My one hours practice at the circuit on Monday evening and trying to learn all of its little dangers was obviously not enough by the time 9 p.m. came around on Tuesday!!
So Qually was a going to be an intense learning session whilst still trying to sort out the gears etc. I really fluked an early lap with some very hairy "near misses" to post a pb lap that eventually claimed a reasonable grid slot.
at the start I almost ran into Tom who bogged down and found myself approaching T1 with cars beginning to squeeze in from the outside , so I tried to keep it as tight as I could. It seems that I also squeezed Tom's space and the contact flipped me around ( NP Tom my replay shows that you had nowhere to go except up my exhaust pipe!!)
I recovered and got going without any apparent damage and was surprised to find myself in 4th place ( I think??) , but Tim and Al had skipped away into a healthy lead.
My Lotus Climax was just outclassed on the straights although seemed to be better through the corners. Martin materialised in my mirrors and then de-materialised to appear again in front as he pulled away on the straight, but I came upon him again at the first jump climbing down from a tree, where I presume he had gone to scout for directions.
I fully expected Hristo to come sailing past at any moment, but it appears that he had problems of his own with the scenery
, something that I was to share very soon afterwards!!
Up until the point at which AL had his moment at the jump I was content to keep things safe and calm and concentrate on getting to the finish, but when I glimpsed Al's car only a couple of seconds ahead.....well?? I just had to push , didn't I?? It took about a lap to get into his slipstream and as we approached the Railway Crossing I was beginning to close the gap very quickly. That fast left hander after the crossing had been a corner that I struggled to get right, always turning in too late and dicing with those straw bales around the outside. But on this lap I got a far better line through there and emerged travelling considerably faster than AL, so I went for the pass approaching Big Bend. I got alongside easily and knew that I could throw the Lotus into Big Bend confident that it would hold a tight line if I needed to.
What I had not allowed for was Hristo's yellow sign, that slipped a metre sideways as I passed and clipped my car sending it spinning like a top. How I did not collect Al as well I do not know??!!
I thought that my race was over for sure, but to my amazement I still had 4 wheels and the engine running!! Unfortunately it was not all good news ! When I got moving again the car was about 30% down on power and I could only reach max revs in 4th gear at the ends of the straights. Dropping it into 5th made the engine drop off the cam and lose speed.
So I concentrated on carrying as much speed as I could through the corners, to maintain momentum, and wondered if the damaged engine would hold out for the next 11 laps!!
Al pulled steadily away in front and Tom began to close quickly from behind as my laptimes dropped by about 12 secs a lap. :'( Tom eventually swept past and there was nothing I could do, but I was running in 4th spot and only Fulvio was behind me and a looooong way back.
As the laps counted down I almost quit as I had no chance of racing anyone even if I could find another car on the track, but I cruised on until about 3 laps from the end when Tim was suddenly losing huge amounts of his lead. I was doing huge calculations in my head for the next 2 laps trying to work out if I could catch him befroe the end of the race. On the final lap It became clear that it would be VERY close, probably on the dash out of the last corner!! and a chance of a podium
Then I passed Tim's car stuck in the trees at Big Bend!!
Grats to Tom and Al and hard luck to Tima and Fulvio.
Really grew to like this track, but it is a shame that it has a few danger spots that can finish your race when you think you are safe .
