[DeTomaso] Report from France--day 4
MikeLDrew at aol.com
MikeLDrew at aol.com
Wed Jul 4 03:02:15 EDT 2012
Hi guys,
We had a *fantastic* day yesterday--perfect weather! We left the hotel
after a leisurely breakfast at 10:00 a.m. and drove a few miles to a
world-class karting track (by far the best I've ever seen) way out in the forests
outside a small village. After getting divided into teams of two, with the
teams fairly evenly divided between USA and Europe, we got down to work.
We had 17 teams, with each team of two sharing a single kart. We got 20
minutes of practice/qualifing, shared among the two drivers, and then a 60
minute (!) enduro race! The karts were equipped with transponders for
accurate accounting.
Roland Jackel set a blistering pole pace, and I was second, about .050
seconds behind. It was shaping up to be a titanic race! The fastest drivers
of each pair were seated in the karts first, and the driver changes were at
the team's discretion.
When the flag dropped, I quickly went backwards, coming onto the long
straight back in 4th position. I was determined to make good, and had a
strategy in mind, for I had found that I was faster than just about everyone on the
final corner. Unfortunately, I had completely forgotten that our practice
kart had broken on the last lap of practice and we'd swapped over to a new
one with ice-cold tires. A total lack of judgement saw me coming into 'my'
corner intent on passing at least two people, and instead flying over the
rumble strips and backwards through the gravel!
IDIOT!!!!!
Almost the whole field got past me before I rejoined the track, and then
began a tear to try to claw my way up to the front. I was able to pass about
seven people before it was time to hand the kart over to my more-than-able
partner, Jim Reardon.
We got balked during our pitstop by the kart in front, whose pit stop was
delayed because the two drivers had to share a single watermelon-sized
helmet, and we lost a few positions. Once Jim got back on track, he continued to
move forward, repassing several people who had passed us in the pits. It
was then my turn again, and I was able to make a pass for third position--we
were on the podum after coming from almost last place!
Jim did the final stint, and saw an opportunity for second place.
Unfortunately he got a bit crossed up under braking and spun, rejoining in fourth
place, where we finished. Still, it was a great drive and we both felt
great about our respective performances. My consolation was that Iset the fast
time of the day, the only driver to dip into the 42-second bracket. (And
Lori set the fast time among the women, and was something like 7th overall I
think).
But the real fast guys were Mikael Hass and Janne Maki-Petaja. Instead of
going balls-out and flying into the rocks, instead they cut consistant,
smooth, fast laptimes, and deservedly wound up on the top of the podum; Roland
Jackel and Richard Kift (Julian's brother) were a close second, and Julian
and John McNamee were third.
Afterwards we all enjoyed a great lunch, and told each other lies about how
much faster we were, and would have been, if not for this, or that...:>)
Then we had a delightful drive through the countryside to our next hotel in
the town of Loches, where another Pantera (based in Holland, although the
owners currently live in Malaysia!) and a Ford GT from Ireland were waiting
for us when we arrived.
Dinner was another spectacularly drawn-out affair, lasting some four hours
and ending at midnight.
Great times!!!
Mike
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