I'd like to keep things more interesting Mark. I actually like driving the 330 and 712.
I probably would have been about 1 second faster here in the Shadow. I like seeing the Heavies have a chance against me if they're consistent. Carlos was consistent. 2 years ago, I noticed DaveC and Walter could beat me with the M8F/T260 vs. the 712 if they were consistent.
Plus I like driving a different car than the last one I raced on a particular track. I raced the Mk. 4 last time at Lemans and the Mk. 2B the time before that. It's time for the 330. I haven't raced it at Lemans in more than 2 years.
I'm getting faster with the 330. I feel I've learned about all I can teach myself with it at Lemans. So I downloaded the 3 fastest 330 laps at Lemans from GPLRank. And I tried out Steve Cloyd's setup. All the replays I downloaded, the drivers appear to be speedshifting constantly. Some fine tuning Cloyd's setup and speedshifting got me a 3:22.48 without a tow. First time I've intentionally speedshifted in a long time.
I hope to break into the 21s soon. Low to mid 22s should be possible without speedshifting. A good tow should gain me 1-1.5 seconds. I think there's a possibility to be competitive with the 330. And with it's light weight and 5 speed transmission, it should do pit stops and s&gs faster than the Fords. So I don't feel it's much of a handicap. Plus the only car I may enjoy driving more than the 330 is the T70.
I also started testing at Spa67. 6 laps in the Shadow and I'm already down to 2:58.80. 3:00.62 is my best with the 712 but I'm not sure what kind of lap that was. It could have involved some tow. It also may not be as fast as I can go. I was racing with ADC and I kept having one of the slowest drivers I've seen in GPL pulling out of the pits in front of me on my last lap of fuel during qualifying.
I forgot to practice some race starts with the 712 at Road Atlanta. I'll make sure I practice a few opening laps for the rest of the season. What happened in T1 was unlike anything I experienced in my practicing but I never practiced an inside line into T1 on full fuel.
The main reason I said it settles it for me, is your bad luck has given me a cushion. So I don't need to use the fastest car available in every race.
Occasionally I like to get pole position and drive away from the field. It's, by far, the easiest way for me to win. I wouldn't want to do that anymore that 1/3 of my races. Even that much might start to bore me.
The 712 is a challenge. The 330 is fun. I wouldn't have it any other way.