UKGTR Season 5 GT2/GTC Sprint - Imola - Jul 24

[Jeffrey]

Unofficial Lapchart

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

No probs TT.....I have yet to learn to keep better control of my car when aproaching an incident....PANIC sets in and off I go...not your fault at all

That strongly suggests that you're overdriving - if you make a concious effort to drive very slightly slower and not try to push to 100%, and instead leave yourself a little capacity to play with, you should find things become much easier; you'll be smoother, safer, a lot more consistent, and probably suddenly find yourself going quicker too.

[Simon Gymer]

Well done to KerbTrawlers for sneakily edging us out of the GTC team championship. I felt sure Pete and myself had done just enough to keep you behind but with the win from Paul and strong showing from SBG you just scraped the extra point to take the team championship. Congratulations.

*Must have a word with Gizmo about some dodgy scoring code  *

Sorry for running into ya Simon, when you were waitin for a 360....to busy going sideways to notice ya  , then very next corner someone turns in on me when i have no chance of avoiding a collision and round we both went again, that was pretty much what killed me tyres i think  

No probs, I'm absolutely sure there wasn't much the approaching field could have done. After some early door rubbing with Bernie I out-broke myself into one of the left handers causing me to get very close to Bernie, too close. I thought I'd just managed to save myself but the last inch my front touched him and he went round. He span right in front on the racing line so I had nowhere to go anyway, waited for him to spin it round and waited for him to get going first. Sorry about that Bernie, I thought I'd just managed to avoid the collision. Cause I had to wait on the racing line this meant I was in a dangerous position for everyone coming behind and as I fumbled to get the car going again it wasn't quite quick enough as I saw people taking avoiding action behind. Sorry about that, really split second decisions and in hindsight I should have tried to maneover around Bernie off-line and then let him by or waited for him.

A few laps after that and about half way through my car just went to pot. No idea why really. Tyres were wearing, but not that much and it was horrible to drive a miserable feeling car for the last 15-20 minutes. I had no spirit in me to push the car as everytime I did it just wouldn't do the things I was asking of it. Saw TT was catching me hand over fist and was preparing to just flash him through so bad was my pace, but I thought he'd prefer it if I ate sand instead and went off to make his pass easy. Was very odd as I was keeping pace with TT at the start, so why the car went so bad I don't know.

Time for a change again next season I think. Depending on what happens with ballasts and classes I will choose a different car to drive. Considering the TVR had an extar 25kg+ I don't really see why it and the Mosler can't run in the GT2 class with the right ballasts. It may not still be as quick but the faster drivers can make them competitive.

[ginsters sponsored]

Considering the TVR had an extar 25kg+ I don't really see why it and the Mosler can't run in the GT2 class with the right ballasts. It may not still be as quick but the faster drivers can make them competitive.

I think it would be a shame to ballast those cars into GT2. Its been fun driving in GTC partly because of the seperate championship battle and that championship wouldn't be much fun with just vertigo vs morgan only. I would vote that they remain in GTC with the proviso that the ballast is tweaked to make them more even, if possible.

Be rude not to congratulate Nevski and Ruskus for their fine driving, and our kid Mo for finishing runner up in amongst the big boys

[Paul968]

Another good battle with the midfield GT2s, first with PRibeiro and then with Mark. My only chance against PRibeiro's Turbo was to get a gap through the corners, but he had a bit of a lunge into Piratella, pushed me sideways and then backed off to avoid taking the place (thank you). Unfortunately I didn't know where he was, so stayed right all the way through the aqua minerale complex in case he was alongside. This compromised my speed through aqua minerale itself and I was helpless against the Turbo's power up the hill. I hassled him for a while but he slowly eased away while the 360 of MJ closed in gradually from behind. Several laps of defensive driving (good fun Mark  ) ended with a nice clean pass into Piratella (and also meant I lost a place to Mark Mcclean), after which I just had to try and stay close and hope for a mistake. Near the end my wish almost came true as I got alongside into Piratella after Mark went off, but it was always going to be marginal with the 360's advantage in the corners so I didn't push it too hard. We drove round the corner side by side and he just kept the place, and things stayed like that to the end.

Nice to pip the Sharks to the CTC team championships, thanks to a strong showing from Ginsters 
Not sure what you mean about the scoring Simon - its perfect!

Shame not to see Nev there last night, but congrats to him on a well deserved GTC championship. Also to Ruskas and Mo, who had already wrapped up 1st and 2nd in GT2. Congrats to Backo for a dominant win in the Beemer.

Like you Simon I found the car changed markedly by mid race, even though the tyres were not that worn. Looks like it didn't affect me as badly as you though as my pace only dropped a bit, but it made the car much harder to hussle in a battle with other cars.

I wouldn't like to see the Mosler and TVR go up. With the RS and Modena coming down there should be a wider choice in GTC next season, although this will mean that the Morgan will not really be competitive (but then it never really was IMO).

Btw Simon, it's +15 kg for the TVR isn't it?

[Truetom]

Saw TT was catching me hand over fist and was preparing to just flash him through so bad was my pace, but I thought he'd prefer it if I ate sand instead and went off to make his pass easy. Was very odd as I was keeping pace with TT at the start, so why the car went so bad I don't know.

No, Sharkie, I didn't want to have an easy pass.    You are one of the few drivers here I trust with close racing and only hard victory is the one to remember.    I remember a discussion here after GT1 Sprint in Oschersleben where you said you gotta think of a smart move if you can't pass a driver/car right away. I was already thinking about the smart moves when I saw you spin.  
But I also agree that it's sometimes wiser or even more fair (choose one or niether   ) if you let by a driver who is considerably faster. When I close to such a slower driver I remember thinking: "Damn! All those in front are gonna drive ahead if I don't pass quickly." Maybe unfair, but a driver with 2 sec slower times per lap is an obstacle, not an opponent. That's the reason I sometimes don't fight for position.     But not very many times.  

TT

[psuedo]

That strongly suggests that you're overdriving - if you make a concious effort to drive very slightly slower and not try to push to 100%, and instead leave yourself a little capacity to play with, you should find things become much easier; you'll be smoother, safer, a lot more consistent, and probably suddenly find yourself going quicker too.

Thanks for the advice Dave...its all true ...I do drive a lot smoother and consistently when practicing etc but as soon as those lights go green some Alien (not the same type usually associated here) force takes over and hours of practice go to pot and I start flinging the car allover the place ...its difficult to practice 'racing' offline as Simbin's AI is far too heavily balanced towards the A with very little I and it just becomes an exercise in frustration control tecniques. And as I am normally at the back of the field here, I haven't yet had much opportunity to learn yet.

Back to school for me then before S6.

Big congratulations to Reign Man too on holding on to 2nd place in the GTC.....just 3 points 

[popabawa]

its difficult to practice 'racing' offline as Simbin's AI is far too heavily balanced towards the A with very little I and it just becomes an exercise in frustration control tecniques.

There's no substitute for racing against quality SRouk opposition but the AI is better than nothing (and certainly better than a public server!), you can definitely benefit from driving in traffic against the AI, don't discount it totally.

[Truetom]

Yea, I usualy start from the back and see how much time I need to come to the first place. Driving against the "AI"  is a great test for tyres and fuel consumption  - frustration at having to make sudden moves to avoid a contact gives similar strain on tyres as in on-line close racing.    Jokes aside - I usualy go for a portion of off-line race with full numbers. AI on 120%, highest aggression. If you're first after 20 minutes you have a chance to get into top 5. No spins on-line, of course. 

TT 

[pribeiro]

Another good battle with the midfield GT2s, first with PRibeiro and then with Mark. My only chance against PRibeiro's Turbo was to get a gap through the corners, but he had a bit of a lunge into Piratella, pushed me sideways and then backed off to avoid taking the place (thank you).

Sorry, for that tap Paul  And thank you for the fair, some minutes, batlle

Congratulations Ruskus and Team Shark for your GT2 championship win
Aswell for Nevski and Team Kerb Crawlers for the GTC champ 

Well done to all

Cheers

[JonM_uk]

I had a decent enough race, only made a couple of errors but even a perfect race I wouldn't have caught BACKO. Had an interesting little fight with Baracus. His 360 looked a little unstable at times but he managed to control it well. We overtook each other a couple of times through mistakes by  the other and I think Baracus got a little too close braking for the first chicane and locked up(I think), he dropped back and that was the last of the action for me in the race. It was just a case of following Backo at about 9s back for the rest of the race. Nice race all. Grats to BACKO on the win, to Ruskus and Nev for the drivers Champs and the Kerbies and the Shark Snr for the Team titles

[mo]

Race went well for me too. Got a bit of a shock on the warmup lap when my trackir pod came unstuck and fell off the top of the monitor. This meant I was looking at the sky for a second and when it centered again I was heading straight for Brian's GT3. Cant believe I missed everyone after checking the replay and looking at all the sudden veering I did from side to side, on and off the track.
Anyway just glad it didn't happen during the race, where I started in 4th with a flying Brian Kerr on my tail lap after lap. Tried to pull away and managed to build up a small cushion but always felt that if I made one mistake Brian would be right there with me again.

The car felt very loose coming into Minerale and on several occasions I had to apply op lock which through me out wide onto the white asphalt and eventually got me a stop/go. After pitting I rejoined behind Baracus and we had a good chase for the last couple of laps.

Great racing and as always thanks to Dave, Picnic, Simon and the staff for all the hard work during the season

Grats to Backo Paul on the class wins and a big congrats to my teamies who snatched the GTC team champ last night by 1 whole point.
Grats also to Nev on the GTC class and to Ruskus on the overall championship, well deserved m8 your pace and consistancy are totally mind blowing. I've really enjoyed the challenge of trying (in vain) to catch you on the odd occasion where you were in sight It definitley helped me raise my game a bit and I really feel its the best season I've driven yet.

[Kerr]

My Porsche felt very loose too, I had no confidence in it whatsoever.

I knew it could go faster but knew fine well if I did push harder around the 3 bends I knew I was dropping back at, I would end up spinning it and losing even more time.

It was really a race about numbers.

Like Dave said earlier sometimes trying too hard is the problem. I just found a safe pace and maintained it without doing anything daft.

More than happy with 3rd.

I'm not much of a GT2 driver but hopefully I can get more practice in and take part in more races next season.

I also found my new steering wheel set up and car set ups helping greatly too. The other couple of races I have done in the 911 I have managed to have very high wear on medium fronts, yet last night went with soft fronts and they were fine.

 I guess all the Porsche driver may have found out the car was very tail happy last night with the dips in the road which I found a struggle.

See you in fun races and if not next season

[Reign Man]

The perfect way to end a disappointing season.  A disco! 

I hope it didn't cause you any problems Reign.

No problem Darren, I think I went straight through your car!. It's a real shame as I was starting to inch my way closer to you.

As for the race, I had fun in the first half, there was plenty of action and at one point had 4 faster cars behind me led by TT then SBG, Zacari and Picnic  ...I was doing a pretty good job of holding them up until I looked in the mirror when I should have been braking. Oh well!

For the last half I set myself the target of trying to gain on or at least maintain the 10 second gap to Picnic. I failed. 

My rear end was all over the place in the race. I had better sort that our for the Masters Enduro.

Thanks to all Moderators for setting things up and the rest of you for some great racing. Roll on Season 6!

RM

[baracus250gt]

Sorry only just got around to writing luvvies.

I think I'm actually getting a feel for these modern GT cars now
There's such a fine line between using all the tyres will give you without damaging them and without over driving - and going off the track in some way, but I'm getting to see what the car wants now.

I keep having really good first half of race, then I try to push a bit too much and cack up - have a word with myself - and then have a good end of race. Imolas mad little chicane tricked me a couple of times which blew my confidence but then I get my eye locked in again and its fine.

Looking forward to next season!

Anyone know if you can get a split timer in the 360 or 575? It only gives me that in the 550!