Old Tuscan Champion or frontrunner to race No 58!
Discussion
hui said:
Well James, your "blast from the past" turned out to be Phil James.
Ian Flux was just seen in the assembly area!
It turned out to Valle Makela from Finland; Phil has put in good runs in the past. However Flux would have been great; because he is the true master of these cars.
hui said:
Who drove the 58 car or was that still being repaired after Rupert?
Phil James was in 58 - re-numbered 66 for the weekend as that is Phil's number..............
Phil was a blast from the past though! And was quite quick. I seem to remember he started his racing in Tuscans.
Good to get back out in a Tuscan, big thank you to the TVR lads for fabulous prep!
Felt very rusty when I jumped in Ben's "Ethel" on Friday. Low 51's, even on shot rubber, was a bit disappointing. My testing was cut short when 3rd gear let go in the second session just as I'd got the feel of the car. You know when you've got a Tuscan going when it's dancing under you. The irony of busting a gearbox wasn't lost on me...
New boots on Saturday yielded a string of 49's in qualifying - best was a 49.469, good enough for 9th.
For the first race we set the car up on wets only to see a dry line emerging while watching the F3s from the collecting area. I called slicks and dry settings ...only for a little shower to arrive while we were delayed on the grid for the F3 celebrations. "Oh bugger". On reflection, either wets on dry settings or slicks on wet settings would have been ideal. I emptied my mirrors but there wasn't much point in risking everything to chase Tim Hood when his rear splitter was going to be 10 feet in front of me come 4.40 in the afternoon...
More rain fell in the afternoon but it had stopped again for our race. We put the car on wets and when I saw a few people on slicks it did cross my mind to switch again but a sprinkle of rain from the grey clouds above made me decide to stick with what I'd got. I realised on the green flag lap I'd made a mistake. There was a perfect dry line and within half a dozen laps the tyres were shot. Whatever, the trick with this race, like the first one, was to keep it on the island.
Chuffed to end up 5th, my best result in a Tuscan. Hope to be back next year in the TVR Challenge. Got the bug all over again...
Phil
>> Edited by zeroshift on Tuesday 5th October 11:30
Felt very rusty when I jumped in Ben's "Ethel" on Friday. Low 51's, even on shot rubber, was a bit disappointing. My testing was cut short when 3rd gear let go in the second session just as I'd got the feel of the car. You know when you've got a Tuscan going when it's dancing under you. The irony of busting a gearbox wasn't lost on me...
New boots on Saturday yielded a string of 49's in qualifying - best was a 49.469, good enough for 9th.
For the first race we set the car up on wets only to see a dry line emerging while watching the F3s from the collecting area. I called slicks and dry settings ...only for a little shower to arrive while we were delayed on the grid for the F3 celebrations. "Oh bugger". On reflection, either wets on dry settings or slicks on wet settings would have been ideal. I emptied my mirrors but there wasn't much point in risking everything to chase Tim Hood when his rear splitter was going to be 10 feet in front of me come 4.40 in the afternoon...
More rain fell in the afternoon but it had stopped again for our race. We put the car on wets and when I saw a few people on slicks it did cross my mind to switch again but a sprinkle of rain from the grey clouds above made me decide to stick with what I'd got. I realised on the green flag lap I'd made a mistake. There was a perfect dry line and within half a dozen laps the tyres were shot. Whatever, the trick with this race, like the first one, was to keep it on the island.
Chuffed to end up 5th, my best result in a Tuscan. Hope to be back next year in the TVR Challenge. Got the bug all over again...
Phil
>> Edited by zeroshift on Tuesday 5th October 11:30
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