A strange event for me. With Monza 1000km, an unusually busy time at work, a trip home and 2 days travelling back to get here today; I haven't had nearly enough practice at this track. And I find the fast swopping off camber corners at the start really tricky.
However, the reason I was away home, and the reason I've stuck with the C-Type this season are connected. Dad, though he never said it, was always a bit disappointed a chose the Aston for HRRC, as he was a Jag man through and through. So I'd already decided I had to do at least one season in a Jag. This week was the anniversary of his funeral so I was away to see Mum, and hence this seemed the most fitting season to go Jag. I've had his photo on the tachometer all season
so I really didn't want to miss this one.
Anyway, practice went OK and qualifying went much better than I expected. I'm really pleased to be quickest C-Type and hassling a Ferrari and Cunningham.
I made a decent start but had to watch out for Darren sneaking by at the hairpin, I didn't want to lose time behind him... more on that later.
The first part of the race is a bit of a blur. I had hopes of sticking with the cars ahead but it didn't last long. (I've just seen I was ahead of Gerard and Mantis for a while but a small mistake let them both past) I was pleased to see Scooby, Darren and my team mate were holding each other up in scrap giving me some space.
Eventually Scooby got clear and caught me up. I had hopes of keeping him behind but (I think I made a mistake and he got through). I held on for quite a while and hoped I might pressure him into a mistake. But it was me who made the small mistakes and he got away. Still at least it helped me focus for a while. Focus was a problem for a while as I ran out of drink.
I then strated to worry about my right rear cooking and wearing away. By this time I had a big gap to Dareen behind but not enough to risk a pit stop. So I eased up the pace and tried to baby the right rear tyre.
I'd also been having micro stutters all race and they started to get worse. I'd also had an 'USB device not recognised' just before the start and this decided to show itself again. As I was going around the tight left handed the steering stopped responding for a second. It reconnected but too late to stop me spinning. I was able to keep it out of the wall and get going again without too much bother. My poor old brain is struggling to remember clearly tonight but I think I was clear of everyone but sorry if not. Anyway, it allowed Darren to get past I think, or certainly get close - again memory failure.
I managed to (pass - I think) Darren again but then had another micro stutter and disconnect at the same corner. Another spin and panic as I tried to avoid Darren. My car showed no contact but I caused him to spin so waited to let him ahead before starting the chase again. The micro stutters got worse (I wonder if my virus checker is being helpful and scanning after the PC has been off for several days), and the wheel disconnected at the end of the straight. I had another couple of moments and gave up chasing Darren and focused on just trying to finish.
I was very tempted to quit because the car could have crashed at any time due to the errors but I was fairly clear of most people at this stage and I really wanted to finish the final race with Dad on the dashboard of 'his' C-Type.
I'm now completely exhausted and a bit gutted to not scrape the final 3l+ point.
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Subject: Re: 1956 Round 6 - Grand Prix de Rouen 
Sun 17 Dec 2023 - 17:29
I made an incredible mistake going into the first lefthander - I noticed I have no virtual mirror which wasn't a good thing for the first lap of the race. And as I was searching for the right button to turn it on, I missed the braking point. Bent steering right at the beginning of a 2 hours race. Yeeeeey 
I had an intense remote battle with Mantas. The gap was mostly between 8-10s. Unfortunately, just as he was getting closer, he retired after 20 laps. The rest was a lonely ride filled with mistakes. My Ferrari was bent like a banana when I crossed the finish line. Thankfully, it's built like a tank