First things first... It really was an honour to have Malcolm join us for this Brands round. Hoping it's a trend.
Fine congratulations to Robert for a walkaway win in the Cooper! A 'slam' by any definition.
Begrudging grats to Tim on a P2 finish in the Cooper. Grrr...
Just kiddin', Tim. I really enjoyed our spar. Ripping!
A lucky P3 for me to make it a Cooper sweep. But oh, my... A tiny error cost me P2 with only 1-1/2 laps to run. Grrr... Then again, could have been worse! More on that later...
I chose the Cooper for this round as it's such a nice, plush ride. Sorta like a Caddy. The Brabham I found slightly 'edgey' and while I was a full 1/2 second faster in the BT24 in pre-race trials, I opted for the T81B.
I was really bummed-out to note a couple of things from this event. Firstly, on going to the pit lane to start my qualifying, I was mystified to see my pit stall tag about 30m down the lane.
What was this all about? It didn't have any consequence for me as I was able to exit the pits as per normal but... As it turned out, everyone seemed to have their stall mis-placed and the really unlucky ones were assigned stalls that put them into the haybales at the start of the pit lane and with no shift-R available, were scuppered in any attempts to qualify. MERDE! This glitch cost a number of top guns the chance to qualify and start where they might normally do so and went along way to explaining why I was able to start well up. In scoping my replay cap of the race, I noted, too, that we were all placed a similar distance back-track on the grid proper. I jumped into Robert's cockpit and couldn't help but notice that he wasn't anywhere near the starter's stand. Clearly, something up with the track.ini file.
Secondly, after my qualifying runs, I watched some others on their rounds and was alarmed to see many car images were winking out for a couple of seconds. This did note bode well for the race. If it was repeated, all manner of nonsense was likely to occur and indeed, I think that some shunts and contact witnessed after the race in my replay cap seemed to indicate just that. Downer!
I experienced one, brief spike in my lag bar in the race but otherwise had no complaints. Only after Tim passed me late in the going did I see that his Cooper was stuttering a bit. If he had to spend 18-1/2 laps with me doing that just in front of him, it wouldn't have been fun.
Dean's early off(but staged a nice recovery to finish P7)and the contact(warp? sure looked like something goofy was going on there to these eyes)between Axel and Pelle had me up to P2 within a mere 1-1/2 laps. HEY! I'm not used to running this high up! MOTHER!!!
For many a round, I had Tim right on my tail pressing for a pass. Robert was lone gone. Most laps, I had things pretty much covered and while I readily thought that Tim was faster, there just wasn't the opportunity to pass. Comes Lap18 and I was somewhat conservative in my entry to South Bank. I turned in a bit early and bled off some more speed than usual. Doubtless feeling the heat from behind. This compromised pass through the corner really bit my in the arse when I lightly nudged the outfield kerb and I had to hesitate before going throttle up. This cost me speed down the straight and with Tim getting a really good launch off the corner, he drew alongside on my left. Ahead, even. From my cockpit, I could just make out his RF wheel. I was determined to fight back, though, and dove into Hawthorn as late as I dared on the inside lane. I changed down to 2nd gear(not my usual 3rd)to get a better pass through and out of Hawthorn in hopes of gunning Tim down on the run up the hill to Westfield. Nope. I kissed the infield kerb in my effort to leave Tim room on the outside and this killed my chances to contest for Westfield. Nevertheless, I pressed on hard. Tim eased out a smallish gap over the last 1-1/2 laps but I kept pushing hard hoping for a small error. It didn't come. Indeed, I just about threw away my podium finish with a lurid slide coming off Clearways with the finish line in sight. The LR tyre only just caught the outside verge and I went for a skate off into the infield. The Cooper looped around but I was lucky in that it righted itself and I was able to regain the track surface not far ahead of Ray. That could have gone much, much worse. Lucky boy!
Two races. Two great dices with Tim. On to DONIngton. Hmmm... Dare I think?
RIP, Joe.