UKPnG Season 2 Classic Cup - Monza GP - Feb 4

[Mike Miller]

Brilliant pace tonight Ian. You must have eaten your wheaties this morning. I couldn't touch that time in quali.

At the line for the race, I think you got a bit jumpy and it looks like it cost you. That slight hesitation was all I needed. I too hesitated a bit on the entry to turn 1 and Madd almost capitalized. He was very close to overtaking me there. Somehow I managed to pull away a bit in the first few laps to build myself a nice 2 second cushion. I think it was lap 6 where I found myself up .2 on my fastest lap so decided this was the lap to push for fast lap. It ended up being a duesie at 2:16.9 at .5 better than my personal best.

I was pleased and feeling realaxed until Madd persistently gained on me over the next couple laps. I started to think I got my setup all wrong (strong early, weak late). This appears to be the case because in the insuing laps, Madd was laser focused on the back of my car and closed the gap to nothing. We ran nose to tail for 4 laps I think when we both dove as deep as possible into T1. I slid the back end a bit and it seems he purposely threw it away to avoid nailing me. This left him 3rd just behind Ian where we finished. Fantastic pace guys and great battle Madd. You had me on the ropes.

[jpv]

Great fun throughout the race. Close racing with Sandor in the first few laps until he fell off in the second chicane. Don't think there was any contact, but that distracted me so that I spun and nearly trashed the car blasting down the back straight (deja vu moment there). After that it was a battle with Bill, fell off near the end of the race but caught him again during the last lap, ending in a drag race out of Parabolica into a photo finish.

[Madd-RIP]

It was indeed a very good race up front all three of us separated by only 5 seconds all race, I just couldn't get past you Mike, although I was slightly quicker in the last sector it wasn't enough and when we broke late for t1 I knew I would have t-boned you so just locked the rears totally to spin it, unfortunately it meant Ian got past and then I got a stop go in the last lap (can't remember seeing any other warnings though) which meant  finishing just ahead of Ade (luckily).

Still a good race and good hard work, shame my pace from yesterday seemed to desert me.

No matter, roll on the next one 

[pribeiro]

Well Clive, the race was boring untill our meeting.  
Was a cool and awesome race for almost 20 minutes.
Unfortunately it ends when you had your screen issue, would be nice keep our duel untill the
checkered flag.
Nothing else important to report.  
I kind of miss Tokens
Congrats to the podium and to Ade.
Hats off for the 250s boys, clearly the slower car on track.

Cheers

[phspok]

Same prob for me Goldy, Based on me being traditionally rubbish at Monza in any sim. I took the Gr5, was slower in
qual than the few practice laps I had managed earlier in the falcon... ah well.  Sets off "as fast as I can" the car
in front doesn't move.. at all. Started to go round to the left but realised others were coming past so made a half
stop half crash into the stationary car as the safest option. Tapped Sandor?? up the bum into a turn, sorry for that.
otherwise a clean race, went off once in parabol letting someone through, had some fun chasing and passing
a couple of people, almost caught Lazlow but he managed to just keep a gap. Umm, not the finest race we've ever
had but I rather enjoyed it. <shrug>

[Legzy]

Didn't mind retiring as wasn't enjoying it at all.

That's a real shame mate, as Monza was an old PnG suggestion of yours that I'd taken up (I'm not a fan of Monza at all)... So I'm extra disappointed you didn't enjoy much.
No worries about the spin mate, I know you did what you could to control it. Your car started going one way & so I went the other side for the gap & wham! Your car had gone the other way. It gave me a flat & knackered my suspension & sent me wide onto the gravel & as I limped back onto the track tit gave me a stop/go for good measure (that's what I was doing in the pits twice Clive ). Limped on to the end though.

Was decent enough race overall, if not lacking a little excitement .

May I predict now that next week will be the exact opposite. Maximum excitement!!! IROC's at Barber.

[Legzy]

Results & Replay in the usual places

[ginsters sponsored]

Got a good lap early in quali and then spent the rest of it getting "cut" warnings as I strived for that little extra. That put me in a defencive mood for the start of race and never really got on a par with the excellent driving of Matt and Mike. Never got a single cut" warning mind   Congrats to all that finished as I rarely do at Monza.

I didn't think the car balance was quite right tonight but Legzy/Tony get it right so often that I'm glad to see they are human. I'm also very well aware how hard it is too match PnG cars so I'm delighted to see the "One Shot" series run concurrently with this one. It should provide a great balance week in, week out (Can you tell I'm quite excited by next weeks event)

[Mark J]

That's a real shame mate, as Monza was an old PnG suggestion of yours that I'd taken up (I'm not a fan of Monza at all)... So I'm extra disappointed you didn't enjoy much.

Monza is never a great track for praccy as its a pretty dull place to lap on your own. I just dont think the car choices worked that well here unfortunately. Maybe a single spec race or other car choices that could safely race side by side into the heavy braking zones would have worked better. This one looked more like one of the processional F1 races of a couple of seasons back with people maintaining same gaps between cars for long spells. Am sure some enjoyed it, i didnt. You sure i suggested it for P&G? Not one of my favourite tracks by a long chalk, never has been.

[Geoffers]

Really enjoyed the Falcon around Monza, it has enough power to make the track interesting.

I did spend most of the race on my own, but Clive & PR were always in sight ahead & I spent the whole race trying to close the gap. Mid-race they got into a bit of a scrap & I got very close, even managed to out brake Clive into the Parabolica once but got a bit squirrelly on the exit & he retook the position & pulled away again. 

Don't know if it was my setup but the Mustangs were faster on the straight & accelerated better out of the chicanes, Falcon was better on the brakes though. Anyhow PR got away & Clive seemed to be getting slower towards the end of the race & with one lap left I was within a second. It was half a second by the Ascari chicane & as Clive said he made a mess of the exit & I got alongside down to the Parabolica. Got in front on the brakes & tried hard not to get it too sideways on the exit, the Mustang gained relentlessly on the S/F straight but I held on to 6th by .007s! 

Congrats to Mike, Ginsters & Madd. 

Also, good to see 4 Kerbies in the first 6  . Running away with the teams championship at the moment!

[phspok]

I watched the replay, and the finishing order is wrong. For some reason as I cross the line it promotes me to 8th
and demotes Lazlow to 9th, but he was definately a couple of seconds in front as we finished.

[BillThomas]

Made a mess of the start but caught up with the rear of the pack at T1.  Hung on for a couple of laps before they drew away.  Then had a few laps battle with Tony, then JPV right to the end.  He was faster than me but was taking more kerb at the chicanes and had a few flips off the kerb.  I was please with my drive, no cut warnings but disappointed at the finish.  JPV timed his attack to perfection beating me by just 0.01 sec at the line.  I came out of the last turn in the lead and watched him slowly catch me then creep up beside me - I was virtually standing on the accelerator in desperation.

Bill

[FullMetalGasket]

Didn't manage quite the performance I'd hoped for - had forgotten to back up the setup files I'd created for the Fezza before upgrading the pc.
As a result my USB pen holding all my saved data/setups didn't have any setups for the Fez here 

Made a couple of random guesses to the setup and tried to tweek it into something barely useable in the remaining 15 mins of practice...
This didn't work very well as even on low fuel I was nearly 2 seconds of the pace of the setups I'd created previously, looking at the qualifying times I doubt that would have made a difference though as the car infront of me on the grid was a low 2:20 

Had some good battles in the race proper. Legzy (I think it was) had some trouble passing me in the NTK Mustang - he'd pass me on power towards the end of the straights only for me to outbrake him and pull back in front for several laps in procession
Then it went quiet as everyone pulled away/dropped back apart from Alex, who then started to gain on me from about the half way point before I put the bit between my teeth and sped up again 

Happy with my position given the disadvantage of the car I guess 

[Clive Loynes]

I find the gap graph that the Autosim Analyser produces a bit confusing because it is all done with respect to the leader and although I have never needed to know, it doesn't show what the leader is up to either.

So here is the Numptygraph.  I ignored everything that is more than 160sec behind the average winning lap, so Legzy's dates with the pit babes has been lost. 

[BillThomas]

I often thought I had a split personality!  :'(     

Bill