Only myself to blame for a DNF. Grats to Tim and his Gordini....I want the scrutineers to look under that bonnet!!!!
Tim was dangerously quick in that Gordini
and I was surprised that a Gordini and a Connaught took the front row, especially when there were a couple of Lancias in the pack??
I hoped that Tim's gearing would compromise his start, and that proved to be the case as I was easily able to get to Tarzan first. I was also hoping that his gearing would be so bad that he got swamped before T1
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I think Ronnie got past and provided a buffer between me and that crazy French car, so I tried to build a lead that I could then control. The plan worked well for the first few laps and Ronnie grew smaller in the mirrors. Until I tried a little too hard around Hellzanbuggerbrocht and caught my front wheel on the kerb at the exit. The contact pulled the car violently sideways and fired me into the only sign post on the circuit!!!
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The resounding "crunch" was so loud I thought that at least 3 wheels had come off and the engine would be between my knees!!! and I almost hit the Escape key there and then. But, the car sort of bounced back towards the track, so I though I would give it a try before quitting.
Miraculously the car appeared to be OK, and after a tentative lap where I expected dodgy handling or braking, but felt no ill effects, I set about regaining some places.
The Connaught was definitely down on top speed against some cars but I could gain ground through the twisty bits.
After a couple of passes, I could see Phil ahead in a Lancia and he was motoring along quite quickly
It took several laps to reel him in and his pace had taken both of us up to the pair of battling Gordinis that were Sam and Greg.
The 4 cars entered the S/F straight where Phil had a definite speed advantage over everyone, but Greg had pulled alongside Sam and the was a wall of pale blue French metal across the track.......undeterred Phil went down the middle
. Call me chicken and stick a feather somewhere, but I saw trouble ahead at Tarzan
so I eased back just slightly to give myself some avoidance room.
I suspect that Phil also realised that a Lancia in a Gordini sandwich into Tarzan was not going to be a good experience and he braked early. Greg was caught on the inside line and like he says, was just a fraction too late on the brakes and slithered gracefully across the track collecting Sam on the way and easing them both into the sand.
Phil was able to squeeze past and my cautious approach allowed me to sweep around the inside and emerge on Phil's tailpipes.
I think that elevated Phil to 2nd place and myself to 3rd?? which was gratifying after my earlier mistake. If I could get past Phil and his powerful Lancia I might be able to chase down Tim and that twin turbo Gordini with afterburners??
For several laps I chased Phil looking for an opening. The favourite place is braking for Tarzan, but Phil was too quick on the straight for me to get close even with a tow
Passing anywhere else at Zandvoort is a problem and try as I might I could not force Phil into a decent mistake...good defensive driving Phil
Over a couple of laps I had noticed that Phil was slightly slower out of Holzenbugitupbloch, but he always held a tight line that effectively blocked any passing attempt.........hmmmmm.
So, if what you are doin' ain't workin' try something different.
I stuck as close to Phil as I could out of Tarzan and through the Esses and instead of hugging the inside Kerb I allowed my car to run deep and brake later, so that I did all my turning out against the hay bales to aim my car back up the hill. This meant that I could nail the gas early and aim up the left hand side of the track whilst Phil took the normal line out to the right.
TBH I was surprised that it worked so well and I was passing Phil as we reached the crest. I could not see his car so had to stay to the left which compromised my entry into the fast left hander in the dip. (Looking at the replay I probably could have moved across and taken the ideal line, but I could not see that at the time).
Which is where it all went wrong, as I missed an upshift and had to take a tighter line to be sure that I left room for Phil...Phil was able to take the perfect line and swept into the apex to find a sluggish Connaught in the way.
As far as I am concerned it was a racing incident which was exaggerated by my missed gearchange. Plus who knows if I would get another screen freeze like I did in the last minutes of Qually, re-entering the server with 30 seconds to go!!
It had all the makings of an epic battle with the promise of a chase after Tim ahead for the final 10-12 laps and I was disappointed that it all ended as it did. Glad to see that Phil could continue and finish in the points as he was going so quickly.
FWIW I had absolutely zero issues with brakes at this track and did not even need to watch for the red light, in fact I totally forgot about it until about 8 laps in when I glanced down out of Tarzan after I did some really late braking on Doni(?) to see it switch back from yellow to green.
On to Aintree, where brakes WILL be an issue.........
