Congrats Iestyn and Martin! That was an awesome drive by Iestyn. A 24 second lead over Iestyn after lap 1, still probably wasn't enough to win even if I hadn't made mistakes.
What an adventure. I didn't know what race, if any, would be run until a few minutes before qualifying started. I loaded a Laguna Seca setup I had been developing. It was the only setup I had with additional ride height. I applied a couple clicks on the differential to get the gearing closer. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the assymetrical cambers. The gearing was still too short.
After 1 lap I adjusted the differential some more so I wasn't limited to 180mph on the straight. After spins and wrecks on my first lap I couldn't trust that my tire readings had any useful information. My second lap was cleaner. My top speed was still limited to 185mph but I was able to get useful tire readings. That's when I realized my cambers were terrible for this track. Luckily, I got the car set up decent before the race started.
I did some things I haven't done in while. In qualifying I downshifted into reverse once.
And I clipped the tree exiting Adenauer. I was also very nervous for the start. No starting practice and carrying 22 gallons of fuel made me think, this could be very ugly. Luckily after full opposite lock and a huge slide in T1, I was able to calm down.
Lap 1 was pretty good. Lap 2 was looking to be real good until I had a major crash at Antoniusbuche. I thought I damaged the suspension but not enough to reset. Soon after I began thinking the engine was down on power. It wasn't until the end of sector 1 I was sure it was ailing. Cold tires and full fuel assured I wouldn't pressure Iestyn. Later I suspected Iestyn was waiting for me at times plus he made some minor mistakes that kept me somewhat close. He was laying down some incredible black marks at times. I had to be careful not to marvel at them instead of driving.
Yes, you are crazy Axel. But you did give me a good opportunity to stand by my plan of learning to drive the fastest McLaren first, just like I did with the 71's. With this difficult circuit, I was tempted to take a lower powered car.
Iestyn had me shocked with 8:02 on lap 2. But at that point I thought he was driving the big block Lola. I couldn't believe he was that fast. With the bog block I didn't expect him to be much, if any, faster than me. I was relieved after the race was over to see he was in Surtees's Lola. That made his times seem more realistic.
Thanks guys. I appreciate the fun.
