Moderator's Report
On to Germany. The Sachsenring which is now only used by the bikes, but in heavily modified form. The meeting starts badly when the server crashes after a fairly hectic qualifying where the usual suspects were to the fore. We then had to join in order to build a grid as we had no time to repeat qualifying. This sort of worked but one or two sneaked in early to get a better view of the flag man, but to single out Bernie would be cruel, so I won’t.
Tim found himself in pole despite joining second and he and H streaked away, closely followed by Raoni and Clive. The others were a little slower starting and Hendy, in particular, found it hard to get the wheels spinning. Bernie led the ‘also rans’ into the town and livened things up by spinning. This left Skymole with nowhere to go and that is where he ended up going – nowhere. Wheel off, end of race. JJonny O was cautious coming to the accident which allowed Badblood to get a run through the carnage and make up a few places. Unfortunately as he passed JJO the Brazilans car exploded and spun ‘Molasses’* Badblood’s car. The track seemed particularly sensitive to the slow moving Ferrari, as we shall see. Hendy has threaded his way through and joined the midfield but his lap is to be short as he fails to handle the compression to turns after the nasty left handed Jugend bend. He will probably be disappointed to have lost it after handling the most difficult part of the course but the pine trees are unforgiving and his spin is terminal.
He is probably not as disappointed as Raoni who has spun in exactly the same place a few seconds earlier giving Goran an almighty fright. Tim, H and Clive are gone. Clive is slightly slower than the speedy front pair. The pace that H and Tims are setting is hot, which is all the more impressive as they are battling in close company. H has taken the lead through slipstream but Tim immediately comes back but is unable to defend down the long back straight and H leads as Lap 1 finishes. The lap is a relatively long one of 2:45 (for some) plus. This means that the field strings out fairly quickly.
Up front Hristo, Tim with Clive a little bit back and Goran, in touch, but definitely slower. A midfield led by Martin Hunt with Dave Rainier, Phil Thornton and Fulvio Policardi and in the battle of the milk floats, Bernie (having reasserted the natural order) leading a floundering Badblood.
The only close battle for the first few laps is the one at the front. And what a battle it is. Lap 2 and the order is maintained and Tim has no sniff of a chance but as Lap 3 winds down he takes a wide line coming to the finish and tries to slingshot round Mr Itchov. Nothing doing but on Lap 4 after more close running, H makes a small mistake at the last turn and this time the wide line works and Tim is through.
Lap 5 and the leaders catch Badblood in the forest. Both slip by easily. Clive has been losing a second or two each lap and it is vital because he catches the moving chicane at the wrong place and a nasty spin ensues despite there being no contact. The Ferrari sensitive contact box has struck again. Clive just maintains third from a fast closing Goran.
The two of them catch BB in the town and this time he leaves LOTS of room.
Lap 6 and H and Tim are still going hammer and tongs. The midfield is steady but Bernie has left us. Nine remaining.
Lap 7 and Tim still has the advantage but the pressure tells and he clips a kerb in the outskirts of the town, letting H through. They resume their nose to tail battle.
Lap 9 – this is vital because if you get to ten, you score points. At the start of this one H leads FMG but both have the same time. Clive is thirty seconds behind and Goran a further ten back. Martin dips under 24 minutes and he is closely followed by Dave Rainier and Fulvio. Phil is thirty seconds shy of that lot with BB just nine seconds (and a lap) down on Phil.
At the town boundary, Martin brakes too hard for the speed cameras and spins letting Dave through. This puts Fulvio in his exhaust pipes and he chases hard. Up ahead H gets sideways at the chicane (nice to know that everyone finds it tricky). Has Tim’s pressure finally told. Has H cracked. Nope. Next lap and H outbrakes Tim at the very same chicane. Tim slipstreams the Bulgarian and H touches the grass which lets the Full Metal flyer through. He is very hot into Jugend and gets out of shape and H keeps it nice and tidy to get alongside. Tim has the racing line but H has the inside and discretion is the better part of valour as H takes the lead again. This is almost a carbon copy of the clash between Fulvio and Martin on the previous where Mr Hunt has made a mess of the difficult left hander and Fulvio has had to do no more than keep it pointing in the right direction.
These are the two best battles on the track. Tim and H have a fantastic scrap all the way to the line but Mr Itchov has the best of it and starts to build a lead.
Fulvio and Martin have a synchronised spinning lesson at the chicane with Martin spinning on the way in and Fulvio on the way out. Unfortunately Mr Policardi has the extra half turn with pike and it costs him his place. Dave has built a fourteen second lead by just being neat and tidy and Phil is comfortable behind. Badblood has managed to secure some points (although not before several spins and nearly taking Goran out for a dance at Jugend). Lap 12 and Martin and Fulvios syncrho slippy stuff is repeated at the entrance to the town but they both continue as before.
Phil meantime has successfully negotiated Jugend for the eleventh time but inexplicably hits the grass and gets in a tangle with some pesky 2-D spectators. Badblood has not noticed this and having completed ten laps decides he will show what he can do now – he has been lapping on average at 3:24 and his PB is 3:02. The cautious approach has paid dividends but now it is time to really show the world... he buries it in the haybales at the chicane thus REALLY showing the world what he is capable of. Had he but known...
Up ahead Martin and Fulvio have another squabble at the town boundary and this time it is terminal. 13th lap and we are down to five. H and Tim are still in close quarters but not quite as close as it was and Clive, Goran and Dave have settled into 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively.
Lap 16 and Tim finally makes a mistake at the chicane (did it catch everyone out) and the battle is over. He continues but some way down the road of the nippy leader. He has nothing to fear from Clive who just can’t quite match the Muttram pace and so they come home in the same order.
Amazing battle between Hristo and Tim (again) with Clive a bit scruffy but a worthy podium.
Driver of the day? I was tempted to pick myself but having nearly taken out Clive, Goran and definitely biffing Jonny, it can’t be. Especially as the lap times made it look like I was on a Sinclair C5.
So the real driver of the day is Dave Rainier. Unspectacular but super steady and a great fifth place.
* as in, as slow as Molasses!
Paul "Badblood" Whitfield
No incidents reported and no L1 penalties BUT a general caution approaching incidents would be nice.
