First of all commiserations to Clive, who looked set for a very strong performance, only to be cruelly robbed of it, before it even began. I can recall seeing drivers listed with red 'DQ' right before the start, but have never seen an explanation as to why.
Really enjoyed the race myself. Cadwell has always been a favorite of mine; just love those elevation changes. Initially I had dismissed both Ace and Jag; the former for being too slow, the latter for being too bonkers on this track, and for its tyre munching tendencies, as stated by Tony. Thus tested with Aston and Healey. Posted 1:36.3 & 1:36.9 respectively. With its much higher tyre wear, it seemed unlikely the small advantage of the Aston would matter in the race, so with a heavy heart I abandoned the idea of using this most gloriously sounding car.
Then Matt stirred the pot by being really quick in Jag & Ace. Had to try the latter. Huge fun and really 'abusable', and eventually I pipped my best Healey time, with a 1:36.8 lap. However, with its tyre wear rate literally being double that of a Healey on vintage rubber, suggested it wouldn't be the best choice for the race. When I returned to the Healey and clocked my first timed lap at 1:36.5, the choice was a no-brainer. Fiddling with the suspension yielded immediate improvements, culminating in a 1:34.6 lap. Healey it was!
Joined server in pre-race praccy, and was shocked to see Clive at the very top. Shouldn't have been, as his been very quick in these cars before. Qual started and I dipped into the 33's for the first time. Had seen Clive do a 1:33.9 in praccy, so was optimistic when I went to see the board after posting a new pb of 1:33.7. .....Yikes, Clive's on pole!!!....No wait, he isn't anymore; Ziu has pressed his "If Ziu isn't on pole, use this" button, and snatched it from Clive!!.....Well, at least I'm 3rd...Nooooooooo, Bloody Geoffers stole it!!!....After the time had run out and by a mere 4/1000!!
Joined grid and became increasingly worried, as the empty slot in front of me remained empty as time ran out. Start ok and I retained my position. First couple of laps confusing, as pit board showed me to be 4th, but there was definitely only 2 cars in front (unless one had activated a cloaking device..). Hot pursuit of Geoffers right from the start. We slowly eased away from Matt, while up ahead Ziu did the same to us. Tried to put as much pressure on Geoffers as I could, but he's not easily rattled; I'll give him that. He had moments here and there, but always recovered before I could exploit them. Knew his tyres were disappearing twice as fast as mine however, so at some point I would have an advantage. After around 10 laps, he ran wide at the penultimate righthander, allowing me to claim the inside line into the final one. Would I be able to hold up as well under pressure as Geoff, now that I had gotten in front ? We never found out, sadly, as Geoffers spun off on the next lap.
By then, Ziu was around 17 secs ahead and still moving away. He pitted earlier than me, so I borrowed the lead for a couple of laps. After my own stop, I was soon back in 2nd, now 10 secs behind Ziu. Gap dropped a little and stabilized around 7 secs. Seemed obvious he was just managing the gap. I kept pushing as hard as I could, in case he should suffer delays of some kind. Got a little closer towards the end, but not enough.
Grats to Ziu on winning, and Matt for completing the podium. Thanks to those I lapped; hope I didn't spoil any of the battles going on. Commiserations to those who met misfortune. And not least, a thought to Lawrence; wished he could have been there.
Clive: I can assure you, that once I'm on the server pre-race there's NO sandbagging - I always go as fast as I can
(And bloody impressed by the times you & Ziu squeezed out of the Healey
)
Cheers,
Erling
