Finally a victory, though the championship chances are just theoretical now. Shame to see Tim and Evil retire, they were in good position here. SHE should be pleased though, we have a good lead in both driver and team standings.
As for the race, I tried a totally different setup for the race, an untested one, but with promising behavior during qualifying. As it was, the setup cooked the tyres too much, but it also cooked all 4 tyres too much. So while the grip level became kinda weird, the balance remained just about the same, with slightly understeer in mid-corner. Tyre temps were as high as I ever seen though, LOL, reaching 150 C at one point.
Anyway, I had an ok start (I don't even remember the last time I actually had a GOOD start) and as we entered T1 I kept around the outside to avoid any contact, but maintained the lead.
James was a threat with his BRM and without making any stops I had to put a good gap back to him, so I pushed as hard as I dared in the beginning, taking advantage of cooler tyres, but having to preserve the engine at the same time. Luckily my gearing made that easier and the oil temperature was within safe bounds even when I used the full revs of the Honda.
We had a misunderstanding with Dave and while I was planning to pass him on the s/f straight he wanted to let me through before the last turn, something I didn't expect. I hit him and he went off, losing two positions in the process.
By the time I had to pit the gap to James was good enough and so I made my stop on the edge of pit window. Then just had to reach the finish, but that was easier said than done. Had to combat some fatigue issues that haunt me lately and also cope with the weird handling of the red hot rubber on the car.
Then came the moment that you were all looking for...
... I went off and it was a huge shunt, just after the jump. I touched the dirt after landing and couldn't brake much, therefore plunging straight off into the fence, though I managed to spin the car around so it would take the hit sideways. Did that help or not, no clue, but when I came to my senses after briefly blacking out
I reversed back onto the track, crushing the curbing to pieces in the process, then set off to continue.
Surprisingly the car handling wasn't worse than before, so the damage was either minimal or it was mitigating the problems caused by the overheating tyres, lol. Either way, it worked and I could get to the end without more drama... well, except an off at T2, but I think that's just something I ALWAYS do when racing at Mosport. Got to hate that corner... but I won't! One Jethro is enough!
Grats to Doni for a surprising 2nd and James has to thank me for lapping 4th and beyond so he mantained his 3rd place.
Kidding though, great driving, James.
A tip for race fuel that I go by if I haven't tested and I don't know the consumption for a given track - put 1.4 more fuel if it's a BRM and Ferrari and 1.5 more if it's a Honda. Works most of the time and even if you finish with more fuel left, it's better than running out. Never go by what in-game car setup menu gives you as predicted laps for your fuel load, it's wrong for 90% of the tracks that exist for GPL. It only seems to work for Brabham really. And sometimes Lotus.
Grats,
-=Hristo=-
