Erling G-P
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« Reply #31 on: October 03, 2017, 03:53:38 PM +0100 » |
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Surprised to be 2nd quickest Div 2 driver yesterday. Expected Geoffers to be faster, as that has mostly been the case with Div 1, but if he's bored with the cars, then maybe that's the reason.
Pleased with qual, as I knocked over ½ a sec off my pb, but Ziu's pole time was positively otherworldly. Thus a great shame to see him wreck his car totally unnecessarily at the end of L2. Did present me with an unexpected opportunity though. Had Tony behind me at the time. Keeping him there was going to be a problem. No chance against the straight line speed of his Div 1, so would have to beat him on braking and cornering. Regrettably I'm nowhere near the insane cornering speeds of our resident flying donkey, so despite my best efforts, Tony reeled me in over a few laps. Eventually he was in position to just power past down the long straight.
Not cause for great concern, as I knew he would have to pit around halfways. Thus got the lead back around lap 13-14. A couple of laps after Tony's stop, the gap was 53 secs and apparently holding. Around lap 18 however, I started to slow down to conserve my tyres. Was greatly concerned my right front tyre would blow. Had tested a full distance offline, to make sure it would last. Had reached a wear value of 31 then, but the hard racing earlier had taken its toll, and it was clear I would exceed that. Braked ever sooner and softer, and practically crawled through the corners on the last laps.
Around the same time, the pit board had stopped showing the gap to 2nd place, so had no idea how fast Tony (presumably) was catching me. If a car appeared in my mirrors, I would just have to go for broke and hope the tyre survived. Threat never materialized and I made it with tyre intact. After finishing, I did an extra, complete banzai lap, to see if I could make the tyre pop. It didn't, despite wear reaching 35 and the tiniest bit of red remaining. Will have to do some offline experimenting with tyre wear 5x, to see how far you can squeeze it.
Grats to Tony & Matt for the remaining podiums, and commiserations to Ziu, who could have cruised home to victory.
Switching to Div 2 didn't really produce the desired effect - bar the early laps, the race was as lonely as they've been in Div 1. If Ziu returns to Div 1, I'll probably do the same, to defend my 2nd place in the Championship, which I can then do without stealing 1st place in a way I wouldn't want to,
Cheers, Erling
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