As per my last post, nothing major required to the car before the race and a fairly relaxed schedule for race day.I knew from some reviews of the telemetry from the first race of the season that I had some time I could save in a number of areas of the circuit, all be it small amounts each and I also knew that I had a good margin. Would that margin be sufficient?
Well qualifying went very well, I got into a good rhythm with some clear track early on in the session which meant I was not handicapped by the oil leak and subsequent oil slick on the track in the last 5 mins of the session. It was quite easy to spot the first oil line around the hairpin, a little surprising to see a second line around the hairpin the next lap, followed by a line all the way around the track and that sequence just continued for the next 5 laps as the marshals failed to pull Steve Robinson in as he continued to drop oil. On the last lap, I caught Paul and thought it would be fun to run with him a while to see our differences and he proceeded to follow me off the track at the esses when we both hit an even wider strip of oil! Fun!
So I managed to reduce my best lap time around Mallory in that session with a slightly higher entry speed and some smother driving elsewhere, we are only talking a few tenths, with a lap time of 50.53 to give me pole in class C. Just Gordon and Rob ahead of me again and a comfortable half second back to the next best in class C of John Cutmore.
Great to see Paul up in the lead Class C pack yet again with a much improved lap time of 51.32 for a Class B pole and for Tim to be 4th in class C with a 51.56
The race got off to a strange start, with Rob pulling off into the pits on the out-lap with a brake problem which left just Gordon in front of me. I got a good start, pulling up along side Gordon on the run down to the first time into Gerrards. I backed off slightly to slip in behind him but staying ahead of the rest of the pack and got my head down to gain a lead.
For the first few laps I was able to pull a gap out and from there on the race went perfectly to plan. I could see the following pack of Mike, John and Paul were keeping each other busy and although they seemed quite close each lap at the hairpin there was a good space between us and I was able to moderate my pace. The race changed as I saw Gordon slowing and pulling off after being pulled in by the marshals for loose body work and suddenly I was the overall race leader!I had a few interesting moments as I came up to lap some of the other racers and had to pioneer the way through as I was the leader of the race. This including running a very tight line through Gerrards with the inside wheels on the grass and the needed to back off and time the place on the track to meet the back markers.
Towards the end of the race, I lapped a few drivers where I knew roughly what their lap times were compared to mine and used that to guess at the gap back to 2nd place. After analyzing the results sheet, I was 0.3 of a second out in my calculations!
The last few laps of the race seemed to take ages but even though Mallory is quite a simple circuit, it is surprisingly fun to drive with some nice challenges like the run through the devils elbow, which requires a gentle slide whilst flat out accelerating from the hairpin and of course the 'event' that is Gerrards every lap.
Crossing the line
For once I actually saw the last lap board and was fairly animated as I cross the line for the chequered flag. Although I have won in class before and did not gain any more points for this overall win, it still felt better! You can see and hear the last two laps in the video taken by John on his digital camera.
A nice cooling down lap, waving to the crowds! and into pitlane to collect the laurel and be interviewed by the commentator.
So the old car can beat all of Class C, Class B and Class A (well as long as Gordon and Rob have problems!)
1 comment:
Well done mate, really good going, so you don't need to worry about changing class now!
Post a Comment