UKGTL Season 17 Mustang Boss 302 Challenge - Phoenix Street - Aug 7

[Redvaliant]

Thanks, I got the affinity sorted with another programme - I can't alt-tab out of GTL...it no likey.  My being booted has to do with my initial join of the server. I'll be in the pits getting a setup sorted and will lose connection. Back in and it seems to work again. A mystery, like this track

[Wiltshire Tony]

I have always been able to ALT/TAB out of GTL. What happens if you press the Windows key?

[Wiltshire Tony]

Replay and results now posted.

[Redvaliant]

If I alt-tab, the game minimises to the lower task bar and won't budge from it. Can still hear it, but I have to use task manager to kill it -Windows 10. 

Umm, that was a tough reintroduction to GTL racing. After about 3 laps my car started to overheat on every 2nd lap, after never once doing this in practice. So I took it easy for a lap and then got back on it for a few laps and yo-yoed along like that for 17 laps in 4th place. Around then my fuel light started flashing and the XD screen showed about 1 lap left  -I had put 21 laps worth in at the start. I couldn't get the pits to work and spent an age in there trying to attract the attention of the dimwit pit clown who just stood there, like a clown. Got to the pit menu finally and they decided to rebuild my car from scratch or something...maybe they had to import some parts from Detroit, who knows.

I'll spend a good while testing things for the next one

[Wiltshire Tony]

Good to have you with us RV, any chance you have a real name?

Sorry your your time out had some problems but trust me when I say you did well better than some first timers I can think of (no names to spare embarrassment).

Hope your next outing with us is trouble free.

Remember we are here to help so if you have a problem we may be able to help.

Cheers

WT

[Wiltshire Tony]

Still cannot work out how to get faster in these brutes, probably never will. Still enjoyable event with some good battles with fellow tail ender's Kurt and Rog. Final round is in October but on a more conventional race track. Should be good one.

[Huggy]

Do not why you get booted after a session change, that's a new one to me 

Happened to me last evening Tony, session change announced, live chat still working, but Race button remained greyed-out so unable to join. Has happened at least once before. Too late then to log out and back in of course. C'est la vie...

[Wiltshire Tony]

Do not why you get booted after a session change, that's a new one to me 

Happened to me last evening Tony, session change announced, live chat still working, but Race button remained greyed-out so unable to join. Has happened at least once before. Too late then to log out and back in of course. C'est la vie...

I did wonder what happened to you. Shame after all that practice you put in. Let's hope your next race is for the full evening.

[Geoffers]

Really love these cars, I could race them every week!

Qually time was better than I expected, but at the same time I could have been faster as I made a couple of mistakes on my fastest lap, running wide in one corner & brushing the wall exiting another. I think a high 1.50 was possible but it is difficult to do the perfect lap here.

Race was fun battling with Ziu for most of it. We were very evenly matched & it was very difficult to find a passing place unless Ziu made a mistake. I did get ahead around half distance when Ziu was slow onto the back straight & I took the lead at the RHer at the end, but I gave Ziu too much room & he dived back past at the next left. Fun ended when I got into T1 too hot & spun  , just got restarted as Erling appeared so had to wait for him to go past before spinning it back the right way & carrying on. Tried to catch Erling in the remaining laps but was still a couple of seconds behind at the flag.

Congrats to Ziu & Erling   & bad luck to Huggy & RV  

[EvilClive]

Not my best race in a car that I generally quite enjoy.

I could not match the pace of the top 3 ( usual suspects), and when I was over cautious at the start in case of a crashfest at T1 I was mugged by Redv and misnomis. On many circuits that would not have been such a big problem, but finding a place to pass around this track is almost impossible unless the car in front makes a mistake. That was a problem that became very apparent over the first laps, because I knew I was faster than the car in front but there was nowhere to make it tell. I had to wait for a chance and be ready to pounce. Eventually misnomis got out of shape on the exit of a corner and I took the place and set of after Redv.

Closing him down was relatively straightforward, but passing was again impossible without a mistake.  I was patient for several laps but I did try a rather optimistic move when Red had a small tank slapper out of one of the final corner. Outbraking into T1 was a leap of faith on my part and I did not make it, nudging Redv into a spin. Apologies for that Redv.  I duly waited for him to recover and started the chase all over again and tried to be more patient.  I think that his tyres were going off a little more quickly than mine and he lost the rear end out of a corner and I was through and away into 4th place.
I quickly built a 4 second gap and realised that I would not catch the lead trio without some major trauma up ahead. So, I relaxed and eased off to protect my tyres...a bad move  . I started coasting into the corners and using 2nd gear more often.  A few laps showed that this actually accelerated the tyre wear!! I think by coasting into the apex I was actually allowing the rear to slide around too much.
Regaining my earlier rhythm proved a nightmare and I just could not get it right. A series of spins and wall contacts dropped me further and further back and I almost quit in frustration, but cruised to the flag way down the field.

Grats to the podium and all those who kept their heads together for the whole race.

[Ziu Bacubacu]

It s like Geoffers wrote,  it was possible 1:50,  I lost 0,3 seconds on last sector,  my ideal time could be around 1:50.7,  anyway  me and Geoffers had the same speed  yesterday,  maybe I had a little advantage on first sector he was better than me on last sector.  It s clear that we had a funny race but with this cars and not restriction rules it s easy get it !

It s a pity not have Muscle series in 2018.

Grats Erling (still a little step to win this championship) Grats Geoffers and thanks for battle.

[phspok]

I was relatively slower in these than I might normally be, not sure why, I tried drifting, not drifting
soft front for turn in, soft rear for power out, and I was the same pace whatever I did.
Fun race though. had a long duel with Bob for most of the 2nd half, almost passed once, but he
was a bit faster on average, so would not have made it stick even if I had got past.
Then spent the last few laps trying to keep Steve at bay, he was quicker at that point
maybe his tyres were not as red as mine.

[misnoimis]

My first race back after missing a few events was very enjoyable. I had expected to be battling at the tail end of things but found myself to be quite competitive midfield. It must have been to that extra hour of practice I put in so as not to embarrass myself during the race.

I planned to do my best to keep out of trouble at the start and work my way into the race hoping to find a good rhythm. However I found myself in front of Clive at T1 and decided that the best place for him was behind me. I battled with him for a few laps. Having to defend slowed me down a bit and no doubt Clive considerably. Eventually I went a bit wide into a corner and was a bit slow out of it letting Clive get inside me so I had to bail out and let him through.

I decided to let him go and just try to keep up a good pace but noticed the gap between us was not lengthening as he was behind RedV so I got a bit ambitious and decide to push and close the gap. A bit of a mistake because the way I had set up the car meant the back could break away if the wheel was turned sharply right then left and when correction was applied the car would pushed forward in the direction it was facing. Hence my slight disagreement with a wall. Luckily the handling was not affected and only a couple of seconds lost and the front bumper I deposited on the track probably made the car virtually lighter.

The gap on the cars in front would occasionally narrow then lengthen so I assumed they were making mistakes and my best chance would be to take advantage of one of these. I was also aware that Bob (OG) and Matt were not far behind so I had no chance to relax.
 
I eventually rounded a bend to find Clive in the middle of the road stationary and sideways so darted past him and saw RedV in my sights. By now Bob was becoming a factor. His car seemed a lot better at braking at the end of the long straights. Either set up or better technique. Mine felt decidedly squirmy under breaking. My set up seemed to work better than his on the twisty bits so the distance between us was yo- yoing during each lap.
 
In the last few laps I closed on the unfortunate RedV who pitted to my surprise, I assumed for fuel or damage repair. I then had to really concentrate 100% to hold off Bob. It was only on the last couple of corners I felt safe to come home just ahead of him. It would have been interesting if we had one more lap to see if I could have pulled a gap or if he would have got right on my tail, we will never know.

A very enjoyable race for me. Every lap was interesting in one way or another and the driving around me was very fair. I must try to make another race soon. I should be able to race more later in the year.

Grats to winner and podiums. 

[SpecialKS]

Results



Satisfactory quali and then the stereotypical race for me as usual: lousy start and a race at the back of the pack with at least a new pb.
Sorry again Tony and Roger for the heavy bump - I think it was in lap 7 or 8 when I totally missed my breaking point before turn 1.

Cu next week.

[Erling G-P]

..... However I found myself in front of Clive at T1 and decided that the best place for him was behind me

     I'm sure he appreciates your concern with his position... 

Not sure what to think of the track here.  Normally like street circuits, but all the 90º turns here were perhaps a bit much. RedValiant mentions overheating, and I saw a couple of cars putting out smoke screens.  Noticed in early practice that using 1st gear through the tight corners caused overheating, so stuck to using 2nd only - quickest for me anyway, and kept temps in check.

Worried during qualify. A combination of unforced errors and traffic kept me from matching my pb, and as the minutes ticked away, I found myself behind Clive. If I was to keep my Championship dreams alive, I couldn't afford to finish lower than 3rd, so starting behind a driver whose laptimes were close to mine, on a track where overtaking would be very difficult, was bad news.  Took a deep breath and got my act together, knocking 0.6 secs off my pb literally in the dying moments of qual, finally snatching 3rd from Mr. Evil.

Start of the race went ok, but RedValiant got better off the line, and found a hole to my left which I would have sworn could never fit a Boss, but he proved otherwise and squeezed past down to T1.  Swapped places a couple of times through T1 - T2, so he was still in front.  Made it past under braking after the back straight. He was in close attendance for the next two laps, before dropping back with the rest of field.  Of course couldn't match the pace of Ziu & Geoffers up front, so was soon all alone in the vacuum between the aliens and the rest of the field.  Boring race then, but on L15 things suddenly got interesting.  Came upon a stationary Geoffers at T1, recovering from a spin, and I slipped past.  With 5 laps to go, I had a 5 sec gap to a driver who was generally 1 sec faster than me; it was going to be close!  Drove as fast as I could on my worn tyres, expecting the gap to drop.  Surprisingly it only did so over the final two laps, but it was too little too late and I hung onto 2nd.  Now I 'only' need to finish 3rd, if (when) Ziu wins the last race..

Grats to Ziu on the win & Geoff for the final podium.  Commiserations to those who met with misfortune.

Cheers,
Erling