UKGTR Season 7 Super Endurance - Spa (2003) - Mar 22

[Simon Gymer]

That went well.

Thanks to everyone who joined in the race and congratulations to all the finishers, especially the podium of Jeff, TrueTom and PaulR. Good stuff.

I was quite surprised it didn't rain, but made it a bit easier for the opening round.

Strategy in the Lambo was non-existant. It was basically 3x 100 litres and pit at the absolute latest for both pit stops. I finished the race with 2 litres left and was using 5.1 litres a lap!

Start wasn't so great getting bumped by my teamie Gizmo on the formation lap made me slightly slower in stint one. After getting past Pseudo on lap 1 after he made a mistake in Eau Rouge, it was all about chasing Reign Man's MC12. The gap was about 4 seconds for the whole of the first stint I think and when I pitted I got the damage repaired and put on new mediums all round and waited the eternity required for my crew to fill the car up again.

I managed to jump Reign Man in the pits (just) and never looked back. Slowly I caught Paul Richards in his Ferrari, but with about 10-15 minutes to go in the first stint I simply had to sit behind him hoping for a mistake as the Lambo was only just quick enough to keep up with him in his slipstream let alone have a chance at a pass. He didn't make the mistake and we pitted together.

Unfortunately for me my pit stop took about 8 seconds longer than his. I put on soft fronts and medium rears for the final stint and filled her up to the top again. I then pushed as hard as I could for 40 minutes to the end to try and peg the gap and in those 40 minutes I only managed to get 3 or 4 seconds off Paul. He did a great job at being consistent and with no mistakes he successfully kept me far enough away to take 3rd position. Well done Paul, you must have been feeling the pressure (I hope anyway! ).

18 runners is a good start to this series, I shall see what I can do about making it more for the next race and I'll try and sort out getting Suzuka ready asap.

[psuedo]

Well for my first ever super endurance, I must say....I'm Knackered  

But it was great, loved every minute of it, oh, except the one where shark passed me like I was stood still after Eau Rouge....Not much in the way of racing to talk about, but it was a great experience for the tactical and consistency side of it.

Can't wait for the next one.....I think this will be my favourite series.

Grats to Jeff and the podiums, and well done team pseudo, 4 finishers with 3 in the top 10  .....watch your backs sharks  

[H@L9000]

Yep, looks like a good series 

Thanks for bailing Spanner, it would have been close there as not much time to slow down. If anyone wants a good laugh then watch me spin on the warm up lap 

[Jeffrey]

That was a good event, felt shorter than it really was .

Surprised with pole position, as the Viper isn't the quickest around Spa and quite a handfull.

Had a good start and could get a gap of 3s on Mike as he was battling with Carl. But my Pirellis worn out quicker than his Michelins, and everytime halfway down my stint my tyres were shot and I was losing. So for the last 15 minutes of my 1st stint, Mike was all over me . We both went in the pits at the same time, but I came out 13s ahead  .

That stint was quite alone, but again 2nd half of the stint Mike was gaining. I came in with Carl around 20s behind, but he overtook me in the pits and I was standing to get worried...can the Lister really save that much  . Alsi Mike was way ahead and I was afraid he already pitted.

But then they had to go in, and I think they went in again after that, and I was leading on TT.

Well done Simon on the comeback, and also Dave on the finish position. Also thanks to everyone who joined and finished...well done.

Just checked the rest of the tarck, ans they all don't like Vipers 

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Results and replay up.

Start wasn't so great getting bumped by my teamie Gizmo on the formation lap made me slightly slower in stint one.

I still don't know quite what happened. I knew there would be a concertina into La Source but got caught out by just how far back it ran.

Opening few laps were difficult as I stuggled to get any temperature in the front tyres at all. Evert shot past in a Lister and I had to adjust my driving style a little to keep Jan at bay as I in turn fought to try and find a way past Pseudo. Spent most of the stint preserving the engine and fuel to stretch things out as far as I could.

In the first stop I switched to soft fronts with more medium rears, and left the slightly damaged front end alone. That felt a lot better but we were now a bit spread out and I never really saw anyone else. At the final stop I stayed on the soft/medium combination but had the damage repaired as I had more than the 6 seconds required in hand - that turned out to be a big mistake as now I had some oversteer and went off a couple of times when it caught me out.

Was looking like 9th until Gazza and Carl had to make late stops, handing me a rather unexpected 7th place. JR and I arranged what was supposed to be a Le Mans-style photo finish but I stupidly crossed the line slightly ahead and had to do an extra lap. Good job I had saved a little more fuel than Shark!

[Jeffrey]

Shame it didn't rain, as I started with my rainsetup (softer, higher wing: 2-8). Would have been awesome to see the panic as it started raining and everyone furiously wanted to get back in the pits 

[Jeffrey]

JR and I arranged what was supposed to be a Le Mans-style photo finish but I stupidly crossed the line slightly ahead and had to do an extra lap. Good job I had saved a little more fuel than Shark!

Dunno what happened, but you were clearly behind, I'll create a lapchart to see if you really had to do an extra lap or not  :

[Mike Hammer]

First of all an apology to Carl Hart. Getting in you way after my off was crappy move. Coming back on track it was all I could do to keep the car under control and away from any walls. I wanted to let you pass and went wide into the downhill righthander with the gravel trap. But I saw you weren't taking the spot so I closed the line. After that the rest of the pack was so close I thought it would just risk causing an incident if I let you pass on the little straight with the first section timer. By then Ruskus was getting away and my competetive spirit took over, so I figured I'd let the admins/judges make the call, instead of attempting on-track penance. Well, enough excuses.

Was driving very badly the first few laps until I calmed down. I've done that a few times irl as well, and it's always embarrasing afterwards.

However, after those few laps I had calmed down and was getting comfortable in the car. Ruskus was at a steady 3sec (+/- 0,3) ahead for a while, and Hart varied his gap more, from 1 to 1,8 seconds behind at different places on the track.

I think it was first after 10 laps or so that I started to close in on Ruskus. Once on his tail, I found it very hard to focus on the track, and did the noob thing which is to stare at his car instead. Made some mistakes but I think Jeff did as well so I hung in there. 40 minutes into the race I was right behind him and he put the front wheel on the inside curb on the righthander before the downhill straight. That led to this situation at the end of the straight:



But, as you can see from the brake lights, I chickened out    Held P1 for alll of 0.5 seconds or so  

Well, soon after we pitted, where I closed the gap that had been built up by then. So went in right behind Jeff, but came out 12 seconds behind  

And the race went downhill from there.  :'(

Slid wide in T123, or "Red Water" as TT calls it  , twice, and then the chicane got me, so picked up a stop and go. Did that, came out, ran a few laps, pitted for tires and fuel, came out again, passed one car and saw I had 42 seconds to the next car, so race was essentially just a cruise to the finish line after that. Tried to set a few fast laps but don't think it was enough to nab the record.

By the end I had trouble keeping the car on track not because of tires or some such but because I was exhausted! If this had been a rain race in 3C temp, I'd have ended it in a wall somewhere, of that I'm pretty certain. Now I just picked up another cut and another stop/go.....Sigh.

Grats to Ruskus. I haven't driven that Viper yet, but I imagine my task was easier, and still I failed. Hats off, quite the performance.



I'm already dreading, but also looking forward to the next race  

Thanks for organizing this series, going to be interesting I think.

[Gazza49er]

That was hard work but very good.

Was well pleased with 6th on grid.  Start went ok but looking back i think i was a little too causious at the beginning when i didnt fight much to keep simon behind as i wanted to really look after the car. Pitstops were better for me this time i think coz i did them manually but on the second one i thought i was not gunna make it and i actually ran out of fuel coming down the pit road (lucky its down hill).  

Was holding 8th quite comfortably until i got a slide on in en rouge and got a stop and go with 15 mins left,  came back out in 9th and at one point was right behind 7th and 8th (they must of had an incident) but couldnt catch them but then Carl Hart had an off so i got the 8th place back.

Really pleased to have finnished.

Grats to everyone who finnished and took part,  (well done team psuedo)

Special grats to podium.

[Truetom]

I'm still waiting to start raining!    Was using my mid wet&dry setup as I expected to see at least one shower, but it never came.    Too bad, have I known I'd be driving with my dry setup.     Not sure if the outcome would be any different, though, Rusky had 25 sec lead at the end. 

Had 3 interesting stints. The start went ok, and there were ducks on a string 2-3-4-5.    Had some close laps with Paul Richards and it was interesting to see how different the cars were. Lister did ok here, I'm glad I took it. 2nd stint was a battle with C.Hart in the same car. He was close all the time but never close enough to pass. Good driving, buddy. Seems like I went last to pit the second time, I added 65 l only. It was juuuust enough - one more lap and I'd be out. 
Paul Richards was close again but I was able to maintain a small gap. 

Good racing everyone, backmarkers were superb. 

TT

[Jeffrey]

Unofficial Lapchart

[Jeffrey]

Dunno what happened, but you were clearly behind, I'll create a lapchart to see if you really had to do an extra lap or not  :

According to the lapchart, you did good doing another lap, as it shows you did as much laps as me, eventhough I was a lap ahead when we did the Le Mans thingy .

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I wonder how it works out when you've finished then. I saw the chequered flag come out but only when I finished the next lap did it say race over.

[Jimmie]

O jeez, how could I miss out not noticing this date :'(

[Jure]

O jeez, how could I miss out not noticing this date :'(

That's nothing. I was practicing on Friday and all was well. Saturday, prior to race, nothing was well, couldn't keep the car on track and decided to bail out of the race in order not to endanger others cause there was no way I could find out WHY car's so unstable.

Few hours later... well, let's just say someone was flying forgotten battles on Friday evening and forgot to change pedals back to racing mode/separate axis.

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