UKGTR Season 6 Upper Endurance - Sugo (Classic) - Nov 25

[Mark J]

re: random mech failures, funny enough i was just telling my teamies on our site that during the day yesterday i had pondered why there were  not more random mechanical failures in our enduros to add to the realism/spice of endurance racing.
The irony of my engine then letting go in the evening was not lost on me 

On another realism factor, why dont we use time scaling for our endurance league? Surely it would add to the 'endurance' aspect of it with variable lighting and/or weather conditions possible. Even if we only used it for certain more prestigious rounds like Spa. It seems a waste of the games in-built features to not utilise it and doubt there are many left racing in our leagues who havent upped all their pc kit to deal with it. 

[Paul Richards]

I didn't think I would on this track but I thoroughly enjoyed that in the end! I qualified with a time I thought I could get before the race. Apologies to Martin for running into the back of him towards the end of that final corner. I was up on my best time and thought I could turn in tight enough to pass on the right up the hill but the car slid wide and I couldn't adjust quick enough to avoid the collision. I was surprised to be ahead of the ballasted Ruskus and CJ when lying in second with a couple of minutes to go so was watching Freq. He was up on Brian's great time in the first two sectors but had a scrappy last section. He still had enough time in the bank to pip me though!!

I started heavy on med tyres and Brian and Freq quickly started to pull away. I was pushing to stay ahead of CJ, Ruskus and Gazza and the straight line speed of the Saleen was enough to not allow anyone near to attempt a pass. We then came across the first of the GTCs and this broke up the battle a bit. By now my car was starting to feel better and I pushed to try and keep up with Freq who was quite a way up the road. He then had his spin which let me past and the gap between me and CJ was fluctuating depending on the traffic but our pace was similar. Brian then disco'd so we were battling for the lead. Towards the pit stops I was edging out a small gap to CJ but then just before he pitted I got stuck behind the GTCs in a slow, impossible to pass, or let anyone past bit of track and that little lead was gone and CJ pitted from right behind me.

I then pushed hard with a clear track in front. I still had to do 3-4 laps before I could pit. On the 3rd lap I was coming up on a few GTCs in the distance so decided to pit which given the time left would give me just enough fuel to finish without needing to adjust it in the stop. I came up on them just as we hit the last section and lost a few seconds before I pitted. Coming down the pit lane I was surprised to see my pit crew coming out as I had requested the stop. As usual if they are coming out while you pit, I killed the ignition hit enter and they milled around for 5 seconds before putting the pumps in! Just as I was finishing CJ went past and I ended up 12 seconds back. My car was quite light and on fresh tyres was able to put in some good lap times. I was slowly catching CJ but always running out of time. I got the time down to about 6 seconds and this came down to 2 as he eased to the finish in the last laps. Congrats to him on the race and the championship win.

Also congrats to Dave on a good win in the 350z and teamie Paul on his championship. Thanks again to all the GTCs with the lapping as it is very tricky here to pass in the twisty sections. Sorry to hear about all the technical difficulties people had too. Looking forward to Tuesdays sprint it should be a good race I think.

[Simon Gymer]

Apologies to Martin for running into the back of him towards the end of that final corner.

Also my apologies to Martin in qualifying when I came out of the pits once, I looked behind and left (I have glance on 90 degrees to see better!), couldn't see anyone at all, but could hear an engine noise. Assumed it was on a different part of the track and then hit the side of Martin telling me exactly where he was. Then in my fluster forgot cold brakes and ploughed into Martin at the next corner. Very sorry, complete idiot mistake on my part.

Must say the pit entrance is great, very easy to get the right braking point, but the pit exit was very scarey. Even with view behind and left it's hard (see above) to see people coming and for them to get out of the way or you get out of the way of them.

[Luis Branco]

Unfortunately wasn't able to attend last night race due to traffic jam
I caught a road accident while returning home which led to an almost 2 hours waiting and then 1 hour more to take the detour route.

[John]

A rather strange race in the end for me. John was a bit too quick in qual, but 2nd was better than I expected given the ballast - SBG had +20kg, but everyone else was best part of 80kg lighter 
I kept in range of John for quite a while after the start, and got a decent gap back to SBG, but John started to edge away and there was nothing I could do to respond. All I could hope for was that he was on soft tyres or not on full fuel.

I was on meds all round and full fuel,took me a few laps to get the tyres up to temp before i could get any sort of rhythm.shame the engine blew,i was enjoying the track.

[Truetom]

First I must apologize to Shark for contact in formation lap - I couldn't stop, that's all and I also got a bump into my ...    Stopping for the starting procedure was a bit steep, but I guess no great damage was done. 

Race started predictably, with fights of the similarly paced as me - first Jure (calm down, I'm not gonna hurt you, just overtake  ) and then Shark who was all over me after his mistake. Constant and prolonged battle again, as usual, he was always ready to explit my mistakes which were numerous but big enough to get by. Holding my position was not very hard as this track is a bitch to overtake even a willing and slower car (i.e. GTC), so in-class overtakes were mostly due to errors - human and others, which happened aplenty. 
Well, I held Shark till the time to pit when he expectedly ran away with a nonmatchable pace. 

I had major problems with my wheel/pedals in the second stint, growing worse towards the end. I had a gap to Gazza of some seconds and in the last laps he was gaining 2 seconds per lap. I was sure and sad to lose a position in a way where the fight would be impossible. The throttle pedal was fluttering, never truly on max, just like running out of fuel. In one case I didn't even reach the 6th on the downhill    backstraight!    Was sad and glad at the same time (sorry Gazza) when he missed his braking point on the last lap and make some sand castles. Even so he was only 8 seconds behind - I wasn't even sure I'll get to the finish line.     Not trying to look down on Gazza's pace. He was weeeell ahead in quali and his race pace was quicker - too many mistakes decided your race. Slower is faster?    Well done, Gazza, you're fast, you only need more stability.    Like Jure.    (Btw, Jure, you might want to try a race on your own, without the pressure from your race engineer  )

My fluttering pedals and inconsistent driving resulted in some of the more desperate moves (sorry I prevented you from fighting for position, Paul  ) as every slowdown meant much more time loss than usual. Sorry to others as well, which might have difficulties - I tried to keep this to minimum. 

A really bad luck for MJ - in all seasons here I never saw a Porker engine blow up.     And good job for Pops in his Vertigo. 

As to the wheel, I still have to wait 14 days for the company to either replace my new wheel (didn't work well, warranty service, but in the store they don't have any of this model right now) or give me my money back. I intend to use this to get G25 - I just hope my foot won't get entangled into all those pedals.     How are you getting used to it, Dave? Using manual clutch or not? 

TT

[Paul968]

(sorry I prevented you from fighting for position, Paul   )

Not a problem TT. You were in a direct battle, whereas I was several seconds back and hoping for a mistake from Dave, so it was a bit of a no-brainer to let you go. 

[Gazza49er]

Enjoyed that last night, Qualy was difficult finding space for a clear lap but was pretty happy with 5th.  Started the race well, trending carefully for the first few laps but getting into a good rythm. Was doing well staying ahead of Ruskus (his ballast obviously allowing that) for first 20 mins then made a mistake and slipped to 6th. Then some top guys starting dropping out and i found myself right up there in 3rd, even leading for 3 laps. I need to practice my pitt stops coz again i was 10+ seconds longer than most and when i came out i was behind truetom and someone else, anyway i could see i was quicker than TT but lapping cars made it hard to get really close, but as i finally managed it i got too excited and clipped that kerb that chucks you out the other way so again had to try and catch TT. I could see something was wrong with TT coz his brake lights kept flickering on and off on the straights and i caught him up and we had an epic drag up the hill and i thought that when we crossed the line that would be the end coz the time had expired so really went for it and just got him on the line but OH NO still had another lap to do but by that time i had missed braking point and went straight on very quick lol.  Looking back i was lucky not to do real damage and not finnish but luckly all was ok.

Was happy with 5th but as TT said i could and maybe should of had a 3rd .

Must say sorry to someone i clipped as a GTc car flashed me by but as i went round there was a ghost car i think right on the apex and slapped on the brakes.

Grats to CJ and other winners.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I intend to use this to get G25 - I just hope my foot won't get entangled into all those pedals.     How are you getting used to it, Dave? Using manual clutch or not? 

I use the clutch pedal to operate Team Speak. But it's a definitely a significant step up from the DFP.

[Simon Gymer]

First I must apologize to Shark for contact in formation lap - I couldn't stop, that's all and I also got a bump into my ...    Stopping for the starting procedure was a bit steep, but I guess no great damage was done. 

Oh no probs. I hit Jure? in front too. First time I've seen that bad a concertina for a on a pace lap for a while actually. No idea what happened,  but no chance to stop in time despite driving so slowly at the time.

[CeeJay]

Bit late but here goes..

Qual was bit of nitemare, very unlucky to get out on the wrong times so took 3 runs to finally get a somewhat ok timed lap in, could've gone a little faster but I figured I shouldn't poke my nose further when the cars ahead obviously had better pace so was quite comfy with starting 4th.
Took it bit easy in the opening laps with the cold conditions but no attack from behind so when car starting getting into the zone I could just stay with Paul. Had no ambitions to get ahead at that point since 4th was good and could drop some weight for next event, but then suddenly the Lambos out front ran into probs and suddenly I was in a more committing second
Was tailed by Jeff but unfortunately he had a disco, that made it a battle between me and Paul. I knew then if I could stay with him until the stops there would be a good chance I could leapfrog him for the lead, then when I closed in traffic I hit the in-next-lap request and worked out well as I could see him still in the pits a few laps later. Gap was 12s but still alot of work to do and cant afford to drop pace much and I'll get caught. So try to keep the pace up and it stays pretty static until 15mins before the end, when I start to catch traffic at bad places and loosing my rhytm abit.
Have a comm-error with Jure in T2, he flashed me to go by so I went inside tight figured he would stick to the racingline but then just after apex he decides to move abit offline into my path and I cant avoid giving him a tap spinning him around, sorry but caught me bit off guard there. The slower class was very cooperative on this tight and twisty track tho 
Still when track is clear I can keep the gap, but only with 2 laps left I can take it somewhat easy.
Not expecting a win here, but hey after the disco at Adria I'll take anything
Only prob now is a bit heavy car for Zhuhai