Thanks Tony, Ziu & Clive - and grats to Ziu & Clive for the other Championship cups. In contrast to Clive, I absolutely love these cars and relish every opportunity to drive them.
Having bagged the Championship earlier, the goal of this race was to finish on a high; that is, not finish lower than in previous races. That meant a 2nd place at the least. Prospect for this looked bleak in qual. Ziu & Mr. Oh-I'm-no-alien-these-tentacles-are-perfectly-human-Geoffers
were clearly in a class of their own, doing low 52's. I struggled hard just to dip into the 53's, and despite shaving 0.3 sec off my best, Clive was still ½ a sec faster.
These cars are among the few in GTL that I can actually do a decent start in from time to time. A little slow off the line, but managed not to bog down - that is, until Geoffers did, and I hesitated ever so slightly, promptly causing my car to bog down too. Surprisingly I wasn't swamped by everyone behind, but instead managed to maneuver around Geoffers. He was soon on my case, making a move at Parabolica on L1. I left the door too open and he slipped through. Gave chase and got close at one point, but as always had problems being too close to the driver in front, running wide at Ascari. That gave Geoffers a gap of around 1.5 secs, but then he spun at Roggia, handing me 3rd.
Fully expected Geoffers to come storming back, but to my surprise, the pit board showed a 16-sec gap, which didn't get smaller the following laps. Didn't know at the time that Geoffers had gone off again, losing more time and positions. Could focus on chasing Clive then. Slowly got closer, until he ran wide at Ascari. Ran partially wide myself, so couldn't exploit it to the full. Got real close though, and when he had a wobbly moment at Roggia, losing momentum and leaving the door wide open, I slipped past. Pressure on me then, but slowly extended the gap, and some laps later Clive had a moment at Ascari, dropping back and all but slipping from view.
Quite lonely race from then. For some reason, the pit board would only show the (ever increasing) gap to Ziu in front. Thus had no idea whether Clive was gaining on me or not. Didn't dare get complacent, so kept pushing to the end, while trying to stay on the safe side of the limits. Held to the end and very happy to bag 2nd. Mission accomplished!! Grats to Ziu on the win & Clive for 3rd. Commiserations to Geoffers, whose true place would at least have been 2nd.
Regarding braking Clive; I really don't see myself as a wizard in any way. Not sure why you're struggling so much with these cars (but you were still faster than me in both qual & race; don't forget that!!). You know more about setting up cars than me, so doubt I can teach you anything in that regard. The 'tricks' I use to make the cars more stable under braking, are no doubt well known to you already. Believe I have mentioned it earlier in the series, but a fairly light touch of the brake pedal often seems the most effective way to go. Yesterday, I would hit the pedal hard initially, and then ease the pressure some, occasionally pumping the pedal slightly.
Thanks to Tony for putting together this excellent series; already looking forward to the return in 2018!
Cheers,
Erling