Round 18 - Daily Express Indy Silverstone [Dec 19th]
Dec 19, 2021 22:09:42 GMT
Bruno Chacon likes this
Post by Michael Drechsler on Dec 19, 2021 22:09:42 GMT
Fitting end to a horrible season. Limping home. But just so...
...my plan was to bring that car home, under all circumstances. I laid out a plan, and that was to mind my business and just my own business. Stay out of the way of others, shift up early, brake early, safe the engine and car and just bring it home. No heroics in laptimes, braking late, That plan was working well, until the last lap, when I saw a chance to get past Bruno. I braked, what I thought was in time, but apparently, my brakes weren't in the right shape anymore, so I slid off track at Copse and substantially damaged the car. I had two more impacts until I returned home. Oh dear... 
...Q was okay, I laid down a 1.24.6, which was just about 2/10s short of my personal best and well over half a second of the next grid spot. Though I could sense the potential here and there, I couldn't imagine getting another 1 1/2 second out of the car, and I already thought the car switch helped me. Did a back-to-back test with the Watson on monday, didn't go much faster right away in the Penske, but at least it reacted positively to setup input. Over the course of the week, I gained a tenth here and half a second there, and slowly got the hang of how to drive the car, but it would remain a stranger to me. But I cobbled up a setup, that seemed survivable, turning in nicely, clinging to the inside curb, and the rear sufficiently stable, as long as I remembered to hold the reins tight. I felt somewhat prepared
Then the first disaster ... erm, start, I just could avoid running into Jules rear wing on the back straight, others were less lucky, judging the trash out there, and no one seemed to know what to do, once the flag fell. Second start worked, but mine wasn't that great, and I lost some positions over the first lap. That was also due to being somewhat irritated about my car, again. What used to be a decent setup in testing didn't work anymore! That happened repeatedly to me and is most annoying, its race day and the car just handles like a pile of dog poo! 
Front end suddenly didn't stick anymore or the rear end did now, at least I had a terribly understeering car on turning in and mid corner, and a twitchy rear end on exit. Thanks for nothing! Took me a while to get used to it, but it was less driving the car than fighting it around the track, after a while I got a rhythm and was able to close the gap to Bruno and Kayo, and I finally could get past them, when they went for their pit stop. I went a lap later, my in lap wasn't all that great, because the car did no longer feel good with an almost empty tank, which took me off rhythm, but pit entry was quite fine. But I wasn't prepared for what happened next, my pit stall wasn't where it had been all week long. It has always been the very first, right after pit entry, even if I was the last car to enter the server, it was always the first one. Even in the warm up session. And now, it was gone!? Amazed, slowly rolled down the pit lane, until I finally found my pit stop at the end of the pit lane, way slower than I was allowed. No idea how much time I had lost there, the distance to Bruno and Kayo was larger now than before the pit stops...
Front end suddenly didn't stick anymore or the rear end did now, at least I had a terribly understeering car on turning in and mid corner, and a twitchy rear end on exit. Thanks for nothing! Took me a while to get used to it, but it was less driving the car than fighting it around the track, after a while I got a rhythm and was able to close the gap to Bruno and Kayo, and I finally could get past them, when they went for their pit stop. I went a lap later, my in lap wasn't all that great, because the car did no longer feel good with an almost empty tank, which took me off rhythm, but pit entry was quite fine. But I wasn't prepared for what happened next, my pit stall wasn't where it had been all week long. It has always been the very first, right after pit entry, even if I was the last car to enter the server, it was always the first one. Even in the warm up session. And now, it was gone!? Amazed, slowly rolled down the pit lane, until I finally found my pit stop at the end of the pit lane, way slower than I was allowed. No idea how much time I had lost there, the distance to Bruno and Kayo was larger now than before the pit stops......a while later I was the last car running again, and I had a bit of trouble getting into a useful rhythm again with the tanks full, and Bruno seemed about as fast as I was, I gained a bit here, he gained a bit there. After a while, I was the last car running, nontheless I slowly crept up the order with other competitors dropping out, and over the laps, I could slowly make up time to Bruno, and with maybe 12 laps to go, I was in a position to attack him for the first time, but then I remembered why 'no heroics' was part of my plan: I couldn't really push the car any more, I almost threw it away. Okay, relax, mind your own business! Slowly, I could get closer again, but this time, traffic put me off rhythm, and this time the gap was even larger. Relax, lay back, bring it home! But Bruno was apparently in really deep trouble, I could get up to him in no time, again. That's when I decided try getting past him on the last lap, but that went horribly wrong. I'm happy I was able to roll it home, with both wings gone and the right front severly damaged...
After all, outside the superspeedways, I never really got the hang of these cars. Okay runs at Pocono and Ontario, until my Offys quitted, two bores at Atlanta and Michigan, where the fuel allocation prevented me from from being really competitive, a slightly better outing at Phoenix, and a disastreous Brands Hatch round. These cars just felt completely strange to me, hardly ever giving me a clue where the limit is. Often it felt like I left something behind, again, then I tried a little bit harder, and immediately, I was over the limit. Just ... weird.