UKPnG Season 1 Clubmans - Laguna Seca - Jun 16

[ross.mcw]

Apologies to whoever it was I took out after spinning and bouncing back into the track in the last few laps - I have a horrible feeling it was a front runner.  Nothing I could do I'm afraid so I hope I didn't screw someone's race up too badly.

Apart from that, it was a fun race with the odd brief battle here and there (Samb, LigelC, Oily).  Total lack of practice and set-up time meant I was a bit off the pace on the fast corners and the 914 would on occasions just lose the backend without warning which was odd.

Opening couple of laps were a bit frantic and I think I may have given some a tap on turn 3 of the second lap - wasn't really sure and couldn't tell what the outcome was and slowing up at that point would have just caused more aggro.  Anyhow, hopefully no damage done there.

Well done to the podium finishers!

Cheers, Ross.

[Jos Verstappen]

well it was just pushing all the way to follow ayrton and Jose, i managed to get close (bout 5 sec) but then I made a mistake.

Then blunder came very close in the last lap, and you couldnt believe it, it was a photo finish... he just stole my podium buhuhu!  

oh and I also got a nasty punt from blunder, :P

[picnic]

Replay and provisional results posted

LapChart

[Samb]

That was a tough race! I joined the in with about 3 minutes of quali left which wasn't enough to set a time. So I started through the rear and had the fun of carving my way through the field. Had a great number of battles with many people and was in 11th position before I spun off into the first corner. Rejoined about 15th and continued my merry way towards the finish, battling with a couple more people. On the last lap, I was in 11th but lost the car under braking, losing a place to Ade and finished a miserable 12th.

Never mind, the race was good fun and it has certainly been an eye-opener on the stiff competition at present. Look forward to the next one.

[LigelC]

I raise my hat to everyone there tonight - what an absolutely fantastic race.  If the rest of the season turns out this good I think the organisers should be in the 'new years' honours list.

I spent most of the time in the illustrious company of Mr Oiley and Matt_R.  These guys would pass me and then park on the sand until I caught them up    then pass me again and again and again  and so it went on pretty well thoughout the whole race.  As far as I am aware even though we were only inches apart at times there was no 'coming together' just strong, fair racing.  Thanks guys you certainly made my night. 

Just after we crossed the finish line GTR decided to give up and I got the 'not responding' message so it didn't save the replay - something I'll have to look forward to later this week when the download is available.  Meanwhile congratulations to the podium and as I said earlier 'thanks to everyone there'.

Laurie

[picnic]

didn't save the replay - something I'll have to look forward to later this week when the download is available

Tis already there

[Blunder]

blunder came very close in the last lap, and you couldnt believe it, it was a photo finish... he just stole my podium buhuhu!  
oh and I also got a nasty punt from blunder, :P

Sorry Jos, am still chuckling this morning over the whole thing!
A little bump into turn 2, sorry buddy, completely my fault!
Luckily, managed to let you rejoin with no obvious damage!

My car was damaged after one of the Elans took a spin on lap 3, so was having to nurse it home all race.
A couple of moments just before the corkscrew let the leaders get away slightly.
Chased after Jos, lap after lap, but managed a few clean fast laps at the end to put me on his bump on the last corner of the last lap and just made it over the line in front for 3rd!
Sorry Jos, you must be gutted!

Awesome race Legzy! Not my favourite track ( mainly due to iRacing! ) but really enjoyed it!
Looks like this will be my best result this season as I fully expect to get demoted!! oh, sorry promoted! on the back of this! 

Thanks all, hope you all had a good race too and that we will have a similiar well supported and fun event next time!

[phspok]

It was I that you speared Tibs, I likely would have lost it somewhere at sometime without your help
but it meant I dropped to the back of the field, and had some serious fun catching and passing
people until the inevitable overdriving caught me out several times.... still, my pace was not too bad
and I did have some good times passing and repassing Ligel and Bill

[pribeiro]

No doubt this P&G season will be a success thanks to the organizers. 

As i said during practice, i was the only one insane driver that picked up
the Corvette L88 Roadster. 
Pretty cool and fun to drive, but only for 5 laps...
Tires gone on lap 10, brakes gone on lap.....5..... yes, afetr lap 5
my XD tool was showing me brakes only between yellow and red colors.
The brake temperatures after S/F straight and uphill to corckscrew were above 900º celcius
in front and 800º celcius in rear, which means that the following sequence corners were
always around 600º-700º...what a nightmare. Anyyone had the same experience?
Anyway, even with this things, the Vette it's very fun to drive, however, not in a track
like Laguna with so light cars around. 
Started 16th and only saw a few cars on grid. When lights went green, i had to lift a couple
of times the throtle as i couldn't see all cars in front. Suddenly a 914 appeared in front and
i had hit slighty the rear end (sorry Geoffers), i was glad that only a broken rear lights for you
and headlights for me were done. What a relief.....
By the midle of the race the fun came with a batle for a few laps with Lazlow, Legzy and Manteos.
Legzy, for what i understood, with some braking issues aswell. Lazlow and Manteos and their Elans
were all over me (i had to brake 50 meters before them and negociate corners slower than both).
Hats off for them, for their patience and fairplay behind the "boat".

Welcome for the new Italian guys. Benvenuto a tutti.

Congrats to the podium finishers and to all that saw the chekered flag. 

Cheers

[Paul968]

Not the best race for me  Like someone else here I had major problems with the brakes, which seemed to lock up every corner and this combined with the short qual and heavy traffic meant that I didn't get a decent qual lap in. Then in the race it was all a bit mad at first but I gradually gained places, and then just as things were settling down I spun on the exit of the last corner. Sitting sideways across the track I was a bit of a target and got a nice big thump, but I did feel that people weren't backing off much in the circumstances. After that it was a case of doing it all again, and towards the end I was back up to 10th and chasing down TT in another cobra. By this time though the car felt awful (it wasn't great to start with!) and I had a couple of small offs before a spin at the corkscrew left me pointing backwards uphill and in a horrid place to rejoin, so I quit. There was no enjoyment to be had from driving anyway - how does a car that light feel so heavy?

For me the race would have been better had we not had such a big difference in performance between the group D cars - I didn't want to take the elan as I was best part of 2 secs a lap quicker and this seemed to go against the principle of the clubman races, but the cobra is such an awful racing car that driving it fast enough to keep up meant that mistakes were bound to happen. The same would have applied to the vette. I also think that such a short practice and qual was a mistake. There was so much traffic and such a big range of speeds that a clean lap was really hard to get. Short praccy is fine, but can we extend qual a bit please?

[Legzy]

Legzy, for what i understood, with some braking issues aswell.

I sure did!!! But my problem was with the nut behind the wheel 

Most enjoyable race for me. I've never raced at Laguna before & wasn't sure exactly how it would pan out. I don't know about the rest of you, but I finished the race covered in sweat!  What an intense race. I think the GT40 MK2 probably had the fastest top speed on the grid, which made overtaking straight froward most of the time, cornering was not so fast & boy would it spit me out with the slightest wrong line at corner entry!

Managed to get 2nd place on the grid & blast away past Jose with the extra grunt I had. Led the race for about five laps before I had my first moment  at T1, rejoined back in 13/15th spot & spent the rest of the race battling with people (there were many people I had some good fights with) as I worked my way back up the field (between mini off road excursions) & finally finished sideways in a photo finish 6th/7th with team-mate Lazlow:

[Legzy]

For me the race would have been better had we not had such a big difference in performance between the group D cars - I didn't want to take the elan as I was best part of 2 secs a lap quicker and this seemed to go against the principle of the clubman races, but the cobra is such an awful racing car that driving it fast enough to keep up meant that mistakes were bound to happen. The same would have applied to the vette. I also think that such a short practice and qual was a mistake. There was so much traffic and such a big range of speeds that a clean lap was really hard to get. Short praccy is fine, but can we extend qual a bit please?

Totally agree on the Elan Paul, but it wasn't till Sunday night (I think) that suddenly the Elan was obviously too quick for its group. It was too late to change it for Laguna, but it's been noted for the future.
I had a brief discussion on session lengths on TS last night & am looking at that also.


Note - Also wanted to say well done to all the finishers too. Especially the guys more towards the back then they're use to being 

[Geoffers]

One thing that surprised me last night was how slow the 914 is on the straight, even the Elans were quicker. I think the P&G guys have made a bit of a booboo with that car's performance, either that or I wasn't pedalling fast enough 

[Mark J]

One thing that surprised me last night was how slow the 914 is on the straight, even the Elans were quicker. I think the P&G guys have made a bit of a booboo with that car's performance, either that or I wasn't pedalling fast enough  

I think not:-

Lotus Elan = 105bhp , weight 1290lbs
Porsche 914 = 125bhp, weight 2195lbs    ...fat little porker  

The newer the sportscar the more it seems to weigh unfortunately  

Excluding my times as i cant really count with my total lack of prep, but are we seeing the car spread is still too wide or is it more that people are still taking a car too quick ? I kept in the clubman spirit by taking a car from my assigned group but it meant i had a woeful race at the bottom end of the field, but if i had taken the IROC i would have been up there in the top 4 having a great battle.  :'(

Apologies to Paul who i clumped head on when he span just after the final turn on the straight. I had two cars in front of me that parted to reveal your cobra facing mine head on and had no chance to avoid.

[Jos Verstappen]

so is there some kind of scoring point system?