Apologies for the confusion around car choice guys. lol
The plan was indeed to take the heavy iron for this race and it was the first car that I tried. Just as Dan proved to all our frustration in the race, it was awesome on the straight bits.
Having clocked a 1:34 offline in the Mustang I thought it only proper to at least try the other cars. I tried the Lotus Cortina, but in the time available I could not get the handling to where I wanted it. Then I recalled that I used a very nice setup that I had used at Donington with an Alfa. Some digging through the various installs of GTL unearthed the setup.
From the first lap in the Alfa it just felt right and it was 2 seconds faster than the Mustang without any drama. A small tweak to the gears and brake balance and it was just about perfect....... so with great regret I left the Mustang on the trailer and went all Italian.
I actually ran a low fuel quali setup and surprised myself with the time, it just did not feel that much quicker ( a lesson there I think?).
Too much wheelspin off the grid allowed far too many cars to jump me and I just managed to muscle onto Erling's tailpipes and 3rd on the run up the hill. My initial fears were realised by having both the resident aliens in front of me.
The pace was frantic and fast but the Alfa felt great. The spin under the bridge was an instinctive when Daz went a little wide on that corner and I feared he was about to spin. too much right hand lock and my tyres gave up the fight for grip. Of course that allowed Dan and his followers through
and dictated the progress of the rest of the race). Daz's "off" dropped him back into the Mustang melee but more importantly allowed Erling to escape.
Kudos to Dan for some tremendous driving to keep that ruddy Mustang filling my windscreen!! I was trying everything to squeeze past, but realised that I had to make the pass early in the laps or Dan would simply blow past on the fast sections
There were up to 4 cars queuing for a pop at Dan for several laps and the battle was giving Erling a 3 second advantage on each lap it continued. Finally Dan ran just wide enough at T1 to leave a chance and I was through and away ...FREE AT LAST!!! lol Now I was hoping that Dan would do a similar job on Daz and Tony whilst I escaped. Dan did a reasonable job
, but the 5 laps fighting to get past him had taken the life out of my tyres and I could not match my best laptimes without risking an expensive excursion.
Dan eventually allowed Daz to pass and I knew that the chase was on. I was able to maintain the 12 second gap back to Dan, but lack of rubber prevented me worrying Erling. Then with 3 laps to go I got a bit too excited out of the hairpin and did a 180 spin
. My 12 second lead was down to 4secs and now I could see Daz and his Cortina in my mirror......never a good thing.
I was able to manage the gap to see me home in 2nd spot, but it was buttock clenching with worn tyres. A little disappointed to find that I still had 25 litres of fuel in the tank as I crossed the line, must improve my maths calculations!!
Grats to Erling on the win, but YES you did miss some classic tintop door banging with Dan, Tony, Matt and Daz ( and me !!)
Great fun and who cares about the result
