UKGTR Season 7 Super Endurance - Nürburgring (GP) - May 3

[Simon Gymer]

What a brilliant test of endurance that was. ZERO practice again, but wasn't too bothered about that. I have a good base setup for the Lambo and I know Nurb from GTL. With the weather being very different, it really made no odds as it was learn as you go along anyway.

Qually was evil to say the least. I was fortunate to come out on the second lap and get half way up the grid, whilst the front runners were the ones who got out on lap 1. After that it was too wet and no chance of improving the time (or in fact even stay on the circuit).

Race was full wet so started on soft wet fronts and hard wet rears. I was soon picking up places as I worked out how to drive in the wet properly (half brake and half throttle). Not sure quite when but I made it up to 2nd from 9th and as everyone else was diving in for different tyres, Jeff and I were staying out shaking our heads, even with severly overheating wets not wanting to be on the track with slicks just yet. Jeff finally gave in when his wets ran over the 30 wear marker (tyres worn) and I managed to stay out right to the end of my fuel tank.

This gave me a load more strategy to play with as the wet conditions saved me a lot of fuel. It was also the absolutely perfect time to go onto slicks (soft front, medium rear, thanks to the helpful advice from my team mates) as the transition time on my first lap after pitting was faster than my previous best in the wet.

After that I just got faster and faster as the track dried (INCREDIBLY SLOWLY). I again ran the car dry taking me to 22 minutes remaining for my final dash to the flag. Filled it to 48 litres and put the same tyres on. Comfortably in second, but Jeff was too far gone. I managed to take 10 seconds out of him after the pit stops, but he was so far ahead it was meaningless. So I was just gunning for fastest lap at the point and they kept coming, right till the last lap when I set my fastest lap of all.

My brain got a really good workout in that race with working out what to do about tyres and how far my fuel would go and whether to switch strategies and so forth. Definately what super endurance is about. Had some overtaking early on in the wet which was fun too, so all in all a proper endurance race that one.

Well done to Jeff, fantastic to win by such a margin in the Viper in those tricky conditions. Also congrats to TT in third.

[Truetom]

THAT was some of the best endurance racing there's to be had in GTR2. P2 in dry, Q2 started damp, then turned to wet and then flooded!     'cause I cocked it on my first try I had to Q in the wet and was only 13th of 18 drivers.     Warmup was wet and with a minimum of rain, so I decided to run with hRS wets and then decide later what to do. Seems like it was the right decision as I was 7th after the first few laps. Driving was hard, the track is unforgiving even in dry, so I went slowly and it payed off. After the track started to dry the fronts were increasingly going hot and I had to cool them down off the racing line. After the car started sliding out of corners I decided to pit, changed my tyres to slicks and took a full tank. Lister has low fuel usage so I had some more tactical options. I saw Shark and Ruskus and Gazza were not coming in (sorry, didn't see others). I had quite a good 2nd stint with a few offs which didn't really take that much time. Towards the empty tank ( ) one Psuedodo team Lambo started to catch up (Gazza?) and we had some close laps, even the contact and I went into the sand. Fair move by the pursuer, he waited for me to rejoin and let me my place back.     After the second pit - for once I calculated the amount of fuel to put in correctly - I came back a few seconds before Gazza and managed to keep the gap until my tyres warmed up. I think I was in 5th place then. Then Paul968 pitted, and close towards the end of the race Reign Man in front spinned - bad luck, buddy. I was 3rd, kept the gap to Gazza and let it close towards the very end.

Pleased with the result as Lister isn't the best in all this braking and accelerating. And I must say GREAT JOB Dave for creating this clever-weather file.  I never saw this in either R2P or TPG league. THIS is the proper endurance racing. 

Grats to JR and Shark, great tactics and nerves. 

One day I will have a race where everything goes as planned. (If age allows)

 

TT

[Jeffrey]

Great super endurance.

Before the start of the race I tweaked a few things to make it better in the wet and started with soft/hard wets.
First stage I could slowly get away ferom Paul, untill he pitted and the gap was quite big. I then went off and clipped the wall . Could keep going without too much damage .

Soon my fronts were starting to overheat, but also my hards went that way soon after. Eventhough they were too hot (130/110), they were still the right option, as wets didn't even give enough grip.
It was great to see this race the difference between Pirelli and Michelin. The Pirellis wets are easier to drive, so as long as it stayed wet, I had the advantage.
Had to come in after 40 minutes or so, because wear was 30+ and I didn't wanted to risk a puncture. Came in and gambled for meds allround, as I was afraid softs fronts would overheat and wear to quickly.
The grip was horrible the first few laps, no grip at the front nor rear. But slowly the tyres started to heat up and I was improving my wet laptimes.
Fronts never got up to temperature, so the understeer was awefull. That's why I stretched my 2nd stint till 30 minutes to go, so switch to soft fronts.
They were much quicker but also wearing fast. At that time the Michelins had the upperhand, and Simon was gaining on me.

Luckily for me, the gap was big enough, so I didn't have to push too hard at that point, as the car never felt super good in these conditions .

Grats too all who finished, very hard conditions for such a long race, so very well done on finishing.

Pleased with the result as Lister isn't the best in all this braking and accelerating.

Weird, as those are actually the strong points of the Lister. It's very light (good braking) and has very good acceleration (more torque than a F550) .

[Gazza49er]

That was a pretty amazing race!

Didnt manage a time in the dry so started 10th. Started on hard wets all round and struggled a little at first getting passed by a few but then i got a little more confident and with a few people falling off started to climb up the board. Stayed out my whole 1st stint on the hard wets which seemed to be the way to go and when it was time to pit it was perfect time to put on the dry tyres.

Came out in about 5th i think and started to catch TT, we had some amazing laps together, i was getting along side but couldnt get past. One point i knocked him off track (very sorry TT) but i slowed and let him back passed. Managed to catch him again and got past cleanly and pulled away.

Was thinking maybe 3rd was on the cards but AGAIN i over fuelled at the last stop. There was 25mins to go and i stupidly put 20 laps of fuel in when only about 13 would of done. This meant TT got back passed me and then i had Paul all over me and again we had some very close racing. Reign Man then spun (unlucky mate) and i was up to 4th. Paul then got a good run on me up to the final chicane but lucky for me he outbraked himself and half spun i think which took the pressure of a little.  

Was having to try and look after the engine as the temps were getting very high so couldnt really make a push at catching TT plus being to heavy.

All in all very happy with 4th.

Grats to Ruskus and podium, and everyone who finnished.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Quite enjoyed that even if it was bonkers.

Got another purple screen of doom at the start of qually and had to reboot and rejoin. By the time I returned the track was wet and I had no chance of even a half-decent lap so I stuck something approximating a wet race setup on and went out to see how it felt.

Not good was the answer. Made some tweaks, crossed my fingers and hope for better weather in the race.

Started well and picked up lots of places as others went off. Caught Gazza as he was finding his feet and got alongside into the chicane only to concentrate too hard on leaving him some room, running over the curb and spinning putting me back a couple places.

When the rain stopped I decided to gamble and take on slicks. It was much too early for the Lambo but I was a long way back from the other two Shark drivers so without any team points on offer it made more sense to gamble and gather useful information for them.

It was quickly apparent that wets were still the 'right' tyres but slicks were manageable as long as I didn't stray off line. My laps times were well down but I needed to save a lot of fuel to avoid having to do two more stops so it didn't matter so much. It was costing me at least 4 seconds a lap compared to the leaders but I couldn't match their pace in any case.

Despite what Shark and JR were telling me over TeamSpeak about the Lambo's fuel capability, I managed to stretch the second stint out  to over an hour, and pitted in line with my original dry strategy. On leaving the pits I was immediately able to go massively faster and for a short while held the fastest lap of the race, until JR and then Shark pitted and knocked another couple of seconds off. In the meantime I caught and passed Ade's Corvette for 8th, which looking at the results is probably the best I could have hoped for under all dry conditions.

A very interesting race and I'm glad now I bumped the changeability of the weather up a little when I generated the file. Pity I couldn't take advantage myself but it was a great result for Team Shark.

[psuedo]

A very interesting race and I'm glad now I bumped the changeability of the weather up a little when I generated the file.  Pity I couldn't take advantage myself but it was a great result for Team Shark.

 .....you could have told the rest of us about the bumped weather too. 

Not that it would have made any difference to me...I'm cwappy in the damp, wet or floods 

[spanner]

I know circuits are known to have there own micro-climates but that was interesting being as the rest of the area was dry!

I was lucky to get our reasonably early in qualifying but on my first lap the tyres still werent up to a good temperature then came across the rain coming upto the final chicane and took it a bit easy. Then went out a few times trying out the wet tyres but just sat there praying for dry conditions in the race which sadly didnt arrive. Went with hard wets all round but didnt realy change the setup at all which in those conditions didnt help and struggled for a few laps and decided to let those behind through as i realised some people had qualified out of position and I assume had soft wets on. Then for a while just tried to work out how to drive in those conditions.

When the rain stopped several people seemed to dive into the pits but it seemed too early so decided to wait a bit longer which was good as for some reason it took forever to dry out, in fact i left it to my first stop which surprisingly took me to over half way through where i switched onto slicks but struggled to switch off the ignition (do i need to hold it down?)which wasted 20 seconds. The second half started pretty damp in places which still made it tricky for quite a while. When TT and Gazza came round to lap me I couldnt see Gazza at all, I only knew he was somewhere from the tag pointing down.

After struggling with mental arithmitic while driving i realised i had enough fuel to last to the end so had to do a quick pit stop but accidently changed tyres at the same time then came out with 30 mins to go with no one to chase and rapidly lost concentration as i was getting extremely knackered having never driving for this long before.

Congrats to all those who finished.

I need to have a look at the GT cars again as i thought the Listers were on Michelin according to the tech specs, or is it just for those who have a skin?

[Paul968]

Roll Eyes.....you could have told the rest of us about the bumped weather too.  Tongue

Sorry, but I agree. You get used to the system and base your prep for the race on what you know. If you are going to tamper with it then please make it public.

[Paul968]

Really enjoyed the race despite making a horlicks of the tyre choice. Got lucky in qual by getting a quick one in before the rain, but found the lambo was a pig in wet weather using my setup. I tried to soften it a bit but it was still very twitchy and there was no time to sort it out. For whatever reason I started on soft wets all round, which very quickly showed itself to be awful - the rears were near 300F in a few laps  I tried to struggle on and hope to keep those behind at bay for a while but the tail got so wayward it was a no brainer to pit and change to hard wet rears. This put me near the back but I gradually climbed up the order as people fell off or pitted. I found it impossible to judge how wet the track was. When I pitted the 2nd time it was still reflecting a bit and spray was coming up, but I still gambled on slicks knowing things were not good either way.  Coming out it was instantly clear that the slicks were miles faster, which doesn't ring true to me - spray and reflections mean wet tyres needed. Anyway, from then on I was making up for lost time and turned a 45 sec gap into single digits by my final (3rd) stop 30 mins from the end. I then caught up the TT/Reign man/Gazza group and had a great battle with first Gazza (loved the side by side stuff in the stadium section  ) and then reign man who spun in front of me and I couldn't avoid hitting. The car was slower after that (splitter damage?) and I couldn't get back on terms with the others, so ended up 5th.

Congrats to JR who was in a different class, to Simon who was very quick all the way through and to TT who doggedly hung on for 3rd. The race was such a challenge throughout that it didn't feel long at all -  in some ways I wanted it to carry on to try and get another place.

[Ade]

Roll Eyes.....you could have told the rest of us about the bumped weather too.  Tongue

Sorry, but I agree. You get used to the system and base your prep for the race on what you know. If you are going to tamper with it then please make it public.

Yep so do I!!! i cant be fair to show the race as real time weather, then for someone to change the setting before the race  must be of advantage to those in the know all the same enjoyed the race . Love and kisses Ade .

[Mike Hammer]

Hmm. Well, I've long held the opinion that water ruins racing, changeable weather destroys it. An opinion not shared by many GTR drivers, I think.

Anywho, started second to last, on wet soft/hard combo. Picked up a few places at first, as others were taking it very carefully. Rain stopped, but with hardly any experience in GTR rain racing I wasn't sure when it was possible to switch tires. They were all bright red after a while, and when I saw Dave pit I decided to follow his lead. Took mediums all around, hoping for the best.

Seems Dave could drive with those, but I couldn't. Spun a bunch of times, driving was horrible, not fun at all. Damaged my car, loosing pieces from the front making the car undriveable through fast corners. Came in for repairs, came out, spun a couple times, damaged my front again. That was enough. Rain really is not for me.

[Ade]

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the rain, but some of the lads spend hours fine tuning a  setup on-line coz off line it never works the same??? as for me i don't know what to tweak to make the most of the car ?? personally i cant just show up and race!!! it takes me loads of laps and time to get it together, just don't have the time to sort out wet n dry setups for every race. just in case the weather man is telling fibs.

[psuedo]

When have you ever known the weatherman to get it right? 

The weather files are seeded (based on) real world weather as reported by the local weather station just before a race. Unfortunately, (as happens in the real world), the practice weather files are seeded at an earlier time and can only report the weather as is at that time. So (as happens in the real world), it could change by race time. Basically, using real world weather is....errrrrm....realistic. The pre race practice has to be done in the conditions applicable at the time...which may well be sunny and dry....but the race is run at the stated time and the weather in the real world could have changed a lot.

I do attempt to update the weather files on the practice servers as often as possible...to try and get them as close to current/expected weather at the time....but it is unpredictable.

Yep so do I!!! i cant be fair to show the race as real time weather, then for someone to change the setting before the race   must be of advantage to those in the know  all the same enjoyed the race . Love and kisses Ade

The race was still totally based on real world weather....practice and the start of qually were dry and the temps similar to what was reported from the weather station.

All that was changed from what Dave 'tweaked' was the amount of changeabillity the program itself could apply to those conditions.... again based on the data it received from the weather file. It only actually produced a small amount of rain....but it took a little longer than normal for the track to dry afterwards.....personally, I think this is much closer to how it would happen in Germany in real life....You only really see the the tracks dry instantaniously in very hot places, like Dubai for instance.

[Ade]

No problems with me Psuedo, i wear wellies wet or dry  you guys do a great job, and i for one bow down to your mastery of all things computary, if that's a word !! keep up the good work  as for me since i found you guys late last year i ain't had so much fun for ages  think the missus  may disagree  or  should i get my army sleeping bag out and hit a few festivals again

[psuedo]

or  should i get my army sleeping bag out and hit a few festivals again

Sleeping bag......I NEVER sleep when I'm at a festival  (spent a few hours unconcious though  )