Will have to miss this one unfortunately - my old PC which I have continued to use for GTL, has apparently kicked the bucket.  Powers on, lights in leds, fans going, but no image on screen at all, so maybe the videocard.  Will have to test with an older one later if I can find a working one.

Built a new monster PC recently, but haven't been able to get GTL to look good on it, hence continuing on the old rig.  I tell video card drivers to ignore the in-game settings, and then improve the looks by setting AA & AF directly in the drivers.  This works on the old one, but not the new - no matter what setting I change or how, it still looks like crap, with shimmering lines all over, and frame rate staying constant, indicating my settings have no effect.   I also had problems getting FFB in the wheel to feel 'right', but guess I have to revisit it if the new rig is the only option now 

Same here; hope you get better soon Kurt!

Enjoyable race, in stark contrast to the first one, and with a few surprises.

Not much time to practice; about an hour before going online.  Found my offline pb on par with the fastest non-Daz times posted in online praccy.  Couldn't match it however, and qual seemed even worse - problems stringing a proper lap together and issues with traffic during the short session.  Thus very surprised to be 2nd on grid, as several drivers had posted faster times in the previous praccy session.

Kept my position at the start, and even borrowed 1st for a few secs on L2, when Daz went a bit wide in T1.  He was quickly back in front, pulling away as expected. Unexpectedly however, given the aforementioned laptimes, I was pulling away from the chasing pack too.  Daz did his drivethru around midrace, handing me the lead. Had he waited a few laps more, he could have kept the lead.  Mistake, or deliberate, to inject at least some variation into what must be quite boring races?   We had a battle for a few laps, but of course he found a way past eventually.  Had a comfortable gap back to 3rd at this time, so 2nd was secure, bar any screwups or tech issues on my part.

Grats to Daz on another win (one drivethru obviously not enough to alter things..  )  Grats to Clive on 3rd and the drivethru next race  

Edit:  Thanks Daz regarding the gearing.  I did start out with the taller one, but found myself faster with the lower one.  Maybe more praccy with both could have reversed the order.   And I second the praise for Robby; you seemed quite situational aware! 

Can only join the chorus lamenting the track; def never going to be a favorite.    Didn't have much time for practice, so never tried other cars besides the Supra.  Fortunately good enough for 2nd on grid, given Daz' absense.

Good start, almost getting ahead of Geoffers, but had to concede at T1.  With a 2-sec advantage a lap, he was very quickly gone, and an apparant incident behind created a fair gap already on lap 1, so a very lonely race.  Didn't really have my heart in it; our great 4-man team at work was brutally ripped apart yesterday, when one member was laid off due to cutbacks, along with 3 other colleagues.  Thus my mind tended to wander, which is not good on a track like this.  Had several minor offs & near misses, due to forgetting where I was.

Grats to Geoffers on a win never in doubt, and to Fulvio for completing the podium.

This is not an easy problem to solve in a satisfying way.  While our races have become as boringly predictable as the worst Hamilton/Merc period in F1, at least with regards to the winner, I'm generally opposed to handicapping, at least from a results perspective.  Would I like to beat Daz, Geoffers & any other aliens showing up?  Of course, but if it only happens because they were artificially hamstrung, what kind of victory is it?

Another thing is that the top X (2, 3 whatever is decided), are not created equal.  I often find myself in the no mans land between the aliens & the rest of the field, but trailing a long way behind the former two.  Thus handicaps targeting the podium, top 3 etc, makes it even harder for someone like me to compete with the aliens, as if it wasn't hard enough already.

If the main purpose is to bunch the field up & make for closer racing, then perhaps it would work, but I tend to focus on results myself, and while the vaunted close racing can at times be very good, it inevitably also leads to more incidents, which I find frustrating, whether it's me ruining someone else's race, or having my race ruined.

Anyway, just my personal feelings, but I'll prob. retire with the end of this season, so don't put too much weight on them.

Btw, recently whenever I want to post something, however short, I get a timeout error when pressing preview or post.  I then have to go back, start over and paste the text I (hopefully) was cautious enough to copy before hitting the buttons.  Has the settings for the website changed ? - didn't use to have this issue.  Ironically, while I added this comment, it timed out once more..     And once more, between checking the preview and hitting 'post'.

Tough race; the Holden wasn't the obvious choice, but given I had a surplus of drives in it, I figured it best to use one of them.  Surprised to be only 0.7 sec behind Daz in qual - maybe he hadn't practiced, or maybe the Holden wasn't half bad on Suzuka after all.

Good start; not good enough to jump the aliens, but enough to keep the chasing pack at bay.  Couldn't shake Clive over the first 5-6 laps.  Not far behind him, I noticed Fulvio lurking, no doubt waiting for our tyres to go off. No question he would be a problem later.   Clive started dropping back, and as expected was replaced by Fulvio.  I did my stop at L13, being passed by Clive who went longer, and I exited some 5 secs behind Fulvio, who had apparently already stopped, and not changed tyres.  On fresh rubber I could hunt him down, eventually getting past at the end of the pit straight, fairly late in the race. He had a massive advantage in the curves, and slipped past again when I left the door too open in the S'es.  Race coming to an end, so put in an all-out attack. At the end of the penultimate lap, he lost the rear in the chicane and spun.  Couldn't avoid hitting him.  Waited, but as the spin wasn't my fault, I didn't let him back in front.  Made very sure to keep all doors tightly closed on the final lap, thus hanging on to 3rd.

Grats to Daz & Geoffers & thanks to Fulvio for some exiting laps 

I think we've used this layout of the track before, but not entirely certain.

Tried all the cars I had more than one drive left in. Beemer the best, Holden the most fun, and for me faster than the Toyota, although I was frying the rear tyres.  My testing showed that with my usual rev-the-crap-out-of-it racing style, the Beemer would do 24 laps.  That suggested that with a little restraint, a no-stopper might be possible.  Maybe that could provide an opportunity to upstage other drivers in general, and Daz in particular, robbing him of his virtually guarantied win?   I was quite sure he would have the same plan though, with his plenty remaining BMW drives, and that would make my plan moot.  Thus started with the Holden, but when Daz surprisingly showed up in a Supra, I set the Beemer ploy in motion.  I never got round to check the mileage of the Supra, so didn't know if no-stop was possible with it.

Jumped Daz at the start, but he retook the lead on L1.  Didn't fight it as I was looking to save fuel.  Whole race was an exercise in smoothness & resource management.  Initially Clive hung on, but then dropped back.  Daz punched a 15-secs hole, but then slowed to just maintain it, and as it was frequently dwindling, it indicated that he was saving too, and prob. not just tyres.  Later it became entirely clear that he was aiming towards no stop as well.  Started catching him in earnest towards the last laps, but just as the stage was set for an exiting final lap, he vanished!   Quite a deflated feeling really.  Replay suggests he was saving fuel like crazy, so pretty sure I would have passed him - I had about 0.8 laps worth of fuel in excess at this point, so could have pushed a little.  Disco saved him the indignity of being overtaken, and I still can't claim to have beaten him unless he has tech issues 

Grats to Clive & Fulvio for the podiums, and commiserations to Daz for the untimely exit.

You can have mine if you like Tony

This track has some of the elements I usually like; a few fast curves & elevation changes, but just too many tight corners to ever be a favorite.  Requires an agile car, and for me the Beemer was the best option.

Good start, jumping the two Capris ahead, but manoeuvring between them was tricky.  3-way battle ensued, but Geoffers vanished after a few laps, so obviously had gone off.  Between Daz & me then.  We had some side-by side action, but then he spun, giving me a 9 secs gap. Did my best to exploit it, but it still dwindled at about a sec each lap.  More battle when he caught up, side by side again, but a 2nd spin meant another 8 secs gap.  A repeat of things then occured, but in his 3rd attempt at passing, he made it stick when I was running a bit wide on worn tyres.

Stayed close for the following laps, but at the beginning of the final lap, traffic forced me off the racing line into T1, which made me lose it into the gravel, making the finishing gap larger than it should have been.  A rather unsatisfactory end to a hard race.

Grats to Daz for the inevitable win & to Geoff for completing the podium.  Grats to Micha for winning the series, and thanks to Tony for the organizing!

Like Daz, I never considered anything else than the Sierra; seemed like an ideal track for it. 

Surprised to be on provisional pole for almost the entire qual, but cosmic rules won't be bent, so in the dying moments order was restored as it as usual went to Daz instead. Couldn't match my offline best of 57.7, but that wouldn't have been enough anyway.

Race was hard; after being so encouragingly close to Daz in qual, I decided to hammer it as hard as I could for the entire race.  Start in the Sierra is either bog down or excessive wheelspin; at least I haven't been able to find a middle ground between these. Lost a place to Geoffers as he mentions, and then one more to Tony at the first chicane, where I braked conservatively, to make sure I didn't take anyone out, but he apparently had no such qualms.  Geoffers then let me past as he said - thanks, and later on L1, a move saw me past Tony and so I was free to chase Daz.  By now he was already 5 secs up the road.  Brought it down to 3 secs, and then he had an off late in the first stint, which removed the gap.  A couple of close laps until my pit on L15, while Daz soldiered on.

After Daz' stop, the gap was a little over 6 secs (have to whip my pit crew into shape...).  Had it down to 5 secs when I hit traffic at an unfortunate place, forcing me on an non-optimum path into Parabolica. That screws up not only the lap you're on. but the following one as well.  This gave Daz another 3 secs, the gap now over 8 secs, which I had no hope of recovering. A couple of slow laps on my own accord further aggravated things, and with no immediate pressure, the chances of a mistake from Daz were slim indeed and never happend.

Grats to Daz on the win & Geoff for completing the podium.
 

Took a few laps to get used to this new layout of Zandvoort.  Like the fast sections as always, but could do without the added slow bits & chicanes.

Surprised to initially find myself apparently battling Daz for pole, but of course an illusion.  Take it he was sandbagging or hadn't practiced at all.

Fairly good start, keeping my position. Daz buggered off to do whatever it is he does in every race, but my fight wasn't with him, but rather the guys behind me.  Feared Matt and/or Geoffers might do a stop without tyre change. Given the wear rate, I was reluctant not to change mine.  Dillemma appeared to solve itself during the first half, when a steadily growing gap gave me enough time for a 'free' change, come my mid-ways stop.

At this point, I had not considered that Geoffers wouldn't stop at all.  Didn't check the range of the Beemer, but didn't think any of the cars could make it without a stop.  Dawned on me that it might be his tactics while I was in the pits - that would also explain his complete absence from the early battles.  As a result, I drove the car like I had stolen it for the entire 2nd half.  Still didn't make too much of a dent in the gap between us.  Beats me how he could both save fuel and maintain the pace he did 

Grats to Daz on another obligatory win, and to Geoffers for 2nd and a most clever strategy 

Quite a mixed bag, this race.

Really didn't like the track - way too many slow corners & chicanes, and those never-ending hairpins.  While practicing I started to think "well, this feels exactly like.....a Tilke track...".  Sure enough; quick research revealed him to be the designer.  So I'm not prejudiced against him; I just don't like the format he seems to repeat over and over 

Got a good start, jumping Matt in the slow starting Sierra and almost got Geoffers too, as he mentioned.  Soon had a fierce battle going with Matt, with him eventually finding a way past.  Soon after his tyres appeared to go off, as his car was all over the place.  Got worse over the following laps, starting to cost me time in the tighter sections. Behind me, first Clive and then Fulvio was closing in, so had to find a way past Matt.  Had a couple of attempts, but couldn't make them stick.  Next up a move at the end of the straight - I went to the inside under braking, Matt move right to block and/or enter corner, I couldn't stop in time, bumping him backwards into the gravel. Apologies for that.

By the time Matt had excavated himself and gone ahead, I was plum last. Hate ruining others races, so not in the mood to continue the fight.  Hadn't planned for an early stop however, so had to continue a few more laps, pitting one lap early.  Gained places in the 2nd half, mostly by ppl pitting.  Caught Clive and managed to get past - sorry about the wobbly antics right after, Clive. Car started sliding under my (too) late braking and seemed to enjoy it so much that it wouldn't stop again!

Surprised by my not quite deserved podium finish; definitely more than I could have hoped for.  Grats to Geoffers & Daz!

Two quite nondescript races for me.

Race 1 the usual pecking order was temporarily upset, when Geoffers went off on L1, lending me the 2nd spot.  When he caught up, I waved him past. Uncharactaristically of me, but given our night & day skill difference here, it seemed pretty pointless to attempt racing him, and I thought I would let him continue unhindered towards chasing Daz; would have been refreshing to see another race winner for a change (sorry Daz  ).  With that I was in the same no-mans-land as Clive, just a little further ahead. So basically a lonely & rather boring race.

Race 2 I got a great start, jumping several drivers including the two aliens. Was battling Tony for 2nd already after the first corners. Found a way past later on L1, now chasing Clive in the lead.  Didn't take long for Daz & Geoffers to catch up. No freebees this time, so now we had a  - brief - 4-way battle for the lead.  Not that the two gents needed any help getting past; both Clive & I were dispatched like mere footnotes. About a lap later I found a way past Clive, getting a better exit out of Copse and then slipping ahead into Maggotts (no feeling sorry I can assure you Clive; had to work for it..  ).  Rest of the race much like the first, growing ever lonelier with each lap.

Grats to Daz on two more wins, Geoffers for the 2nds, and to Daz on an untouchable Series win.

Like the car a lot as others have stated.  Thanks to Tony for the setup & to Matt for server emergency services.

Tony, puzzled about race length. As far as I can tell, this is the same version of Silverstone as the one we used previously in the series, on 31/10/22.  However, those races were 15 laps, while these are only 10.  Am I missing something, or is the track the same & races meant to be shorter?

Love the Sierra - on the right track, and this one is ok for it.

No hope of challenging the aliens based on laptimes in qual, but got a better launch than Geoffers, sneaking ahead at the start.  Shortlived though, as he reclaimed the position at the end of L1. His move brought me close to a standstill, helping Matt close up. A couple of close laps having to stave off his advances, before I slowly stretched the gap.  Was losing 2 secs a lap to the alien in front, so soon became relatively lonely.

Early undercut stop from Daz revealed that he obviously wouldn't change tyres, but he was out of reach either way.  Stopped halfways myself, being joined by Matt & Mr. Evil in the pits, indicating similar strategies.  Had about 10 secs gap to them after the stop, while the aliens were still far ahead.  Surprised then to pass Geoffers in the pits late in the race. Had a 5 sec gap the lap after, which he closed fast. As the race was nearing the end, I gave it all I could, to see if I could stay ahead.  Geoffers got real close, but then appeared to have a moment, getting on the grass, which gave me a few precious seconds breather.  He dropped further back, so must have had more issued, and I finished an unexpected and not quite deserved 2nd.

Grats to Daz & Matt, commiserations to Geoffers, who should have been competing for the win.

Sorry to hear about your back Kurt; hope you get better soon!

Race was unexpected, hectic & quite entertaining.

Getting ahead of Daz at the start was not planned at all - I had expected (and wanted really) him to just bugger off, so I could focus on 2nd place, which is all the rest of us can strive for.  But, finding myself ahead, why not make the most of it - Daz might even appreciate having to work a little for it, instead of the usual boring walkovers most of his races must be 

As the laps piled on and it became evident that overtaking would not be easy, it became a challenge to see if I could keep it up until my pitstop (assuming Daz wouldn't pit first). He couldn't outbrake me at the end of the straight, or at least didn't truly try, and elsewhere passing was pretty much impossible unless I made a big enough mistake. 

Mission was accomplished; I held it to my stop at the end of L15.  I could do a maximum of 22 laps on a tankful, so I was quite astonished when Daz continued past that, lap after lap after lap. With such a late stop, it seemed obvious that he would not change tyres, so I was very surprised to find him exiting the pits just as I blasted past to reclaim the lead.  Much diferent story this time however; on my now worn tyres, I was a sitting duck against his new ones, and he soon made it past, on the outside in a corner.  In addition his fastest lap time set about then was frankly quite absurd 

Grats to Daz on securing the win despite my outmost efforts to thwart it, and to Matt for completing the podium