Autumn finds me prepping for the last race of the season and that means revisiting the hill climb at Sugas Bai. Being autumn I expected lower temperatures, so I started to scramble to find some better tires that would work in the autumn chill.
Luckily a friend had a pair of used rally tires, 2 soft, 2 medium compound. As race date grew closer I knew it was going to rain. I seem to be competitive in the rain, so I welcomed it. I was feeling quite good about a strong result in the race...
That until I saw the entry list. There were 3 challengers, one being a friend of mine Vlad Pescaru driving a borrowed Renault Megane with about 190hp, Rosca Florin driving a 250hp ~850kg VW Golf, and way more worrying Serban Andrei, this years H2 class national, champion one of the fastest in the country also driving the same Golf.
So I knew that it would be a battle for 3rd place with Vlad, as the other two could prove to be untouchable, way faster car, way more experience...
So I put on my rain tires and went on the recce run, the car felt great, excellent grip, no under-steer, no over-steer, just perfect. I felt that I might have a shot so I upped the rhythm in the practice runs, even though I held some in reserve.
To my greatest surprise I ended with a best time of 2.08.someting in the practice runs, besting all others' time by about 4 seconds.
But I knew that in the race the Golf would come out swinging. Realizing that I had a chance I removed the passengers seat in order to lose some weight, about 20 kilos.
With the start of the race the rain started to come down harder and that made the course trickier. I gave that run all I got, but I still made two small mistakes. The time for that first run was a 2.08.09.
I impatiently waited at that top for the Golf to make climb up the hill, with Rosca Florin driving it did a time of 2.11.34 and with Serban Andrei at the helm a 2.10.62. Amazingly I was first and by a healthy margin of 2 seconds over a national champion.
Then I saw the Golf changing it's tires, putting on tire warmers, I knew the next run would be crucial... I went up the hill again, without any mistakes, but a bit slower (I need to be more constant with my times) ending up with a 2.08.30.
The Golf did its run and Serban Andrei managed an amazing 2.06.39 while Rosca Florin did a less than stellar 2.14.15.
When the times were added up I was first with a 0.6 of a second over Serban Andrei, Rosca Florin came 3rd and Vlad Pescaru ended up 4th.
I managed something that I thought was impossible, beating a national champion and that would have been impossible without the help of Artan Sergiu, who set-up the suspension.
I'd also like to thank Iulia, Bogdan, Sebi and Ionut for the pohtos and the help they gave that day.
Next a far greater challenge awaits, my first year as a rookie in the national hill-climb championship and that will require further car modifications and finding a willing partner to offset some of the cost and perhaps share the success.
