SimRacing.org.uk

Practice 1:	20:00	(10 mins)	full time drivers only
Practice 2:	20:10	(10 mins)	reserves may join too
Qual 2:	20:20	(35 mins)
Race:	20:55	(80 mins)	note: no warmup

Cars allowed: any GT2, GTC or GT3 from the UKGTR Skin Pack v2.6.0.0 (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3356.msg54519#msg54519).
Weather: changeable, based on real-world conditions at the start of the event.
Track: UKGTR Spa 2004 (download from here (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3356.msg54519#msg54519) as part of the UKGTR Track Pack v1.2)
Race Start Time: 14:00
Pit Stops: All drivers must make a minimum of one pit stop. This must involve entering the pit lane at the speed limit, and coming to a complete standstill in the designated pit box. Tyres do not have to be changed and no fuel has to be added. You cannot take your mandatory stop at the end of the pace lap, or with less than 1 lap to go.

Server: UKGTR Lower Endurance
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=61). 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 and track pack (see links 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).

Hopefully I can squeeze in with the Viper killer  ;). Any movement on a full time slot, sir? :angel:

Certainly sir - although you could've asked here (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3435.msg58946#msg58946) already... ;)

Didn't want to appear desperate  ;). Thank you kind sir.

Just outta interest any one got some Viper times? I was surprised when they were competitive at Adria and I fully expect them to kill the 811 at Spa. Hope I'm wrong again  :)

Don't know if i will be able to enter, as Virgin have completely messed up my internet connection, with ping rates of 250+ at peak hours, with less than 180kbs d/l speed and 100kbs u/l...VIRGIN SUCK!
I will test this week and see what happens though it doesn't look hopefull at all.

Im definately back for this.
My wheel problem has been sorted.
As my G25 was delivered this morning. :clap: :jumpjoy: :thumbup2:
And i must say,its bloody awsome. :o

I will almost certainly miss this one due to a pilgrimage to the Nurburgring.

I'm going to miss this one I'm afraid. Have a good one, I'm sure you will.

from first attempt in the viper here....you are :(

I don't think the Viper is going to be as competetive here as it was in Adria...there are too many mid/high speed corners to negotiate that the canal boat seems to struggle with.

It was a bit of a suprise how competetive it was in Adria, after doing a few laps here though I can see that the power advantage is better used for acceleration out of slower corners, such as adria, and much less effective through the longer, faster turns here at Spa....or there again....it could all just be my driving :laugh:

Or your setup.  :)

TT

What's with these uberlow track temperatures?

Real life temps. It´s really uber cold in Belgium ;)

Time to get push hard in the M3 here at Spa as I will miss the next race due to being on holiday which is a shame as I was looking forward to racing at Hockenheim.

How do I practice with my success ballast added?

On the UKGTR server, I think 'some' ballast is present..but it will prolly be from a different series.

I normally start a dedicated server on my own machine and run GTR2 manager with it so I can enter any ammount of balast needed....(bit of a waste of time for me as I'm ALWAYS -20  :().

You can also alter your weather file to more closely match the temperatures etc.

Only downside is your on your own.

I'm certainly hoping to be in the race, but my internet connection is playing silly buggers. :( Again. >:(

You can add weight by adding fuel to the car.

Doesn't help, cause I start with full tank anyway, so I need to have even more than that. :)

Doh!!!  Got a tap from Darren which span me out into a wall and my engine died :(.  My fault really as I got out of shape and had a very low exit speed.

Up to that point the racing had been .... interesting.

As expected I got alongside Shark at the start courtesy of his lardy M3 and a nice slipstream.  I was too late on the brakes and went onto the grass, letting Shark by and Purdie.  I had a good fight with Purdie for a while until "the tow" came into effect and I got by under braking.  After that I was pulling away a bit, but then a lapse in concentration brought him right onto my bumper.  Never got any rhythm back, got a bit squirrely and then got a tap from Darren...race over.

Totally different feel to the sprint, was never entirely comfortable.  Took ages to string a good lap together in qually.

Could have been a better night, hope the rest of the Legends make up for it with some top placings.

Well after having a stonking race and some great battles with Picnic, Jan and Ruskus amongst others my pitcrew refused to service me again :( ???
Its happened at nearly every endurance race last season too, even since my re-install of GTR. Totally infuriating especially when having such fun. Was really looking forward to the stint after the stops to see where everyone's strategies lined up.

Nice racing by everyone as usual  8)

Was OK although pretty lonesome. Grats all!

Another booooooooooooooooooring endurance race for me. Again being defenseless against everybody and all I could do was wave as people drove past.

BACKO drove off after the start (and when I came behind him after his stop) and when I outbraked myself at the busstop, 3 cars past me as I stayed on the grass. Had no chance of catching them and was left alone in my first stint. After my pitstop it was the same, all alone again.
Car felt awefull so heavy and it was 80 minutes of agony.

Grats to RR on the win and BACKO, but also very well done Pete on 2nd in GTC class :D

Replay (https://replay.simracing.org.uk/ukgtr/UKGTR%20Spa-Francorchamps%20-%20Lower%20Endurance%20071021.zip) available, provisional results etc. above.

That was hard work, managed to scrape a reasonable quali, and then put the power down to much at la Source and spun it.....damn  :( .

After that I just tried to keep the car consistent without any major cock-ups and tbh started to get into a good rhythm hoping that I could leapfrog those pesky Vipers during the pitstops, luck was on my side and I started to pass them when they began pitting, I just waited until the GT3 leader Ossie pitted then went in the next lap.

A stationary 26 seconds later I left my pits and rejoined just in front of Pseudo and SBG, fight on!  :D
I drove my little tyres off trying to stay in front and after Pseudo went too deep into La Source it was just me and SBG and about 25 minutes left!

We had an awesome scrap and I was fortunate enough  to be in front at the end, chuffed to bits tbh, but those Vipers are damn quick on the straights!

Grats to the GT2 and GTC podium too  ;D

Got to be pleased with that, had 2 horrid sessions at Spa earlier in the week but tonight went well. I think I was a little lucky in qually as I managed a reasonable lap just when the sun seemed to come out for a couple of minutes. Race was generally very consistent for me, only 2 moments of real worry, one with Jan up by rear when I tried to slide sideways round a corner rather than use the normal technique. The other simply running a little wide out of the corner with no name as Martin Brundle calls it.

My pitcrew must have been on some sort of bonus today, I think I was in 11th as I entered the pitlane and 8th when I left it :) Sterling effort chaps. I didn't realise that in the pitstops I got the class lead but I knew I was there abouts. Sadly Backo in his very quick Morgan caught and passed me with relative ease. Ruskus, with his 70kg weight penalty over me, and I had similar pace over a lap and I managed to just keep him behind at the end of the 80 mins.

Well done to the class winners.

Did anyone say ballast should not be for success but for outright pace  :fencing: Suits me ;)

Unofficial Lapchart (http://www.lapcharts.teamshark.org.uk/Lapcharts/Spa LE 21-10-2007/index.html)

I feel as lucky as Raikonnen!  ;D  Qualified 8th, somehow the car wasn't listening and I never got the fast lap fast enough. I was slow, not a fault of traffic.  ::)
Race started ok, some memories were coming back when we had some close laps with MJ.  :)  Until he outbraked himself and let me by. After that I was chasing Robert for some time, never quite close enough to overtake for a number of laps. Then suddenly I was 3rd and gaining slowly on Shark. Was 3 seconds behind when he decided to pit. Made some laps faster than qualy  ::) , pitted and came out 2 seconds before Shark.  8)  Good thing he had to take some fuel.  :P  I was also eyeing my fuel. At the start the counter said I could run for 1h 24 minutes. With a long formation lap I thought I had more than enough. After I came outta pit I started shortshifting, just in case. Was doing good, maintaining a gap of 2-3 seconds to the teeth behind.  ;)  But I saw fuel going down and down and I calculated so much I started to make small mistakes and Shark came within 2 seconds.  :o  What to do, what to do? If I pit I lose my 2nd place, gawd knows where I'll end then.  :(  Decided to gamble and it payed off: I came 2nd over the s/f line with only 0,2 litres of fuel !!!  :sweatdrop:  The car was only spitting and hopping by then.  ;D   So close, Shark, can't wait to see the replay.  :)
Too bad for other Legends, most of them were faster than me today, but I saw Adam go out, Darren in the sand and MJ was left out of fuel. Whenever I looked, Don was pitting.  :D
RR is from another galaxy.  :alien: :1eye:  Sorry, I don't know who won in GTC.  :-[  Congrats anyway.  :)
Good job with the lapping, thank you.  8)
Good race as usual, Shark.  :yes:

TT

I managed to qualify in 2nd which was my only highlight.  :-[

The race started well and had soon pulled out a 3.5 second lead over Shark in 3rd, but RoadRunner (Alien  ;D) was way gone by then.  I then made a stupid mistake, missing a gear which put me in the gravel.    This put me pack in 8th and the chase was on...

I managed to get back up to 6th and that's when I caught Adam at Blanchlmont.  He got a bit out of shape and ran wide off the track.  I tried to avoid him as he tried to rejoin, but the speed difference was too great.  Even though it was only a light tap, it sent Adam into a spin..  Sorry mate  :-[  

As I looked back to see if Adam had survived, I got punted from behind, which sent me flying into the sand at the Bus Stop.  I recovered in 9th (I think) but couldn't stop thinking about the previous incident with Adam...  I felt really gutted for Adam when I saw the "Adam has left the game" message.  In fact I nearly quit the game myself.  The only thing that stopped me was the thought of losing the team points..

I made my way back up to 6th before my pitstop at halfway (which I totally bodged).  I must have lost over 20 seconds because MJ leap-frogged me and now had a 12 second lead....

I thought I was going to finish in 5th with Backo putting me under real pressure (great driving mate), but on the final corner I passed MJ who had run out of fuel..  Bad luck..  you deserved 4th more than me...


Well done to TT for 2nd and once again sorry to Adam, for helping to end your race early.   :-[

LOL. The only thing I bother warming up on the pace lap is with a few corners to go I get the brakes red hot with 1st/2nd gear trail braking (full throttle and full brake at the same time soon warms them up). The M3 with a full tank of fuel, 25kg car ballast and 60kg success ballast was not at all a thing of beauty on lap 1 which gave you a great run up the first straight, but I half expected you to not quite make the corner, so just stayed cool and took the place back when it actually happened. Nice try. :P

Ok onto the rest of the event...

I have to say that was one of my best ever qualifying performances. Managed 3rd on the grid, but it was the fact that I eeeked the last bit of juice from that M3. I really believe there is no way I could have gone faster with the extra ballast and interesting damp conditions, which is something I don't normally say after qualifying.

I would actually say that Spa is the M3's best circuit. It just seems to suit it 100%, you get great drive out of the corners, it's got a lot of corner grip and it's good down the straights. It was an absolute joy to drive and however I'd worked the setup it was just spot on and so easy to drive. The setup rode the curbs, it wasn't lairy, it was grippy, just top notch and made my job a lot easier. With the extra ballast my biggest problem was the new bus stop. I was losing time there every lap cause I had to brake that little bit earlier and the extra weight made it harder to chuck around the twisty tight chicane.

At the start of the race I had Adam and Purdie in close attention, but after I got confident I slowly pulled away and eventually built up a 10 second lead to the next car. Nearer the pit stops I think Truetom had made his way up the field and had closed to within 6 seconds of me. I pitted at half distance to top up to 60 litres and put on a new set of mediums. The pit crew did an excellent job and I was out in good time. Unfortunately for me Truetom's crew did an even better job and he jumped me in the pits (great job TT!). This left me with a deficit of about 3 seconds.

From that point on the race just got better. At first I stabilised the gap at about 3.5 seconds and wanted to see how fast Truetom was capable of, not wanting to ruin my tyres early on in the second stint. We were running almost identical pace so it was tenths here or there and went up and down a little as we lapped other cars, but still it was at about 3, 3.5 seconds. Eventually I started thinking, well he's not getting away and there's 10->15 minutes to go and it's only 3 seconds, so I drove like an absolute demon from then on in. I really threw caution to the wind and drove an exciting last 10 minutes trying to close him down. Slowly but surely I was taking the time off him. Boy was it fun pushing as hard as I could. Normally I'm quite conservative in my driving in Endurance, but this time I gave it absolutely everything in an effort to catch him, I really could not have gone any faster.

Eventually with 2 laps to go I was really getting close and I could almost sniff the bad cologne :angel:. 1 lap to go and I was right on him. However, I'd spent the whole time catching I hadn't really thought out what I was going to do if I did catch him and with 1 lap left it was the grand showdown.

2 corners to go and I thought about a move into the bus stop as I saw him lock up there the previous lap. It wasn't quite on so I backed off to get a run into the final hairpin. With superior exit speed from the bus stop I pulled along side, Truetom went defensive and blocked the inside and I went to the outside to try and go the long way round. We exited La Source neck and neck but with TT having the inside advantage and less distance he just edged ahead and then the final run down to the start finish line as I powered down and awww oooohh it was just sooo close, I think I lost out on the 2nd place by half a car length.  :o

It was an absolutely thrilling finale to the race. Hats off to Truetom who didn't buckle under the pressure and a deserved 2nd place. That was another of our classic battles.

I absolutely enjoyed every lap of that race. I had 2 overtaking moments the entire race so it wasn't exactly action packed, but it was just an absolutely thrilling race and exactly why I love endurance racing. Spa really is the king of current F1 circuits, the only blotch being that awful bus stop which just kills the flow of the circuit.

No idea where the leader was at the end, but with 80kg difference in ballast there was no chance to fight for the win. Deserved win to Roadrunner who showed great pace, congrats.

Also grats to Backo for the GTC win and Pete for an excellent 2nd position in GTC with Ruskus a very creditable 3rd in the 350Z (this is about the worst circuit for the 350Z, it really doesn't suit Spa at all), that's a fantastic and well deserved result to you all.

Finally well done to Madd-RIP on the GT3 win, SBG for 2nd and an excellent 3rd for Priberio in the BMW Z3M. That's an outstanding result for that car at Spa.

Unfortunately I'm on holiday for the next round, so my lead will certainly be severly reduced come the round after. :'( Almost certainly the team title in GT2 is a foregone conclusion for the Legends with me missing the next round and only one Team Shark car to get points anyway, I will congratulate you now on an excellent team effort.

Almost 80 mintutes of continual battling, great fun.


I think that "strategy" might have actually got you past me ;). Whilst you dropped back and got in some consistent laps, I was busy having much fun with the Vipers. Tops stuff with Pseudo, Ossie and just for good measure Monkez in the fezza as well. Sorry for occasional taps Bob, but I was only quicker than you chaps in the really tricky sections which made passing virtually impossible. Hence I lost quite a bit of time and 1st place to Madd after pitstop.

Tried pressuring Madd as much as I could. but first he just hung on then eventually pulled away for a deserved win :). Good stuff.

Lapping seems to be fine as long as you don't arrive having a close race of your own. Then little patience is shown which is annoying, if predictable. Outside that it was perfect  :angel:

Totally enjoyed the first 60 mins.....last 20 was a nightmare ::)

Qualy went very well, took a risk in the damp with full dry qually setup...including a 2 wing  :o and it paid off with class pole.

Started well and was lapping reasonably consistently with SBG, Ossie and Munkez close behind....SBG did get a little too close through the bus stop and tapped my rear and I felt the spin starting and was totally powerless to prevent it....but SBG made immediate ammends by also tapping my front end and pointing me back in the right direction  ;D...just managed to get going before anyone else took advantage of it.

Didn't last too long though as Ossie got a much better exit from eau rouge and got plenty of tow to pass me on the straight....I then proceded to lose it in the following hairpin gifting another place to SBG.
Spent right up to the pit stops then with no more than 1.5 seconds between the three of us.

I must have borrowed someone elses pit crew because I came out in front of both of them and was feeling pretty chuffed with 35 mins to go.

Madd must have made a fantastic stop, he leapfrogged us all and came out just ahead of me. I followed him round and new I had him when we got to la source....I managed to take the inside line and I new the power in the viper would see me ok on the S/F straight.....but I missed my braking with being off line and slid all the way onto the marbles.

Never really got back into a rythem after that...mistake here, cut there...eventually I ended up getting a stop and go after getting the exit to la rouge wrong...and that was about it....couple of laps to go I was still 18 seconds behind and enough fuel to limp to the pits....but when I got there I forgot the limiter and so pressed the esc button and had a cry...

It looked good for a while...but wasn't to be (heard that before somewhere today :))

Grats to winners/podiums...and great win again Backo  ;)

Thx mate  ;)  ,Wow !!!what amazing race was again.I qualified like 10'th.first half of the race was for me nightmare wrong tyres and one spun but after pit stop I found my pace again I did my PB :o .I really enjoyed last 2 laps with Daren,one lap more and you are mine mate ;) . I finished 5'th,very happy.GREAT race again and well done guys top 3 each class!!! ;D ;D ;D

Nah, I only slowed down to keep it interesting for you.  ;)

2 wing!!???  :o Spa is a downforce circuit despite it's straights, I had 2-8 wing. I dread to think how unstable your car must have been through Eau Rouge with 2 wing.  :laugh:

I tried wings from 5 to 10 and decided for 7. Mostly 'cause the fronts were getting less worn than at wing 8.  :)

TT

Cripes! I was running 7 in the VCC - no wonder my best lap was well off your pace but I still finished ahead!

Fairly dull race for me, not helped by just not being in the mood for some reason. Interesting opening stint trying to hang on to the faster GT3 cars with Mediums all round, then an early stop for Hards as soon as I could get to the end without a splash and dash. Unfortunately the Hards wore nearly as fast as the Mediums, especially with the track temperature starting to climb. Hardly saw anyone all race, though I did have a good tussle with one of the RVS 811s for a few laps, Madd I think, until I ran wide out of Pouhon on tyres which were well past their best and gifted him the place.

Towards the end I was catching Pseudo at a fair lick and looked to be in with a good chance of catching and passing him before the end, until he pitted and removed the final bit of interest I had. The only entertainment after that was seeing TT and Shark come past locked in combat. This race underlined why I don't like Spa - a fine track to hotlap at but a lonely place for a race.

I throughly enjoyed the race last night.
Wasn't involved in too many battles, but managed to keep a bit of consistency and kept it on the track to bring it home in the top 10, which will do me anytime ;)

Couldn't get to grips with the damp quali conditions! would of preferred things totally wet or dry ???
Well done, it was a great race.



I should apologize for that! everytime I went to flash my lights I hit pit-in by mistake!

It was very :)....but for qually if you manage to get it right just once then you are in for a decent lap...used 5 in the race proper.

Lol, I thought you were pitting for real.  :D

TT

Bad 1 for me again :'( Nudge from Ossie I think coming out of bus stop on lap 2 (no way he could see me, so no fault of his) put me in wall, and broke suspension. Oh well, roll on Tuesday.

my brief race was fun! didn't feel anywhere near on form as i did last time tho  :-X

got back home late so just managed to join as Q2 started and saw the spray from other cars.... the damp seemed to slow everyone down by 1 - 1.5 secs except for Roadrunner!!  ;) who refused to acknowledge the conditions  hehe  :laugh:

quali'd 5th so was chuffed considering and worked mainly on race setup, sorta guessing it would be dry  :)

race went well having some battles with Adam and Simon....i didn't want to defend too much when you overtook Adam, with 1hr10 still to go and like yourself never quite felt comfortable with the car  :-\ then i saw Darren take a trip into the kitty litter.....so ran 4th behind Adam. I managed to get a bit over exuberant in eau rouge and earned myself two warnings and then Adam had a big sideways moment in eau rouge himself!!! so avoiding him earnt me my stop / go which was inevitable anyway at some point  :P and then the even more inevitable disco came! 3rd time unlucky....so need to sort out internet cos this is ridiculous now!!!  >:(

fun racing though and grats to Roadrunner! class act mate, and BACKO on his win!!!  ;D

aaaaaaaaaargghh. :taz:

is nearly all i can say for that race, because i ran out of fuel with about 1 lap remaining  ::)

Ran strongly at top of the sheets for both praccy sesh's despite not turning a wheel at Spa in a Ferrari before the session start. Was top 5 most of qually too.

For the race i borrowed my teamies setup as not been able to find time for my own and just hoped he had got all his calcs right :smartass:
Car ran pretty well though the gears were too short for me and i twice outbraked myself worrying about over stretching the revs and changing up a gear instead of concentrating on braking and downshifting for a corner :wacko: Had a fair bit of understeer with the stiff suspension setup though at least it meant i could fly through Eau Rouge.
Enjoyed early battles with TT, Darren and Backo but then had a really long spell of lapping on my own with Simon some 20-30 seconds ahead and Darren about 12 behind once all the stops were out the way.
By race end in strong 4th place, i had about 14 seconds in the bag over Darren behind me until i noticed only 5 flipping litres left in the car and had to seriously shortshift going around most corners in a higher gear than wanted. But alas it was to no avail, the car spluttered to a halt on the straight upto La Source and i had to sit their in disbelief as the whole field trundled past me. :surrender:
Needless to say i was not a happy bunny after giving up 2 hours of the evening and with a great Legends team finish on the cards with cars in 2nd, 4th and 5th. :cursing:

Lets just say i sent my mechanics around to have a word with TT's race engineer  :death:

Congrats to podium guys and well done teamies. :thumbup1:

jesus, i would be pi**ed!!!!  :D