Endurance Race - 8pm Saturday 28th May 2005 - Enna

[picnic]

Track: Enna
Cars: Free car choice
Weather: Dry
Race Distance: 90 mins
Server Name: www.ukgtr.org [fun] (will be broadcast in the lobby)
Time: Qual2 - 8pm, Race - 9pm (approx)
Rules: General rules are the same as for any race, e.g no speeding in the pit lane, please familiarise yourself with the rules from the website if you haven't already. Start procedure will still standing start followed by 1 pace lap led at moderate pace by the pole sitter as per normal rules.
Sessions: 1 hour qual 2

** IMPORTANT NOTES: **
1) The server will be up and broadcasting in the lobby before 8. Please use Vote Next Session at 8pm to move on to Qual 2.
2) We are still learning about the server so if you experience anything wrong, e.g. high pings, can't connect, can't see game in lobby etc, please post in the forums. Try to refrain from using in game chat for reporting this as with large numbers of players this becomes difficult and we would like a record of the problems found.
3) During the fun race times, please watch out for messages from one of the admin team. We may be providing instructions during the sessions.

[Iain]

should be there

( this is one of my slowest tracks on GTR rank and i was last at spa, which i think is my fastest uh-oh!!!)

[AdrianD]

I'll try to get there.

Do I really enjoy this? 

[Zacari]

I'll be there with any luck, depending on how busy the student bar gets 

[Mark Harrison]

I'll be there - really looking forward to it.

Also note that if the race is set to an hour and a half, the race will actually be 50 laps long - about 1hr 20mins in terms of time.  This is because Enna is such a fast track, and the distance limit will be reached before the time limit.

[Glide]

I should make it too.

I hardly can't wait...

Glide

[Simon Gymer]

Ok, was on the server for Practice earlier and for the first time I experienced the 1 FPS bug.
Qualifying 2 and I experience it agian.
Hope it don't happen for the race.

[Glide]

Damaged and off pace during tenth lap...

[Iain]

argh! messed up in the race, had a really good quali aswell, 2nd fastest ngt
giving one of the GT fellows some trouble in the race aswell for a bit, then is started driving pooop!

ah well next time

[Simon Gymer]

Qualified pole after rejoiing after getting 1 fps bug during qualifying (and practice) 1:30.825. Pretty fast, I'm sure there was another 0.5 in there too, but couldn't quite manage it.

Race was fun except that Enna is way too dangerous. Eventually secoming to the tyre barriers and spending virutally 2 laps in pits about 3/4 through the race whilst they repaired my car (well practically rebuilt it ).

Not long after that I got the 1 fps bug again and had to give up. Damn bugs!

Never ever had that bug before, wonder if Enna is something to do with it as coming out the pits online was a bit jerky and despite pings being 50 - 100ms for everyone there seemed to be a bit of warp going on.

[Iain]

i got the 1fps bug once in practice this afternoon

never ever had it before


it was fun to start tinkering with the setup for once, amazing the difference it can do, i got a good 6 seconds out of the car via the garage .

[Mark Harrison]

i got a good 6 seconds out of the car via the garage .

I would say that if you tried the original setup again you could get within a second of your PB.  If you gained 6 seconds, it's more likely to be your driving, and getting to know the track, more than it is the setup.

The race was excellent as far as I was concerned - no 1FPS bug all evening, I haven't had it in GTR for a while now.  I'm running in high priority mode now, and I suspect that might be making the difference, although I'm not sure.

Got onto the front row with a time fractionally slower than Shark's.  Possibly if the lap was perfect I could've got another couple of tenths, but not too much more, certainly not half a second.

Race started, and I stuck with Shark for a while - those chicanes are scary when you're following someone!  You just have no idea where it is, you simply have to trust that the car in front has got it right.  I got past Shark about lap 5 after he made a small mistake at the end of the first complex - thanks for yielding there, going into the chicane 2 wide is never pretty, heh

Tried to settle into a rhythm after that, but sadly a misunderstanding meant I hit Don1 just after the 1st fast chicane.  Sorry Don, I thought you would hold your line just one of those things I think.  Rejoined a few seconds behind the leaders in 3rd.

Managed to make it up slowly, until a couple of stutters coming out of the final chicane threw my car, and I lost a couple of seconds.  This also dropped me behind Shark again.

We made our way up to the leaders - and running virtually line astern, Shark clouted the 1st chicane tyres, and Zacari must have spun off in surprise at the next corner, LOL.  Which left me a few seconds in the lead.

Didn't really go at 100% from there on in - pitted lap 27 - it was going to be 25, but I had a clear track so thought I'd make the most of it - a great pitstop and I ended up 20 seconds in front of Shark.  Cruising now, with 17 laps or so to go - the gap came down at a second or so a lap until a few laps later, Shark must have gone off again, because the gap jumped again, and I was safe.  Cruised from there on home.

Shame about Shark's 1FPS, and Luis's engine.  Hopefully someone can get the bugs sorted, because it's ruining what is a great online game.

Thanks guys

[Simon Gymer]

Race started, and I stuck with Shark for a while - those chicanes are scary when you're following someone!  You just have no idea where it is, you simply have to trust that the car in front has got it right.  I got past Shark about lap 5 after he made a small mistake at the end of the first complex - thanks for yielding there, going into the chicane 2 wide is never pretty, heh

LOL. I took it pretty easy for the first few laps as there was a long way to go. When I made that mistake and you came along side I wasn't sure whether you would back off into the chicane or not as I seemed to have the better line and didn't think you would want to risk it, but as we got very close realised you weren't going to back off so i backed off a little at the last moment and I was suprised to see both of us go through the tyres side by side practically and totally unscathed. Very nice driving, much trust on both parts.

Tried to settle into a rhythm after that, but sadly a misunderstanding meant I hit Don1 just after the 1st fast chicane.  Sorry Don, I thought you would hold your line just one of those things I think.  Rejoined a few seconds behind the leaders in 3rd.

This incident caught me out as I was expecting you to just sit behind Don till the straight, but you accidently nudged him and I also had to take evasive action to avoid and ended up spinning. Rejoined behind you.

Didn't really go at 100% from there on in - pitted lap 27 - it was going to be 25, but I had a clear track so thought I'd make the most of it - a great pitstop and I ended up 20 seconds in front of Shark.  Cruising now, with 17 laps or so to go - the gap came down at a second or so a lap until a few laps later, Shark must have gone off again, because the gap jumped again, and I was safe.  Cruised from there on home.

I lost quite a few extra seconds in my fuel stop getting some minor damage repaired otherwise i think i would have actually gained on u in the pit stops. I was going pretty quick indeed after my fuel stop on fresh rubber (really needed it). Managed a new fastest lap of the race (for me) and was seemingly gaining about 1 sec a lap. Thought with so many laps left I might have a chance to catch you, but i was having to go all out to try. Of course ultimately that saw me smack into the tyre barrier, hobble back to the pits and spend ages getting repaired only to then have the 1 fps bug.

Well done Mark and to all those that finished the 90 mins. I think there were 5 left at the end.

[PaulW]

I feel like I'm 90. Aching shoulders, eyes bleeding, back narky... but enjoyed it hugely!
Different feel to the sprints and much more strategic. Not raced Enna before properly and it seemed like a really decent track on which to do it- as long as you are a little cautious at the tyre barriers the rest is plain sailing and the huge long straights gave the GT boys plenty of time to overtake the N-GT's. Had a great few laps with Fozz, Adrian and me swapping places several times. Know what you mean Mark about the barriers- with a car directly in front you can't see your breaking point or the exact position of the barriers so it's heart in mouth time a bit


Thought I'd try something different and went for soft tyres at 2 x 21 laps, then 1 x 10. I'm not sure my skill level really allowed me to make the most of the tyres and light fuel load and therefore outweigh the two 40 second pit-stops though.

And I'll never bloody know either! On leaving the pits after my 1st stop, with the pit lane limiter still ON I got awarded a stop/go penalty for speeding Couldn't believe it. Did one lap and pitted in and, yup you guessed it, on leaving and with the pit lane limiter still on I got awarded another fecking one I was wondering if it was GTR freaking out so I thought I'd try and ignore the second. 3 laps later I got a warning to "pit now" or else. 5 bloody visits to the pits ruined my race a bit there and, what with the 1fgps bugs people suffered tonight, ruined my faith in the GTR bug ridden mess a bit too :'(

[AdrianD]

My best race yet

Qualified first NGT , impressed me anyway just love this track.

I had decided on one pit and medium front/hard rear, chickened out last second and fitted hard front too.

Start and turned in for the chicane, nothing happens, not tried cold hard fronts before, straight accross and into the wall  

Rejoin last and gradually catch the NGTs  (Enna really sperates the classes very quickly) and settle behind Fozzmeister, why pass, I would'nt want him breathing down my neck for an hour ?

Race has a stock car feel to it for a while, after a few laps we're joined by PaulW and we have a convoy

On and on, wrists, back, backside killing me, nervous every time I see Fozz and Paul  enter a chicane, should I drop back to avoid the debris if it goes pearshaped?

It does, Fozz spins, Paul spins avoiding it and I spin too, no damage we all rejoin and I get the red mistm and floorit, but Fozz is in the way, I shunt him off, I let him pass a little later.

Soon alone, droning on to pit stop, second leg is shorter and sails by, I actually pick up pace, fiels shrinks rapidly.

Pick up Fozz again, settle behind him for some company but he lets me by as he's a lap down.

End comes far sooner than I expected and a podium place as there's hardly anyone left standing

I found the atmosphere better than sprints, a better type of racing altogether really, I think 1 1/2 hrs is minimum for a GTR race.