"Nail That Track" Training Race Series
Circuit de Monaco
Monaco Series Race No. 5
Wednesday, March 3, 1999
Race Report
Three laps into his qualifying effort, Lotus driver James Feinberg recorded
a time of 1:30.20 to temporarily take the pole with more than fifty minutes
remaining in qualifying. But the time stood for a scant ten minutes until
Feinberg's teammate Steve Blankenship recorded a 1:29.56 on his sixth timed
sprint around the tiny principality.
Yet Feinberg was far from conceding and continued to hammer away at the
streets in hopes of putting *his* Lotus into the number one spot. Thir***
laps into his qualifying effort, Feinberg caught sight of his teammate
Blankenship just seconds up the road. Driven by the opportunity to catch the
other Lotus, Feinberg laid down his fastest lap and was convinced that his
1:29.16 would grab the pole. What he had not counted on was Blankenship's
corresponding motivation to escape from the fast approaching Lotus. In his
haste to escape, Blankenship recorded a much improved 1:28.45, surging
across the start/finish line just three seconds ahead of Feinberg. With a
new pole time in hand, Blankenship kept the throttle down and improved his
time to 1:28.44 on the next lap, recording what would stand as the fastest
lap of the hour-long qualifying session.
But while the two Lotus drivers waged their own war for the pole, Ferrari
driver Todd Galvin neatly and cleanly slipped in and reeled off a time of
1:29.01 to steal the second spot on the grid away from Feinberg. Galvin's
surgical effort would go for naught however, as electrical problems would
prevent him from making it to the starting grid.
At the green flag, the entire field got away without incident with the order
up the hill to Massenet being: Blankenship, Feinberg, Lotus drivers Viman
Eiland and Brian Bowles, and Ferrari's Jack Rambo. But the late-braking
Rambo blemished an otherwise flawless first lap by the entire field when he
made contact with Bowles' gearbox in the Station hairpin, sending both cars
sliding. And to the surprise of horrified onlookers, both cars suddenly
burst into flames. Everyone breathed a deep sigh of relief when the corner
workers were able to quickly extinguish the flames and, miraculously, both
cars were able to continue. Unfortunately, the unlucky Bowles was forced to
retire before the completion of his first lap, suffering from a minor head
injury that impaired his vision [Editor's note: meaning,...I think he was
ready to kill me and was so angry that he couldn't see straight. Sorry,
Brian!].
The confusion at the hairpin allowed Lotus driver Paul Alesi to slither
through and move from sixth to fourth and Ferrari driver Francois Dubuc
followed, moving from eighth to fifth. On the first turn of the second lap,
race leader Blankenship was startled to find a crippled backmarker on the
line at the exit from Sainte Dvote. The leader struggled to reel his Lotus
in, but failed, and the ensuing impact allowed both Feinberg and Eiland to
slip past.
At this point the race settled in for a bit with the top five being:
Feinberg, Eiland, Blankenship, Alesi, and Dubuc. But once again, the mix was
stirred when Eiland spun on lap 5 coming off the chicane and Blankenship
tip-toed past his spinning Lotus teammate into second. When Eiland spun once
more in Massenet on lap 7, he retired, leaving the top five as: Feinberg,
Blankenship, Alesi, Dubuc, and Rambo.
These five, save an unlucky Alesi, would finish in that order. On lap 18 of
the 30-lap event, contact with the curbing sent Alesi into a 180-degree
spin. Unblemished, he sat looking up the track and saw race leader Feinberg
charging toward him. After Feinberg had safely passed, Alesi executed a
flawless power-induced pursuit turn and set off, chasing a spot on the
podium. But as soon as he had completed his maneuver, another car filled his
mirrors. Thinking that the car must be Blankenship in hot pursuit of the
leader, the sporting Alesi yielded by pulling wide into the runoff area on
the outside of ***. And for a split second, the hard-charging trailing
car followed! Imagine Alesi's surprise when he realized the fourth place car
of Dubuc had just motored past into third, compliments of a mistaken
identity.
Alesi's surprise quickly turned to determination as he started an inspired
run back up to Dubuc. By the Gasworks hairpin at the end of the lap, he had
caught the Lotus and the two made contact as Alesi tried to slip by on the
inside. With Dubuc holding the advantage off the turn, the two sprinted
toward Saint Dvote, but as they powered through the turn, nose to gearbox,
Alesi, suddenly slid helplessly up against the outside barrier, victim of a
sudden and massive ignition failure [Editor's note: more commonly referred
to as a "disconnect". Tough break, Paul!].
Feinberg's margin of victory over Blankenship was 54.18 secs. Dubuc and
Rambo finished third and fourth, respectively. A determined Dave Swoboda
brought his Ferrari home in the fifth spot.
-------------------------------------
A disappointing note:
Every reference in this race report to a "backmarker" was, in reality, a
reference to a driver, Zak Actarus, who elected to cheat his way onto the
grid and to the front of the field during the race. The standard review of
the replay of both practice and the race revealed that Mr. Actarus had
discovered that by "riding the rail" on the outside of Sainte Dvote, he
could gain an advantage over his honest and sporting competitors. Review of
the replay revealed that Mr. Actarus was otherwise unable to successful
negotiate the Monaco course without making frequent *inadvertent* contact
with the barriers. On those practice laps when he chose not to take
advantage of the barriers, seemingly because of the presence of competitors,
his lap times never dropped below 1:40.
Mr. Actarus selfishly chose to put his interests ahead of honesty and
sportsmanship. He and others who conduct themselves in such a fashion are
not welcomed at future "Nail That Track" events.
-------------------------------------
Official Standings
1 8 J. Feinberg LOT 76.8 mph
2 16 S. Blankenship LOT 54.18
3 18 V. Sorry FER -1L
4 4 J. Rambo FER -2L
5 19 D. Swoboda FER -3L
6 13 P. Alesi LOT -12L
7 3 V. Eiland LOT -24L
8 7 B. Bowles LOT -30L
Fastest Lap
16 S. Blankenship LOT 1:28.70
Practice
1 10 B. Fox LOT 15.33
2 16 S. Blankenship LOT 1:28.44
3 12 T. Galvin FER 1:29.01
4 8 J. Feinberg LOT 1:29.16
5 3 V. Eiland LOT 1:30.90
6 13 P. Alesi LOT 1:32.36
7 7 B. Bowles LOT 1:33.25
8 4 J. Rambo FER 1:33.32
9 17 D. Chicane BRM 1:36.15
10 19 D. Swoboda FER 1:36.94
11 15 J. Diocee MUR 1:42.58
12 11 C. Von Hausen FER 1:45.32
