Moderator's Report
SUMMARY
A titanic battle at the front between the three 8 valve cars saw Hristo come out on top with Tim Muttram second in another BT7 and Evil a very close third in his Cooper.
Server replay time: 0h12m40s
Lap 7 – Dr Tiroch Kurve – King Hiro and Hristo Itchov
King Hiro and Hristo were having a ferocious battle for the lead swapping places on numerous occasions. Hristo managed to get through to the lead several times but he couldn’t keep King Hiro’s more powerful BRM behind for long. Hristo started lap 7 in the lead but King Hiro made a clean pass on the inside at Hella Kurve, this allowed Hristo to get a slightly better exit speed and they were side by side on the approach to the left kink before Dr Tiroch Kurve. At this point King Hiro pulls ahead slightly and he can clearly see Hristo in his mirrors and they reach the 100 metre marker. Given that he is clearly ahead King Hiro has the right to take his normal racing line. Hristo brakes slightly later than King Hiro and goes for a pass on the inside but there isn’t much room and Hristo catches the concrete bollards on the inside of the corner. This pushes him wide and contact is made with King Hiros’s BRM pushing him off into the barriers, Hristo continues unencumbered.
King Hiro braked slightly early in an effort to let Hristo through but given that was his intention he should also have allowed plenty of room (King Hiro’s line was much closer to the centre line than the ideal line taken by Tim Muttram and Evil Clive – KH please note, look at the overhead view there was a lot more room on your left than the cockpit view would suggest). Clearly braking earlier on his normal line made it quite a tight squeeze for Hristo. Having said that it was Hristo’s responsibility to make a clean move. The cars were side by side on the exit of Hella Kurve but by the time they reached the braking point for Dr Tiroch Kurve, King Hiro was clearly ahead. Hristo had to make up the deficiency on the brakes whilst maintaining a tight inside line, something he was unable to do on this occasion. He managed some overlap at turn-in but not the 100% necessary to claim the corner outright.
The eventual contact was exacerbated by warp, nevertheless the primary responsibility for the incident must lie with Hristo. Having lost ground on the approach to Dr Tiroch Kurve, Hristo had the option to hold back and wait for a clearer opportunity. King Hiro didn’t have the option to move to the right and defend the inside line because Hristo was there and such a move would constitute “blocking”. Consequently he had to either stay on his normal racing line and not allow Hristo to out brake him or make a conscious move left in order to yield the corner and live to fight another day.
Note: It is always dangerous to try to hold an outside line, the risk of warp contact is significant.