GTR 2 - Night Fun Race - UKGTR Imola - 2nd March

[Kerr]

What a disaster, I can't drive in the dark one bit.
Very surprised to find myself on pole as was struggling badly with car. Never had much testing and it showed.
Race set up was really bad. Seemed OK for a few laps and rear end kept stepping out under braking and made it far too hard to drive.

The only small bit of excitement was the blast with Ruskus round the first few bends, to which I still made a backside of it and over ran corner. Other that than I was really poor. Kept mis judging corners and having to jerk the car.

Must say I don't like the dark one bit

[Eccles]

good race ruskus dodgy hub dropped me offline     o'h for a draytec

[DynoDaz]

Give me a shout if you want them.

I wouldn't say no Ruskus..  Cheers

Wow that was fun..  But I'm not sure what happened on the stroke of 20 minutes.  It was almost as if someone flicked a switch to turn off my grip.  I just couldn't stay on the track for 5 minutes... 

Luckily I managed to pull it together and finish strongly; managing to catch 15 seconds on the guy in-front.  Shame it wasn't an Enduro. 

[Jeffrey]

Ayf fink ayf loft me teef...

Here they are . Man that Morgan is bumpy, almost cracked some nuts in the progress.

I must say that night isn't my cup of tea. It looks brilliant and it's fun for a change, but still, makes driving very sterile. Might be the track car combo, so I wouldn't mind going for another spin, as I remember a brilliant race at Oschers at night.

Was pretty hard race for me, always looking at the gap times to see how my pregress was. With 15 minutes to go I started calculating how much I could lose per lap.

At the end of the race I looked at my tyre temps in garage, and my rears were 45 degrees . Dunno if that had something to do with FreQ launching me off the track into the middle of the earth after the race  . I could see a pair of headlights coming towards me and I was lile...nonononononono

[Truetom]

Was driving 5th but ran outta fuel on the last lap. Was kinda thirsty for the last 5 minutes.    No amount of slow driving and short shifting helped - seems like I was stomping too hard from the start. Was 6th in the end. Hard race, have to be very concentrated. Must admit I was expecting more accidents. Good race, guys! 

TT

[Simon Gymer]

Results and replay available.

[Simon Gymer]

That was a tough old race. I think maybe the dark settings are now a little too dark, but it was an interesting change to race in the dark. Was running in 3rd for the 2nd or 3rd time in the race on the last lap and span it twice on the final lap to let Zacari through (nice drive in the Vertigo Carl!). Had to be really careful when racing close which took a bit away from the racing cause it was hard to race close together. If we can find a track that has circuit lighting most of the way round I think that would be a better night race.

Overall quite enjoyable. 

Well done Jeff on the win.

P.S. The cutting code seemed perfect to me in race conditions, exactly to the UKGTR rules as far as I could tell.

[Zacari]

I really enjoyed that might try my headlight settings a little higher next time though, it was a little hard to see especially near the top chicane

Took the Vertigo which was super round corners and under braking, but utter dross in a straight line!  Quali'd 5th which I was more than happy with, then after a couple of laps going backwards (relatively, of course ) I could keep a steady pace behind FreQ and Shark.  FreQ managed to squeeze through after a few laps and I poked myself up the inside after Shark ran wide, a little too close to Villeneuve though and Shark spun over the kerbs, I didn't feel any contact but I probably should've left more room

After that I steadily lost half a sec to FreQ a lap, until I came upon the main drawback of the Vertigo- lapping moslers... a couple moved out of the way no problem but others just assumed I wasn't near enough to them, awkward really!  After losing about 10 seconds, Shark was back behind me, at the same time I flashed my lights in anger at the car infront (which probably looked like an invitation to go by to Shark), because it was very tight going into Villeneuve again, almost 3 abreast!  Three corners later and I ran wide and Shark sped through, only for me to rob him on the last lap at Tosa

Grats on the win Jeff, I do hope the Vertigo gets put in a class where it will be compeditive for season 5, I'm more than willing to use it in the future 'cause it's so much fun to drive!

[Madd-RIP]

Never driven the Morgan but must admit it was a blast. The night races look stunning with everything turned up but I got caught out a few times as the brakes  lights on some cars are a bit dim compared to the sidelights.
Typical, spun on first lap....again. Then was playing catchup for most of the race, managed to get back up to my quali position then managed to get past a couple of others going around the outside at Tosa.
These cars seem to be a blast tbh.
I've finally given up being gutted about poor pace and have decided to just enjoy racing and fighting for position when I can! 

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Start was cwazy when Lincescom ahead didn't move and Martin inevitably ran into the back of me. Then  Colin spun into the first chicane and I damaged my splitter, luckily not losing the lights. Then at the end of the first lap Aldo totally missed his braking point for the final chicane and I spun in sympathy, Colin getting collected and then waiting for me - no need, it was my own stupid fault.

Had some running amongst the slower NGT cars but the Viper is a wild beast at the best of times and eventually I got my inevitable 3rd cut after missing a chicane and had to stop and go. After that I was totally out of touch with everyone but Darren who was gaining on me fast as my rears had worn quite a lot and I decided to pit in for fresh tyres, putting softs on the front and mediums on the rear.

Thanks to Ruskus giving me a clear lap by following patiently I managed to slash .7s off my Q time on my penultimate lap which was gratifying.

Not sure about this darkness lark. When I was on my own I was fine, but with cars ahead I just couldn't see braking points until I was right on top of them and sometimes not even then. Frame rates were okay but I couldn't generally see headlights until they were quite close behind - vehicle tags were very useful when looking behind.

[linco24]

no need, it was my own stupid fault.

I did help you spin though, I just caught you as you were spinning. I had nowhere to go

First couple of laps were messy, took a while to settle down then I was fine. The Mossler, I think, was helped by the race fuel load and the mediums felt a little more stable. I just decided not too push too hard, race my own race whilst trying not to collect anyone, and see how I went. Was very pleased with 7th, though the results table calls it 6th dues to TT's fuel.

Great race though, everyone raced well!

Colin

[Chunky]

That was quite an exciting race

Made a complete hash of the start, ran into the back of a Morgan (apologise to whomever that was) braking early for Tosa and ended up with no lights made it back to the pits by memory as I couldn't see a thing! lucky it only took 12 sec to fix and I was off again.

Imola does seem a hard track at night with fast corners and precise braking points too easy to make a mistake.

All in all I did enjoy it and I look forward to the next 1 (if admin decide to do another)

congrats to Ruskus on the win

C

[PaulW]

Sorry I missed the fun guys- I'm in Windows re-install land at the moment

It sounded good, if I'd got the machine playing ball earlier I might have go to try my shiny new X1950XT out too

[Joss]

That was a fun race. Wasn't pleased with qualifying as I never got a good lap in and didn't get any practise in the dark in at all. Along with loads of other people, I was super cautious for the first lap and lost a couple of places - I really didn't want to lose my precious headlights!

Managed to snick past Kerr and Zacari (this time I had the better top speed! ahha! ) and then tried to find my feet. Caught Simon after a few laps and then put in a really scruffy pass on him at the last chicane and thought it might have been illegal, so let him back past on the s/f straight. Wasn't even trying to overtake you mate, I just braked at my normal spot and realised I was going to run into you if I didn't lunge down the inside! eeek

Then it was just trying to get into a rhythm again. I started to take small bites out of Ruskus's lead but suspected that he was merely managing the gap to the flag. I managed to get it down from 12-6 seconds, but then half spun at the top chicane and it went back up to 10 again. That was pretty much it
I lost too much time at the start anyway, it took me soo long to get confident in the dark, especially at the invisible corners! Plus I left my friggin bedside light on - not a good idea!

See u Sunday

[Simon Gymer]

Caught Simon after a few laps and then put in a really scruffy pass on him at the last chicane and thought it might have been illegal, so let him back past on the s/f straight. Wasn't even trying to overtake you mate, I just braked at my normal spot and realised I was going to run into you if I didn't lunge down the inside! eeek

I figured it had given you a track cut warning for that move, but I "de-flashed"  my lights to say thanks for letting me back past, very sporting of you. I must admit that was my worst corner, for some reason I just couldn't work out where to brake for the last corner in the dark and I think I braked at so many different places over the race it must have been a bit tricky following me.