"An evening of two halves" best describes last nights racing.
When I joined the server my wheel was about 20 deg off centre. (In reply to Tony's question in chat about that being a life choice?...I think we all know that I am much further away from the centre than that !!!!!) So, I quit and restarted the PC to allow the Logitech software to reboot the wheel and after 2 attempts things were no better??!! wierd? So I opened GPL which actually has a facility to calibrate the wheel and tried to correct things there with some success.
That meant that I had less practice than was ideal but I managed to get up near the front. I was feeling good as I stayed with our resident alien over the first lap and began to think that I might just have a chance.
Then as I approached the S/F line my wife demanded my attention through my headphones, so she must have been loud!! lol. As a result I missed my braking marker and ran ( very) wide at T1 clipping those big blocks. I kept the engine running and swung the car around to rejoin the tarmac, but the steering was 20 deg out again, which probably distracted my attention from the track. Apparently I somehow rejoined the track at the wrong place and ended up driving the wrong way, which got me an instant DQ...........a perfect 15 second storm
Race 2
After the early exit from Race 1, I took the chance to totally reboot the wheel software and get the calibration correct and waited for Race 2.
I had done a few practice laps earlier in the day just to check server/circuit/car. I'm never sure which cars are best for any circuit as the top speed figures given for the cars seem to be very approximate and unreliable. So I simply selected the drive that I had most of, and the Shelby was rolled out.
A few tweaks to the setup ( based on my experience with the Alpha on Monday
) transformed the car from just good to almost perfect.
Geoffers was predictably quick and was on pole by a couple of tenths, but I felt that could go faster so I went for a second run. But I ran out of time and despite being 0.5secs up I could not complete the lap.
When the flag dropped I thought the wheel gremlins were back, because 1st gear failed to engage until the 3rd attempt...sorry to cars behind my stationary Mustang
I was lucky to get away in 3rd place behind Fulvio, with Geoff in front. If I was to have a chance I had to pass Fulvio and catch Geoff before he got into the groove. The Mustang lacked top speed but with a little slipstream I was able to get into 2nd spot before the end of the lap and chase the leader. There then followed a few laps of what I would like to call over exuberant youthful excess, but I suspect that stupid old guy trying too hard is closer to the truth??!!
Fulvio must have wondered what the heck I was doing as I passed him, ran wide, caught him again, ran wide, caught him again, had wild slide etc etc.
Finally I got my head out of my a** and started driving the car properly and was able to slowly close the large gap to Geoff. Just when I thought I had got myself sorted, I braked too late for T1 ( again) and this time Fulvio AND Erling went past
.
The last few laps were fun chasing down that pair but the car was just great even on worn tyres and I was reeling them in at over a second a lap. I particularly enjoyed the double pass as all three of us entered the banking, I was able to get on the gas early and hold a tight line to sweep past both cars
Fulvio vanished at this point, I hope that there was not any contact as I passed him, but Erling now had the benefit of my slipstream and was a threat. So I pushed hard over the last lap to build a gap through the twisty bits and I think I did just enough. I knew that Erling was quicker through that chicane on the banking and sure enough he closed the gap on the run to the flag but I kept my foot planted and hugged the inside line to just get to the flag first.
I have always liked these big brutes and last night was huge fun, just wish I had survived race 1 too. Thanks for organising Tony.