GTR Special - Imola - 31st May

[Mark J]

Interesting first race around there, getting used to the lines and the grip levels. I dont really see why this track is preferred over Silverstone or Laguna personally.  I dont think its as accurate as the GTL version.


Qualied well just behind TT and Mo with a fair gap down to the next cars.
Race start was excellent, had great battle with TT for about 15-20 minutes, swapping places a couple of times, and even Mo wasnt that far ahead at that point, until i suffered a low speed spin under braking in the last corner.
the Tyres got very hot and i immediately went off at the following corner when the back broke away un-expectedly
Spoilt all chances of continuing the fight with TT and i just continued around the last 20 mins with no opposition and unable to close the gap.
Finished 4th NGT so not too bad on first outing.
Congrats to Mo  

My anti-roll bars were too stiff me-thinks and i couldnt attack the kerbs and chicane like i saw some people able to. Can someone remind me what damper rebounds suit the high kerbs...is it higher or lower settings...i always forget

[Truetom]

Lol, this track's gonna be a mods nightmare!  

Great track, lotsa fun. You just  gotta accept it - this track means cutting. Not on grass, but you gotta cut every corner or you're 2 seconds back every lap.
First duel was with MJ, lap after lap Porsche is just too fast outta corners. Swapped places, late breaking, different lines, we had it all. Luckily Mo didn't get far away - he should as the pace was faster and faster. Made a race PB in the last lap I think. Well, then MJ spun (high kerb, eh?) and I started to chase Mo.

Had a good scrap with Mo, too. Bumper to bumper, few mistakes and we also swapped places. One time I almost picked him up, on the last chicane. Braked too late and didn't feel I deserved the taken place. So I (wanted to) let him by. He didn't get it and started pushing me down the straight, lol.  

I was a bit faster but not enough to pass him on the short straigts. The long straight downhill was too bumpy to risk - we would both go off. Grats Mo, great duel, enjoyed every minute of it.  

ROFL when GTs were "passing" us - we were losing loads of the time here. There were Tyf, Jamera, Rich (can't remember others) who passed us, span, passed, span, passed... We were driving together, four cars. 2 GTs, 2 NGTs and we were all battling our class.    Pure fun, but risky.

Tyf, you gotta fix that understeer, it looked terrible. 

I think all the guys didn't enjoy this track. It is different, gotta be very agressive. Then its fun.  

Will we be racing at Road America then?  

[[ZiP]Tyf]

Tyf, you gotta fix that understeer, it looked terrible. 

...

Will we be racing at Road America then? 

I'll try to fix it m8 .

I hope RA will be tried as well, it's great with GT cars, drove it online last night, really nice with lots of highspeed corners and overtaking spots under braking and others .

T

[Minton]

Good race, I think the track would be great in the leagues Personally i love it ,just a shame about the chicane where you can make 2 seconds by cutting either going  in or out of it. The cutting round the rest of the track isnt too bad your just using alot of curb.   I had a    when following TYF with the amount of understeer he had , looked like hard work mate!
Cheers

[Truetom]

Yea, it was like he was driving a bulldozer 

 

TT

[[ZiP]Tyf]

LOL! Well the car has the engine for it, just misses a shovel!

T

[mo]

Really enjoyed that one.
Haven't driven the GT3 in an age so it was good to get back out in the NGTs, and to remind myself how good the porker is to drive.
I like the track too, especially down through aqua minerale popping down through the gears under brakeing and turning - there's a real flow to it.
 

Had a good scrap with Mo, too. Bumper to bumper, few mistakes and we also swapped places. One time I almost picked him up, on the last chicane. Braked too late and didn't feel I deserved the taken place. So I (wanted to) let him by. He didn't get it and started pushing me down the straight, lol. 

Really enjoyed it TT, I managed to get 4 secs but you were pushing really hard. Every lap I'd risk to go a little quicker but you enventually closed right up.
LOL at pushing you up the straight, I was lining up behind you for a slipstream just as you were easing off to let me through. Just glad I didn't spin us out.

ROFL when GTs were "passing" us - we were losing loads of the time here. There were Tyf, Jamera, Rich (can't remember others) who passed us, span, passed, span, passed... We were driving together, four cars. 2 GTs, 2 NGTs and we were all battling our class.    Pure fun, but risky.

Total adrenaline rush, and it was actually for overall position so there were no blue flags, Made for some tense racing that's for sure.
And yes, I could see Tyf's understeer too 

Will we be racing at Road America then? 

Road America gets my vote too, cutting isn't so much of an issue there either.

[Mark J]

So where were people cutting?...cheating buggers the lot of ya' 

 I took the chicane properly every lap , i wondered how people were finding a second a lap on me towards the end of the race and/or closing right up through the exit of that chicane. I take it you wasnt given 'cut corners' warnings then?

From my point of view, whats the point of cheating? I thought we were all reasonable gents on here. I'd rather come 4th and race fairly than cut corners for wins. Cant believe people were completely cutting the chicane out

Its not in the spirit of things, maybe the mods can review the replay and punish all offenders   

[Paul968]

Joined too late to get a qual lap in so started at the back. Made up a place on lap 1 and then passed Don on lap 2, but he made a late dive down the inside at Tosa to get the place back. I was ready to stay wide, but unfortunately he locked everything up and took us both off. Got going again and then had several laps yoyo-ing with Jamera in his 550. In the process I was slowly making up places, and as the race neared the end, TrueTom and Mo appeared only 3 secs ahead. I pushed extra hard to close the gap, but with only 6 minutes left the gap was too big. This wasn't helped by Mo doing his fastest lap of the race on the last lap!

I really like Imola. The chicane cut doesn't seem that big an issue as long as drivers don't take the p**s, and from what I could see, by and large they didn't. I'm not sure who you mean Mark about the 1 sec a lap? The rest of the lap is a fun roller coaster.

Paul

[Mark J]

Paul, i meant if people were cutting the chicane and able to take at high speed, they would easily gain a second a lap.

ps also thought some of the driving standards were a bit poor last night. Not gonna name names but i got the impression if i didnt take big avoiding action in some of the corners i was going to be knocked out of the way by some errant GT cars that were flying off all over the place. (like to add that most drivers were real gents too )

[jan duijs]

Nice track for Elises fridaynight,for serious Endurance it is not suitable ,as mentioned a moderators nightmare.There is an 1994 Imola version with a Tamburello as it should be and absolute killer curbs ,no cutting possible,bugfree as well.Get it here : http://www.xs4all.nl/~blomsan/
Just unrar and put it in your locations folder.Road-America is in my opinion the better option,Ruskus if you manage a 1.56.XXX there in a 550 or saleen then you are really fast

Jan

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Its not in the spirit of things, maybe the mods can review the replay and punish all offenders

Well I had a quick look and didn't see anything really blatant - though if it were up to me I'd have Enna-style walls against some of the chicanes.

I'm not going to issue any penalties on the basis of a fun race - that would defeat the object. But if anyone wants to PM me a name and a time in the server replay to look at I'll take a peek. I don't want to have to switch tracks if we don't need to because it means squeezing another test race in and there's only really enough contingency for one change.

[FlyBri]

Hi all, interesting debate (along with 'corner cutting' thread in miscellaneous section). When we say "cutting" the chicane (at Imola) what are we saying? Missing the chicane out? 1/2/4 wheel/s on grass, running straight over kerbs?? Still a bit unclear to me. 

I took the chicane reasonably fast running almost straight over the kerbs in 3rd gear (in F550) although braking quite hard on entry and exiting between 90-100mph (no way flat out!), on the odd occasion a wheel unintentionally have crossed over kerb and on the grass. I like to think it was within the boundaries of the rules an if it isn't, i would like to know for future reference, trouble with that chicane is the kerbs are very low and it invites ppl to drive over them rather than around them.....

cheers, bri

[Don]

Would it be possible that we could have a vote on which add-on tracks are used for future league races?
Not poss now maybe for the new Enduro, but worth a thought in future.

[Rich_A]

I've heard that GTR2 won't be out till September! Not tried RAmerica but think i'd prefer it, Imola is bit too bumpy imo.