UKGTL Season 15 Fifties Endurance - Bathurst - Jan 26

[EvilClive]

I suspected as much Tony.

That long straight at Bathurst certainly highlights lack of top end speed. I would guess that the D type is at the bottom end of the speed trail..it needs another gear and a closer ratio gearbox!   I tried several laps and setups to try and coax a lap time close to 2:20 out of that car and failed abysmally. The closest I came was a total banzai lap that left most of the paint and body panels hanging on the armco, at various points around the track. Perhaps indicating that I could not sustain that pace for 26 laps and survive??

Did a few test laps this morning on the server and I have a dilemma ... do I go for the fastest car that I have found and hope to keep some rubber on the wheels until the pitstop, or do I go for a slower car that is easier to manage ...but not nearly as challenging or as much fun....hmm. Or, do I tame my right foot and preserve the tyres so that they last 15 laps to the pitstop???  decisions, decisions  

Bill popped into the server whilst I was lapping. I hope he has got his PC probs sorted and that he can join in a full race.
I gave him my DBR2  setup...... hope it works for him.

Looking forward to this series

Best lap so far on full tanks is a 2:13, but there is no way the car ( or myself!!) could maintain that pace for the whole race. The strange thing is that on a long run with my preferred car the handling and stability are best on full tanks?? Even though I still had 50% of tyres left, when I get down to the last few gallons the car is almost impossible to keep straight at speed..........could be interesting..

[Wiltshire Tony]

Impressive time Evil one.

Ross Hawkeys best here was only a sluggish 2:18  

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=11304.msg202677#msg202677

[misnoimis]

I was looking forward to tonight's race. On Thursday I had just managed to scrape into the 2:19’s with more to come I was hoping. Unfortunately on Friday I developed an eye problem. This has left me with floaters and flashing lights. Had a similar problem 12 years ago and had to have laser treatment for a retinal tear. No tear this time but the floaters and lights are a bit distracting. With luck they could almost disappear in days, weeks or months. Have had to make two visits to a hospital and can carry on as normal if no further symptoms. The eye is still a bit odd after the drops and the floaters a bit distracting. Just tried a few laps and seem to be about ten seconds off my best times. I may give it an hour and try pre-race practice wearing shades (to look cool) to see if it’s worth racing. If not see you next week.

[SpecialKS]

My favorite cars on one of my favorite tracks!

Unfortunately no time at all for practicing.
Just three laps each in the Jag and the Maserati 4,5  during last week

And over and above that suddenly a kind of a flu  :'(

But I'll be there - I think I'll take the Jag which I drove two years ago on
this track (best was around 2:23).

CU later

[EvilClive]

Although it might sound rather obvious..."I like these cars!".

The best thing for me was not winning, it was completing a ruddy pitstop!!! for the first time.  I took no chances on the fuel either  as in practice I knew I could squeeze 14 laps+ out of a full tank, so at the stop I simply filled the full 150 litres again. I might have finished the race with a good few gallons to spare, but it was worth it just to get everything right at the stop.

I had tried the other cars over the weekend and they fell into 2 main groups on race fuel..... Group A  easy to drive and laps around 2:21, group B faster cars with laps around 2:17 and then the monster Maserati which was 3 secs faster than anything else.

It was all down to the sheer brute power down the long straight I guess, but it was very obvious that trying to use that power anywhere else just destroyed the rear tyres in a couple of laps. I almost opted for the marginally less brutal 4.7, which was easier to handle and lapped around 2:16-2.17 in race trim and only decided to risk it all at the very last moment.

To make it work for the race I had to get clear on the first lap and avoid being hassled by any chasing cars so that I could pick my lines and braking points, followed by a very smooth and gentle application of rocket booster. There was so much low down torque in this car that I only needed 1st gear to help the brakes in the slow corners, immediately shifting to 2nd at the apex and  oh so gently breathing on the gas pedal so as not to break the rear end away.
After the first 3 laps I was able to pace myself and ease away still preserving the tyres and only using warp drive on Conrod Straight.  Erling did give me a scare when he went past as I sat in the pits...."surely he cannot get to the end without stopping can he?" But all was forgiven when he stopped on the next lap  

There was a nagging doubt about maintaining such a high level of concentration right to the end of the race. One small twitch and I could have stuffed it into the barriers at any point on the track. Quite pleased that I only made one mistake at T1 around lap 20, when I missed my braking point and opted to go down the escape road, rather than risk a 50/50 with the outside fence.

Thanks to all of those who allowed me an easy pass. I know that these cars are not the most agile or controllable and I hope I did not cause you any probs.

BTW.. just loved the fact that it got to twilight as the race progressed, gave it a real "endurance " feel ,a bit like the twilight races at the Goodwood Revival.

[Wiltshire Tony]

Replay and results now posted.

Where was Bill Thomas?

[Bill Grewcock]

The Maserati is my favourite car from this superb mod but practice soon showed my inability to keep it on the black stuff (I always struggle with Bathurst in anything let alone with the 450S) so further testing revealed my best chance of survival would be with the Jag. I was pleasantly surprised to get P5 in qualifying and then managed to get a good start to the race and settled into P4. Following the pitstops SpecialKS had leapfrogged me and so I found myself in P5 with him in sight ... I drove as hard as I dared for a couple of laps and this, coupled with a few small errors from SpecialKS, allowed me to make a few challenges for P4 but then he settled down and consistently pulled away into the distance. I was happy enough circulate in P5 but then phspok ran out of fuel so I inherited  P4 and was very chuffed with it  

Much kudos to Evilclive for wrestling "The Monster" to an awesome win  

[Wiltshire Tony]

That was a really good endurance event, if I say so myself. I took the Fezza TR as it seemed the most stable and well mannered car and that was my main criteria for this circuit. Managed to complete the entire race without a single major "off" but I did brush a wall very late into the race which took out all my headlamps but it was still light enough to see without them (may not be the case in some future races  ).
What annoyed me was the stop/go I received for speeding in the pit lane! That pretty much killed off any chance I had of competing so just had to be content with finishing and taking advantage of other drivers missfortunes.
Great looking grid tho and lots of very clean driving so all of you take a pat on the back for that. 

[Erling G-P]

Really like these cars and the track too.

Prepared extensively, but some of it was making setups for a couple of cars, which will be useful in the upcoming races too.  After tweaking the setup, the Aston was by far the fastest for me.  Didn't try the Maserati with a full fuel load, and with partial load, even in 5th down the straight, the rear would try to break loose, so it just seemed too suicidal for an endurance race 

Had hoped to be competitive in the race, but Clive's posted 2:13 time made it clear I wasn't! Best offline time was a pedestrian 2:17.3, and even though I knocked 1.5 secs off that in qualify, I was nowhere near Clive's pace.

As I entered the grid, I realised immediately that I had made a blunder  It wasn't a 14:00 hours sky I was looking at, but rather something like early evening.  After the discussions about night races in last season, I didn't expect any more and so had completely forgotten to check the race start time!  Fortunately, it didn't get much darker, so no problem after all.

Was jumped by Matt at the start. No worries I thought - I'll just pass him down the straight. Not so!  The brutish Aston didn't have anything over the dainty looking Ferrari in a straight line.  Thus an unexpected hard fight ensued over the first 3rd of the race.  Ferrari had better acceleration out of corners too, but I could outbrake it.  Had a few attempts where we entered a corner side by side, but Matt got the better of me at the exits.  Finally succeeded at the end of the long straight.  Believe Matt had a few minor offs, which helped me build a gap.

Shortly before my pitstop, things went belly-up however. Accidentally drove up upon the rocky sides of the 'canyon'.  Just as I though I'd gotten away with it, the car stood on its nose, and left me hanging almost vertically on the cliffs. Prodigious amounts of throttle and no smaller amount of expletives finally pried loose the car.  Had lost 20 secs by then, but at least retained 2nd.  Passed Clive in the pits and briefly led the race, until I pitted a lap later and he came roaring past.  Changed tyres, as testing had shown I would probably loose at least as much time on worn tyres, as it would take to change them - with all the added risks of truly screwing up.

As I was tip toeing down the pit lane, Matt & Kurt came flying past. Kurt pitted after 1 lap, and so the chase after Matt was on again. Would it be as hard as the first time, and would I have enough laps to get past ?  Fortunately it wasn't, and I passed him under braking same place as before.

Grats to Clive on a gamble that played out, and to Kurt on 3rd place - our team's in the lead at least 

Cheers,
Erling

[BillThomas]

Replay and results now posted.

Where was Bill Thomas?

Using coffee wi-fi, my  broadband kaput.  Has line  fault so could not race here.

Had message it should be fixed shortly.   Us day in Taunton,  will check out when I get home.

[misnoimis]

Having not looked at GTL since Friday due to my eye problem I was a bit doubtful about racing on Monday. I gave it a try a couple of hours before the race and things did not look good. My times were very slow.  I joined just before qualifying and things looked a little better so I decided to race.

With a low setting sun and dimming light it was probably the worst conditions I could have picked with a dodgy eye but I managed to get into the swing of things.

I had what turned out to a really poor strategy.  I took on a lot of fuel for the first stint and planned to make a splash and dash stop with six laps to go. Hoping not to have to change tyres and maybe make a couple of places. With about ten laps to go it became apparent my tyres were wrecked and with eight laps left they just fell off the cliff. So I dived into the pits. Suddenly my brain slipped out of gear. For some reason I put in six laps of extra fuel as I had originally planned and not the eight I needed.

I realised what I had done when my low fuel indicator started flashing with four laps to go and I was preparing to pit again when I remembered that Clive had laped me just after mid race and with my thinking head on worked out that if he passed the car behind me again but I managed to stay in front of it after he passed me then with two laps less to do I might make it.

I chugged round in the highest gear I dare use with the fuel gauge showing empty expecting my engine to cut out at any moment and ready to grab neutral and coast. Clive passed me with about a quarter of a lap to go and Roger came flying up behind me on the final straight As I coasted round the final bend. I just had enough fuel left to splutter across the line with a few car lengths to spare. That was close, thanks Clive and congratulations. I never thought I would feel so happy about being lapped twice in a race.

Grats to podiums and all. 

[SpecialKS]

Changed my mind and switched to the "small" Maserati which
obviously was the right decision  
As far as I can remember I always had satisfactory results on this track
- which is one of my all time favs.
Had a lousy start - as always - but was able to compete without severe
faults. Had a late pit stop - did not change tyres - needed some laps to
find my rhythm again and felt the pressure of Bill G. behind me but was
able to stay in front for good and finished as lucky third.

[BillThomas]

Ho ray, fault  in BT cabinet - fixed.  Hopefully be there at Atlanta.

[Wiltshire Tony]

Great news Bill 

[SpecialKS]

Bathurst "Big Moments" 


http://www.motorsportretro.com/2012/09/videos-bathurst-1000-greatest-moments-1980s/