Grats to Ziu for the win.
Really pleased to see that he is still racing with us
Not so good when he chooses the same car group as me, and he still has a rear wheel drive Escort 1300!!
I have avoided the front wheel drive shoeboxes for so long, that I am now forced to start using them.
Which means I am having to learn how to make the ruddy things go around corners and that seems odd when we are talking about front wheel drive??!! But I find that it is soooo different to my usual style, that I have to seriously concentrate.
Anyhow, I did take a 1275 mini for Oulton, because I still had 2 of them waiting in the garage. I did some practice over the weekend and started with around 1:56 laps. Gradually I fiddled with the setup and chipped away at the time getting down to a PB of 1:51 before last night's race. The one thing that I lacked was consistent pace, one lap could be 1:51 and the next might be 1:55!!!
Qually was all about finding some steady pace and the time that put me second, was one where I followed Geoffers in his 970 mini and watched his lines through the corners. For the next few quali laps I simply tried to remember those lines and found that I could keep a better pace...thanks Geoff
The start was like a real life saloon car race...chaos!! Huggy burst through in his Escort, to elbow Geoffers and myself aside and move into 2nd. For the first few laps the racing was intense and frenetic as Huggy, Geoffers and myself took turns to overtake, block and delay. This allowed Ziu to escape and also allowed Erling to sit right behind the battle, like a vulture waiting for all 3 of us to end up in a heap against the barriers so that he could pick us off.
Then I got a good run down to Lodge which put me alongside Huggy on the outside as we entered the braking zone. I was planning to try a cut back to exit on the inside of Huggy and make a pass. But, I suspect that because I forced Huggy to take a tighter line he ran wide onto the grass and myself and Geoffers were through at last.
If I thought that now Huggy and that Escort were out of the way that I could relax, I could not have been more wrong!! Geoffers was on a mission in his 970 mini and the rest of the race was one of those epic battles that make simracing so rewarding........thanks Geoffers.
It was very obvious that if I made a single proper mistake then I would never catch Geoffers again...so no pressure there!! lol Given my random laptimes in practice the chances did not look great
The last 15 laps went past in a flash with us exchanging places, paint samples and door handles at various points, but always ( I hope! ) fairly. I suspect that it was only the small extra HP that I had that made up for Geoffers' skill in the smaller Mini. The only place that I felt I had a small advantage was punching out of corners, because there was very little between the cars on top speed........which was frustrating!!
Each of the overtakes were as a result of a small mistake of the leading car just losing momentum for a moment.
Geoff took the lead with about 4 laps to go and was obviously intending to make a long run for the flag, because I just could not find an overtaking chance no matter how hard I pressed.
Then we started the last lap and I was looking to make a pass after T1 down into clearways...nope! Geoff got a better exit from Clearways and all I could do was tailgate him down to the hairpin, where all through the race he had been the master
.
But he made his first mistake there in 20 laps, and by sheer chance I was in the right place to exploit the opening and stuck my car down the inside to sneak past.
Geoffers was obviously in no mood to give up the fight and he slipstreamed me down to Knickerbrook ( another corner where he was much faster!!). This race was going all the way to the flag!!
I held Geoffers off through Knickerbrook and it was only Lodge corner that scared me now. Would Geoffers be able to outbrake me into there and outsprint me to the flag???
The final corner was NOT our finest hour as simracers
I went as deep as I dared to prevent Geoffers outbraking me.
Geoffer's was equally committed.
I was like a Meerkat on speed, checking my mirrors as we approached the apex. I knew that I was on the very limit of adhesion and I might have overcooked it!
But when Geoffers flashed across my rear window I knew that he had also pushed to the limit.
I made the apex, but could not avoid the grass on the outside. One wheel on the grass and the car squirmed across the track to the grass on the inside!! At this point I fully expected to see Geoffers sweep past and take that second place...but as I scrabbled back to the tarmac I glanced in the mirror to see a blue Mini still on the outside of Lodge corner. Not being one to look too carefully at gifts like this, I could not get my car across that line fast enough.
TBH I would not have been downhearted if I had been 3rd. There have not been many races in 10 yrs+ of simracing that I have enjoyed as much as this one, thanks again Geoffers for some epic fun
It should have been a dead heat and a share of the spoils?
