Round 4 - 44e Grand Prix de l'ACF [Apr 10th]

Ofcourse, a few laps before the end , Connection lost...

Great anti climax with Bruno Chacon at the and, didn't know what happend behind me mate but its was exhiting

p10 lost.. ah well it was very lonely overall  but great fun , what if....

What a race! I'm pretty worn out now, too bad I wasn't rewarded with a point, even though I aimed at that position. Else it was all over fun, barring a few situations.

I really like the track, which does help me hugely, understanding a thing or two about the cars, as well. It has that kind of large radius corners that are undecided if they are flatout or not, a bit like Indianapolis. I love that. I had my good share of fun and success last year in the Minardi at the Österreichring, which is similar in its characteristics. So I was really looking forward to this event. And I could put down quite a few laps this week. All week long the three Vanwalls topped the timing charts, I was just wondering what the Ferraris were capable off. You haven't seen them all week long on the server.

Q came, my first attempt ended with a slight tap in the rear, a spin and a smallish impact in the wall. Its not that I wasn't aware that running in the very first minutes isn't the smartest idea, but well...

...I was a bit undecided on the gearing, using the shorter option had me redlining the car pretty early and cost me probably a mile or two of top speed, the longer gearing cost to much time accelerating out of the slow corners. Something inbetween would have been nice. It took me a while to get up to speed, but in the end, I managed a sub-2:20, very nice. I ended up in 6th, some 3/10ths short of a better position, but I lost that braking for the first hairpin. The first six positions were either taken by Vanwalls or Ferraris.

That decision was a little easier for the race, I knew the engine would basically hold up, I was just unsure if that was also true in the case of extended slipstreaming. I was able to run 297 kph without redlining in a good draft, but I decided I would probably be hardly able to catch such a good air hole too often, so I stuck with my decistion. Instead, reassessing my experiences from yesterday, I went for a stiffer front bar, as I had experienced a bit of balance issues about 15 laps in.

That somewhat chaotic start was already mentioned, I might have my little share in it, as well. The light came, and I did not get off the line to well. Kayo in front of me even worse. When I realised that, I tried to take my opportunity and went to the left, but there was less place than expected. I had to lift and a bit of a wiggle, the next I saw was a Cooper spinning in my mirror, right in the middle of everone Jeez, that didn't look good, and the number of people leaving soon afterwards, neither. I got around the first bends in 11th, but as soon as the first hairpin was passed, it was Vanwall time! Down with the pedal, and just warp past everyone, except for a bit of machinery from Maranello. I was soon back in 8th, then 7th, Ray had some diffiulties around the ... second? hairpin and I was sixth, slowly making up time to Gabriele. It wasn't too long before an exciting fight for the last points paying position unfolded, for a few laps. Finally I could wrestle him down and I was fifth. Unfortunately, in lap 10, I made a costly error in the only lefthander of the track, ran a bit wide, spun, back on the track, and lost three positions again and 12 seconds. I got back in my rhythm again, but couldn't really make up any of that lost ground, but apparently, Gabriele had enjoyed our encounter so much he graciously waited for me, so we could continue where we left. Okay, he had problems in the first hairpin, it also wasn't for long until I got the better of him. A short while later, apparently his car folded. 7th, and pretty much on my own. Ray was a bit faster than me, Luciano pretty even, Jacob was slowly creeping towards me. Kayo even slower, but 40 seconds ahead. But the race was fast, really fast, I had to go sub-2:22 by halftime to even keep up, I had pulled out all the stops and didn't spare much of my car, and slowly, I could shorten the distance to the front a bit. Eventually, Ray dropped out, and I could already see Luciano in the slower parts of the track in front of me, but then, he could go faster again, shortening the distance to Jacob and increasing the distance to me. Soon Luciano and Jacob were in a fight and that did cost them some time, allowing me to get a bit closer, and then, braking for the seconds hairpin, they had clearly overdone it, going wide. Now that would have been a chance to get really close to them! I was aware though, that in the last 15 laps, braking became a bit of an issue for me, and I overbraked my car and the result was a half-spin that cost me four seconds. With 10 laps to go, that basically sealed the deal, I could go quicker than Jacob on his own, but when the two could draft, I couldn't really follow them, and even though I was abusing car and engine hard, I couldn't shorten the gap enough. And with less than 10 litres in the tank, the handling became really atrocious, I nearlly binned it in the second-to-last lap. In the end, I missed the points by 8 1/2 seconds. Add the 12 seconds from my spin and another 4 from my half spin, and now you know why I'm a bit unsatisfied in the end. If I had a chance for points, it was probably here! Ah well, I had fun nontheless, just neet to treat my aching joints now. I definitely have to work on my work/race place ergonomics!