Thanks for the comments Clive and Bastian. Grats to the podiums and to all finishers.
At the end it was a comfortable win, but when I joined the server and saw that Mr Loynes was piloting the 250F I was worried, because I know how quick that car can be around Brands Hatch.
I copied across my setup from Zolder and expected it to be OK....wrong!! For the first few laps during qualifying I was all over the road and most of the scenery too!!
Clive had already posted a low 1:48 lap, so I knew that he was fired up for a battle. With 20 minutes to go until race start I was changing gear ratios and damper settings....with 12 mins to go I was changing the diff and roll bars
. But finally I got the car to behave and with race fuel on I went looking for a fast lap and to explore what my race pace might be like. I managed to squeeze up to 2nd spot on the grid and thought maybe Clive would have the lead in a faster car when the race started as I did not want to waste any time doing a run on low fuel when I was getting the feel of a heavy Connaught in preparation for the first few laps.
Then PRIB showed a very quick first sector which would put me very close to pole position, so I focused everything on a banzai lap and threw the car across the S/F line and into the habales at Paddock. It was pole position but only by .15 secs...maybe Clive was sandbagging and would simply up his pace?
I was lucky to retain pole and that meant that I would have to fend off Clive and his 5 geared 250F
. So I made the decision to blitz the first lap and forget about saving any brakes, it was all about building a gap so that Clive could not out drag me on the straights. It worked, and at the end of lap 1 I was holding a precious 100 mtr lead. Lap 2 was on a knife edge as I had zero brakes left, but I still managed to ease out a few more metres.
By lap 3 I settled into a proper drive and regained control of the brakes, which allowed me to focus on some steady laps. I still expected Clive to wind up his pace and start to close the gap but, except when I made a mistake, the challenge did not come. Then I suspect that he had a "moment" and the gap doubled...now I could relax and simply manage the gap whilst protecting the engine and brakes.
At the end it was a comfortable win, but the early signs were that I was going to have an uphill struggle against faster cars. Quite relieved that I still had the pace in the Connaught to compete, but kind of worried that so many other drivers have started using this car. I thought that I was the only guy who had discovered the secret speed in this car lol.
I might have to fit a turbo on that Gordini??!!