SimRacing.org.uk

Practice 1:	20:00	(25 mins)
Qual 2:	20:25	(30 mins)
Race:	20:55	(80 mins)	note: no warmup!

Cars allowed: any GT2 or GT3 from the UKGTR Skin Pack v2.7.5.0 (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3356.msg54519#msg54519) (download from here (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: Barcelona GP 2003
Race Start Time 14:00
Pit Stops: You must make a minimum of one pit stop during which you must take on at least 1 litre of fuel or change your tyres. 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) Championship standings can be found on the series page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R&group=71&theme=3).
(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.

Being new to GTR can some someone tell me exactly what cars are allowed here in GT 2/3. The Porsche 911 cars seem to be clearly marked under GT 2/3 I am sure other cars are within this bracket. Sorry if this an obvious question.

When selecting a car in the game for offline practice, race etc select the UKGTR 'class' - this gives you GT1, G2, GT2, GTC, GT3 and G3 as classes (plus standard and skins). If you right click on one of them and then go to the model selection you'll see what's in what.

I've a feeling you can select all of them (left click each class's radio button) and then read the classes on the model selection, but I'm not at a machine I can check on and I might be wrong (it does happen occaisionally ;) ).

Thanks Dave, didn't realise there was a tab at the top that allowed specific selection, its all clear now.

mmmm, BMW GTR ;D

Dave by not indicating in the Race brief, I take it the tyre and fuel usege is set to normal, unlike Nurburgring where it was x2 and x3 I think.

Correct, it's very rare we use anything other that x1. I think Shark only upped them for the test/fun race to ensure we all had to pit.

Thanks for heads up on this Picnic

Taken the weight off for this, so bk to 0kg ;D

Hopefully shud be back at uni for Sunday

Any of the top enders prepared to give their opinion on what the the opitimum brake disc temps one should be trying to achieve?

300-500 is optimum. More than 500 and it starts to fade off.

Thanks for the heads up on Brakes Temps Ruskus

If you havent already locked up and gone straight on ::) I've tended to run a high duct which helps prevent locking up but its tended to mean i've not got anywhere near those temps. Running with a low duct and those temps means its a bit more tricky gauging it and locking up!

I do prefer running this circuit configuration compared to the butchered, more recent versions.

Any ideas on peoples times? 

Thanks for the feedback Spanner.

I almost always run 3 brake duct. Never need to change it for anything.

I'm aiming for a stable race setup, and I feel I may still be a bit off the pace, but on medium tyres in the BMW (GT2) I've got 1:45.0 so far.

1:48's in the Viper cc.  GT3

Nice password.  :lol:

Leaving your brakes undercooled so you don't lock up isn't the way to go. You are throwing away stopping power. If you want to stop locking up, lower brakepressure, or change settings of your controller.

I can run 100% pressure without problems, but I have my controller brake sens on 25%.

In offline TT (with 0x tire or fuel wear) I got a single high 42 in Qually setup so far. So online I'll have 20kg more weight, still be 10kg short of Ruskus Q-record setting RSR and on a track with less grip then offline TT -> getting nowhere near the record. So a wild guess would be a mid 43 in qually, and 44's in race. And that's only if everything goes right. If it doesn't, add a second. If I do something stupid, like leave my sweater on  :D, I'll end up in a wall by lap 15.

Haven't even tested race setup yet, though mind you, the difference will probably only be hard rears, med fronts and more fuel.


The track profile seems awesome to me, maybe not for online car racing (just "good" for this), but something I'd really like to try irl with my bike someday. If they butchered it, like you suggest, that's a real shame.

I've just realised that I have no idea how far a set of mediums will go  ???  Is a one-stop feasible on them?

Not only is a one stop feasable, it's the only right option ;D. ofcourse the meds will wear out quite fast, but no way a 2nd stop will make that up :).
Front left will take a beating, but 40 minutes shouldn't be too much of a problem.

That said, my already bad wearing Dunlops will get very bad here  ::)

You are using gtr2pd to keep an eye on tyre wear levels etc?    As Jeff says mediums are the only way to go over the 80 mins races for nearly every race.     

Front left? In the RSR it's the rear left. Goes red after just a few laps. (>110C)

That's what you get when you put in the engine at the wrong place ;D

After a tiring weekend I dont think i'll run tonight. It will gve me some time to practise for the coming week.

Knackered my shoulders/neck on Friday night crushing (pole, win, fastest lap, and lapped the entire field) Shark and his workmates at Rye House (where Lewis Hamilton started his career). Was just about okay for this race but my internet connection has decided to go on the fritz. Again. >:( Is it just me or is everything useless these days?! :no:

Server was full by the time qualifying started so I didn't even bother trying again. Hope y'all had a good one.

No Dave, it's not just you--lag was apalling tonight, and large numbers of drivers were disconnecting and reconnecting during Qualifying, which certainly made it a 'special' night tonight. As if this were not enough, some cars at the back end of the grid were 'warping' during the race--now you see'em, now you don't--particularly tragic when someone has rejoined in front of you following an 'off'.  Too hairy for me, so I parked it up.

Same here!

Had multiple CTDs during practise, and during the race there were multiple cars warping all over the place...

Now you see them, now you don't, but now you do, RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU and doing half your speed.  :taz:

After spinning a couple of times trying to avoid these cars I decided to park it just in-case it was my connection...

However, thinking about it, I race in multiple leagues and never experience these problems elsewhere.  :-\

Maybe Sunday night is just a bad time for online gaming....  ???

*sigh*

I was optimistic for the race today! I had a good consistant pace with this car on this track and hoped to do well.

Had to leave the server during qualifying as my screen froze and the graphics went all buggy. After I got back on everything was fine and managed to get a half decent quali lap in.

The race itself started OK. (Apart from the lap overtake pit anoncement going off for the whole first two laps ) After a couple of laps I realised I was faster  than Ted in front of me but I was not fast enough to make a safe overtake, plus the fact that he was jumping a bit, at one point I had to hit the brakes but still hit his lagged car!!.  So I decided to take it easy. We made up a few places as people went of and eventually I got past him.  I came up to Psuedo after another lap or so but again was not fast enough to make a safe overtake so I sat there, trying to take it easy on the tyres.

Bit of drama at turn 1 ended up with me taking off two team mates...1 permanently.  Sorry, sorry, sorry to Psuedo and H@l. 

Approaching half way point I ended up taking out Mike Hammer. I am really sorry! I felt crap and just drove into the pits in disgust and quit the race.

Again, sorry to Mike, H@l and Psuedo!   :-[

RM

Connection lost with 25mins to go :(

Got a nice lap in qually, then found myself holding up a queue of 4 cars.  Used less fuel than I thought, so cut it down in the stop and came out 7th (went in 2nd!) Then everyone disappeared.

bummer

lol, Psuedo pile up!

I could not avoid you RM, sorry bud.  :(

Hope the next race goes better for the Psuedo team  ;D

Not my night tonight, my driving was crappy.

Sorry to Gazza for the touch. Got a bit of a spin coming out of that turn, my rear swingin over to your rear. Thought you'd be closer to the curbing on the exit.

Sorry also to Allnut for the touch. Other then that, it was fun trying to get past you. Only fun bit for me in this race.

Seems this was incident night for me.  :-[

A GT3 I was lapping went a little wide as we were side by side, and I went into the wall from the touch. Engine didn't start so that was that. Not to worry, race wasn't going so well anyway. I suppose it was karma, for the earlier bumps I dished out.  :-[ :laugh:

But I do want to comment in general on lapping.
I understand you had a tight battle going, and I do really hate to break that up. But when I'm side by side down the straight, it really does not benefit anyone to stay that way into the following corner. It only means I have to be careful and leave you room, which slows me down, and that slows you down aswell, more then is needed. If you'd lift and fall behind on the straight, we could both be doing optimal lines through the following corner, and the disruption to your racing would be minimized. Even though it's a different class car, it's not really faster in a straight line. It's not easy being lapped, and not so easy lapping either.

Well, see you guys next weekend, hopefully I can drive better then.

No worries RM, these things happen  ;)

Qualified 6th and thought it was going to be tough to get top 5, but mysteriously my race pace was once again much better than a few others in front of me on the grid. I stormed past SBG with ease off the line and within 3 corners was past Hal, next came Paul who was a "bit more bother ;)". Finally managed to get past him. Unfortunately by that time my hard tyres were completely shot and I basically did my best driving it sideways to keep him behind until the pits.

Knew I would lose out big time in the pits, but I had to stop at half way because my tyre wear was 33.3 (2 laps after the blokey told me they were worn).

After the pit stops, I had lost out to SBG as well as Paul and I set about conserving my tyres a lot better than first stint whilst still impressing upon Ginsters 13 second lead on me. Was managing quite well and closing him down was going well and tyre wear although hideous again I'd kept under control. With about 5 minutes to go I'd just caught him when the GT2 leaders came round and Ginsters had a gearbox problem issue which saw me and the leaders sail by without issue. I then let the GT2 leaders through, but I had no need to push so hard now that I'd gone by Ginsters and cruised home for 3rd. This turned into 2nd when Paul's engine let go on the last lap (unlucky, you must have been ragging that thing silly?)

Well done to Dan on the GT3 win, well deserved, always quicker than everyone else.

It wasn't dull but I didn't enjoy that much :)

Haven't done enough pracci here and it showed in quali but still not to bad. Simon whizzed past me on the straight (its becoming a habit ;)) and I was left with faux pseudos everywhere. Hard to tell the fakes from the original as they gradually all fell off ;D Good fun whilst it lasted.

Thought I had wasted too much time there so I was surprised catch Simon after his pit. Had a 11 second gap and was only losing a few tenths a lap so felt reasonably confident I could him off. Then my wheel conspired against me and i was double/triple upshifting until the end. When he caught me I simply got outta the way cause I was so peeved and I really enjoyed smashing the desk :-*

Exciting moment with the Real Pseudo who stood up near the end. Shame about Paul and congrats to Dan. Real shame about last week cause this is hardly retaining my interest now :(

Like he said.  ;)  I gained some places due to this and I lost some time in it also. I guess it all comes to about even.  ;D  A never ending story. I must confess I was a bit pesky and pushy sometimes when lapping (sorry SBG), I had dragons spitting fire at my a$$ most of the race.  ;D  Ask Mark Mc. Very fair driving, Mark, very patient and safe.  8) I'm not sure I could do the same, I'd probably botch it somewhere. I owe you one.  ;)

I had a bad qualy and a good race - apart from that pushy Backo.  :wetfish:  He put his nose in and I was too late to close the door. Kind of like in todays PorscheCup race, only a few corners away. Good move, buddy.  8)
Was gaining places, mostly due to mistakes of others or lapping difficulties. I had a good race and I hope others that raced close to me will say the same. Sometimes it's hard to judge and anothers point of view is different.  :-\
9th to 4th - I like it!  :smartass:
Too bad only one other Legend was present - and with problems.  :no:

Grats to podiums.  8)

TT

Replay and provisional results posted

Well that was....interesting. :o

Got a pb qually putting me 3rd in class and was pretty happy with that.  :)

For the race I decided I would just go round at a nice steady pace to conserve tyres and not worry too much about Paul and Dan in front....unlikely to catch and pass them anyway with their pace.

Sharkie went past me on lap 2...like I was stood still as usual..(think he's fitted a Fezza 550 engine to his viper cc  ::))....and then it got a little interesting as I was suddenly surrounded by team pseudo vipers....Reign man, H@L, Ted....and Jorgen was in there somewhere too in the GT2 RSR   :o....Then we had the team pile up....

I got a bit out of shape round turn 1 so RM had to slow a little to avoid rear ending me, which he did actually :angel:....but another car following RM didn't avoid him, rear ended RM and sent him into me spinning us both off and sending RM right into the path of H@L and ending his race.  :( (the other car just happened to carry on as though nothing had happened  :whistling: :-X)

RM and myself got going again..but well down the pack now...then Ted dropped out...Then RM dropped out and I was left with a poorly motor car all an my lonesome near the back of the field.. ::)

Almost quit myself....but decided at least one of us needed to finish...and only just managed it with ADE catching me at 2 secs a lap and getting far too close for comfort.

Grats winners and podiums

Hilarious that you said "Hi mate" when you hit the wall Psuedo :lol:

LOL.....errrrm, I must appologise....I was frantically hitting buttons trying to find reverse  :-[

Anyway...I am getting pretty familiar with walls.  :D

Lol yea, I was wondering who you met there.  :wub:

TT

Daft thing was.... I'm using the stick shift....but I never thought of looking there.

No need to apologize, I just saw that chat and a few corners later I saw you kissing the wall. So I thought, it must have been an old friend who you haven't seen in a while ;D

Got pushed and shoved, (a couple of times off the track) in a few places that cost me unnecessary time, but I suppose thats GT Racing, not a bad result (13th) considering it was my second GTR Race, and first GTR enduro, good fun overall.

Look forward to the next one.

A quick thanks to everyone that contributed to the Brake Disk Temp topic.

Was a lonely race for me although i had to push the whole race as Paul and Simon were ready to take advantage of any mistakes , had the set up spot on as the car was easy to drive hard the whole race . Left Rear wore out pretty quick in both stints but managed to do a 31 sec pitstop ,first time ive ever got the pitstop right in 2 years!! ;D
Had to short shift the last 2 laps as i had no petrol left and was lucky that jeff came round to lap me for the second time just before the start/finish straight and finish with just under 2 litres left.
Grats to GT2 and GT3 podium.

Hmmm...  :(

Firstly, apologies for my connection problems and the problems this may have caused anyone following me. These problems finally culminated in my disco about 1/3 of the way through.

Until then it was interesting. Apologies to Hal for the tap on T5 (I think), just didn't brake early enough. Hope it didnt damage your car.

Then there was the Pile Up that saw half my new team taken out a few hundred yards up the road from me.  :o

After that there seemed to be increasing dropouts in my connection and finally disconnection.

Hopefully better luck next time.  :)

No worries TT, it was very tricky for both sides out there. I was fully expecting you to get past where I "invited" you and if anything you weren't forceful enough. That gives you carte blanche next week ;)


Well, no not really. Please report it if you were pushed and shoved :)

I was sure you were saying Hi to me Pseudo. Perfectly timed as you span across my bows I thought. Biggest chuckle of the night :)

Have to say I was not prepared to let GT2s by on the straights cause that's the only place the Viper is quick, so losing time there is like sacrificing your whole lap. I was happy for people to pass me under brakes, I never lost any time out of it because I was willing to let it happen so I got the line I wanted and forced the GT2 driver to compromise his lap.

Didn't have any connection and fps issues myself, the whole race was very stable except when I came across Mike's frozen car in the middle of the hairpin.  ;D

Certainly won't be driving the Viper next season it sucks. ;D In fact don't think I'll do GT3, both cars are naff. ;) Next race is irrelevant now as I can't catch 2nd and 4th can't catch me, so it's a fun race, might switch back to the Z3M! ;D

Short of Jeff taking 120kg ballast and winning next week (to get those juicy bonus points) I believe Joss is the provisional GT2 champion of this series as well as helping the Junior team to the GT2 team title. Well done pesky Junior!

GT3 is still up for grabs between two team mates SBG and Paul968 and they wrapped up the team title with ease, so well done on that.

A rather frustrating race for me. Qual went well but not quite well enough to get ahead of Dan. I expected to get swallowed up by Pseudo Vipers down to turn 1 but luckily that didn't happen so I could concentrate on staying with Dan. He was quicker at this point, but then again he normally is so I wasn't too worried. Then Simon came storming up from behind and I had no answer to his speed down the straight. What was annoying was that having got past me he then appeared to have shot his bolt and spent the next 10 laps or so sliding around in front of me as Dan disappeared into the distance. Then when I wanted to pit I didn't get a confirm for 2 laps, so I lost more time on old tyres and also meant that I took more fuel than needed at the stop. When I finally came out, Dan zipped past on the straight with about an 8 second lead. I then spent most of the rest of the race driving as hard as I could to catch him, but most of the laps he was rock solid and if anything a little quicker. He made a few slips and the gap did drop down to 4 secs at one stage, but he was always tantalisingly out of reach. Then, with a few minutes to go I glanced at the engine health and saw with horror that it was on 57% and and as I watched it dropped to 56%   :scared: With a big gap back to Simon I immediately started taking it very, very easy, but it kept falling. I got half way round the final lap and was just starting to think I might make it when the power ebbed away and I drifted to a halt 4 corners from the finish  :( My fault for not taking care of the engine, but I'm still getting used to manual clutch and chasing Dan took my eye of the ball at the crucial time.

Congrats to Dan on a great drive and for finally getting the strategy right! Also to Ruskus for a fine win in the Seat. Sorry to JPS1 (J1 in the race?) for the tap under braking - I got caught out by your braking point and with Simon alongside I couldn't go left.

Not hugely thrilled to lose points because of the silly DNF rule. Finishing behind drivers who completed 2/3s of a lap less is not right and would not happen in any other form of racing. I realise this is a limitation of the game export process, but why can't the results be edited on the rare occasions this happens as has been suggested by several of us before now? It's not as if the finishing order is in any doubt?

The race also confirmed what I always felt - that racing Vipers in Cup cars is an exercise in frustration. Most of the time you don't race them at all - they just interfere with the result of the race. They can pass you at will when their tyres are fresh, but you have absolutely no chance to pass a Viper even when they are all over the place and much slower, and getting stuck behind one can kill your chances against your real competition. Exactly the same thing happened at Mugello. Normally I'd say I enjoyed a battle such as with Simon last night, but this was just a bit pointless IMO as unless he fell off I had no chance. Great driving from you though Simon - every corner was different!

Lucklily the result isn't a big issue as it sets up a really good last race finish. If SBG wins then I have to finish 2nd, if he is further back then there is more leeway. I might need to withhold my TT this time m8  :P ;)

It certainly was!  :o ;D

So take a Viper instead of the porka  ;) :laugh:

Trouble is, I want to drive a racing car, not a tank   :tank:  :P. Anyway, my point isn't necessarily that the Viper is better, but that it is not directly competing with the other cars. Cruising past a much slower car and then holding it up for half the race isn't my idea of fun either when I know I'm not likely to be able to compete with it come the end.

Well you'll not have mine either ;) These last two races have been a bit unsatisfactory but we might just have a thrillling climax yet.

Congrats to our Ade, Paul and Mo for bringing home the GT3 Team bacon  ;D I'd say the biggest and most important championship in all of UKGTR, of course.

I must admit, it did tickle me seeing BMW M3s pull up behind me get my slipstream, pull out and then have my Viper still hold it's own, forcing them to pass me under brakes, MOST amusing. :laugh: :laugh:


Hee hee, dunno what your saying Paul, you got free front row seats to a spectacular show of why Americans shouldn't build racing cars. :) My tyres lasted up to the point where I passed you and then they were already half worn and it was down hill from there. Not much you can do when you select hards and they can't even do 40 minutes. :D

I certainly don't think GT3 works as a class though. The 911 Cup and Viper are, as you quite rightly say, not really in the same race, nor would the Z3M be if anyone took it. With the potential movement of the Vertigo to GT3 it will just be even more silly. I won't be doing GT3 next season cause it's just a class that doesn't make sense. I'm happy for it to turn into a one make series, with the one make being changed every season, but it doesn't work as is imho.

No criticism intended of you Simon, quite the opposite - great driving  :thumbup1:


I don't see why the Beemer can't be given more ballast help, and in theory the Vertigo could be ballasted up  to slow it down. 

The Beamer would need a huge amount more power and grip to benefit. Ballast isn't the answer.

The Vertigo would need a lot less grip to compete as it's way too good round the corners as is. When you consider Jeff can beat the rest of the GTCs in it, how can it possibly be part of GT3.

I'm against changing cars so much that you're not really driving that car anymore. What's the point in trying to force a square peg into a round hole? I don't see the point. There are enough cars to have enough fun racing without trying to get every single car to fit into one of our current classifications.

That was an interesting evening ;D

Just grabbed pole in the last second of qually by a few hunderds on Joss.

The first few laps were good. The Dunlops are optimum very quickly, so I could create a small 2s gap in the first couple of laps.
But after 10 minutes or so the difference between Dunlops and Michelins get noticable. FreQ was now slowly gaining and we were about to lap people.

Of the first 5 or so lappers, I think 3 spun infront of us, and I had a feeling it was only a matter of time before in ends in tears ;). And it did :D.
A Viper went slightly off and in it's rejoin it clipped me and send me into the wall. So FreQ was blasting past because of that.
That was very frustrating, because my tyres were shot at that moment, and I knew the only thing I had left was defense. My tyres were too crap to attack him.

So till the pitstops I was holding onto him, trying to stay close till I can get fresh tyres. He pitted quite early, and the lap he went in, I was also thinking about it. But because he went in, I had to follow a lap later.
We did identical pitstops and I can out right behind him again.

I was sniffing at his arse the whole time, trying to find a "gap"  ::). The Seat loses so much on the quick righthanders before a straight, that it was almost impossible for me to overtake somebody. Even 2-1 wing didn't get me a much higher topspeed :lol:.
But with 25 minutes or so to go, I did a Raikonen. I hit the grass under braking after the backstraight. The grass sucked me in a bit and I thought it would be better to gently steer into the gravel, than to try and despiratly flick it out the grass and spin :D.
So I was lucky only to lose 6s and not spin and crash.

At that point it felt like everything was going to sh*t and I became pissed and super concentrated. I kept improving my best lap for a few laps after that, and the whole 2nd stint, I didn't have any problems with tyrewear.
I was pushing like mad to gain on FreQ, which I didn't expect to happen, but slowly I was nibbling away the gap.

With about 10 minutes to go I was on his tail again. But again, it was impossible to overtake him due to those fast corners. A few times I could get alongside him at the mainstraight, but it was too risky to make the move stick, and I had to back off every time.

Last 3 minutes I got another draft on him. But this time he decided to defend his line, so I could stay on the racing line. He could brake later but because of the nasty he spun.
Kinda didn't felt fair to take the lead there, as he led most of the race.

All in all it was a cracking race that felt more like 10 minutes than 80, because I always had to do something ;D.

I have to disagree on this. It just needs a little more help. 20kgs could well be enough to make the difference. If the Vertigo isn't in the mix then the Cup car could be given a little more instead.


Yes, but Jeff is the best driver. Without ballast then I think I'd be beating his vertigo most of the time looking at the results this season. The Vertigo also currently has a lot of negative ballast, so with +30 or so it might be a different story. Anyway, I agree that it is a stretch to get the Vertigo in.


Enough people don't like the 911 to make it worth the attempt to get one or tow more GT3 runners if possible IMO. It would be nice to have a choice of cars in the class, which does prove popular especially for the less experienced drivers.

No probelm Ted, I seemed to be hitting the brakes earlier than all other Vipers. I took no damage from that, I just had to take the corner a little wider than usual ;D

Wouldn't you put the front on 1 then? Having full front downforce yet lowest rear downforce creates a very oversteery car.


I have the feeling the M3's and Seats are still a bit faster then the GT3 RSR and 360 GTC (especially looking at the qualy times).

Unofficial Race Report (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.harrington/Barcelona%20S7%20LE/)

Perhaps it's the fun factor that makes you not mind that he will get a worse exit and thus be in your way, slowing you down, coming out of the turn.

Splitter at 1 only makes it understeery, which the car already is too much ;D. 2-1 Is indeed very oversteery, but that's the way I like it. With ARB of 130-100 I even increased the oversteer effect ;D. I needed all the help with steering that beast :D.


Normally the RSR and M3 are of equal speed, maybe M3 a small bit quicker. So with current ballast they should be equal, and I think they are.
I think I'd be faster in the RSR than the Seat, but that's also because the RSR is so great to drive :D.

i've missed most of the endurance races this season due to appeasing 'she who would like to be obeyed, but rarely is'. ;D
I thought the classic Viper v Porker battle would even out over the season with different tracks suiting different cars...has it not panned out like that? I seem to remember that being the case in a R2p championship i was in a while back  :-\
Shame if thats the case. I was contemplating a season using the Cup porker next time around if it was still a well supported class.

I was itching to race G3 last night and looking at the laptimes i could have been in for a shout of a podium, based on my practise times, and i like the GP track at Barcelona. But alas i did the decent thing and kept the injured missus company.  :angel:

Personally i think we should run a Porsche Supercup series  8) :-*

If the M3 holds up a Viper in the corners, the M3 driver is obviously doing something very wrong :lol:

LOL, seriously Mike, nothing slows the Viper down in the corners no matter how bad the exit or entry is cause it's always 10 times slower than anything else when it's not pointing straight. :laugh: :laugh:

Doesn't look that appealing to me  :P :lol:

(http://www.webwombat.com.au/motoring/news_reports/images/8janvolk5.JPG)

personally i think we should run a Viper Supercup series  8) :-* ;)

Better than the Ferrari Challenge anyway...
(http://www.totcars.co.uk/images/3.jpg)

Well, in my case it did because I was on the outside down the straight, and didn't dare turn in in front of the Viper, for fear of being hit. Which obviously means the Viper turned in from the middle of the track.

It's no big deal, just unnecessary.

Can't comment on other people's driving Mike. I always try and stick to the racing line when being lapped when I don't want to lose too much time.

RSR (& RS) work really well at Barca. The top times last night are like that because of the drivers as much as anything. The Seat is definitely slower than the RS and Beemer though.

Nice race  :)

After yet more zero practise, (one month to go of uni = crazy work >_<) I stuck on my Brno setup and tweaked a very small amount. Was very pleased that the car felt quite nice, much much better than the Saleen at Anders last week ;D
To give me some confidence back, I started qualifying earlier than usual and managed to take pole off Jeff on my second try. But he just snicked it on his last lap by half a tenth. I was up by 0.060 at the second split at the very time he took it and thought I might just nick it back at the death and break into the very high 41's.......but lost a tenth in the final sector and settled for second. Great start to the evening  8)

Had a slow start due to my long first gear and had to semi-defend against Backo into T1, then we all moved away at the start. Me and Jeff then broke away from Backo and stayed quite close to each other.
Then Jeff had bad luck with the backmarkers and I nipped through into the lead. I thought that he'd be back past me fairly soon but I held the lead for quite a while. Then I dived into the pits at the last minute when I realised I needed to pit and nearly spun on the way into the pit lane!  :laugh: 

A good stop though, and Jeff then exited a lap later just behind me. Status Quo.

Then he went off at the end of the back straight. At first I thought it might be because I got in the way, but glad to know it was him making a mistake instead. I tried to stay quiet on TS after that because I knew he'd be mad! :cursing:

With a 7 second lead, I thought I could take care of the tyres, but 2 laps later it was under 6 seconds, so back to pushing. But he kept closing in and with 5 or 6 laps to go he was right back on me and I started concentrating on getting god exits onto the straights, knowing the M3 was better on turn-in.

Then with 3 to go, Jeff got close onto the S/F straight, and I went to the inside to cover for the first and last time. A little too deep on braking and sliding wide on the exit, I ran onto the kerb for the next corner, clipped some grass and promptly half-spun. Bugger!  :taz:

Kept him honest for 2 more laps but it was in the bag after that.

He thought I'd be mad losing it so near the end, but I wasn't annoyed because he'd won fair and square, despite the racing gods conspiring against him. Coming back from 7 seconds behind deserves the win, so well done mate.  8)  Scary to think that you're this fast in the Seat of all cars.  :-X

Well Done Minton and Simon in GTC and tough luck to Paul on a last lap engine blow :(

No idea how the ballast points system works (it's too complicated), so I assume that I haven't won anything yet. I'll try my best to be at Donington next time out. I expect the Seat to be rubbish there!  :laugh:

GR peeps

I did a quick test with a modified Z3 (-30kg instead of -10kg) and my best TT was a 1.45.7, which is a couple of tenths quicker than my best cup car time (I suspect I could go a bit better in that now though). To me this is a pretty competitive in the GT3 class and shows that the Z3 would be a practical proposition with -30kgs.

Of the GT3, CC and Z3, the Z3 is my fav to drive ;D

Hope that either GT3 becomes a one make series or that the Z3 or Vertigo gets in the class. They both rock!! ;D

If you go to GT3 I'm definitely moving to a different class. :P :laugh: :-*