UKGTR Season 5 GT1 Sprint - Dubai (GP) - May 8

[Joss]

Well, that was certainly interesting!
Was unusually confident before the race, really up for it and thought I'd be on for a top 3 at least - how wrong was I!

Messed up in qualy where for the first run I made some mistakes, then on my last run, was up nearly 4 tenths, and.....started to run out of fuel!   Somehow managed to improve my time ever soo slightly despite the engine cutting on and off for the last two corners, much to the annoyance of Mark

Start was OK as for once, I was in a faster car than the one behind me - but straight away I was having trouble getting the front in. The Maserati's looked epic on turn in today, and Mark took great advantage, going round the outside of me   Good move  

A Ferrari then got past me (I've forgotton who - sorry  ), then he went off, I closed back on Mark and he slid off at the same corner, suddenly P4 and pushing and then I make a mistake at T1 and back to p5 arghhh

Then -  for anyone who fancies some comedy, replay 1200 onwards to see my race fall apart in 2 laps
Span myself, ran into a spun James, narrowly miss James after another spin, run into Kerr when I caught him slowing down for James's spin! It was all happening Down from P5 to P16 at one point!  

I was lucky to get a couple more spots back from mistakes of others. Sorry to Adam if my sudden cut across in T1 seemed evil, I saw you brake soo late in my rear view I thought you were going to run into me! So jumped to the apex to avoid you! lol
Good fair driving from Kerr too, think we both had a duff race buddy

Shame to wave goodbye to my skin and privateer status on a low note, but ah well. Exciting times ahead  

Congrats to the podium.

[Adam Parle]

Sorry to Adam if my sudden cut across in T1 seemed evil, I saw you brake soo late in my rear view I thought you were going to run into me! So jumped to the apex to avoid you! lol

I wondered if that was it ..... with the Maser I could brake at around the 240 mark but I didn't think I'd make up quite that much space!  That first sector was massive for me - the MC12 really was made for it.  You might be right though - I think there might have been contact had you not jinked a little .... thankfully we'll never know!

[LEUVEN]

Used a set up from team shark site and they were using soft front for a 22 lap stint and set up was good.
Then i was told soft's would not last. Stuck med's on last minute and they ruined car.

Sorry Kerr, if I would have had soft fronts on I would have finished the race on the rims as they only lasted 12 to 14 minutes for me.

I just noticed why my tyres were so bad....the middle of the tyre was 5-10 degrees colder than the sides  . Forgot to increase the pressure.

I think the only car that can match the F550's straightline speed is the Viper, as I was doing 178mph at the back straight, driving away from the Fezza's.

Yep with the ballast pack it has now got an even better Power to weight ratio.  

550 = 560BHP/Tonne - 666NM/Tonne
Viper = 586BHP/Tonne - 737NM/Tonne

Cue the stampeed to the Viper for the next race.  

[Truetom]

Well, all things have to happen once for the first time, I guess. I had contacts with others cars before. Even more than one in the same race. But never with the same driver.    That pesky Jure was on my ass tail half of the race and this shows how intense that racing was. Fortunately both contacts were minor - at the first I lost some places (which I would have lost anyway - my setup was ) and at the second I was able to catch the rear before it came over to the front.    What is it with the 24/7 team - this looks like a second (unsuccesful  ) asassinantion attempt.     You owe me ANOTHER beer, Jure!    Anyway, the tyres showed its own when Jure pushed the throttle too much and he spun. Shark was too far ahead, about 1,5 seconds, for the last 3 laps, so I settled and finished behind him.

I had a great view onto the battle between Shark and Adam Parle and I must say I'm quite satisfied with the progress of the Legends whipper-snapper. He was in front for far longer than I managed but that might also be due to Adams (insert word  ) character.    Well done, buddy!    Was looking great the way you and Sharkie boy handled that oversteary jerking while accelerating outta slow corners. 

And MJ seemed to find his pace (finaly  ) he had in GTR1.    Nice result as well. 

Somebody has to hold a rear guard and this time the honor duty was for me and Bernie. 

Good fun! 

TT

[Adam Parle]

I had a great view onto the battle between Shark and Adam Parle and I must say I'm quite satisfied with the progress of the Legends whipper-snapper. He was in front for far longer than I managed but that might also be due to Adams (insert word  ) character.    Well done, buddy!    Was looking great the way you and Sharkie boy handled that oversteary jerking while accelerating outta slow corners. 

Cheers TT - I was really enjoying making that Maser as fat as possible with Sharks Lambo swarming around the back of my car.


But as for rear guard action ..... that honour still fell to me in 12th, with the rest of you Legends in 4th, 9th and 10th.

[Jure]

I L-O-V-E this track. 

First of all, apologies to Tom for both stupidities on my part (I've just finished reporting myself in incident report board  ). BTW, Masser had a turn-in problem in slow corners, right? (Generally speaking, not just during our mishaps, same goes for rest of MC12s out there).

Qualy was so-so, but P7 was higher then I expected anyway although I did not put in a cool lap.

Anyway, great track, great racing, my setup was fairly good - I put on med/med in last second and it worked, except for massive understeer in what was my best sector using soft/med - that would be sector 1, of course.

Had a great race pace (high 1.53 was doable... but... well... you know... traffic... spins.... and stuff  ), enjoyed our private little battle with Tom, after our first spin we both fell waaay back then climbed up the ladder while racing each other like crazy (I can't tell you enough how angry I was for what I did )

If you guys want to see something funny, check 2035s to see how NOT to salvage out of a spin. Ruined my race - completely . Serves me well, I deserved it.

Looking forward to Endurance race, it'll be a grrrrrrrrrrreat. 

Congrats to aliens and... rest of us. 

[Truetom]

First of all, apologies to Tom for both stupidities on my part (I've just finished reporting myself in incident report board  ).

Np Jure, at close racing this happens. I was just a bit surprised to find you at the rear both times - at the time I only saw a 24/7 team car, didn't know who it was. 

BTW, Masser had a turn-in problem in slow corners, right? (Generally speaking, not just during our mishaps, same goes for rest of MC12s out there).

I had understeer in slow corners and oversteer in fast corners.    How stupid can a man be to set it like that and go race. 

TT

[Paul Cowan]

After having missed the last two races I was looking forward to this one.

I was praccing on the server with Jure before the race when I got a CTD. Found out it was my system overheating and couldn't cure it yesterday evening, so had to abandon joining.

[Kerr]

  Using the grunt from the fezza I made it up behind Kerr and someone else fighting it out into the last corner.  I got such a run we ended up 3-wide going into T1, and I managed to squeeze past both on the inside (sorry if that was a slightly hasty move but thanks for leaving room ).

I struggled really badly with the last corner and on too many occasions people had a run on me. I caught you coming and the speed you were approaching, I thought you were going straight on. I fully expected you to go past me and hit Buckie who was outside me. It looked like your Ferrari had some amount of brakes and grip as you slowed right down and managed to hold a really tight line.

 Can't remember anyone coming from so far back to overtake under braking. Lucky I spotted you coming as normally I would have assumed I had more than enough space.

Good fair driving from Kerr too, think we both had a duff race buddy

Shame to wave goodbye to my skin and privateer status on a low note, but ah well. Exciting times ahead  

Congrats to the podium.

 It really was not happening for me at all, new track and a car handling poorly. After yet another mistake out last corner you had the run and made the pass. I'm never going to let anyone past easily, but nor am I going to cross someone path to block.

 It ended up a bit of a case of after you for the first few bends, both of us sacrificing speed to allow space.

Used a set up from team shark site and they were using soft front for a 22 lap stint and set up was good.
Then i was told soft's would not last. Stuck med's on last minute and they ruined car.

Sorry Kerr, if I would have had soft fronts on I would have finished the race on the rims as they only lasted 12 to 14 minutes for me.

It's my fault as not put the practice in that I so badly required. It was a bum steer though. Tried the set up today and got a warning with 4 minutes to go that tyres were worn, but car still felt really good.

 Then I had a shot in the Maserati and was about a second a lap quicker. I can drive it really quickly but find it reacts badly to touching kerbs.

 Decision, decisions for Sunday

[Jure]

Decision, decisions for Sunday

Oh, that's simple - don't race, I need to make up the points margin.