UKGTR Season 7 Upper Endurance (GT1/C) - Dubai (GP) - Mar 9

[Reign Man]

Enjoyed that race.

It was hectic for the first 3rd of the race. I had no pace and found myself going backward through the order. I had some good battles on the way down though,
toward the end of the first third I was able to settle down and get some half decent laps in.

This is when I came upon a battling Adam and Psuedo, I was able to nip by them both after a couple of laps. It was a lot of fun 

At this time I found myself about 3 seconds behind Pops and the gap stayed at that until just after the halfway stage when I was able to gradually catch up and close the gap to around a second. There were other GTCS between us at some points but they seemed to keep falling off the track.

I pitted with about 28 mins to go. It went well, plus I was able to put in some of my fastest laps of the race out of the pits. its a good job I did. About 2 laps after I went in Pops pitted. I was very pleased to see him getting up to speed coming out of the pits as I passed him. It was avery close call. He was less that a second behind me. But he spun out I think. Damn Shame Pops!

Drove to the end of the race. Suprised to get a podium. Thanks to the problems of the 3 in front I (and Pops before his off) jumped 3 spots in the pits. Thanks


Looking forward to the next one!

RM

[DynoDaz]

After a good qualifying session where I finished 5th in class, I then proceeded to throw away 3 places before the first corner.  There was some confusion at the start and I had to take some evasive action to avoid contact with teammate MJ.  I then spent the next 5 seconds trying to get the pit limiter to disengage.  Luckily a few heavy blows did the trick and I was soon under way.

I quickly gained back 2 places but soon had a fight on my hands with great battles with first Jure and then Andy.  Great driving guys.  

After my pitstop the race was a dull affair.  I had no one to race against and because of this I had a few lapses in concentration.  One of these caused me to spin while under no pressure.  

Then with MJ and TT encountering problems (unlucky guys), I soon found myself 2nd in class with a 9 seconds gap over 3rd placed Reign Man.  Luckily for me Reign had his hands full so he wasn't able to put me under any pressure.  This allowed me to ease back and conserve my fuel.  Good job I did because I was running on fumes towards the end.  

Congrats Paul...  Outstanding pace, especially with 40KG ballast.  

Well done Brian... and thanks to all the GT1 boys.  You were all superb while lapping.  

[Jeffrey]

Hooray! Paul has volunteered!

No idea how to make them, so I can claim ignorance. And it's always about bums (_,_) with you isn't it Jeff
                                                                                                             / | \

All wrong, it's:

 (_*_)
 /  |  \

Joss':

 (_O_)
 /  |  \

[Joss]

.....your bum-cheeks aren't connected! 

[Jeffrey]

.....your bum-cheeks aren't connected! 

Look clooooser.

Oh, and I added yours 

[Joss]

Still can't see it....
Although, from the looks of it, I either have a rabbit tail, or a tennis ball stuck to my ass. 

[ginsters sponsored]

Apologies to someone (JPV?) I clattered in quali but I expected you too keep off racing line on your outlap, as you should

I think I was on my fast lap there too, got out in the first few seconds of the qualifying. Had hard time finding a space to make a quick lap at all. What's the etiquette on this anyway, being one of the slower drivers out there, am I expected to yield to the faster ones or how should I try to get my fast lap in?

It wasn't you then, unless you start your fastlap from the pits Chap I hit went straight from pits exit onto racing line which is a definate no, no. Fast or slow you have the right to hold your line on a fast lap. Even if a GT1 comes around. Thats how I see it anyways 

[popabawa]

Well... I could say that the Vertigo and Dubai aren't best friends but actually I just wasn't good enough last night

The start of the race was very scrappy but I was lucky to be able to take advantage and go clear of Pseudo, Reign Man, Jure and Adam.

Although Reign Man was hunting me down reasonably quickly I was fairly confident that I'd be able to make the faster stop, move onto softs and pick up the pace for the last 20 mins or so. I made a bit of a hash of the pit-stop, having to de-select repairing the aero damage threw me and I wasted enough time to let Reign Man just get ahead. Then, trying a bit too hard on cold tyres I oversteered round the tight right-hander nearly into the wall. A rookie mistake . I think we'd have had a good battle to the end if I hadn't messed up RM

That mistake also let the Andy Eves, Jonzo & Mike Hammer train catch me and eventually overhaul me after a couple more mistakes. Doh...

The last few minutes was fun, catching Mike as his tyres were engulfed in plumes of smoke at every corner

[Adam Parle]

And to Adam Parle (twice) I just couldn't judge the speed (or lack of it) of the porka through some of the turns and overcooked it a couple of times, sorry, sorry. 

No problems Psuedo.  Having thrashed the Vertigo round here in the past I know how quick you can catch people in the twisty bits.  My car was handling like an absolute dog though, which didn't help my cornering speed either

Very disappointed with my race all in all.  I was slow in qually, and although the start of the race was alright, it soon became painfully apparent that hard rears was a big error in judgement .... I can only blame myself through being underprepared though.

Despite getting past a few people early in the stint the car soon turned into an oversteery mess as the rear grip never materialized.  Pops and Reign Man got by after one big moment for me ... and I never got a chance to close them down after that.

After changing to meds all round the car felt a lot better, but after struggling with the car for 40 mins, and losing a bit of time due to some semi-spins and mine and Psuedo's contacts, there was never a realistic chance of catching anyone.  I saw MJ briefly after his stop (I'm sure he'll get the knack of pitting sooner or later ...) and TT after his puncture, but both boogered off into the distance sharpish.

The second half of the race was dull, and to cap a rubbish evening I span on the last lap (dipstick) to hand Psuedo the  place. DOH!

No problems with the GT1's - good job on the overtaking, hope I didn't scare any of you too much!  I know Ginsters was flying up behind me when I had a big moment after touching the grass!

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Hmm, is that Sebring i spy for the next round?

Nope, not in Endurance. I'm hoping that the all new Sebring will be available for the 'bonus' Sprint race next week.

[Jure]

Had a bad quali (experimenting with setup while in quali session is always a dumb thing to do, should have known better) so I only managed to do a quali at race pace level time... argh.

Started fine, gained 3-4 positions, had awesome fights, then fecked up at second to last corner, went slightly onto grass, came back (with Psuedo right on my tail), went as far to my left (last corner entry) as possible to give Psuedo room to pass but unfortunately he backed off and went back to "normal" line. Whammo, spin-o-rama. No harm done, was fun catching him again.

Anyway, slid back down the order, fought back like crazy, then overpoliteness got the hold of me and a GT1 smashed right into my behind, destroying suspension and stuff. Crawled back to pits (slowly, spun twice, endangering the rest, had me thinking to quit right there and then but it was close to pits so I continued, using auxiliary roads and stuff ), waited for repairs but... imbecile... forgot to take fuel to last me the whole race (that's "honey, how much fuel do I need?" "80 liters" "OK" ENTER. argh-h-h-h. )

Came out, realised what I've done then completely lost my concentration and committed a suicide at the end of the back straight. 

------------------------------------------

Would like to whine a bit about a certain someone in quali session. Mate, if you spin of the track, then come back and rear end someone that passed you while getting ready for his fast lap (yours truly) you need to do something about that red mist over your eyes. What did you expect to do, gain back 15 seconds you lost after a spin? Why? And in last corner, dammit. Don't you think it's smarter to let someone by and give yourself some room for next clean lap?

You're a vertigo driver and know who you are.  Tc-tc-tc. 'nuff said.

On similar note - I've noticed a strange quali behaviour. Gents, if you're in a same class car as the one in front and behind you (out lap), SPREAD OUT before your first flying lap, do not crowd together. It's all common sense, isn't it?

Highly contraproductive.

[Andy Eves]

That was hard work but fun and a good result.

It was me SBG   I tried to stay off line but the offline bit seamed to run out in the apex of the corner   sorry. I would have jumped out the way but I couldnt tell which side you where going to pass at, hard bit of track for lapping.

The race was hard work as my front tyres never got any heat into them, I had to brake early everywhere, catching a few out behind but I had loads of rear grip so I could get a good exit.

I thought I might have been a marked man after my qauli miss take and went to leave SBG loads of room, as a way of saying sorry, but managed to drive right off the track letting Darren past too. Still was fun catching back up, running side by side and making a pass some where.

After the pit stop I had a hard time holding every one off behind, Mark got close a few times. When  I out braked you into T1, it was a little scary as I locked up. Very good racing, thank you.

Thanks everyone, and well done the winners.

[ginsters sponsored]

It was me SBG   I tried to stay off line but the offline bit seamed to run out in the apex of the corner   sorry. I would have jumped out the way but I couldnt tell which side you where going to pass at, hard bit of track for lapping.

No worries Andy but its always best to stay off racing line on your outlap if you can . I mentioned it because it looked that it frightened the bejubus outta you and you jumped off track whenever I got near you, like I was some sort of wrecker. Didn't want you, and other new faces, to get wrong impression You are all very welcome of course.

Maybe cause I looked like a madman out there , should add that GTC chaps acted impeccably when I passed last night.

[Truetom]

Well, what can a man write after a race like this. Not gonna be very modest, after I saw Paul couldn't quite hold my pace I was sure and definite I will win this race (GTC class, of course  ). Even after pitting when he had a 5 sec lead I was slowly closing the gap and about 20 minutes to go I caught him.    Don't know and it doesn't matter why he spun - I slammed directly into him. Do you believe me I would avoid your car if I could?    Damn puncture, had to pit and fell to 20th place. Even after tyre changing and repairing the car I could not drive the same way, I had understeeer and I heard fronts scrape at every corner. Front tyres got worn at twice rate before the accident and the only thing on my mind was "I will NOT quit in Dubai!"     If it was Enna... 

Hats off, Paul. How you managed to keep that pace with 40 kg extra...    So even if I did win, you'd still be the winner. 
I'll not lie, there is a bitter taste in not winning with the pace I was able to maintain but I don't think it was anybody's fault. Just racing I guess. 

TT

[Paul968]

Not the way I want to win any race   

Managed to sneak pole just ahead of TT, which was a bonus. It was clear from very early on though that both he and Mike H had not gone with full tanks, because TT was all over me like a rash! I didn't bother fighting him too hard, knowing that it was a pointless exercise and that I would get back a lot of time come the pitstops. After TT got past I had Mike buzzing around my exhaust, but the RS had the legs on the Morgan at the end of the straights, making it harder for him to get by. After several laps of enjoyable jousting he finally got past, so I just tried to hang on to his tail. When he slid of later on I got back to 2nd and held it to the pitstops. After I had stopped (and then TT a couple later) I was about 5 secs ahead, but now with a lot less fuel. Initially the gap went up a bit, but then it started to drop again. I had a phase where lappers all seemed to catch me in the corners and TT closed to within 3 secs. Then it all went t*ts up, as I lapped JPV while Zacari lapped us both. JPV hadn't noticed me behind down the long straight, and I got level round the outside of the right hander at the end. I stayed left on the run to the next left but Zacari dived between us, squeezing me nearer the apex curb. My back end kicked a touch off the curb and JPV nudged it into a full spin. I sat still not knowing where I was on the track, so I looked left to see if it was clear, only to see TT round the corner and broadside me. We both got going but it was quickly apparent that he had a puncture and needed to pit, leaving me with a nice big lead and a simple drive to the finish. In retrospect this was just one of those racing incidents - JPV had his hands full avoiding Zacari, so no hard feelings m8. A word of advice perhaps though - keep an eye in your mirrors on the straights, as I think it would have been easier to let me by then. With equal cars (and more weight) I can't outdrag you, so I need a bit of a lift if possible to avoid having to force a pass.

I feel really sorry for TT. He was probably going to win that one, although the last few laps were promising to be a great battle. The last quarter of the race was a huge anticlimax for me too. Congrats to Brian on the GT1 win and thx to all the lappers - very polite.