UKGTR Season 7 Lower Endurance (GT2/3) - Donington Park (GP) - May 11

[Paul968]

I'd been hoping for a final ding-dong battle with Ian for the championship, but clearly his mind was on other things so I had to settle for another viper battle  Qual was as quick as I could go but still only good for third behind Dave and Dan. A couple of laps in, Dave fell off at the chicane leaving Dan in a lead that he never lost. I then had to fend off Reign Man and Dave as they alternately passed me or made mistakes. About a third of the way through, Dave got a run on RM through the old hairpin, RM went a touch wide and slowed so that Dave bumped him and I then got a great run up the hill behind them. As we went round the left handed entry to Macleans, RM was on the left, Dave was on the right and I was in the middle, part way alongside RM and half a car length behind Dave. Dave then lifted when I wasn't expecting him to and pulled left into the middle of the track where I was committed to going. We hadn't reached the braking point and being so close I had no chance to back out in time and gentled nudged him into  a spin - sorry Dave  After that I followed RM till the pitstops and came out 20+ secs down on Dan, who had been making hay whle I scrapped with the Vipers. From then on it was a bit of a cruise to the finish as Dave wasn't catching me and Dan was slightly quicker. That is apart from teamie Mike who decided that I needed waking up and appeared to drive me off the track as I let him past!  No harm done though as the gap behind was still quite big. One odd thing - nobody else has mentioned it, but my race time showed from the start as 24 hours! I stopped when everyone else did with the clock showing 22.38 ish, but I never got a race completed message. Was I the only one like this?

Congrats to Dan on a faultless drive and to Jeff for yet another win. Also to Freq for the GT2 championship and the baby teeth boys for the team title. Got to say well done too to Ian, who had he not discoed 2 races before looked odds on to take the GT3 championship, and to all the other Kerbies who took part - nice to see some new faces in the team. Thanks to everyone for the racing this season and to the mods for all the hard work behind the scenes.

[Jeffrey]

Apologies to Jeff for costing him the lead last night, i had a real 'newbie' moment down at the chicane as i went into wide-eyed rabbit stare moment as i watched his Toledo catch me like i was standing still at the end of the straight. It meant i out braked myself as i wasnt sure if he was going to dive up the inside of me, i subsequently bounced over the kerbs and lost all momentum, hoping that by pulling across to wide left he might be able to shoot back up the inside on the exit but unfortunately he got stuck behind me and i felt rather guilty as i saw his nemesis Freq get by him    Sorry about that.

It's okay, it's just that I had that bad luck in 3 out of the last 4 races, as it also happened at Barcelona and Lime Rock (different drivers tho ). 

[Paul968]

Unofficial Race Report

[picnic]

One odd thing - nobody else has mentioned it, but my race time showed from the start as 24 hours! I stopped when everyone else did with the clock showing 22.38 ish, but I never got a race completed message. Was I the only one like this?

Race timer was fine for me, sometimes times seemed to be running slowly but I know it wasn't 

[Busi]

Special Awards
Backo - Most stop and gos in a race.

I'd like to know how many stop&go did he have for this record, as I am surprised I didn't beat it yesterday! lol here's my race:

Qualified 2nd, really nice for my first race here. In the first lap I was pressuring Ruskus, he braked just a bit early for the chicane and I had to lock up to avoid an incident, Backo got passed me. Then in 3rd we were both going fast and the top3 battle was really nice, but Ruskus kept it so good under control.

Then, given that I'm too used to the "2 wheels must stay on track", but INCLUDING kerbs as the track itself, I did a total of 6 supposed short cuts, which cost me 4 STOP&GO PENALTIES lol Clearly I gotta get used to that because I was all the time taking the racing line I've always taken, I didn't gain a single seconds with any of those 6 short cuts. But owh well...

Then I just tried to keep pushing but with 15 minutes to go I still got another one so I decided to quit. A shame because the battle for the win could've kept going till the end maybe...

Congrats to race and championship winners, I'll be starting next league better I hope 

[Simon Gymer]

I'd like to know how many stop&go did he have for this record, as I am surprised I didn't beat it yesterday! lol here's my race:

As you didn't take your last one I'm afraid it really must go to Backo for a total of 5 stop and gos. Maybe next time?

those 6 short cuts. Then I just tried to keep pushing but with 15 minutes to go I still got another one so I decided to quit. A

Was the first 6 times not a clue as to what line you should be taking?

[Paul968]

Well done to Paul +40kg Harrington on the drivers championship and the smelly Kerb Crawlers for the team championship. Tongue

Thanks fish breath 

[BACKO]

Special mention to Gazza49er, Backo and Jorgen for bringing team Pseudo home in an excellent 3rd place in the GT2 championship....great stuff lads   

Whoa  ,amazing for us PSEUDO Team finished 3'h finally in the our first complete season  Well done guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And that special award price for me , 5 times stop and go  :eek:completely destroyed my race yesterday.
Nice qualification and  start of race,close racing with Ruskus ,I pushed so hard  :scooter:then came bloody stop ..... and I knew victory is over for me, but I hoped for top 3 ,came again and again stop and go,be honest I wanted finished race like Busi did,but I like Donington track and I was really enjoyed every second on track.
Congrat.  to  podium ,and Championchip winners!!! ,well done guys!!!!

Now I'm looking forward for next one season.

[Paul968]

Was really surprised to grab the GT3 pole at a track which isn't Viper friendly

Not sure I agree with you there. I didn't expect it either, but the Viper is pretty good at Donington. I've done a mid 32 in it and I'm not a CC expert, and in race trim it doesn't wear it's tyres any quicker than the cup car. With full fuel and med/hard tyres I'm at least a second a lap quicker, which is more than enough to make up for the extra fuelling time. There are several long drags out of medium speed corners where the Viper makes a lot of time, plus the fact that it largely demolishes the chicane in a way which would spit the 911 off the track every other lap. Still feels like driving a tank though 

[Simon Gymer]

and in race trim it doesn't wear it's tyres any quicker than the cup car.

You've got to be kidding me. *drum roll*

I ran soft-meds in the 911 last night without a problem, yet I can't even remotely begin to think about that combo in the Viper CC in the slightest on any track. I was up to about 23 units wear on the 911 before pitting at half distance. That would have been 30+ on the Viper on the harder compound combination.

[Paul968]

You've got to be kidding me. Smiley *drum roll*

I ran soft-meds in the 911 last night without a problem, yet I can't even remotely begin to think about that combo in the Viper CC in the slightest on any track. I was up to about 23 units wear on the 911 before pitting at half distance. That would have been 30+ on the Viper on the harder compound combination.

I didn't say it used the same tyres. I used soft/med last night too (although normally I need med/hard) and was doing mid 35s or greater at the start of the race. In the viper with med/hards I can do low - mid 34s and the wear rate is roughly comparable (around 20 - 25 at half distance).
 

[Simon Gymer]

I didn't say it used the same tyres. I used soft/med last night too (although normally I need med/hard) and was doing mid 35s or greater at the start of the race. In the viper with med/hards I can do low - mid 34s and the wear rate is roughly comparable (around 20 - 25 at half distance).

I see.

Not sure I could have hustled the Viper round as well as that or Gizmo last night tbh.

On a seperate note, I was surprised when taking the 911 Cup to find some of the setup options unavailable on the Cup. No diff settings and not much you can do with the ARBs either (I had min front and max rear, but it wasn't exactly a radical setup despite that because it wouldn't let you adjust it very far).

[Paul968]

On a seperate note, I was surprised when taking the 911 Cup to find some of the setup options unavailable on the Cup. No diff settings and not much you can do with the ARBs either (I had min front and max rear, but it wasn't exactly a radical setup despite that because it wouldn't let you adjust it very far).

Yes, you are a bit limited, but there are still lots of things you can do to affect the balance - springs, rear wing, etc. At least you can change the gearing, which is a no-no with the viper.

[Simon Gymer]

Yes, you are a bit limited, but there are still lots of things you can do to affect the balance - springs, rear wing, etc. At least you can change the gearing, which is a no-no with the viper.

Yeah, I presume Gizmo wasn't getting anywhere near 6th last night.

What wing were you running? I turned it down only one notch to 6 on the rear for the 911 Cup. Didn't really know what to do with the wing cause it's not got a big wing in the first place but Donington needs quite a lot of wing in my experience. I had stiffened the rear springs, ARB and rebound settings to get better turn in and removed the front ARB and softened the front rebounds/bumps to get rid of some of the understeer. I felt for the main part the balance was ok on the car, maybe still a bit too much understeer and it really didn't like to take the curbs anywhere no matter what I did to the ride height.

[Paul968]

What wing were you running? I turned it down only one notch to 6 on the rear for the 911 Cup. Didn't really know what to do with the wing cause it's not got a big wing in the first place but Donington needs quite a lot of wing in my experience.

I went with 6 too.

I had stiffened the rear springs, ARB and rebound settings to get better turn in

Stiff rebound yes, but not the others

and removed the front ARB

Wow! Never tried that. Didn't it make the front end soggy?

I felt for the main part the balance was ok on the car, maybe still a bit too much understeer and it really didn't like to take the curbs anywhere no matter what I did to the ride height.

You must really like your oversteer! All the 911s are pants over the curbs at the chicane in my experience.