UKGTL Season 8 Season 8 GT Classics Cup - Long Beach - Oct 15

[pribeiro]

I was so happy for my return to GTL races online that I had trade the E-Type for the Healey to put more variety to the field. Three weeks without racing at SROUK was making me crazy  
Not unhappy at all with the 10th place in qualification, I saw the Shark's Healeys behind me which gave me some confidence for the race.
Lost a place for a Shark at the start,   but soon I got it back, meantime I was in a huge fight with Simon, Spanner, Dynosaur and API and later with Geoffers aswell.
A full battle race tonight, fortunatly. Always busy and concentrate, awesome!  
Spent the most of the time with teammie Dyno but he was unlucky near the end.  
Congrats for your win mr_oily, fantastic pace, and to podium finishers.
It seemed like all drivers had an extra care driving tonight, thumps up for all, great driving.  

Now I am sure, albeit I like a lot P&G, I will never left GTL. Well, unless Simbin make a GTL2  

Cheers

[goldtop]

Really enjoyed that tonight. The E-Type was obviously the car to be in, so hats off to those who went for the other options. I took full advantage of the easy drive and qualied in 9th.

Had an ok start and kept in there on a hard but fairly fought 1st lap and settled in 9th. Spanner was easing ahead of me for the first half of the race but when he spun at T2 I took 8th where I remained to the flag. I had a nervous time with Simon closing in on me in his Healey at one point, but kept the concentration together and managed to pull out a 5 or 6 sec gap for the latter part of the race.

Congrats to pody.

Now I am sure, albeit I like a lot P&G, I will never left GTL. Well, unless Simbin make a GTL2 

Cheers

Totally agree Paulo. Definitely something magic about GTL.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Usual problem with the Healey - no front tyre temperature. Wasn't too bad for the first few laps and had some fun battling the heavy iron, but after that had nobody to race, and once the rears went off the car lost all sense of balance and didn't want to brake in a straight line either.

Even more frustrating was Shark turning up with (alledgedly) no practice and immediately being nearly two seconds a lap faster.

Think that might be my last outing in GTL. The cars just feel so numb compared to P&G.

[Simon Gymer]

Unfortunately the straight line speed disadvantage of the Healey was really telling here and despite being very consistent and and going pretty quickly I thought, I could only manage 9th.

The worst thing was that after the first few laps which I can only describe politely as "controlled melee" I never raced anyone. 45 minutes of lonely racing. The Healey itself made that fun for about 10 minutes, but after that I was fairly bored. :'(

Even more frustrating was Shark turning up with (alledgedly) no practice and immediately being nearly two seconds a lap faster.

I've raced at Long Beach once before in GTL in '79 cars, so maybe that helped. I located my last Healey setup from Trois Riveria and then changed it wildly anyway. I'll post the setup on the team forums see if it helps or wheter you are just so old now that you can't keep up with the youff.

The front end is not what the Healey is about, you just press the right handle pedal a lot more if you are understeering and the back end will wheel spin it's way around to help out the front. You really have to throw the Healey around but with precision and care at the same time.

Think that might be my last outing in GTL. The cars just feel so numb compared to P&G.

I hope that's not true.

I really feel the cars are a lot more alive in GTL than PnG. PnG more realistic? Maybe, but I still think GTL is more fun. The Healey in PnG is boring as hell, but the Healey in GTL is probably one of the top 3 most fun cars to drive in any class.

[Legzy]

Think that might be my last outing in GTL. The cars just feel so numb compared to P&G.

I hope that's not true.
I really feel the cars are a lot more alive in GTL than PnG. PnG more realistic? Maybe, but I still think GTL is more fun.

LOL, how many times have we had that debate. I remember the good old days when I couldn't imagine more fun then GTL & PnG did nothing to change my opinion initially. Then I 'got it' & with fear of MJ reading this... I have more fun driving the PnG cars now .


Anyhow, managed my best finish of the GTL season last night despite selecting the slightly less obvious F250 choice. A car that I've always felt let down by before, but I did feel quite happy in it on this track. A note on the track... this track was selected to race because it hadn't been used here since June'07 & got great pre/post race reviews. Pleased we did & hope the gap till the next one isn't so long.

Set a PB in qually to start 6th, held it there through the first lap till someone span out at the last hairpin gifting me 5th. Then harassed Geoffers for a few laps till I managed to take advantage of my Fezza's extra prancing horses at the start of the back straight (after going up the ramp). Then fended him off till I got a little cushion & then he just disappeared. Guess you had an off? So the next driver was then Dyno (or PR?) & I had a 10 sec cushion. Started to catch Ade in front who was about 7 secs up the road, but once I got the gap own to under 5 secs... he pulled his finger out & was long gone by the end. Though I was getting a bit nervous when Geoffers who had obviously recovered was on a late charge.

Managed to bring it home in 4th, behind the three championship leaders.

See you all at either Watkins Glen on Tuesday or Albert Park on Thursday

[Geoffers]

Guess you had an off?

Yep! Clipped the wall at T10 with the rear wheel arch & spun.

Good race though, had a battle with someone nearly all race. Was 4th early on until the car developed a bit of an understeer & Legzy found a way past. Hung on for a few laps until the spin which dropped me behind Dyno & PR. The extra power got me past PR & then spent several laps chasing Dyno's E-type before he ran wide a the last turn & I got through. PR also past Dyno & was never too far behind after that. The understeer had gone away by now & I set my sights on a vain attempt to catch Legzy (great driving in Fezza, by the way). I gained about 0.5s a lap but still would have needed another half dozen laps to get on terms. So had to settle for 5th, well pleased though as I'm usually crap on street tracks.

Congrats to Oily, Lazlow & Ade, I thought I could stay with you in the early laps until the understeer set in

May not make next week, as it is Mrs Geoffers' birthday! 

[mr_oily]

What an amazing track - well done organising ones. Chuffed to bits with finally getting that gold colour on the standings table, honestly thought I might make it to the end of the season without ever repeating my one and only victory - I had this horrible feeling I was going to clip the inside wall at one of these corners and that would be game over but somehow I managed to keep it pointing in the right direction.

I actually feel for Jim as he was the one who told me in practice to crank up the camber front and rear which instantly shaved a second off so thanks and apologies!

I knew tyres would be a problem so spent the first half playing a difficult game of trying to manage them with Lazlow breathing down my neck who never really left me in peace for more than a lap or so! To be honest he was driving really well, applying the pressure was putting me off just enough and he was absolutely all over me in the braking zones so I'm not sure how it would have worked out if I'd have tried to raise the pace...probably in that wall I mentioned lol. Having the gaffer on the bonnet for moral support during the latter half must've done the trick - sorry you weren't feeling it last night WT but cheers for the assistance  

Fair play Tibs for choosing the Fezza and great drive Legz. You looked quick in practice and that was a fine result - I did some laps in it and just couldn't get the thing around the corners so I can only imagine what race distance must've been like. Same for PR, that was an outstanding drive just there below the radar....I can only think you were doing qually laps constantly to bring it home where you did!

Just three magnificent tracks left...

P.s - apologies for being slightly antisocial in chat at various points throughout - all getting tight at the top and I don't have much spare capacity at the best of times  

[dynosaur]

A difficult race for me. Did not handle Jag with care, and that melted the tyres which made the handling very interesting. Couple of lapses in concentration and I ran wide and lost places. This track is so tight, you really can´t sleep at the wheel for too long before you pay for it.

What I remember were some battles with Geoffers and PR, lost both, hehe. Good driving! And a big sorry for Ade, I tapped you in the last corner before the start straight, waited but if I did you damage, please report! I was not careful enough coming to that tight right hander.

[spanner]

Good to be back but it made me realise how much i struggle with these types of cars.

Got on early to try and give the jag a go using Oilys setup and after a bit of a tweak instantly went 2 secs quicker than i've been round here. With the high camber front and rear it was pretty oversteery and thought i'd quickly put some laps in with race fuel. After about 20mins it didnt feel too bad. Couldnt beat my first run time and was hoping to stay in the top 10 but just slipped out. Managed to get a blinding start and was up in about 6th after alot of jostling but it took a while to settle down where i didnt need to be so defensive!
Managed to slowly gain on Goldtop behind and even managed to gain on Dyno and Pribero ahead but was struggling early on with the tyres going off, probably just was pushing too hard so just ended up going backwards and seemed to hit most of the wall in or out of the corners until finally catching the second corner wrong and span around. Got going just before Alex with API stuck behind came past and thought i was going to managed to keep ahead of Alex struggling around in the 'Cuda. Sadly API got past and quickly managed to zoom up to me and got past as i was struggling with traction both ends.

With a few laps left somehow i was going to be short on fuel even when i started with more than i should have needed. Somehow i managed to roll across line with the engine dieing just before the grid lines!

[Alex vV]

Interesting race. Left my Intimidator-act in the trailer before the race.
Primary target was to keep the Cuda out of the wall and was expecting to be lapped 3 times.
So I was a bit surprised with my 14th qually position. The Cuda is so sloooooooow in the twisty bits and really a handful on the semi-straight because the back was stepping out with each gearshift 
Race started well with fellow Cuda driver Matt next to me. Had to smile when we went 2 wide to the twisty bits and keeping the rest of the field behind us in what looked like a traffic jam  Then saw Matt spinning with another car, hope it was not my doing 

Managed to somewhat fight a Shark in the Austin (Simon I believe). Apologies for the tap, miscalculated the number of miles to stop the whale tanker 
Had a bit a lonely run after that but was too busy dragging the car around the track; didn't ha time to worry about tire wear for once
Halfway the race API came ploughing to the field. Tried to give him a fight but was a sitting duck on the ramp (well spotted API!).

Managed to finish the race just one lap down so I was happy 

Great to see the return of the regulars API, PR and Ligel!

See you all next week down-under.

[Burtoner]

Sorry guys was out having a birthday meal last night for today

[Wiltshire Tony]

Sorry guys was out having a birthday meal last night for today

Some people have got their priority's all wrong 
Happy Birthday