Battle of Britain
Reporter: Marc van Niekerk
Silverstone - built originally as an airfield in 1943, after the Battle of Britain - it was the scene of camaraderie, brotherhood and honour, but it also had its fair share of heartache and loss.
Fast forward to 2007 - a mild summer afternoon in July and the Ghosts of Silverstone were awakened by the roar of vintage 1979 engines. The SARL (fly)boys were here!
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Early practice was dominated by Lawrence in a Lotus, but qualifying saw Leon in a Ligier take pole by 0.1 of a second from Lawrence and the Ferrari of MarcW in 3rd.
Scramble! The lights for the race start went green at 14:00 sharp, and what a race it turned out to be. Leon and Lawrence had an all out battle for the honour of leading, which went to the Lotus driver a couple of corners later.
The real dogfight was for 3rd place, where MarcW, MarcvN, Andre, Dewald and Chris were flying in tight formation trying to outwit each other. Positions during the first quater of the race were won and lost continuously - sometimes one would make up a place during a lap, only to loose it again a few corners later on the same lap. Although the guys were going hammer and tongs, side by side, nose to tail, sometimes with only inches of separation, the result report has shown no contact what so ever occurred during the initial mad dash for position. Feather in the cap for all concerned.
All good things must come to and end sometime and Silverstone was no exception. Up front Lawrence was still under pressure from Leon when a misunderstanding between Lawrence and a straggler saw the Lotus loose a front wheel - back in the dogfight the initial rush of adrenaline had seen off Chris and MarcW. Andre had moved into the 2nd position vacated once Lawrence had to call it a day, closely followed by Dewald and MarcvN.
As the laps started to tick away, Dewald missed a waypoint somewhere and Leon was comfortably cruising to a well deserved win - or was he?
At the start of the 34th and final lap, Leon had a 20 second lead over Andre, but with the knowledge that not all was well in the cockpit. The ground crew had inexplicably miscalculated the fuel needed and coming down Farm Straight the Ligier engine started to splutter, cough and eventually died. One corner and a small straight to go and Leon was driving dead stick. Wingman Rick was close by and as Leon's speed started to bleed off, he tried to push his teammate across the finish line.
Andre came thundering down the straight realising too late that the Ligier combination in the front of his windscreen were going very slow and 20 meters short of the finish line 3 Ligiers combined as one, parts flying every where. When the dust had settled and the video was reviewed, the win was given to Andre by a mere .2 of a second. MarcvN - with debris also bouncing of his Lotus finished 1.3 seconds behind Leon. Dewald finished 4th and Ken in 5th.
Just another day in the lives of the rfactor pilots. As the stunned crowd slowly made their way the the exits, one could see the Ghosts of Silverstone quietly nodding their approval. These boys have what it takes.
Scramble! The lights for the race start went green at 14:00 sharp, and what a race it turned out to be. Leon and Lawrence had an all out battle for the honour of leading, which went to the Lotus driver a couple of corners later.
The real dogfight was for 3rd place, where MarcW, MarcvN, Andre, Dewald and Chris were flying in tight formation trying to outwit each other. Positions during the first quater of the race were won and lost continuously - sometimes one would make up a place during a lap, only to loose it again a few corners later on the same lap. Although the guys were going hammer and tongs, side by side, nose to tail, sometimes with only inches of separation, the result report has shown no contact what so ever occurred during the initial mad dash for position. Feather in the cap for all concerned.
All good things must come to and end sometime and Silverstone was no exception. Up front Lawrence was still under pressure from Leon when a misunderstanding between Lawrence and a straggler saw the Lotus loose a front wheel - back in the dogfight the initial rush of adrenaline had seen off Chris and MarcW. Andre had moved into the 2nd position vacated once Lawrence had to call it a day, closely followed by Dewald and MarcvN.
As the laps started to tick away, Dewald missed a waypoint somewhere and Leon was comfortably cruising to a well deserved win - or was he?
At the start of the 34th and final lap, Leon had a 20 second lead over Andre, but with the knowledge that not all was well in the cockpit. The ground crew had inexplicably miscalculated the fuel needed and coming down Farm Straight the Ligier engine started to splutter, cough and eventually died. One corner and a small straight to go and Leon was driving dead stick. Wingman Rick was close by and as Leon's speed started to bleed off, he tried to push his teammate across the finish line.
Andre came thundering down the straight realising too late that the Ligier combination in the front of his windscreen were going very slow and 20 meters short of the finish line 3 Ligiers combined as one, parts flying every where. When the dust had settled and the video was reviewed, the win was given to Andre by a mere .2 of a second. MarcvN - with debris also bouncing of his Lotus finished 1.3 seconds behind Leon. Dewald finished 4th and Ken in 5th.
Just another day in the lives of the rfactor pilots. As the stunned crowd slowly made their way the the exits, one could see the Ghosts of Silverstone quietly nodding their approval. These boys have what it takes.
Posted by
CaptainCrunch
at
05:31
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