UKGTR Season 7 GTC Sprint - Dubai (National) - Mar 4

[Adam Parle]

Good job you Legend drivers - I was expecting to be out there last night, but something came up that I had to deal with and that knackered any chance of racing .

Still, I WILL be there for the Enduro this weekend.

[purdie]

Got fastest race lap so proved the pace i had tonight

really?? hehe 

[Simon Gymer]

Very dull race for me. Qualified in the middle somewhere and that's where I stayed.

First couple of lap my Mosler breezed by a Vertigo on the straights and then after that I just picked up places as other people made mistakes. I checked in with Carl occasionally on TeamSpeak and he always seemed to be enjoying it with a battle royale at the front.

I was in no mans land for most of the race having no one to race and when the faster guys came up to gain their positions back after their mistakes they just breezed by, there was no point trying stupid defensive driving with their pace being so superior (even flashing Jonzo through on the start finish straight so he could challenge Backo without me in the way ).

Shame about Gizmo's problems again. British ADSL is complete rubbish, which is why I'm never getting rid of my cable connection if I can help it.

[popabawa]

What a race that was, possibly one of the best ever!

I'd managed to get a fair bit of practice in for this one so I knew I was reasonably quick but I was stunned to qualify in 3rd, I think that's my best ever effort in a Sprint race. Unfortunately my 3rd place lasted for all of 30m as MJ effortlessly zoomed past me using all his extra power.

The rest was an lesson in why not to drive the Vertigo... Whenever one of the GT3's made a mistake in front of me (invariably in the uphill twisty bit) I had to back off, allowing the GT3 behind to close up and blast past me on the straight! Grrr! Very frustrating!

After Andy's unfortunate disco I found myself in 5th behind Mark Mc & TT. I think I was a tad faster than Mark but there was just no way past despite my best efforts. I knew my tyres would still be in decent shape in the closing stages, I'd driven pretty smoothly, and from the look of the smoke billowing Mark's & TT's tyres I thought one of them would make a mistake.

In the end it was me who made the mistake, Mark caught me out in the uphill section with just over a lap to go and I turned him around. I'm really sorry about that Mark, I just hope the result wasn't affected.

I can't complain about 5th though, it's not often I find myself at the sharp end like that, it was enormous fun!

Got fastest race lap so proved the pace i had tonight

really?? hehe 

MJ never lets the facts get in the way of a good story!

[Simon Gymer]

MJ never lets the facts get in the way of a good story!

LOL, of course, he meant of those that finished.

[ginsters sponsored]

LOL, of course, he meant of those that finished.

FLOTTF in Dave's snazy new stats code Think they are very good by the way.

[Mark J]

oops, never saw Purdies 1:23 race lap down there in the retirements zone  ....still, you gotta be in it to win it    I was doing 1:23's in race spec offline and thats good enough for me  ...besides i was in a shiny new race seat and still acclimatising 

[Simon Gymer]

besides i was in a shiny new race seat and still acclimatising 

Cool, which seat did you get?

[Mark J]

i got the A1-Gp evolution seat from 'Playseat'  Its great

[Simon Gymer]

i got the A1-Gp evolution seat from 'Playseat'  Its great

Excellent. I've been eyeing one of the A1GP Playseats up for when I get GT5 Prologue so I can play it in the living room as at the moment I have nowhere to attach my spare DFP in the living room.

Did you bother getting the seat slider with it? How small does it actually fold up into for storing behind an armchair etc?

[Truetom]

Rich kids with rich toys.    Well, sometimes it helps.  

Good job, MJ.  

TT

[Tibernius]

i got the A1-Gp evolution seat from 'Playseat'  Its great

...How small does it actually fold up into for storing behind an armchair etc?

And how much does it cost?!?

[Mark J]

Simon, yeah its a pretty nifty bit of kit. It actually folds up to a quite small size, ie right over on itself, so the back rest sits on the cushion. Most of it is hidden under my desk and if i wanted to hide it away totally i could just slide out the pedal unit (1 turn screw) and move it all the way underneath.

An added bonus, as it didnt cross my mind, is that you get improved FFB feedback through the steering column as you would a real car, because your wheel unit is no longer bolted to a big lump of wood called a desk ! So all the vibrations/rumble come back down the column into the frame of the seat. My brain was registering all sorts of excellent feedback even though i was concentrating on last nights intense race.

The only thing to beware of is that you sit a good 10inches lower than a normal chair and i now need to saw a few centimetres off my desk legs as i feel like a 5 year old looking up at the telly ! (tho the desk i was using was a bit higher than your average pc desk).
And no i didnt pay extra for the slider, i couldnt really see what advantage it would give other than getting in and out of it, and im not that old yet!  Maybe another day i'll get it and the G25 shift plate but in no hurry for either.

Cost was £209inc and i got next day delivery for £20.

[baracus250gt]

Was a cracking race indeed! I was really surprised to get pole tbh (mind you, note the JR wasn't present!) and then my game plan was to just keep it steady and not overdrive. It was constant pressure from Zacari with a train of cars behind. Sorry if I was driving a bit too cautious which may have caught some of you out, but I was desparately trying not to brake too late

Had a bit of a coming together with JPV near the end when he spun infront of me, I did a neat little 360 spin (the irony of driving a 360, maybe that where they got the idea?) and ended up facing the right way, and online! (probably blocked Zacari coz he was close, but I doubt you would have wanted to win like that - OK maybe you would hehe!)
Luckily no noticable suspension damage so I just tried to carry on the way I was. Was really good fun - max concentration, those 28 laps flew past for me! I think the biggest gap was 1.2 seconds but average felt like about 0.6 - awesome stuff

[Truetom]

Had a bit of a coming together with JPV near the end when he spun infront of me, I did a neat little 360 spin (the irony of driving a 360, maybe that where they got the idea?) and ended up facing the right way, and online! (probably blocked Zacari coz he was close, but I doubt you would have wanted to win like that - OK maybe you would hehe!)
Luckily no noticable suspension damage so I just tried to carry on the way I was. Was really good fun - max concentration, those 28 laps flew past for me! I think the biggest gap was 1.2 seconds but average felt like about 0.6 - awesome stuff

Nearly caught me out, that one!    Saw a commotion, Zac was slowing down and I had a moment of panic: allready braking into the corner - any more pressure on a brake pedal means an automatic MJ(tm) spin.  Fortunately you and Zac got moving again before auto reaction could ruin my race.    I wonder if MarkMc and Pops could react in time or would it be a massive first 5 big bang.    I'm sure MJ would secretly enjoy that... 

TT