First of all commiserations to Ziu; what rotten luck mate
If your wheel suddenly stopped working, it could perhaps be a broken wire inside the USB cable. It will probably have contact some of the time, only to lose it at other times. Happened to me with my first Razer Boomslang 2000 mouse. It would suddenly stop working, but could sometimes be brought back to life by wriggling the cable. Never found the break inside and eventually had to replace it.
My own preparation for this race didn't start too well, when I spent a couple of hours testing all cars on Green Valley instead of Golden Valley
Quickly forgotten however, once I set wheels on the right track. Absolutely love it, and likewise, the Alpine was an instant love affair. Love the noise and the way it handles.
Qual was initially frustrating, as I couldn't match my offline pb of 1:21.4. Finally succeded, snatching 3rd on the grid from Clive, in the nick of time
Start went ok; with Ziu gone, I was suddenly in 2nd. Clive made advances, but I hung onto it going into the 'big hairpin'. Then disaster struck, when I lost the rear and spun in the final, tight left-hander. From hero to zero in a few secs! Entire field had passed when I rejoined. Nothing to do but try to catch as many as possible; it was a long race after all.
Gained places when first Huggy and then Tony went off. Next had a battle with Bill, who was fast in the Alpine! We were both screaming towards the chicane, when I had a look down the inside, contemplating a move. Bill was late on the brakes however, so I obviously wasn't going to make it and thus backed off in time. Bill still went wide, slid across the grass & track, possibly touching John, as he went off too. I slipped between them, but surely hope it wasn't all caused by Bill making room for a possible kamikaze stunt from me
Next up ahead was Roger in a Cobra. He's never easy to pass, so with all that straight line grunt, he could be a real problem. I had to find a way past in a corner, where the Alpine had the edge. After a couple of half-assed attempts, where the door was firmly shut, I slipped past on the inside of the 'little hairpin'. Surprisingly survived the following straight and could slip further away when we reached the curvy sections.
Bob was the next up the road. Pulled on him what I couldn't do with Bill, when he braked a little earlier before the chicane, and I slipped past at the entry. Following lap, I got past Kurt's Cobra, when going into the 'big hairpin'.
With all this, I was now 3rd, chasing after Clive, some 6 secs ahead. Soon had a frown on my forehead however. I was improving my 'fastest lap', but still the gap grew. Not quite the plan.. After a few laps, when going through the 'big hairpin', I suddenly spot a thick plume of dust. Could it possibly be... ? Yup, at the bottom of it was Clive's car, and he thus generously handed me 2nd. He was soon chasing me, some 3 secs behind. I was under the illusion his car was getting smaller in my mirrors. However, the pit board showed that it was most certainly getting bigger!
When the gap had dropped to 1.2 secs, he suddenly vanished. Mixed emotions - relieved my 2nd place seemed a little safer, but disappointed over missing what shaped up to be a great fight. Clive is one of those drivers I will happily enter a battle with, as I'm supremely confident he won't run me off track, if I'm ahead
Gap continued to grow from this point, so 2nd half of the race was quite lonely. Geoffers was 18-20 secs ahead, probably just cruising, maintaining the gap. On a couple of laps, the gap would tantalizingly drop 4-5 secs, but no matter how much I strained to follow up with a fast lap, it would always stabilize or grow a lap later. Clearly Mr. Geoffers was just trying (succesfully) to bait me..
Grats to Geoffers on the win, and John for the final podium. Thanks to all I lapped for making it very easy.
Question for the (brave) Cobra guys: Did you stop for tyres, or could you make on 1 set ?
Cheers,
Erling