lol Al. A few laps on the practice server before the race confirmed my suspicion that the Lotus , although better than the Fez or BT14, was only slightly better than the Cooper. It was never going to outdrag the Protos or the Matras, so I had to come up with another cunning idea.
I failed to pick up a tow in the quali session for the race and so was left at the back of the 6 car grid. This did not worry me unduly, as I figured that this race would be decided on the final lap. The potential pace of all 6 drivers meant that, even if a single car got away in 1st spot, it would not take long for a couple of chasing cars to use slipstream to close the gap again.
So I geared my Lotus with very high gears so that I could at least use any slipstream to stay in touch.
starting at the back, my only concern was not to get involved in someone else's incident and find myself left too far behind to pick up a tow and I was amazed to see cars in front taking quite big risks ( at least they seemed risky to me!!) on the first few laps. I was content to sit back and get pulled along.
My gearing was working well and I could easily live with the race pace provided I was within the slipstream, often lifting slightly to avoid getting too close. It was clear that no-one had a massive speed advantage and the first of my only 2 moments of concern happened when Hristo and Natan scattered car bits across the S/F straight and I had to take avoiding action which lost me ground just before the long straight. But I was able to close up relatively easily. Goran who had gone off earlier was now a distant 4th and I was running in comfy 3rd behind Axel and Al......
nice
.
Once again I sat in the tow. Until I realised that Goran was reeling us in and this was going to become a 4 way fight!! So I tried to inject some pace by drafting past Al and Axel, hoping that they would respond by upping their pace. Instead it seems that we ended up racing each other and Goran closed even quicker!! lol
I started to rehearse where I could make my move on the last lap with about 12 laps to go and realised that I was possibly quicker through the stadium section. So, I had to lead going into the stadium if I wanted the win. I tried a few different approaches over the next laps and realised that the move would have to start way back at the S/F line. I needed to stay in the tow down to Ostkurve and be sure that I was in 2nd spot as exited there but not too close to the leader. With my extra high 5th gear I could slingshot up the inside as we entered the stadium and outbrake the leading car into that crucial right hander.
One of my rehearsals went a little wrong and I outbraked myself and ran wide.
I prevented the car from spinning on the grass and was able to rejoin a short distance behind Al and Goran, but Axel appeared to have gone off at the same corner? I hope it was not as a result of contact Axel? I felt nothing??
My second moment of panic was seeing the 2 leaders about 400mtrs in front and my virtual tow rope dragging behind them. I had to get back on their tails or it was all over!!
The next few laps were rather unfair on my Lotus as I hit max revs in each gear and tested the tyres to their limit through Ostkurve and the stadium. I was losing out on the straights but gaining more through the corners and slowly, very slowly their cars got bigger
With about 4 laps to go I was back in the hunt and settled behind to catch my breath and get ready for an epic last lap effort. Imagine my horror when with 2 laps to go I happened to glance at my fuel pressure...............35psi!!!!
Rats!!
I kept up the race pace until the run down to the Ostkurve on the final lap, but by then it was clear that unless I backed off I would not make the finish.
So I trundled around the reast of the lap and entered the stadium showing 5psi...as I exited the final corner it was 0 psi and I just limped over the line for 3rd.
maybe that was as good as I could have expected in the Lotus, but for a while in that race I was dreaming of a top step possibility lol Grats to Al and Goran for some great close racing..sorry I could not be with you at the end.