UKGTR Season 6 Lower Sprint - Adria - Oct 2

[Zacari]

Not a bad race that, much better than I was expecting in the TVR.

Quali was a PB on my first flying lap, ended up 8th but 3rd in class.  The pace lap was again pretty fast, with barely any time even to get the limiter on!  And I though CJ's one was fast don't know how much worse it must have been further down the grid.

Can't remember much about the race, other than attempting to chase down Paul but never getting closer than around 3-4 seconds, and having close battles with Baracus, Adam and TT, (sometimes VERY close! ).  Had some fun sliding the car around, at one point I was on full opposite lock around T1, narrowly avoiding a spin and I ended up taking some very unusual lines through corners- the TVR had some quite evil turn-in understeer but would swing out on exit with no problems atall

Grats to Mark and BACKO for class wins

[stnasky]

Thought I was on for pole only to watch mark steal it on the very last second of qualifying.   I thought Mark had fallen asleep at the start as he forgot to go. After a close lap or two, mark ran wide allowing me the chance to make a pass. I could not put the power down in fear of running him off the track and this allowed him to keep inside line for next bend. Had to leave mark room and it also allowed backo the get past.

Yes Brian i did fall asleep at the line, not used to being at the front of a ukgtr grid i couldnt see the lights so i was going by the clock on the dash and yes i took a moment for me to realize that the timer was already started .

But anyway on lap 1 T2 i locked up big time and ran wide (it wouldnt be the last time i did that too), i knew Kerr would be sniffing blood so i kept tight to the inside for my defense.   Backo surprised me with his pace in the morgan but i felt comfortable knowing i had the legs on the straights.  In fairness to Backo he kept me honest for at least 20 mins but then i got a bit of a gap and the race was quiet from then on.
 
Congrats to Backo for GTC win and Thanks to the Guys who let me by without any hassle

I might take a GTC car next time out.

Cheers Mark

[Paul968]

Quite satisfied with that after the Monza debacle. Qual was hard because of the traffic, although I doubt I could have beaten Backo's great time anyway. In the race I was putting pressure on TT, who went wide at T1 after a few laps and let me past. I was then chasing Teamie Paul R as TT dropped back, but he never gave me a sniff. After a while we caught up with Kerr, and Paul was clearly finding out how hard it is to pass at Adria. Our little train continued on for many laps until I made a small mistake near the end and dropped back a couple of seconds. It was then a case of backing off a bit and getting to the finish, with Zacari far enough behind not to be a problem.

Backo was in a class of his own in GTC and deserved the class win - very impressive. Mark was also well clear in GT2 so congrats to him. Big thumbs up for Paul R, who drove a faultless race for a well deserved 2nd place in GT2, which puts the Kerbies on the top of the pile in class and Paul in the lead for the driver championship

Still don't like the track for racing. Passing is only on if you have a big advantage or the car in front makes a mistake.

[BACKO]

Was amazing race here again, slower cars are more suitable for me,I think.I qualified like 3'th,very happy.The race start ok,after some  Kerr's mistake I took  2'th position then I  started  push Stnasky.I expected some bigger mistake form him,but nothing happend.My tyres was gone quite quick so last 10 min I slow down.I finished  2'th but I brought GTC victory for PSEUDOS Team!!!  
I really enjoyed this race!Well done podium both class.

[Eddie Meyer]

untill I tagged him in the hairpin....Sorry Eddie.
I new I was quicker than you through there and tried to cut in to your inside to get a run up the straight but just caught the curb on the apex which bounced me into you.

No worries Psuedo. I made a big mistake and changed gearing for qualy and the race and it took me too long to adapt to the changed handling. Quite often I downshifted to neutral instead of 1st and ended up with almost no speed in the middle of a corner. And it happened again when you tapped me. I didn't expect you to wait as I felt it wasn't really your fault. Thanks anyway

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I think its crazy to not have warmups, not everyone has the luxury of hours of testing and practise for each track. I often dont even get home until just before 1st practise and so often the warmup is the only time i might get to do a quick lap with race fuel etc onboard and quickly check my tyre temps etc with a flying lap. Not only that but its often handy to quickly do any 'real life' stuff whether it be grabbing a glass of water or going to the khazi ! on enduro nights
We're getting less and less practise session time and now no warmup either 

As Kerr says, I always said we would get rid of the warmups once the ballast process was stable. It's bad enough having to sit around for 2 minutes at the start of the race whilst half the field faffs around - an extra 5 minutes of dead time is a waste.

Now, I shouldn't have changed the times at such a late stage yesterday, and having done so I should've remembered to announce it during qualifying too, and for that I apologise.

But be realistic - a 5 minute warmup is not enough time to check race tyre, water and oil temperatures properly, it takes that long just to warm the tyres up properly.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Still don't like the track for racing. Passing is only on if you have a big advantage or the car in front makes a mistake.

It's probably a lot harder at the sharp end, but back in the midfield, the tricky nature of the track, especially the kinky braking zones, was great for producing those mistakes.

ps. No, Mo, I haven't forgotten the great scrap I had with you either. But I knew that sooner or later you'd slither past, whereas Adam I thought I could hold off.

[Adam Parle]

Awesome race for me - couldn't quite stay with Shark early on but made up for it with a great battle with Adam's M3, which should've slipped by when I had a slide coming out of the final turn, but I used a Jedi mind trick on him to make him go straight off in turn 1.

Yeah - good stuff at the end there Dave.  The M3 was all over the shop by then - I was really struggling with the tyres.  I'd had a few lapses in concentration to lose time and let you by, but it was a rookie error going straight on at T1 after your mistake.  It was reminiscent of S4's enduros where I'd be catching you up after the pit stop, the M3 having to take on a swimming pools worth of fuel whilst the Z did a stop and go.  Don't expect to get so close to me at Spa next race .

[Simon Gymer]

Sorry for the earlier sarcasm, being a bit ratty at the moment (must be that time of month ).

A very dull race. Hated driving the track as it's so dull and with no battles I was bored by the end when Mo came up to pass me for position I just figured 2 minutes to go why bother racing him, he's in a different class anyway and flashed him through as I was just going through the motions to get to the end by then. Hairpins just don't do it for me, I prefer corners that involve something, something, anything.

One suggestion for the next race here is that I think the pit limiter needs to come on earlier on the warmup lap for the next races as the back of the field barely managed to bunch up before they got going. Might be worth mentioning in the race announcements so that whoever the pole sitter is can slow down a bit earlier.

[psuedo]

One suggestion for the next race here is that I think the pit limiter needs to come on earlier on the warmup lap for the next races as the back of the field barely managed to bunch up before they got going. Might be worth mentioning in the race announcements so that whoever the pole sitter is can slow down a bit earlier.

Good idea. I must admit I didn't get to use my limiter before the start last night, by the time I made the attempt to close up after the last turn it was too late and everyone was racing. I would assume it was the same for the couple of drivers behind me too.

[Mark J]

okay got the 'day after' calmness now.
 I was already having a very bad day upto missing the race start because the sessions had changed ! That was the icing on the proverbial cake to send me into orbit 

Although i dont like the idea of missing a warmup, to me it smacks of arcadey GTL, diving straight into the race from qually, i understand it helps someone like Brian to race because of his nightshift.
Surely we need to have a warmup in enduro though where we use variable weather? (not that it ever seems to rain in virtual land    ) but we at least see big variations in temperature and i like doing a quick couple of warm up laps to get a feel for the heavier car under cold brakes and med tyres just before the race. Its all part of the immersion for me personally and assume a few others?
Glad to see the back of Adria really, not overly fond of it though it made for good close racing. I also had two CTD's in both our races there (during qually), something that never normally happens with my rock solid connection.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Surely we need to have a warmup in enduro though where we use variable weather? (not that it ever seems to rain in virtual land    )

The warmup session's weather might not bear any resemblence to that of the race, though - it'll only be related as closely to the race conditions as the end of qually will be without the session.

[Paul Richards]

Hard work racing around here again but great fun last night. Qualifying went ok and was pleased to start 4th. Was on a quicker lap at the end I think (no motec in the 360) but dropped it in the second to last corner.

Race start was ok. TT was attacking in the opening laps but teamie Paul was right behind him giving him hassle. This allowed me to pull away a bit before Paul got by. All the time I was losing ground to the front 3. Paul then got by and chased me with his quick pace again in the RS. My car was getting quicker and I was able to hold him off. Brian then had a moment and appreared in front of me so I attacked. His car looked a little unsteady in places and I got close a couple of times but not enough to make a move. It was great to race so close for so many laps and all the time I had to keep one eye on Paul in the mirrors until he dropped back a bit in the final stages. My car was great right up to the end so I was able to keep the pressure on Brian. On the final lap (not that I knew it at the time without Motec) Brian had a big slide on exit of the second left and dissappeared from my view. I kept right as I wasn't sure where he was exactly but was able to get up the inside into the hairpin. Was relieved to see the end of the race come. Great race Brian! Congrats to Mark and Backo for their wins, great pace and to teamie Paul for his podium.

I will get a nose bleed being top of the championship standings - the ballast must be working 

Thanks to all the cars when lapping especially when me Paul and Brian were in our 3 car train. Didn't break us up at all and very considerate as its tricky in places to pass here even when letting people through.

[Rob Bywater "Kerb Crawlers"]

Well thats gotta be the best race Ive ever competed in 

Quallied well, just 1/10th off my pb, but screwed it up on the very first corner, when I spun it allowing virtually all the rest of the traffic thru. I think I was too intent on getting the power on too early - either that or Dave was practising his Jedi mind games already! Rejoined alongside Teamie Eddie, but in my anger at losing it so early we had a coming together, nothing too bad, but sure it was down to me - sorry Eddie. Spent the whole of the rest of the race battling for position(s), which was fantastically fun stuff, and what its all about, a lot better than racing yourself. I had 1 or 2 interesting moments along the way (need to check the replay), and after spouting about consistency over the last 2 races, proceeded to spin a couple of more times!! Congrats to podiums, and to Paul968, and PaulR for excellent finishes.

Anyhow my driving is definitely improving and Im enjoying these races more and more.

Cheers

Rob

[mo]

Great to hea that Rob

Wrt warmup sessions, imo they would be vital if we had standing starts. It gives people a few laps to get out of hotlap mode before everyone barrels into T1 in a heavier car on slippier tyres. I've seen the effects of this in a NK league and its not nice. So for the cup races I think its a good idea.
However because we've got the pace lap to settle in and warm the brakes imo it makes no odds whether to have a wamup or not. It is handy for the smokers amongst us though
One thing I have to say though is that I understand that some peeps need the race to finish earlier, but there's also many of us with commuting and kids who are very rushed just to make it in the first place. I literally make the server at 20:15 in a crazy rush each time and if it starts any earlier then I'm depending on reserve spots :/

Anyway I really enjoyed the race last night. Really struggled with the ballast and qualled in 8th place, but on lap 2 I slid off the kerb leading onto the s/f straight and round I went. Rejoined in 17th and had a blast getting back up to 9th. A great battle with DG for a few laps, great driving by Dave and for laps I couldn't get enough overlap anywhere to safely have a go down the inside. Eventually Dave had a small wobble getting the power down onto the straight and it allowed me to get past into T1. Then Baracus lost his engine in spectacular fashion, nearly blinding Psuedo (I think) with the explosion
Then I came upon the other Shark 350Z and was hoping for a scrap with Simon but you just left me through with one to go! There's an overall championship too Sharky

The championship looks very close now and it should be a nice fight for the rest of the season with a whole bunch of drivers on roughly equal points (well closer than previous seasons by a long shot). Good the see the Kerbies topping the tables too!

Grats to John, Backo and teamie Paul on the podium and taking the championship lead

ps. sorry to the GTC porka I hit while you were entering the pits, not sure who it was until I check the replay. I realised too late that you were crossing to enter the pit. I just hope you didn't miss the entrance because of me :/