Offroad Meeting 2010 - Italy
Italy, one of my favourite places in the world. I have now been in Italy 11 times, and quite amazingly 10 times in Monsummano Terme. I stayed in Hotel Alba 10 times, I eat at Da Remo multiple times each stay, and Samuele Lenzi has picked me up at the airport 9 times. I think I have actually managed to teach him some English. The hotel is a small one, family owned, and I am nearly like a house guest. This time I didn't even pay. Because I forgot. And no one reminded me. So I called them a week later and said: “I actually forgot to pay for my room, can I just give you my cc number?”.
Anyway, to the important stuff, the race. Monsummano has two tracks, a big one, and a small one. The big one is the fastest track I ever raced on. I love it. It's balls to the wall, no place for mistakes. Unfortunately, the weather had not been kind, and due to rain, the big track was flooded. However, the small track was just great. Some sawdust was put down in the morning, and within 2 hours or so, it was super! The track had a lot of jumps and bumps, and it was a lot of fun to drive.
  
I once again had and extra car with me, and by chance Lenzi picked me up at the airport together with two of his friends, Giacomo Santoni, and Simone Cappellini.I mentioned that I have an extra car, and after some negotiations, we concluded, that what THE Car really needs, is a serious durability test, as the Italians already knew it was fast. So Giacomo got to race it! :-) And boy did he test it. He was pretty much full punch all the time, and it was interesting for me to see how THE Car handled. Giacomo was pretty happy with the performance, and actually did quite well! Unfortunately in his semi final, he mis-judged the biggest jump on the track, and hit a conctere fencepost in the air. That was not a good move, and his race was over.
Giacomo Interview in English
Giacomo in Italian, with Lenzi trying to distract him.
Simone on the other hand, made the main, and as he was frustrated that Giacomo got to run THE Car, and he didn't, it was decided, that for the sake of continued friendships, and happy days, Simone would race THE Car in the A-main. After some quick engine and receiver changes, Simone was ready to go. Unfortunately, his engine was not ready to go. It was too tired, and didn't want to run at all. After numerous flame outs, Simone called it a day.
If I had remembered to interview him, it would be here!
Giacomo on the left, and Simone on the right, used to be best friends. (not in the gay way).....
..then Giacomo got THE Car...
...Simone got a little upset! I am sorry to have ended their friendship.
As for the battle for the TQ and win, that was between Lenzi and me. We have had some fantastic battles before, and this was shaping up to be one more. I TQ:ed the first round, and then Lenzi got the second TQ. In the 3rd round TQ would be decided. We drove the whole 5min, with about the same gap, lenzi a few seconds ahead of me on the track, but with close to identical overall times I am sure. Just before the end I think that Samu managed to pull a small gap on me, but then disaster, and a backmarker tangled with him, and I got the advantage, and TQ ed overall!
If we go back to our now famous test pilot Giacomo, he had some troubles in qualifying, and I would like to apologise to him in advance for publishing this video, but I just laugh every time I see it. Giacomo,THE Legend!
  Some things are not meant to be :-(
One really nice thing about Italy, is how laid back the racing is. It's pretty crazy for someone who is used to races being run to a tight schedule, to go to Italy, and not have a clue what's going on. In the morning, no one knows when the race starts. In the day, there's a lunchbreak of approximately 1h30min, and its perfectly quite, no engines, just food and drink. I like that! Then in the afternoon after the semi finals, no one knows when the mains start. So dialed!
  Lunch Break Italian Style
 Simone thinks he is special.
Somehow I managed to be ready for the main, and Lenzi and I were off the line after each other. Unfortunately Lenzi crashed and I started building up a good lead. I led for most of the main, until I crashed on a jump, and after about 7 years and 64 days when the marshal bothered to go check out my car before flipping it over, I flamed out. Lenzi now took the lead, and I dropped to second. I started to catch Lenzi, and I actually did, as he had some sort of problem with his car, and then soon later his battery became disconnected, and he went off the track! I took back the lead, and that was it! I managed to take the win. I LIIIIIKE! Grazie a tutti, or something like that! It was a fun week end of racing.
Results: Pos. Num. Concorrente Giri Tempo Totale Giro Migliore
 THE Dessert.
|
