UKGTR Season 8 Pre-season 9 - GT1 @ Oschersleben (GP) - Dec 14

[phspok]

Dang. I hate rain in SIms, always seemed pointless to me, it's never well modeled
and when it's stealth rain , well.... 

[picnic]

Replay and provisional results posted

[Busi]

Thought it might be fun not to qually and start at the back. Would have been impossible to catch Busi on pole, but he dropped (disco?) and also had to start from the back.

No, no disco seeing you were starting at the back, thought it would be great to try and follow you through the field, which I did till 11th or 12th place, was brilliant

I pitted one lap earlier than the rest when track was getting more and more wet. Looks like it worked cause I gained 4-5 places with the pitstops. I was in 6th and on hard wets, which were not heating enough (55ish ºC fronts and 70ish ºC rears all the time) and I was losing around 3 seconds a lap to Jeff, but keeping the pace with Gazza ahead of me. We had a nice chase for several laps there I made some mistakes but was just a bit faster.

In the end he has a surprising spin before the entry of the triple left hander - I've had a couple of those odd spins there too, there must be something strange at the extra space on the right, just where the grass finishes. And Napo had trouble too, looks like he had to pit again.

So 4th in the end, too far behind TT, but a minute ahead of Gazza, who I guess had a problem after the spin.

I'd like to know what tyres you were on too, H@L, TT, Gazza, Napo? If that can be told

Brilliant race, amazing pace Jeff, I couldn't believe you were doing 28's on those threacherous conditions, but I guess the soft wets + less fuel + you combination made that possible

[Truetom]

Qually went ok in the dry...a pb put me 4th behind 2 teamies and some legend or other  

 

I'd like to know what tyres you were on too, H@L, TT, Gazza, Napo? If that can be told

No mystery here. Meds slicks and then hard wets all the way. 

TT

[H@L9000]

I'd like to know what tyres you were on too, H@L, TT, Gazza, Napo? If that can be told

Medium slicks at the start. I pitted just before the one hour mark and put on soft wets which lasted until the end (just).

[Busi]

cheers, just want to learn a bit more about wet tyres as I don't know how much faster soft wets are compared to hard wets, and how much faster they wear. What I knew so far was the difference in temperatures, after having been on 170ºC soft wets at Le Mans

My hard wets also lasted 1 hour, a bit more, and they were worn around 20-22 at the end. I would guess Gazza was on softs as I could barely follow him at the beginning of the 2nd stint but then I was faster

[Gazza49er]

That was hard!!

Was a little nervous about doing the formation lap but teamies talked me throught it 

Made a good start as was pulling away then my heart sank as the rain came lol, hadnt done any practise here in the wet. Came in for wet tyres about the right time but completely messed up the pitstop as another car pulled out as i was coming into my stall and i over shot and had to back it up which lost me alot of time which let H@l and Napo past. I filled it to the brim and went for soft wets on the front and hard wets on the rear which worked ok but in hine sight i wish i had gone for hard wets all round as towards the end my left front was very very worn and i was loosing time and made the discision to come in and change with 10 mins to go as i knew i would keep 5th and knew i wouldnt catch the ones ahead.

Had nice battles with Busi and Jan.

Grats geoff mindboggling pace, and nice one H@l

[H@L9000]

I was not actually sure that the soft wets would last but, they did, luckily

I just put them on because I heard thunder, which is a sign that the rain will be heavy enough to flood the track.

[Napo]

What a race guys! 

I barely did any practice, and I wasn't doing great but I kinda expected that since I hear the Viper is hard to drive. But then Jeff tells me that not all the vipers are the same and that those letters that looks like smiley's are actually tire designations. So I pick the car with the better tires and I pull in a respectable 5th or 6th spot. We get going and it starts raining. I start cursing cuz I don't know how to tell when to pit or when to brake how much throttle input to use being my 1st gtr2 league race and 1st time racing in changing/wet conditions in gtr2! I back right down and a train behind me is forming. I slowly start to up the pace and close in on the driver in front of me only to see him spin out at the last corner. I start to ponder when to pit cuz the guys in front are long gone so I can't follow them if they decide to go in. Luckily when I could see more spray and the track really got slippery I came in at the right time. I come out in 7th according to my pitboard, a lap or two later when everyone else comes in I see p1 on my pitboard!!!! 

After that the driver behind me is closing me in fast and the plan is to keep him behind as long as possible but I blow that with too much throttle and 2 cars get past! After that I'm able to maintain good pace while in 3rd but being my 1st gtr2 league race I make the typical n00b mistakes. I could list them all but it's really long. 

So I end up dropping another place. Good fights in between with drivers. I went for soft wets and I tried to go all the way but my tires were just shot! I started to struggle more and more until I got a knock from behind from a lapper I think it was Jan. He was very sportsmanlike and waited for me.  I had to pit for new soft wets and ended putting too much fuel in the car. But I felt more grip and that was enough for me to quickly close down 6th place driver and take it with ease. Unfortunately not enough time to try and take 5th place also he was travelling about the same speed as me near the end of the race.

Sorry for not naming who I was racing, I only use the pitboard and I lost my replay when they switched sessions...the n00b mistakes just keep coming.

I was disappointed with only 6th but without these n00b mistakes a better result was definitely possible. But on a more positive note this is why I choose gtr2 over rfactor! It's just awesome racing in changeable conditions even tho I wasn't too happy when I saw the rain I loved it! Awesome race! Lots of fun!

Great race! Thanks a lot for the racing. I hope to make more of these races but my priority lies with ukgpl. But if there's ever a time where there isn't a race and there's one here I'll be sure to join if possible.

[Mark J]

That was a very tough race in those conditions, my first wet outing in a GT1 car ever as far as i know     

Joined late and suffering a little from an afternoon xmas bevvy. Qualied a very respectable 6th in my first outing in a C6 Vette  and was feeling good for the race....if it stayed dry 

Race started well with me pressurising Napos Viper for 5th for a fair number of laps trying to find a way past but he made his car suitably wide in the corner complexes and had better speed down the straights, and that went on until the rain came down.
Various xmas doo's over last few days had prevented me doing any wet practise so was a case of learning very much as i went along and boy was it tricky. GT1s are a real handful in the wet on slicks and i was like bambi covered in olive oil on ice  but i cleverly pitted early for hard wets and came back out 5th again and feeling very pleased for myself, 'except' i got given a bloody stop and go as i exited the pits  ...pretty weird considering i was on auto-pit ! I can only assume my car slithered over the pit entry line before the limiter kicked in.
So had to pit two laps later, still 5th but dropped to 10th by return to track  :'(
Then it was really hard tippy toe racing for a good 40minutes in the rain and had several excursions, especially around by the fast 'S' corners.
Got upto 9th and Jan re-emerged just in front of me from the pits so looked like i would have a good battle for 8th to see me through to end of race with about 25-30mins remaining but alas a team mate got between me and him at the fast 's' turns and unsighted behind him in the tricky brake zone i flew off sideways and lost about 20 seconds. All motivation disapeared and after another off and feeling a bit sick i retired as wasnt enjoying it enough to persist for just a fun race. It was just too hard work as my setup was a total dry one with low power diff and only 7 rear wing.
Retired from 9th i think?

Do love these atmospheric conditions, just need to get more wet praccy in and some setups together.
Congrats to the podium guys. 

[Blunder]

Awesome race, very difficult conditions.
Loved every minute, more like this please!

Thanks to Jan for gifting me another place on the last lap!?
You must be gutted!

M.

 

[Truetom]

I don't have much to say, the race was quite boring, didn't race anyone really.    Only the weather, lol.    I was expecting a dry race, overcast is a long way away from heavy rain for one hour.   But ok, changeable, etc. - this is only good in my view. GT1s are difficult in the rain and I was accelerating in 4th where I usually did in 2nd.   Had one off after Psuedododo let me by, what a smurf I was!    Must have been all that pink somewhere behind me.

I pitted after the rain started and it happened as I expected: there was already someone in my stall, but he moved on soon, so I only lost about 6, 7 seconds there. The race was demanding and since the gaps were big front and back I concentrated on staying on track, not high pace. It payed off, as guys in front were having various troubles and I finished 3rd in the end.    

MJ, it doesn't get any better than that, points or no.   Well done, JPS, you're becomming the most very reliable team member. Just lift off 1 sec earlier.

Jeffe, go back where you were in the last months.    Well done, Jeff & H@l.

TT 

[GardO]

well,

sorry guys
was hoping to get in earlier to get a bit of practice in,but step daughter broke down in her car and i had to go and pick her and car up.

i think i joined with about 8 minutes of qually 2 to go.

enjoyed race,and when it started to rain,i loved it,as i think i am pretty decent in the wet,but with little practice and haven't driven the mc12 for ages,i put it into a barrier and lost the front right wheel,tried to get round to pits but pulled off track to let faster cars past,and promptly got stuck. doh!!!!

will get some practice in for the Donny bash Tuesday, so hopefully will be more competitive this time.

if not just shoot me lol

sorry if i got in anyone's way,tried hard to keep off racing line.

Dave

ps, loved the rolling start format,very good and fair.

unfortunately someone else in another mc12 overpowered on formation lap at t2 and ended up way way down the field,looking forward to more of the same.

[Mcfids]

Came into this race a bit under-prepared so tried to learn while qualifying. Not a too bad 13th considering.

The rain in the race certainly mixed things up and it was tricky trying to judge the optimum moment to pit. I left it too late and suddenly the car lost all grip on my in lap. Whilst furiously trying to calculate fuel requirements, I inadvertently forgot to change to wets and immediately stuffed it into the pit wall at the exit. Apologies to anybody I impeded <hangs head in shame at school boy error>

That apart, the race was fun and, as MJ said, especially atmospheric as the rain set in. btw, how long did the rain last? I quit after my pit wall altercation.     

[psuedo]

Till the bitter end