Quite enjoyed that. I'm strangely drawn to some city street circuits - maybe potential disaster lurking everywhere just makes it more exiting..
Tried all cars bar Maseratis offline. 250 TR the sweetest again. 375 felt quicker, but laps were slower, and it was harder to handle. Aston just felt too unwieldy here. The Jag with its tendency to wander, would seem suicidal on this track, but surprisingly it worked quite well and was the quickest for me. With practice, laptimes dropped, culminating in a 2:13.9. Sadly couldn't match that in qual; otherwise I might have been able to challenge Ati for pole.
Still happy with 2nd. Survived start and dreaded first laps, although Flash got past. Early laps close to other cars were very difficult. The racket from that 375 is unbelievable. Couldn't hear myself think, let alone the crucial tyre squeal from my own car. With warming tyres, I opened a small gap to Clive of around 3 secs, and got closer to Flash. He was bouncing somewhat off the walls. Not enough to create an opportunity for me, but enough to slow us both down. Thus my gap to Clive was fast disappearing.
Clive outbraked me a couple of times, but then backed off, tucking in behind. If he had held his ground, I would have been forced to let him past, but no complaints
With Clive pressuring me, I pressured Flash. I wanted past, so I could ditch Mr. Evil. Not to happen, as the incident Clive mentioned happened. Flash and I both stuffed our cars nose first into the barrier. I swear I could hear Clive laughing as he breezed past..
Next lap it would have been our turn to laugh, when Clive spun his car. However, he retired immediately, which seemed a bit drastic. Clive, I think we would have survived. It was right after a sharp turn, so speeds weren't that high.
Kept pressure on Flash, and after a few laps he spun at the chicane after the long straight, finally allowing me to get past. Gap quickly grew, so he must have had more trouble.
Thus ran in 2nd, until Ati's pitstop, where I inherited 1st. Tried extending the gap, so I could hang on to it after my own stop. When Ati retired, the gap to the next car was sufficiently big for that. No pressure on me then, but I still nearly tossed everything in the bin late on L24. Grazed the walls a couple of times, but the 3rd time, it caught and sent the car into a somersault above track. Seemed to hang there forever, giving me plenty of time to worry it would land on the wrong side of the barriers. It didn't fortunately, and I was able to nurse an even more battered Jag through the final two laps, to take an unexpected win.
Grats to Bob and Doni for the other pods - and to all who survived!
Thanks to Tony for an excellent track choice..
Cheers,
Erling