WooHoo!!! V for VICTORY for the UKGPL!!!
Grats to the team for a comprehensive O/A win point-wise and sweeping the podium, no less. Great job!
Hristo was...well, Hristo...in piling on great laps in the Honda. Splendid job by John R to romp home a very fine P2 in the Brabham. A bit lucky, perhaps, was Sam to leap up onto the podium in the dying moments when oAo driver, Nigel Bradbury, fell victim to probs at the last moment. HEY!!! We'll take 'em any way we can!!!
Very sorry to learn that Jethro was savaged from the lead in the multi-car fiasco which involved me. More on this later.
Q was a considerable disappointment for me as I failed to improve on the 1:21.11 PB I'd set early in the day. With some slight but hopefully worthwhile adjustments, I was shooting for sub-21's. Didn't happen. I had great difficulty keeping the car on the road in early flying laps so abandoned the 'improvements' to settle for what got me the PB in the first place. Gridded P10.
The starter dropped the green without delay but I was ready. I got a way well but checked up as Sam ahead was clearly having some difficulties and I feared we'd all get funneled into a big scrum with no good result. Before I hit the green button to go to the grid, I took a good look to see who was around me. I noticed that the next two rows ahead of me were occupied exclusively with UKGPL'ers so I wasn't in the least going to get fancy with an overtake possibility unless it was a pure gift. Right behind, a phalanx of oAo'ers. Things got sorted out quickly, tho, and I made off towards T1 getting an inside run on Chris Darkes BRM. On the way down there, I saw a car off onto the verge on the left.
That can't be good, I thought. Turns out, it was Evil having to abort a pass attempt to the outside and being obliged to be very careful in rejoining the track surface. Bad luck there, EC. Up to P9
Thru Crowthorne for the first time and I give CD a bit of room on the high side but the position is secured. Up to P8. Hello? A red or orange car is skipping thru the outfileld between Crowthorne and BBQ. By in a flash. Up to P7. SOMEBODY STOP ME!!!
JR was just up the road with Sam just in front of him and I'd hoped to be able to stay with this group but gradually over the next two laps, the gap opened up. That red/orange car that I'd seen off on L1 was now closing fast behind me and I could see that it was a Cooper. I'd noted in Q that Mike was driving the JoBo T81 so figured it had to be him. Confirmation at the end of L3 when my pitguy flashed me that it was, indeed, MB close behind. Showing obviously cleaner pace and being a teammate, I elected to move right under the bridge and ease up on the throttle to let Mike thru. The swap went off with a minimum of muss and fuss. I took up station behind Mike and just ahead of a Brabham. I'd have to wait for a lap to identify this new pursuer.
Over the balance of this lap, L4, the BT19 was all over me with and I could see it sliding about in my mirrors. Clearly someone late for an appointment. Still, I wasn't about to roll over for anyone except a teammate and was determined to make a go of it til I found whom it was. Coming off the Kink to finish the lap and start L5, the Brabham is shadowing me very closely indeed. The S/F line was just metres away when I changed up to top gear and this apparently, caught the Brabham driver unawares. Being mere inches behind me...foolishly close, I'd say...when my car hesitated on the changeup, he veered to the right but was much too close to avoid drilling my RR corner sending me off to the left. Without a hope and now a mere passenger, my Ferrari slashed into the berm on the left at 160 mph. If this had been R-L, I'd have been KIA on the spot. More like murder, in fact. Only later in viewing the replay did I find out that it was an oAo driver, one John Steiner. Hey, Mr. Steiner. How does it feel to know that you just killed someone?
The World kinda went a little crazy for a bit there as my 312 did a full gainer under the Dunlop bridge but astoundingly, landed on its wheels and spun to a halt on the infield. I thought the engine KO'd but it responded to blip so I thought, WTH. I got going again in P14 and the car felt a little wonky as it might having undergone a severe fright. I found Rached just up ahead in the Cooper and tagged onto him for a bit. Next lap, coming off Jukskei, I thought I detected Rich letting off to let me thru so I sifted up on his right for the pass going into Sunset. I may have misinterpreted that momentary hesitation from RI, tho, as it seemed that he accelerated again towards Sunset and I feared that I got myself up under him leaving nowhere to go. Sry. In scoping the replay later, I see that Rich did indeed have a moment there but made a brilliant, tank-slapping save. Nice one, Rachet!
Up to P12 now, I closed in on Chris and Doro of the oAo who were engaged in what looked to me like a not-so-friendly duel. For teammates, there didn't seem to be a whole lot of cooperation going on there from what I could see. I thought that the prospect of vaulting both these cars a distinct possibilty and running in the top 10 would be a reasonable result considering my earlier drama. I held station for a couple of laps to see if the hard driving I was witnessing would resolve the issue in my favour but no, it was still looking for all the World like a pier 6 brawl so I thought I'd move in to see if I could bounce both Chris and Doro when they weren't looking. Bad idea. Should have waited another 30 seconds. L15 and Chris and Doro go thru the tricky Jukskei sweeper virtually side-by-side. It looked for a moment from my vantage point that they made thru but suddenly, there was contact and I found myself staring at Doro's Ferrari mid-track at speed. WAMO!!! A severe collision has me off the road on the left but incredibly, I still have all four corners attached and am still mobile. One tuff little car, this 312!
I'm facing the roadway and think I've got enough room to pull left and get onto the very edge of the track surface but I've misjudged...possibly due to a lack of low-speed steering lock, too, which has plagued me of late in VROC...and get rather far out onto the line than I should have to give poor Sebastian Vign of the oAo nowhere to go but straight into me. A third major prang and the race isn't even to half-distance as yet. Very sorry, SV...I know that must have been quite a shock. But take note...I was only at that point in space and time thanks to two incidents involving YOUR club's drivers.
Both Sebastian and I chugged away and I could feel a bit more damage this time and small wonder. We both got back up to speed...?...as best we could and in the next lap, SV got a little wide and had to check up at BBQ to open the door for me to make the easy pass on the left on the run up to Jukskei. This I had thought to be the case. Being off-line on the left in making the pass, I was obliged to lift a bit early to not run wide on the exit to Jukskei. WAMO!!! AGAIN!!! I don't know yet...can't tell from the replay...exactly what happened. Either Sebastian was caught off-guard by my lifting to make the corner or he turned in on me or maybe even GPL went for a fit and decided to shunt us off. In any event, instead of arcing thru into P11, I was greeted with the sight of the bank rushing up to me at a million miles per hour. WAMO!!! Up the berm and over, cascading down onto the verge and rolling over onto my lid right on the line. Jack was directly behind us and was first on the accident scene...with the exception of Sebas and I, of course...and made it thru by the skin of his teeth. Must have been quite a sight! Poor Jethro, running nicely in the lead, was first to be sacrificed. WAMO!!! Straight into my inverted Ferrari. That's not bad luck, JW...that's ****ing cruel.
So sry, mate. Next up was Hristo who seems to have managed to avoid all the big carnage only to slide into Jack who'd lost all manner of speed in avoiding the initial shunt. Both ended up in wicked spins after the heavy contact. Nigel appears out of nowhere in my replay and collects me to grind to a halt from his P3 placing but ultimately recovers but down a spot to JR. Quite the party!
As I'd ended up on my lid, no option but to retire. Not a very satisfactory result.
CU next round!
