Methinks you might be trying/pushing just a little too hard Paul and I sympathise.
I can honestly say that whenever I get a PB it usually feels that it was a slow lap, because there was no drama and each corner flowed smoothly and more importantly I was not actually trying for a PB or pole. The string of fast laps alongside Juha last night were accidental. We were both concentrating on the racing and the times that happened were a bi-product of our concentration.
I still do not consider myself as ultimately fast. There are other guys racing in UKGPL and GPL today who can always manage to put in a faster lap than I can, but maybe experience or Waza guile ( call it whatever you want
), allows me to make the best of what I can do.
Avoiding mistakes and crashes is a must if you want to be near the podium. A lift off the gas or braking 50 mtrs earlier might lose you 0.5 secs, but spinning into the boondocks will either put you completely out of the race or even if you are allowed a Shift-R you will have lost at least 30 secs by the time you have recovered and visited the pits. The maths are not really difficult, and that was the first thing I did to try and improve my results..stay on the grey stuff!!! You will gain 20-30 secs on every car that goes off, guaranteed
......simples.
I have just watched Joe's race and what he put together at Zeltweg is ( and I hate to say this to you Paul, lol) an almost text book improvement. Grats to Joe on listening to his Dad who abviously gave him the right advice!!.
In past races he has shown that he can occasionally nail a fast lap in qually, but excitement or nerves undid all that work when it came to the race ( BTW I think we have all had "the shaky leg" when we suddenly realised that we were involved in our first real race with a chance of a best ever finish lol). But, at Zeltweg he drove smoothly and within his ability to put in consistant laps. His own admission that he waited for the guys in front to make the mistake and give him the chances was spot on. Watching his progress after he caught Jason, Steve and Du Fossa is worth looking at again for anyone who is new to GPL. Patience is a huge weapon in on-line racing.
Appearing to be brave through the corners only works if you have a setup that you trust. You have to be CERTAIN that the car will do what you want, when you want it to and KNOW where the limit is. Guessing or hoping will not work, because GPL will bite your ass if you give it the chance. So actually I am not brave, because as far as I am concerned I have done the Risk Assessment in qually and I am at 95% most of the time, 100% only when I really have to and 105% when I fail to finish!! Outbraking Juha on the last lap was maybe 101%
and scary!!
In last nights race I was using a setup for the BT11 that I evolved about 12-18 months ago over several races. It gets minor tweaks to gear ratios depending on the track and maybe an adjustment of ride height if the circuit demands it. But the basic setup stays the same and it means that I am driving the same car at all tracks and I have absolute confidence in what is going to happen when I stand on the brakes or turn the wheel, because it is the same that happened last race or the race before.
A lot of words are posted re setups, but until you have expoited the setup that you have ( even the default), to the point that each and every lap is within a few tenths and comfortable ( regardless of how fast that time is), then there is no real point in changing much. What is more important perhaps is recognising what the car is doing, that you DO NOT want it to do.
This is a result of the mixture of the cars setup and your driving style.
Then can you say, the present setup oversteers everytime I get on the gas and it spins. So, what you want is a modification to the setup that dials in more understeer under power OR modify your right foot to avoid wheelspin, squeeze on the power and learn to feel how much grip and control you have at 95% of the limit. Sometimes, simply leaving the car in a higher gear allows you to reduce the engine torque available and therefore the power delivery is smoother, even if you stamp on the gas pedal.
If we can meet up on a server soon and run a few laps where I can watch your progress, perhaps I can suggest where we( well actually you lol) can change setup or habits.