I am not sure how many I need to apologise to for the Lap 1 T1 fracas. I have not looked at a replay and I do not know who it was yet.
I did try and warn you a week ago that I am now using a race rig with "H" pattern shifter. It does not excuse bad driving, but I simply missed a downshift and nudged the car ahead as everything slowed for the chicane. I think there was a knock-on effect with several cars suffering
.
I waited for cars to pass me before picking up the pace again around Curve Grande.
Despite a lot of pre race practice I was struggling in the early laps to find any consistent pace with small mistakes costing me half seconds. TBH I was not expecting to be anywhere near the front runners as I get used to a seat that is not on castors and a different gearchange. That is a lot for my small brain to cope with.
I need to investigate the brake pedal parameters in the Logitech Profiler because everyone else in the race used half the braking distance that I found that I needed!! Plus, it was very noticeable at the chicane before Lesmo 1, that when I lifted OFF the brake pedal the front wheels remained locked up and the car would just understeer into the gravel ??
To overcome that problem I had to start braking before the bridge and slow the car to almost a crawl to get it turned in.
I had a similar issue with Parabolica and I was braking from BEFORE the 200mtr board to have any chance of turning into that corner.
As the race progressed and the fuel load came down ( plus I was getting into a rhythm with the H shift ) I gradually reduced the braking distance by about 25%, but it was very much "on the limit".
In the last 5 laps I found some pace and started to post some more respectable lap times.
As regards the brake pedal I would appreciate some feedback from you guys about what I noticed at the end of the race.
After crossing the line I slowed the car down and dropped the shifter down to 1st, then into neutral. Normally any car I have previously used in GTL will simply roll forward when in neutral for quite a distance. But at Monza last night, when in Neutral it simply stopped as if the brakes were being applied?? I actually repeated the move a couple of times just to be sure I was not imagining things, but each time was the same. This might be the Profiler settings actually not reducing the BRAKE pedal to zero upon release, but I don't think I have experienced that before.
Anyway that is my excuse for not winning!...I drove the whole race with the handbrake on
