SimRacing.org.uk

Practice 1:	20:10	(10 mins)	full time drivers only
Practice 2:	20:20	(10 mins)	reserves may join too
Qual 2:	20:30	(20 mins)
Warmup:	20:50	(5 mins)
Race:	20:55	(40 minutes)	note: no warmup!

Cars allowed: any GT2 or GTC from the UKGTR Skin Pack v2.6.0.0 (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3356.msg54519#msg54519)
Weather: Dry
Track: Valencia GP
Race Start Time 14:00
Pit Stops: no mandatory stop

Server: UKGTR Lower Sprint
Password: see above (#post_event_password)

Notes:
(1) Please make sure you are fully aware of the UKGTR Rules (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3349.0) - especially the speed limiter starting procedure and the rules about in-game chat messages.
(2) Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=59). Reserves (anyone without a full time spot) should not join until the stated session, regardless of the time.
(3) You will not be able to join the server without the skin and ballast pack (see link above).
(4) Drivers may only change car once in the season without penalty.
(5) Drivers are reminded that they must select ISDN as their bandwidth, otherwise the stability of everyone's connection will be reduced.
(6) Please use the Driver Details (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=profile;sa=driver_info) page to ensure that the league management software has your correct GTR2 'Driving Name' (not necessarily the same as your lobby name).

Again, note the new timings - practice 1 to start 5 minutes earlier and a short warmup for ballast auditing purposes. I think the race start time (20:55) was found more agreeable than 21:00 last season, wasn't it?

If I don't post the same timings on the Upper Sprint announcement, somebody slap me! :laugh:

It would be fantastic for me if 2055 was start time for all mid week races. Gives me time to make backshift on time. Those who are not working, i cant see 5 mins making any difference.

true, neh bovered over 5 mins!

I take it these are all rolling starts?

Yep, rolling starts. Nice Morgan btw 8)

Cheers mo.  I wanted to take it out for a spin at the Imola test but real life got in the way  :laugh:
Should be fun what with the new tyres and all.

I wont be making this one due to moving house and no internet connection yet  :'(
HOPE to see you all at the endurance the following sunday!

Munk

Looks like it's finnaly time to open up my legal copy of GTR2 :D

If I can make it, I'll be there in the M3

Will we qualify without ballast then?


With pleasure.

You're biassed! Not everyone is named after a car  ;D

No smiley. Gulp. :wetfish:

See you there, although im not too fond of this track - bad experiences in the past, but see what happens - what times are peeps getting in practice here?

Did a little bit of testing last night - in the 350Z I'm turning slightly higher times than season 4 sprint (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2304#event279) and endurance (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2327#event282) events, low 1:37s, but with more consistency.

I'm having a hard time balancing GTR2 and GTL practicing. I now know what you guys have been going through!

Benchmarking on The Giz's times, I'm confident I can run mid pack in GTR2 - that is of course untill I spin :)

I best get online for some practise tonight..... ::)

Trying to decide what car to take in the GTC class. What will everyone else be taking as I like to spice up the grid?

There were very few Ferraris last night so I might use the F360 Modena, but there is no Team Shark paint scheme for that so it might have to be Mosler, Vertigo or Morgan. It was going to be Morgan until I saw how many turned up last night, although I guess those drivers may choose something else for the Sprints?

I went with the Morgan in the endurance race for a change, so I will probably take something else (assuming Dave doesn't give in and create a lightened cup car for me to swap to in UE GTC) most likely the RS.

Will probably miss this one as well as my GPU is still not back. Ordered a 8800 GTX as I had problems with my 2 recent ATI crap. Hope it lasts longer.

What no Vertigo?  Here is your chance to show us how competitive the Verti-slow really is.  ;)

erm.... which car in GTC has best turn in capabilities? type slowly please, Tarzan never drove stuff below 600 HP except for 10 laps in F360 of some sort at Barca, 5 laps or so of vertigo at enya and oh yeah, M3 at N'schleife. ;D

completely clueless, please help  ::)

Not going to make this one either, have fun!

Well, it's definately NOT the Nissan.  ;)

I would say either the Vertigo or the Morgan...  but I'm sure others will disagree. :)

I did consider it, but I don't enjoy driving it as much (I've said before, it is a bit too forgiving) and it really doesn't work unless you can get free track away from other cars. As soon as you have a car ahead of you the trouble starts, because you can't use your main weapon (corner speed) and you get killed on the next straight by the car behind. If I did manage to get that free space to lap quickly, I wouldn't get to race other cars any more than I do out front, so what is the point? Vertigo vs Vertigo makes some sense, but a lot of the time Vertigo vs GTC isn't really workable (IMHO).

I did try a quick test in the Vertigo. I was fractionally slower in qual trim (1.35.2) but faster in race trim - 1.36.1 with a full tank of fuel. Since the Vertigo is kinder on it's tyres I'd also expect to lose less time late in each stint.

I'll be sticking with my Sherman Tank look-a-like Morgan all season, which speaks volumes about my driving style  8)

I'll join if there's room, though not a clue what car to take ??? other than something in GTC.

Hopefully I will be sorted for tomorrow. Still not sure what went wrong but think it may be something at my end.

I noticed a couple of days ago that my keyboard was not working too well. Every second word a key would not work even though I was hitting key hard enough.

Last night was a disaster as we know but today i was getting pop ups for winning i-pods etc, obviously something was wrong. Mcafee could not find much other than a couple of bit of spyware but after they were gone no improvement.

Downloaded Trojan remover today and it found a few files it was not happy with and deleted them. Suddenly PC seems faster, no pop ups and keyboard now works fine, although it makes no difference to my spelling!

Is this just coincidence to my troubles last night or completely hand in hand?

I'm worried just how much information has left my PC

Well it's much more likely that the few people who were having problems had a cause specific to them - had the server been struggling it's much more likely that we'd all have had problems. ISI sims have a bit of a reputation for their online code degrading anything but gracefully...

With all the handicapping the vertigo does seem to be very fast in GtC. None of the others really seem to have an advantage with the weight penalties.

Well the race last week was an experience, so hopefully i'll make less mistakes this time! and i'll try not to go off on the green flag lap:)

I can see the race being very busy with no real rest, theres few overtaking(lapping) places either.

There's a new Team Shark Vertigo. I hope somebody takes it! nudge nudge  ;)  ;)

I'm running the Vertigo in lower endurance, and I'm already regretting that decision a little!  I'll either be in the Mosler or Morgan, more tempted by the Moragn at the minute after chucking it round for the last 30 mins.  The ferrari is just too tail-happy, and the RS, well, I'm not driving that :P

Problems not solved although PC now seems 100%.

Joined practice server myself first time no problem but after 15 minutes suffered disconnection. I could not get back in, bad password or in would not go past password screen. It was fine for other races.

Restarted game and exactly the same. I can enter any other game fine and all is well but not our practice server.

I noticed on Sunday and again tonight quite often I don't get a split time at end of sector 2.

Something is amiss and I'm needing help guys, what's wrong?

I'll be there in the 350Z but I suspect that without a stop to make up time in I'll be a lot further from the GTC podium if my Endurance qualifying slot is anything to go by.

Might be worth installing a fresh version of GTR2 to a different directory and applying the skin pack, then see how it goes?  Apologies if you've already done that, it's all I can think of atm.

I noticed the split times were fubar too but I've a feeling that that's a Valencia issue. IIRC the grid slots are haddocked too although I didn't notice yesterday.

One obvious thing to try... joining with a standard (unskinned) car. Symptoms sound more like a network problem than anything else, though it's hard to understand why it only affects you on our server.

Argh, not gonna be able to make it :( Some stuff came up last minute and I wont' have enough spare time before work to attend the race.

I will be back on the case later trying to find what is going on as dont want to miss tonight.     Dave I could not even get past the password screen to have the option of picking an unskinned car.     It just seems odd why sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.   I have been on practice server a bit, raced the sunday before last, joined practice at 7 on sunday night and until real qualification everything was fine.   Hopefully be sorted by tonight.

Might just make this one after all. My 8800GTX is at the store and I need to go pick it up now  ;D.
Now all I need to do is pick a car and practice, as I haven't raced in a month now as the Dodge we has in the States was far from a race car (Dodge Grand Caravan (http://www.waarbenjij.nu/files/nfs/nl/user/f/fjpr/46b42affd4715103206029/file106571714.jpg))

Sods in work swapped us to nights all week......Bah Humbug.

Currently unable to log on to the server using the normal practice password.

Has password been changed or have I a problem?

Bill

I've been having problems at times too. Very odd

After a number of re-boots have got on OK.

Bill

My pedals are still playing up, so I'll have to miss this one.  :-\ Have a good one folks.

 ??? ??? ??? I AM SO PISHED OFF RIGHT NOW!!

I got a message during practice 2 to say that I was booted, I tried to rejoin immediately but my spot was taken. I have just spent the last 35 minutes hoping I could rejoin, but to no avail.

Can one of you please tell me why I was booted as I have a full time spot in this championship.

I was really looking forward to this.

Ant :'(  :'(  :'(   :'(    :'(

And i am HUGELLY PISHED OFF and $##%&/@@£§€  aswell....
Qualified 14th overall, not sure my position in GTC class...maybe 5th...
Everything went well untill lap 4, when i lost all my FPS  :o
Its the 2nd time it happens to me (always during race), when sudenlly FPS drop to 2....
impossible to drive, ofcourse, i even done a ALT+TAB to see if something was working
at same time (anti-virus or whatever), but nothing was working unless the GRT2 game  :-X
Hope you all had a nice race.
Cheers

P.S.   :cursing: :censored: :2guns: :gun_bandana: :scared: :wetfish: :taz: :death:

Good to be racing again after a month.

Got my PC working 1 hour before the race and had no idea what to drive. Went for the Mosler as it looks nice, but never driven it in a race before today IIRC. So I loaded a Saleen setup and off I went.

I did a PB in qually, and got 4th, behind Paul968 in it's RS.
I went for an early attack strategy and took soft fronts.
It didn't work, as it's so hard overtaking or outbraking anyone here, especially when they defend hard. Few times it happened that Paul took his defensive line right infront of my car. That's totally allowed, but luckily I knew he brakes earlier than me. If it would have been my first lap behind him I think I wouldn't have anticipated the move. But like I said, allowed and fair, it just almost gave me an extra stripe in my boxers  ;D.

The gap wa salways around 0,5-1,5s, but after Kerbcrawlers teamtactics with a backmarker the gap became 2,5 which was too big to overcome. And by that time my tirewear was 25+ and after the finish line 33  ;D. The Mosler can't drive on soft fronts for 40 minutes  ;D.

Grats to Brian (looked very close) and Paul on the win and the extra weight for next race  :P

Early part of the race was good for me.
Found my rhythm straight away.
Was all over the back of Simon until he made a mistake.you seem to be having problems with traction in the 1st few laps.you seem to be all over the place when exiting a corner.
Anyway got past Simon and started to stretch out a lead.
Then someone in a white porshe decided to have an off way in the distance.
But as i came to same corner he decided to pull straight onto the racing line leaving me to make an evasive move into the gravel trap,was not impressed.
Lost 2 places to Simon and i think Zacari.
Closed the gap to Zacari,who made and error and i got past,back on the heels of Simon.
I closed up right behind him again but my focus had gone due to the WHITE PORSHE!
Couldn't concentrate and made 2 more errors as i had totally lost my timing and braking points through frustration.
Decided to give up in the end and let the full timers get on with it.
Congrats to the winners.
Nice race Simon.
Shame an amateur had to spoil it.

got a stop and go for just sitting on the grid??? ???

Firstly seems my problems are gone. Had a couple of moments when the FPS was poor.

There had been nothing between me and Baracus all night in practice and knew it was going to be a tight one. He nicked the pole by a couple of tenths as I never managed to repeat my earlier practice times.

After a couple of laps I ran wide on last bend only to see Baracus run even wider and catch the gravel. Thanks very much!!

I had already guessed that Baracus was going for medium tyres all round and I knew I had opted for soft fronts. I was looking to move away early doors but could not go anywhere. Suddenly Baracus was back up with me and I could go nowhere. Managed to gain a few seconds after it seemed Baracus made a mistake.

The gap remained consistent until remaining few laps. I used my Dubai set up and like Dubai in the last few laps my tyres turned to plastic and my legs to jelly. Very sudden and no tyre worn warning.

I was struggling badly and Baracus was on a charge. Caught Picnic and Zacari having a battle. Picnic ran wide over the kerbs and I thought he was going to come back over and collect me. Heart attack. Next corner Zacari side ways right in front of me. Talk about shredding my nerves guys!

Managed to get through unscathed and Baracus was catching all the time. By the flag I think it was about a second between us. 1 or 2 more laps and I would have had no chance he was so much quicker at that stage.

Great race and great fun

Wow! What a fabulous race. Best fun I've had in ages ;D

I had a nice battle with Pete early on then spent the 2nd half of the race about 1mm from Darren's bumper completely unable to find a way to haul the Vertigo past him on the twisty bits to see him disappear into the distance on the straight again :wetfish:

Awesome 8)

That M3 is hard work .... but it made a nice change after so much time in the Vertigo.  Set a PB in qually but should have been in the 1:34's - had a massive moment on the final turn to lose a lot of time.  As it was it was solid .... but seeing Jonzo 0.008 in faster than me hurt ;).

No lap 1 cock-up for a change - and I settled into a reasonable rythm, even when having to evade TT's Fezza (what happened?!).  MJ, me and Backo in his Morgan were in convoy for a good number of laps, before I started getting a little ragged and Backo closed me down.  In the end one missed braking point was all it needed, and Backo was through.  After that I lost concentration a bit, and MJ and Backo started to pull away.  Thankfully my brain re-engaged and I started to catch the up (alright, they caught up with the leaders and the subsequent convoy let me catch up).  After Backo squeezed by MJ it was time for the Legends to do battle ..... whils smoking a large cigar and attempting not to spill the in-car cocktails that our sponsors so kindly provided.

Unfortunately I think Backo's overtake may have broken MJ's concentration .... or maybe he'd just dropped the cigar and ignited the Brut that had been liberally splashed around pre-race....either way, MJ lost the back of the Porker and I was through.

After that I just took it steady, although I made up some ground on Backo getting by wouldn't have been easy so I avoided any further lapses in concentration, and brought the M3 home in 5th (I think) with MJ behind me.  A good team result for the Legends (if you ignored the GTC's that had jet engines), and a pleasant surprise for me to run so well in the M3.



(Many thanks to Darren for giving me a working setup .... I look forward to beating you with your own setup on Sunday ;) )

Thanks all for a really fun race.

EEEEESSSSSHHHHHH.....that was hard work :o

Never driven the Modena before...no set up...think I used a 360GTC donington setup in the end ???

Did ok in sector 1...times comparable to most....a little behind in sector 2...and in the sand pit all the time in sector 3 ::)...twas good fun though..had a couple of place swapping episodes (can't call them battles really as we only passed each other when one of us fell off the tarmac) and managed to get to the end...if it was so much hard work in the Ferarri.....HELP!!! I'm in the Saleen next Sunday  :eek:

Grats to podiums....and Paul/Ruskus should be forced to drive the Elise  ;D

Interesting first race for Season 6.

Qualified okay in mid-pack in the mid 35's. Got an okay start not giving away any places. With tyres still cold and full fuel load on board it was tricky enough. Got a nudge in curva 4 which dropped me back to around 20th I think. Worked my way back up once I got settled and had a nice race with Darren. Nice stuff mate. Got ahead and managed to put the 2 350Z's under a bit of pressure. Simon made a little error and ran wide so for the rest of the lap I was quicker. Got around the outside of him through 13 and took the defensive line into 14. Missed my braking point too early and Simon nudged me. My own fault I guess, shouldn't have paniced and closed you in so soon Simon. So back to square one. Chased down pops and Darren and passed a few others. Into the last lap after a great scrap with the 2 Legends guys, and what do I do? Get 2 wheels on the grass into curva 8(I think). Managed not to spin it and rejoined in 13th. Unlucky for some I guess....

Well done to Winner and podium guys.

Superb race! I think I went too conservative with the tyres and rad opening - thinking I could drive steady and defensive but my fronts just wouldnt come up to temps and that meant my rears also didnt as I couldnt push through the bends as much as I though I would be able to. Went with med fronts hard rears. Should have been brave and gone for soft / hard in hindsight! But hindsight is definately the clearest sight!!

Made 2 major errors which blew it for me - lap 3 (or 4?) I messed up the last turn and swallowed some gravel, mmm nice... then a few laps later chasing Brian I missed my braking point into T2 and nearly went off there too! Dunno what I was thinking but I just drifted off (in my mind I mean... and on the track too come to think of it!).

Was gaining near the end as I got used to driving with the harder tyres but needed another couple of laps really!! Can we make the races 45 mins? lol

Really enjoyed that - finally I feel I can be consistent in these GTR cars. Certainly an improvement over last season.

Grats to class winners and see you all next week!

Replay here (https://replay.simracing.org.uk/ukgtr/Valencia%20GP%20-%20Lower%20Sprint%20070904.zip) results at top of page. Provisional standings are here (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=59)

Lol sorry 'bout that.  I was so preoccupied with Pete I only saw you when Pete ran wide, and after that I was desperately trying not to spin in the next corner :o

Not a good show from me tonight.  Qualified a second off my best, car felt awful.  Then in the race I got slammed into within the first 5 mins and the car felt even worse!  Then had a good battle with Dave and Simon, though never a chance to get that close to Simon.  With about 15 mins left I spun under braking, and then made a horrendous error of judgement trying to get out of peoples way :-[ which I immediately did a drive-through for.  Sorry to all those affected :(

Then I was miles away from anyone, and with even more rear damage, though I had fun trying to catch Pete at the end.

Grats as always to the podium!

We didn't boot you - at least I'm pretty sure nobody did - you got the "booted as a possible cheat" or just plain "booted"? You'd been join since Practice 1 hadn't you?


I was gutted - it was shaping up to be a good scrap between you, Zacari and me. Your car flew up in the air pretty spectacularly whilst it happen. :o

And please watch your language, both of you. >:(

Unofficial Lapchart (http://www.lapcharts.teamshark.org.uk/Lapcharts/Valencia Lower Sprint 04-09-2007/index.html)

You beat me to it!

Enjoyed that  8) (apart from two costly little spins :()
Qualied 7th, so pleased with that as two aliens in rocket GTC cars doesnt count ;)

Was disapointed to finish in 8th place (5th GT2?) Had the pace to perhaps finish 5th overall and 3rd GT2 as had the race pace (5th fastest lap), I seemed to spend the whole race within a second of Paul richards for a classic Ferrari v Porsche duel.  8)
Was running 5th or 6th for about the first 20 minutes chasing PR closely in a 4 car train but the battle slowed me up a little allowing Backo and Adam to close us down. I then braked a little late and deep at T1 and Backo got past fair and square in his Morgan, as he got a much tighter line and more momentum up the inside, good move.
Then as Ad said about a lap or two later at that dodgy downhill tight right the car got a bit squirrely and then honestly felt like a tap to spin me around...i was all set to shout 'Adam you f***=*=*=*'  ;D but didnt think he was close enough to have done it...weird. ??? will watch replay for clues.
Dropped two places then set about steaming after ad and Purdie, closed right up on purds then he discod, (unlucky mate :() and then closed to within 2 secs of Adam, really flying and looking good for a close team finish in 5th and 6th?, until i had another b*****d spin at the final downhill left when i spotted a purple (psudeo) car on the apex rejoining..it was enough to make me brake a tad too hard (hate that turn! :'() allowing PR to get back past me. I then chased his ass within 1 second again for the last 5-8 mins but he kept it just ahead.

Was going to take the F360GTC this season but took the RSR in the end as fate with broken down train on way home meant i read my whole copy of 'Total 911' and it reminded me where my allegiance lies in classic Porsche v Ferrari fights like i had with Paul R tonight. 8)

In many respects an even more awesome race than Sundays for me! Shark surprised me by turning up int the 350Z, and then even more by outqualifying me to the tune of half a second after I took .2 off my PB despite his complaints about the car's setup.

Started behind PRibeiro and matched his pace for a few laps whilst gradually bringing the tyres up to full temperature. Somebody had a off ahead and Zacari used the opportunity to sneak past in the TSJ TVR. I followed the pair for lap after lap, unable to find a way past and nearly running into the back of him into turn 1 after underestimating how much tow I would get at the end of the main straight. :o

Darren resumed his shadowing of me from the Endurance event for a while. I don't remember how I ended up getting past Zacari - out of the last turn I think - which was a welcome relief from Colin's RSR behind which was rapidly if sporadically gaining. The relief was temporary though as I had caught Shark's 350Z up and now I had Colin's RSR rapidly catching me again; luckily Shark provided a way past by running wide out of turn 1 and I made the most of the few laps left before my tyres started to fade, building up just enough of a gap to not be under constant attack. I was very glad I took mediums all round!

Got my fuel wrong by about 2 litres - just 1.07 litres left at the end! :o I don't understand when my consumption was so much better in the Endurance race. ???

Great to see three different marques all close together at the top of GTC and GT2. :)

I knew our colour scheme would do the trick  ;).....I had seen you though MJ and was sat waiting for you to pass before I rejoined.

After finding an OK setup for the 360 Modena I was all set to take that after managing 1:35s in TT mode, when I thought I'd give the 350Z a go with it's new ballast and tyres. To my surprise I was only marginally slower in the 350Z. As there was a Team Shark 350Z I ended up making a last minute decision to take it and be different.

Online it was a completely different beast, it just felt like a different car to the one I tested with. It was like chalk and cheese. I was really struggling. Really no idea what happened with the car. Anyway I stuck with it and eventually managed to put in a smooth lap and popped it in a shade under 1:36 to beat the only other Nissan (phew!). As I simply could not get the rears warm but the fronts were hot, especially right front I almost chose medium front and soft rear, but backed out of it with seconds to go. I spent the entire 2 minute countdown fiddling with the setup umming and aaring and eventually just had to press RACE with seconds to spare.

Basically the race was a struggle with the car. After nudging Colin early on (a stupid mistake on my part, PM'd about that and the other one) after getting closer than I had realised, I painfully tried different ways to drive the car, none of which seemed to work. Fortunately I was just about the same speed as the guys behind (apart from John in his Morgan who was a bit quicker) so I didn't really have to do much racing. Eventually once Gizmo had got by after more hopeless inability to get the car round I ended up simply booting it out of the corners, controlling the power slide and then throwing it sideways with locked wheels into the braking zones to keep up. This just kept me with Gizmo's Nissan, but it was not pretty and I hate driving like that.

Not sure whether I'll stick with the 350Z, might give it another go and if I still don't like it might switch to the newly liveried Team Shark Vertigo.

Well done Brian, Baracus and Adam on the GT2 podiums and Paul, Jeff and Backo on the GTC podiums.

Ah, that's just my style I guess  ::) ;D

Maybe I'm expecting to get more out of the car than I did, which is why I wasn't happy with it. It just didn't feel the same as the offline one at all. I think I'll give it another go and see how it goes. Was nice to race you again as I haven't for a very long time been in the same car or division or speed and it was like the good old UKGPL days for a moment there.


I'm glad when I asked you how much fuel to put in that i put in 2 litres more cause I finished with only 0.5 more. Unlike the Viper engine on Sunday (engine health started at 85%!!!) I didn't have to caress or look after the Nissan's engine, it took all the red-lining punishment I gave it and only dropped 1% the whole race.

Atleast I won one battle then  ;D

totally no worries Psued, i wasnt inferring for a moment that you caused my spin at that bastich corner, just stated that it was enough to catch my eye in that nasty braking zone  :angel: ....too vivid ya see  ;)

One slight moan, how come the GTC drivers points count in the GT2 drivers table? I had totally discounted the GTC guys in front of me (not that i could catch the buggers) from the points thinking oh well i finished ?? in class. They should be seperate classes should they not?

Yes, that doesn't seem right to me either. The GT2 class shouldn't include GTC for this series imho.

I thought it would be a touch cheeky to say as much  ;)

Really enjoyed the race tonight. Got a great lap in qual, although I knew things looked good after a high 34 on race setup just before, and 3rd was well ahead of my expectations. From the start Jeff was putting the pressure on (it makes sense now knowing you went with soft fronts, as I went conservative with mediums all round which were certainly a few tenths slower at the start). Every time I made the smallest mistake he was sniffing at a pass, but everytime he was just out of range to make it stick. We had a few close calls, but Jeff managed to back out each time - great driving  :thumbup1: To be honest there are very few drivers I would trust more to go wheel to wheel with, so not surprised at the lack of contact  8). From about half distance the pressure eased off as Jeff's tyres started to wear out, and I could relax a bit and cruise to the finish. 3rd overall is a great result and a class 1st is even better. Good job, as I hate Monza with a passion  :censored:, and from memory Jeff is almost untouchable there :notworthy:

congrats to Brian for a good win in GT2 and thx to those I lapped - very polite (even if I did scare Rob off the track - sorry m8)

Thanks Paul, that's very kind of you to say :-*. It was good that the first few laps there was a gap between us so I could see your braking points. When I saw tyrewear of 1,5 after formation lap I knew what was gonna come ;D.


I hate Monza as well, together with Brno my least favourit tracks. But maybe Monza favours the Mosler more than the RS?

Also gotta agree with people getting lapped, they were very (extremely) polite, also the new guys (for me new that is  :)). So big   :thumbup2: to that.

It's a continuation of Season 5's championship structure.

Tell you what, how about having championships for GT2, GT2/GTC combined, and GTC? Like this (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=59)? ;) Oh look, Sharks leading all of the team championships... (well, joint with KC in one...) :D

ah thats much better, nice one DG  8)

Thought the racing was great last night. I was thoroughly entertained on the end of the 4 car train up front and was amazed at how Paul and Jeff could race so intimately closely without any kind of contact on a track like this. (and PR), great stuff.  :thumbup1:

Lapped cars were good too though one or two suffered 'rabbit in the headlights' moments scaring the bejeezus out of me  :o

Surely the Kerbies are actually leading that one, albeit on countback?  :P :laugh:

And alphabetical order  ;D

Cheers

Rob

Another decent race for me, starting to get the hang of this thing now!! (oooh famous last words!). Quallied in 21st, and after driving a pretty consistent race finished 17th, 10th in class, so was well pleased with that. It was nice to be "involved" with a couple of other cars, rather than racing myself, as in previous seasons, and had a couple of interesting moments with Bruno! All in all a decent start to the season, and Ive now got a week and a half to practice Monza.

Congrats to teamie Paul on his class win ;D, and all podiums.

Cheers

Rob

Didn't expect much from this race and didn't get it!  Missed qually so started 28th (there is a downside to big grids  ;)).  Made up a few places until I found myself 5 seconds behind Rob B and was unable to make any inroads into that gap.  It was a shame as we were running very close times with me only a couple of 10ths up at best  :P. 

Unfortunately I'd only had enough practice to work out that the circuit is anti-clockwise, and my Sugo set up proved to be ferociously loose in the slow corners (which are too slow and too many for me  ;D), both on entry and exit.  Great fun, very hard work and all for nought when the engine died 8 laps from the end. 

I little bit dissappointed to not be on the class podium but it was great fun. Had a nightmare qualifying got an ok lap in early on but was well down on PB then couldn't get any other lap together. Could see I would be starting behind the 2 leading GTCs and TT also pipped me. I had a good race setup though so was hopeful would be able to work my way up a bit.

Race started and just planned to settle in and see what would happen. Lap 2 MJ got a great run out of the first corner so I positioned my car to the inside to defend. TT then braked earlier than expected so I ended up shooting up the inside of him. I managed to get the car slowed down to stick to the inside of the corner but certainly wasn't trying to make a pass although I got through. Then started chasing the GTC battle of Paul and Ruskus. After a few laps they were holding me up a bit but Ruskus' Mosler is no slouch in a straight line and he kept hitting the apexes perfectly so no chance to pass. This was putting me back into the clutches of MJ again but fortunately Backo came through which dropped them back a bit.

From the tyre smoke coming off Ruskus' car every other corner he seemed to be working quite hard to keep with Pauls RS so I was sure he would slow up eventually. Just as I thought this was happening I closed up behind him to attack but misjudged that uphill right flick and took slightly too much kerb. Car unsettled and round it came and I kissed into the barrier facing me backwards. Lost places to Backo, Adam and MJ. Got back passed MJ as he sat in the gravel at the last corner and he then chased me hard. Was gaining on Adam but kept overdriving and touched the gravel on the exit of turn one a couple of times. Couldn't shake MJ so had to drive hard to the finish for a 4th in class.

Congrats to Brian and Paul for their hard fought wins and the other podium finishers and thanks to Ruskus and MJ for the close fought battles.  :thumbup1:

WARNING! A MOANING POST!  :o

yeah pretty *annoyed* at the disco as anyone would be  >:(

quali was surprisingly difficult and even when i sometimes run in top 5 at other tracks i always struggle for top 10 at Valencia!! i don't even hate it, just not completely at one with it !!!  :P

i judge this by the fact my benchmark Paul Richards was flying round!  ;D

race started alright, TrueTom went off and kept catchin me only to keep going off, think his car was a pig to drive even though he was still rapid. Great to see BACKO in the Morgan going seriously fast and sneaked past after I went wide. I ran at the end of the long train of cars with Backo, Adam, Paul R and MJ and was getting slightly quicker and quicker and was actually hoping to maybe overtake something sometime somewhere!  :laugh:

I saw MJ catch me around the 20 min mark after he spun (just avoided you there MJ  ;) glad you kept still after you spun!)

fun while it lasted though!  ;D

EDIT: sorry for expletive dave

I've been happy to joined in.I took Morgan which I never drove before almost any car from GTC ,for me  something new.I've been quite suprice with morgan,really cool car.Qualificated like 10'th.The race start  ok and I had some nice challenging with Purdie,MJ...,finally I finished 5th :o ,happy because I hate this track.Congrat. to top 3 each class!