I really enjoyed this mini-series and the different cars that all seemed quite evenly matched, although maybe Geoffers Abarth was not quite up to speed last night.
I had a setup for the Alfa that I liked, but the lure of the Falcon and a V8 was just too much. I used what was more or less the default setup and applied a few lessons that I had learned recently from Martin, who had sent me a couple of working setups for the F3's etc.....thank you Matt for the education
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I am always surprised to steal a pole position in any car when there are so many quick cars/drivers in the mix, but getting pole just adds pressure to the start and getting it right
. I was very aware of Geoffers' lightening start in his new Mustang, as I could see him in my mirrors and just managed to stay ahead into T1.
Geoff's lunge into 2nd spot probably did me a favour I think, because he held Ziu behind for a few laps whilst I tried to escape. Once I had a 4 second lead I concentrated on trying to save my tyres, because I knew that the last few laps might be "awkward".
It was all working well until Ziu passed Geoffers and threatened to catch me in his Alfa. For the next 10 laps it was a game of trying to be just fast enough to maintain the gap without over stressing what was left of my tyres ( the power of the V8 is addictive, but does not do tyres any favours!!).
With about 5 laps left I was catching Tony and Dan, and Ziu was slowly chipping away at my lead. The pressure got to me and I locked up under braking at a couple of corners and gave away about a second to Ziu
Thanks to Tony and Dan for abandoning their race and giving us a clear lapping opportunity
For a couple of laps I had an Alfa all over my rather large rear end and I had to use the grunt of the Falcon to pull away on the straights, before tip toeing around the next corner and allowing him to close up again. With 2 laps to go I was beginning to hope that I might just have a big enough mobile road block to defend until the flag, but a small mistake allowed that red Alfa to squeeze through.
I was chasing Ziu with all of the grunt that I had out of the hairpin and up to the last corner, hoping that I might just be able to power past on the S/F straight as we started the final lap.
The we both had a comedy moment
Ziu locked up his bakes and ploughed straight on at that last corner of the penultimate lap and I was so distracted by his demise that I screwed up the corner myself and spun the heavy Falcon too. Ziu ended up on the slippery Donington grass, but I was more fortunate and stayed on the tarmac facing the wrong way. This meant that with a large bootful of power and by smoking the last shreds of rubber I was able to spin my car around and get going well before Ziu could rejoin. All I had to do was avoid any heroics for one lap and nurse the Falcon to the flag.
Grats to Erling and Geoffers on the silverware and commiserations to Ziu who probably should have won the race but for his one mistake.
Thanks to Tony for organising and maybe a plug here for a full series sometime for this mix of cars. I find the contrast between the various attributes of these cars, and the translation into similar lap times makes for fascinating races. In fact, it reminds me of the St Mary's Trophy races at the Goodwood Revival. Look it up on YouTube if you have never seen one of these races, as they show how exciting saloon cars used to be before they became the sterile manufacturer's competions of modern times