My season has not exactly been notable in 67's, so I decided to spend some tokens. Plus, I had not really done that much practice, although I have raced on this track many times before.
Having decided to spend some tokens, the question was, which car? I was tempted by the Eagle and its top speed on the long straights, but in the end I thought "what the heck, let's try the Lotus as a treat?"
It is a long time since I have used the Lotus and actually got dialled into the performance it offers. So qualifying was interesting as I tried to exploit the potential in the Lotus, gradually improving my time. But Iestyn, Tim and Jonny were stunningly quick so I found myself in 4th.
I knew from a couple of longer runs in qually that my setup took a few laps to get any heat into the tyres, in fact I could not get them warm throughout the whole race, So I was cautious in the first laps and that allowed Tristan to get his Brabham past me. From 5th place I could watch the battle ahead. Iestyn and Jonny were fighting hard in their 2 Lotii, Tim appeared to be struggling with the white whale ( but still impressively quick!!) and Tris was looking for a way past the Honda, but the V12 was just too quick on the straights.
I think there was a close encounter between Tim and Tris with no contact but it slowed them both and it gave me a chance to get a run on Tris, get past the Brabham and chase down Tim.
Gradually I reduced the gap and just when the 4 lead cars had become a single group, Iestyn and Jonny had their "moment" at the chicane before the banking. That allowed Tim and his Honda into the lead and I gratefully followed. I had expected Iestyn and Jonny to perhaps chase us down but Iestyn was out and perhaps Jonny had some damage?
So with 75% of the race still to run Tim and I were in the clear.
I was happy to follow Tim and I hoped that the Lotus would allow me an easy ride, but Tim's pace in the Honda was awesome
and I was not able to cruise along behind him....I had to push quite hard!!
Having some long time knowledge of the Honda I thought that if it was pushed hard the tyres might begin to overheat, so with 10 laps to go I eased up to Tim and started to hassle him a little. I'm not sure if Tim's tyres were suuffering but he eventually lost the rear end at Cote Lapiz. I was so committed that I just could not pull my Lotus on to a tight line and nudged the side of the Honda.
Tim was a gentleman and allowed me to take 1st place as we recovered
Once I had the lead I knew that Tim's qually time would be a threat as we entered the last laps on low fuel. Sure enough, it was only the advantage that the Lotus offered that allowed me to retain the lead. If I backed off for a lap, or made a small error, the Honda appeared large in my mirrors again!!
I saw Tim run wide with 3 laps(?) to go and that gave me 300mtrs of safety instead of 50mtrs, for the last laps, and I was finally able to cruise to the flag.
That was a very intense race but great fun. Really enjoyed driving the Lotus in anger for once
Commiserations to Iestyn ( my team mate in Blue Moose) and to Jonny who recovered to 3rd, plus all finishers at a track that is known as a car killer.