For once, it had come to my attention that the next round of the Vader Trophy series was happening. I had a look at my calendar two days before the race, and saw that I wasn't doing anything on Wednesday, so I decided to download the new track (Vallelunga) and do some practise before making my GPL comeback. I'm really glad I did, because although it's quite a simple track to learn, Vallelunga takes a long time to master. Added to the fact that it's a really fun place to drive as demonstrated in the onboard video below as well as the little blurb of a video below it showcasing one of Vallelunga's hidden surprises... It also lends itself very well to the VT Sprint race format, where we run two shorter races with superpole qualifying for the second race.
Track Map
Those of you familiar with Grand Prix Legends will notice that I'm driving the BRM. Those of you who aren't: There are seven available chassis available in GPL, and I just so happened to pick the heaviest, most powerful and "slowest" of the seven. To answer both demographics with the same response: I've always enjoyed a challenge! Besides, it's kinda my "thing" to drive the BRM. As a result of this, I was obviously not expecting to win any prizes in qualifying and fulfilled my expectations by qualifying dead last in the 12-car field.
Fortunately I was able to drive with my patented "Clean head in lap 1" and subsequently dodged all six cars that had the compulsory Vader Trophy Lap one enormous accident. I pootled around in P6, having a jolly good time for about a lap before Gavin Wilson, in his Cooper, caught me halfway through the second lap (following a massive tankslapper from me coming out of the "Trincea" kink). I managed to superbly defend my position until my outside wheels caught the grass coming out of "Curvone" on the third lap, spun, and lost four positions. P10 after 4 laps. Rats! I did, however make up two positions thanks to Stewart Grove having a little spin in his Cooper entering the esses, and Stuart George's race turning into a disaster on that very lap. P8 afer 5 laps.
I then started to experience the concertina effect: I started closing in on Max West in front, at the same time as Nick van der Voort was baring down on me in my mirrors. Fortunately I managed to avoid getting squeezed completely, no thanks to my braking a bit too late for the "Cimini" corners, and having to stand on the brakes in order to avoid an embarassing accident with West. For whatever reason, he stuck to the inside and ended up going over the grass on the inside and then running wide, allowing myself and Nick through. There never really was any doubt that Nick was quicker than me, but I thought I'd make life hard for him as I valiantly defended my position until he finally snuck by with a well executed move into the first corner at the start of the 8th lap.
I managed to stick with him until the tight hairpin just before "Semaforo" where I spun out under acceleration, also letting Graham Bridgett through (who'd had a spin of his own a lap earlier). I rejoin the action with Stuart George hot on my tail. He hounds me until the "Cimini" corners on the next (and final) lap where we catch up to Graham Bridgett. Unfortunately, Max clips Stuart and Graham pulls away, leaving me to cross the line in P8, a substantial improvement from where I started the race!
I set a new PB in qualifying, and thanks to Kevin Williams, Stuart Knibbs and Gavin Wilson's misfortune, I found myself 9th on the grid. Once again, taking it easy, I picked my way though the smoke, debris and flying cars/body parts to find myself in 6th going into the first corner. Neil Stratton span off the track coming out of "Trincea" and I was in 5th. I then had a spin of my own under deceleration coming out of the first of the "Cimini" curves and dropped down to last at the end of the first lap, chasing Stuart Knibbs' Ferrari. I then proceeded to throw away what little chance I had at an exciting race with a spin coming out of the infield hairpin (in exactly the same manner as in race 1) and losing a bunch of time. The rest of the race was basically plugging in consistently fast laps and picking up the pieces left from other people's accidents and other suchlike misfortune.
That is, until the penultimate lap where I had a massive slide coming out of "Curvone", which allowed Gavin Wilson to close right up on me in his Cooper. We went side-by-side through the final corner, me on the outside, and I have the inside line for the first corner. Somehow I manage to accelerate sufficiently to surge slightly ahead of Gav before the esses, but inevitably out-brake myself and wash over to the right side of the track for the right-hander with Gav right beside me. Luckily for me, Gav suffers a small dose of wheelspin and I get the racing line for the hairpin. Had I been forced to the inside there, he surely would have made it past into and through "Semaforo". Naturally I get a small slide exiting the "Trincea" kink and Gav pounces, going for the outside heading towards "Cimini" for the last time. We go side-by side through both corners and it's now turned into a manhood/stupidity challenge as we accelerate towards the super-fast right hand kink. We actually touch going through the right hander, but GPL's netcode was feeling generous for some reason and didn't propel us both sky-high. I drew ahead and clinched 8th position by a single tenth of a second.
To briefly sum up the race: There's still life in the old girl, and Gav is the best guy for side-to-side battles!
The next round is at the Nordschleife, a track some would call my speciality. I've already started practising a tiny bit, and I can't wait for another exciting evening of Grand Prix Legends!
