UKGTR Season 7 Upper Endurance (GT1/C) - Anderstorp (GP) - Apr 20

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Back to my usual form - rubbish in qually and miles better in the race.

550s were leaving me for dead on the straights but I was all over Hal's bum through the rest of the lap and he duly fell off.

Awesome dice with SbG through the backmarkers - sorry about the tap coming out of T1, I was trying to box you in behind that GTC and didn't quite make enough space for myself. Was worried I'd spin you off but you held it together, great job! The MC12 was quick down the straight compared to the Lambo - mind you, the RSes were too! - but I was getting an awesome run out of T1 compared to the other GT1s and the R-GT was also fabulous on the brakes so once I was alongside I knew I could nail you in the right hander at the end of the runway and duly did so.

After that Backo's engine went and I was then chasing down Paul R and Shark for the lead - being able to see the leaders just ahead is uncharted territory for me! Car's balance remained excellent on worn tyres and I stayed out a lap longer than Shark, picking up the lead for a lap, but then the Lambo's awful consumption dumped me back to effective 3rd and with no real prospect of catching up again.

Traffic was a nightmare in a good way - multiclass racing at its best. Hairiest moment of the race was Greystreak's Vertigo blowing its motor right in front of me.

[Simon Gymer]

After 2 hours and 10 minutes in the Lambo yesterday I decided I wanted to hop into something new so after downloading Gregor Huttu's F550 setup for Anderstorp and heavily modifying it to more fit my driving style I was doing lap times the same as Lambo.

Qualified 5th on the grid and was looking forward to finally having a bit of ooomph down the straights even putting up the wing one notch from qually to give me a little more grip and stability. Sure enough, lap 1 and my Italian stallion went straight by the floundering MC12 of Gingsters. Sorry, but it's finally nice to have the boot on the other foot from all the times I've been left for dead in the Lambo! For all the F550 is good on the straights, it's not exactly friendly with the corners, so it had one of the most radical setups I've ever driven with to get it round the bends (90 rear ARB!!!), the Ferrari really doesn't feel like it's got much grip in the corners and understeers like a wallowing barge.

After that had an extended battle with Backo and lapping GTCs was very scarey indeed when the top three GT1s are so close together and not wanting to lose out too much to each other. Had some hairy moments and had to make some more forceful moves than I normally like, but didn't hit anyone thankfully. The closing speeds in the GT1s, especially on the Vertigos is simple frightening. A number of times I was absolutely miles away at the beginning of the straight but by the end of it you've caught a car so fast that you are then left with the dilemna of whether to go for the outbrake with such immense extra momentum. Hope I wasn't too forceful, I know there was one one Jeff that was particularly last minute that was probably a little too late, but his awareness and skill allowed me through (thanks!).

After about 30 minutes I started what was to be the battle I would have almost to the flag. Getting the lead from Paul R, losing it in the pit stops, getting it back, then losing it again and finally after I put up a good chase towards the end, just running wide into the gravel momentarily with just a couple more minutes to go to finally take the pressure off him. Deserved win Paul, well done, very competitive racing.

Shame about the depleted GT1 field at the end, again only 10 starters and with more unfortunate discos and so forth (and Joss being useless  ), but great to see two Gymers on the podium.

Well done to Jeff on the GTC win in an unlikely car for Anderstorp (although he was running 1-1 wing to compensate for the Vertigo's natural straight line speed disadvantage) and the other podium places Paul and Mike.

P.S. I don't understand how that event felt so long after yesterday's Super Endurance race, I think the practice session goes on too long so it makes the whole event take longer than you'd think for a measly 80 minute race.

[Mike Hammer]

Heh. I did all my crashing on the practice server. Well, most. One crash during practice on race server.

Qually could have gone better. Constantly got -0.350 to the first interval, but couldn't make it stick for a whole lap. Even so, I nabbed 2nd (GTC) from Paul968 with a few minutes left and switched to my race setup to get a few practice laps with full fuel. Didn't even get a lap before Paul took 2nd back.

Had a great race in the beginning with Paul in front and TT behind. The Fezza is kind on tires, and sure enough Pauls tires seemed to go off before mine, and let me past on the return staight. Was catching up to Ruskus a little, one second in four laps, but then the GT1's started coming through and I fell back again. SBG was in my mirrors and I thought I'd go wide into T5, let him pass on the inside, but instead I jumped off the track and into the wall.

A few laps later I did it again. And a few laps after that went off in T4.

Sigh.

Did a late pitstop, and came out 6 secs down on McClean. Caught up and tried to put some pressure on. Soon enough, he was a bit late on the brakes for T1, went wide at corner entry and I got ahead after being side by side down the straight.

Was 13 secs down on Paul at this point, and I was sceptical if it was possible to catch up. But again, it looked like his tires started to give before mine, and I started to close. Slowly. But it was two steps forward, one step back. Getting lapped, and in turn lapping others, the gap went up and down. Paul must have been in the same situation, of course.

Got the gap down to 6,5 secs, but then I did a series of rather silly spins, and that was that.

Didn't really enjoy the Ferrari around this track. A bit too understeery, and no chance of using soft fronts due to the heavy tire wear this track has. Couldn't get the gear ratios suitable either. Had to leave 1st low for the sandtraps, and had to put 2nd pretty low as well, for acceleration out of the last corner. This left me with a 3rd gear which was a bit too tall for T1, T2 and T while 2nd gear was too short for T1, and a little adventurous in T2, T3. But I shouldn't complain too much, car was okay on the whole and quick enough for a much better performance.


Sorry to Munkez for the nudge. I was so very relieved when you did not spin off.

Grats to Paul Richards and Ruskus.
Nice driving by Paul968, seems 20kg difference isn't enough for me to make it more interesting for you 
Hopefully I'll improve with experience.


Good racing with you guys once again. See you next week.

[Paul968]

Unofficial Race Report

[Mike Wrightson]

It was probably just as well my game froze, as I realised 10 minutes later that I had completely forgotten how pitting works in GTR

[Kerr]

I will need to see what is wrong with my connection. That's two sundays on the trot this new connection has given up. It drops the connection completely for a few minutes for some reason. Don't know if there is anything in that?    It has been fine all week and even the long endurance event on saturday was fine.   So I don't know if I have been unlucky the last two sundays or there is something significant to the fact of discos on sundays?

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I will need to see what is wrong with my connection. That's two sundays on the trot this new connection has given up. It drops the connection completely for a few minutes for some reason. Don't know if there is anything in that?    It has been fine all week and even the long endurance event on saturday was fine.   So I don't know if I have been unlucky the last two sundays or there is something significant to the fact of discos on sundays?

Does your router have a log which allows you to see whether it's a loss of sync or the LCP going down?
Have you tried rebooting it just before a race?

[Paul Richards]

well that was a very tough race last night but am delighted with my 2nd win discounting fun races. Went into this race reasonably confident as i had i good race here in the 575 a couple of seasons back.

Qualifying went ok. Twice i was well up on my best hoping to challenge brian for pole when i hit traffic right at the end of the lap. Third was ok though.

Backo spun warming his tyres on the pace lap putting me up to second. Race started and with all the battling behind brian and myself had pulled out a bit of a gap. Brian then disco'd and with backo and simon battling i thought i had a chance to pull out a bit of a lead. It was all going well as i came up to lap two gtcs at the end of the straight. The leading gtc lost it and there was nowhere to go for the other or myself. Damaged the front and back just behind backo and simon. With the front damaged i wasnt quite as quick but could just about keep up with the battle for the lead. Backo was pushing very hard and after quite a few hairy moments eventually ran wide at the left hand banked corner. Si then pulled away a bit only for me to close up as our tyres wore. Not only did my tyres hold up well i was getting good fuel mileage so i ducked into the pits a few laps early to try and jump simon.

Pit stop went well and even with the damage fixed i was in the lead after the pit cycle. Car felt great but i couldnt put any daylight back to simon and if was soon back on my tail. After catching a gtc in a bad place he got close down the straight and i ran a little wide in the corner at the end and he through. I nearly came a cropper and lost a bit of time but was able to catch back up and he then ran a little wide and i was back. As the race neared the end he was putting me under lots of pressure until he ran wide in the final laps. Great race simon was really fun to race so close for so long. Have to say it was a little nerve wracking and the 80 mins seemed like an age!

Congrats to jeff on the gtc win and the other podiums. Thanks to all the gtcs for the lapping help as its tricky round here.         

[Kerr]

I will need to see what is wrong with my connection. That's two sundays on the trot this new connection has given up. It drops the connection completely for a few minutes for some reason. Don't know if there is anything in that?    It has been fine all week and even the long endurance event on saturday was fine.   So I don't know if I have been unlucky the last two sundays or there is something significant to the fact of discos on sundays?

Does your router have a log which allows you to see whether it's a loss of sync or the LCP going down?
Have you tried rebooting it just before a race?

What does LCP stand for?   I don't know if the router logs data. I think I caught a page in the settings the other night, so I will double check when i get home.    One thing I did notice is the light on the router that highlights connection goes out and takes a couple of minutes to come back on.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

What does LCP stand for?   I don't know if the router logs data. I think I caught a page in the settings the other night, so I will double check when i get home.    One thing I did notice is the light on the router that highlights connection goes out and takes a couple of minutes to come back on.

Link Control Protocol - it's how the modem and DSLAM (the modem in the exchange) communicate.

It certainly sounds like you'd benefit from bouncing the modem/router just before a race.

[Greystreak]

Even from the back of the grid, a fun and entertaining race.  I managed to recover from the terror of "Connection Lost" during Qualifying, and reconnect to set at least a 'token' time before the session ended.  The cooler 12*C ambient track temperature made sure many of us were dealing with lower than expected grip levels, and those with greater experience of 'last minute setup tweaks' obviously reaped the benefits.    Between trading offs with my fellow GTC'ers, and playing 'dodgems' as the hunting packs of GT-1's roared past, it was good fun.  I even had one 'legit' overtake--Prof's Morgan, as he yielded to a pack of GT-1's--by momentarily catching a tow on the coat-tails of the last overtaking GT-1 . . . only to hand the place back through an error, a couple of corners later!

My driving apologies are due to:  1) Psuedo - under pressure into Norra (T2) on lap 8, I lost the back-end under braking, and 'collected' you with my spin  ; and 2) Dave Gymer - didn't mean to scare you lighting up the 'barbie' on my lap 41, sending a dense pall of black smoke up, just as you overtaking me.  (Frankly, I was mystified with that, as my rpms were limited 100's lower than 'top end' [6900], based on my understanding of the Gillet's performance profile.  )

[psuedo]

My driving apologies are due to:  1) Psuedo - under pressure into Norra (T2) on lap 8, I lost the back-end under braking, and 'collected' you with my spin 

no probs....just glad I managed to slow enough in time to avoid a big un that could have damaged both of us badly....as it was no damage done 

[D_Nichols]

Gutted I didn't make this one. My Girl Friends car had its drivers side front spring fail. Many an hour spent awaiting the AA....

[Paul968]

Another fun race, especially in the first half. Timed my best lap perfectly to pip Mike to 2nd on the grid and thought I might be able to get Ruskus on the drag down to T2, but there wasn't quite enough time. After that it was more about keeping Mike behind as he was clearly a bit quicker. After 8 laps or so I made a small slip and decided to let Mike by but had to be careful not to let TT through at the same time. We managed this OK, but then TT was right on my tail. We had what seemed like half a lap side by side before he ended up on the inside under braking at the end of the back straight and was past - good racing as always. Unfortunately for him he then slid off on one of the banked corners. Next in the queue for me though was Mark McClean, who was equally quick. After holding him off for a couple of laps he got by when I let SBG past - I wasn't too worried though as I assumed he was running lighter and so would lose out at the stops. Around this time Mike went wide and dropped back a few seconds, so I was 3rd as the pitstops started. They went smoothly and sure enough I came out in 2nd with a 10 second gap to Mark and another 5 to Mike. Mark was dropping back if anything and although Mike was a bit quicker it seemed that it wasn't going to be enough to catch up, so I could relax, save the car and avoid silly mistakes (which have blighted previous races at Anderstorp for me). Quite happy with 2nd in the end 

Congrats to Ruskus on the GTC win and to our Paul on a great win in GT1  Also to Mike on 3rd in GTC, especially with the +20kg ballast - with a few less errors then I think you would have been pretty close at the end. Thx to the lappers and those lapped - all pretty smooth and polite, although it isn't the easiest track to lap on or let people by. Looking forward to Barcelona now after the tedium of Anderstorp.

[Kerr]

What does LCP stand for?   I don't know if the router logs data. I think I caught a page in the settings the other night, so I will double check when i get home.    One thing I did notice is the light on the router that highlights connection goes out and takes a couple of minutes to come back on.

Link Control Protocol - it's how the modem and DSLAM (the modem in the exchange) communicate.

It certainly sounds like you'd benefit from bouncing the modem/router just before a race.

When you say "bouncing" do you mean resetting/restarting the router or is there a more technical method behind that?