My first impressions of Torino were that it was not a circuit that would allow mistakes to go unpunished. Which is why I did not take Tim's invitation to dive down the inside at T1 at the start. Although my Samb had no such fear and mugged me to sneak up the inside and push me back one position.
I was fully expecting some carnage at T1 and had no intention of being part of it!!
But as Tim observed , the leaders slipped through unscathed and it looked like sanity would prevail..until Hristo found one of those hidden posts
with fatal consequences.
I had discovered this dark secret of Torino during my brief runs of practice. I was trying to get a fast exit from the corner before the tunnel and realised that there was perhaps a kerb that I could sneak two wheels across to straighten the line on the entry to the tunnel.
It worked well, despite a small bump as I dropped off the kerb back on to the roadway which did not upset the car. So, next lap I decided to try and take a bit more kerb and go even faster by straightening out the corner even more
...and it worked. Hey!! I thought "this is gonna shave a second off my lap time" by carrying so much more speed through this corner. Until about the 4th attempt when I really was pushing hard and two wheels on the right of my car vanished!!!!.
??
no impact, no sound just two wheels gone?? There appears to be an invisible post or wall there somewhere and I discovered at least 2 more spots where putting 2 wheels on to the grass or paving cannot be recommended!!!
I was following Sam quite carefully as my setup just would not get my tyres up to a good working temperature. It took 3-4 laps just to get them up to about 150F and up to 10 laps of hard driving to squeeze 200F!! not ideal when you want all the grip you can get
By the time we had completed 3 laps I had already gained 3 places and had not actually passed anyone!!! so I began to close down on Sam and apply a little pressure because I could see Tim creeping into the distance on Prib.
I had clocked a 1:32 on full fuel in my practice sessions so I knew that 1:34's would be comfortable, but Sam and I were doing 1:37's which was allowing Tim to escape. Sam had no intention of letting me pass him and he used the Brabham's grunt to get out of the slower corners quickly and prevent me getting a passing opportunity on the straights. I could close easily through the twisty sections but there was just nowhere to make a pass there...... very frustrating. Then I made a small error and clipped a kerb which gave Sam some breathing space and in my hurry to close the gap again I got on the power too early in T1-2 and came to a smoking halt sideways on to the track...even more breathing space for Sam!!
OK plenty of time left and we are 3rd so just get some quick smooth 1:33 laps in and catch Sam. but with out my Waza in his mirrors he was able to pick his speed up and I was only closing slowly. Until I came across a limping Brabham on the run up the hill after T1-2 and grinned broadly as I wellied my Waza straight past him.
A shame really Sam because we seemed pretty evenly matched for lap times and it would have been a race long duel I think. By now, and thanks to my mistakes, Tim was a good 20 secsonds in front and cruising
Not one to let him have an easy victory I pushed hard hoping that he would have just one decent incident that would allow me within striking distance....but he didn't!! Like Tim I had to check my fuel consumption with about 8 laps to go and eased back just slightly until I was sure I was ok to get to the finish, becuase I could see that Sam intended to reach the flag on 3 wheels if he could
Grats to Tim for the win and Sam almost made it to the flag. a race of attrition but I thought it was a great track and just a shame so many were caught out by its dark secret nasty bits
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