1971 Race of Champions (Brands Hatch)

Grant didn't win

But why would you guys basically hit the rev limit? That's stupid.

That's playing with fire, I am usually being conservative in approach and only "abuse" the car at times I need to

One big problem I have been facing is car setup. I had 3 different configurations and all of them had very close lap times. I chose the most conservative and was aware that Brands Hatch always makes victims.
At the start of the race, I was close to the group of cars that Pascal was holding at all costs and preferred to keep a safe distance, as I knew the race was on fire.
With the level of concentration high, I forgot to blink and at one point my eyes started to tear a lot, my glasses got wet and foggy and that was a problem for me. In my mind, I told myself that the important thing was to stay focused and paced around 1:30. My race was basically getting rid of the "bodies that got in the way".
In the final part of the race, Dave Miller was making the difference quickly until it was close to 2 seconds when I decided to react and managed to break the car trying to pick me up.
It was great to have come in 5th making up for my efforts.
Congratulations to Thiago for the victory and the broadcasting team who once again did a brilliant job of showing and commenting on every race dispute.

Congrats Thiago  .
Thanks for the broadcast, I could watch that after my retirement. 
The car felt great in warm-up and with a full tank of fuel was almost lapping as quick as I had qualified. A rear wheel clipping the dirt at Paddock bend spinning me into the barrier and retirement. 

Well done Bruno on a great 5th place finish.

I must have missed the PSA about the Tyrrell. Picked the car when selections opened, knowing I would not have any practice time due to other things I had going on last week. Figured I'd pick a decent car, everything would be ok. 

Then yesterday morning came and I got in the car for the first time.  I could hardly keep the thing in the road, and to say it was all a bit unexpected would not be saying enough.  I was a bit shocked.
Spent the next few hours trying to tame this monster, finally getting it [sort of] where I wanted it just prior to the race. (It was still a handful, and a workout!)

In quali I couldn't seem to find the laps I'd just done in practice (probably something to do with constant setup changes at that point...lol)
So, got stuck P6 or so.  And got hung out to dry on the outside of T1, then again at the T2 hairpin.  After cautiously navigating inside of T3, I start realizing I've lost a lot of ground and now I'm behind some cars I should not be.  I think I made it by 1 or 2 cars, then got behind Pascal in that damned turbine car.

I knew I was faster, so I didn't force the issue much at first.
Then I finally made a move at Surtees, only to be turned into by the turbine car

At that point I assumed a mistake was made, and I assumed he'd let me on by (realizing I was far faster and he was holding me up)
However, this didn't happen.  (Shades of Road America start to cross my mind)

It goes on for this for a few laps...Pascal playing the wide ass car card.  Except, there's a fine line between defending and blocking...and it's been crossed two races in a row, Pascal.  You ran me completely off the track multiple times at Road America in Cart, and you damn near cost us both a finish here, blocking (yes, blocking....you can't just weave down the front straight blocking my every path) over and over.  You're damn lucky I'm far more patient than some others, else you would not have finished this race.  And it would not have been intentional.  You can only get away with that so long before the guy you're blocking eventually makes a mistake and runs over you. Or gets pissed, and runs over you (I was very close to the latter, just to let you know, and I'm usually quite calm in these races --we all have a breaking point.  You've just about reached mine)

Anyways....
I spent the rest of the race playing catch up to cars I should have been racing with.  Gained a few attrition spots along the way, and ended up in P4.  I tried fairly hard to catch Ray up in P3, but it was just too much gap to cover and once the tires would get too hot I'd have to back off (because there was no other option, the car was not happy with overheated tires at all)
Other than that, was a pretty lonely race for me.  But, P4 after the 'issues' and a clean race from my seat in a car I'd never driven...I'll take it. 

Grats to Thiago on the [patient] win.  Well played!
Grats to David and Ray on the podium as well.

And a big thanks to our hosts, and broadcast crew alike for doing what they always faithfully do! 
Now, to go drink coffee and catch up on that broadcast, didn't get around to it last night.

See y'all next race!

The blocking was indeed a bit excessive, I already mentioned in the broadcast the traffic jam that was been caused   In mild defense of Pascal I have to say the car is a handful though, and he was broadcasting with us live while driving.  But yes, this shouldn't certainly be the way of doing things in the future  

PD: Sorry about me "riding with you" David (It erased your results), I have the command programmed in the keyboard and I must have hit it while texting in the chat