Race weekend... part 2

i shall keep this very short.

mainly because the story of what happened is actually very short. the second race was started in the order of the finishers of the first race. so naturally i was to start from third place, while all the others who crashed out in the beginning would start from the end. "a good position to be in" i thought to myself, as the horribly hot chennai summer ate through my brain.

the formation lap started, and some idiot didn't know that you aren't allowed to overtake during a formation lap (i call him an idiot because i was going slowly to get myself back in the "groove" and he overtook me) however he did allow me to overtake him halfway through the lap after i waved some hand gestures at him. i don't remember who he is but i dont think he finished the race. or on the podium anytime during the season.

GOOD

so... revving upto 4500 rpm as the lights came on, i had some kind of an awesome start as soon as they went off, and within the first straight i had overtaken ajit narasimhan (he finished 2nd in the overall championship i think) flat out into the corner.. i managed to stay ahead of him. he managed to outbrake me into c2 and got ahead of me soon after and i followed him close when he went slightly off track spraying some of chennai's racing mud on my face, and that's when the photo you see in the magazine was taken. (the dust is also visible). so i followed ajay and ajit hard for the first lap and there was no one behind us. apparently my first lap, starting from 0 kmph was faster than any of the laps i had done in practice.. i know the timing because it was my best lap of this race.

best and only complete lap.
yup.. i spun out of c2 at some large speed while struggling with the gears and missing my braking point completely. a slight lack of concentration that cost me a possible third place.

now let me tell you a few of the worst feelings in the world... things you often see on tv but never realize

1 loss of a loved one
2 losing a world cup final because of a missed penalty
3 carrying your helmet and walking back to the pitstop while everyone else is enjoying their race around you. (i've seen kimi do it a million times but never actually realized what it felt like)

even the sight of another car stranded in the middle of the gravel was little relief for me as i saw the owner frantically trying to get some of the marshals to push his car back on track. his race was over as well.
at least i had company to walk me back to the losers hall of shame. his reason was two slower cars going sideways in front of him when he was flat out through c1 and his braking threw him off the track while those two managed to finish the race..

i know the two slower guys he was talking about. they were actually very slow.

so back to the paddocks.
race over. dream over. trophy presentation etc etc. boog

i'll do it again sometime. so misha has to keep some extra money in her bank in case i come asking... :) and i've print screened the comment you wrote on my previous blog so you can't go back on your word.