Seemed like pretty good fun to drive though - still getting to grips with using an H shifter and clutch at the moment anyhow.
Hope it was a good race!
It was for me.
Hadn't done more than a dozen laps before tonight, just enough to check out a road setup off the forums and make sure I had the controls set up right (I don't use the H-pattern in the synchro cars - I find the G27's clutch and shifter so unrealistic that I hate using it, I'd rather take the performance hit of auto clutch and auto blip and have a car I can drive consistently).
First thing I did in practice was to get a fuel consumption number, so I could concentrate on practicing on full race fuel. Gradually I honed the setup until I managed a lap under 2:01; I was pretty chuffed with that - trust James to come along and slash another half a second off it.
I figured that with fuel removed I'd be sure of a front row slot, but I fluffed my second lap whilst heading for a 2:00.5 and ended up where I expected - second on he grid - but for the wrong reason, as Oily had nailed a good one and James could only manage 3rd.
Start was okay but I couldn't make the inside line into T1 pay and had to settled into second. James was kind enough to muck up the end of his first lap though which gave me a great run on him down the front straight, allowing me to take the lead on the second circulation. I didn't take Oily long to have another moment which dropped him back to about 10 seconds, but James B was still there 2-3 seconds back, and I know how quick he is over a race distance in these oval sleds, so it was a huge relief to see him slide of in T1 a few laps later.
That left me a reasonable gap to maintain without destroying the tyres - I was especially worried about the rears - but after about a third of the race was gone I checked the fuel usage and was alarmed to discover that my initial fuel estimate was one click short. I started trying to save fuel and watching the gap, but luckily for me, the James twins both had further dramas, dropping them out of contention, and leaving me with a nice 10 second gap to Bernie that I could manage whilst saving fuel. I had to keep saving for the remainder of the race, just popping a couple of moderately quicker laps in at the end once I was absolutely sure of making it. As it was I crossed the line with 0.9 litres left - enough for about a third of a lap.
Well done to Bernie for second - nice to see the top two were also the only zero incident points. Crime does not pay!
