Apologies to Dan, and anyone else who was affected by my spin
I know that I am beginning to sound like a scratched vinyl record "I am struggling with these cars"
…………. But I am !!!
I was expecting to be off the pace as the only preparation for this race was a quick server check on Saturday. Quali was going OK and as I had fully expected, my time put me in the back half of the grid. Then it dawned on me that doing quali on race fuel and on such a short circuit might be a bad move?? So I dumped a load of fuel and went again, which TBH was probably not smart. It netted me a 3rd spot on the grid and right amongst the fast action...hmmm
maybe a more considered position further back might have suited my abilities better?
Old habits die hard and I got myself involved in the racing at the front from the start which was fun with such evenly matched cars.
Tony's prediction of terminal tyre wear on the front left was quite correct( the rear left was not far behind either!!) and after about 10 laps things were looking bad in the rubber depletion department, we won't even talk about temperatures at this point!!
I felt that I was beginning to get a "feel" for the car and the setup felt OK'ish... at least I was keeping pace with the cars around me
But I still had an issue with sudden snap oversteer on corner exit, and the hairpin was where I felt that most. Just when I felt that I had found the extra tenths of a second to close up on the car ahead I tried just a fraction to much and the car snapped around hitting the kerb hard. A few laps later I did it again
and after that the car did not feel the same. Maybe it was the tyres, or perhaps I had bent something when I had my "offs".
The car no longer felt planted on the road, especially around that long T1 and that was where it all went wrong. I felt the rear beginning to break loose and eased off the gas only to make the problem worse. In slow motion, the rear came around totally uninterested in any instructions from the steering wheel or driver.
I knew that I was going to hit the barrier and I always try to avoid involving others in my misfortunes, but this time the car simply bounced off the barriers, after shedding a wheel, and I knew that I was rolling back across the track but I could do nothing to stop it....sorry Dan!!
Grats to those who had more ability and better pace.. and to the podium guys.
Don't quit Osni, I went through a season a while back ( in GPL) with multiple discos and random failures which made me question my future with on-line racing. But the bad times passed and the fun returned