UKGTL Season 16 Old Geezer's 1960's Trans-Am - VIR - Aug 29

[[DTR]_Franky_Leone]

Hi.
Grats podium
Nice race full of battles.
Error in the first round  comeback attempt but the circuit was difficult to overtake. see you at the next race.
Thank you for these good moments.
Regards guys

[SpecialKS]

Never been competitive on this track  And - frankly spoken - I expected another track  . So - away over the weekend - without a single lap of practice, the result was predictable. At least I could improve to just under 2:14, but that was still far from competition.

Results to be posted tonight.

CU next week.

[Wiltshire Tony]

Just couldn't get more speed from my Mustang so was well of the pace of just about everyone. On one lap I took a kerb to hard and was bounced into the scenery and over a fence. Took me minutes to find an escape route back on to the track by which time almost every man and his dog had lapped me. Not a race to remember but well done to the winner and pods.
I'm not here for the next one in this series so have fun. Looking like a close battle for the top two places tho.

[Geoffers]

Tough track, very easy to make a mistake here.

Qually didn't go well, every time I was on a good lap I caught someone up near the end of the lap, frustrating but no one to blame, we are all out there trying to get the best qually position.

Held my 3rd grid position at the start & trailed Ziu & Clive for a couple of laps until Clive got rather squirrelly at the end of the esses & I nipped past. Then at the Roller Coaster Ziu had a grassy moment but just recovered enough to hold on to the lead. Next lap the Barracuda speed told & I took Ziu on the back straight, he stayed close for a couple more laps but must have had 2 or 3 offs because I was soon around 20s ahead. With a big lead I just concentrated on driving fast but safe & just had one slight off at Oak Tree.

Congrats to Ziu & Navin  , cya all at Grenzlandring (where?), new circuit for me.

[Wiltshire Tony]

cya all at Grenzlandring (where?), new circuit for me.

Practise turning left

[SpecialKS]

Results

 

[Bob M.]

Good fun race for me.  Not real good results but OK.  Erling and I dogged each other the whole race it seems.  Swapped positions a couple of times.  Our cars were each better than the other at different parts of the track.  Merc was faster on the drag out of the corners than the Pontiac, but he could outbrake me and better in the corners.  With about 3 or 4 to go Franky joined us in the Plymouth and passed me easily but Erling fought him off.  My tires were as tired as I was at the end.  Can't imagine how the drivers felt fighting the real life cars for 3+ hours on that track.  Macho men!  Grats to the podium.......See you all next week.

Bob M.

[Wiltshire Tony]

Results

 

Thanks Kurt 

[Erling G-P]

After some surprisingly good results in the previous races, yesterday was a sobering wake up call, when I found myself 3.5 secs off the pace 

Car ahead of me hesitated off the block, causing me to go off the throttle and bog down. Thus John & Roger slipped past.  Believe John had an off, as did Franky, so reclaimed two places that way.  After a couple of laps, Roger had a wobbly moment coming on to the straight, losing just enough momentum for me to pass him.  He tried a comeback at the following brake zone, but overshot completely on the grass. Bob then trailed me closely for the next number of laps, until I ran wide and had to concede my position.

Chased him for the next many laps, while keeping a vary eye on the mirrors, as John was sneaking closer. As Bob mentions, we each seemed to hold the advantage in different parts of the track.  Around midrace, his driving became more ragged - possibly tyre wear starting to kick in. When he next ran wide in the slow section after T1, I could reclaim 6th.  It held to the end, although Franky got uncomfortably close on the final two laps.  Also caught a rejoining Matt at the start of the penultimate lap, but regrettably he made no more mistakes, so passing him was out of the question 

Grats to the podium; am quite in awe of the laptimes achieved by the front runners. Have some Ati-inspired setup tweaks I have used with success on most cars, that I simply forgot to apply to the Firebird.  Might have made me a little faster, but no way 3.5 secs faster 

Cheers,
Erling

[Jeep]

Well, not sure what to make of that one. I seemed to be able to lap in the low 2:10's with the occasional hi 2:09 leading up to the race but come race day a mid 2:10 was the best I could manage. Having said that had I been on top of my game I would only have possibly advanced up the grid 1 place such was the strength of the front guys here. So 8th on the grid it was.. The lights turned green and Erling seemed to get bogged down behind someone and I dived through making up a place by T1. Followed a train of cars round the 1st lap and caught sight of Franky admiring the scenery so was up to 6th by the end of lap 1 and daring to believe I may have got my mojo back. But pride before a fall and all that I put a wheel on the grass on Lap 2 at the 1st left hander and promptly lost places to rog, Erling, Bob and Tony so suddenly found myself in 10th and wondering where it all went wrong. Tony went wide at the final turn and I sneaked back through to 9th by the end of the lap and set off after the others. Tony kept me very honest for the next few laps before I was able to extend a small gap but not making any inroads into the next person up the track which seemed to be either Bob or Erling depending on where I was at the time. Saw Rog go off at T1 and was through to 8th. Shortly afterwards Franky appeared in the distance having passed Tony and he slowly got bigger in my mirrors until I was thinking less about the battle in front and more about how the hell I was going to hang onto 8th. A few very close laps with Franky definitely faster than me but I wasn't giving in without putting up some resistance. Then a moment at the end of the back straight and he was through. I hung onto his bumper for the rest of the lap and he went a little wide at the final turn and I grabbed the place back again and the battle started all over again. A lap or so later I got T1 all wrong and Franky held a tighter line and pulled level. I knew I would have the inside at the next left hander if only I could stop him cutting across my nose. The result was inevitable looking at the replay and we touched, Franky went into a slide but recovered quickly and I went straight into the tyres. That was effectively my race over and I had a lonely last 8 laps or so. I did try to recover the gap in the vain hope that when Franky joined the Bob and Erling show there might be tears but the harder I tried the further adrift I got finishing well down in the end. I still find these tanks rewarding and frustrating in equal measure. I was running on the rims at the end and the Cuda was handling like a cow on rollerskates.

Congrats to the Podium and all finishers. See you at Grenzlandring.

TTFN
John.