oh, just realised I never wrote this one up & after a rare (sadly) legzy win too!
I have a feeling the Radical is a bit strong really, as I'd done zero practice & I jumped in the car for the very 1st time at about 8pm on the night & my fastest race lap was over a sec quicker than the next fastest drivers (two guys I'm normally the same/slower than).
I spent the whole of practice getting used to the car & making a couple of tweaks, then continued to work on my race setup through qually & still managed 5th on the grid with race fuel & med tyres.
Come the race, I quickly noticed that I had a fair bit of pace spare & was being held up as I had to work through some of the pack. Had a couple of moments with a couple of drivers possibly trying a little too hard to keep their positions (plus myself possibly being over-confident/keen to get through
) & found my self off track & at the back. Still, that just enabled me to over-take everyone again
which is always
enjoyable rare!
Found that at about 1/4 distance, the car had become very very oversteery. I tried to eek it out as long as I could before pitting as i knew if I pitted too early I'd just have the same problem multiplied at the end of the race. But after a few big moments, particularly when trying to get the power down
I pitted for fresh boots comfortably before 1/2 distance.
2nd half I drove with a view to looking after my rear tyres a little when possible (moving my brake bias forward etc), but I knew I should be doing better than I was & GT particularly had had a massive lead after the 1st stint. I think a few of the drivers ahead of me didn't change their tyres & it really showed as the 2nd half wore on. My mistake though, was to not take on enough fuel! From the moment I got past GT, I had to short shift, keeping the gap to 1 sec as best I could. I think I'd have had to give up the lead eventually, but lucky for me he had an off or two & I was able to mega-short-shift, till the last handful of laps when H@L & TT had got themselves into striking distance... I crossed the line with under half a liter left & the pair of them just a sec behind.
I reckon that I (& maybe the other podiums) could do with carrying a little bit of ballast moving forward, maybe just 4,7 & 10kg for each time you're on the podium to carry till season end. It should be enough to just shave a few tenths of the fastest chaps laptimes, bringing us closer without crippling anyone. Just an idea. If it doesn't happen I may switch to one of the other cars if I get any practice time, as noval as it is, I'm not interested in being over a sec per lap quicker than anyone else.
p.s. Note to self, make the car a fraction less oversteery especially on corner exit for next race
p.p.s. Brilliant pit-stop by the way H@L, very very slick