Hadn't given any thought to car choice, so when I saw a very low mileage Snail's Pace Racing Saleen sitting in the pits with the keys in it, I couldn't help myself and jumped in.
Qually didn't go well but I got enough of a lap in to avoid being mired in the slower classes, even with an impromptu setup; car was tricky on cold tyres - not to mention the maximum caster I dialled in moments before the race - and I ran off a bit on the pace lap, but kept it together.
Was a bit surprised to get a big fat kiss on the bum by Ginsters as we formed up
but I think it did him more damage than me, and we were soon off, with TT leading Hal, and Jose, API and myself not far behind.
TT was doing a brilliant job holding Hal off, Marcos grunt against the mighty Viper, and behind, Jose's nimble but slow MC12 was dicing hard with API's fast but understeery 550 and my jack of all trades S7R. I guess Jose was on the wrong tyres because after a while he was clearly struggling, and having sliced my way past API, I was soon in a clear 3rd place and starting to catch the leaders.
In the meantime, Jon had cleared the slower cars and was hunting me down with the sort of ruthless efficiency that nobody expects. TT provided a brief respite by running wide in turn 1 - amazing save not to go off competely!
- but that allowed Hal to start to break clear, so it was now a case of whether Jon and/or TT could catch me quickly enough to take second place away.
As the tyres wore the grip fell away, although the balance was fairly constant, but with 5 minutes to go I was struggling a bit at the end of the braking zones. TT had dropped away quite dramatically, but Jon's Lister was all over me like a bad suit, and the last lap I was just being ultra careful to not lock the tyres under braking, to get to every apex, and to get back on the throttle as early as possible.
I don't think I'd have survived more than a lap or two more, but it was enough and second place was mine.
ps. Oldie Z3M looks like a hooker's underwear!
Er... apparently...
