UKGTR Season 7 Super Endurance - Valencia (GP) - Apr 19

[Kerr]

I decided I could this one today. The wee one was more interested in playing UNO with granny and I'm going to be seeing a lot more of her so I decided I could spare a few hours.

I jumped on the server with only minutes before restart. Managed to fit in 2-3 laps and it was on to real event.

The phone went in practice and I only managed a few laps in practice.

I then went into qualification with no set up as yet so managed to get the car feeling ok within a few laps. Never had enough time to fine hone any settings, but it felt fine.

On my first qualifying lap I was up after sector 1 and 2 only for all grip to dissapear in 3rd section with the rain.

Started 5th and had a good chase with Dave for a few laps. Made a pass on main straight after getting a good run out the last turn.

I think it was the same lap I clipped the kerb on the uphill chicane and landed the car in the gravel and lost a few places.

Had a bit fun passing and made my way back to 4th.

I then had a hairy moment the Psuedo in the middle of the track. It was one of those moments of complete indecision where I could not decide left or right and nearly went straight down the middle!

Managed to catch up with Simon and Mike. I was putting loads of pressure on but could not get passed Simon.

He pitted a lap earlier than me and I did not know what the expect. I nailed my stop so had hope.

Running down the pit I thought I had him only for him to come shooting by.

Surprised to find Mike drop back in the Ferrari as I went with another 100L so was in pit maximum time.

Caught up with Simon and had a right old battle and I got through and made a little gap.

I watched him pit very early in his clearly not 3x100 strategy but decided to stick to my guns.

I pitted later on and firstly overshot my bay, then when the board came down they were going to put in 100L, I only asked for 85L for second stop.

Came back out and right away Simon was right behind me. Cold tyres and brakes I could not hold him off.

I tried for a few bends but Simon managed to pull through.

Managed to hang on to his tail and was feeling good on my new rubber. I managed to get along side yet again and went though the next few bends side by side.

Opened up a small gap again. Lucky there was no more stops.

All very exciting.

Was a great race, great fun and I've got a numb bum too.

[Kerr]

Was my connection fine today?

After Sunday night and this being a new connection for me I was worried.

Everything looked fine at my end

[sooty1977]

Another finish in the same place as my quala 
Well really was not looking forward to this race at all but after 1 hour i was really enjoying it, Had some nice moments here and there but i real need to master when to make pit stops as on both occasions got well caught out.
Especially the last stop were i panicked and put a ton of fuel in thinking i didn't have enough to finish the race consequently i finished with nearly a full tank of juice 
And with the extra weight the car just felt a total mess and i just had to surrender the 7th position before i killed myself
 

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Tough breaks, DMN and Pseueueueudo. Was looking like it could be a good three way scrap between the pinks and myself, pity it got spoiled like that.

I had a corking race with Gazza nevertheless. Traded places a couple of times in the first stint. Stayed out until deep into the pit window as my fuel situation was looking quite rosy. Came in to try and avoid lapped traffic but Gazza was in quickly enough after me to come out still ahead (especially as I had a little damage to repair after clipping a spinner). Right behind me was TrueTom in the long-running Lister and despite the blue flags I pressed hard to stay ahead and after a few laps pulled away.

With soft fronts it was critical to press hard whilst the tyres were at their best but it wasn't enough to catch him and I had to settle for just applying pressure, but a plan was now forming in my head.

Towards the end of the second stint he was starting to pull away so I pitted as early as I dared for more soft fronts and medium rears, and pushed hard to get away from Gazza who was now nearly a lap ahead but right behind me on the road. He stayed out for much longer than me but my plan worked and when he finally stopped I was 15 or 20 seconds ahead. Kept pushing as I knew that once the soft fronts wore down he'd be clawing that gap down and sure enough in the last 20 minutes it was 15 seconds... then 12.... then 10... and with 5 miunutes to go the gap was down to about 6 and he was closing at nearly a second a lap, but it was too late and fourth place was mine.

Remembered to bounce my router before the start too.

Sorry to JPV - I caught you, in theory for position but out of sequence, just when I needed to be going really quick to stay ahead of TT and try and get track position on Gazza. Wasn't sure if you realised the situation and by the time I figured out that you weren't actually letting me by into the first right hander I was already committed to pass. I didn't pick up any damage from that and hopefully you didn't either.

[Mike Hammer]

Phew. It's finally over  

Got a lucky pole just before the drops started falling.

In the race Simon was following at about 1 second gap for a good while. He closed up to 0.5- secs a few times, putting some pressure on me, and sure enough I started going a bit wide into some corners and be a bit erratic. Fortunately, it's not easy driving behind someone either, so he didn't fill up my mirrors for very long stints at a time, dropping back to 1 sec after a bit each time. Can't imagine a single good passing spot on this track, not when the car in front has straightaway advantage. Good fun, but quite tiring.

Seemed clear he was faster, and that I was holding him up. Yet I was going as fast as I could. If he got past, I had nothing to come back with, so I had to keep my spot. Good clean, gentlemanly racing.

Kerr joined us at some point, increasing Simons workload significantly, having to keep an eye on cars in both directions.

Managed to stay in front to the first pit stop. Made mine two or three laps after Simon made his. When I came out I was 11 seconds behind Kerr and Simon, who looked to be very close. Gap grew to 13 secs by the end of the lap as I was warming my tires. Got it down to 3 secs before Simons 2nd pit stop, but after I made mine, quite a few laps later, I was 16 secs down on Kerr, who was duelling with Simon again. I really suck at pitstops.

Came up on Peter Allnutt in his MC12, but could not close the final distance to his car as I, for some reason, was following and copying his lines, and they were *not* suitable for the Ferrari. After a bit I managed to wrest my eyes away from the Maserati and back onto the track, drove my own lines, closed up and passed.


Third stint was going okay, slooooowly closing in on Simon, but was still 8 secs behind with 10 minutes left.


Then I guess fatigue got to me. I went a little too fast through the last righthander, bouncing off the subsequent curbs and sliding, jumping, spinning to a halt. Was it JPV (?) who had just slowed down to let me pass, he was in front and Paul968 went by as I was getting back up to speed.  Final corner, JPV (?) went wide, Paul went wide and off track, and I followed him into the gravel rear ending him outside the track in the gravel  . Seems I was in target fixation mode again    Sorry for slowing you both down.

Got back on track, spun off again, and was then 20+ secs behind Simon, so nothing to do but get to the finish line in one piece.



Thanks again to all. Lappers (lappees?) were great, you guys left lots of room.

This Super Endurance series remains a challenge for me. Seems I just don't have quite the endurance I'd need. More practice for me then  so see you all at Nürb next month.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Was my connection fine today?

Seemed perfect to me.

[D_Nichols]

Thanks and see you soon for the "Sprint" race tomorrow evening!

"other" issues aside, it was a good race. Therefore there is a good chance I'll be there tomorrow - an open slot allowing.

[Gazza49er]

Good race guys,

The rain in qually made for an interesting grid. Didnt really get a chance to get a good lap in so started 6th.  Had picnic in my mirrors for a while but could just stay ahead untill i made slight mistake which let him by and Dave aswell. Had some great laps with Dave swapping places a few times then picniic spun and we both went through. One scary moment went psuedo was in the middle of the track at one point but think everyone missed him. 

Made decent pitstop and was pulling away from dave, good steady second stint and 4th was there for the takin. Dave pitted alot earlier than me which kind of threw me for some reason and when i went in for second stop i paniced and i added to much fuel as i thought i didnt have enough to finnish ( turns out my original plan would of been SPOT ON)

So came out behind dave with a heavy car and just didnt have enough laps to catch him, although it was quite close in the end.  Also TT was catching me very fast but just managed to keep ahead ( had me worried there TT) lol

Grats to all and podium.

[Paul968]

Enjoyed that despite the chaos  Joined at the last minute when I found out the kids were out at friends for tea and didn't make it in time to get a qual lap in. Made up a few places early on until I came up behind H@l9000, who was a lot harder to pass, so I spent several laps looking at his exhaust. In the end I got a run onto the back straight and dived down the inside, which was fine until he seemed to get caught out by my speed mid corner and tagged me into the gravel. As this was only the second race using manual clutch the car had stalled and I faffed around for ages trying to restart it and get it going. Even when I did I spun it again, so by the time I was back on track 30 secs had disappeared (thx for waiting btw). I then had to catch and repass  all those I'd overtaken before, which added to the fun but it was clear I would never get back in touch with the leading pack. The first stop was fine but the second was always going to be tricky as I had no idea how much fuel the lambo really needed for 130 mins. I wasted best part of 15 seconds deciding and then took a full load anyway  In the final stint I had Simon behind about to lap me, and after I let him by I was keeping up quite well but then noticed my engine health was 68% and backed right off knowing that there was no chance of catching TT or losing a place. Not unhappy with the drive considering this was the first time racing a GT1 since S5. Had I known before I would have got rid of the ballast but it was too late this time. Must say that the Lambo was great fun  Congrats to Brian, Simon and Mike.

[picnic]

Think I should apologise for my effort today. The MC12 was great for the first few laps each stint but kept eating tyres. I had 20 wear on the rears 30 mins in and NO control. Tried hard rears on the 2nd stint but if anything they were worse. As a result I was stupidly slow/out of shape for half the laps. I had to do 3 stops just to survive the tyre wear.

As a result I didn't really enjoy this as I'm sure those on the Team Shark TeamSpeak would testify, sorry boys 

[Paul968]

Unofficial Race Report

[Simon Gymer]

Was my connection fine today?

Looked perfect from my bonnet.

[sooty1977]

No connection problems anywere from what i could see 

[sooty1977]

Touch of topic but what versions of road america and Nürburgring we racing on ?

[Simon Gymer]

Touch of topic but what versions of road america and Nürburgring we racing on ?

A new verison of Nurb (v1.0.0.1) has just this minute been uploaded so you'll have to download it from the UKGTR downloads. Road America track has not yet been processed, but it will be based on the one available at NoGrip, sorry I don't know the version off-hand.