But I knew I would be struggling with the LR tire. Early race was messy with some mistakes, and Rainer -who was much faster- went by, with a nice pass. Lost the LR and balance after some laps. I still could hold on to P2 in the meantime. Then it was about trying to figure out a way of driving without too much sliding and wheelspin, to keep the LR tire in check.
Tim was pushing me, so it was not easy. And then towards halfway I forget to pay attention when accelerating out T2 and drifting wide into the barrier; losing a wheel. Just an error of judgement. It was a bit silly TBH, and unnessesary .
Great Lap by Robert in quali. I was late, joined with 20 minutes to go, and just barely got sub-09.
Start was great when I passed Greg off the line and tried to settle into a rhythm, but it wasn't easy. Had no confidence in the track and therefore not much pace, and that was the theme for the next 70+ laps. Never got comfortable, and spun mutliple times. At first I could keep Greg behind, and then actually kind of found my pace 1/3 into the race, and was into a rhythm for about 5 laps, but then with a spin all the momentum was gone. Then in the penultimate lap I hit the inside wall in T1, reverberated into the wall on the left and lost both left tyres. All in all quite a catastrophic race tbh, throwing away an undeserved P3 was just the icing on the cake.
Congrats again to Tim, Greg, Mario and Ferdi for podium and finishing, bad luck DNF's. Next time I need way more practice...
Edit: Just discovered that my gear ratios were awful... Explains a bit.
Mit sportlichem Gruss Claudio ----------------------------------------------------- Vernünftige Autos werden vom Antrieb geschoben, nicht gezogen !!! (Walter Röhrl)
if I prepare myself by learning the track better then just knowing the brakepoints and then with meticulous precision adjusting a carsetup to my needs, yes, then, and only then I have a chance to beat the boys. But only if Rainer helps and Robert and the other specialists are in BRMs or Hondas..that´s the truth!
Happy about my victory, great performance of Team Brabham :)
Zitat von Robert Fleurke im Beitrag #9I hope you will join us again in the coming races, Claudio!
Of course I'll be there next time. Even if I have no hope that this season will be better. I was only absent on Friday because I was at an event with a comedian. Laughter is always good
Mit sportlichem Gruss Claudio ----------------------------------------------------- Vernünftige Autos werden vom Antrieb geschoben, nicht gezogen !!! (Walter Röhrl)
Puh, not (at all) a bad first race day. Qualy went very well at first. I did not expect more than a lucky 8.6xx. So race start from third has been a very nice beginning. I was sure, many cars will push me from behind and they did. It was only a question of time when i will loose one or another position. But okay, it went very well (with some help from others) until a valve did not like to work any more... (I will need more practise in the cooper for more accurate shifting. In the Honda you don´t need to step off the throttle that much...) For the next Grand Prix i will take an easier to control differential. It has been great fun to control the full throttle out of turn 2 and 3 but very hard to control over time and through (and out of) the sharper turns... Becomin´ tired is not a good thing during a GP...
I think we´ll have some more thrilling races this season.
That was interesting and I enjoyed it a lot. Tim, the two Lassës, and I all were running a similar race pace for a while. At one point I was looking to see if Robert was still in view.
Lassë A got a good start. I didn´t mind being passed. I thought with him in front of me, I wouldn´t over drive the car making it much more likely I would finish. I could see the high weight of the BRM making it difficult to get the car to turn. I could make a faster entry into T2 and T4. I made up a lot of time in those two places. Lassë A helped me a lot. I was getting a good slipstream between T2 and T3 and again between T3 and T4. Occasionally I would get one on the start-finish straight. That was probably lowering my lap times by a tenth or two.
Robert, I had problems with one of my tires, the LF. I could easily overheat it and it spent all but the first 15 laps and last 15 laps in yellow in pribluda. I saw it turn red several times too. I overheated the LR several times too but it was much easier to keep it in the green. When I finally got it under control late in the race I was able to close the gap to Lassë O but once I caught him I overheated it again and fell back. I cooled it some and closed the gap for a second time. His engine failed soon after that. I was able to make two good runs on Lassë O on the start-finish straight but I wanted to wait a little longer before I might try a pass. I lowered my front roll bar rate and might have dropped LF tire´s pressure one click. That helped but still wasn´t enough to keep it working well. If I had more time, I would have tried playing with the coast side ramp angles.
I´m not surprised by the great results for the Brabhams. If I was betting, I´d bet on Tim to be champion. As long as I finish, I figure I´ll get a decent result.
I´m pleased with my driving. I was much more consistent this week. I only hit 2 or 3 tires and I only had one bad lap late in the race. I recorded no damage in the mechanical report. I am abusing the drivetrain more than I like and I feel a little lucky that some of my bad downshifts didn´t destroy anything. I think I understand why I struggle a bit with the Brabham. I can´t use my downshifts to induce a slight bit of yaw on corner entry and I can´t seem to smoothly slide the rear of the car exiting the turns. I can do both of those much better with the Ferrari.
It´s good to see that Rainer can win. I very happy that the Brabham might allow me to keep some pressure on the faster drivers. My job is much easier than Robert´s and both Lassës´.
Thanks for the fun gentlemen. I appreciate you letting me race with you.
Zitat von Rainer im Beitrag #14Mario, kleine Frage,
nutzt du pribluda?
Ja er hat! Aber auch wenn nicht ist es eigentlich eine unverschämtheit und überhaupt nicht Gentlemen Like über 12 Rd. die Blauen Flaggen zu ignorieren! Und ein paar mal kamst Du ihm sehr nahe und er hat trotzdem seine Linie verteidigt! Deine Rundenzeiten sind auch langsamer geworden als vorher. Du hättest locker das Rennen gewonnen.
Ich find das nicht richtig. Was sagen die anderen? ============================================================================================
Yes he did! But even if he didn't, it's actually an outrage and not at all gentlemanly to ignore the blue flags for over 12 laps! And a couple of times you came very close to him and he still defended his line! Your lap times also got slower than before. You could have easily won the race.
I don't think that's right. What do the others say?
Mit sportlichem Gruss Claudio ----------------------------------------------------- Vernünftige Autos werden vom Antrieb geschoben, nicht gezogen !!! (Walter Röhrl)
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(I will need more practise in the cooper for more accurate shifting. In the Honda you don´t need to step off the throttle that much...)
