A very lonely 3rd place for me in this one. Greg and Cookie were much quicker than me so I decided to let them go in the hope that they would blow-up or shoot off into the forest. Neither happened, so I kept the 3rd slot for almost an hour.

On Pribluda I could see a fantastic battle one minute ahead of me and another 1 minute behind. Usually the filling in a sandwich is the best bit but on this occasion, I was the dull filling in a sandwhich made of really exciting bread.

If that makes sense, you need a break

I'm happy to have the points as I've made silly mistakes in my last couple of races and not even made it to the flag.

Grats to Axel and Greg.

Congrats Axel and Pete!

Was this the way Jackie Ickx did it? I used the slipstream from a Chaparral to tow me away from the field. Ickx qualified 2nd in 1967 behind a Chaparral.

I got lucky Axel destroyed his engine. I was worried about my engine. It wasn´t easy trying to stay in Axel´s slipstream. I guess I was averaging at least a second faster per lap due to the tow. It was incredible watching that 2F power away from me going up the hill to Les Combes and down the hill to Burnenville. I could see Axel´s better grip working well through Burnenville. The downforce was helping him a lot through Malmedy too. The only fast turn I could gain on Axel was at Holowell. Axel´s downforce was a good advantage through the Blanchimont area too. Eau Rouge, Holowell, and the Masta straight were the only places that allowed me to keep up with Axel. He got close to getting away from me at one point and there were many times I couldn´t get much tow because of the Chaparral´s great performance.

I thought the Mirage might be decent on this track. It has a somewhat good top speed. Axel often had me up to 210 mph before the Kink and heading into Holowell at 205 mph was a bit scary.

Pete, you may have been able to do a better job keeping up with me if I wasn´t in Axel´s slipstream. A tow off of my car might have allowed you to run a second faster per lap without much drama.

I was also very pleased I broke into the 3:23s on the last lap. I didn´t expect I would get any faster than I was in qualifying.

Here´s some trivia. I´ve wondered for a long time if 351 engine in the Mirage used Cleveland cylinder heads. The 351 Cleveland engine wasn´t sold by Ford until 1969 or 1970. That type of cylinder head was introduced in the Boss 302 Mustang and the 289 engines that won Lemans in 1968 and 1969 used Cleveland cylinder heads. Cleveland´s used canted valves like a big block Chevy V8 to increase the valve size and flow through the head. I did some studying and found that the Mirage´s 351 was derived from the 289 and didn´t use the better heads that would arrive the next year. The Mirage´s engine was built by Holman and Moody racing, a NASCAR and Trans Am car builder.

Thanks for the fun gentlemen. I appreciate you letting me race with you.

Bravo to our podium finishers especially to Greg who was nothing short of dynamite in the Mirage!  Great drive.

A somewhat surprising P4 for me in the Mirage.  I qualified close to my PB in the car to start P5 but didn't think my chances were high.  Off the start, I was squeezed into the barriers in Eau Rouge when Evil Clive caromed off the inner guardrail and pinched me off.  Thought it was all over right there and then.  Got away with it, though, to chase Evil down to the Masta where his Chaparral seemed to be towing an anchor where I blew past him with speed to spare.  The Mirage does have a tasty top end.  I managed to pull away and thought that my race was going to be a lonely parade with Pete way up ahead and now Philippe well behind in his Ferrari.  Over the middle laps, this all changed as Philippe closed down progressively lap after lap to ultimately pose a very great challenge.  Indeed, he even got by briefly on the pit straight* before having to back off for Eau Rouge.  Later in the same lap, he tapped my tail on braking for La Source and we both spun.  I got away with the place still in my grasp and Philippe a few seconds back.  My Mirage was undamaged but I suspect that the Ferrari was somewhat off-tune and Philippe was not able to close again and indeed, ultimately crashed out at the Masta Kink.  Scant reward for a good drive.  I managed to hang on to a distant P4 and was thankful for it.

*I mention that Philippe actually lead on the run down to Eau Rouge on this lap but I have to say that his efforts to pass me in pit lane well inside the yellow line really just aren't cricket.  I regard this part of the tarmac as a 'no go zone' reserved for the pit stalls.  If Philippe had managed to make the pass good, I may well have protested the move.  Just sayin'...