UKGPL Season 26 (2014) Works Trophy (67) - Brands Hatch - Jan 12

[EvilClive]

Although I benefitted from your problems Sam, it is never a good way to gain places when someone has been misled by the failure of technology.

I blew my chances of contesting the top places early in the race when after going from 6th to 3rd in the space of a few hundred metres I pushed just a little too hard through Dingle Dell on the wrong line and bottomed out the suspension...twice!!! that dropped me to about 95th I think ( well it seemed about that far back!! ).

Then i gave myself a good talking to and set about pumping in some steady laps to reel in the field. I think the retirements helped a lot and I was up to 4th by about half distance, but Sam was about 800mtrs ahead and I calculated that I was just not closing fast enough to catch him before the flag.  then suddenly the gap halved with about 5 laps to go and I upped my pace when I caught a whiff of blood.

TBH Sam I was closing so fast that I thought you must be running low on fuel, or have some sort of mechanical problem. That thought was confounded when you put up no resistance to my pass??!! but then proceeded to match my pace once I was in front!!!  That was something that I could not work out until your comments post race.

For the mods....I can confirm that Sam should be given 4th spot, as he was definitely in the race until the end and in front of me for most of it....except for the bit that counts 

Grats to Art and to Tommi great pace and well deserved podium places.

[Samb]

Aye Clive; truth be told I did have a lazy spin 3 laps from the end and it took me two laps to regain my bearings. 32 laps at Brands without having at least one minor spin? That's a tall order knowing my track record  .

[GregT]

Sadly Greg, you and I will both be dropping a position, I think. It appears from the post race chat that Samb finished ahead of us, but the server had lost him. It has happened to me a couple of times. It was fun chasing you down, just annoyed I had a completely avoidable spin early in the race, and I was disappointed with my lap times in the race.

That's still better than I had hoped. Were you one the guys that had to pass me after having trouble? At least 2 maybe 3 of the faster racers passed me after they had dropped back from some kind of trouble. It kept me on my toes the last dozen laps with you behind me. With 10 to go it appeared you still had time to catch me. It looked like you were taking about .9 secs off my lead each lap. That made me drive faster than I really wanted. I don't know if I'd have got into the 1:35's without you behind me. Be glad your times weren't as slow as mine. I wasn't too disappointed with mine though. I drove carefully. I was most concerned with being able to finish. I want to get a look at the GPLRA report. If I didn't slow a few times to let the faster cars by, my lap time deviation should be very low. Robert must be one heck of a driver to run in the low 1:03s with a Cooper. With more practice I think I could do 1:04.5 with realistic damage and possibly break 1:04 on Novice while speed shifting. But low 1:03's appear impossible for me at this point.

I'm looking forward to Snetterton. I should be able to get a little faster by then. I've only been driving the Cooper a few weeks now. It's a new track to me but I've got enough time to get in some good practice.

Take care fellas.

[GregT]

I pushed just a little too hard through Dingle Dell on the wrong line and bottomed out the suspension...twice!!! that dropped me to about 95th I think ( well it seemed about that far back!! ).

LOL, I think I caught you the first time you did it and then passed you the second time you did it. 95th? Geez, I wasn't that slow! If you'd have done that a few more times I could have picked up another position.

[Artiglietti]

Not much to say about my race. I started cautiously, as this track is full of pitfalls that can easily catch out even the most experienced, as we have seen. Then I was able to use that handful of tenths I had over Tommie to slowly pull a gap, and we ended up as we started. I had to push all the way though, the race was quite fast paced I think.

Apart from the usual suspects, some new (to me..) names who seem to be really quick, although maybe tucked away in slow machineries this time around. Seems it is going to be a very closely matched championship, with many strong drivers, so I cherish this win even more as I suspect they wont come easy for anyone this season.

On a side note, I had a look at the (very odd looking..) points table, and it seems the little square with the number of the remaining tokens doesn't appear anymore. Maybe some technical glitch that needs to be solved?

Grats to Tommie, Clive, and finishers. Many thanks for the racing, and to the whole UKGPL bunch for organising yet one more great season (although don't get me started on the 50% scoring rule  ). See you at the next one.

[Iestyn Davies]

Well, a second failure to get past the start line for me. Learned the car and track in Q, and then in my haste to start on the grid, pumped the gas once or twice and the engine promptly blew. Sadly this means I don't earn the start tokens, and will probably be lumbered with the BRM once again somewhere in future!

I am also surprised by the change to 50% distance for points.. in this case only the top 6 scored. But, fair enough if it was voted through (when can we re-vote?  )

[Samb]

Evening Mods, I don't seem to have been reinstated with 4th place. I'm sure I submitted a report (I'm hoping I did otherwise my memory is getting seriously cloudy!  ). Did my report get lost by the wayside or have I made an error of judgement?

[Robert Fleurke]

Evening Mods, I don't seem to have been reinstated with 4th place. I'm sure I submitted a report (I'm hoping I did otherwise my memory is getting seriously cloudy!  ). Did my report get lost by the wayside or have I made an error of judgement?

Well I have seen your report Sam, no worries, I'm sure you will be reinstated in P4 by the Works moderator(s). Give it some time...

[BadBlood]

Mod published. Even for impatient Sam

[Samb]

Thanks Paul  .

[BadBlood]