UKAC Season 18 Prototype Potluck - The BOAC (1)50.0 - Dec 22

[Syd Drake]

Congrats to the podium.
I certainly missed a golden chance for a podium myself, as I think I could have gotten it on pace (and car of course).
Unfortunately my replay starts around 25 minutes, so I can't look at the incident I had with Max on lap 2 t1. From what I remember you lost it a bit, went sideways and I  started to lose it myself and clipped you. I definitely got the worst of it, as I spun right into someones path and got hit hard. I barely manged to get to the pits, as my suspension was broken. After a long stop for repairs I got just behind vva, but on my cold tires I had to let several cars by, and found myself again behind Max, only this time a lap down. As my tires warmed up, I started to catch those in front of me. I knew it was a long race, and if I had any chance on improving I'd have to unlap myself. Otherwise I might as well have parked it.
I'm not sure why, perhaps you blamed me for lap 2 incident, but Max fought me hard for the place on track, if not position in the standings. This time when you went off, it seemed to me that you braked too late, at least I didn't feel any contact. I know you quit right after that, Max. I hope we can still race, and there are no hard feelings.
After that I slowly unlapped myself from most of the cars, generally without a fight, and by the pitstop on lap 38 or so I was right behind Kimi who was 6th. I thought I'll pit a lap or two early and get it him after he stops. One very looong pitstop later, I was back in 9th. The closer we got to the end, the more it was becoming obvious the porches won't be stopping. I still got Jari for 8th, and just as I was about to pass Kai for 7th I spun and lost around 10 seconds. Tim got by me at that time (a lap ahead in second). I continued and still got passed Kai, but in my attempts to unlap myself again, I went off twice more, losing around 4-5 seconds each time. Without those I think I still had a chance to get Kimi for 6th, even with two pitstops.
All in all a very long race, with still lots of action for me even after I went a lap down right at the beginning.

[FullMetalGasket]

Well, that went better than I had reason to expect!
Very bad luck to Syd and Max, I saw the 1st off and it seemed fairly innocent from a few cars back, but even the 2nd one occurred before my replay started so have no idea what happened there.
The GT40 has very good cold tire/low grip pace as it's probably the most neutrally handling car in the field, so their off's promoted me to 2nd or 3rd very early on.
As the track gripped up I was slowly caught and then passed by the Ferrari's of Watty and Paul, I tried holding them off a bit as I was fairly sure the GT has a shorter pit stop time due to the extra fuel it carries, but this simply ended with me pushing too hard and having small offs that allowed them by.

Syd eventually caught me to un-lap himself so I had a fairly 'soft' fight with him until I again fell off a bit and he got through. I think I was down to 4th by this point and as Max had left I was probably fairly safe there if I could keep on gapping the Porsches behind at the rate I had been.

A few laps after halfway I threw the towel in and pitted as my rear left had turned yellow and I was noticeably slower. ~30Ltrs of fuel and 4 new tires later and I was off again, still in-front of the chasing Porsches although not by a massive margin.

It remained pretty quiet from there till the end barring another half-hearted scrap with Syd when he caught me - sorry, I'd been running alone for ages and wanted a scrap!

Well done to VVA for the win and to Watty for what may be his first podium with us? (At least in AC land).

Round 3 is in the new year, and I think that Brands is probably the hardest track in terms of driver input so it's 'easy' from here on in

[goldtop]

That was a tough race 

I spent practice/quali trying out the different gear sets in the 908 and didn't find any of them were ideal, think I eventually settled on the same set I used at Spa. Didn't really get a proper lap in with low fuel but with my slow starts it didn't really make any difference and I arrived last at T1 as usual.

A few offs up front and I was soon chasing Kimi and we had a very nice and very long battle for position. I had to ease back at one point as my tyres and me were getting too worn out trying to find a way through. I eventually slipped past when he ran wide and was able to keep the postion until the end despite a couple of little errors later on.

Very happy with 5th overall and 1st of the Porsches which I think is the best I could have hoped for considering the company. Little margin for error at Mosport so I'd better get some practice in.

Any chance of a fun race next week Tim? I'll be getting a bit twitchy by then without my regular racing fix.

[MaxVeloce]

I do have the replay, so if you want watch yourself and decide...   TBH I didn't even realise it was you again the 2nd time Syd, I figured you were way back behind as I opted to keep going and see how the laptimes played out with my bent suspension and so on.

http://maxveloce.com/stuff/AC_221221-brands_hatch_gp.7z


Got to say I monkey throwing poop mad at the time, but watching that back now its just racing and $#!! happens...


And sorry to VVA, didn't intend to push you in T1, you just braked a bit more than I anticipated - which I guess is just the same as Syd did to me on Lap 2.   Congrats on the Win and to the rest of the finishers 

[KDiesel]

Any chance of a fun race next week Tim? I'll be getting a bit twitchy by then without my regular racing fix.

+1 here, let's go to Mosport and do pre-race with something stupid we haven't use yet or Quattro vs. Celica ST.

[Geoffers]

Good race but strangely rather disappointed to finish 4th.

Lost a place at the start to Tim but moved into 3rd when Syd & Max tangled & moved into 2nd a lap or so later when Tim ran wide at Paddock Hill. Pulled away from him thanks to having a faster car & had around 4s gap back to Watty after he got past Tim. The next 20 laps remained pretty static with VVA about 10s ahead & Watty around 3s behind. Then Watty started gaining pace & caught me & when I made an error at Westfields he went past, hoped to fight back but two corners later I had the first of several half spins, losing the rear turning into the corner.

The second half of the race was punctuated by several more of these errors & at one stage I was down to 5th behind GT, but he too made one or two errors & I was able to recover 4th place & pull away.

Congrats to VVA, Tim & Watty on the podium. 

[MaxVeloce]

Any chance of a fun race next week Tim? I'll be getting a bit twitchy by then without my regular racing fix.

+1 here, let's go to Mosport and do pre-race with something stupid we haven't use yet or Quattro vs. Celica ST.

Something stupid you say, how about the Ferrari F2004 

[Syd Drake]

I watched the replay. I probably braked slightly late going into t1 and almost hit you, managed to go wide and miss you, but then you kind of slid into my path and I collected you. I think it was a racing incident, but in retrospect, I should have been more patient. I wasn't trying for an overtake into T1, that is a difficult place to attempt a pass, but I also didn't know the relative top speed of the ferrari and porsche. Before this race I only drove the 917 at spa, and ferrari here. I didn't realize ferrari was so much faster in a straight line, and probably caught up too much too quickly on the front straight.

[goldtop]

Any chance of a fun race next week Tim? I'll be getting a bit twitchy by then without my regular racing fix.

+1 here, let's go to Mosport and do pre-race with something stupid we haven't use yet or Quattro vs. Celica ST.

Something stupid you say, how about the Ferrari F2004 

Or these....

https://www.f1classic.net/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=293

[KDiesel]

Any chance of a fun race next week Tim? I'll be getting a bit twitchy by then without my regular racing fix.

+1 here, let's go to Mosport and do pre-race with something stupid we haven't use yet or Quattro vs. Celica ST.

Something stupid you say, how about the Ferrari F2004 

When I say stupid, I mean slow, but not always..

[vva_avv]

Max, It was actually my idiotic mistake - wrong gear (2nd to the limit instead of early 3rd) and hit on brake because of rear starting sideways on cold tyres in that very demanding right-hander... My bad Max, i paid for it myself with yellow rear.

Generally very hard and very lonely race for me. Hoped on good fight with Max, but not this time.
Ferra is charming with her sensitiveness for setup. Trick: ride height HELPS!

[SimMadPaul]

Got tangled up in the 2nd lap incident and from there I ran 10th all the way to the flag. Car was a bit beaten up so couldn't get any fast laps out of it and it was a handful at certain parts of the lap. So much so I span too many times to count. I think I'll forget about this one. The GT40 was the wrong car to choose I hate this car . Maybe on a freer flowing track it maybe better but here it was joyless. Still only got to drive it 2 more times.

Well done to vva and the other podiums.

See you next time

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all