UKGTL Season 16 Fifties Sprint Races - Monza - May 2

[SpecialKS]

The Aston seemed very slow in my hands - especially in free practice when I first tried a DBR2 setup which obviously doesn't work well with the DBR1  (checked the 300SL offline after crashing out early and found that I was that slow in that car too  ).

Anyway - really love these cars. Had a good start and and a new pb before leaving after lap 4.
But after that I luckily could watch the epic battle between Kai and Geoffers   - great drive guys   .

Results to be posted this evening - as usual.

Thanks for organizing to all involved.

[chmichel]

The 300 SL suited me best for this track, had a good start jumped from 11th to 7th before T1 but then I was passed by a couple of drivers, on the long straights, I have a problem with setting up the cars, in fact I never worked on setups, specially on fast tracks, I feel like I'm a turtle racing with rabbits lol !!!

Again Sorry Tony for hitting you at the entry of the Parabolica but I missed my braking point and couldn't but go straight, I hope I didn't ruin your race !!

I love this track and the Merc is a good car and doesnt burn a lot of rubber, so it was an acceptable race for me !!

With some setup concerning the top speed I guess I could have caught the guys ahead, specially that it was an easy Track !!!

See u next race and have a good week you all

Cheers


Michel

[EvilClive]

Grats to the Silver Arrows on the podium, I tried to stay with you guys at the start, but it was becoming very clear after several laps that I was in danger of throwing my D-type at some Italian foliage in spectacular fashion if I kept up that pace ....so I chickened out and tried to keep things together.

Given the choice of each car to be used only once, I opted for the D-type simply because this track has fewer tight corners than most and I figured that it was as good a place as any to use it. See how scientific my race preparation is 

To say that I was gobsmacked to be leading the qualifying at one point is an understatement  . Practice was spent with Arnold fine tuning the suspension with a 14lb hammer, and Mabel adjusting the diff with a piece of scaffold tube and a roll of gaffer tape, in a frantic attempt to get the ruddy thing to actually turn in at the corners. Once that was achieved, I just had to wrestle the beast around 

The 4 wide grid threw me, because I was still waiting for the front 2 cars to join when the flag dropped and I was swamped by growling Mercedes!!.
I was running the highest ratios that I could for the Jag and provided that I could get some slipstream it made the thing quite rapid down the straights....corners were an altogether different experience and I was glad that we only had 4 per lap!

I'm not sure how others were working the D-type, but I found that I had to brake in a straight line and get off the brake pedal before I could turn in ( moving the brake balance backwards just made the car so unstable that it was suicidal). I then needed to control the car with the power on oversteer, gradually squeezing on the gas right through the corners. When I got it right it was very satisfying, when it was less than perfect it caused a few stains in the underwear department!!

The first few laps were an intense battle between Kai and myself as we both tried to get back at Geoffers who had stolen a 100mtr lead on us both. I could slingshot past Kai on the S/F straight using the slipstream, but that Merc was infinitely smoother through the corners and in getting the power down.
I was wrestling my car with armfuls of opp lock and lumps of throttle, to stay in touch with Kai and Geoffers. The down side to this was the trauma inflicted on the rear left tyre, which prompted me to ease off, hoping to hold onto a 3rd spot, or even pick up a place if someone screwed up in the battle for the lead.
I should have factored in Erling who hunted me down in yet another of those damned Mercedes, and I gifted him my 3rd place ( yes it was mine!! I had my name on it!!) by running wide at Parabolica. Worst still, was that when I recovered he was just out of slipstream range and try as I might I could not quite get close enough to use the raw speed of the Jag to get back at him.
It was agonising watching the gap grow by a tenth of a second each lap as I worked my wheel nuts off on rapidly wearing tyres and still failed to close up.

Grats to all on some fine racing. At least I have used the D-type and squeezed a few points out of a car that is not my favourite. cyall for the next one. 

[Geoffers]

Hoorah, I got to the finish  First time since the TransAm race at Stardust!

Struggled in qually to get into the 1.44s although I had managed it several times offline, a last minute lap eventually getting 2nd on the grid.

Didn't think I got a very good start & was amazed to be so far in front by Curva Grande. Pulled out a little lead over the first few laps as Kai & Clive battled over 2nd place then threw it away by getting a wheel on the grass at the second Lesmo & only just saving a big moment. This obviously lost me a lot of momentum & Kai swept past into the lead before Parabolica.

A great battle ensued for the lead over a number of laps until a got a bit too eager on the gas at Parabolica & half spun into the inside barrier. Fortunately the car bounced off pointing in the right direction & I carried on still in 2nd but about 3s behind. Tried hard to catch back up to Kai but our laptimes were very similar & I stayed 3s behind until I repeated my Parabolica error with about 3 laps to go. Again bounced off the barrier & carried on having lost another 3s although now with Erling only 1.5s behind  . Kept it together over the last laps to finally get a finish.

Congrats to Kai (great drive) & Erling. 

Going to miss the next 2 weeks as I'm driving down to Monaco for the Historic Grand Prix, so see you all at Nurburgring for the Minis v Skodas.

[Erling G-P]

Couldn't quite match my qual time from last year, and with toughend competition, I was down to 5th on the grid.

Start difficult, as I couldn't hear my own engine over the nearby cars, but retained 5th.   Battle with Atilla over the first few laps. Eventually got past, but a light tap under braking for Parabolica sent me into a spin.  Atilla waited and let me past on the pit straight. I accidentally almost pressed him into the barrier at the end    Sorry about that Atilla; glad you managed to swerve at the last moment.

John had managed to outdrag me while all this happened and we went through the double righthander side by side.  Tried my best to make room, but I believe our cars touched and gave John a wobbly exit from the corner.  Apologies for that, if it was my fault John.

After this intermezzo, I had a couple of quiet laps, with constant gaps: 6 secs to the car in front; 4 secs to the one behind.  Then I caught a glimpse of Clive's yellow Jag up front. Akin to chumming the water in front of a shark of course, so the chase was on!     By the rate I was(n't) catching him, most of the race would be gone before I got close however.  Then he did me a big favor by stuffing it at Parabolica, allowing me to get past.  Very keen to see the gap to the car in 2nd, when passing the pit board: 7 secs and not getting closer, so concentrated on keeping ahead of Clive.  Then the gap dropped a little and I caught sight of Geoffers.  Game on again then!    Chased him as fast as I could, improving my fastest lap several times, but he still maintained a gap of 4.5 - 5 secs.   Then with a couple of laps left, he had a moment at Parabolica, dropping the gap to only 2 secs.  Still, he would have to do something exceptionally stupid, to lose the position in the final two laps.  Regrettably he didn't...  

Grats then to Geoff & Kai, and kudos to Clive and others, who wrestled some truly impressive laptimes out of the Jag!  

Cheers,
Erling

[Wiltshire Tony]

I was thinking pretty much along the same lines as Clive. This was the track to get rid of the Jaguar. Thought I had a setup that produced quite fast cornering and so it proved when in the early laps I was able to progress up the field. Don't know if it was due to the collision I had with Michel (no worries Michel, I've done it myself) or if it was the tyres going off but for the latter part of the race the Jaguar was always trying to turn in to much and several times I went into an spin allowing Kostja to catch and pass me.
Nice to have two new drivers with us, hope you come and race with us some more.

[SpecialKS]

Results

[Wiltshire Tony]

Results

Thanks Kurt  

[Jeep]

I also followed the Evil Clive car selection formula of "If there are only a few bends, plenty of straights and no chicanes" It must be a Jaguar D-Type track.I was at a loss as to where I could use the Jag and not make a complete fool of myself, and with the absence of a Drag Strip on this years schedule Monza seemed the only choice. I finally found I had some semblance of control in the long fast sweepers by going for a 4 wheel drifting technique and as long as I did all my braking in a straight line and didn't run out of track before my braking was completed I had a fighting chance of keeping it all together.. Slower corners though were always a fine balance between losing the rear or simply going too slowly.

Qualified 7th with a PB but was really slow off the line and I think I was 10th by the time we hit Curva Grand for the 1st time having been jumped at the start by both Michel and I think Bob and someone else. Made up a place or 2 during the 1st lap and began to feel more at home as the tyres warmed up. Passed Oldgeezer on the run down to the Parabolica on Lap 4 (Well, he flashed me past in truth).

A few laps later I found Erling and ATI recovering from a coming together and seized the chance to draft past them on the run down to Curve Grand. The Jag certainly has some speed once you get it wound up but Erling was back right on my tail as we exited on the run down to Roggia. I knew I was only delaying the inevitable and he nosed ahead into Lesmo 1 but I hauled the Jag level for Lesmo 2. Sadly we touched entering the corner and I found myself running into the barrier on the exit (No issue, Racing incident, we both went for the same piece of track). This cost me places to both Oldgeezer and ATI as I recovered. But no apparent damage (Or the Jag already handles so badly I didn't notice). Set off in pursuit and was back close on their tail a few laps later. Exiting Lesmo 2 I saw ATI's Jag flying through the air and passed him as he explored the fauna and flora off to the right. Caught Oldgeezer a lap or so later and was up to 5th. The remainder of the race was quite uneventful, I knew that despite the handling traits of the Jag as long as I didn't do anything to lose too much time I could always out distance the following Aston in the straights. Erling continued to extend his lead and eventually I saw Clive replace him in 4th but way too far ahead for me to have any aspirations to taking the place away from him.

So glad to have found somewhere to use the Jag which actually returned some decent points. now all I need to do is find a suitable track for the 57 version in the endurance series.

Thanks for a great race everyone,

TTFN
John.