UKGTL Season 16 Old Geezer's 1960's Trans-Am - Bryar - Sep 19

[EvilClive]

Thanks for your knowledge Ziu. What you say makes good sense when I look back at which cars I have used, and the successes and failures I have had.
During qually I did stiffen the suspension on the Mustang as it seemed a little too soft, plus the tyres appeared to be under inflated and were staying cool around the centre. So I got Mable to give a quick blow.......??!!!  oops!! that might be misconstrued 

I still have a lot to learn about GTL cars and how they work, but it sure is fun finding out. 
 

[SpecialKS]

Results

 

[Geoffers]

What a fantastic race, close racing from flag to flag, brilliant.

Got the jump on pole man Ziu at the start & managed to open up a little gap over the first few laps but then lost my rhythm a little & Ziu closed in. Still held on to the lead until Ziu got a good drive along the back of the lake & got ahead into the final turn. Neck & neck down to T1, unfortunately I was a shade late on the brakes & nudged into the back of Ziu's Firebird enough to put him onto the grass. Obviously waited for him to rejoin by which time Clive was through into the lead.

Seemed to take ages for us to catch back up to Clive & Ziu & I swapped places a couple of times due to mistakes. As the last few laps wore down & the tyres were well past their best we all seemed to be having traction problems & as we finished lap 29 Ziu got well out of shape out of the final turn & I got past. But there was no denying Clive an excellent win after resisting so much pressure.

Congrats Clive & also Ziu.  

Looks like it is down to the wire at Watkins Glen!  

Finally guys, in case some of you have not seen it, can I refer you to this thread about the new series we are running based at NoGrip on Wednesday evenings recreating the 1963 World Sports Car Championship. All GTL racers welcome.

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=13985.0

It starts with a test race this Wednesday (Sept 21st) with the first round of the championship next Wednesday (Sept 28th). I know one or two of you have already expressed interest, hope some more of you fancy some extra GTL action over the winter months.  

[Jeep]

I have to admit as much as I like this series I still have absolutely no idea what I'm doing with the cars and I almost always end up driving the default set up perhaps with a change in gearing to suit the track. To me they seem to drive like an over powered showroom variant rather than a race car. Stiffening the suspension and/or  playing around with bump and rebound etc usually results in something akin to a cow on rollerskates so I almost always revert back to default. But there is no denying for those who have mastered these beasts the do make for some close racing.

Qualified towards the tail of the field as usual in 8th but got a great start and by half way around lap 1 found myself in 6th having somehow jumped Bob and Steve but being gapped pretty quickly by those in front so knew I was out of position based on my abilities. Was hunted down by Bob and lost the position running wide at T4 (I think) and Bob was through. Tried in vain to hang onto him but just didn't have the car control and became ragged losing time over the following laps. Still I thought a healthy lead over Steve and the gap see sawed over time but was definitely coming down as the race progressed. I was sure if I maintained my current pace he would run out of laps before he could mount a challenge  and then I went wide at T4 again and he passed me while I recovered. Gave chase and held on to within a second or so until he put a wheel on the grass at T1 on the next lap and spun back across the track in front of me. Squeezing through I was pleased to note I had a decent lead of around 13s going into the final 6 laps or so although it came down to a little over half of that by the end. So finished in a lowly 7th but still 1 place up on my starting position.

See you at the Glen.

TTFN
John.

[55steve55]

It felt good being back on the track amongst familiar names after three months away.

Minimal practise just prior to the race surprisingly put me in Q6. If I have a steady race, I thought, I could perhaps move up a place or two when some of the "top names" make the odd error and get myself ahead of Wiltshire Cured Tony, in his absence. That was wishful thinking and it didn't happen, of course. But I did enjoy swopping places with Jeep as we took it in turns to seemingly mistime our braking zones, with Jeep coming out on top towards the end. All this with Roger forever in my rear view mirror, waiting like a vulture for any opportunity to get ahead.

Congrats to Clive for keeping ahead (just) of Geoffers. The Geoffers/Ziu battle looks very much like the Hamilton/Rosberg tussle.

Sorry Tony, for likening you to a rasher of bacon  

[Bob M.]

Good fun race for me.  After the crowded start, I slowly advanced because of other driver 's misfortune.  Found myself 4 to 5 seconds behind Erling were I would stay for most of the race.  Would close a little on him and then the tires would heat up on the Mustang and would lose it again.  In the last 3 or 4 laps Matt appeared just ahead of Erling and I thought Ahah, maybe they will race each other hard and I can catch up and make it a 3 way.   Did gain on them but didn't have the tires to get into the fight.  
Hated this track at first, but after a while kind of grew fond of it.  Would make a great track for lighter GTC cars I think.  Beings that Trans Am was affiliated with SCCA in that time, I'm sure that is why it was used and the northeast part of the USA had good interest in roadracing back in the day.  Looks like a really tight race for the individual series champion between the two top guys!!!

Oh yeah, got to put a plug in for Geoff's series over on NoGrip .  Even if you are just a "for fun" racer like me it is a unusual format with a wide variety of cars you can drive at a variety of different types of tracks.  I think their were 14 drivers present, would be nice to have 20 or more like the old days in GTL.  Give it a look!

Bob M.

[BillThomas]

Oh yeah, got to put a plug in for Geoff's series over on NoGrip .  Even if you are just a "for fun" racer like me it is a unusual format with a wide variety of cars you can drive at a variety of different types of tracks.  I think their were 14 drivers present, would be nice to have 20 or more like the old days in GTL.  Give it a look!

Bob M.

I'll second that, there are loads of desirable sports cars to race and a selection of new tracks.  

[Wiltshire Tony]

Sorry Tony, for likening you to a rasher of bacon  

That's fine, we smell about the same

[Wiltshire Tony]

Seems like you guys had a good race.

Many thanks to Matt for undertaking the admin duties in my absence. 

[SpecialKS]

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