 laps to go, so I dropped back an extra 20 mtrs and allowed Hristo to keep 1st place where normally I would have passed him..preparing myself for the last corner.
Prib showed 1 lap to go exiting that last corner and Hristo was really pushing hard. No probs, with the slipstream I knew I could easily close up the gap over the next lap and spring my attack for the win. As we entered the S/F straight I was easing up on Hristo...everything going to plan with 1 lap left...and then.....some joker is waving a black and white chequered flag!!!!!!!!!! WHAT??!! My prib clearly showed that we had another lap!!! RATS!!!!!!!!
Overnight I have been searching for my pitcrew (Arnold and Mabel Glutbucket), but it seems they were last seen boarding a train to Vladivostok. When, that is a "when" and not an "if" !!, I get my hands on those two, I will be extracting an explanation and a grovelling apology for their screw up in programming my Prib. This polite "interview" is likely to last at least a week and I have ordered extra hot irons, manacles and nasty pointy things to be sure that I get to the truth.