Maybe I should have opted for the Merc SL too, but thus far I have never driven the SL in serious competition and have no baseline setup to work from. On the handful of occasions that I have driven the Mercedes aircraft carrier offline, it has felt heavy and ungainly, but if anywhere was going to be the right place, this circuit was it.
So, when I joined the server, I opted for the Lancia, and was sorely disappointed at the difference in non-slipstream lap times which was around 6 secs!!
Qualifying was spent trying to find a suitable tow truck and adjusting gear ratios, but I think I only had one lap behind a Merc and that was Clive's, which netted a reasonable lap, but still nowhere near Raoni and Co on the front of the grid.
My race plan was therefore quite simple. Mabel said, " get off the grid quickly and attach this length of industrial strength knicker elastic to the back of an SL on lap 1 and just sit there and wait for developments".
Hmmm, easier said than done with the road ahead fully occupied by big flat silver things!! Apologies for the rather erratic turn 1 moves, but I had taken the outside line to be in clear air, only to find my forward vision partially obscured by yet another SL
. As a result I allowed my Lancia to run a few centimetres too wide and got a fractional clip on the end of the wall.
If folks behind were momentarily scared by the red thing weaving around for the next 200mtrs as I did my utmost to avoid a spin and the guaranteed crashfest that would follow, I would refer you to Arnold who said after the race " ...we might get the stain out of the seat with the pressure washer, but your racing overalls will either need to be replaced, or we dye them brown and claim that as your new team colours"
At the slow T4 I was able to outbrake one or two SL's and I think I was up to 4th/5th and close behind the group of fast boys. If I could just attach that elastic tow rope I should be able to stay with them. I discovered that good as any plan might be, there is always a flaw! Sure, my Lancia was better on the brakes and this track required zero "brake management", plus I could carry more speed through a few corners but, as I found out on lap 1 that did not prevent large silver things blowing past me on the straights and then baulking my progress at the next corner
.
By the end of Lap 1 I was down to my starting position of 7th. Doni had started cautiously but was easily able to ease past on the long fast sections and gain just enough ground so that I could not exploit my superior braking/cornering speed, because the road was fully occupied by silver.
My team mate Doni provided an excellent tow truck and I soon discovered that I had only just got the ratio of 5th gear high enough. The red line comes in a 8k for the Lancia and there were times when I was glancing nervously at readings of 8.2-8.4K in the draft
I did manage a pass on Doni to relieve the boredom when he ran wide, but his re-take was inevitable and I just picked up the tow again. On the one occasion when I made a big mistake and allowed a 100mtr gap to develop was when Doni decided to pick up the draft from Enrique's Merc, which I thought was ill timed to say the least!
For two laps was wringing every kph out of that Lancia engine and leaving more rubber in Tripoli than an abandoned condom factory. But, I just held on to the outermost limits of the slipstream effect and posted a 3:19 lap as I closed up, whereas laps behind Doni were in the 3:21/3.22 region. The time was gained in the braking zones and the speed through the slower corners, but I doubt if I could have held onto Clive and Phil if I had been behind them as their straight line speed was just too great.
And yes, I tried too hard on the last lap to get myself in the optimum place for a draft past on the finishing line and huge adulation by running wide and scraping my wheels along a wall, just when I needed a clean run through the corner.
Still impressed by Raoni's pace and the fact that he was able to break away and get beyond slipstream range so early, when the likes of Clive Loynes and Co were in similar machinery. Some great close finishes too.