Many drivers woke to the surprise of rain this morning at Zolder, the location of the 1972 Belgian GP. The day began with a driver's meeting where the lap count was stated and the two new rookies, LMP Basher and colibrimb2, were welcomed. The engineers wrenched away in the paddock, making any last minute adjustments before the practice session began. A majority of the cars had been fitted with wet weather tires and this soon proved to have ill effect on each car's performance. "The track is not wet enough for these tires, they just keep overhearing," claimed Manuel of Matra Racing. The decision to use slick type tires was unanimous across the eleven driver field, although the rain was not projected to lift for the next two hours. 

Qualifying was the same story it has been each race this year, with Colton taking the pole position, claiming another bonus point with a time of 1:32.884 on his final lap of the session. However, he did not go uncontested. The1Plus2Rieck (amp) held pole position three quarters of the way through the session until he encountered a spout of bad luck. He was out with a frozen engine. The cause was speculated to be the solidification of castor oil left in the low mileage engine from Monaco. Amp would go to his reserve car, which placed him at the back of the grid. This put LMP Basher on the front row for his first GP start, which is quite a feat!

 

On the starting line, watching for a flicker of the lights, each driver is like a gunfighter. No show of emotion, not even a blink. Total concentration. The cars are off, and almost instantaneously dakinca91(Dan) gets into the back of colibrimb, who was slow coming off the line, giving him some engine damage. Colibrimb2 would be forced to pit on the subsequent lap. The rest of the racers made it through turn one. This carried on until the beginning of lap 5 where the leader, Colton, looped it coming out of the first chicane. It appeared he hit the painted curb which becomes very slick in the rain, which turned the car 180 degrees in the middle of the track. "I can still picture Basher's car coming straight for me and thinking this is it. His right front ramped right up the nose of my car and cleared my head by inches, I'm lucky to be alive. However, I'm still not sure how the car continued with no damage afterwards." Basher had come out of the incident with a missing aerodynamic nose, requiring a spare to be fitted as replacement. Mr Blonde V pulled off the same lap. The team is reporting a gearbox failure. 

DeadArm would hold the lead for the next few laps until shooting off wide at the hairpin, allowing the points leader to squeeze by for the final lead change. Many middle field cars were battling with damage, some from becoming tangled with other cars and some from getting into the walls. "I spent at least 7 laps of that race with my wheel turned at a 45 degree angle just to keep it in a straight line. I finally had to pit because the car went away and sustained more damage," shrugged Amp. TopSoCalledGear retired midway through the race, his team gave no comment. This allowed Basher to pick off one car after the next, as the rest of the cars consistently cruised their way around the track. It remained this way up until two to go with Basher pressing hard on the second place DeadArm. It came down to the last lap in the hairpin where DeadArm had a slower than normal corner exit speed, causing Basher to stick that replacement nose cone right under the gearbox, resulting in turning DeadArm's car 180 degrees. He was able to recover and remain in third place, securing him enough points to grab second in the points standings. 

 

After the race a few drivers were questioned by reporters in a post race interview. Mike Murphy who makes the occasional appearance said, "I think I'll be back for this next week, I fairly enjoy these cars and how much sliding they do. It makes for an interesting time, especially with the rain." BCKracer71 was also flagged down for comment. "The car wouldn't go fast." He has fought a power issue for a good part of this season, and he obviously seems unamused with the performance. The race winner gave this comment. "I usually find myself to be quite good in wet and slippery conditions, and that goes for on the track as well," Colton joked, "I'm just happy to see myself and First Capital Autosport on top of the box after this week after the begging of the season started off poor. We'll carry this on to the next race.

 

The 1972 Formula One will return in two weeks (February 18  ^th) at 3:00 PM EST for Round #4 on the streets of Rouen Les Essarts.

Results:

1. Colton

2. Basher

3. Dead Arm

4. Murphy

5. colibrimb

6. Rieck

7. Manuel

8. BCK

9. dakinca

10. TopGear

11. Blonde

 

Standings:

1. Colton - 77

2. Dead Arm - 60

3. dakinca - 56

4. Manuel - 55

5. BCK - 50

6. Blonde - 43

7. Throwaway - 36

8. Rieck - 29

9. Top Gear - 24

10. Basher - 24

11. Murphy - 17

12. Colibrimb - 16

13. Maverick - 14

14. Samson - 11