Cracking event this one
Fell in love instantly when I heard the engine noise of the Aston
Didn't care if it had been the slowest car; still had to drive it
Prepared thoroughly, testing tyre wear, handling on worn tyres, and timing tyre changes in the pits, to decide whether I should change these or not during the race. All done on modern tyres. Didn't seriously consider trying the vintage ones, until Tony tossed a spanner in the works, by stating that opinions differed on which ones were best.
Had to try the vintage ones too then. Car felt more loose and skittish, but laptimes were surprisingly quick - I soon matched my then pb on the moderns of 1:37.0. In this same test session, with 4x tyre wear, I couldn't for the life of me match that on the moderns. Got the impression that front grip was best on vintage, while rears felt better on moderns. Could combining them perhaps be the holy grail ? Not so; completely undriveable with vintage front / modern rear - rear end all over the place. Switched round, and now it understeered badly instead. Seems then that vintage has the best grip, surprisingly.
With a little more practice, I knocked 0.4 secs off my pb on the vintage ones, dipping into 1:36 laps for the first time. Had to use vintages then
An added advantage was, that tyre wear was only half that of the moderns.
Knocked close to another sec off that time in qualy, but that was still only good enough for 4th. After the first few hectic corners on L1, I found myself in 3rd. Alternated between 4th, 3rd & 2nd through the race - heh, I even lead it for a few secs during my pitstop
Had some good scraps with Ross & Bill, being reeled in and passed by the latter twice, as I couldn't quite match his speed. Managed to wrestle 3rd from Ross and hang on to it till the finish. Very chuffed with that, considering the fast crowd this race attracted
Grats to Bill & Geoffers, for a job very well done.
Glad too that my team mate Kurt is finally back again.
I like long races with pitstops, so wouldn't mind more of them. Adds the tactical element of fuel consumption and tyre wear against outright speed - and provides another golden opportunity to screw things up completely
Cheers,
Erling
