Joined two 17 lap races at Zandvoort without a hitch, but with plenty of
superb racing. In the second race I met a guy who's turning into my
nemesis. Git keeps out-qualifying me by hundredths of a second!
Next race he's there again. Watkins Glen, another 17 lapper (long
intermediate ), out qualified by a good half a second this time, with him in
second, me in third.
2nd corner, the leader parks himself neatly in a haybale. I'd already dropped
back to 4th off the grid, and at the end of lap one I just lost it and gently spun
off. Lost valuable seconds, but a lap later the guy in second takes a major
detour and I'm second, about 15s behind my nemesis again.
Fortunately he's driving the Ferrari today, just for the hell of it. I'm in my Lotus
(my other car's a Lotus ;-) and I've got about 14 laps to catch him. And
slowly, painfully... I creep closer.
I'm trying not to take risks. My feet are aching from massaging the pedals as
I coax the car through the Loop, dive into Big Bend, and drag its sorry arse
round the slippery 90. A second drops off some laps, none on another, a
half, then 2! Then I lose a second :-)
"Think calm thoughts"
Yea, right!
I imagine him glancing at his pit board, taking it carefully, estimating how
hard he needs to drive, how few risks he needs to take. I imagine him
worrying whether he's still got enough lead to allow for a tiny mistake, a
small excursion, a...
Oops, less imagining, more driving.
5 Laps to go. Six seconds to lose. Is that him ahead or a backmarker?
Backmarker, damn! Brake, drop a gear, brake.... passing him as we go over
the crest into Loop... drop a gear, steady, steady... past him!... accelerate
slowly, the tyres edging from a controlled squeal into fully fledged scream
as I come out onto the back straight and up into 4th.
But it was no use! In the end, I trailed him by about three seconds over the
line. Painstakingly close, to find he'd been fighting hard with the Ferrari to
stay ahead.
Reassuring. But not as reassuring as my lap times. I hadn't managed a
1:06 before. This time I got eight, with the rest 1:07's and a 1:09ish at the
start. Best lap time was a 1:06.24 a couple of laps from the end. Certainly
never been down there before! :-)
Ok, I'm not going to break any world records here... not unless there's a a
world record for enjoying yourself... but 6.24 isn't a bad time for an aging,
talentless git using the default setup with about 8 gallons at the start.
If anyone out there's struggling with GPL, I *urge* you to keep trying! This is
way too good to be missed. Learn to stay on the track 1st. Ignore speed.
Avoid the urge to chase the elusive "killer setup" that'll solve all your
problems. Choose a car and stick to it. And get online as soon as you can.
The sense of camaraderie is great -- I've yet to see any gloating over an off
(usually quite the opposite!), and there's rarely any arguments about
accidental shunts. People are usually willing to give advice on the spot, and
in a race of more than four or five people there's usually a spread of abilities
to allow just about everyone to have someone to race against.
Good luck, good racing, and Happy Thanksgiving.
Andrew McP
PS Why don't we have a "Thank God We Got rid of The Pilgrims Day" in the
UK? ;-)