Grats to the winners and podiums in all classes, some good racing and fun all through the field.
"An evening of two halves" best sums up the two races at Silverstone for me.
Race 1
I thought about using the Escort, simply because I had tried it before and had a setup that appeared to work. But when I joined the server for some practice, I felt that maybe I should at least try something different, so gave the small Alfa a spin.
Somehow I got sucked into sticking with the Alpha despite having some serious issues with the handling. On the exit of corners any over exuberance with the gas pedal prompted overtseer that was both sudden and terminal. So basically, I started the race with a car that might bite me in the a**...... and it did!!
The first few laps were great fun and I was just about keeping the thing on the tarmac, but in the process I had clipped a couple of kerbs rather heavily and maybe that was the final straw. Suddenly the car was no longer "on a knife edge" it was falling off a cliff and a succession of spins over the course of a single lap dropped me to last place. After trying to adapt to the problems and spinning yet again, I decided to return to the pits and kick Arnold. It did not improve the handling of the car, but it made me feel better.
Race 2
I had a vague plan to use the Capri, don't know why, but I just felt that I would. But at the last minute I thought, "I haven't used the BMW yet" so I picked that car instead. A few laps of practice and setup tweaks and I thought I had made a big mistake, I had not completed a single lap without a mistake. Then my brain grasped the problem, and I adapted my driving style ....bingo!! my first complete flying lap put me on pole.
I was hoping to be at least as fast as the slower group, there were a couple of green scaled, tentacle waving aliens in those Alphas and they were sure to be quick, so maybe with the extra horsepower I could join in the racing.
When the race started I was hoping that the extra grunt of the BMW would simply outdrag the Alphas to T1, then I would just have to worry about Rog in the Beamer alongside of me. Geoffers had a different script and fired his Alpha off the line like a rocket.
It was only the horsepower in the BMW that got me up to and alongside him, so we contested the next few corners side by side and launched down the Hangar straight where I hoped (ever the optimist
) that finally the BMW's power would prevail. Still that Geoffers character refused to follow the script and he had the audacity to get into Stowe just about ahead, but I had a better run through the corner and finally nailed the pass along the next straight.
The next laps were all about trying to build a gap, but with Geoffers' pre race words of wisdom playing over and over in my ear " keep it on the grey stuff". I was all too aware from his quali time that with a BMW under him, Rog could be a threat once he passed Geoffers' Alpha.
With a clear track I was able to concentrate on getting clean lines and fast lap times. Geoffers did a fine job in delaying Rog for just long enough
Slowly I was able to build the gap and after it reached around 8 secs I was able to relax, strangely enough my laptimes got faster when I stopped trying!!! maybe there is a lesson there?? lol.
Thanks for the fun guys, I am enjoying this series and the various cars.
