Engine expired as soon as I went in 1st gear on the start.
Sorry to those behind who couldn't avoid me, I was barely rolling so I couldn't get out of the way. That Ferrari is not only a handful but unreliable too it seems.
It wasn't me! I never touched him...I was miles away and never went near his car in the pits either!! ...except when I spilt that white powder, but that was just an accident.
Grats to Gerard ( where has he been hiding until now??!!) and Fulvio.
I just avoided contact with the Hairdressers Ariel Display Team at the start by standing on the brakes, only to see Jethro barrel through the only gap left and clear off up through the esses!!
I tip toed through the carnage waiting to be collected from behind and emerged unscathed and with no idea what position I was in.
After lap 1 prib updated and confirmed that I was in about 7th spot and was closing down on Jethro's BRM
)
Caught and passed Jethro without too much drama and now had a fat Brabham with Mike Beattie up ahead ( the Brabham was fat, not Mike! as far as I know anyway).
Once again I found catching Mike simple enough and was surprised to be able to draft past him in my little car
. But that seemed to have touched a raw nerve because Mike's pace increased and he just would not go away!!
We had a great dice for about 20 laps I think, and swapped places a couple of times, but neither of us was able to break the tow and pull away. Meanwhile Gerard and Fulvio were away in the top two spots and setting a cracking pace. Occassionaly I caught a glimpse of Fulvio but was never anywhere near getting on terms with him..much too concerned with Mike and his big Brabham!!
We were getting down to about 10 laps to go I think, and Mike had sneaked ahead of me when we came upon a Burtmobile who needed lapping, approaching Big Bend. Being a chicken at heart I dropped back an extra 50 mtrs ..just in case.. and to give me a better view and pick my passing spot.
Mike followed Burt into BB and on the exit, just when you thought everything was going to be ok they tangled and attempted to form a wall to wall road block!! I dived into the grass ditch on the outside and bounced around just about keeping the nose heading in the right direction and regained the tarmac in 4th gear doing about 5kph.
Rapid downshifts and a sluggish getaway were sure to allow Mike, who I thought had at least stayed on the grey stuff , to regain his position. But as I entered the S/F straight there was still no sight ( or sound) of Mike's Brab and prib showed that I was pulling several seconds of gap.
From then on it was a case of nursing the little 2 litre screambox to the flag in 3rd position, with Mike closing steadily, but at a rate that I figured would not be quite fast enough..provided i made no mistakes.
There were a few wobbly moments but made it to the flag just as Mike exited the final turn. Without the "incident" I have no idea how we would have resolved our dice...it could have got very tense in the final few laps.