Round 6 - XX Großer Preis von Deutschland [Jun 5th]

Boy, I didn't spare my equipment today, neither the virtual, nor the real one. But yet another frustrating race of missed opportunities...

...Q was alright, maybe I could have chucked out that missing 3 seconds for a better position, but basically I was in the ballpark I could get from the car. I spent little time at the rev limit of the car and wasn't really familiar with its behaviour there, that's why I made to many mistakes. 8th, on the inside. Was okay for me.

Start was better than in Silverstone, yet lost 3 positions, but I got them back pretty quickly. I got quickly into a decent rhythm, and the car was really nicely balanced over the complete distance. I had a nice early skirmish with John Thim, then I had to deal with David Jacques, another BRM behind me, and a Lotus in the sights. David had a bit of trouble stopping for the Südkehre in L4, which promoted me to sixth, nice. So I went after the Lotus, which could make the neccessary distance through the Hatzenbach section. I got a bit to overeager through Schwedenkreuz, that one was still save, but I braked fractionally late for Aremberg, revs didn't match well on downshifting, and my rear got a bit wide. But I was basically still able to hold it. What I didn't have in my books was my wheel suddenly coming loose from the desk Probably got a bit more help from behind, but the main problem was my wheel suddenly moving (with a pretty ugly cracking noise). I spun around, lost about 20 seconds and two positions and went after John and David, bit being a bit out of my rhythm and slightly infuriated didn't go well for long and was slightly to fast through Metzgesfeld, and this time, I hit the barrier a little hard. Immediately, I felt the car was askew. Not again... I limped back to the pits, with a few more impacts, with a surprisingly short stop of only 72 seconds. Unfortunately not enough to properly fix the wheel again. So, from 6 to 12 in 2'45" (that's what I lost about to that Lotus, I think Dave Miller). Oh well, let's see where I can still get from there.

The wheel still not being properly fixed to the desk led to one or another unintended interuption of my efforts, and it took me quite a while, until I could shorten the gap to the cars in front of me. After a while, I realised I should prevent countersteering, as the forces would move the wheel from the edge it was still clinging to the desk, and each time I passed Galgenkopf, I tried to push the wheel a bit back, which was only a partial success. Yet, each time through Brünnchen, I feared it would come completely undone! I could pass Adam in the BRM, Christian in the Cooper, Dave's Lotus was apparently no longer healthy, Bruno unfortunately crashed out (too sad, was really looking forward for that fight), David Jundt dropped out, the car as such was really fine and still able to run in the sub-9:20s. Going into lap 14, I was like 25 seconds behind Francisco. Basically, it was in the car to fetch him. Ah well, let's try it, either it works or it breaks. The car handled awesome, I revved a little higher than before, did no longer worry about the temp gauge (before, sometimes I would use only 90 percent of the throttle in the uphill section from Breitscheid to Hohe Acht, because the temps got over 102 degrees). Last lap, and it was still about 15 seconds (okay, I know, that timing bar isn't to accurate around this track), so I had to put another log into the fire to catch him. Good thing: the tires were in the right window, balance was perfect, just right for that dance around the Nordschleife. I could point the car at the direction I wanted it to be and the car did the rest just by itself. Soon, I had a glimpse of his tailpipes, but when a yellow section came, I lost a bit the contact, I didn't want to run into some wreckage. At Brünnchen, I was right behind Francisco, and through Pflanzgarten II/Schwalbenschwanz, I could finally pass him. Not sure, if I was really faster, or if he was speculating to pass me back on the Döttinger Höhe, but the Vanwell ran well. 263 kph, and if not damaged, 270 were possible. I chickened a bit out, but with an empty tank, it was possible to do the Tiergarten kink flat out. Nearly 190 through the Hohenrain righthander, and thanks to other people late mishaps, I was able to fix a sixth place. And it was sure satisfying to snatch that position from Francisco in the last lap.

Nontheless I'm a bit unhappy with the result. Car and myself were basically good to drive into the points, but that wheel issue ruined the race for me. Gonna have to come to terms with the result with some red wine, now...