Like Mogens,..after a Good sleep (here in Australia the race started at about 3.00am), and some time to look at and review the Race, I feel I Must reiterate how enjoyable this race was even with so few starters !!
Sebastien's comment about him driving Very consistently is most certainly true, as apart from the slight 'coming together' with Yoann, I don't think he really 'put a foot wrong' for the whole race !!,..Unlike the rest of us, who at one stage or another, All had 'Minor Brain Fades' and fell off the black stuff once or twice,..lol
As mentioned previously, I had not done Any SIM racing, since the Last HSO GTP event and in fact prior to that, since the last HSO GTP championship,..so was feeling rather rusty and took me some time to both get back Into the Driving of these cars and to find a decent setup.
This was made a bit difficult by the weird Rear Tyre temperatures, which as it turned out did Not really have Any effect on performance during the race, which was pleasantly surprising.
Not really 'knowing' the competitors in this race and being somewhat 'out of practice', I decided to take the Start relatively easily and Hang Back, so as to get back into the Swing of things and get comfortable with the car and driving again.
The 'Pace Lap' was Terminally Slow and we all had a Very good and close start, with Sebastien making an exceptional start.
I was somewhat pleased to see that we were all pretty evenly matched speed and lap time wise and so was looking forward to some good racing, which it has to be said I think we Did.
As mentioned, with the exception of Sebastien, there were a few Minor Brain Fades in the Early laps, which accounted for the Lead and position changes in the Early stages of the race.
After making the same 'Silly' error of 'Dropping it' into the sand in the first corner on the 14th lap, as Both the leaders did previously, I got going again quickly and really 'Put My Head Down' and started motoring along quite nicely and around this time we all started catching each other again.
I eventually caught and Finally Passed Sebastien, whom as I discovered, was Not the Easiest person to get past !!
I Could lap a bit quicker than Seb, but we were Very even overall, with different strengths and weaknesses around the Lap.
Seb was getting off some corners Very well, but I had a few Kmh's more and getting a good run along the Back straight and passing going into the Fast right Hand corner was about the Only place I could get past, without making a 'desperate' move elsewhere.
From then on, I was 'Back in the Groove' and set off after Mogens,..which as he has already alluded to, was Not all that easy, as he was setting virtually Identical times to myself, with the two of us separated by about the Length of the Back Straight for SO Many laps.
I WAS Trying!!,..lol,..and it was good to see I was keeping the gap to Mogens about the same, but was Mainly trying to put a Gap between myself and Seb, so as to get through My Pit Stop and Not lose 2nd.
In the interest of Safety, I pitted a little bit earlier than perhaps I Had to and Almost got away with it, as I exited the Pits Just after Seb and Yoann had gone by.
No problems I thought, and began the 'Chase' again, which was going OK, until lap 58 or 59 when surprisingly, I managed to go off on the 2nd last corner, ( a corner I have Not had Any difficulties with for Years!!,..DOH) and whilst it was a rather Simple Off, I managed to get the Rear of the Car Caught on the Fence and could Not extricate myself, Damn It,...Grrrr, which meant a Call to the Tow Truck,..sigh,...
I guess fortunately, I Was relatively close to the Pits, but it Still took 1min 30secs for the 'Tow' and a bit longer for the remainder of the Pit Stop and repairs etc, which unfortunately (In effect), destroyed my Race effort, as with everyone lapping in the 59sec' bracket, I was now seriously behind the Eight Ball and a couple of laps Down,..which was somewhat annoying, as I was really enjoying myself and quite happy to be getting the 'Hang of it' all again.
Mind you, whilst slightly annoying, this did Not completely detract from the overall experience, as for Many many laps, Seb and I had some really Great Super close racing together and after Finally managing to get past him, I promptly dropped it off the edge in the first corner again a few laps later !!!,..DOH !!,..my Lack of recent race experience showing up I guess.
For a race with so Few competitors, it was actually quite a Lot of Fun and as 'noted' we were ALL doing Very similar lap times and managed to 'Get together' on the track quite a few times, which helped make it feel like a Real race and Not a Very Long Solo practice session,..and apart from being extremely annoyed with myself for burying it in the fence, I had a Really enjoyable time,..so,..Thanks Guys !!
May I say I found motoring around with Seb for So many laps a real joy !!,..it was great to know I could really commit to corners and braking etc with such confidence knowing that the guy in front of me is going to Keep it together !!
It certainly helped make the Latter stages of the race more interesting and definitely enjoyable !!
All in All, a pretty good evening and as mentioned, with Only 4 cars on the track actually quite a lot of fun,..but I am Still Kicking myself for My 'Off',..DOH !!
I still really enjoy this 'Mod', so I might have to think about doing some regular racing again perhaps with the FSB guys.
Oh yeah,..I thought perhaps I was struggling a bit, with a rather sore ankle and shoulder, but after realizing how Mogens has to drive,..is not even worth mentioning,..lol,..well done and Congrats
Thanks for a GREAT Race guys
Home 
Subject: Re: 1991 IMSA Camel GT Championship : Camel Continental VIII 
Sun 10 Jun 2012 - 16:15
, sad that I had to give up because I had been able in training to lap consistently in 59s, so I could have been competitive 
