UKGPL Season 22 Works (67) - Mont-Tremblant - Jan 22

[Baab]

After getting over my eye strain I was reasonably pleased with my race.  I had done some practice and found the track v challenging, esp 1st corner sequence where I kept on spinning.  I improved my times and set a pb in qualifying...just.  That put me 4th on the grid so I knew it was going to be tough to get a good result.

I managed to get ahead of Al at the start and almost ran into the back of Art a couple of times while we all slid about on cold tyres.  After 6 laps I was pretty much hanging on to Art and Joe but was close to flat out, which prompted a spin at the first bridge.  Pretty tame and I almost got away with it.  Still I managed to lose 10 secs while I wondered what to do and eventually found reverse.  Al was well past by now and out of sight, but began to chase.  After a few more laps I could see I was closing at a steady rate and after a moment on the grass I got by at the last corner.

Joe and Art were well ahead and faster so I tried to settle into a safe pace.  Al closed on me towards the end but I had enough of an advantage to see the flag before him.  Great battle Al...good to actually finish in front of you for once 

Thanks for the event guys, seemed pretty clean from where I was.

Bob.

[Doni Yourth]

Grats to Joe, Attilio and Bob for making it a Brabham sweep of the top three slots.  Great jobs all 'round.

A positively miserable outing for me in the BT24.  Despite comprehensive pre-race trials, I couldn't even begin to threaten to go for a sub-1:40 lap.  A best of a 1:40.17 timing.  To see the top guns shave gobs of time off that was quite demoralizing.  And after I ran fairly well at Mosport, too.  Ah, well...

A couple of spins in the race before lunching the engine just short of half-distance ended any hope of a top five.  Being speed challenged was the least of my problems, tho.

It was a little over two years ago...November, 2009 to be precise...that in a race with the UKGPL against the oAo, my vision just evaporated.  I thought that my sim driving days were through.  Indeed, I did set it all aside for a couple of months but with rest and some medical attention, I was able to resume my 'career' taking care not to overdo it.  For Sunday's go at Mont Tremblant, I thougtht that I'd be OK having restricted my computer time during the day.  However, I hadn't even completed my first stint of four flying qualifying laps when the ol' eyeballs just disintegrated.  All fuzzy and watering.  It was a dreadful time but I was hoping to last to the finish.  The surprise of a blown engine was annoying in one respect; a relief in another.

CYA @ Zolder!

[bernie]

Way to go Donni , not good when the old eyes malfunction , suffer from cateracts and "floaters " myself . Apart from reducing computer time I find turning the screen brightness down and having good background lighting helps , reduces the glare

Hope all is well with you mate and if the worst happens we will always chip in for a white stick 

[Al Heller]

Sorry to hear about your eye probs Doni - if it's any consolation the St Jovite track graphics weren't the best for me either (even with the upgrades) so hopefully you'll be fine at the other circuits.

As to my race well, I can't complain about 4th as I felt it was pretty much where I deserved to finish. I seemed to be able to post the odd quick lap, managing to be within 0.3 of pole & 0.1 of FL which was encouraging, but in the race I simply struggled to string together enough consistently quick laps - perhaps a tad overcautious into the dreaded T1.

I dropped 3rd place to Bob off the start after I held inside line into T1. Unbeknownst to me the bump there was bloody huge compared to the usual line & I grounded badly on full tanks, very nearly bouncing off into the barrier. After that me & Bob enjoyed a race long game of cat & mouse - I think we were pretty well matched on pace but Bob was quicker when it mattered, reeling me in after he'd spun & being much more decisive through traffic. Nice driving Bob & congrats of course to Joe & great to see Art right up there too. 

[Ross Neilson]

Mod published.