|
Hi all,
here's the race report from the race on 9/9/06.
As some of you know i blew up my last engine and had Paul A put a new (rebuilt and slightly improved) engine in instead. We combined this with an accusump which i didn't have before and i took her back to Belgium.
As usual, a shortage of time kept me from practicing before the race so i hadn't driven a meter with the new engine before qualifying started yesterday morning.
I went out onto the track and after two warm up laps, i started pushing somewhat, only to find a total lack of power above 4500 RPM. The car just stuttered above those revs so i had to switch gears far too early every time. This off course set me back as far as lap times were concerned and since we only had 30 minutes to qualify, i decided to make the most of it. This resulted in a 1.57 lap time (my best up until than was 1.56 with the old engine) and a 12th position on the grid. In front of me were an Alfa Giulia, BMW 2002Tii, Chevy Camaro, BMW 635CSI, 4 911's two Lotus's (the plural is Loti - Angus) and a BMW M1 who took pole with a 1.49 lap.
After qualifying, we got to work, i changed all spark plugs, cleaned out the distributor cap and gave her more fuel. I also disconnected the blue electrical plug (two wires Smiffy) again that Paul had left unplugged and put everything back together.
Unsure about how the car was going to act, i went out for the start. I won two places at the start but than lost one again to the Alfa Giulia. I soon found that the car was revving up to its 6OOO RPM's as usual and i was flying now. I kept up with the Camaro for a while until i was passed by a TVR who nearly ran me off the road. After i had found my pace again, i closed in on the TVR, Camaro and Alfa and started fighting the Alfa. After two laps and some seriously close racing i had passed him and closed in on the TVR who was fighting the Camaro. Both cars were superior to mine in terms of HP but mine was better balanced and had the better handling so i managed to get close. The TVR developped some brake problems so he had to let the Camaro go when i started attacking. I passed him in a braking zone but on the straight that followed he took me back on sheer HP. With the next corner coming up i knew i would have him again so i outbraked him but he pulled to the inside so i took him on the outside. Than, he obviously miscalculated his braking point and i could see him closing in and sliding towards me! I left the ideal line and went way outside the corner, just missing the gravel pit, and managed to avoid a collision, he than backed off (fortunately!) and i could proceed with chasing the Camaro. Unfortunately he had put a 5-6 second gap between us which i was unable to close in the remaining two laps so i finished 10th out of 35 cars in general and 4th in class. The two Beemers (M1 and 635) were later disqualified because they were on slicks (not allowed) so effectively i was 8th, which matches my best result so far. The good news is that my best race lap was 1.54 whereas the leader (the M1 on slicks) did a race best of 1.50, so i was pretty happy with the result. It felt great to actually finish another race after having dropped out of the previous two.
The next and last race of the season is on November 11, only one thing to do now and that's getting an X pipe fitted.
Cheers,
Jerry
www.brass-sports.be
|
928uk email list 
