UKGTR Season 9 Upper Endurance (GT1/GT2) - Road America (Full) - Mar 29

[Wiltshire Tony]

Still time to vote for this circuit............

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=5976.0

[Busi]

1:57.9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Absolutely terrible race for me - I think MJ and I were both going for the "worst possible outcome without actually DNFing" trophy.

Was going to pick a different car for this but as usual no testing. Actually, I did try the Panoz but was even more at risk in it! Made some setup changes to try and cure the rear brakes snatching at the end of the braking zones but all I really did was introduce big understeer in the kink (resulting much grass cutting and one big face plant into the wall) and also some nasty unpredictable snap oversteer on corner exit (resulting in one even bigger face plant into the wall coming out of T1).

Worse yet was that I had to stop after the first face plant for repairs and despite taking on full fuel still had to stop again for more fuel. As it happens the second face plant forced me to stop again anyway.

Shame because 90% of the time the Gallardo is a really nice car to drive; it's just spoiled by a nasty, unpredictable inconsistency.

[Mark J]

You got that right Dave!  What a crud race i had. I am struggling to like this track even though i can fly on it, its just too easy to get one wheel off and have a major disaster.

I was well up for this...a week ago and was flying in all my praccy sesh's. But a weeks delay gap meant i didnt go near the track and had a couple of P&G races during the week with its arms full of opposite lock as opposed to the finesse and small steering adjustments required in these modern beasts.
Got in qually late and only had time for a few runs so was okay with my slot.
Race started okay until Evert Disco'd and Blunder ran into his shadow car. For some stupid reason known only to me i decided to look for blunders name in the driver standings on my Xpd rather than watch the corner coming up and went straight into the gravel...what a d**k-head
This dropped me back a few slots and alas put me behind the infuriation that was Profs BMW !  It was like a rocket on the straights leaving me for dead but completely hopeless in the corners where i would be all over it and losing serious time..about 3 secs a lap in early part of race
(he must have been on a 1-2 wing combo or something  )
Eventually got past him and set about trying to make up the now 16 second gap to Legzy in 2nd place and so i pushed like a loon setting 2nd fastest GT2 race lap and pulling out a 20 second gap to the cars behind. However on that fast downhill toboggan run, flat out in 5th i got an oversteer wobble that threw me full speed into the concrete wall  ...ripped off the front splitter and one front wheel  :'(
I thought that was race over but i limped around to the pits to get the car repaired and took on a full tank of fuel and new tyres to see me to the end of the race.
I expected to now finish well down the order but carried on pushing and took DG and Profs car again after another frustrating battle. Sorry to Prof who's rear end i caught in one corner and we both slithered off onto the grass. But hope he understands how much slower he was in the corners, it was frightening ! It also cost a place to Spanner who had a long pit-stop.
I had one more major off at that same downhill corner later on, losing my headlights this time, and a couple of times ran wide in a night to forget.
Bizarrely i still finished 5th GT2 and could have been 4th after Blunder pitted late, but my offs had cost me too much time.

Congrats to Purdie for a fine GT2 win and Freq on GT1. 

[Blunder]

A good steady race for me!
Was off the pace slightly so gambled on a risky strategy.
Loaded up Hards all round, full fuel and off I went!
Hit Everts shadow car but with minimal damage! I think Spanner got the worst of that! I was then next to last!
Tried to keep my pace up so the strategy had half a chance but seemed to be held up everywhere in the first half of the race.
Had a brilliane scrap with JPS. I was quicker but as with MJ and Prof, he was fast down the straight but slow round the corners.
We did have a very slight bump ( my fault ) but I stopped and let JPS rejoin, loosing very little time. I think there was little damage as we then continued
to battle until eventually I got lucky! Was immediately quicker but by this time the others were miles in front.
As the fuel reduced I managed a few half decent laptimes. My splash ended up as a big splash! Oops! but then rejoined in 4th in class.
Knew MJ was 6 secs behind so expected to be passed in the last 3 laps but luckily MJ's woes kept me ahead.
Satisfying race.

Thanks all, great fun, Well done to all especially team mates...
Lazlow - for knocking 2.5 secs off his PB from the sprint race! awesome! 4th overall too!
Legzy -  awesome pace! and a 2nd in class!

Go Team Oldie 

[Mcfids]

My best result yet in a SRouk race, although probably due more to other drivers misfortune than to my driving prowess, but hey ho I'll take that

The C6R and this circuit were a great combo and it was fun to drive for the whole race. The engine grunt was great on the straights and the benign handling limited the seat-of-your-pants moments. In fact, I only had one minor off in the whole race where I botched lapping JPS and went for an excursion on the grass.

Not too much in the way racing action though, just a brief battle with TrueTom and Lazlow early on, and at the end where Lazlow slowed down as he was running out of fuel and I was going hell for leather to try and catch him. Ended up 12sec behind him.

Well done to the podiums. 



   

[purdie]

Cheers guys   Grats to FreQ on a great win.

Really found a new favourite track with Road America  

Had a good start with Legzy and I pulling away from the GT2 pack and almost clinging on to the tail-enders of the GT1s. The gap was growing slowly between Legzy and I and I pitted just under half-way. I started on a full tank and pitted just to top up half of it and a fresh set of soft/med.

When all fell into place after the round of pitstops I had gained a 15 sec lead and kept it till the end. Legzy kept me more than honest throughout the race so I continued hard on it until the end. Had some good fun with MJ too at the end and some amusing encounters with various GT1s ..... oh yeah, and crashed T1 on the penultimate lap but just damaged the nose cone (phew) 

Sorry to FreQ and JonM for the first lapping.... you two were racing hard and caught me in the hardest part of the track to overtake. Hope I didn't hold you up too much! I just got out of the way on that fast loooooong right hander 

Look forward to Valencia, another favourite but very hard for an endurance race    

ps. Cheers Spanner for the 'Pitting in...' message. I couldn't guess if you had pit or not and I know your quite handy behind the wheel so had to assume it was for 'real' position, so I had to try to overtake. Obviously backed right off after your msg  

EDIT: Forgot to mention the CTD at the end of practice, for the record. Another Nvidia user (if thats the problem?!)

[Prof]

I don't know who dislikes that circuit more, me or my M3. After a disappointing sprint race round here in it two weeks ago I have tried everything to get rid of the chronic understeer and as MJ found out last night failed.  

I tried a couple of the other cars after and was immediately 2-3 seconds faster per lap on default setup.

Having had a family wedding at the other end of the country on Saturday with a late night, an early start to watch Jensen and a 6 hour drive home the temptation was just to quit and get an early night. On reflection perhaps I should have done that.

Well done as ever to those who made the podium in each class.

[Josè Arrogantio]

After the mess I made of the last two races here I was really surprised I managed to go 80min without having an off or making contact with anybody(I think).
Locked the rears up a couple of times going to turn 3 but managed to keep it pointing roughly in the right direction. The 550 is so nice to drive when you have a good setup.

1:57.9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Allthough, I was faster in the first sector, if I remember correctly 

[Legzy]

Managed my expected low 2:08 in 1st part of qually. Made a last minute tweak (for a laugh) before going out for my 2nd stint with a couple extra notches of rear spring. Joined the track & knocked 0.7 sec of my PB with a low 2:07 to find myself 2nd GT2 on the grid (behind the ridiculously fast Purdie, how you were doing regular 2:06's? ), parked just in front of Evert who I had a good tussle with in the sprint but never managed to get past.

Race about to start, I'm aware that here, Purdie is way faster, Evert & MJ are probably just slightly quicker & Spanner's about the same. Happy that I've got a three car buffer back to MJ (who missed most of qually) & one of those is a team mate Blunder, which should help build a small lead.

Got a good start, clung onto Purdie & Syd in GT1 ahead. Nothing in my rear view & can see a big gap building after T3. Blunder told me on TS what had happened with Evert's car. By the time the other GT2's had sorted them selves out, I was about 16/18secs down the road. MJ held the gap there for a bit, but I think he was having to fend off other cars while I was having an easy ride just keeping Purdie in view as long as possible. Purdie pitted on 40 mins with about 8sec advantage, while the next car back was probably about 45 secs back by this point. I pitted a lap or two later & came out aout 15 behind Purdie as I took on more fuel then he did, but only Spanner got past & still had to pit himself.

Think I kept the gap to Pudie to about 18 secs till 2nd last lap, when I had my only real 'off' of the race. I finally finished 30 secs behind him, but with about 80secs to Spanner in the next car back. The way things panned out, that's probably the easiest 2nd place I'll ever get. It was a shame for Evert, as I'd liked to have raced him from in front for a change & it's a shame for all the guys behind that got caught up in it.

Can't believe that Team Oldie & myself are top of the GT2 series / . Over the moon while it lasts! Great effort last night Martin.

Well done all finishers & I look forward to picking this up again in Valencia in a few weeks.

[JPS]

That was hard work and a tough race (as MJ states above put a wheel wrong here and it normally ends in tears :'(  ) but good fun. Some good battles along the way, especially with Blunder (no worries on the contact). 966Bi Turbo vs the Frezza.

[Legzy]

and alas put me behind the infuriation that was Profs BMW !  It was like a rocket on the straights leaving me for dead but completely hopeless in the corners where i would be all over it
(he must have been on a 1-2 wing combo or something  )

It's funny MJ, because I think Blunder was having the same problem with your Porka is his Fezza for a while (with 2-3 wings), just couldn't live with you on the straights. The GT2 Fezza loses out big time to both Porka & BMW on the straights, but it is kind in the corners.

[Mark J]

i went 2-4 this time around, car on the whole was great but my driving was pants last night. I had attention deficit disorder or whatever it is they label kids that cant concentrate these days  

Profs beemer just literally pulled away from me on the straight but god was it awful in the corners  i was all over him like a cheap suit 

[spanner]

Yeah, it was me who came off worse from Everts CTD, in a split second decided to risk it rather than trying to change lines and probably lose it anyway. Surprisingly for a porka after hitting Evert and the wall the car wasnt too bad and no real noticeable change to the handling.

I slowly made my way back up the order and found with both JPS and Prof how much extra speed they had down the straights but were really holding me up through the corners. A few times having to take avoidance because of it

Suddenly found my self in limbo with about a minute up the road to either Purdie and Blunder at times and realised the fuel calculations i did were well off for about a mid way stop. When Purds came out from his stop behind me i realised he was looking a bit racy so thought i'd warn you so you didnt try anything risky that i was coming in.

Came out with MJ and Prof racing each other which then seemed to me as though you took each other out as you followed each other into the wall . Was then worried as i didnt think i could hold off MJ and managed to hold the gap and eventually it grew as the GT1's came through and then with the gap growing i breathed a sigh of relief.

Thought it strange how Blunder had ended up ahead late on and thought he must have gone with a full tank and then as the rather large gap suddenly disappeared he had dived in to the pits giving me 3rd!

Well done Legzy for that, you were faster than most of us, and i knew i'd struggle with that pace.

[nsfast]

I had attention deficit disorder or whatever it is they label kids that cant concentrate these days  

I've blamed my lack of concentration on the lost hour and getting up early for the GP.  ...Any excuse!

Despite many unplanned trips off @ turn 1, it was enjoyable last night. Always chasing Smokey and Syd Drake...concentrating on catching them and then falling off I once again when I got close. 

Hope I didn't cause the GT2's any problems.