SimRacing.org.uk

Endurance Championship - Season 2, Round 6 at Spa

Date: Sunday 2nd April

Practice 1: 8:00pm (30 mins)
Qual 2: 8:30pm (30 mins)
Warmup: 9:00pm (2 mins)
Race: 9:02pm (80 mins)

Cars allowed: those classed as GT or NGT, according to each driver's registered class. A list of which cars are in which class can be found here (https://www.simracing.org.uk/index.php?ind=lm2&group=7). Seat Toledo, Lotus Elise, BMW Z3M and Porsche GT3 Cup are not permitted.
Weather: Will be decided just before the race based on real-world weather.

Server: UKGTR Endurance S2
Password: Will be emailed to those that need it.

Notes:
(1) Please try to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to qualifying, during Practice 1.
(2) Reserve drivers should wait till 5 minutes before end of Practice 1 before joining (8:25pm) so that they only take up genuine free spots.
(3) See  UKGTR Season 2 Info (https://www.simracing.org.uk/index.php?ind=lm2&group=15) for general Endurance Season 2 info.
(4) Please make sure you are fully aware of the UKGTR Rules (https://www.simracing.org.uk/index.php?pid=7)
(5) Season will be run using a UKGTR carpack which will need to be installed prior to racing. Details of this pack can be found elsewhere.

Date corrected (along with all following events).

It says "Current Nearest Observations: sunny intervals 12°C"  :P  :laugh:

Dry or wet i struggle round here. I'll be at the back with the NGT. :-[

and i did.

What a race!!!   Got punted off before it had even started and had to pit, then lost connection damn!!:(

What an excellent and tough race that was! 8)

Qualied 3rd NGT, though off my pB.
Had good early half of race keeping in touch with shark and fending off SBG for quite a while. Then sharky scampered off when i lost time to lapping GT cars.
Then had titanic scrap with SBG for lap after lap for about 30 minutes +, i seemed to be quicker through the infield curves whilst he caught me everytime at Bus-stop or end of long straight after eau rouge (less wing?). When i dived into pits on 45 minutes, he followed me and then i had to sit there nerves on end being fuelled whilst watching his car getting the same further down pitlane. Got out in front of him and had easy couple of laps until tyres warmed (meds) and SBG caught up once again. We then had another battle for god knows how many laps until the GT cars caught us again.
With only 17 mins to go and what i thought was 1st place (bloody Truetom ::) ;)) i lost the back end as i kept an eye on the charging Claus Juel and went wide with him going off with me in sympathy and i had to watch SBG scamper away and nick my hard earned place :'(
Superb race, really enjoyed it....just felt robbed at end when i saw sneaky Tom hadnt stopped and nicked the NGT win. Crafty bugger :P
Well done to the finishers and winners. 8)

Can't believe I managed 4th place in the end :) Very happy with that!

I nearly didn't take part as I felt like crap for the whole race after running 20 miles today. My legs almost completely seized with about 30 mins to go and I couldn't stand up after the race!

At least I was consistent, I knew Sharky was chasing me down at then end but I just about kept my cool  8)

I didn't see another NGT after lap 2 for almost the entire race either.

Congrats to Truetom, sneaky devil. Great pace in qualifying too guys :)

Oh shit, I feel like a complete Prick. Managed to clout a few people (sorry Dan and anyone else I got) on the start finish straight before the race even started :-[ Didn't fair much better for the rest of the race, hit the wall and had to pit early with a puncture. luckily had no more contact with anyone and just drove home.

Well done to everyone else, looked like there were a few battles going on.

Qualified 2nd in a great qualifying battle with SBG, very close, but SBG just nabbed pole! Well done Ginsters!

However, I took the lead on the first flying lap as SBG seemed to forget about cold brakes and failed to get stopped at the end of Kemmel straight. I then gradually eeked out a gap over Mark J in 2nd place, which i think was up to about 15 seconds at about half distance. Was pretty comfortable, had a nice flow and was preparing to pit with 35 mins to go.

Of course the lap I'm due to come in and I just get too much curb at Double Gauche Pouhon (2nd gear left hander) and smack very hard into the barrier. This loses my front splitter. I get going again with Mark J almost on me now, without realising the accident has also punctured my right front tyre which sends me off into the kitty litter at the next corner. I get back onto the track and drive painfully slowly back to the pits to get repaired and my scheduled fuel and tyres. That pit lane is a killer for losing time and add to that my mechanics repairing my car for over 1min 30secs and it puts me a lap behind all the other NGT front runners.

Well nothing for it, have to go hell for leather in a hopeful attempt to gain some places in case anyone else makes a mistake. I get my lap back as the front NGT runners pit (except Truetom) and I am going as fast as the car will push. I guess I had done some irrepairable damage as the second half of the race the car would not go as fast as the first part, was losing a second a lap on my first half lap times. Still I was gaining about a second a lap on the guy in front, who I assumed was Popabawa, but he was 45 seconds ahead so I had to hope for a mistake. I caught Truetom pretty quickly after my pitstop and passed him a few laps later at the end of Kemmel. Thought he was either being brave and doing a no stopper or a very deep pit stop.

In the end, my efforts just weren't enough as Pops was nowhere in sight at the end and lo and behold Truetom had done a no stopper to sneakily win by a big margin. Must say the time lost in the pits at Spa is a killer (even without damage), so not a bad strategy although mediums would not have lasted for me the whole race. Was Truetom on hards perhaps?

That's my first big accident this season in endurance and hopefully my last as it was very costly. People are driving very consistenly now and it's hard to recover from big mistakes.

Well done on the win TT and Claus in GT.

The GT battle looked great too. The qualifying times were so close and very fast and the race looked good from what I could see when being lapped.

All in all I had a good race. Strange one tonight, not once at the bus stop did I think I was fully in control so when I spun there I was unsurprised. Should've prolly done a little more practice. Had a couple of battles with Krueger which were great to be involved in but Krue got unlucky at the bus stop with a spun out car on the racing line so I was able to sneak past. Thanks alot to the NGT boys you guys were great at letting us past ;D Grats go to CJ and Truetom on their Victories. Need sleep.....Too much beer last night. Ah, tonight was my first sweaty brow of the year racing GTR as well. Great race guys, cya later :rockon: :2guns: :detective: :death: :euro: Hey love the new little yellow dudes

oohh that was ugly, though it had some good moments and racing.

got punted from behind before I even crossed the start line which spun me around and fortunatly I was able to just take off pretty quick. Anyway that meant car was damaged from the drop of the flag so I was off pace. fought my way back up to Krue and JonM who were having a great battle. Jon finally got by and Krue let me by as well so went into pits in 4th. Krue didnt take tires so passed both Jon and Me in pits but soon was holding up Jon which allowed me to catch them. We both eventually got passed and by then Rich must have had some sort of problem since I found myself in a comfortable 3rd, I guess too comfortable cause I got lazzy and blew Eau in style letting both Krue and Rich by dropping me to 5th. I quickly make up the gap to rich who was dicing with Krue and we had a great 3 way battle for a couple laps. all came to a head with a tight inside pass at the hairpin and Rich and I traded a little paint and I came out on top, hope that was clean, I defo left room for at least 1 more 550 to the outside there m8 ;). Anyway I then promptly blew Eau again this time good puncturing a tire and loosing the splitter. 210 sec pit later and was last GT for me

Truly memorable race, and the quali wasn't bad either  :punk:.

After pipping Shark, I was very nervous leading the quality field out (not helped by GT spin outs on grid). Nerves were settled by missing my breaking point for turn after Kemmel straight the first three times, I'm a bloody slow learner. This left me behind Mark who, after quali, I presumed I had a little more pace. The trouble was, I was only quicker through the bustop and final turn. Only a very brave or, more likely, a stupid move would get me past and I had little option but to sit behind and pressurise him. He was clearly driving on the edge (unless pops is giving out tips on smoking tyres  ;)) but he managed to pull out a gap before my fast section for lap upon lap. I had just about given up hope of squeezing by when he made his first mistake after an hour of brilliant close quarter racing. Thats three superb races I've had this season, with three different drivers  ;D.

After Marks misfortune, and Sharks earlier off, just set about cruising to what I thought was a great win. Gutted. TT, who hadn't seen all race, had carried out a non-stopper and out thought us all  :taz:. Congrats, you nasty man.

Thanks to GT guys for patience, and Clarey and Gerald who helped me continue battle with Mark  :thumbup2:

No, Shark, I had meds. And I even didn't get a "worn" warning from the pits, they held greatly.

Otherwise I had a lonely race: SBG, Shark and Mark were faster and went away, Popabawa (I think) was falling slowly behind. It was just me and (lapping) GTs.  ;D I had a steady, though not a very fast pace, the tyres were doing fine and it surprised me to see NGTs pit. I got so f... scared I nearly made a mistake!  :scared: Then I saw my only chance was to go non-stop. Started to conserve my tyres, times were slow but not slow enough for Mark and SBG.  :wheelchair:  :angel:

Feels good to win, thanks guys!  :thumbup2:

Great race, grats to Claus and Tom..

Loosing lot of time in pit and made two mistakes but third good result. Start was disaster, think leader needs to go a little before s/f.

 >:( ???

all goes well,and then race start,and all cars disappear,appear again  and disappear, and kept on doing this for a lap and then lost connection.  :'(

Yeah, maybe we could say GO from the exit of the last corner before s/f line.  :)

That wouldn't work because not everyone has chat turned on.

The rule is pretty clear:

Obviously I don't want to preempt the moderator's ruling, but we've discussed the starting technique to death over the past two seasons and if the accident was caused by somebody going early, the change suggested won't solve it. If we're very lucky, GTR2 will have a proper "green flag, green flag" call and we won't have to worry about it any more.

Replay (http://www.ukgtr.org/replay/Spa%20-%20Endurance%20S2%20020406.zip) and provisional results are available

Thanks, Picnic. :)

ps. Not sure why Gerald had two entries in the Race export but I edited it and imported and it's fine. ;)

Just had a look at the replay of the start at Spa and seems like I wasn't the only one who had problems :eek:
Not that it helps me(or Dan) of course.

Not to take anything away from Toms brilliant and sneaky win ;), but shouldnt we make it a compulsory one stop for the endurance races? I thought that was the reasoning behind making the races that bit longer that people would be forced into making one? for the extra element that it brings into 'endurance'.
 I know its a factor of racing that drivers use different pit stop strategies but seeing that Tom was able to grab a win by not stopping, wont that encourage every else to do the same and we're back to a longer sprint style race?

Like i said this is not a sour grapes moan at all, just a point for discussion, though i'm sure SBG felt as sick as i did after 80 mins of hard racing and seeing Tom triumphantly waiting at the rostrum with a smug grin ;) ::) I didnt even see Tom the entire race and had fought with SBG so hard cos i thought i was on for the class win !

I must also confess that i thought of going for a no-stopper just before the race started but thought 'oh everyone else has to stop too'....D'oh ! ::)

Yes I actually agree, I would like to see 1 stop compulsary. NGTs are a pain because they can go for 90 mins or more without stopping, whereas GT cars can't do 80 mins without stopping. As part of endurance racing it would be nice to make sure everyone has at least one pitstop.

Spa is a quite a special case mind you as the pit lane is so very very long so the time lost in the pits it's extraordinary. Truetom was not one of the top 3 quickest guys in NGT even in qualifying, but take nothing away he did drive an excellent and consistent race.

We could make fuel usage X2 or we could enforce a single stop (although it's a pain to moderate). Moderation might be that unless anyone complains we don't check up on pit stops being made.

Not sure what the general consensus is on mandatory pitstops?

Congrats to CJ and TT on class wins and also to SBG on a great pole lap.
It was last minute for me, joining half way through qual. I knew that because I couldn't see the qual times of most drivers, that I would be an invisible car so I waited in the garage until the last possible moment and then promptly crashed on my outlap.
So starting from the back I was slowly making my way through the NGTs until I lost control again on lap2 and nearly took TT off. At that stage I quit and hope I wasn't in the way too much.


I did a no-stopper at the opener in Barca and it was tight for fuel (3 or 4 litres left at the end). Its not easy either to race on lower grip levels for 80mins and it certainly is not possible on all tracks. Even on the tracks that it is possible its not always quicker than a one-stopper, Oschers or Extoril for instance......

I agree with Shark that Spa is a special case with the length of the pitlane, but I think that the one-stoppers would be quicker at the remaining tracks apart from maybe Monza which usually  seems to finish 10 -15 mins early due to the distance covered.

First lets take nothing away from TT, I couldn't drive for that length of time consistently and well.

However, I do agree with Mark and Shark. Stops should be mandatory. For one, I can't see how the battles I have had in recent races would be possible if everyone was trying to conserve tyres/fuel. Conservative driving couldn't make great racing and I wouldn't want to be involved in a procession.

Grats to CJ and TT for wins, and a very impressive race pace!  I had a pretty quiet race overall apart from the start which wasn’t the greatest I’ve ever seen :D.  Ran quietly in 6th until being promoted to 5th late in the race,  good stuff from all the NGT boys being very courteous, (though I did make a bit of an arse-up of lapping Shark :-[ ::) )

I don't really want to introduce a compulsary stop because it then has to be enforced. At most tracks 80 minutes is really pushing it in NGT on both tyres and initial fuel load. Anyone else could've done what TrueTom did.

If and when we do season 3 there's always the option of making the races longer still...

Only tyres. The F360 has plenty of fuel (don't know about the others) to do 90 mins.

I think we might need to extend some of the race times to 85 mins anyway. Monza, Enna and Spa always finish far too early. Last night there was 5 mins left on the clock? The pace lap is long cause it's a long track so we need to compensate by extending the race time.

I didn't mean it couldn't do 80 minutes on a tank, I meant it's a very heavy load early in the race, which puts additional load on the tyres.

We can discuss other changes at the end of the season.

Hi Dave Guys I think my car may be duplicated in the car pack as there was a spare car . I was taken by suprise when I got to start line what happened there it looked like a sand storm.I should have gone non stop or stop with softer tyres. But as I am never sure if I am going to be up to driving I have not been practicing and go with what I can cobble together for a set up. Now ther only seem to be 17 regulars I may have to get better set ups. bye for now . gerald

Witham, must admit I enjoyed the 15mins or so scrap we had before you retired, even better when CP joined us for a few laps. Nearly took you off at one stage trying to watch what CP was doing and consequently braked later than I should have done, watching the replay looks like I missed you by about a fag packets width!

Good driving after your mistake in eau rouge gave me the run on you up the following straight. Had me wondering if you were going to pull across but decided to brave it out and try and make the pass stick. Don't think I would have passed you except for this mistake as I could never quite get close enough to attempt a pass.

Not sure if you let me back through after the bus stop incident or if you glanced the wall and this slowed you down, but thanks anyway.

After this I pretty much circulated on my own, lapping the odd NGT, I don't really remember the faster GTs passing me, so they must have done it when I pitted.

One thing I did notice last night was a couple of skinned cars looked iffy in my virtual mirror, one was flicking to a solid white windscreen which was a bit distracting.  The skinned cars overall looked superb though :thumbup2: it definately helps having your teams cars easily recognisable!

Oops , forgot my race report.. :angel:

Great track , difficult setup and too little laps done before the race. Some troubles there in the start but nothing to do there but pray and i got through with only minor damage. 1st laps were good racing but then i had bad luck in bus stop with the spinned car which turned out to be a ghost  , anyway i tried to avoid it and hit the wall , loosing 2 positions and that was basicly the turning point of the race.

 I couldnt catch the cars in front of me so i decided to try something , which could help my team mate later on and took only fuel.  I had allready some extra fuel onboard and i needed only 40 litres , so pitstop was only 16.5 seconds and i got ahead of Darin , Jon and Rich.  Didnt take long before Jon catched me and just couldnt keep him behind very long.  I knew the tires would not last the whole race , but it was a bit shock  , when i got a tirewarning 11 laps before end  :o...  in Spa   ::)...  anyway , continued my desperate struggle and had a good fight with Rich , while Darin was catching us , but EauRouge turned out to be the fate of Darin this time and that ment that i was now the 2nd point scorer for the team.  Tires were totally gone at that point and Rich had an easy job to just wait till i skated a bit off the racing line and there went the podium.

It was good fun while it last and i have to thank Jon and Rich for their patience while they were stuck behind my slow and wide F575  ;D , good racing there..thx for keeping it clean   8). 

Cya soon in Anderstorp , hoping to have better luck there... ;)

 

It was pressure all the way you car was alot faster than mine guess it was the wing settings but I could make the time up in the bus stop. That lead to my down fall, I new if I could get the run on you into the last corner out the bus stop I could make the pass back by. I misjugded it and hit you pretty hard letting cp by the both of us. I slowed to let you pass seemed only fair TBH but I lost my rythem and hit the wall hard and that was race over