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An unusual error on my behalf ! |
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I do not have very much experience of Croft so I was determined to get as much track time as possible to familiarize myself with these new surroundings......My initial plans were thwarted by a rogue engine misfire and as I was not planning to stay for the late session I dived into the GT3 Porsche (courtesy of Mssrs Philips and Gibbons). My four laps in the car did not reveal too much unfortunately...... I was however hoping for better luck than the last time I was here in 1998 - I was in the Mustang then with Charlie Cox and the engine expired early in the race. We managed to rectify a corrupt map in the engine management system for the later session which I decided to stay for and commenced the learning process. I was into the 1.23's quite quickly and knew I could go quicker so I felt reasonably good although we both knew that we needed to make the car more handle better over the bumps..... Rob took the first qualifying session and tried "with all his might" to put the car on the front row. It was not to be - our restrictors were again not allowing us to match our rivals in a straight line. We decided to make a few more adjustments for the second session and although we made it slightly easier to drive we would not better our grid position. I completed the qualifying run and knocked another second and a half of my time on tyres kindly flat-spotted by Rob!! Race day was cold and although rain threatened it was to remain dry. I lined up next to the Viper and behind the Lotus both with their number one drivers in. I had David Leslie behind me in the NCK Marcos. This could be interesting..... Our power penalty again showed at the lights - I was out-dragged by the Viper and the Porsche driven by Terry Rymer. I didn't want to get caught behind the Porsche and I managed to sneak past him on lap two and moved onto the tail of the leading trio. The yellow Marcos of David Leslie filled my mirrors for the next ten laps or so but I managed to begin to ease away from when disaster struck..... I have no idea what I did. I guess I must have overcooked it but it felt like I was doing the same speed that I had done in my previous laps through the hairpin. The car gently pirouetted around and unfortunately came to rest facing the marshal post at the hairpin itself. The curb looked high but I knew reverse should only be used in absolute emergency. I put in in first and tried to mount the curb. Big mistake!!!! I beached myself and despite the efforts of the marshals I was not going anywhere in a forward direction . Time for reverse gear - I spoke to Laurence Pearce in the pits who confirmed my understanding of the reverse procedure. Neutral and pull the handle. This I did and was more than a little alarmed to find the handle came off in my hand. Race over. I apologised to all concerned - not a good way to end our winning streak but we'll be back......
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