Congrats Tom and Carlos! Congrats to Axel too. 4th isn't bad for the big block.
I wasn't happy that my lucky win was nullified so I took a car I thought would give me a good chance to repeat. With Rob and Tim's absence, I could have used a slower car. With their absence and the high attrition, it might have been wise to take the 427 again. But it's was still fun to learn to drive another car. The T70 305 seems a little bit easier to drive than the M1B.
I set up the car soon after the announcement of a rerun. It didn't take long to get it going well. After the previous race, I decided I wanted a car that might keep me out of trouble at the start of the race. To try to keep from causing Mark any trouble I practiced 4 or 5 opening laps plus several more starts while quitting after Les Combes. Once I started practicing on race fuel, I realized the Lola 305 liked to bog down on the start too. I shortened 1st gear until I started getting decent launches. It bogged down a little on the start and Mark got a run on me. Luckily Mark didn't force the issue and gave me the first turn. I went into Eau Rouge a little faster than I wanted but I wanted to make sure Mark was going to have to wreck to beat me into T1.
I hit the bump rubbers which made the car a little twitchy but wisely I did enough practice to keep the start clean.
I also paid particular attention to Holowell, La Carriere, and Blanchimont. All places I've had recent trouble with.
I drove well yesterday. Some days are better than others and yesterday was a good day for me. The first 9 laps went well. The only real mistake I made was running a little wide at Holowell on lap 1 thus bumping the wall. Lap 2 was a very good lap. Things were going great until lap 10. Then I repeated a problem that plagued me at first with these cars. I was started braking for Les Combes while still turning right. Suddenly the rear twitched a little and sent the car to the left. I was able to get the car slowed a lot but not enough to keep from slowly going over the guard rail at Les Combes. Luckily I had a large lead so the 14 seconds I lost didn't cause me any trouble. The car felt a little strange after that. I was worried going into Burnenville but by the time I was in Malmedy everything seemed fine again.
It appears discos weren't a problem this time. That's nice. I thought about it a few times during the race.
Thanks guys. I appreciate the racing. See you next time.