UKGTR Season 7 Lower Endurance - Silverstone (GP) - Jan 20

[Simon Gymer]

Found a sign to use next to the Legends pit garage...


 

[DynoDaz]

Actually this would be more appropriate 

[Simon Gymer]

This one has kept people out of the Team Shark garage quite well over the years...

[DynoDaz]

I quite like this one. 

[Jeffrey]

I never practice a race before an official race so I won't do it this time as well. For Christ sake I've driven a heavily ballast car the whole previous season, it destroyed the whole season for me. I want to try one .... race without ballast and then this.
Might take a season off 1 season earlier and go to R2P. There is always something.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I never practice a race before an official race so I won't do it this time as well. For ***** sake I've driven a heavily ballast car the whole previous season, it destroyed the whole season for me. I want to try one .... race without ballast and then this.
Might take a season off 1 season earlier and go to R2P. There is always something.

By Herring, don't take things so personally. Nobody's forcing you to take ballast you don't want to take, and if people start trying to bully others into taking Xkg of ballast they'll be told to Sierra Tango Foxtrot Uniform.

[Zacari]

Think I'll be making my first race in a while if there's room, possibly in the 360GTC   Hope things haven't changed too much since S6!

[DynoDaz]

Shouldn't that be Sierra Tango Foxtrot Uniform?  

Anyway....

Jeff, I appreciate your honestly for saying upfront that you won't be taking any ballast for this race.  I have no problem with that.  My only issue was that you suggested the reasons for doing this is because your chosen car isn't competitive and that you had no idea how it would perform during an endurance race.  I was only commenting that I didn't believe the Seat would struggle and that certain information could be gathered through practise.  Actually I've found the Seat to be no slower than the RSR and the M3.  In fact, it also consumes roughly the same amount of fuel and has similar tyre wear to the other two.

I agree with Dave that no one should be forced to take on board ballast they don't want.  However, my biggest concern is that there is currently no real incentive to volunteer for personal ballast, and therefore I can see this system failing before the season even starts.  

[Jeffrey]

For me it's quite obvious why not to take weight for this race:

1) Seat is already horrible to drive even without weight.
2) I have no idea where the Seat puts me without weight, so I have no idea what to take.
3) Long time since I've driven an unballast car.

So for ... saké, can we just wait AFTER this race before we start disagreeing people's choice of weight.

There is a F1 1979 series at R2P at the time this is held. This will still be first pick, but might not be after sunday.

[Joss]

I think Jeff's a little more passionate than I am about this, but the issue is one and the same.

I feel sorry that Jeff feels pressured to take weight just because he's fast. As many journalists have previously pointed out, it's not about slowing down the fast guys, it's waiting for the slower ones to catch up!
If I personally knew the competition would be identical to the end of S6 where I competed in 2 races, it'd be easier to take ballast because you know where you stand, but I don't know how S7 will start out, how fast Jeff'll be, how fast Adam or Brian or Darren or anyone else will be. So I doubt I'll take anything for this race.

If I win the race by a minute, I know I need to add ballast, but that only really happens after the race. Everyone picks their own weight, but I'd advise Darren not to penalise himself too much, if at all. Dave's pointed out it will make the racing closer (I'm sure it will). Personally, I'd rather pick a car I don't like instead of ballast to handicap myself.

I think we should keep all ballast discussion in the S7 ballast thread. This should just be for the race.

[Kerr]

Darren the incentive for carrying more weight is the percentage bonus system that Dave has set.    I don't expect to see anyone taking ballast for the first race. I'm not as I've no idea who is racing and what car. Also I've noticed a great improvement in a few drivers.      I will do a race or two and see how things stand rather than putting on the pounds and getting thrashed first race.

[Jeffrey]

Can the practiceserver please be set on a dry Silverstone GP? Having to test in 20% wet all the time is usless for sunday.

[Prof]

Picnic tells me he's changed it 

[JonM_uk]

I'm a bit outta shape but I'll be taking the RSR if I race. Ballast suggestions? What are other ppl taking who are driving the RSR?

[Simon Gymer]

It would be nice if the System Administrator  could implement an extra table somewhere or extra column so people can see the voluntary ballasts that others are taking. Not so important this week with everyone working out where they are and what ballast they should take in general, but in future it might be a good idea to be able to see what ballasts people are taking to make better calls on what to take yourself.