UKGTL Season 15 Fifties Endurance - Oakes Field - May 18

[Erling G-P]

Was looking at the D-Type early on, as I have to start using the darn thing soon, but offline testing suggested the Maserati had a huge advantage here, so settled for it instead.  Surprised that there weren't many more of them present in the race.

A massive improvement of my pb secured pole in qual.  Most of L1 was a bit hairy, as the noise of nearby cars meant I couldn't hear my own tyre squeal.  Made a cautious start, as it's so easy to overcook it and lose control in the Monster Maser.  Thus lost a couple of places at the start and through the first corners.  Wasn't worried though, with all that power and all those straight sections.  Sure enough, I had regained the lead later that lap.  Thanks to Hayman for keeping the door wide open for me, in most sporting fashion 

In the big Maser, you could do 17 laps and then pit for a quick splash-n-dash.  I wanted to change tyres though, as it's more than a handful when they're worn, and offline testing suggested I would lose more time on worn tyres, than the time it takes to change them - with the added risk of flying off track and surely lose more time.  In previous races however, I have been upstaged by drivers skipping the tyre change, so worked hard to build a gap large enough to make it a non issue.  Succeeded with that, and pitted at the end of lap 11 and a very lonely 1st half of the race.

Down to 6th when I rejoined and set about chasing the cars in front, hoping for some action.  Caught and passed all of them either in or entering the pits, so not much drama there though.  Not much to do besides keeping it all together to the end, and trying to improve the fastest lap, so not the most exiting race, but obviously very chuffed with winning.

In retrospect it was maybe overkill to use the big Maser here, but I could not change my choice in the 11th hour - and with the downright frightening laptimes others were posting in lesser hardware, I doubt I could have bagged the win in anything else  (Most impressed by Doni's 250 times, and Clive's ditto in the D-Type).

Grats to Doni and Hayman for the two other podiums

Commiserations to Bill for his unfortunate exit - very easy to end up behind that wall with a small mistake, so a strange place to place a 'swamp' by the track builders 

Cheers,
Erling

[hayman3131]

Hi

good event! thxs Tony!
I wondered to find me on 2 in quali. I´m riding those LM55 cars since I entered here at simracing.org.uk.(a few weeks ago) Never before had any interest in this monsters, neither drove them. So thxs to that league, I enjoy those cars very much.
First laps I stayed on 2, I had to let the big maser monster by, and no chance to get it back. Then a little picknick in the grass, 2 or 3 cars passed, but i got them back. In lap 11 I had a massiv touch with that wall at pit entry. The ferri went into the air, around his axsis, but landed in the right direction. and, thxs god, no damage on suspension, only some "cold body forming". 2 cars passed me, I hope I did not hurt them to much. In lap 13 I got to pit. At start of race I loaded 104 litres, enough for 14 laps. In pit I loaded for 8 laps. After pit 4 cars in front. I could catch misnomis again and chassed Roguk for many laps, not easy to overtake him. In lap 20 I got him and noticed, that xd showed fuel 1,6. So last 2 laps fuelsavemodus. The gap to Roguk was 3,5 secs. I crossed S/F as 3rd with last fuel, I think.
I´m very impressed, what Doni did with the ferri 250. Great job, mate ! hat´s off!

Thxs all for that great and fair driving.
cya next nonday
greets hayman

[Wiltshire Tony]

Erlings right. This track was very well suited to the raw power of the big Mazza. I spent a lot of pre race practise driving it here but in mind of upcoming rounds decided to let the strategy side of my brain rule and chose the hopeless Jag instead. Knew it would be a slow, ugly drive but hoped to make up places due to the missfortune of others. Of course come the night everyone had a stella drive and those who did have misshaps were able to continue to the flag (Bill being the exception when he found the only swamp in the whole of the Bahamas). How Clive coaxed such a performance from his Jag fills me with awe. What is Mabel putting in his Horlicks?
So uneventfull race except for some fine dicing with Kurt in his Jag. At least I've used up a Jag drive and still have loads of Mazza drives left (unlike our current champ leader Erling  ).

Wonder if Flash has spotted where the next in the series is being run?

[phspok]

Was quite looking forward to this one, but real life got in the way, and only had a few laps
in the Jag Aston and Masser, Masser was fast, but the bumpy track made me think I was unlikely
to finish so took the Aston. started off ok then got shoved off onto the inside grass while attempting
a pass which put me back some places, no big deal I can have fun catching people perhaps
but with limited setup and practice time the car was horrible to drive fast and got bored of losing
it so retired early.

[SpecialKS]

First I felt very disappointed about my online performance in comparison to private offline efforts on sunday  .
Couldn't handle online any of the cars I tested (Mazza, Jag and Aston) so I decided to take the slowest one (using
an online setup by Matt which eventually was working fine - thanks Matt for posting).
Beginning of race was disillusioning too and after I dropped to last I already thaught about an early retirement
when I had a nice clash with Tony which ended unexpectedly when he pitted in.
After that I had a new PB and slowly found my rythm with the Jag, counting another two PB's and was able to
follow Doni after his pitstop who seemed to run a bit slower than in the former stage of the race.

So eventually I had my fun as nearly always in these great cars.

Looking forward to the next races.

Result charts to be posted tonight when I'm at home.

[Bob M.]

That was a endurance race for me, didn't think it would ever end..  My strategy for this race was to just keep it on the track and try to stay focused, which neither happened a few times during the event.  Had a couple of times when a wheel went off the track and pulled me into a spin but no contact with anything.  Had one other scary event coming off the final turn, and looked up and there was a red car going slow, maybe recovering from a spin, swerved to missed him and car went into the old dog tail wagging mode.  Finally ended up in the pit side fence, but no speeding ticket or damage to the suspension luckily.  After that had a few encounters with misnoimis, would catch him in the corners and he would speed off into the distance on the next straight. Passed him towards the end of the race, as he was offtrack in a cloud of dust.  Grats to the podium and big thanks to Tony for organizing the great races.....

Bob M.

[SpecialKS]

Here we go:


Results


Unfortunately this chart doesn't represent all the position changes happened.

[Wiltshire Tony]

Here we go:

Results

Unfortunately this chart doesn't represent all the position changes happened.

I can't see it?

[Erling G-P]

Here we go:

Results

Unfortunately this chart doesn't represent all the position changes happened.

I can't see it?

Me neither.. 

Cheers,
Erling

[SpecialKS]

Sorry guys - still working on the release settings.

Don't work like I want  

It's a problem with Google drive


FIXED 

[EvilClive]

Results look OK to me guys , other than I am not on the podium, but that might have been a bit much to expect?

Grats to Erling, Doni and Hayman for the top places.

I had done very little practice for this race, except to recce the circuit and get a basic knowledge of which way the next corner turned.

So I figured that I had nothing to lose by using up one of my D type drives.    I made a real gaff in practice and managed to load a setup for an Aston Martin DB2, which had me struggling for many laps until I realised my mistake as quali started.

It took me most of quali to get the correct setup to work and find the right gear ratios...that 4 speed Jag gearbox is an absolute sod to work with. Every gear seems to be too low or too high for every corner 
By now it was too late to change cars now and anyway I wanted to use one of my drives in the D type.

The race start was a disaster and I was swamped.  At the end of the lap I saw an opportunity that was not really there and succeeded only in taking Flash off the track with me. ( big apologies for that).
From that point on I just tried to keep a steady pace and hoped to pick up places. I had half planned to go the whole race on the same tyres and try taking just a splash and dash. The only problem with this "perfect" plan was that I had no idea how far I could go on a tank full of fuel, so when I reached 14 laps I chickened out and went into the pits. The intention was to only take on fuel, but my over efficient pit crew decided to change the tyres as well!!!  so much for a plan!!

Well, I came out of the pits with fresh rubber and plenty of fuel and just nailed it. Within 4 laps I had trashed the rear tyres as I drifted the Jag through the faster corners and floored the gas out of each corner leaving black lines on the tarmac. It was fun for 4 or 5 laps until I noticed that the tyres were all well into the red zone and a little sanity returned.
It was then that I found that I could actually drive this car faster with less grip!!! With gentle throttle modulation and persuasive, rather than punishing  steering inputs the laptimes started to fall. It seemed that the more the tyres lost their grip, the easier the car was to drift through corners under power and carry more speed.
In the last few laps I was closing on oldgeezer and almost thought I might catch him before the flag. I passed Misnomis who was focused on keeping a small patch of grass very well trimmed.
To get 7th place in a race where I had not prepared and taken a car that I thought would not make the finish, was not so bad.

Still loving these cars and the challenge they present.   Thanks Tony.

[Doni Yourth]

A fine time in the Bahamas! 

Congratulations to Erling on a fine win!  The big Maser was just wicked fast on the straights but it takes a pro to manhandle it in the corners.  Well done.

Grats to Hayman for a great finish in P3 despite a simply ENORMOUS shunt in the pit area.  P2 would have been up for grabs if weren't for that off.  Good run otherwise with pace and accuracy.

Rog ditto and close to a podium finish.  Well done.

Fla$h!  Goodness me!  What an up & down affair for you!  A brilliant start to take the lead off the grid only to fall off an fall way, way back moments later.  Was this all a plan to stage a storming comeback, headlights ablaze, to put in a sterling drive?  Sure looked like it.  Great recovery.

Clive!    How you managed to set a 44s lap time in the race astounds me!  That's a terrific time.  If only you'd managed a little better luck in the race...

Poor misnoimis...  The opening laps were a great duel and it was all I could do to hope that I got to the next corner before your Maser roared by.  Sorry to learn that the car gave up on you.

Sorry to Matt for axing you into the dirt.  Wasn't exactly sure where you were and I didn't see you with a quick 'look right' but I'd already started my turn-in before you barged up the inside.  Except for you the smoking tyres, it kinda reminded me of another recent incident elsewhere.  I think it's time you threw away your Legzy playbook.