First of all GRATS to the podium and especially to Greg for such marvellous times!
Great job by Andreas on his Lieblingsstrecke
Thanks Axel. Yes, Andreas did great! I spoiled his excellent return though. That's the only thing about my race that didn't make me happy. At one point I felt a little like I was kicking a man while he was down. Sorry Andreas!
I think it's my favorite track too. Targa Florio is too long to ever feel I can learn it's nuances very well.
I drove with a little bit of anger and a great deal of determination. I'm a bit angry with myself lately. I've been making small mistakes that have resulted in catastrophe and caused accidents.
Plus, I inherited a 16 second lead at Nurburgring after two laps on Saturday, only to make the small mistake of lifting a little late for Flugplatz and rolling the car over on the banking. That's after I just learned to do 7:59s with the 67 312. I was so pleased to pull off a 7:59 in Q for a Pro race, only to toss a race victory on lap 3! Nurburgring can be such a cruel place at times, no wonder many have called it Hell.
Immediately after starting to practice for this race Saturday, I became determined. Jackie Ickx had the record on my computer with 7:42.8 or 7:43.8. That was the first goal I was determined to complete. The second one was beating that erroneous 67 312 time on UKGPL. UKGPL is too cool to have the fastest lap at great place like Nurburgring be ficticious. Now, the fastest UKGPL lap at Nurburgring is legitimate!
The third thing I was determined to do was get a lap in the 7:30s. Since I couldn't do it in qualifying, I decided near the end of lap 2 to do it as quickly as I possibly could in the race. I tried to drive as fast as possible from lap 3 until the end when I finally got it done. I thought to myself several times, "you're putting an easy win in jeopardy trying to go this fast!" So I gave it just about everything I had the entire race, the first two laps opening a comfortable lead on Andreas and the last 4 laps hellbent on breaking 7:40.
The Ring is not a track I like, as it does not allow any Verschnaufpause, so with more laps my mistakes got worse...
I made them in the places where I know I have to be extra carefull
You did well on the opening lap! You, I, Andreas, and Ray seemed to be only ones that managed to have a clean lap 1. Clive didn't do bad either except for a quick spin in one of the slowest sections of the track. The long straight does allow a little
Verschnaufpause. I took a sip of tea on the straight on every lap.
I am happy that 16 drivers finished in the same lap and the server kept it all together!
That's great! I was surprised to see so many finishers while watching the last several minutes of the race. I got a laugh seeing Tommie qualifying his lowly Eagle, but then I thought he might do well because of attrition. You should have taken the 49 Tom. You'd have probably looked pretty good with 400 hp available, even without wings. 260hp is somewhat of a joke in this mod.
It's interesting how patience and consistency worked through the race. The top 4 finishers were all consistent. Jonny's patience and consistency moved him up the grid nicely.
Excellent time for Tim and Clive with their 4wds. I thought Tim was in the 49b too, until I watched the replay. I thought you hadn't practiced enough and that I got lucky you weren't well prepared for the race. You and I shattered the records for our respective cars. Excellent on your part. It's a shame your luck was so bad. On my part, it appeared the 49B has been neglected at this track. That's been lessened now. I'm impressed with Clive's performance in the MS84. It may have been better than mine was. I have no idea what I can do with one of those heavy beasts at this track.
Did anybody see Dean and DaveR's top speed with their 4wds? They were close to 190 mph before Antoniusbuche with the M9A! I was limited to 175 mph with my steep wing angles. Most others were the same except the Lotus 63 and MS84 were down 2-3 mph from the conventional cars.
It looks like Bob would have been rather strong with more practice and some good luck.
Overall, it was a great event for me. I struggled a little in qualifying. I abused the engine a great deal in Q with little result for it. I was abusive to the engine through the race but not heavily until the last lap. I made few mistakes. I think I had one quick spin that resulted in me losing less than 5 seconds and 7 or 8 turns throughout the entire race where I needed to slow much more than usual to keep the car on the track. There's still plenty to learn about the 49b here. My setup is good even though I'm not very pleased with my gearing. If you thought I was fast on this race day, I think a 6 speed transmission in the Lotus 49b would gain at least two more seconds. It's cool when a car and a track having you dreaming about parts you'd like.
Greg... What are you smokin', bud? Fab stuff!
Of course it was buds, leaves would never do the trick.
No, I just got on a good roll, in the zone, had a good rhythm going, whatever you want to call it. That's something I used to do easily but it rarely happens now. That's something I loved most about sim driving. Everything would fade away expect where the car needed to placed on the road or track. I could give 100% and get the feeling I go do no wrong. My heart, coordination, and stamina haven't allowed me to do that well in several years.
Thanks guys. This one was very enjoyable. I look forward to racing here again in the top 69x cars.
