Well that was all a bit of a rollercoaster of a race. I joined qualifying and found the various red bars bouncing off the top mark, cars dissapearing and reappearing, my screen flickering with mini disco's and 3 full disco's! I tried reseting the router at my end in case it was something to do with that, I tried joining in a different car (cooper) but no joy I even tried a 67 race on VROC to see it that would reset something as time was getting short, that worked fine but the UKGPL server was the same. I reluctantly posted something on chat at risk of putting someone off a fastest lap, and was mildly relieved to find others were having issues too. I tried one more time out on track and it was no better so gave up, and decided to quit.
Then....
Back in IGOR, I thought about it for a few seconds and decided I may as well see if I can get away at the back of the grid and see if things settle down. I rejoined just in time, then doing a quick check of everything I missed the start from the grid and had to go from pit lane which put me a lap down straight away.
Anyway, the server seemed to behave! Thank heavens!
I seemed to have a reasonable pace in the blue brabham (yes that was me Tim) and was able to catch a few guys fairly quickly, conscious not to risk their race as I was technically a lap down on them, but got passed without too much fuss and many having issues spinning or being very cautions in the early laps.
Best I could hope for was for people to fall off properly and have to quit. To my suprise, many did, very quickly. It wasn't that long before only 3 of us were left! I was still a good lap down from Al and Rick with no chance of catching them and then making up another whole lap again to challenge so thought I'd have a bit of fun with the car see how far I could push. That kept me entertained for a few laps. Had some lucky escapes with offs and Rick and Al eventually put me 2 laps down.
I carried on to the end in the small hope Rick may throw it down the road and I could get a few more team points in combination with Al, but he was too good and kept it all together to take a deserved win with a not too distant Al in 2nd.
So it all came good in the end, as Al said a full distance (- 2 laps) for me without trashing the engine. I guess I suit a brabham engine better than a cooper
WD to all who tried, great drive from Rick and Al. It's a tricky track, but I like it for the challenge and seem to go OK at the likes of Oulton and Brands. I doubt I'll be gifted as much in Am's but you never know, the Aliens might like the look of the lake for a quick dip!