UKPnG Season 1 Clubmans Tokens - Watkins Glen - Oct 20

[jpv]

Sorry guys, guess I should just stick to running alone at the back of the grid. 

[phspok]

Very dissapointing
Had a poor qual. passed a couple who fell off. was chasing a GT40 into the chicane when he lost it and
we both were on our roofs, Set off again without too much damage, was chasing a cobra
had to take evasive action not to hit it up the hill into the err chicane... and went over the fence
game over. Shame was really looking forward to this one. though I think the GTL style Glen
we ran would have been a better choice, that chicane was just "inappropriate" with such
a wide spread of cars.

[Wiltshire Tony]

It had to be race night when the chicane bit me.

[Wiltshire Tony]

Curiouser and curiouser.

First it's the tokens. Pardon me but they've not been huge success.

Then it's the odd starting times.

Now it's a rolling start (cos its safer). Bunkum I say.

Your'e making changes to suit the drivers who dont have the patience to wait and would prefer to win a race on the first corner.

Come on guys lets get back to some ground roots racing.

Lets try rewarding the guys who stay on circuit and show the concentration and racecraft to go the full race distance.

I've been here an awful long time and I keep hearing how good we all are at racing. Sorry to burst your bubble but most of the guys here can't keep a car out of the wall for more than a few laps. Oh yes you are quick but at what cost. In most races I qualify at the back of the grid. Strange then that in most races I make up to ten places by Lap 2. That is of course if I haven't been knocked off by someone at the front of the grid who goes off at T1 and then pushes his way back to the front using slower drivers as a braking system.

I think a reality check is in order before we all go spending our iRacing dollars and finding that the racing is no better.

As the saying goes.........just my twopennorth.


Oilseal

Thanks for you 2d worth Oilseal, we can only strive to get better by listening to the suggestions of you guys.

Obviously in our first season we were going to make some mistakes, or try things that some folk wouldn't necessarily like, especially as we deliberately set out to stir things up a bit. We knew we couldn't hope to please everyone. So don't think for one minute that your comments are not welcome.
 
Perhaps on a more positive note you could pm Legzy and I with some suggestions of what you would like to see in the future. Although we cannot promise that we will change everything, we would still appreciate your input, if you have some spare time.

[spanner]

Ade had a bit of a wobbly going out of the chicane and picked the wrong side meaning i had to brake stopping with with him facing me! Pulled over a bit ahead waiting for Ade to rejoin but got wiped out by someone hitting me.

[Mark J]

Enjoyed a trouble free romp to 6th?  from a lowly 16th place grid slot 

Had a mare of a qually sesh and couldnt get near my pb's here and thought i would have a dire race quallying that low. But it all went very well and made some good overtakes as well as taking advantage of those that fell off or had incidents at that bastich chicane. I only had one minor scare through there when i scraped along the armco and also late in the race when Pribs disco'd car was shown straddling the chicane entrance  dont know what happened there cos he suddenly re-appeared a corner ahead of me about 2 laps later !!

Had great battles with Lele and API in their US muscle cars. They left me for dead on the straights while i was all over them in the corners, the eternal struggle ! Got by both with some nifty up the inside overtakes over many laps. Great clean racing chaps 

Was very happy to finish 6th +1 on preferring the GTL version of Watkins though.

Well done Goldtop and pody finishers, great pace in top 5 

[picnic]

Replay and provisional results posted

LapChart

[Blunder]

Very enjoyable!
Thought I would qualify reasonably well but ended up 12th
Unforced half spin half way round lap 1, meant I had to watch everyone go past so I could rejoin safely!  :'(
Came over the line after Lap 1 last by 4 seconds!
Battled my way back to finish 8th !
Pleased with that!
Had some brilliant battles with AndyC and Paul particularly!

Must comments on the roling start as others have....
I think it was a one off and given the carnage through there all race then probably a good decision in this case.
I'm sure we are back to normal next time!

Oilseal, great to see you back buddy! Go Team Oldie!
Where's that brother of yours!?

Thanks all

M.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

That was one of my best races for a long time. All the nay sayers claiming the 911 wasn't going to be able to compete with the heavy iron here. Pah! Even more amazing was that I didn't make a single significant mistake all race despite being seriously sleep deprived!

Didn't qualify brilliantly with 7th spot but was still tuning the setup, and knew I'd be more competetive in the race than my qually pace suggested. Fought the 906s and PR's GT40 in the opening couple of laps and gave way to Spanner at the chicane rather than risk running in there side by side, which also let Lazlow by up the hill, and by lap 4 I was solidly into 3rd and chasing 57's Gulf car, hoping to get a big enough mistake out of him to make a pass stick and get off after Tibs's leading 906.

Lap after lap the blue and orange American lard wrasse would pull out 2.5s up the hill, only for me to be glued to it's exhaust pipes again by the end of the lap. Mistake after mistake ensued from the V8 beast but never enough for me to make a clean breakaway. All this time Tibs was getting away, but there wasn't anything I could do about it and I just focused on sticking on 57's tail, knowing that if I could get a mistake from him in the last corner of the last lap, I could probably make it to the finish line ahead.

Tibs threw all this up in the air with two to go by throwing himself off in the Chute. I tried in vain to capitalize by passing both but in the end the GT40 just had too much straight line speed and I had to settle for 2nd, less than two thirds of a second behind.

Just missed out on fastest lap too.

That was one of those epic handling versus power battles, like Falcons and Mustangs versus Alfas and Cortinas at Dijon. If only it had been an endurance I'd have been leading by a country mile after the pit stops.

[Andy Charman]

That race was great fun with some intense battles.
Last minute I changed from the 911 to the 906 and I have to say driving it gave me a big smile.
Had a good battle with Mark Jonzo in the early laps and I had repassed him but when we arrived at the chicane it was carnage. I tried to pick my way through the mess but I couldn't avoid someone and hit them full on, sorry. My car was badly damaged after that. Had some good scraps with Paul in the Cobra, great driving, Blunder, and Lele. I was pushing too hard for the second half of the race trying to regain positions and was making some silly mistakes.
So not the best of results in the end but I wish every race could be so entertaining.

[goldtop]

If one of the aims of this series was to give slower drivers like myself the chance to run at the front and experience the feelings of excitement/tension/nerves/hope that I enjoyed last night, then it was definitely achieved here. Big thanks guys

[Tim Robey]

A bit of a frustrating race for me.....

I thought the rolling start went well other than Lele trying to jump ahead of me, but I finally positioned myself ahead of him just before the chicane

I tried to be sensible in the first few laps, but on lap 4 it all went pete tong, just after the chicane I hit a stationary Spanner at full tilt, sorry about that, but I didn't see you until the last second and had no time to react.  

But the car was still going, so carried on only to be pushed off track at the Loop.  

The car handling was a bit ropey, but after a couple of laps decided I would lose more time by pitting so carried on regardless but the handling felt better as the laps wound down and had a lonely race for the second half but got it home without too many dramas.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Reminder: do not discuss incidents in public. File a report.

You can say "I went off after contact" but you cannot say "I was pushed off by XYZ"; it will only lead to angry exchanges in the forum.

[pribeiro]

   when Pribs disco'd car was shown straddling the chicane entrance  dont know what happened there cos he suddenly re-appeared a corner ahead of me about 2 laps later !!

I was wondering why suddenly, my race position was dropping from 5th to 12th in a lap, while I was still driving along with the others in sight. At the time I thought it was a GTR2 bug. Sorry for the scared situation Mark. 

First time I chosed a powerfull car (I've been sparing my money... )
Lack of practice (and skills) allowed me to start race from 9th.
For the first laps I was trying to stay close to Dave's 911, but I had a run off to the grass and lost a couple of places. Interesting as the MKII with 120 lts of fuel was very unstable cornering and under braking.
But hey, this is a SIM, it is supposed to be like that. 
Fortunatly, I was always busy having a few and good scrapps with someone.
The most intense was with Legzy's 906 (damn little annoying cars) 
I hope you had accept my driving as a fair one. Straights for MKII  , corners for 906  .
Were a few enjoyable laps over there Legzy.

Big congrats to Goldtop for the win, well done! 
Weel done also to podium and to all finishers.

Cheers

[Paul968]

Glad just to have been able to race since my desktop is still in a coma, so my notebook had to deputise. I was really torn over which car to take, as the 906 and RSR were both much quicker than the other choices but either would leave very few tokens for the remaining races. In the end I went with the cobra 427 as I would have needed a top 3 finish minimum to make the faster cars work and that chicane was always likely to catch out the unwary. A high 2.03 in qual was the best I could do and 15th on the grid left a lot to do, but I expected a high casualty rate in the race and I wasn't wrong   I nabbed a couple of places past the 906s ahead on the first straight, and then gradually picked up more as people fell of ahead. Was up to 8th before the chicane bit me the first time, sending me back to where I started   Then did it all over again, only to fall foul of that codding chicane again! Had a great scrap fending Andy and Blunder off in their 906s, and had numerous other fights with people, so the race was full on from start to finish and highly enjoyable. In the end I ran out of time chasing Lele and API - oh for one more lap!

Can't say I like the chicane version of the track - it is so all or nothing, and trying to hit the right line when following another car is so hard. When you are driving a car that Ellen MacArthur would feel at home in then it is doubly difficult    

Congrats to 57Goldtop for the win. Yes, as I see it the whole idea is to let people experience winning who normally never get the chance, so nice to hear it was worth it for you at least. Also to Dave and Tibs for the podiums, although Dave is either going to be pootling round at the back for the next 2 races or incurring the headmaster's wrath if he doesn't attend.  

Looking forward to the next one - just my sort of track and hopefully a chance to compete with less tokens. Riverside is a completely different kettle of fish though.