What an evenings racing.
Being British and used to summertime temps being low 20's, to squeeze myself into an airless tiny room at the top of my house and sitting on a large vinyl covered office chair was just insane.
During practice I was removing items of clothing in a vain attempt to cool off lol! Not a pretty sight!! for those of you who know Monty Python I guess it was like Terry Jones sitting at his organ in the nude.
I thought that a mini should be the right car for race 1, so I tried both the 970s and the 1275 options but that infernal front wheel drive was proving too much effort in the heat, so I looked for something with a proper drive train.
First option that I tried was the Escort simply because I had a setup somewhere........and I was amazed just how quick it was straight out of the box!! so I never even tried the Imps.
Matt was threatening in his 1275 Mini and he pipped me to pole. I totally fluffed the start and dropped to 4thbehind a flying Ziu and Geoffers. It took a while to get my act together and use my extra power to pass those imps and get after Matt. Matt made an error at T1 and all I had to do was get past those pesky Imps. Ziu put up a hell of a fight, but it was a little unequal and once I squeezed past I was able to get some clean laps and gradually extend my lead to around 3 seconds and I relaxed a little, knowing I had pace in hand if I needed it when Matt got back into 2nd place.
Then my whole world went crazy!!!!
Lapping cars at Crystal Palace is part of the fun and I caught a car on the exit of the final turn. Not sure if they slowed/missed a gear/or I was just extremely quick through there ( unlikely but possible ). The result was that I had to take evasive action that propelled me straight at the end of the pit wall. To avoid the wall the only option was to take to the pitlane to avoid a mess, and of course I hit the pitlane at a speed that triggered a S&G penalty
. Then, just to make it all perfect, the phone rang and I had to drive one handed.....not good! Within one lap I had spun twice and bent the suspension. A final spin that threatened to cause a crashfest...so I quit.
Race 2 could only get better.......couldn't it?
Opted for the Camaro just because I did not know what else to drive, hoping that the power would be fun, amazed to find myself in a duel with Ziu for pole.
The first few laps were intense and Tony was very quick in his Escort and threatened to pounce if the 2 Camaros tangled. Gradually Ziu and myself eased away from Tony and it appeared that we had similar pace. It was a great battle and looked like it would be decided by a single mistake.
By this stage, I was so hot I was in danger of sliding off of my office chair in a river of sweat,,, a nice picture for you to conjure with
. With a few laps to go I tried to apply some pressure and was looking for a chance to pass. Then for no reason at all, other than old age and stupidity I forgot to take my foot of the brakes at T1
With my setup and brake balance I have to release the brakes to allow the car to turn in. The result was that I ploughed straight into the Armco .....what a numpty. I was aware that I was right on the racing line so I hit the ESC again. Then I jumped into a cold shower!!!!
Grats to all the podium places in both races. Despite the way that both races ended for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the racing around a small but satisfying circuit ( when you get it right!! lol ).