UKGTR Season 5 Endurance Masters - Magny-Cours (GP) - Jul 15

[purdie]

it ran out just as i crossed the line! the lap chart says i finished 9th too so it must just put you back when you run out of fuel... :'(


lol....it was a stupid school boy error anyway! i even drove the last lap mainly in 6th!!! to finish it!!! looolll 

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Unless it classes non finishers at the back of the pack who finished the same amount of laps behind

It does - sadly GTR2/GTL don't write the race time in the export if you DNF.

I soon caught Psuedo and was shocked to see that Gizmo was still 55 seconds ahead.  So I set about catching him.  It took me all race but I eventually got past with a couple of minutes to spare.  Sorry for the small taps DG, I don't think they caused you too much trouble, but contact is contact and it shouldn't have happened.

No worries - it was good to have somebody to battle with at the end there. I did pretty much what Shark did and pitted to change from intermediates, which were actually aquaplaning after a few minutes (pass by a bl**dy BMW - the shame! ), to hard wets, and a full tank. Turned out I could make it to the end without a splash and dash, but the tyres were totally shot (rear wear was 20+) with 15 to go and it was all I could do to keep it out of the barriers.

Most amused to be running at the same speed as Paul968's Saleen during the last few laps.

Had I started on hard wets I might have got second in class but it was not to be. In the end I was quite pleased to just finish.

Apologies to PRibeiro for spinning in front of him during the last few minutes of qually - normally I'd hit escape but I didn't have time to come back out from the pits and tried to back up out of the way quick enough to let the approaching cars go past and then get a lap in on slicks.

Also apologies to those who I spun in front of on my in lap during the race; I was aquaplaning all over the place and when I brushed the throttle open out of Lycee heading for the pits it just looped on me.

[Kerr]

Did you find the Viper a handful Dave?

I have never practiced in the rain which is daft and I was caught out again. Really nice conditions in practice server prior to the race and then a downpour throughout all sessions.

No doubt see some nice drifting from me but other than that I was racing myself. Never made too many mistakes of any note. I think taking it slowly was the key.

Other than hounding Darren for the first few laps I can't remember any good action.

Must have been good at the front at times. the top three passed me at one stage with nothing to spare between them.

[Paul968]

I wasn't expecting much at all coming into this one. I've never really 'got' Magny Cours, especially in GT1, and my limited pre race practice just showed that to be true - well off the pace from the sprint. When it rained I was gobsmacked as the forecast had been brilliant all weekend, but I wasn't complaining as it gave me more of a chance - I'm not exactly a 'rainmeister' but it is such a great leveler that almost everyone is in with a shout.

Qual 2 was frustrating - I couldn't find tyres that would give me the grip needed for a shot at pole and also not reach over 300F within 2 laps! 5th was disappointing but the race was likely to be more important. Zacari and I started behind Robert M, who was clearly struggling. We both found a way past quite quickly, and before long Ruskus was also under pressure. After we got past him I saw the gap grow suddenly and assumed he'd pitted for tyres. Then we settled into a long yo-yo battle, with Zacari always within a few seconds and often less than one. I could never find a way past though as we both seemed to make mistakes at crucial moments. In the end I think his tyres lasted a bit better than mine (soft fronts, hard rears) and the gap grew to 7 seconds or so. With the reduced rate of fuel being used I stayed out longer than normal in case the conditions changed and pitted around the 50 minute mark. I put hard wets on the front and back and reduced the fuel, but all this lost me time, in addition to the slower laps at the end of the stint with wrecked tyres. When I came out I'd lost the place to Ruskus (great driving to catch up btw - not sure how you managed such a quick stop?) and was 4th, and I knew that was probably that unless someone messed up. Then I realised that I'd reduced the fuel a bit TOO much, and I wasn't going to get home without slowing down a lot. Luckliy I had nearly a lap on the next car, so I was cruising round for the last 20 minutes conserving fuel (hence the situation with Dave, as I overtook him and then almost let him back past again  ). I managed it in the end, but only had 0.7 gallons left as I crossed the line   With Ruskus blowing his engine that meant 3rd place, which I'm perfectly happy with. Had I pitted earlier I might have stayed ahead of Ruskus, but it didn't matter in the end anyway. Congrats to Zacari who was just too good tonight, to Simon for another inventive NGT win and to Kerr in the Viper - not sure I would have wanted to drive the CC on a wet track.  

2nd place in GT1 is looking really tight, with all to play for in the final race at Imola. Another wet one perhaps?  

  

[Kerr]

thanks Paul, I never wanted to drive the Viper on the dry track let alone the wet track, but It was the common choice for drivers and too fast for the 911 cup and BMW in the dry.

I was hoping that the rain would stop and have a dry race. When it was not looking likely I was considering leaving and starting at the back with the 911 cup.

It turned out the viper was better with heavy fuel load than in qualifying set up.

Thought I did quite well considering. Finished 10th or 11th depending what the ruling is on Purdie and that is not bad in the American shed.

That was only my second wet race and it was tough again.

I better try and develop a wet set up

[tarec]

congraulations t teh winner, and all that finished the race.

Qualify: Not bad, the tack was wet and started to be dry at the end of qualify

Race: I chouse Intermediat tyres, and that was a enormous mistake, i go to pits and change to hard Wet, i forced and the erros ocurred, at the end i go again to the pits and changed to Soft Wet, and recover 2 positions, im aplly for the result, i think that was mi first time that i finished a wet race.

Thx all for this great time

[Zacari]

What a thrilling race!  I think that's the wettest race I've been in, certainly not what I was expecting.  I decided to take the Lister before I knew about the weather, or I'd have probably stuck with the 550 which I've raced in the wet before!  Still, it turned out pretty well

I had a basic setup already sorted, so I softened the car up a bit to cope with the wet weather, and I managed to hook up a pretty good lap to get 4th on the grid.  The number of choices for a race strategy were endless! I decided on hard wets all round, and enough fuel for 50 mins so I had a little leeway during the race if the weather turned.

At the start I was cautious, first priority learning where the grip was at.  For the first 20 mins or so, hard wets seemed to be the right tyre.  I caught Robert fairly fast and managed to get past under acceleration out of the hairpin, and did a similar thing to JR a few laps later- but only becuase he was on inters at the time   The gap to Backo stayed at around 8 seconds for the first half of the race, it seemed to get gradually wetter to the point that my hard wets were a little cold, and the car was sliding quite a bit.  After around 35 mins, I managed to find the grip a little more and started to close the gap, which was only a second as Backo came into the pits.

At that point I had 4 laps of fuel left, so I went as hard as I dared and pitted.  The track seemed to have come back to the hard wets again, so I stuck with a new set of 'em and I was on my way.  I came out in 3rd; about 2 seconds ahead of Backo, who was putting in some very fast laps on his new tyres!  A lap or two later I saw Jeff in the pits, and I assumed he would be there for a while- only to see him come out only just behind Backo that must have been some pace you were running to manage that after 2 stops!  Paul also pitted which left myself in the lead and the top-3 covered by about 4 seconds

Initially JR and backo held each-other up a little bit, but Backo still closed right onto my tail for a couple of laps and I was fortunate to be just enough ahead into the hairpin not to be pounced on by the fezza.  A couple of laps later and it was Jeff right on my tail, the gap varying from 0.3 to 0.9 seconds at the start/finish line for a fair few laps.  My saviour was Jeffs misfortune- his engine letting go with 8 laps left, and it left me with a good enough lead not to be troubled again, (exept by the weather, which was a constant battle ).

I must say the backmarkers were exceptionally good tonight especially given the conditions!  Grats to Simon on the NGT win, and to Backo and Jeff for the close racing

Also well done to Jon for battling back to 4th after starting on slicks I think?!!  Another 'Junior' result like that at Imola and we can wrestle the team title away from those eevil blue sharks

[Truetom]

I will need to look more into the wet setups. I created a really good asimetric DRY setup, about two hours went into this, lol.     Also, I looked at the weather for Nevers, France and it said 33'C, dry, no chance of rain - that was about 6 pm at the time.  I think Daves clever weather file might be just a bit too clever.   
Anyway, when I saw rain in practice sessions I started to create a wet setup on the spot, used ALL the sessions for it and didn't even bother with a qualy. All times were set with race setup. I guess Bernie was in a similar position as we were last. Any setup i made had the same flaw - rear tyres were 150'C after two laps.     So in the countdown to race I set some radical settings, lowered arbs and front springs, stiffened rear springs and increased the wing. Said, what the heck, lets drive. It proved to be the right path but it lacked refinement and my fronts were now too cold. Also, I selected intermediates at the start and it was the right choice for starting conditions. Then the raining intensified and I had to pit for hard wets. The car was barely driveable and after I struggled to hold my line on the big straight while overtaking an NGT I decided the car is too dangerous to drive. Wondering MC12 is just not suited for wet conditions, or I can't set it. When I had a spin and stopped in the sand I wasn't motivated to go on and decided to retire after some 30 minutes of racing. S5 is to be forgotten ASAP and I'll be looking for another car in S6 GT1.   
Well done to all who finished and to winner, of course. 

TT   

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Did you find the Viper a handful Dave?

Not 'arf! I wasn't expecting a wet race at all and turned up assuming my previous dry VCC setup would work okay; I was in so much of a rush trying to ensure a reasonable qualifying position in GT3 I completely forgot about basic stuff like increasing the rear wing and making the diff stiffer.

The real mistake was starting on inters though - no grip at all. When it said damp and light rain before the race I assumed it would be like the end of qualifying but it was raining a lot harder a lot sooner than I anticipated and I lost bucketloads of time.

The weather:

Code:

 Race
 {
  Conditions=71.00
  OnPathWetness=28.23
  OffPathWetness=28.23
  AmbientTemp=27.00
  TrackTemp=20.00
  Minute=11.00
  {
   Conditions=82.00
   AmbientTemp=29.00
  }
  Minute=25.00
  {
   Conditions=95.00
   AmbientTemp=27.00
  }
  Minute=44.00
  {
   Conditions=93.00
   AmbientTemp=28.00
  }
  Minute=61.00
  {
   Conditions=93.00
   AmbientTemp=30.00
  }
  Minute=70.00
  {
   Conditions=79.00
   AmbientTemp=34.00
  }
 }
}

So moderate rain, soon turning to virtual monsoon conditions, easing off a little towards the end.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I will need to look more into the wet setups. I created a really good asimetric DRY setup, about two hours went into this, lol.     Also, I looked at the weather for Nevers, France and it said 33'C, dry, no chance of rain - that was about 6 pm at the time.  I think Daves clever weather file might be just a bit too clever.   

Only the initial conditions are seeded from the real world; after that it's random.

[Truetom]

Dave - you're a programmer. I'm just a driver.    Not meant to be too critical, I find the wet weather a pleasant change in the routine. Just that I didn't expect it to be rainy yesterday and too much time was put into making the dry setup which now I feel was futile - though it was not as it can be used at another occasion.   
Back to practice again, with a wet settings for Imola. 

TT

[Simon Gymer]

I think there are some minor issues with the weather generation that may need to be looked at. Despite heavy rain conditions the track and ambient temperature were far too hot. 38 degrees track and 34-36 degrees ambient wouldn't happen in France in heavy rain, the ambient would definately take a dive in that much rain. Perhaps a little tweaking on the temperature values according to the current conditions?

Kinda not surprised Jeff's engine blew in that heat, I had my 360 on full vent and shifting below the red line for nearly the entire race and it was in the green which should not happen in those conditions, it should have been blue (cold).

[Nevski]

Okay, I'm really pissed off with wasting hours of my valuable time building killer setups, only to find I can't even take part in the races. So, in future it would be much better if the weather file was generated based on the real weather a week in advance of the event, and stated in the initial race announcement so people know if it is going to be a wet race and can either build the correct setup for the conditions, or in my case not bother wasting any time if its going to be wet. Until this happens, I'm not going to waste any more of my time with these GT1 races.

[popabawa]

That's a bit unfair Nevski, the rules around the weather are very clear, everyone should have been aware of the possibility of a wet race.

[Jeffrey]

I drove on intermediates for around 9 laps. Grip was next to none, so when I put soft wets on, I had grip all of a sudden and the car felt good. I started with 100L of fuel and when I pitted in I had about 63L left and topped it to 100L again. So 37L plus new tires didn't take too long.
After that I was 2-3s a lap quicker than anybody else, for around 15 laps. So that kinda removed the loss of the first pitstop, but I still had a big gap towards the front runners. But when they pitted they needed new tires and around 80L. My 2nd pitstop was a taking from 35L to 65L of fuel and hard wets. Again a quick stop which left me behind the first 2.
When it happened I was very surprised, as I didn't expect to be that much quicker in racepace, but it was great it happened, as that shows: never give up hope  .
Stupid mistake from me to blow up the engine, I shoudl have known to lower the revs a bit in wetraces.