Nice to back with the GTL friendlies again, although this car & track combo felt like jumping in at the deep end. :eek: To say I was rusty would be an understatement, it's been a while and I have a new Wheel to get used to as well. As usual though, this was still heaps of fun.
Just before Qualy, Eck gave us his gearbox settings which seemed to need 1st gear for the tight turn. Unfortunately, I was stuffing around with setups as the Race was loading, lowering my excess fuel level, but somehow I stuffed up and had default gearing. That would soon bite me in the bum.
Race 1 start was the most hilarious I have seen in ages.
Ross fishtailed across track and pushed me into the fence, Hans fishtailed left into the wall, Eck took forever to get off the line and then eventually fishtailed into Roland and bounced across track into Jack, Ian sat there wheel spinning, Jacob missed it completely to become an obstacle to Senad, funny as a circus.
At the first tight turn, I downshifted and the car lurched left but somehow I missed the wall. Next came the tighter right hander where I expected to be safe dropping to first (still thinking I had Eck's gearing), hit 1st gear and immediatley spun across track taking Eck with me. DOH!! Sorry Eck. I then realised I had the default gearing and knew to avoid 1st gear.
After all that excitement, I finally settled into trying to race and get used to the car. I passed lots of others but only due to them having problems, spins etc.
Someone should have told Senad that the Escort has 5 gears, I passed him in both races down the long straight like he was standing still. Either that or he was towing an invisible caravan.
Race 2 had another exciting start but nothing like race 1. I actually managed a fast start (incredible I know
) and lept pass a stagnant Eck to drop in behind Stuart. Unfortunately, I may have braked a tad early for the tight right hander and Jack tagged me, sending us both to the back. No problems Jack, I was probably trying to be too safe. Again I passed others during the race as the usual carnage took place. These Escorts take some getting used to.
All in all, great fun, lousy driving from me, but hopefully I can get back some rhythm with more races.
Thanks to Stu for the event, and grats on two wins. Nice results for Roland and Jack (race 1) too.