UKGPL Season 18 (2009) Graduates Cup (67) - Kyalami - Oct 4

[Turkey Machine]

Jethro'd  

Sorry about that Tim. I was overtaking John on the main straight, saw you ahead, braked where I could outbrake John into T1 and found your car approaching rather rapidly so headed for the inside gap you left. I think it was a warp collision as I didn't feel anything. Major apologies.

If I hadn't screwed up around the outside of T1 on lap 1, I could have won that race. I'd managed 2nd on the grid hoping I had enough pace for pole, but H had that Honda boostered in the pits by HER. He got a great start, but when I let the Lotus unwind on the run down to T1 I'd pulled alongside and hoped I didn't hit him. Around the outside understeer crept in and spat me onto the kerb. Around I went, I hit the brakes and hoped I didn't hit the wall. Hoping didn't pay off, the rear hit it at an angle and for a lap the car felt very funny. After getting it back up to speed and getting the tyres up, I overtook everybody that was in front of me up to Lorenzo and Hristo 10 seconds up the road. EvilClive and Andrew gave me a nice escapade when they collided on the run to T2, and kept me guessing where they'd end up on the tarmac! The gap had stayed that way throughout my charge, so I knew I was in with a chance. Sure enough, when they came across Phil that chance arrived. I have to bribe more people since I knew it should have taken H with Phil and not Lorenzo. After lunching him on the straight in his ailing Cooper, I tried to close the gap to the lead, but kept making silly mistakes and not enough pace. Still got fastest lap though!

[MikeBeattie]

Well my plan was to make it to the Finish, which would be a novelty for me !! So I was playing it safe. I had a good start off the line and got Tim and Lorenzo by the time we made it to Jethro 1 (AKA The corner frommerly Known as T1) Suddenly I was third !! Err panic

A lap or so later Lorenzo cruised up behind and I let him by on braking into J1. I now had a reasonable gap back to Tim, Evil & Co and was only losing minimal ground to Lorenzo and this continued for several laps. Iwas keeping an eye on prib and saw Tim's name was no longer behind me, the next time round I read the reason and fear shook my body Jethro was now behind me !!! It took him about 5 laps to close in, and he obviously had some speed. He taggod onto my tail as we cleared J1 and then started looking for inside lines at the sucessive turns. Out of Sunset I kept left to hold the inside for Clubhouse, but the darn yellow noede Lotus seemed to want an even further inside line behind me. Fearing we were about to create Jethro 2 ( or is that Jethro 3, Tim?) I fumbled the apex, slid wide and was relieved to see Mr Chapman's creation pass cleanly up the inside.

So now down to 4th, I still had podium hopes !! The sub plot being, Jethro catches the lead duo and Hey Presto I might even win !! 
However, it was not quite to be, I had a couple of spins the second at J1 left me up against the fence on the inside and by the time I extracted myself both Fulvio and John were past. I set off in pursuit but the three of us must have been doing similar times and I couldn't close the gap.

Grats to the Podium, and Hey finally I've got points for finishing !!!

[Kruger Enge]

Well, managed a PB in quali, first time below 1.20 with Brab and the car felt excellent in the race, I was able to lap close to Hristo and keeping Lorenzo behind, though I believe it was more down to Hristo preserving his car.

On Lap 7, my clutch failed and smoke spluttered from the back.

Game over. Pity as I enjoyed it so much.

Grats to podium.

[Hristo Itchov]

I just managed to get the pole away from Jethro on my final run, although it wasn't an ideal lap. My start was good, but his Lotus had more grunt down towards T1 and he lined up on the left in the braking zone. I tried to keep the utmost inside line and managed to do so, but Jethro disappeared and I thought we had made contact there, but couldn't be sure.

After that I had a very fast Kruger on my tail and although I was trying to preserve the engine my speed wasn't much compromised, so he had a genuine pace in those early laps, but the power of Honda saved me on the straights.

Eventually Kruger disappeared and was replaced by Lorenzo who was even quicker, but again I had enough engine power to compensate for my slower pace through some corners where he'd catch up completely. As long as I didn't make major mistakes he would've had a hard time passing though.

That fight went on until we came up to lap Phil before the hairpin. Phil kept the outside line on the exit of the previous corner and so I compromised my speed a bit to be able to go toward the inside and pass him. On my PC it looked completely clean, but apparently he felt a contact and was spun around, which then put Lorenzo in a position he couldn't avoid contact.

Now that I had clear road I focused on preserving the engine and going consistently, but then Jethro appeared in 2nd and he was going very fast. With a gap of around 6 seconds with 12 laps to go he just needed to close by about half a second a lap to jethronate me from 1st place as I had no illusions I could keep a Lotus behind on the straights.

So I put my head down and pushed as much as I dared but without stressing the engine and soon enough the gap stabilized and I could even increase it in some laps. There was no point relaxing too early though, so I kept up that pace until the end and scored my fastest lap near the end.

Apparently luck was more on my side in this race, but I think consistency won above all. Grats to all finishers!

ALL MY VICTORIES ARE BELONG TO HER!!! 

-=Hristo=-

[Turkey Machine]

I just managed to get the pole away from Jethro on my final run, although it wasn't an ideal lap. My start was good, but his Lotus had more grunt down towards T1 and he lined up on the left in the braking zone. I tried to keep the utmost inside line and managed to do so, but Jethro disappeared and I thought we had made contact there, but couldn't be sure.

No contact H, I just fluffed it on the outside hoping I didn't cut across you.

[EvilClive]

An early exit for my wazamobile after being "nobbled" by Andrew's Eagle.

Qually went pretty much as expected with a mid grid spot,  about 9th I think. I cannot get anywhere near Hristo's pace in the Honda around here ( or anywhere else come to that!!).
The start however went better than I could have hoped as I got the power down and the Waza turbine on song perfectly. I even had to take to the paved area to the left of the S/F line to slip past team mate Tim. I think I pipped a couple of other cars on the run down to T1...sry J1.... where a certain green thing was grass cutting, so I gained another place to find myself tailing Lorenzo.

End of lap 1 showed me in 5th!!  not bad for one lap's work on cold tyres

Lorenzo and Mike ( who was in 3rd ) started to pull away, not surprised by that as they were always going to be quicker and I started hunting for race pace and a steady run.
Andrew started to close in his Eagle and was better on heavy fuel in the braking zone for T1, so I guessed that was where he would try and pass when he got close enough. Which on lap 6 he did...except that I also braked a fraction later  hehehe! and I think that sucked him in a little too deep evil I know, but it had to be done .
I stayed wide on the entry and watched as his Eagle scrabbled for grip to overcome centrifugal force, whilst I turned in beneath him and looked to outdrag him to T2. Andrew meanwhile had just about stayed in contact with tarmac and tried to counter my move with a hefty dose of Westlake power. Unfortunately nobody told the left rear tyre that all this horsepower was coming its way as it ran happily on the grass. Suddenly, just like the film.. The Eagle Has Landed.. it landed right across the track in front of me  .. so I hit it   which I might have survived, but the resultant bounce off into the wall removed a wheel and sent me back across the track looking for more victims..but I failed at that too  .... race over. but as a result of a racing incident as far as I am concerned.

[Rick Nauman]

Is there a thread somewhere for the Privateers Kyalami race?

[bernie]

Is there a thread somewhere for the Privateers Kyalami race?

we are all waiting for Vos to get his finger out 

[vosblod]

Is there a thread somewhere for the Privateers Kyalami race?

we are all waiting for Vos to get his finger out  

Apologies I wasn't in the office yesterday - that's where the server/replay is. Will put it up shortly...

UPDATE : now imported https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=6910#event1928

[Ken Murray]

This was back down to earth with a bump after a decent showing at Solitude in the 66's. I mainly took the BRM because I'm still struggling to get a neg Kya lap with the damn thing. My PB is fractions off so I thought with my fancy projector rig that I waxed lyrical about last week that a 'green' lap might have been a possibility. Not a chance, I didn't get anywhere near, I couldn't even break in to the 20's. Not sure if it was setup related or the way I was driving but I kept cooking the right front.

When I spun with about 5 to go I quit in frustration. Anyway at least I got a race start under my belt and I have a few more tokens to play with, so expect to see the Lotus and Eagle on the grid at the next two events!!!

[Turkey Machine]

Is there a time-frame for moderation on this one? I'd like to know if I get penalised for a record 3rd race in a row...

[vosblod]

Is there a time-frame for moderation on this one? I'd like to know if I get penalised for a record 3rd race in a row...

Three reported incidents so took a bit longer then usual, should be posted very shortly.

UPDATE : Now posted and you didn't make it 3 in a row Jethro

[Hristo Itchov]

Well, I think I had enough patience there, Phil was on the outside, I went for the inside and there was more than enough gap to make the pass. Besides, our differences in speed were such that braking or lifting up in that moment wouldn't have made a difference. I'm pretty sure Phil was trying to let us by in that very moment. By the time I realized that I did my best to go more to the inside.

Shame for the warp contact, but there's nothing different that I would've or could've done if we're in the same situation again. It's easy to look from my onboard and think I should've slowed down more and earlier, but there are more things going on than looking ahead and predicting a backmarker's movement to a T. while making a corner and protecting your position from the car behind.