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 GT1, G2, GT2 or GTC from the UKGTR Skin Pack v2.6.0.0 (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3356.msg54519#msg54519) (G2 and GT2 cars will not score points).
Weather: changeable, based on real-world conditions at the start of the event.
Track: Hockenheim GP
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 Upper 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=60). 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).

Unfortunately I'm going to miss this as I'm off to the NFL London game.

Me too! ;D

And me three!

I will be here. Should be good as Hockenheim is another track I like.

Race postponed, initially for two weeks but actual to be confirmed next week. Sorry folks.

Looking forward to this race. I like the track and can see a few close battles between a number of drivers.

November 11 now confirmed as the new date. Did a bit of practice last night so at least I know how slow I'll be. :laugh:

and how slow is that? ;)

Er... 1:43... ish... :D

what...in the lambo?  :o :o

No, silly, in the same car I always drive...

I rather hope I'd be faster in a Lambo!

Take about 9 seconds off for the Lambo in race spec and you are about right

Any chance I could be made an FT for this series? I've put in way more practise than I normally do, so don't want to risk missing out.  :-X

1.34 in race trim? Well.... Brian, you know my email address, hint hint wink wink.  ;D

Did some practice yesterday night, couldn't get much faster then high 36-low 37s.

Few questions:

- am I the only one with overheating rears on anything but med-hard combo?
- curbs call for high ground clearance, right?

Forecast predicts rain, it's raining now and it's predicted for the evening too, not to mention 8 deg.Celsius hence standard tyre pressure won't do.

BTW, we may all want to practice pit entry (neat little sand trap inviting us to do a Hamilton in it) and pit exit (staying inside/to the right of the pit lane exit line can be tricky, lots of wheel spin suggests clear and present danger of spinning right onto racing line out of T1).

Left rear overheats a bit but cools down quickly so med/med will be fine for me (in dry)


Better to stay away from the curbs. Touch them, but never go over them.

Cool rain  :boat:

I'm sure from memory 1.34-1.35 is race pace, the way i'm feeling now that will be hours.    Had an all expenses night out with the company last night in Aberdeen and I feel as rough as today. Can't remember hangover like it.            I'm on the bus home now so I will send my set up later Jure.

Racing my mobile chicane round in 1.46's !? GTC !?
Don't want to make it too easy for you Gt1 guys!!

I'm not sure I want to ask this question but....
Whats the policy on corner 1?, reference cutting / running wide etc.
I assume the normal 2 wheels on the black stuff!?

hope to get in later as reserve!

M.

:)

The 'in-built' cut detection seems to work pretty accurately round t1.

If you put 4 wheels on the curb at the apex, you get a warning...and on the exit you can run wide over the curb to a certain degree without warning just so long as you get back to the tarmac before the curb runs out. IE. touch the grass, you will get a warning.

It's possible to massively cut T1 by using the pit exit without the game noticing but if somebody is seen doing it on purpose they will find themselves the wrong side of an exclusion, and it's not something you can really do by accident.

What is the ruling on running wide from second to last bend over kerb and on to additional tarmac?    illegal?

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2707.msg43844#msg43844

No, that clearly and explicitly is only for Season 4. We currently rely on in-game checking unless specified otherwise (such as my comments above about taking the Mickey at T1).

Hmm, so it's allowed to go very wide at those corners? Not the right way IMO.

No no no...

In game checking does not void the rules of UKGTR (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3349.msg54454#msg54454)...

Use Of Track Surface

    * Each driver should endeavour to keep the full width of all their vehicle's wheels within the boundaries of the track at all times.
      The track is defined as the normal road surface, which at most tracks is definied by white lines at the edge of the road, plus any painted curbs. Areas of grass, gravel, sand, and areas painted green (including so called 'grasscrete'), are not part of the track.

The final turns (next to the drag strip) are tricky because the normal solid white line becomes dotted there and the circuit owners evidently expect drivers to use a lot of curb. Personally I don't find the curbs there very helpful in the GTR2 cars as they tend to upset the balance and prevent you carrying good speed onto the start straight.

What I would say, though, is that if your normal line is to use a lot of curb and perhaps beyond between the final two turns, and somebody slips their car up the inside as a result, if you drive into the side of them instead of giving up the place and they report it you will be penalized.

This is supposed to be fun. Unlike some people I'm not to obsessively attempt to apply rules to inappropriate situations, but I will stamp down on any urine extraction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taking_the_piss).

I hadn't noticed you could do that....as you say though, that's a little more than 'cutting', it would have to be out and out cheating. :o

Wonder who first found out you could do it  :laugh:

Having watched real racing recently at Hockenheim (DTM ;D) I don't think there should be any problems with T1 cutting.

The game allows you to clip the first kerb on the inside, and then run out wide onto the outside kerb - as long as you pull it back fully onto the tarmac before the cones (don't touch the grass!). Every real life racing series I've seen round here does that line, so as long as it isn't something stupid like cutting right across the grass, I don't think it's a cause for concern.

Nightmare here!!  got one good qualy stint in but then for about the last 20mins of qualy my framerate stuck at 14  so couldnt get out and try to improve, and then just b4 start of race pc froze and i missed getting on the grid.  :( :( :( :(

Not a happy bunny!!

Trusty Mosler let me down 15mins before the end!
Not over temperature either!

Was struggling at the back anyway!?
Good fun though boys.
Lots of clean racing!?

M.

:)

got a good lap in quali...eventually and then had a nice fight with that pesky SBG, Darren and Paul, only for me to throw it off by being greedy on the throttle  and then locking up into the hairpin.  ::)
Kind of lost my rhythm for a while in the first stint but then slowly got back into it.
started making inroads into deficit after pitstop but then the race seemed to finish early, may have been able to snatch a place of Picnic. But never mind, a good race.  ;)

Thank God my 70 laps of practice were not in vain....Hang on, that will be somebody elses story  ;D

Was happy to have 3rd for a while in qually. At one point me and Brian had EXACTLY the same qually time, but lap later he improved and I got 4th.

Race was uneventfull for me. CJ made a few very small mistakes at the beginning but not enough for me to benefit from, as he was quicker on average (although fastest racelap was very close :)). After a while Brian spun and I got 3rd, and basically that's where I stayed.

Went for soft fronts for the last stint and they were pretty good.

Grats FreQ and Paul for winning. Good luck trying to drive with 809341230402 kg of ballast Paul :P.

Sorrt Psuedo for the little tap when I lapped you, still not used to right hand drive cars and on my left is a huuuge blindspot as I have the camere close to the wheel (grannystyle ;D)

Replay and provisional results available from the links etc. above

A mixed bag for me.

Started third after pipping Ruskus in the last few seconds of qualifying. Made a good start and got a run on CJ out of first bend. Showed my nose and CJ ran a little wide on cool tyres and brakes and that allowed me to slip through.

I was easing away from CJ and Ruskus and could only watch Freq ease away from me. After a number of laps I could see CJ beginning to find his feet and catch up a bit. The gap was fluctuating over the lap but I felt I had enough in the tank at that point.

Made a stupid mistake out of turn 1. In a drift I thought I could floor in to pull me out of it. The car snapped and I was lucky not to hit the barrier any harder than what I did.

Followed a few seconds behind CJ and Ruskus and was matching their pace very well, except I kept catching backmarkers at really tough points and losing ground on the pair.

CJ upped the pace a bit and moved away. Come pit stop I was only 5 seconds behind Rusks, then after pit was 30 seconds down!! Thought I made a pretty good stop so how I lost so much time confuses me. Little fuel, no tyres Ruskus?

Freq also gained a bit on me and CJ jumped Freq by some margin too. From what I saw a 20 second swing. That lister is so fast and also gains too much time in the pits.

Ended up in no mans land for second part of the race and had nobody for company.

Well done Freq on a great win, well done Paul to on class win

Qualified in 3rd (in class) and finished 3rd (in class)....

I started the race well and was soon all over Madd-RIPP in 2nd.  For the first 15 minutes there was less than 1 second separating the top 3, with Paul just behind.  Madd and me swapped places a couple of times (great move at the hairpin Madd  :thumbup1:) before he spun, giving me 2nd place...

Paul then decided to give he a hard time for the next 20 minutes before I pitted just behind SBG in 1st.  Amazingly I left the pits before SBG but after a few laps I realised Paul had also pitted and had gained his usual 10 seconds over me in the pits. How, I just changed tyres???  ;D

The next 40 minutes was constant pressure with SBG all over my rear (oo-er).  Great driving mate.   We changed places a couple of times and swapped number plates (sorry) but once I heard the tyre worn warning, it was only a matter of time before he got past.

Well done mate you deserved at least 2nd place....


Congrats to Paul and Freq....


P.S. I would also like to thank PRiberio for letting me past after SBG and I had a paint swapping session.  Very sporting of you, thank you!

Also I noticed the race finished early.

I had 1.55 left on time which would have resulted in 2 more laps. My fuel usage was higher that I thought. I ran a little further before pitting to allow for this. I had just enough fuel for 2 more laps. Wonder if everyone else did?

It did say 48 laps on my GTRpd2 which is exactly how far we went. So I guess we made distance limit before time?

I noticed it caught out Psuedo who could have probably finished without a splash and dash

Quite enjoyed that. I've had a cold all weekend so I was dosed up to the eyeballs on Lemsip, Red Bull and Mentholyptus. Wasn't totally au fait with the balance of the car in qually but made some setup tweaks to give me a nice stable consistent car. For some reason I was getting the occaisional short pause - I suspect that upgrading my copy of AVG from Anti-Virus to Internet Security has caused a problem. ???

The plan was to run on mediums until they hit wear 20 and then pit for softs. Unbeknownst to me, Picnic and PRiberio behind were planning a little surprise for me and did stop and gos, coming out ahead with less than 15 minutes to go. Worse still, my pit stop went wrong with me overshooting the box, and then failing to switch to softs and getting fresh mediums instead.

So I had about 10 minutes to make up 7 seconds to the cars ahead, and my only advantage was fresher tyres. About half that time was made up with some sort of wierd mistake from 3 of the 4 cars ahead; I slipped up the inside of Picnic between the last two corners when he ran wide, then tried to do the same to Pribeiro but ran in too hot and half spun him. :-[ Managed to tap him straight again but then had to wait for a few seconds to allow him past, luckily not allowing Picnic by at the same time.

Managed to make a legitimate pass stick into the Mobilkurve ;D but if only I'd managed to get softs in my stop I'd have had another second a lap in hand and would probably have been ahead of those two after their stops and with a real shot at a podium place. ::)

Its good to be back racing. Especially when its as good as that ;D

First 10 or so laps struggled to hold off the flying Madd. Some good stuff between us but the little extra grunt of the 911 really saved me. A nice starter that ;D

Built a nice 7 second lead over Darren, I think, up to pitstop with some nice consistent driving. Then pretty peeved (as much as I get about a game anyways) when Darren and Paul jumped me in the pits with a very naughty full tank strategy. I don't want even want to hear about it ;). Pumped up, a little, managed to gradually grind down Darren's lead and when he had an off I was right behind him with 11 minutes to go. Great stuff trying to think of a way past with some good defence coming my way. Still looking for a way past when I rear ended him going into to T2 sorry mate( you were a lot slower there than I expected there) Then let him back through and still couldn't find a way pass until I had a better run onto long straight which forced him to the inside where there was no grip. Great stuff ;D

Gotta give a special mention to PR. He was a little behind Darren and I when we came together and caught us when I waited for him. But instead of shooting on through, which would have been fair enough, PR waited till both Darren and I rejoined. Top drawer :angel-wings:

Grats to Freq and our Paul for good wins. And thanks to GT1 boys who were excellent.    

Another good race  :)

First 40 mins I was doing pretty well, driving fairly consistently chasing MJ and Madd 2.5 secs ahead and keeping a close eye on Dave and Picnic about 1 sec behind. I caught MJ at the hairpin, it looked like he had had a little incident there, and just got past before braking for the tight left hander, but Early braking in the fezza must have caught him out a bit and we had a slight coming together. I couldn't hold it and spun letting Dave and Picnic through  :(. Got going about 8 secs adrift and that's about how it stayed till pits.

On my own for the second half but still managed to stay fairly consistent....must have been all the practice in the WET I'd done today  :D, and didn't fall off once  ;D

 No props JR, I expected a little buffeting on that track from 'the big boys'....on the whole the overtaking was superb tonight...a couple showed a little impatience at times but nothing to write home about.

Grats to winners and podiums....(unless they are Kerbies  :P)

Unofficial Lapchart (http://www.lapcharts.teamshark.org.uk/Lapcharts/Hock UE 11-11-2007/index.html)

 :( Just noticed in the results, I managed to get back to within 9 seconds of SBG, gutted about making those errors now, I could have been on the podium  :'(

I made a stop with 30 minutes to go and gad around 15L left and upped it to 65, so I only added 50L. Did change tires allround, went from m/m to s/m.

But ask CJ how he does it, as he won alot more on all of us  ;D

Qualied poorly, but no matter, was sure my race pace would be even worse.  ;D

Although finishing last in GT1 I can't remember when I had that much fun as per pure racing goes. Simon and I had an epic battle throughout the race :fencing: :punk: , including two passes by "mistake" due to his early braking when I had to squeeze by... unintentionally, so I felt it's his right to regain his place back cause it was simply not properly done, ha! Loved it, thx mate and sorry for the scare.  ;D
Anyway, Simon got the best of me in 2nd stint after some backmarkers confusion and once he pulled away there was nothing I could do, was simply way too slow on the straights (wing 12.... argh) plus had a major need for shortshifting with engine on 99-100 C in later stages (that's with shortshift).

Cruise mode for last 15 laps due to  "oops, forgot to change radiator from quali"


Great race on a not so great race track (man they've porked it, I still miss the old one).

Amen. They have a tendency these days to f... tracks up with chicanes and other dumb stuff.

Quite true....I had enough fuel for 1/2 a lap with around 3 mins to go so had no option but to pit in. I only realised what had happened when I left the pits and had to weave my way between all the Wrecked and dohnut-ing GT1 cars  :o and go finish the lap.

;D

Qually started off much better than I thought, with a 33.1 right out of the bag.....which I couldn't quite improve upon. On one lap, I was 0.16 down at split two and ended up 0.02 down at the line....I'm sure a 32 was possible if I coulda strung together 3 perfect sectors. Very pleased anyway.  8)

Hope my rolling lap was ok for everyone, I don't do them often and was hyper about getting the pace right. The guys on TS had to put up with me asking "what's the right speed for a gd formation lap?" over and over.  :laugh:
The start was perfect, as I was surprised to get a small gap to CJ right away and was delighted to see Brian move into 2nd! From there I just got my head down and tried to pull out a gap.
It got to about 6 seconds when Brian made his mistake and the gap then stayed about the same....until we got to backmarkers. I tried to be very courteous the first time round, but lost about 4 seconds to CJ in the process. From there I was a little less forgiving and went for more aggressive moves...didn't really want to but the gap was soo small!

CJ pitted 3 or 4 laps before me and I carried on on clear track, I'd started with 100l of fuel and had practised the pit entry and so got those all spot on....except after the stop I went from 3 seconds ahead to 12 seconds behind! noooooooo!!!  :'(

After that I got back on it and improved my best lap twice, just missing out on CJ's best (0.03!) but couldn't really close the gap at all, it just fluctuated with traffic. Until CJ gave me a present and spun in the stadium section  :o
4 or 5 laps after that CJ got very unlucky with a backmarker (forgotton who) and lost a second to me and we went into the hairpin nose to tail, when he gave me another present and half span on the exit - now I was ahead by one second!!

Then the next lap on the back straight, we were bearing down on a train of about 6 cars all nose to tail (cue lots of anguished groans on TS). It was impossible to get past without losing time, so I just tried to always have 1 car between myself and CJ; we got through and then did one more lap....the gap was one second and there was 1:20 left on the clock...one more lap.... :scared:

Then it finished! Apparently there wasn't 1 lap to go? Weird, slight anticlimax.....then I just started shouting into my mic ;D

Still a bit annoyed that I couldn't take it to CJ without him making mistakes, but this is definitely my best result following my only other Masters win at Silverstone when both CJ and Jeff had connection problems (always crap when that happens).

Grats everyone for finishing and all podium placers. I hope CJ races in the sprint in a weeks time so I can try to beat him without any mistakes or pit stops!


Wheeeeeeee!  :balloon:

I only highlighted your pit stop Ruskus as I was still in direct compition with you at that stage. I did also say the difference between CJ and Freq.

I can only assume CJ went with harder tyres and did not change, as he was slow for the first few laps. On saying that I could not get my front right up to temperature, so hards would have been horrible.

Like Freq my hands were tied. Started with 100L and put minimum fuel in for second half. I could not have gone any quicker. To loose 20 secs in a pit stop is way too much. Considering the Lister is already the quickest of cars now IMO, at many tracks, this huge advantage must be removed.

It not fair to give success ballast to even this, as to make the field equal over 80mins would mean killing the listers lap times and not be involved in racing until a pit stop is made

My race was mixed. Had a good first stint, especialy when Louis and Paul Richards were chasing me after they had an off 'cause of their mistakes. They were both faster than me and Louis was breathing down my neck hard - every time I had to take defensive positon on the big straight. I had to think of something as it was only a matter of time when he's gonna make a pushy move and go past. So I slowed down through the slow corners and gave Louis a Paul Richards to think about.  ;D  They slowed themselves down and let me make a gap again and stay in front until pitting.  :)  Of course, my luck wasn't gonna last. My pit strategy was to fill it up and then see at half how the fuel consumption goes. Of course in the excitement I forgot all about it and just pressed "I" and "Enter". So my crew took their time to top it up.  ::)   At the ned I had 25 litres to spare. Needles to say I lost both places I so cleverly preserved before.  :smartass:

The seconds stint was focused on the intent to keep my hard earned 6th place. Robert was chasing me but I was keeping a gap of some seconds and I was confident to keep my place - we were roughly the same pace, him gaining a bit but not enough to make a pass before end. I must say here, I lost my place mostly due to poor lapping conditions. Seems every time an NGT appeared ahead it was just before the Stadium.  :(  NGT guys were great (except one occasion where I'm still thinking about filing a report >:( ), but I was losing 2, even 3 seconds every time through the slow section.  :( After a close  :o  pass (was it SBG or Paul968, not sure  :-\ ) in the penultimate lap I had to take an alternate line through a corner under "Mercedes Tribune" and couldn't keep it on track. Went off and lost my place. I was a bit pissed then I must say but after seeing a replay I have to be fair and say NGTs had to be careful of my driving on several occasions so I guess it all evens out.  :)

It does have to be said, though. I would let a GT car by before I entered a slow section through the Stadium (Eingang Motodrom, Sachskurve, SWR-3 Kurve), it's very narrow there and slippery, risky to pass even a willing driver.  :(  I still think my position was lost there - I had three occasions where I had to wait to pass, twice with no other NGT car close but one in front of me. I estimate I lost at least 10, 15 seconds there.  :(  But again, in other situations NGTs were great.  :tt1:

TT   

One to forget for me.

Had not had any time for any practise before the event so turned up 'cold' with no pre-worked setup or laps under my belt...not the best prep. Then remembered i was also carrying the success ballast from my class win at Spa and found the fat porker a bit of a handful under braking.  :(
Qualied in the 42's so was reasonably happy as i couldnt seem to match the morgans around here.
Race was fairly uneventful apart from a short fight with Madd.
After a small coming together at the hairpin with Madd, Pseudo got past me, who had kept a good steady pace 2-3 secs behind us. Unfortunately two corners later, i was caught out behind his brake point and i hit his rear end, really sorry mate, i was so p'd off with myself that i just pulled over and quit as my heart wasnt really in it for the race.
Unfortunately thats the last eve for me in enduros for a while, i just havent got the spare time and so i am reluctantly quitting the series.  :'(

:(

FreQ, I presume you want his place?

Another horrible race in the Viper. Hadn't played a racing game in about 2 weeks so was very rusty too. Think I was something like 3 seconds off the pace in qualifying, but I couldn't see how to make the Viper go any quicker. It was either wring it's neck and chuck it sideways everywhere or stay solid and get ok, but slow lap times.

Being last on the GT1 grid wasn't expecting to make any places other than other peoples mistakes but to my surprise my race pace was a marginally quicker than qually (relative to everyone else) so I was able to fight with Jure.

I saw Jure coming a few times when his late braking Lambo kept getting caught by my early braking Viper and had to run wide to avoid, but once got royally punted up the arse by a different Lambo. >:( This made my car even worse than it already was (oh yes it's possible) and I couldn't keep up with Jure anymore. Waited till my fuel ran out to make my pit stop and with 25 minutes left I decided to get the damage repaired and put on soft fronts medium rears to speed me up for the final short stint. Staying out so long I managed to claw back some time from Jure and when I came out of the pits I was about 5 seconds behind and he was easy to catch and even easier to pass. The Viper makes the Lambo look like a girl down the straights and all I had to do was be close behind onto the longest straight and then power past.

Gonna give up with the Viper now though as I'm not enjoying it and it's not competitive with me at the helm so it's either give up or use a car that gets me some enjoyment.

Thats a shame MJ. I think this championship has offered some good stuff for me with 4 or five people, you included. Still, don't let us forget your win at Spa  :)

You prolly have a point there TT. I think there were a number of times when I was caught in stadium section but, being in close battles all race long, I didn't give way until s/f straight. A little unhelpful but certainly not "naughty" and fair play to all of you for not pushing past. I certainly wouldn't have caught Darren if I gave way there, as you say its swings and roundabouts  :)

Not sure how I won that by such a margin but not complaining  :) Another 10th in qual would have gained me 2 slots, but nothing I did got me under 1.42 so I had to settle for 4th. Followed the train of SBG, Madd and Darren, and when Madd made a mistake I then started putting some pressure on Darren's Morgan. I thought a couple of times that I could draft him down to the hairpin, but even with a faster exit I was going backwards compared with his lighter car. I managed to stay with him though up to the pitstops, when for some reason Darren was much slower despite the same strategy (just like Spa). I also leapfrogged SBG, leaving me effectively in the class lead with about 8 secs to Darren in 2nd. I kept expecting him to close the gap but it never happened - in fact the gap widened to about 14 secs. After he tangled with SBG it was 23 and I could relax and watch to see if SBG could get past. He duly obliged in the closing laps, leaving the Kerbies with a very satisfying 1-2  :)

Lappers were fine for me. I understand what TT is saying, but if you are in a battle then letting someone past before the stadium may cost too much time. Generally I was more generous in the 2nd half when there was less pressure to be quick every lap, but even then it was easy to get caught out by a fast approaching GT1 while you were concentrating on the road (who knocked over the brake board into the fast right into the stadium then?).

Congrats to Freq on beating the usual Aliens and to SBG for a good 2nd place to cement the Kerbies at the top of the GTC championship.

Yes sorry Ginsters et al, its not an easy thing to do as i really enjoy the enduros but i am moving house in the new year, so with that and xmas approaching and a heavy workload, giving up a whole sunday evening is almost impossible and a little unfair on the missus.
I will miss the racing with you guys for sure, :euro: but one day i will return to battle with a renewed hunger for glory  ;D...and talent  :-[

I was talking about a situation when there was no direct battle, Paul.  :)  That way NGT's gonna lose 0,2 seconds and GT the same. As it was, the NGT lost the same or more time watching a GT (me) back in the mirror if I'm gonna try an over-eager move and I lost 2 or more seconds. This situation does not count as a normal lapping time loss, don't you agree?  :)  Well, I guess some of the fault goes to this version of the track which used to be grand and now it's  :-X .

TT

A pretty eventful and enjoyable race for me! Qualified 5th with a time that I had expected to be around before the race. Noticed that I was half a second behind Brian and half a second up on robert so used the remaining time to get used to the race setup.

Start was good CJ was struggling to put the power down and Brian got past. I was close behind Ruskus when I forgot that his car would be so heavy that he would have to brake really early. Coming into the hairpin on the second lap I had to shoot up the inside to avoid running into his rear but was able to still keep a tight line to the inside of the hairpin and I was through although it wasn't planned! A bit later for some reason I forgot where I was on the track and instead of turn 1 it was the first right into the final section and promtly flew off. Luckily there is a mile of sand trap and didn't hit anything. Back to 9th bit that spawned some great battles!

First up was Jure I was able to close up to him quite quickly but even with a quicker car on the straight passing wasn't easy. I was able to get alongside on the long straight with Jure defending on the inside towards the hairpin. Fortunately with his tight line forcing him wide on exit I was able to cut back inside and get the power down slightly earlier to get past on the way out. Next was Simon in the straight line rocket ship Viper. I was much quicker through the twisties and I knew I would have no chance to pass on the straight. He ran slightly wide round the banked left hander so I went up the inside, we were then side by side through the kink, the final two right hand corners and the start finish striaght . I got past at turn 1 as Simon had to brake earlier being on the inside. I then had to defend heavily through the next fast sections to keep him behind me before I could ease away at the twisties. Great racing chaps!

I then closed in on the TT - Luis Branco battle. TT is great at defending and Luis couldn't get by. I didn't want to attack Luis too much to allow him to keep the pressure on TT (I see you had the same idea TT  ;D) Luis began to lose his tyres a bit and he ran slightly wide at the hairpin and I cut back again and I was past. Chased TT but didn't close too much as we approached the pit stops. We came in together and I knew I should have a chance to pass as I was only putting in 50ltrs. It worked and I also goained a bit of time on Luis. I tried to close in on 4th place but couldn't I also seemed to be slightly pulling away from 6th so I just cruised to a 5th place finish. Congrats to Freq on a great drive and teamies Paul and SBG on their GTC drives.

Brian looking at the times in Ruskus' analysis sheet it looks like I gained 16 secs on you as well so not sure it can purely be down to the car. I do my strategy based on tyres. In practice I fill up to max and then drive normally on Med-Meds. I then note what time tyre wear begins to effect the times. I then drive until I have to come in for fuel and work out my overall consumption. I then try to work out how many laps I will do based on my quickest lap and that gives me a total amount of fuel for the race. Then looking back at when the tyres wore too much I work out when I will come in and how much I will need to finish the race off and set the fuel in my setup. So for last night my tyres were fine up to 45 mins. I always go as long as I can so I am lighter in the second half on fresh tyres. Starting with 100L I pitted on 45 mins (lap 27) or thereabouts needing 70 litres to finish. I came in with 20 litres left so only needed 50 ltrs with 4 tyres = 48secs stop inc fixing damage. I know pit stops have been discussed but I always do a pit request about half way round the lap before I come in. If I don't do this I find they mill about a bit before putting the pumps in the car. One last thing is that I forget about is taking the pace lap and pit stop into account when working out the total laps etc.. as this gives me a bit of a buffer in case fuel consumption is a bit higher on the night.    

Indeed, Brian had the slowest pitstop of all GT1 cars. But not is all won or lost in the pits, don't forget inlap and outlap. If you have traffic in oen of those laps, it counts very heavily on your total pitstop time. And pushing on cold tires for a lap and a half.

In an endurance race, the battles are not always visible - you are sometimes fighting a car that is 5-10 seconds (or a pitstop) away, but the time is still precious. In the laps after my stop, I expected Darren to come back at me, although he was 10 seconds behind, so I would not have slowed down significantly for you then. Later on when it was clear there was no threat it was different. Having said that, I tried to let the GT1s past as easily as possible.

I think you are being a bit optimistic when you say that a GTC would lose only 0.2 letting you past into the stadium - If you were not close enough to force a pass, the GTC would have to back right off and possible lose the racing line, which must be at least a second. Trying to lap in the stadium section is a normal lapping situation in my book, although I understand it is frustrating.

Awkward situation for lapping at this track. There are not any other lines except the racing line through the twisty bit...for NGT or GT...For a NGT to give way will probably end up costing both drivers more time as the GT would be the one to have to go off line and therefore be slow through the following turns/section. The fastest way for both is to do what the general guidelines suggest and wait for a clear opportunity...ie a straight bit. I realise this can be frustrating in a GT but IMO patience is a virtue.

I can't recall anything going wrong. I might have caught a backmarker or two in in lap/out lap costing a couple of seconds. My pit entrance and exit was not too bad and nothing stood out to be wrong in pit box either. Entered pit with 15L or so fuel left and topped up to 82L litres and put new tyres on.

So how I have seemed to loose out a massive amount of time on most people baffles me

Looking at times I lost 2 sec to CJ on in lap, 25 secs during pit stop/out lap.

I was slightly quicker than Ruskus on the in lap and lost 18 secs in the pit/out lap.

Freq was 2 secs quicker in lap and 9 secs quicker in the pit.

Even 9 secs is too much, strange since we were in the same car and I can't see how I'd lose 9 seconds without knowingly doing something wrong.

To drop back a further 25 seconds is a huge amount. I can't see how I lost it nor can I see how to gain more time in the pits.

The main problem with the Lambo is the high fuel usage. It usually about 175L per race some are 190L to be safe, so I really have no scope to work a strategy

Brian do you remember what the clock said as you left the pits? I am not sure if it is the time when the pit options appear or from when you press enter until the finish, although is doesn't take long to press enter though! Mine was 48 seconds. I will turn on the option to see everyone elses pit crew and check yours for wrinkles and zimmer frames  :P

Brian - did you request a pitstop?

Yes I requested a pit stop, always do. Pit crew were waiting for me to arrive. Stopped in right place too.

Pit stop was 60.0secs for 67l of ful and new tyres. Clearly where you gained the time on me Paul, but you must have put in as much fuel as me.

I was in GTC and needed no fuel. Last night was the first time I had ever requested a pitstop, and it certainly helped. I expect this explains how I gained over Darren. I think the reason I gained at Spa was because Darren's pit box was right at the start of the pitlane and I was right down the other end. My guys would have had a lot longer to get ready as the trigger is entering the pitlane (if you don't request).

I did a few tests, and it looks like the request saves around 5 seconds - a tyres only stop works out at approx 22.5 seconds stationary. Paul R reckons you need to request in the 2nd half of the lap.

yep I always request a stop about half way round the lap I am coming in at the end of. I think once at a long track like Spa I requested as I crossed the start finish line and when I came into the pits they were coming out. I guess it took too long for me to get round. I have forgotten to come in a couple of times after requesting and it gets a bit confused so doing it half way round gives them plenty of time to come out but without time enough to go back in again or me to forget! I think it also gets confused it you request a stop and then get the 5ltrs left 'come in message'. If you pit request twice the second one cancels the first so I wander if you request then get the fuel low message it could cancel it. It works the other way around I think if you get the low fuel message then request a stop manually I think it cancels. 

On the odd occasion when I have ducked in at the last second without requesting a stop even if they manage to get out I find they mill around for a few seconds before putting the pumps in. I wander if there is a set time they need to get ready which isn't tied into the animations or something.

I was filling to 70ltrs Brian but came in with 20 still in the tank so was actually filling 50ltrs, was yours was similar?

I just tried it (Lambo, 70L fuel + tyres) and I was getting 49-50 seconds stationary.

Btw, is there a reason why SBG has a Hungary flag against his name?

I bet he forgot to have his dinner again.... ::) :laugh:

Ta muchly ;D

Strange.  ???

I've changed all 4 tyres and put in 88L of fuel, that's 21 more then you did, Brian (minus 3.8L that I still had in the car).

21L = 7 seconds longer pitstop (give or take, roughly 3 L per second). Or 6 seconds due to fuel left in the car from 1st stint.

And still got out in 57.6 secs (including 5.9 seconds for damage repair, I print screen pitstop board for further analysis. Perhaps you had some repairs done?).

Also - are you sure you've stopped right on the mark? I still believe that positioning of the car DOES matter. Am also sure I DID NOT stop right on the money, had to get in a bit sideways since pit-box in front of mine was occupied by a F360 which makes your pit stop time even stranger since I'm sure mine was far from being optimal.

I suggest you check the replay to see where and how you've stopped, we need to get to the bottom of this.  ;D

Oh yeah, pit-in requested right after getting out of T1.

I had a decent enough race consistence wise. Quallied well with a PB, low 43`s, and started better than normal (usually come off within first couple of laps!!), lasting 10 laps before my first off. To be honest this was my fault as I got involved with a GT entering the hairpin and ended up spinning it. In my frustration I chased as hard as I could and ended up rear ending Luis Branco at the entrance to the stadium  :-[, really sorry about that Luis, completely my fault! That sent us both off, and left me dead last. Managed to chase down Martin, but was pushing too hard and ended up getting a stop/go for cutting too much of T1. So that was that.

Overall was quite pleased as my progress continues, who knows, I might complete tonights race with no offs at all!

Congrats to PaulR, Paul968 and SBG for excellent finishes. Nice to see us stretching our lead at the top of the GTC!   ;D

Cheers

Rob

That was an intense race, just miffed I didn't got the result I deserved, but obviously Freq drove a great and mistake free race so his win was equally deserved.
At racestart car wasn't working well, fueled to the brim and pretty cold track with medium tires it just slightly cornered better than a beam of light, so felt it was sheer luck I only lost one position in the opening laps.
After a while and burning off 20L or so it started to work much better, and when Kerr spun I was back in 2nd albeit 6s behind P1. But didn't loose ground from then on and even closed some before pitstop probably due to traffic so I knew that was a big chance to get out again in front. I wasn't sure about how many laps so I probably ended up pitting a few laps too late, finished with 3 laps of fuel. And there was a gaggle of GTC cars up ahead so I really wanted to get in sooner to avoid that. When all had pitted then I had 12s lead and car felt good now. gap was pretty consistent but then with 10min left I had a lazy spin in the Sachs curve going inside a backmarker which spun the car around and gap got down to less than 4s, was still pretty confident to keep that lead but soon traffic played a big part and the gap just vanished to less than a sec. Getting frustrated about behind stuck behind slower cars at wrong places I ended up pushing too hard out of the hairpin and lost the lead. So close, but can only really blame my poor preperation for not checking number of laps and getting fuel correct. It takes about 4s per 10L, and that was 4s that couldve come in handy heh

Apologies for missing the race, I got back from a week on holiday to find my broadband connection playing up and disconnecting every few minutes making an endurance race impossible.

I'm really disappointed to have missed the last two races but fingers crossed I'll make the remaining events :)