UKGTR Season 6 Upper Endurance - Hockenheim (GP) - Nov 11

[Joss]

Thank God my 70 laps of practice were not in vain....Hang on, that will be somebody elses story 

Qually started off much better than I thought, with a 33.1 right out of the bag.....which I couldn't quite improve upon. On one lap, I was 0.16 down at split two and ended up 0.02 down at the line....I'm sure a 32 was possible if I coulda strung together 3 perfect sectors. Very pleased anyway. 

Hope my rolling lap was ok for everyone, I don't do them often and was hyper about getting the pace right. The guys on TS had to put up with me asking "what's the right speed for a gd formation lap?" over and over. 
The start was perfect, as I was surprised to get a small gap to CJ right away and was delighted to see Brian move into 2nd! From there I just got my head down and tried to pull out a gap.
It got to about 6 seconds when Brian made his mistake and the gap then stayed about the same....until we got to backmarkers. I tried to be very courteous the first time round, but lost about 4 seconds to CJ in the process. From there I was a little less forgiving and went for more aggressive moves...didn't really want to but the gap was soo small!

CJ pitted 3 or 4 laps before me and I carried on on clear track, I'd started with 100l of fuel and had practised the pit entry and so got those all spot on....except after the stop I went from 3 seconds ahead to 12 seconds behind! noooooooo!!!  :'(

After that I got back on it and improved my best lap twice, just missing out on CJ's best (0.03!) but couldn't really close the gap at all, it just fluctuated with traffic. Until CJ gave me a present and spun in the stadium section 
4 or 5 laps after that CJ got very unlucky with a backmarker (forgotton who) and lost a second to me and we went into the hairpin nose to tail, when he gave me another present and half span on the exit - now I was ahead by one second!!

Then the next lap on the back straight, we were bearing down on a train of about 6 cars all nose to tail (cue lots of anguished groans on TS). It was impossible to get past without losing time, so I just tried to always have 1 car between myself and CJ; we got through and then did one more lap....the gap was one second and there was 1:20 left on the clock...one more lap....

Then it finished! Apparently there wasn't 1 lap to go? Weird, slight anticlimax.....then I just started shouting into my mic

Still a bit annoyed that I couldn't take it to CJ without him making mistakes, but this is definitely my best result following my only other Masters win at Silverstone when both CJ and Jeff had connection problems (always crap when that happens).

Grats everyone for finishing and all podium placers. I hope CJ races in the sprint in a weeks time so I can try to beat him without any mistakes or pit stops!


Wheeeeeeee! 

[Kerr]

I only highlighted your pit stop Ruskus as I was still in direct compition with you at that stage. I did also say the difference between CJ and Freq.

I can only assume CJ went with harder tyres and did not change, as he was slow for the first few laps. On saying that I could not get my front right up to temperature, so hards would have been horrible.

Like Freq my hands were tied. Started with 100L and put minimum fuel in for second half. I could not have gone any quicker. To loose 20 secs in a pit stop is way too much. Considering the Lister is already the quickest of cars now IMO, at many tracks, this huge advantage must be removed.

It not fair to give success ballast to even this, as to make the field equal over 80mins would mean killing the listers lap times and not be involved in racing until a pit stop is made

[Truetom]

My race was mixed. Had a good first stint, especialy when Louis and Paul Richards were chasing me after they had an off 'cause of their mistakes. They were both faster than me and Louis was breathing down my neck hard - every time I had to take defensive positon on the big straight. I had to think of something as it was only a matter of time when he's gonna make a pushy move and go past. So I slowed down through the slow corners and gave Louis a Paul Richards to think about.    They slowed themselves down and let me make a gap again and stay in front until pitting.    Of course, my luck wasn't gonna last. My pit strategy was to fill it up and then see at half how the fuel consumption goes. Of course in the excitement I forgot all about it and just pressed "I" and "Enter". So my crew took their time to top it up.     At the ned I had 25 litres to spare. Needles to say I lost both places I so cleverly preserved before. 

The seconds stint was focused on the intent to keep my hard earned 6th place. Robert was chasing me but I was keeping a gap of some seconds and I was confident to keep my place - we were roughly the same pace, him gaining a bit but not enough to make a pass before end. I must say here, I lost my place mostly due to poor lapping conditions. Seems every time an NGT appeared ahead it was just before the Stadium.    NGT guys were great (except one occasion where I'm still thinking about filing a report ), but I was losing 2, even 3 seconds every time through the slow section.  After a close    pass (was it SBG or Paul968, not sure  ) in the penultimate lap I had to take an alternate line through a corner under "Mercedes Tribune" and couldn't keep it on track. Went off and lost my place. I was a bit pissed then I must say but after seeing a replay I have to be fair and say NGTs had to be careful of my driving on several occasions so I guess it all evens out. 

It does have to be said, though. I would let a GT car by before I entered a slow section through the Stadium (Eingang Motodrom, Sachskurve, SWR-3 Kurve), it's very narrow there and slippery, risky to pass even a willing driver.    I still think my position was lost there - I had three occasions where I had to wait to pass, twice with no other NGT car close but one in front of me. I estimate I lost at least 10, 15 seconds there.    But again, in other situations NGTs were great. 

TT   

[Mark J]

One to forget for me.

Had not had any time for any practise before the event so turned up 'cold' with no pre-worked setup or laps under my belt...not the best prep. Then remembered i was also carrying the success ballast from my class win at Spa and found the fat porker a bit of a handful under braking.  
Qualied in the 42's so was reasonably happy as i couldnt seem to match the morgans around here.
Race was fairly uneventful apart from a short fight with Madd.
After a small coming together at the hairpin with Madd, Pseudo got past me, who had kept a good steady pace 2-3 secs behind us. Unfortunately two corners later, i was caught out behind his brake point and i hit his rear end, really sorry mate, i was so p'd off with myself that i just pulled over and quit as my heart wasnt really in it for the race.
Unfortunately thats the last eve for me in enduros for a while, i just havent got the spare time and so i am reluctantly quitting the series.  :'(

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Unfortunately thats the last eve for me in enduros for a while, i just havent got the spare time and so i am reluctantly quitting the series.  :'(

FreQ, I presume you want his place?

[Simon Gymer]

Another horrible race in the Viper. Hadn't played a racing game in about 2 weeks so was very rusty too. Think I was something like 3 seconds off the pace in qualifying, but I couldn't see how to make the Viper go any quicker. It was either wring it's neck and chuck it sideways everywhere or stay solid and get ok, but slow lap times.

Being last on the GT1 grid wasn't expecting to make any places other than other peoples mistakes but to my surprise my race pace was a marginally quicker than qually (relative to everyone else) so I was able to fight with Jure.

I saw Jure coming a few times when his late braking Lambo kept getting caught by my early braking Viper and had to run wide to avoid, but once got royally punted up the arse by a different Lambo. This made my car even worse than it already was (oh yes it's possible) and I couldn't keep up with Jure anymore. Waited till my fuel ran out to make my pit stop and with 25 minutes left I decided to get the damage repaired and put on soft fronts medium rears to speed me up for the final short stint. Staying out so long I managed to claw back some time from Jure and when I came out of the pits I was about 5 seconds behind and he was easy to catch and even easier to pass. The Viper makes the Lambo look like a girl down the straights and all I had to do was be close behind onto the longest straight and then power past.

Gonna give up with the Viper now though as I'm not enjoying it and it's not competitive with me at the helm so it's either give up or use a car that gets me some enjoyment.

[ginsters sponsored]

Thats a shame MJ. I think this championship has offered some good stuff for me with 4 or five people, you included. Still, don't let us forget your win at Spa  

You prolly have a point there TT. I think there were a number of times when I was caught in stadium section but, being in close battles all race long, I didn't give way until s/f straight. A little unhelpful but certainly not "naughty" and fair play to all of you for not pushing past. I certainly wouldn't have caught Darren if I gave way there, as you say its swings and roundabouts  

[Paul968]

Not sure how I won that by such a margin but not complaining  Another 10th in qual would have gained me 2 slots, but nothing I did got me under 1.42 so I had to settle for 4th. Followed the train of SBG, Madd and Darren, and when Madd made a mistake I then started putting some pressure on Darren's Morgan. I thought a couple of times that I could draft him down to the hairpin, but even with a faster exit I was going backwards compared with his lighter car. I managed to stay with him though up to the pitstops, when for some reason Darren was much slower despite the same strategy (just like Spa). I also leapfrogged SBG, leaving me effectively in the class lead with about 8 secs to Darren in 2nd. I kept expecting him to close the gap but it never happened - in fact the gap widened to about 14 secs. After he tangled with SBG it was 23 and I could relax and watch to see if SBG could get past. He duly obliged in the closing laps, leaving the Kerbies with a very satisfying 1-2 

Lappers were fine for me. I understand what TT is saying, but if you are in a battle then letting someone past before the stadium may cost too much time. Generally I was more generous in the 2nd half when there was less pressure to be quick every lap, but even then it was easy to get caught out by a fast approaching GT1 while you were concentrating on the road (who knocked over the brake board into the fast right into the stadium then?).

Congrats to Freq on beating the usual Aliens and to SBG for a good 2nd place to cement the Kerbies at the top of the GTC championship.

[Mark J]

Yes sorry Ginsters et al, its not an easy thing to do as i really enjoy the enduros but i am moving house in the new year, so with that and xmas approaching and a heavy workload, giving up a whole sunday evening is almost impossible and a little unfair on the missus.
I will miss the racing with you guys for sure, but one day i will return to battle with a renewed hunger for glory  ...and talent 

[Truetom]

Lappers were fine for me. I understand what TT is saying, but if you are in a battle then letting someone past before the stadium may cost too much time.

I was talking about a situation when there was no direct battle, Paul.    That way NGT's gonna lose 0,2 seconds and GT the same. As it was, the NGT lost the same or more time watching a GT (me) back in the mirror if I'm gonna try an over-eager move and I lost 2 or more seconds. This situation does not count as a normal lapping time loss, don't you agree?    Well, I guess some of the fault goes to this version of the track which used to be grand and now it's  .

TT

[Paul Richards]

A pretty eventful and enjoyable race for me! Qualified 5th with a time that I had expected to be around before the race. Noticed that I was half a second behind Brian and half a second up on robert so used the remaining time to get used to the race setup.

Start was good CJ was struggling to put the power down and Brian got past. I was close behind Ruskus when I forgot that his car would be so heavy that he would have to brake really early. Coming into the hairpin on the second lap I had to shoot up the inside to avoid running into his rear but was able to still keep a tight line to the inside of the hairpin and I was through although it wasn't planned! A bit later for some reason I forgot where I was on the track and instead of turn 1 it was the first right into the final section and promtly flew off. Luckily there is a mile of sand trap and didn't hit anything. Back to 9th bit that spawned some great battles!

First up was Jure I was able to close up to him quite quickly but even with a quicker car on the straight passing wasn't easy. I was able to get alongside on the long straight with Jure defending on the inside towards the hairpin. Fortunately with his tight line forcing him wide on exit I was able to cut back inside and get the power down slightly earlier to get past on the way out. Next was Simon in the straight line rocket ship Viper. I was much quicker through the twisties and I knew I would have no chance to pass on the straight. He ran slightly wide round the banked left hander so I went up the inside, we were then side by side through the kink, the final two right hand corners and the start finish striaght . I got past at turn 1 as Simon had to brake earlier being on the inside. I then had to defend heavily through the next fast sections to keep him behind me before I could ease away at the twisties. Great racing chaps!

I then closed in on the TT - Luis Branco battle. TT is great at defending and Luis couldn't get by. I didn't want to attack Luis too much to allow him to keep the pressure on TT (I see you had the same idea TT  ) Luis began to lose his tyres a bit and he ran slightly wide at the hairpin and I cut back again and I was past. Chased TT but didn't close too much as we approached the pit stops. We came in together and I knew I should have a chance to pass as I was only putting in 50ltrs. It worked and I also goained a bit of time on Luis. I tried to close in on 4th place but couldn't I also seemed to be slightly pulling away from 6th so I just cruised to a 5th place finish. Congrats to Freq on a great drive and teamies Paul and SBG on their GTC drives.

Brian looking at the times in Ruskus' analysis sheet it looks like I gained 16 secs on you as well so not sure it can purely be down to the car. I do my strategy based on tyres. In practice I fill up to max and then drive normally on Med-Meds. I then note what time tyre wear begins to effect the times. I then drive until I have to come in for fuel and work out my overall consumption. I then try to work out how many laps I will do based on my quickest lap and that gives me a total amount of fuel for the race. Then looking back at when the tyres wore too much I work out when I will come in and how much I will need to finish the race off and set the fuel in my setup. So for last night my tyres were fine up to 45 mins. I always go as long as I can so I am lighter in the second half on fresh tyres. Starting with 100L I pitted on 45 mins (lap 27) or thereabouts needing 70 litres to finish. I came in with 20 litres left so only needed 50 ltrs with 4 tyres = 48secs stop inc fixing damage. I know pit stops have been discussed but I always do a pit request about half way round the lap before I come in. If I don't do this I find they mill about a bit before putting the pumps in the car. One last thing is that I forget about is taking the pace lap and pit stop into account when working out the total laps etc.. as this gives me a bit of a buffer in case fuel consumption is a bit higher on the night.    

[Jeffrey]

Brian looking at the times in Ruskus' analysis sheet it looks like I gained 16 secs on you as well so not sure it can purely be down to the car. 

Indeed, Brian had the slowest pitstop of all GT1 cars. But not is all won or lost in the pits, don't forget inlap and outlap. If you have traffic in oen of those laps, it counts very heavily on your total pitstop time. And pushing on cold tires for a lap and a half.

[Paul968]

I was talking about a situation when there was no direct battle, Paul.    That way NGT's gonna lose 0,2 seconds and GT the same. As it was, the NGT lost the same or more time watching a GT (me) back in the mirror if I'm gonna try an over-eager move and I lost 2 or more seconds. This situation does not count as a normal lapping time loss, don't you agree?    Well, I guess some of the fault goes to this version of the track which used to be grand and now it's   .

In an endurance race, the battles are not always visible - you are sometimes fighting a car that is 5-10 seconds (or a pitstop) away, but the time is still precious. In the laps after my stop, I expected Darren to come back at me, although he was 10 seconds behind, so I would not have slowed down significantly for you then. Later on when it was clear there was no threat it was different. Having said that, I tried to let the GT1s past as easily as possible.

I think you are being a bit optimistic when you say that a GTC would lose only 0.2 letting you past into the stadium - If you were not close enough to force a pass, the GTC would have to back right off and possible lose the racing line, which must be at least a second. Trying to lap in the stadium section is a normal lapping situation in my book, although I understand it is frustrating.

[psuedo]

Awkward situation for lapping at this track. There are not any other lines except the racing line through the twisty bit...for NGT or GT...For a NGT to give way will probably end up costing both drivers more time as the GT would be the one to have to go off line and therefore be slow through the following turns/section. The fastest way for both is to do what the general guidelines suggest and wait for a clear opportunity...ie a straight bit. I realise this can be frustrating in a GT but IMO patience is a virtue.

[Kerr]

Brian looking at the times in Ruskus' analysis sheet it looks like I gained 16 secs on you as well so not sure it can purely be down to the car. 

Indeed, Brian had the slowest pitstop of all GT1 cars. But not is all won or lost in the pits, don't forget in lap and outlap. If you have traffic in oen of those laps, it counts very heavily on your total pitstop time. And pushing on cold tires for a lap and a half.

I can't recall anything going wrong. I might have caught a backmarker or two in in lap/out lap costing a couple of seconds. My pit entrance and exit was not too bad and nothing stood out to be wrong in pit box either. Entered pit with 15L or so fuel left and topped up to 82L litres and put new tyres on.

So how I have seemed to loose out a massive amount of time on most people baffles me