Grats to Ziu on the championship, proving himself quick in all 3 cars throughout the series.
Geoffers had obviously done his homework and commented on Castle Combe being my "home" circuit lol. It is in fact about a 30 minute drive from my house and let's just say that "I know it well" from a spectator's point of view, although I have been taken around, in the rain, in a Ferrari 365? ( full race spec ) by a friend of mine.....that was very educational!! I guess that in Weds races we all found Avon Rise into Quarry corner the trickiest part of the track? I have driven this circuit in GPL and GTL hundreds of times and thought I knew where the braking zones were.
My chauffeur in the Fezza had obviously not read the track guide!! because we crested Avon Rise ( in the rain) with his right foot still welded to the floor and just when I thought that the entry to Quarry would be the last place that I would ever see in this world, he calmly dabbed the brakes and powered through the apex without the slightest hint of any wheel locking or slide
. The right, left flick through the chicane ( something that we did not have to contend with in our races ) actually was violent enough to hurt my neck
. When we returned to the paddock, I asked my mate Dan about driving the same Ferrari in the dry, he replied that it was physically brutal on full race slicks, because the aero package developed 150kgs of downforce that glued the car to the tarmac and it was his ability to take G force in the corner that limited the performance, not the car . I believe him!!
Our races were a little less physical and more gentlemanly affairs....most of the time
Race 1 in the Imp. I was surprised that the Imp was so much slower than the Anglia, as on other tracks it had performed quite well? Basically I got lucky and just followed Ziu benefitting when Erling practised his donuts at quarry about 12 laps too soon
"nd place was way better than I had hoped for and as there was no chance of catching Ziu I just ticked off the laps to come home 2nd.
Race 2 aaaaargh!! a Mini
Still I had to use it in one of the races
. I recalled that I had a setup at Oulton that had made the little beast almost driveable so I dragged that across and gave it a shot. previously I had noticed that over exuberance on the downshifts in the Mini would trash the engine very quickly so I concentrated on being nice to the mechanicals. As the race progressed I began to get the habit of keeping some gas on, going into the corners and that made a huge difference
Got lucky again because Dan and Geoffers were busy fighting over the lead and somehow I slipped through the pack to 4th, from where I could see that Erling in 3rd was being held up. A couple of banzai laps I was in Erling's slipstream. The rest of the race was a fun battle between 2 Minis for what we both thought was the last podium step, until Dan went into the boondocks near the end.
I did get ahead of Erling for a couple of laps, and he will be pleased to know that I was kicking and cursing myself for leaving the door open when he retook the place. With the cars so evenly matched it was a chance to steal a position from him that I threw away lol.
Race 3 and the Anglebox. The previous races had demonstrated that this car was the fastest around the Combe...not that it meant I would be!!!
For the 1 lap qually I just wanted a decent time and grid slot so that I might be able to pick off a place or two on the straights. I honestly did not think that my lap was "hot" and was stunned to log a 1:09 and pole. Like I said in chat, "I have no idea where that came from?".
Then Arnolds preparation screwed things at the start. He had been so intent on turning out the best looking car on the grid that he had polished everything with a pair of Mabel's old bloomers...even the pedals!!!
Adrenaline was flowing as the countdown dropped to Zero.
3.....depress clutch, engage 1st gear 2.....raise the revs to 75%, must get a good start to fend off Geoffers....nerves tensed, muscle ready to respond and left sock slithers half off the ruddy clutch pedal and car lurches forward
Nooooooooo!!!!!!..........Yessssss!! "False start Stop and GO" "B*ll*cks!!!"
Maybe in a longer race I might have reclaimed a few more places, but after a 15 sec dwell in the pits + in and out I was 20+ secs behind the field after 1 lap
Ok have some fun and just throw the car around for the next 13 laps. Discovered that I could clock 1:09 laps quite easily if I concentrated and managed to reel in a couple of cars but just ran out of laps to really get into the points.
All great fun guys and for any who might be interested below is a link showing my friend Dan taking quarry in his Lotus Cortina #46....actually I think he was just showing off!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJfYO4qKAsoand incidentally his 70 yr old dad was racing the blue topped A40#45!! sideways runs in the family??