the next race (Kyalami). To add to the realism a hot venue was chose, so the
Cream of GPL circus was off to Malaysia.
Cynics in the paddock suggested the hot venue idea was the brain child of the
Brabham-Renault team's boss in a bid to revitalise his fading tan.
Regardless the drivers knew they were in for a punishing full length GP, and the
attrition rate would be high.
Qualifying was a close affair, the German in the Ferrari pipping the Columbian
in the Lotus. The Ferrari's once again running with their old PII 450s. One
wonders how long they can keep these going what with the superior 16bit graphics
being run by their rivals.
The stewards made it clear that no first corner incidents like last time would
be tolerated. All the drivers agreed, so it was with some surprise that the lead
Ferrari did a 90 right from the start line. Later he explained, "My wheel wasn't
calibrated properly - I needed to do a lock to lock turn to get it working
properly"
With the two lead drivers having swapped sides on the track contact was made
going into T1 - the rest of the field followed through without incident. Once
again one of the Orange Coopers was left on the grid as its driver had popped
out to get a chocolate bar unaware of the start time!
Further incident followed as the Yellow Murasama team-mates had a coming
together. The Japanese driver was able to continue after a shift-r whilst his
Italian team-mate was last seen trying to locate a Japanese phrase book - which
proved difficult to find one with the particular phrases he was looking for.
Meanwhile the German in the Ferrari was forced to shift-r to repair damage, and
the stewards were examining replays of the start - rumours soon began to fly
about action being taken.
This left the other Ferrari and Lotus battling for the lead.
The stewards announced their decision of an enforced shift-r in the pits for the
Columbian. The fans and fellow drivers seemed baffled by this decision, which is
bound to be a talking point for some time.
The Mclaren liveried Eagles had a bad day. The heat played havoc with their
PCs - both ending with dead PCs - The Finn had a spectacular PSU fire to add to
the thrill for the fans.
A bad day for the Irishman in the green Cooper. He had a coming together lapping
one of the BRMs. He later retired when the feed from his drink bottle came off.
Disaster struck for the second placed Ferrari when his monitor toppled over due
to excessive vibration caused by an extreme core.ini Force Feedback setting. It
fell to the floor and the ensuing second electrical fire of the day forced
retirement - a disappointing result with no points scored so far. An exhausted
Brazilian after wrestling with such strong FFB for an hour in the heat slumped
down in a settee in the spectators gallery. This gave the Columbian second
place.
Following his points scoring success at Monza, the Australian in the BRM ended
up off the track towards the end. In his rush to get going again he hit the
button mapped to Esc instead of shift-R and so retired. "That's the last time I
use GPLOME" he muttered.
Just when it looked like the remaining British drivers would be either on the
podium or scoring points both suffered problems and lost their respective
chances. The Englishman (Brabham-Renault) suffered a broken hyperstimulator and
had to finish the race at a precarious angle. He lost so much time that the
German in the Ferrari nicked third.
The Scot (Murasama) meanwhile had the misfortunate during the routine shift-R in
the pits to refuel to discover his brand new Panasonic PC didn't have an R key.
Eventually his techy PC mate worked out the wrong keytop had been fitted, but by
this time he had lost sixth place. "We are a new team with a brand new computer"
he later said. "We will have to work on getting preparation like this spot on"
This left us with a Lotus 1-2 and Ferrari third, although the real talking point
was that stewards decision. Two Germans were on the podium. Apparently a couple
of beach towels had been put there prior to the race start.
The LAN party approach was generally regarded as a success, although the live
action transmitted via a large screen for the fans was rather derided for
failing to show the best action. The fans could just make out close battles
taking place on the drivers screens but not on the main spectator screen. In the
room next door a pay per view showing for the wealthier fans apparently had a
better show.
The clerk of the course disappeared fairly quickly after a short statement about
ensuring fairness for all. Some found it amusing as in his haste he reversed his
F355 Spider into a post.
The next race (Mexico) is likely to be held in a South American country to
provide the right atmosphere.