Grats to all who finished and to Tom for the final podium place.
I feel almost guilty taking the win when the margin was so close. Overnight I was hoping that it would be a complete dead heat ( if that is possible within GPL software?) and I was going to propose that we added 50+43=93 and divide it in half so that we got 46.5 points each lol.
Being completely honest here, I took that insane Lola Ford 427 for this track and fully expected it to be one of the results that I would drop with a DNF or very low placing. The car was a nightmare to control in the twisty bits or under braking, but boy oh boy did it fly down the straights. Pole position was not on my script and came as a shock. A car with just 2 gears and about 1,000,000 HP that handled like a super tanker should not have been there!!
If Phil thought that he had issues braking at the end of Conrod Straight with his nice little car...try it in this monster!! I found it impossible to brake after the crest and make it around the final corner. I had to apply a good stomp on the brake pedal before the crest, lift off and then carefully balance the pressure to avoid lock ups in order not to become a pile of twisted metal.
Huge kudos to Yannick for a tremendous race. Once we had completed the first few laps and the tyres were warmed I could see that we were only just easing away from the rest of the field and then something happened and we were 500mtrs clear. By then it was obvious that I had a big speed advantage on the straights, but Yannick was better on the twisty bits and under braking and able to close any gap. The battle lines were set!!!
Yes, I did try and get Yannick to take the lead, just to relieve the stress of being chased by a very fast driver in a much more nimble car lol, but huge respect to Yannick for not trying a dive bomb down the inside at the heavy braking points. Some drivers may not have been able to resist that opening.
With 5 laps to go it was clear that the race would be decided on the last lap and most probably the last corner. If I could carry good pace onto the Conrod Straight and open the gas, the gap I could pull should have allowed me to cleanly negotiate the final corner and cross the line first. Simples
Of course, the more you focus on something like that, the more likely you are to screw it up...and I did! It was my error in that final corner that gave Yannick the chance to steal the win and he grabbed that chance with both hands. With only 2 gears ( and 1st gear good for 150mph!!) acceleration was not my most potent weapon and when I saw his car vanish from my mirrors and pull alongside, I thought he had pulled off a brilliant move. I had my right foot nailed down waiting for all those horses to wake up, but if I'm honest I thought that he had just done it as his acceleration was much better than mine.
I have been involved in some close GPL finishes before, but 0.001 secs is insane after 23 laps of racing!!
If you want to see how lucky I was take a look at the Stream on Twitch from my cockpit, complete with mumbled curses!!
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2121587089
