I had high hopes for this race until I noticed it's at (the dreaded) Watkins! If I had knew earlier I might have even done some practice, because it's one of the Papy 11s where I never do well or even finish. It's usually an affair with The Loop after struggling to find balance in the car and pushing too hard to compensate, with tires overheating.
Well, Qualifying just proved it to be the case again - I probably "died" a couple of times after major offs while exploiting the limits of adhesion... which was lacking, really. I have no idea how I could've liked the setup I had (and it looked like a fairly developed setup judging by the naming convention I used), but it didn't work this time.
The major problem was sever understeer on both entry and exit, and snap oversteer as a result of trying to break through it with more abrupt throttle and steering inputs. I knew the car could go much faster, but for some reason I couldn't get the tires to perform - they would simply overheat without providing the needed grip at any time. Softening the front and stiffening the rear only made it worse, so eventually I returned to a fairly soft setup which treated the tires better.
I was far off the pole sitter Joe (welcome, new alien!) and 2nd man Tim, and personally I was at least 3 tenths off my PB with a joystick from 8 years ago! Talk about going on a decline, lol...
Anyway, I was kinda relieved to see Al behind me which meant all I had to do was bring it home, preferably in 3rd position. Evil suggested 60 fuel laps which seemed too much, so I put in 55. That proved to be way too much as well... I had 12 fuel laps left at the end and I wasn't really saving the engine or something! Evil!!!
The start was OK and my first priority was taking care of the tires until they're up to temperature, because if you overheat them too quickly they never get the chance to cool off anymore unless you slow down and lose 5-6 seconds at least. I was also worried about the engine, as is usual with the Honda, but my gearing was quite nice, especially 5th which was set for slipstreaming. Although that cost me a couple of tenths per lap when running alone, it was worth going for.
Joe pulled away instantly and Tim was quite cautious when I had a run on him. He didn't take any risks to reclaim the line quickly even though I was already behind him. That allowed Joe to escape even further while Tim began to pull away from me at the same time.
I had other worries though - Fulvio was suddenly very fast behind and putting a lot of pressure, especially at The Loop where he was decreasing the gap by what seemed half a second on each lap. I had to focus completely on my exits to compensate for that and it worked OK.
In the meantime Tim seemed to have found his mojo and was probably catching up Joe (who I couldn't see anymore) up ahead. I say probably because he definitely went up a gear after a few laps and started increasing his lead over me by half to a whole second per lap or so. Fulvio eased off (or so it seemed) after a couple of laps, just to relaunch his charge again and close up to within 1 second.
All in all, very intense racing and nobody could afford to make the slightest mistake. The first to do so was Joe who I just passed by as he was returning to the track after an off at The Loop (where else?!). I'm thankful he waited until we went by to rejoin as there was not much room.
I was wondering if I'm going to suddenly see my pitboard inform me of Joe's charge back through, but instead got informed he left the server. Some kind of relief at that time and I managed to drop Fulvio further back as well. I was just thinking that perhaps Tim might get bored running alone in the lead when I saw a glimpse of a car at The Loop run off area and then soon after a message that he retired as well. I swear, it wasn't a curse on my behalf!
Now the race was mine for the losing, but for a change I had a very consistent and reliable run, even if not very quick. The setup was working well enough to keep the tires within reasonable temperatures, and the engine was far from ovearheating, so I could allow to push whenever I needed to break through the monotony.
Doing that near the end of the race nearly cost me the Championship itself! A bit too late braking for The Loop (ffs, even ovals have more than 1 corner...), the rear stepping out in attempt to brake harder, an over-correction to the left and the car spinning into the fence. Fortunately the collision was at such an angle as to bounce me back towards the track instead of dragging me along. The car JUST managed to clip the dreaded hay bale slightly before spinning mildly to point in the right direction again.
There seemed to be only minor damage and what I believe was some engine damage because I couldn't rev as high anymore, but despite that the speed in the corners was still there and improving as the fuel load went down. The gap to Fulvio halved as a result though and because at that moment I had worries that I might run out of fuel (so far from the truth as mentioned earlier), I was not sure that the 6 seconds gap back to him would be enough if I had to slow down and lower the consumption.
As it turned out there was no need to worry and I finished at normal speed. Feels good to take another title, but it's becoming increasingly more difficult each season with everyone improving and the rules nor favoring our single-car team in particular. Amazing performance by Al this season and I admit he was not amongst those who I expected to run a Championship campaign. Keep it up, Al!
Great for the Great Hiki Waza to win another constructors Championship as well - as SHE would say:
SUBETE NO SHOURI WA WATASHI NI ZOKUSHITE IMASU!!!
(ALL YOUR VICTORIES ARE BELONG TO ME!!!)
Indeed...
-=Hristo=-
P.S. Grats Tim Vosblod for winning the Privateer Title! If you keep the learning curve that steep we'll soon be fighting it out in the Works as well!