Quite close to sneaking yet another lucky win...or are you Ferrari guys playing with me??!!
I knew that the BRM would be at a huge speed disadvantage around Spa and was quite resigned to finishing 6th or 7th.
I had reduced wing settings to almost nothing and added extra pressure in the tyres to reduce drag in an attempt to extract just a little more top end speed, trading off some grip through the corners.
Qualification confirmed my worst fears with Anders, Fredrik, Natan and Tim (Vos) all way ahead of my best time by about 2 secs.
I set 5th very high in the hope of picking up some slipstream and sat on the grid expecting the worst.
A cautious start down to Eau Rouge and 2 cars in front touched. I thought that I was going to become part of their tangle but sailed through and emerged in 3rd spot behind Anders and Natan.
They were about 1.5 secs ahead on the run up to Les Coombs and I knew that to have any chance of staying in touch I had to be in their wheel tracks before Malmedy.. so the BRM got an absolute thrashing for the next few kilometres.
Exiting Malmedy I was just close enough to get a tow and by the time we got to Stavelot, I was closing
By the end of the lap I was more than happy with where I was. 3rd place and sat behind two fast cars that could pull me around for the rest of the race.
I sat back just far enough to still have the tow and give me a chance to avoid any "incidents" between the leaders..very comfortable
Then they went and spoilt it all by getting tangled just after Stavelot!!! I was convinced that Natan's spinning car was going to take me out as well despite the "safety" distance that I had left, but again I swerved through and emerged..in the lead??!!
Magnus was only a second or two back in the Lotus 63, which was a much faster car, and if he got into my slipstream I was a sitting duck. So I pushed hard for a few laps and managed to ease out the time difference.
I knew that Anders Fredrik and Natan all had cars that were about 2 secs+ a lap faster than mine and would surely catch me before the end as there was still about 11 laps to go.
As the laps counted down i began to wonder if I might just pull off a win thanks to people throwing themselves at each other and the scenery??
Then Anders replaced Magnus on my prib display about 9 secs behind....8 laps to go
Too many laps, not a big enough gap
Sure enough his red Fezza closed up very quickly, especially when he caught my slipstream and there was nothing I could do about it. With 4 laps to go he was just sat behind waiting to use his speed to cruise past, which he did quite comfortably.
Now my only chance of holding second spot or even snatching 1st if Anders made a mistake was to attach a tow rope to that Ferrari and stick in his slipstream.
The next few laps were at 110% of the BRM's and my abilities as I locked on to Anders' gearbox and saw the engine revs higher than they had ever been before on the run down to Masta. I actually had to back off to avoid risking the engine blowing.
Eventually I mad a small mistake... inevitable at the pace I was trying to hold
and Anders escaped to a safe 3 secs gap.
I followed him home in 2nd place, very grateful for the gift of 2nd place
when I had expected far less.
Grats to Anders and commiserations to Natan and Fredrik for their misfortune
Also a quick mention for Vos and Al from UKGPL who have made the trip to join us in 69's.
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