Still coming to terms with my inept display last night, when I felt that I had a shot at the podium.
Particularly ironic that it was Erling that was involved in my rejoin
The top 2 drivers in the table? what are the chances??
As I was rejoining, I knew it was going to be risky with cars coming off the banking at escape velocity, but I was at a standstill and had no choice but to just nail the gas and go, sitting there was not a better option. I guess I must have appeared to stationary to Erling, but I can assure you that I was under max acceleration for a good 2-3 secs before we took our seats in the stands!!
My 2 short test runs in previous days confirmed that the layout was much as I expected from GPL experience and I only got down to some serious lapping 30 mins before joining the server last night.
The only car for this track had to be the Jag with the superior top speed and such long straights ( although I still get worried when I see the red rev limit light come on halfway down a straight and get the urge to back off and protect the engine!!). The setup evolved around getting the absolute max top speed and sacrificing as little of that as possible for stability under braking for the 1st hairpin.
I soon discovered that the optional route was too risky with a car that objected to directional input under brakes, and that it was up to 1.5 secs faster to brake a fraction early and flick the ass around the armco with a dab of power to aim the car back up the next straight, then nail the gas. Not sure if it was my imagination but the tarmac of the road appeared to give more grip than the wide concrete apron?? and I was able to be more aggressive with the gas?
After about 10 laps running solo off line I was getting low 2:09's and with a slight change in approach to the banking I stuck in 2 mid 2:08's on race fuel.
Like Erling I had read the forum and projected 2:14's?? ahem... a little sandbagging from Ati I suspect
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Once on the server I wanted to pick up a good slipstream and see how that affected speed and braking distances before the race started, and with a quick calculation I reckon that with cars in the right place and hitting all my brake points etc a sub 2:06 was possible. Unfortunately, a) I never caught cars at the right place and b) someone moved my brake markers!!. In fact I resorted to counting the seconds after a particular tree before downshifting for the kink before the banking...how desperate is that??!!
Pole would have been nice, but frankly no-one was going to escape from the pack on lap 1 with all of that slipstream, so I was content to be on the front row, intending to sit behind Erling for a lap or two until the dust settled.
But, when he was still drinking his coffee and eating his bun as the flag dropped, and I pulled a couple of seconds lead straight off the line, I did try to break away early.......no chance LOL the pack were all over me on the approach to the hairpin.
The aforementioned Kamikaze Brigade did their thing and Ati slipped around the inside to take the lead back up towards the banking. I picked up the draft and it was too easy to pass...so I did. Maybe had I been more patient there would not have been the contact that put Ati out as we turned towards the banking.
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That contact slowed me enough for Bill G to get close and I could do nothing about the gap or slipstream that he had until we reached the hairpin. The car slipped around there really well and I pulled a few tenths.......maybe I can get clear of the slipstream zone if I push to the max for a few laps??
Well all of that came to nothing as I left the banking and clipped the very end of the fencing.
In my defence, my virtual mirror which is central on the top of the screen effectively obscured the exit from the banking in cockpit view, and I was aiming the car at where I thought the gap was long before I could actually see the road to the finish line.
Grat to all who survived a "simple" circuit and to a great 3rd place in the Aston Martin!!!