UKGTL Season 12 GT Cup '76 - Interlagos (1973-1989) - Jan 2

[goldtop]

A messy race for me and a lucky win.

Didn't get a clean lap in quali and my slow and slippery getaway from the grid saw me back in 7th I think by T1. Had some great fun fighting back and chasing down the leaders...thanks for flashing me through btw Navin   . Had a great battle with Geoffers in the tricky beemer and Hristo, eventually getting past and pulling out a small gap.

The clutch on my CSPs has packed up, so I was having to use autoclutch which I don't usually use. Going into the slow turns I think it must have been kicking in, because I had 2 horrible spins which lost me the lead and put me well back at one point. Then I think Geoffers must have made a mistake and I was able to close in and eventually pass into the wonderful T3. At this stage with only a few laps to go Hristo had about a 20 sec lead which I managed to close a little, but then on the final lap I passed him in the pits to cross the line in 1st   Not sure what happened there matey, but very bad luck.

Only 3 more races in my fave Porsche and then I'll have to learn to drive something else  

[Geoffers]

Congrats on the win GT, you & Hristo had great pace in the 911.

Got a poor start, but most everyone else seemed to get a worse one & I was 2nd to Phil at T1. Got the lead on lap 2 but soon had GT & Hristo hunting me down. The Porsches were better into the fast corners than the BMW (little more setup work required I think) & soon found a way past. A few laps later they both went off  & I was back in front, short lived though as Hristo soon got ahead again & then I spun & clouted the barriers which gave the car more understeer. GT quickly overtook & dissappeared into the distance & I reeled off the last few laps safe in 3rd, which turned into 2nd when Hristo pitted on the last lap. 

Good series Tony, unfortunately I may have to miss a few races soon 

[Phil Gilliland]

Game crashes when I try to load replay. Is it working OK for others? I may need a fresh install - suffered yet again a long freeze followed by graphics corruption in tonight's race.

[Wiltshire Tony]

Game crashes when I try to load replay. Is it working OK for others? I may need a fresh install - suffered yet again a long freeze followed by graphics corruption in tonight's race.

I'm getting the same with the replay Phil 

[SpecialKS]

Intermingled season opener for me on an unknown track which really needs getting used to.

Thanks Geoffers for the recommendation of using the 2002 tii S instead the 2002 tii.
The tii S actually is much easier and faster to drive.
After changing the car I could improve in quali from 3.19 to 3.13 which still is so much slower
than the pace of the champs  
During the race I had some good laps in front of Tony and Jamera with a new pb of 3:11 but
at the end of lap 6 I lost the car on the camber at the beginning of the home straight an crashed heavily.
Could continue but then had a very nice    "flight" into the opposing traffic (fortunately there
was no traffic at that moment) due to one moment of deficiency in concentration.
Got a stop and go penalty and quitted because I touched down in quite another region of the track
and would have lost at least half a lap in addition to the stop and go penalty.

See you next time.

[Berger R - 74]

sorry if i did make problems in start, this was first time ever i did drive this car and i did forget to make a test start .
it looks like i did hold my 1st position after start, but then i did look back, to see where other cars are and in same time i did shift with full throttle from 1st to 2nd (or 2nd to 3rd??) without clutch and car did make a hard spin without warning (was not thinking this will happen in this cars), did hit the wall hard and was totaly last and engine was off too, did take long time to make auto clutch on again and start the engine new, not sure if car was damaged after this, do not know where i can see this in xd??.

i was now totaly last and then i did drive ok, after 6 laps i was 4th, but the leading 3 driver was already around 25 sec. in front.
the speed of front drivers was very fast, so now ways to catch this driver and i had lonely race.
i did 3 spins too, think 2 of them i did spin if i did shift in 1st gear for a corner, in this car you must always have high concentrate which i did not have.

but to drive this car is very good feeling, not easy, but good.

well done to goldtop and podiums.

servus

[Pelle_B]

Replay: CTD my own replay, but the same error with server replay 

Grats GT, Geoffers & Hristo  ...but are the rankings correct? Can't see the replay, but I think NRJ & I moved one place up over the finish line...what went wrong 

Maybe I should fix a replay analyzer & see if it works.

[Pelle_B]

No changes in Replay Analyzer 

[Wiltshire Tony]

sorry if i did make problems in start, this was first time ever i did drive this car and i did forget to make a test start .
it looks like i did hold my 1st position after start, but then i did look back, to see where other cars are and in same time i did shift with full throttle from 1st to 2nd (or 2nd to 3rd??) without clutch and car did make a hard spin without warning (was not thinking this will happen in this cars), did hit the wall hard and was totaly last and engine was off too, did take long time to make auto clutch on again and start the engine new, not sure if car was damaged after this, do not know where i can see this in xd??.

i was now totaly last and then i did drive ok, after 6 laps i was 4th, but the leading 3 driver was already around 25 sec. in front.
the speed of front drivers was very fast, so now ways to catch this driver and i had lonely race.
i did 3 spins too, think 2 of them i did spin if i did shift in 1st gear for a corner, in this car you must always have high concentrate which i did not have.

but to drive this car is very good feeling, not easy, but good.

well done to goldtop and podiums.

servus

Nice report Berger, I thought you had a great race.  BTW as far as I know XP will only show a blown tyre or o/a engine health. Nothing else in terms of wear and tear.

[Wiltshire Tony]

Intermingled season opener for me on an unknown track which really needs getting used to.

Thanks Geoffers for the recommendation of using the 2002 tii S instead the 2002 tii.
The tii S actually is much easier and faster to drive.
After changing the car I could improve in quali from 3.19 to 3.13 which still is so much slower
than the pace of the champs  
During the race I had some good laps in front of Tony and Jamera with a new pb of 3:11 but
at the end of lap 6 I lost the car on the camber at the beginning of the home straight an crashed heavily.
Could continue but then had a very nice    "flight" into the opposing traffic (fortunately there
was no traffic at that moment) due to one moment of deficiency in concentration.
Got a stop and go penalty and quitted because I touched down in quite another region of the track
and would have lost at least half a lap in addition to the stop and go penalty.

See you next time.

Now I definately want to see the replay 

[phspok]

I should have stuck with the RSR, not a fan of sim 911s so tried Boss 302 - too slow for me, Beemer which seemed
ok, so dialed in a best guess setup, and then spent the whole race 1: learning the track, and 2: Learning the car!
ughhh it was horrible, drives like it weighs 4 tons and has jelly for suspension. Not a car to drive without some
proper setup time, kept going more out of determination than hope, managed to get in Phil's way for a couple of
laps after he fell off, then just did a keep fit course twirling the wheel one way or the other as the car
wandered around with a mind of it's own.   Actually would probably drive ok at a smoother track, but here
with all the odd camber changes was a real challenge just to complete a lap.
I also went over the grass a couple of times after spins, and got one cut track, also the replay doesn't work
here either.

[Wiltshire Tony]

I really wasn't sure which car to go with for the season opener. Felt that the Escort would be good but that at this track the Porsche would edge it. The Boss seemed off pace which was disappointing as I love the look and sound of that mod. I did finally get some sort of control over the BMW and was really tempted to take that but as I was getting used to my new wheel I went with the Porsche.
Started well. In fact as I progressed up the grid it was like the parting of the red sea as cars were throwing themselves out of my way to the left and to the right. I think I was in fourth place by the time I reached Curva 3, so to celebrate I span off and hit the infield armco. This let everyman and his dog past me so I then had to see about catching my mates Eifel and Jamera.
Don't remember much else except that the rest of the race seemed to involve me catching, passing then crashing, over and over again, particularly with Jamera, with whom I had some good close racing.
I do recall being lapped by Hristo and then giving Jamera a free pass cos I thought he was also lapping me. He must of thought I'd gone soft.
Anyway not a bad season opener and I'm sure there will be tracks that suit all of the cars, even that BMW.

[Geoffers]

Anyway not a bad season opener and I'm sure there will be tracks that suit all of the cars, even that BMW.

Nothing wrong with the BMW   

[phspok]

There's something wrong with me when you are nearly 7 secs quicker in it 
 

[Hristo Itchov]

What an up and down race this was! I did some practice before the race to come up with a setup for the Porsche, but never expected Berger and Goldtop to be so quick. I might have been able to equal Berger's pole lap, but failed to produce a clean one in the end.

The start was a joke as I kept the throttle floored for too long and with all the noise from other cars around I couldn't hear the wheelspin, so the car spun around, luckily without causing too much trouble. I'm definitely turning off the automatic clutch next time and see how it goes.

I managed to continue immediately, but was now in 8th or something. By the end of the 1st lap I had moved up to 5th or 6th, and by the end of the second lap I think I was 3rd or 4th, but the real battle had now just begun.

We were going though the field together with Goldtop, more or less, and eventually caught up Geoffers who was flying in that BMW, despite the lack of power it has compared to the Porsche. Berger was nowhere to be seen and in this moment I had a feeling I was the faster car, so I felt quite comfortable, but that was shattered when Goldtop put his head down and started pulling away. I tried hard to close up on him, but kept making small mistakes here and there.

Surprisingly he spun in the slow section that covers the modern track and in my attempt to pass him before he recovers I overdid it as well, half-spinning to the inside. Goldtop must have spun once more as he tried to rejoin so he was left behind as I chased Geoffers who had just taken advantage of the situation. He then went off on his own on the following lap and I was now left in the lead with over 14 seconds ahead of 2nd place (I wish GTL would show who is in front and behind instead of just gaps).

There were 6 laps to go at that point in time and I was just driving within limits, trying to bring it home. Unfortunately (and stupidly) GTL considers going wide at the penultimate corner as cutting the track, regardless that you lose time and never gain time doing that. I went off once before already and had another off there with 3 laps or so to go. On the penultimate lap, which I messed up two times in different spots, losing some 10 seconds, I again went wide at that corner near the end, as it was just the way my car was set up and the bump sent me wide, so I got a stop/go penalty. I missed the pit entrance on that lap and since I thought that I would be DQ if I don't serve the penalty, I opted to stop/go on the last lap, hoping I would have enough time to cross the line. Little did I know that GTL would not simply serve me a stop/go, but a fully pitstop with refueling and tire changes, and possibly repairs, I don't really know. I stood in the pits for 19 seconds before it let me continue and only managed to finish 3rd...

It's very disappointing to end the race like that but lesson has been learned. It was exciting to battle against Geoffers and Goldtop though, so there were some positives to take away from the race.