Like Kruger I was not expecting to get any sort of result here amongst the 3 litre brigade. I managed half a tow during qually and got a place not quite at the back of the grid.
I actually managed to remember to save a replay of this race, usually I have just quit and get a "DOH!" moment.
Strangely enough upon watching
my replay of the start, to see who the heck instigated that road block, I discovered a phantom Fez!!
I could not understand why Syd appeared to veer sideways (when clear in the lead and on the straight down to Curve Grande) and run into the fencing.
It is not until a second car is collected by Syd's rebound that a red Fez ( Bernie's cloaking device obviously failed during the impact!!
) magically materialises on its side and somewhat "out of scale" in the middle of the mayhem.....wierd or what??
Anyway like just about everyone except Kruger I was forced into avoidance mode and slewed sideways to miss Syd and one or two other cars and found myself in the greenery on the left being pummeled by more "incoming" projectiles.
I figured I was entitled to a no fault "Shift-R", but there was just too much activity and had to wait for a gap.
Eventually picked my way out of the debris and was following Mike Beatie's tail pipes, a relationship that lasted all the way to the finish.
Phil was in front of Mike, and I think both of us were keen to make the most of any tow from that 3 litre barge.
I managed to get onto Phil's tail and take advantage of his draft for a few laps until he wobbled out of Lesmo 2. Mike was still chasing hard and I could not break the tow to him. Then Art cruised up in his 3 litre Cooper, taking huge bites out of us on every straight.
Once he was in front, it was a case of hanging on to his tail pipes at all costs, cos if he got away we would never catch him. Mike obviously had the same idea because he was hugging my exhaust as well.
I was pedalling that baby Brab for all I was worth and running at 10/10th's through every bend just to keep in touch, the inevitable happened at parabolica and as I applied just a little too much power just a fraction to eagerly the back came round and I performed a very graceful 360. This allowed Mike through and Art to escape, as the gap back to Mike was now just too much to be sucked along without me in that space.
I was about 3 secs back from Mike , but started to close by a couple of tenths each lap until I began to pick up his draft which pulled me onto his tail. by this time Art was over the horizon.
The second half of the race was a slipstream battle between Mike and myself with us constantly swapping positions as the laps counted down. It soon became apparent that either of us could effect a pass at the end of the two main straights, but even with the tow out of parabolica there was not enough grunt in the 2 litres to get past before the S/F line.
Therefore a devious plan was hatched. I would need to be in 2nd place out of Lesmo 2 and draft past into Parabolica on a perfect line to lead into the straight. Simple huh??!!
With 4 laps to go I had a dummy run, but was too close out of Lesmo 2 and did not gain enough speed to get a clean pass before Parabolica.
For the next 2 laps I sat behind Mike waiting to pounce
Last lap and followed through Lesmo's actually easing off to get about a .5 sec gap, then nailed it !!! It was not quite perfect but i certainly got past Mike going into Lesmo, although I did not feel I had quite enough clear air to take the inside line. So I took route "B", and swept right around the outside keeping the power on and redlining 3rd gear onto the straight where I glimpsed Mike's nose in my mirrors. He was right in my wheeltracks and using the tow !!!!
and almost, but not quite got alongside by the finish line
and I had pinched 4th spot from him by about 0.5 secs.
It was a race long duel between us and I thoroughly enjoyed the fun. We both gave each other room ( I hope) to enjoy some seriously close racing and slipstreaming..thanks Mike.
Grats to the podium regulars and special grats to Art for great pace and consistency.
