Silverstone ELMS - And Then There Were Three.
Updated: Jul 1, 2020
Monday 24th February started off like any other day, Week 12 - the final week of the season was just around the corner and there was a positive vibe within the team...little did I know that the team was about to be struck with a huge bout of bad luck. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, Tennyson informed me that he would not be racing for a little while. This would be followed by the discovery that our one and only resident 3,000 iRating driver Joao Paulo Costa had left the server in search of self improvement. Following this, George would pull out too, due to some incredibly heart-breaking news.
Robert Land was the next to inform me that he couldn't race due to a meeting. With no sign of Tamas or Mark, Max on holiday - and unknown if he'd turn up or not, Cheng, Cameron, David and Kyle making a possible season 2 (not owning tracks) and no sign of Brendan or Ben since Bathurst we were running extremely low on numbers. Daniel Brennan, a new driver of ours was incredibly interested in driving the BMW - but due to the unfortunate time-zone of Australia, would not be able to race with fellow BMW enthusiast Sam. With less an hour to go before the race, a quick line-up was formed - Andrew Jones, Owen Price and James Peace - Owen and James making their debut for the team. To end this, usually we would have a group of competitive Koreans by our side, racing with us as "Kabort Korea" however they unfortunately missed the registration period, so could not enter. Despite a semi-decent qualifying of 22nd, The race was struck by horrific luck as well. Andy started well, keeping it clean - and managed to climb up to 19th...but luck had other ideas. On the exit of Luffield or Club, (either one of the two) a BMW tried to get up the inside, to get a run on us down the straight, but net-code (the "box" around the car which triggers the car's contact physics) caused contact between us and another vehicle, (Even though none had been made), this spun us around...the car behind us wasn't anticipating this and unfortunately T-Boned us, causing a detrimental affect to the car and its aero. Being a very fast, flowing airfield, having properly working aero is vital. Losing a ton of speed on the straights the car dropped down the order like a stone.
Pitting later helped keep up with the pack, but few other advancements could be made.
It wasn't the end of the season we wanted or expected, but as always, after a week's break (Week 13) we will come back bigger and stronger. With the drivers we've got, I'm incredibly hopeful for next season - the season that includes the inaugrial races of Nurburgring Endurance Series, iRacing Endurance Series and the unmissable special event of the Sebring 12 Hours!
Endurance Le Mans Series, Le Mans, Week 6, Season 1, 2020- Silverstone
ET: 47
P: NLC
Q: 22nd
R: 29th (10th In Class)
F: 39
S: 45
SOF: 1960