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: UKGTR Sugo Classic (v1.0.1.0, download here (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3356.msg54521#msg54521))
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 and the track (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).

Hurrah! I should be back for this one after missing the last 2 races.

Anyone have any idea what a decent GTC time is around here? I thought there was a fun race a while ago but I must be mistaken as I can't find anything in the results.

I've managed a 1:30.1 so far, I'm sure there's a fair bit of room for improvement! :laugh:

Fun races don't stay in the database forever.

GT2 times look to be in the 1:28 range, GTC not much slower, 1:29s. GT1s were going round in the 23s and 24s.

Cool, thanks Dave :)

Did my first 20 laps or so at Sugo last night and there's only one thing to say about it.

I LOVE IT!  :o 8)

Aliens: pointers please. ;)

Car height? Suspension&wing settings?

Brian... you know what to do.  ;D :angel:


Vertigos will enjoy this one.  8)

Prof and I are practicing atm and we're wondering if that stupid chicane before the pits and car setup folder being designated as Sugo06 on default suggest this isn't Sugo Classic practice server...

Fixed....the server is now running UKGTR Sugo Classic.

Sorry I didn't get back earlier...my Internet went down as I was in the process of checking it out.

Luvverly track this, real flow and no nasty hairpins :) Getting 29's for RS race pace so far, but its gonna be a real challenge with the extra weight.

Lapping  :o  s gonna be ...  :-X

TT

Just thought I would suggest for people to practice the pit exit. It's very sharp and if you go slightly too fast you will simply run out in front of oncoming cars.

I'm still not a fan of this track, I can't build up a fluency at all. The kerbs are murder too, they don't half spit you out when you run on one.

The pit entrance isn't too clever either....comes up on you at a tremendous rate whilst you are still settling after the final fast turn.

I quite like the circuit though, I reckon it has a good flow to it, but I agree with Kerr on the kerbs...very unforgiving.

......Done carefully?  ;D

am hoping to make this one despite announcing my retirement from the enduro season until my house move.
I just couldnt allow DG and SBG to run away un-molested (oo-er) in the championship standings. Now rue-ing my quit out of Hock the other week  :(

On 29's in the RS so far, but only spent half hour with it. The kerbs are truly evil here, slippery as a penguins ass, and really un-settle the porker.

It's the one between the 2 and 3 last corner that catches everyone out. Run wide on to that and the car launches itself towards the barrier on the other side.

I can remember a few doing it last time.

Haven't driven the circuit yet, but will try it later today :)

Random Q - After doing the lower endurance last week it struck me - why are there lower classes in this endurance series? GTC seems to race in both Upper and Lower Enduro...what's up with that? Which one do you race in if you run GTC? It lists GT2 for both as well, so I'm well confiused now.

Did I enter the wrong race last week? A little clarification would be nice from the overlords  :angel:

You can see what series you are registered for on your driving page;
https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=profile;u=728;sa=racing_history

Thanks Pops, but I know what race I entered...I'm just confused that GT2's and GTC's seem to be able to compete in both Upper and Lower races.

I thought Upper = GT1 + G2
Lower = GT2 + GTC + G3

It is a bit confusing! :D There were a lot of people wanting to drive GTC so...

Upper = GT1 and GTC
Lower = GT2, GTC or GT3

Other cars are allowed but don't score points.

I pointed you to your driving page because I thought you were asking which series you were entered into rather than which event you entered last week (both bits of info. are shown on that page). Sorry if I misunderstood!

short intermezzo ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ec55effcNw

N1 Jure, insane video! ;D

So there's two classes with GTC.....OK.

Just done a run here....not a particularly nice track and it's going to be tough to lap on...very technical again, like hock. I found that going slower and more precise was faster over the course of a lap, and I think the front runners will be in the 24's for the race - maybe a high 22/low 23 in Q.  :o

We had a fun race here before. I'm sure race pace was 1.23s.    I also remember this race ended early too if I remember correctly. Distance achieved before time.           

So it did....but this track is the UKGTR version where that bug has been fixed.

That will be why when I tried to join earlier on it said track not installed! I downloaded it again and it worked.    So i guess other guys better be warned that even if you did race here in the ballast test, you still need to download the this version.

Hmmm.....bugger!  :P

Then again, that was my first run on a full fuel tank, med/med and practise 1 pace....also the server was stuck on like, 8 degrees ambient temp >_<

Hopefully that'll explain my sluggishness :P

Forecast looks a little warmer for Sunday,  But don't bank on it ;)

Hope so......I ran soft fronts for a few laps becuase my front right was stuck in the 40's! But that only helped for a few laps and then the wear took over....then I stuck medium fronts on and went faster?  ???

V Odd

I had a practice this morning. Soft fronts don't last, medium never got into temperature range. It was 6 or half a dozen which would be best over 40mins. However still managed 1.23s with 100l of fuel.

Looks like I need to practise!  :laugh:
*logs on*

Edit: Still only 24's :( Looks like I'll be riding shotgun for this one, or maybe fighting for a few points  :P

I'm with you then FreQ. With qually setup and no additional weightpenalty I can do mid 21's, but with the things mentioned added, I'll be more around 5:35  ::)

What wings are you guys running in race setup? Am on 10 (perhaps 8-9 if I can get more rear grip) and have major problems getting below 1.24s (in cold weather).

We've got the same problem Jure...or at least I have :P

Try lowering your rear wing a bit...I'm sure it's causing you understeer through that last corner...I usually try to run between 7-9 rear wing, and on this track I'm running 8.

Oh poop, new circuit. I best work out where the corners are before tonight then! :scooter:

Nice new avatar Simon, and grats on your 5700th post  ;D

#1 at what? Recruiting? :angel:

At fishing, because we already have a bite ;D. Bit of an old fish, but it'll taste good on the BBQ anyway  :P

Priceless!  :laugh:

Nice, that worked beautifully. :P

Finally managed to put a couple of cars behind me, and keep my position, when I suddenly was given blue flags with no cars around me. Took me about helf a lap to realize I was the only car there, and about 1 lap after that, GTR2 also realized I had lost connection >:(

Never had this problem before, but there's a first time for everything I guess.

How P***** off am I. New router from Sky the same problem as weeks on end. Another disco and yet again when I'm leading.

Qualified pole even though I knew I could go quicker it was more than enough. I was struggling to find a clean lap with traffic.

Come race I was confident and was driving well within my capacity and was easing away from Freq. It was about 5 seconds and I was comfortable. Suddenly Freq dropped down the order and I was 12 seconds ahead of Paul Richards.

I was setting fastest lap after fastest lap in clear traffic and could have gone faster, really angry as these problems keep happening.

The game also crashed earlier in the night. When Paul 968 joined my game just shut down Right ton to desktop

Well that kinda sucked.

Was following Gazza in the first 20 minutes when he went off after lapping. Later I gained a place after FreQ went off and Brian had a disco (probably). So I was in 3rd behind CJ and I felt I had a pretty good chance of finishing where I was.
Then in T1 my PC froze big time. But I wasn't the only one tonight, I saw alot of disco's/freezing. Is this due to add-on tracks? I think we also had alot of problems at Adria. In that case...f*ck add-on tracks as they always screw up somewhere.

Not much to say.

Qualified well,started race well,pulled out a good lead,blew engine,very frustrated. >:( :(

cant believe it, my engine detonated at the end of the straight with 26 mins to go....in a Porsche !?  ??? :'(

Was enjoying a cracking race long battle with SBG and looked like i was on for a podium after all the pitstops had shaken out. Was really looking forward to a frantic last 20 odd mins battle with ginsters and then saw a huge ball of flame and smoke behind me  :o
I've never had a porker engine let go on me in all the years of sim-racing  :(

Gutted to have to leave the race early with such a close fight on the cards.

Been on the phone to Sky who have altered setting on my line.

I had 1334 errors, sounds a lot but I know sod all about broadband.

It's now dropped my 16MB connection from 4.8MB down to 3.3MB.

Still if it gets me racing....

I've no doubt my loss of connection was down to my own connection but I don't think my game crashing earlier was.

I lost count of the amount of people who lost connection and during one of the earlier sessions it seemed a few people were dumped at the same time.

I'm still gutted as I really thought I was in for a good result. I was confident of having more than enough space come pit stop to make sure everyone was still behind afterwards

I had a power cut.   :(

Slow and steady gets 6th in Class due to others dropping out!?
Good fun but un eventful!?

Well done guys!

1.28 out of a GTC ! Wow!
I'm not wothy!!

 ;D

Ah man, I'm dripping in sweat. Had a rubbish couple of practice sessions as my game decided it wanted to keep slowing my frame rate from HIGH to LOW for no reason from time to time. Made it unplayable. Went out and reduced some options, although I suspect it was the FULL shadows that did it and a poor implementation of the track at FULL shadow causing a problem.

Anyhow, was really still learning the track in qually and it was hard to get a lap in, was grid lock out there. ;D I started somewhere near the back of GT1 but knew I had extra pace in me and a "cunning strategy". I stuck medium medium on and full tank and it was hard to start with and I made some mistakes which put me much further back. Then as my mediums came into their zone half way through I had caught TrueTom and we had one of our epic battles  8) for lap after lap. It's sooooo hard to overtake I was just waiting for the mistake.

Once Truetom has pitted I carried on and made my way into a temporary 1st position. For a while I stayed there until with very little fuel left I pitted with under 20 minutes left. Stuck on soft softs and only 32 litres more and out I went. Then I found out what I could have been doing in qually into the low 1:22s, so I guess I could have been in the 1:21s in qually. Made too many mistakes in the final stint trying to go as fast as possible and the gap to Paul Richards was too much to close down in the end.

I must have got good at maths (or lucky  ;)) with taking that 32litres on cause I crossed the finish line with 1.2litres left :o not enough for another lap. With so many people having technical difficulties difficult to know where I could have come without my early big mistakes, but to finish first you can't make any mistakes so it's my own fault and 3rd was better than I expected anyway.

Well done to CJ on getting the win (just) ahead of Paul Richards and Gizmo for his first GTC win in that nasty French car.

That went a bit wrong... :-[

Unlike many, I hadn;t any problems with the track barring a few fps issues....only my setup and driving.
Qually went as well as could be, snatching second right at the end. The race started well, and after over driving for the first few minutes trying to stay with Kerr, I slowed a little and settled into a rythem. Then the backmarkers started and the gaps went up and down a bit, and my tyress got worse and worse, until I was having real issues stopping and turning in.

Then, whilst Psuedo had spun into the barrier, I lost it at the same time and crashed into him, sorry mate. :(
Then spun again a lap later after and came into the pits to replace the nose and went onto meds again hoping to make the end, but the car felt awful again and a few spins later, I pitted for softs.

This felt good for all of 3 laps, until they too lost all grip, the front was ploughing wide everywhere and the back was spinning up. A few spins later I esc'd out.

It was however a very close finish with CJ and PR! 2 Seconds! N1 Simon in third too ;D
Well done podiums....and Dave on his win  8)

Not sure what to do for the sprint...I might just not practise at all and go nuts with a radical setup. Nothing can really make it worse!  :laugh:

Grats CJ on the championship win. This great freeze cost me the chance to fight on my fav track Zhuhai  >:(

Replay and Provisional Results are up

Congrats to CJ and our Paul (he couldn't have done it without my help ;)) on their respective championship wins :).

Had some fun, but unfortunately each battle ended unsatisfactorily :'(. Nice hour long fight with MJ. Shame that I gapped you when you avoided a ghost car, the same one that got Paul 968, and odd that the 911 blew, especially with the ambient temps. It was sizing up for an epic last 20 but trust those German things to let you down ;). In the midst of that I also had a little battle with Dave who pitted early never to be seen again. Just as I settled in for a comfortable run to the end, I was surprised to be caught by a flying pops. Nice, power versus handling fight for 6/7 laps until we both got it a little wrong in middle of final turn. It wasn't suprising, seeing the massive differences in the cars but hats off to you for waiting for me at the end :) Also very nice to see the Vertigo back on track but I had no idea it sounded that bad in game, my V6 sounds great.

Well done Dave for good fighting win :). Which sets up the battle for second place brilliantly. Gotta say the GT boys were great, again, especially seeing how difficult that track is for mixed class racing. To be honest, I found Sugo great for hotlapping but far too narrow for racing.

Well I'm still reeling from that one! I've been feeling good about this race since I started practicing properly on Friday. I took my Valencia setup and for some reason the Z just comes alive at Sugo, perfect balance and for once even tyre wear between from and rear. 8)

Didn't expect to get anywhere near Paul in the race as he was over a second quicker in qually but for once it looked like I could get 40 minutes out of a set of softs without running into difficulties late in the stint so I took a completely different strategy from normal. Took a few laps to get my softs up to temperature as I was looking after them on the pace lap and the opening few laps but soon I worked past Pops' Vertigo (amazing job in qually!) and gradually drew up onto the back of the MJ/Ginsters Porsche parade.

Eventually MJ went off and as we got towards half distance Ginsters' pace was dropping off quite a lot, but the GT3-RS was still quick enough down the straights that I couldn't see an obvious way past, so I pitted a couple of minutes ahead of schedule, executed the perfect stop (didn't even read the board, just pressed the button) for more softs and then exited, knowing that I had to bang in a bunch of really quick laps, both to get the tyres hot as fast as possible, and to try and get track position over Paul's Morgan, Pops' Vertigo and Ginsters' RS after their stops.

I dunno quite where I made up so much time on Paul or Ginsters - when Paul stopped he came out more than 20 seconds behind and had to pass PRibeiro's uncharacteristically slow, late-stopping Modena for position (as had I). After Pops' stop I was in a clear lead and despite Paul's obviously better late-race pace I was too far ahead to be under any threat and stroked the car home for the last couple of laps with the left side tyre wear finally passing through 20 on GTR2xPD.

Really pleased to have put in another totally mistake-free performance after a few less satisfactory races. My one scare in the race came late on when I was concentrating on PR ahead as I came up to lap him, and suddenly saw TT right behind me at the end of the back straight - let him by only to find Gazza also right there. Sorry guys - just wasn't watching my mirrors for a few seconds. Thankfully we all survived without any contact. :o :D

I don't suppose I'll get anywhere near a repeat performance at Zhuhai, especially with positive ballast, but that cements a podium in the championship and leaves me in a good position to challenge for 2nd place behind Paul, who seals a dominant and deserved GTC crown. More importantly it gives Nissan what I think is our first win on home soil, and gives us every chance of getting second in the manufacturer's championship, ahead of the Porsche menace. ;D

Glad to hear everyone enjoyed it  :P.... :laugh:

Put hours of praccy in to develop a decent set up...(thanks for the help Jure ;))...and it lasted 10 laps. :'(

Got bumped off in to the litter on the first flying lap by Pete, not your fault mate, you shouldn't really have waited. I was having a bit of bother regaining proper controll after desperately trying to avoid PRibrero who seemed to go round the last corner in 1st I think he slowed that much :o
Anyway got going again and was second last after Pete waited for me. Started lapping ok...about a second a lap down on what I expected though, ???,  till I spun off the kerbs between the two left handers before the last corner, and then met FreQ....I had started to reverse back to track when I spotted the leaders coming round to lap, so I darted back to the wall to keep out of the way....didn't work.  ::)

just quit after that....heart had gone.

Grats to winners and podiums

No lapchart tonight Jeff?

Unofficial Lapchart (http://www.lapcharts.teamshark.org.uk/Lapcharts/Sugo UE 25-11-2007/index.html)

A rather strange race in the end for me. John was a bit too quick in qual, but 2nd was better than I expected given the ballast - SBG had +20kg, but everyone else was best part of 80kg lighter  :eek:
I kept in range of John for quite a while after the start, and got a decent gap back to SBG, but John started to edge away and there was nothing I could do to respond. All I could hope for was that he was on soft tyres or not on full fuel. It all became a bit academic after the hour to go mark, as I found a car seemingly frozen in the middle of T4 as I was about to be lapped by Gazza. I went round the outside, but he was either caught out or affected by warp, the end result being a nurf on my rear and the car facing backwards in the gravel trap  >:(  (no probs m8 - not your fault). It took an age to get the car turned round, by which time SBG and Dave were long gone and I was following MJ who I think got mixed up in the same frozen car problem. I pushed as hard as possible to catch up, but the tyres were starting to suffer and the car felt a bit odd. Dave pitted early and in the next few laps a combination of bad traffic and a big moment in the last corner meant that I lost a good chunk of time. When I pitted I lost a further 5 secs or so to repair the damage and then stupidly forgot to restart the ignition, even though I never need to turn the thing off in the first place - doh! When I came out Dave was 23 secs up the road with 35 mins left, which was always going to be an uphill struggle. I assumed at the time that he had gained the time by not changing tyres, so I expected his pace to drop off, but it never did. I closed the gap down, and was almost withing striking distance with 3 laps left but TT and another car came up to lap me and it would have been naughty to spoil their battle so I gave up the chase. Well done to Dave on a well deserved win and to CJ in GT1. Nice to see Paul R and SBG up the front yet again for the Kerbies  :thumbup2:  Sorry to hear about all the technical problems though  >:(

I like driving the track, but it was a nightmare to race with mutliple classes. There was no way to let a GT1 past in the first half without losing a lot of time, which was frustrating for everyone. The section near the end was also bad, the gaps between corners were too short to make a pass under power easy. I felt that my laptimes were dictated more by the number of cars lapping me and where I encountered them than how well I drove - not good.

Yep, totally agree with you there Paul. It was really hard lapping people. You either managed to get lucky and just come up to them just before a straight or get unlucky which meant a) taking a dive up the inside somewhere or b) waiting and gaurantee losing 3 seconds. It really was not at all easy to get by safely. I also had a lot of problems with people coming off line to let me by when I'd already committed to going that way, then having to brake and then go the other way and then it was like back and forth. I can't iterate enough how it's better for cars being lapped to stay ON line. It's what the lapping driving expects you to do so if you stay there the car lapping will go round you. If you move off line it's unpredictable and leads to confusion. Just stay on line and let off the throttle (GENTLY) if necessary if the car behind is finding it hard to get by. Or stay ON line and flash your lights to say take me under braking etc. If you're going to come OFF line then do it VERY early so it's obvious.

It was great to be back after missing the last 2 races. I decided to get back in the Vertigo as I haven't got anything of significance to go for in the standings and I really wasn't having much fun in the 350z.

After a very hectic week I hadn't had anywhere near the amount of practice I would have liked considering I hadn't driven this track before, I expected to be a fair amount off the pace. I hit a new PB right at the end of qualifying to pip Dave to put me in 6th on the grid.

I'd pushed hard in qualifying and that combined with a bit of rustiness left me a bit tentative at the start of the race which let Dave through far too easily on lap 2.

I then had a lonely stint with the GTC's in front slowing pulling away and the cars behind disappearing quite quickly with their own problems.

Things got a bit more interested when I picked up Mark Jonzo after, I assume, he had some problems. We had a fun few laps of racing with the place changing hands a couple of times.

My plan was to not take tyres or fuel at the stop but my lack of testing meant that with about 30 mins to go I was getting pretty concerned about my front left and the hammering it was getting on the last corner so I decided to bring forward my pitstop and whack on softs all round and just go for it.

I suspected that Dave, Paul & SBG were pretty close together but despite a just about perfect pitstop I came out about 3s behind SBG. I thought SBG would scream away but on my new tyres I was quicker over the lap and hauled him in quite quickly. Unfortunately, typical Vertigo frustration ensued as he disappeared down that damn straight lap after lap after I closed him down on the last corner. I was still looking for a way through as the laps ticked down and with just 4 mins left SBG made a bit of a mistake going into the last corner and I was able to get level. I'm really not sure what happened then but there was what seemed to be minor contact but it resulted in SBG veering into the barrier and it looked like his car completely exploded in my rear view :(

My engine was starting to get a bit close to the danger area at this point so I eased off considerably to complete the last couple of laps. To my amazement I saw SBG's tag quite a way behind on track. Even though I didn't think the contact was my fault I felt bad taking the position in such a manner so I let him through for 3rd.

The racing was great though. Super to be back in the Vertigo in GTR2 :thumbup1:

The GT1's were fantastic last night, thanks guys. There wasn't anything that I'd even consider a borderline move. I'm sure it was very frustrating having to follow us through certain sections but at least it was pretty clear where to overtake and where it wasn't possible.

Apologies to Shark the first time you lapped me, I held you up quite a bit, I made a mistake coming out of one corner, you went for the gap and I moved back (thinking you would go the other way anyway) making you miss your chance. Sorry.

One minor point, there's no chat in qualifying to stop distractions so I really don't think there's a need to let us know the track record has been broken :P

You always seem to struggle in qual though Dave - despite all that practice you were faster in the race than in qual! (and faster than me)


Sorry for the confusion in qual Simon. The first lap I stayed on line when you expected me to move over, and then the next (since you had been good enough not to spoil my lap) I thought I'd get out of the way, but this clearly caught you out - should have stayed consistent I suppose. 

I honestly don't know where that came from - my PB was a 1:29.5 but that was in ideal timetrial conditions so I was really pleased to dip into the 29s in qually, no idea where that race lap came from other than me driving like a man possessed on fresh rubber immediately after the stop. >:D

I just wish I could work out why the car felt so much better here than it has anywhere else on the same setup - I can't believe it's my driving although the G25 is definitely helping. I just hope I can unlock the secret before Zhuhai as I need at least 2nd and must finish ahead of Ginsters to ensure 2nd in the championship, which is going to be a pretty tall order.

woke up this morning still bemused by my blown engine in the porker!

Cant fathom why it let go as i was never reaching the rev-limiter in any gear, if anything my gearing was super smooth reaching just the right point at each change up and peaking in 6th literally at the braking point for that back straight. Rad was set to 3 and ambients were reasonable so bit of a mystery that one.
I know those two monster straights must have been hard on the engine but even so...its a porsche for gawds sake!  ;)

Congrats to the podium guys, well done DG on nabbing 1st place GTC  8)

GT1 drivers were on the whole pretty patient on a difficult track though i think a TS GT1 driver had me off with a bit of a desperate lunge down by that Disco'd car on possibly the nastiest corner on the circuit, or was it the Disco'd car re-appearing alongside me? Got very confused at that point as was also surprised to see Paul968 go past when i thought he was already some way ahead up the track  ??? I need to see the replay to see what actually happened.
 I lost about 4 places there, just when i was really starting to turn up the screw on SBG after a great hour long battle, and he was getting a bit rattled on worn tyres.
My pitstop went great, first time ever i had tried a manual stop with ignition/starter keys and i re-emerged just behind SBG later in race, so probably my quickest, smoothest enduro pitstop ever!
I was just getting my tyres upto temp with about 20 odd mins remaining and expecting a climactic battle for the pody with ginsters when the Porker detonated.  :'(

You might find it's just the differing grip levels of different track surfaces that helps bring out the best characteristics of the car and hide the worst ones.


Even with engine health levels on view, aren't "random" mechanical failures still part of the game? You may have whacked the car somewhere earlier on a curb or whatever that caused some sort of higher potential for random breakdown.

re: random mech failures, funny enough i was just telling my teamies on our site that during the day yesterday i had pondered why there were  not more random mechanical failures in our enduros to add to the realism/spice of endurance racing.
The irony of my engine then letting go in the evening was not lost on me  ::) ;D

On another realism factor, why dont we use time scaling for our endurance league? Surely it would add to the 'endurance' aspect of it with variable lighting and/or weather conditions possible. Even if we only used it for certain more prestigious rounds like Spa. It seems a waste of the games in-built features to not utilise it and doubt there are many left racing in our leagues who havent upped all their pc kit to deal with it.  :-\

I didn't think I would on this track but I thoroughly enjoyed that in the end! I qualified with a time I thought I could get before the race. Apologies to Martin for running into the back of him towards the end of that final corner. I was up on my best time and thought I could turn in tight enough to pass on the right up the hill but the car slid wide and I couldn't adjust quick enough to avoid the collision. I was surprised to be ahead of the ballasted Ruskus and CJ when lying in second with a couple of minutes to go so was watching Freq. He was up on Brian's great time in the first two sectors but had a scrappy last section. He still had enough time in the bank to pip me though!!

I started heavy on med tyres and Brian and Freq quickly started to pull away. I was pushing to stay ahead of CJ, Ruskus and Gazza and the straight line speed of the Saleen was enough to not allow anyone near to attempt a pass. We then came across the first of the GTCs and this broke up the battle a bit. By now my car was starting to feel better and I pushed to try and keep up with Freq who was quite a way up the road. He then had his spin which let me past and the gap between me and CJ was fluctuating depending on the traffic but our pace was similar. Brian then disco'd so we were battling for the lead. Towards the pit stops I was edging out a small gap to CJ but then just before he pitted I got stuck behind the GTCs in a slow, impossible to pass, or let anyone past bit of track and that little lead was gone and CJ pitted from right behind me.

I then pushed hard with a clear track in front. I still had to do 3-4 laps before I could pit. On the 3rd lap I was coming up on a few GTCs in the distance so decided to pit which given the time left would give me just enough fuel to finish without needing to adjust it in the stop. I came up on them just as we hit the last section and lost a few seconds before I pitted. Coming down the pit lane I was surprised to see my pit crew coming out as I had requested the stop. As usual if they are coming out while you pit, I killed the ignition hit enter and they milled around for 5 seconds before putting the pumps in! Just as I was finishing CJ went past and I ended up 12 seconds back. My car was quite light and on fresh tyres was able to put in some good lap times. I was slowly catching CJ but always running out of time. I got the time down to about 6 seconds and this came down to 2 as he eased to the finish in the last laps. Congrats to him on the race and the championship win.

Also congrats to Dave on a good win in the 350z and teamie Paul on his championship. Thanks again to all the GTCs with the lapping as it is very tricky here to pass in the twisty sections. Sorry to hear about all the technical difficulties people had too. Looking forward to Tuesdays sprint it should be a good race I think.

Also my apologies to Martin in qualifying when I came out of the pits once, I looked behind and left (I have glance on 90 degrees to see better!), couldn't see anyone at all, but could hear an engine noise. Assumed it was on a different part of the track and then hit the side of Martin telling me exactly where he was. Then in my fluster forgot cold brakes and ploughed into Martin at the next corner. Very sorry, complete idiot mistake on my part.

Must say the pit entrance is great, very easy to get the right braking point, but the pit exit was very scarey. Even with view behind and left it's hard (see above) to see people coming and for them to get out of the way or you get out of the way of them.

Unfortunately wasn't able to attend last night race due to traffic jam :(
I caught a road accident while returning home which led to an almost 2 hours waiting and then 1 hour more to take the detour route.

I was on meds all round and full fuel,took me a few laps to get the tyres up to temp before i could get any sort of rhythm.shame the engine blew,i was enjoying the track.

First I must apologize to Shark for contact in formation lap - I couldn't stop, that's all and I also got a bump into my ...  :-\  Stopping for the starting procedure was a bit steep, but I guess no great damage was done.  :)

Race started predictably, with fights of the similarly paced as me - first Jure (calm down, I'm not gonna hurt you, just overtake  ;) ) and then Shark who was all over me after his mistake. Constant and prolonged battle again, as usual, he was always ready to explit my mistakes which were numerous but big enough to get by. Holding my position was not very hard as this track is a bitch to overtake even a willing and slower car (i.e. GTC), so in-class overtakes were mostly due to errors - human and others, which happened aplenty.  :(
Well, I held Shark till the time to pit when he expectedly ran away with a nonmatchable pace.  :)

I had major problems with my wheel/pedals in the second stint, growing worse towards the end. I had a gap to Gazza of some seconds and in the last laps he was gaining 2 seconds per lap. I was sure and sad to lose a position in a way where the fight would be impossible. The throttle pedal was fluttering, never truly on max, just like running out of fuel. In one case I didn't even reach the 6th on the downhill  ::)  backstraight!  :(  Was sad and glad at the same time (sorry Gazza) when he missed his braking point on the last lap and make some sand castles. Even so he was only 8 seconds behind - I wasn't even sure I'll get to the finish line.  :no:   Not trying to look down on Gazza's pace. He was weeeell ahead in quali and his race pace was quicker - too many mistakes decided your race. Slower is faster?  ;)  Well done, Gazza, you're fast, you only need more stability.  8)  Like Jure.  :P  (Btw, Jure, you might want to try a race on your own, without the pressure from your race engineer  ;) )

My fluttering pedals and inconsistent driving resulted in some of the more desperate moves (sorry I prevented you from fighting for position, Paul  :( ) as every slowdown meant much more time loss than usual. Sorry to others as well, which might have difficulties - I tried to keep this to minimum.  :-\

A really bad luck for MJ - in all seasons here I never saw a Porker engine blow up.  :(   And good job for Pops in his Vertigo.  :)

As to the wheel, I still have to wait 14 days for the company to either replace my new wheel (didn't work well, warranty service, but in the store they don't have any of this model right now) or give me my money back. I intend to use this to get G25 - I just hope my foot won't get entangled into all those pedals.  :P   How are you getting used to it, Dave? Using manual clutch or not?  :)

TT

Not a problem TT. You were in a direct battle, whereas I was several seconds back and hoping for a mistake from Dave, so it was a bit of a no-brainer to let you go.  :)

Enjoyed that last night, Qualy was difficult finding space for a clear lap but was pretty happy with 5th.  Started the race well, trending carefully for the first few laps but getting into a good rythm. Was doing well staying ahead of Ruskus (his ballast obviously allowing that) for first 20 mins then made a mistake and slipped to 6th. Then some top guys starting dropping out and i found myself right up there in 3rd, even leading for 3 laps. I need to practice my pitt stops coz again i was 10+ seconds longer than most and when i came out i was behind truetom and someone else, anyway i could see i was quicker than TT but lapping cars made it hard to get really close, but as i finally managed it i got too excited and clipped that kerb that chucks you out the other way so again had to try and catch TT. I could see something was wrong with TT coz his brake lights kept flickering on and off on the straights and i caught him up and we had an epic drag up the hill and i thought that when we crossed the line that would be the end coz the time had expired so really went for it and just got him on the line but OH NO still had another lap to do but by that time i had missed braking point and went straight on very quick lol.  Looking back i was lucky not to do real damage and not finnish but luckly all was ok.

Was happy with 5th but as TT said i could and maybe should of had a 3rd .

Must say sorry to someone i clipped as a GTc car flashed me by but as i went round there was a ghost car i think right on the apex and slapped on the brakes.

Grats to CJ and other winners.

I use the clutch pedal to operate Team Speak. :D But it's a definitely a significant step up from the DFP.

Oh no probs. I hit Jure? in front too. First time I've seen that bad a concertina for a on a pace lap for a while actually. No idea what happened,  but no chance to stop in time despite driving so slowly at the time.

Bit late but here goes..

Qual was bit of nitemare, very unlucky to get out on the wrong times so took 3 runs to finally get a somewhat ok timed lap in, could've gone a little faster but I figured I shouldn't poke my nose further when the cars ahead obviously had better pace so was quite comfy with starting 4th.
Took it bit easy in the opening laps with the cold conditions but no attack from behind so when car starting getting into the zone I could just stay with Paul. Had no ambitions to get ahead at that point since 4th was good and could drop some weight for next event, but then suddenly the Lambos out front ran into probs and suddenly I was in a more committing second :D
Was tailed by Jeff but unfortunately he had a disco, that made it a battle between me and Paul. I knew then if I could stay with him until the stops there would be a good chance I could leapfrog him for the lead, then when I closed in traffic I hit the in-next-lap request and worked out well as I could see him still in the pits a few laps later. Gap was 12s but still alot of work to do and cant afford to drop pace much and I'll get caught. So try to keep the pace up and it stays pretty static until 15mins before the end, when I start to catch traffic at bad places and loosing my rhytm abit.
Have a comm-error with Jure in T2, he flashed me to go by so I went inside tight figured he would stick to the racingline but then just after apex he decides to move abit offline into my path and I cant avoid giving him a tap spinning him around, sorry but caught me bit off guard there. The slower class was very cooperative on this tight and twisty track tho  :thumbup1:
Still when track is clear I can keep the gap, but only with 2 laps left I can take it somewhat easy.
Not expecting a win here, but hey after the disco at Adria I'll take anything ;D
Only prob now is a bit heavy car for Zhuhai :o