Round 5 : Anderstorp
Somebody needs to kick the reports off so I'll jump in.
I actually had a very enjoyble race, even though it was a bit rough in places and the poor old Mini came home looking very second hand again. This track produces some different racing, almost like two separate tracks. One huge straight for the big brutes to blast everyone away, and then all the tight bits where the nippy, better handling cars catch up again. In the Mini it was a case of watching the Falcons disappear down the straight, and then being held up by them in the tight bits. The problem is, how the hell do you pass a Falcon, they take up most of the track and are usually swaying their rear end over the other part. And if you do get past, they blow you away every time there is a straight section of any length.
Anyway, this race was very close, tight, and interesting for me. I qualified reasonably well and started from P12. Of course, the Mini was left sadly behind from the start gun, but the turn 2 massacres up front allowed me to move into the middle of the field. From then on, I had a huge scrap with Eck in a Cortina, Goran's Falcon, and the odd Alfa. It was so funny, we spent most of the race playing freight train stacked up behind Goran who was too quick in a straight line but we would all climb all over him on the bendy bits. Each one of us took turns trying to pass the Falcon but couldn't pull it off, so it kept us all very close indeed. At one stage, we even had Caspar's Falcon in the train, but of course he had the grunt to pass on the straight. Unfortunately, after working over Eck's Cortina for many laps and finally slipping past him, he got inside me on turn 1 and gave me gentle nudge off into the next airstrip. I managed to catch the freight train again, but this time Eck, Goran, and an Alfa had a coming together entering the final turn, resulting in Eck spinning right in front of me. Yep, slammed straight into him making the car even more second hand. It was getting very fierce towards the end as we all got more anxious to get through Goran, and I ended up tapping Nebojsa Stajic entering the turn into the start straight, but after looking at the replay I noticed that he had started spinning before I tapped him, so I don't feel so bad. Very sorry Nebosja.
At the end of a huge 25 lap battle, I brought the Mini home P10 (almost touching Goran's boot, side by side with Eck's Cortina, and Nebosja's Alfa in my boot), so a reasonable result. Really a fun race, but I bet we were all worn out by the end.
Thanks to all who raced. Looking at the replay, I see Rik put up a valiant effort in the Falcon trying to fend off a gaggle of Alfa's, but it looked like hard work after his tyres went off. I think this was definitely an Alfa track.
Congratulations to Kari who drove a great race for a well deserved win.