Well..................................................First of all, Grats to Iestyn and Sam.
Although I have a bucket full of tokens that I could have used for these last 2 re-runs, I decided that I would have some fun.
The BRM is a car that I have never been able to drive competitively and that is the reason why my GPL rank is poor. I have not reached anywhere remotely close to the benchmark times, at any circuits, in this green 6 speed monster. So, although I had intended to race the Honda or maybe the Brabham, I had a rush of blood to my head as I looked at IGOR, and in a moment of madness I clicked on the BRM!!!!
Now I was a little nervous about making a complete Horlicks of the race in a car that frankly, I always hated.
Starting with the default setup I changed the steering ratio to my preferred 5:1 and guessed at the fuel required. The BRM was probably going to be heavy on gas???, so I stuck in an extra 10 laps worth.......would it be enough??? who knows??
Several "out laps" and several returns to the pits for adjustments, some changes to cambers, tyre pressures and toe in and there was a hint the this car might actually be made to work.
By the time the grid formed I had a car that almost felt normal...almost?!!
All I was expecting ( hoping ) was to have a race with someone and keep the damned thing on the grey stuff for as many laps as possible.
Very surprised not to be last on the grid and was very careful on the first laps not to get involved in any exchanging of paint samples as the tyres warmed up.
The fast brigade had shot away at the start, and I found myself tailing Doni's Honda, but after a few laps we passed various cars mowing the grass and suddenly we were running 3rd-4th!!
The rest of the race was a battle with Doni and his Honda. Interrupted by Sam flying through in his supercharged Honda to take 2nd place .
As the race progressed I was still learning how to drive the BRM with a totally alien ( for me) diff setting, a narrow power band and 6 gears. Several times I missed a downshift and was in a gear too high through a corner. As the end of the race approached I could smell champagne and the bottom step of the podium, but Doni also seemed to have designs on that position.
I lined him up through the final corner, so that I could get the tow down the S/F straight and went for the pass into T1 on the last lap. I knew that if I kept it neat he would have nowhere to make a pass before we returned to the S/F straight. Doni also knew that!! and he launched that Honda off that final corner as if he had been trained by the Wazas. As we crossed the line I took a look sideways and it was very, very close. In fact until I checked the official results I suspected that Doni had snatched the champagne from my sweaty hands!!
Another 5 mtrs and he would have, what a close finish to a hugely entertaining race.
Thanks Doni
A little more work during the next race might encourage me to take the BRM more often and with next season looking like we will be running the original Papyrus tracks I might even bring my GPLrank up to date......maybe