It was a great race, but I was miffed at myself for slow reactions in a couple of braking zones. I was really trying to do what a professional racing driver does in planning where I am going to overtake a lap in advance, push at the right place and then make the hit. Unfortunately my 4am-dulled reactions meant I did not compensate for your braking zone in a couple of places which led to a couple of bumps that were completely my fault (which is why I stopped to let you pass me as it would not have been a fair way to overtake).
I didn't practice much during the week, so it was quite interesting "learning" the track. It can be hard to do this in qualifying / practice when you are looking for a best lap time so the incentive is to just push on everything. In the race where you are more accomodating to staying on the track, along with being able to see other people's lines, you can hit a couple of corners a lot better.
The ont thing I do know about magny-cours is that the only realistic overtaking option is the hairpin at the end of the first straight, so I set my car up for late braking and good turning here, and was rewarded with a couple moves that I was quite proud of!
Qualifying
This was a disaster for me. In the practice I was pushing for 3rd place, just ahead of the pack (with Turbo and Rocket 5 seconds up), but I didn't nail a clean lap at all. Squid and Mirf stepped up to the challenge to post faster times, and in the end I was lucky Ty didn't get me either.
There was just enough time before the race started for Mirfee to inform me that I had an Electronics problem on the roster. I had had no warning of this? Was it to be my downfall, or just a clever ploy by Mirf to unsettle an opponent?!
The Race
I had another poor start, mostly blamed upon looking at how dark the sky was and trying to remember my headlight button over watching the start lights. As Ty screamed past me I realised the race was underway and made a hash of trying to catch up. There were some shenanigans through the first corners that allowed me to catch up a bit, and by the straight we were all pretty close. I sent one up the inside that stuck, narrowly squeezing my car into a gap between Ty and the Mirf/Squid tandem that was barely a car's length wide. But it was not to be as I made a mistake (blames cold tyres) soon after pushing it too hard. At this early point my car felt rubbish, and I was squealing all over the place.
What I didn't know as I trailed the pack waiting for my car to start feeling nice again was that Turbo had had a stop and go penalty. I was oblivious that this green daemon was speeding up behind me. Heading into the first complex I decided to ease off a little on the entry for a faster exit, as I was close enough that I might be able to pull the same move on Ty. So I was a little surprised to see some headlights to the side! There was the faintest of touches as Turbo took me on the inside, but the front end locked and I slid wide, ending up in the gravel. Not such a great start!
At this point I thought just consolidate, don't push but get up to a decent speed, and hope things happen for you ahead. Fortunately the pack were at the dodgems and there were enough incidents to put me back in contention. Mirf and Squid were having some fun and games, and I managed to pass both under mistakes as I caught up to Ty again.
This part of the race was where I had to think a bit. I was deliberatly not pushing the first section because a mistake would lead to a "big one". Despite this over a lap I was still over a second faster than him, so was remaining in touch but without a clear overtaking opportunity. With Mirf and Squid just on our tails (from a hairpin nudge that I completely locked up for) I didn't want to try anything too adventurous either as they'd be right past us. At this point I realised there was only one way to do it, and that was pushing through the first complex.
I was on tenderhooks through here, but a combination of just keeping it and Ty running slightly wide led to an opportunity. I had noticed that Tybalt was braking a bit before me, and was also convinced that I could go a bit later. My heart was pounding as the opportunity came, and in hindsight I was probably not close enough to make it convincing. It was also hard to judge when Ty was braking as I'd taken out one of his rear lights in an earlier bump!
"20m later, 20m later" was my mantra as I edged into the centre of the track. I hit the brakes just when I wanted too. Ty had braked earlier and I was passing him - I just needed him not to turn in early. He took the racing line around, and was confronted by a windscreen full of my red trunk! Giving me a friendly nudge in the back I just held it to take 3rd as we sped away down the next straight!
I knew that I would be fast enough to get clear air between us if I could just successfully negotiate the second complex. It was not to be. Taking a defensive (and slow) line through the turn I completely spun it on the track. Ty musta been laughing as he sped past once again!
There was not much more of the race for me. I was pretty much in the same situation, lining Ty up for another passing move when we had another incident near the end of the lap. Letting him go ahead again I was not surprised when I could not get up to full revs, such the state of my car must have been in. Half a lap later I conked out, pulling well off the road to save anyone piling into the back of me.
It was a bit of a shame to end that way as I was really enjoying the battles!
Race replay:
http://www.maelstromcrew.net/tg/(tg_event4.vcr).zip
(once again this is not a zip file - remove the parenthesis and the .zip, and then drop the file into your ReplayData file.
