I had a pretty average Qualy where I didn't manage to get a decent lap in - invalidated my only good lap by going slightly too far over a curb and never managed to find a good combination of my own driving and a gap in traffic after that, so ended up qualifying 21st I think about 1 second off of my target pace from practice.
Then during the formation lap I noticed that my brake pedal was always on about 10%...then increasing to 20% and by the end of the lap almost 50% on permanently. I had noticed a little of this in the previous week and had been increasing the deadzone already, and as I am now on my 4th loadcell I know this to be the precursor behavior to a total loadcell failure with my clubsport V3's. I quickly pulled the car over at the last corner and set a 50% deadzone on my brake as the rest of the field got the green flag and then just crossed my fingers that this would hold out until the end of the race.
Surprisingly it did...and I had an absolute blast fighting my way up through the field from last place to eventually claim back my Q position of 21st. I had some great battles along the way but probably the best and most tense one was with
@Mael for the last few laps. I had been chasing down a group of 4 cars and this became three when
@Wally span as mentioned above. Then a managed to squeeze past Mael and built a 1.5 second gap as I set my sights on Cesana and Saturn up ahead. I felt like I had the pace so was just waiting for my opportunity...however as I got close, they started to fight very close together and I ended up right on the back of these two, the three of us going at it hammer and tongs and all having a hard time finding space and staying on a good line...and as soon as I looked in my mirror I noticed that this had given Mael the chance to catch up and now he was adding even more pressure to the group.
We swapped positions back and forth a few times during an awesome battle and then on the last lap Cesana ran wide at the left hand hairpin in sector 3 and I lifted slightly to take the inside line...only to find Mael was there right on my bumper as well but being further back had a great slingshot and no need to lift coming out of that turn which put him on my inside with a better exit as we approached the final two turns. Cesana was directly in front of me and with the lowest exit speed as he'd taken the wide line on the previous corner, and Mael coming level on my inside I was boxed in! Nothing I could do but watch Mael pass on the inside at the penultimate corner and try not to get in a collision behind Cesana.
Great racing to all 4 in that group, and amazing job by
@UrsineSaturn9 absorbing mega pressure for many laps leading up to that. Well done Mael on well earned 20th position, very patient strategic driving and it paid off!
I have already contacted Fanatec today to get another loadcell and will await their response. I will order 2 this time and try and always keep one spare in future...that is, if I stick to these pedals. I floated the concept of buying simworx pedals very gently with the wife today and the response was quite immediate and powerful, so I think I will be sticking with these for a while!
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