UKGTR Season 11 - Magny-Cours (GP) - Jan 10

[Gazza49er]

Bit disappointed with that as i knew i had a decent setup here from last season.

Start was a little hairy to say the least, was such a good job i had pulled over to the left when H@l pushed the wrong button and he didn't release his limiter coz if i had been right behind him i surely would of gone right up the back of him and probably would of caused chaos.

Started on medium slicks as it wasn't raining at the start and when the rain came it didn't feel to bad so stayed out and was keeping ahead of Berger apart from slowing down to lap GTC's. Was 2 or 3 seconds infront of Berger when i was behind Eddie and his car had a massive warp and i hit it which did some damage and when i took my stop i wasted time trying to cancel repair and then i put to much fuel in aswell which let Simon get 4 seconds ahead of me doh. ( Must start doing better pit stops and getting strategy right as this has cost me some better results)  I finished with 20l fuel left.

I got the gap down to 3 seconds to Simon but with traffic and  another scary moment with eddies car  i couldn't catch him but good to know i made you push lol. Couldn't believe Berger was 30 seconds ahead but now i know you didn't change tyres so credit to you for that as i never even thought of doing that as i didn't think it would work for me.

All in all a decent 3rd but i feel i should of made it a 2nd if things had gone right.

Grats all podiums.

[Truetom]

Qualified 5th and saw a commotion at start, H@l was gong back in time. Then he woke up and came shouldering by. Managed to keep the car on track, though I lost a place to David Milne. After H@l spinned I was right behind David when he hit the wal on s/f straight. Hit his car in full, spinned. Ended dead last of the GT1s, sbg passed while I was testing the car for damage. It tended to drag a bit to the left but was otherwise ok. Started to drive faster then and was gaining places. Rain came and went but the meds were fine all along. Tried to be patient when passing GTCs though I'm not sure I always succeeded.

Eventful first lap took me out of podium battle, though laptimes speak of my fair chance to stand fairly high - 0,02 sec from Sharks best which was a bit faster than Berger and Gazzer.  

 

[purdie]

really enjoyed getting back into it ableit with a DNF! was happy with 3rd on the grid but amazed at SbG's pace in pole! (impressive  )

start of the race was hairy for everyone, adjusting the damp surface..... was keeping 3rd for a while but Prof was getting more and more threatening. He slipped past at a similar time to Jimmie having an off so I stayed 3rd  

...then it all fell apart I just kept dropping wheels off and falling down the order before losing an argument with a wall in a lack of concentration missing the braking point and having my gf talking in my ear    

Forgot how important consistency rather than pace is for these races  

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Forgot how important consistency rather than pace is for these races 

Good job too because I had a lot more consistency than pace last night!

Every time I think I'm getting a handle on the 997, an event comes along where the other Porka drivers had me my butt on a plate. Back row in qually, then watched most of the field zoom away at the start. Slicks were the only sane choice and as the rain came and went and came and went and came I just had to keep pushing as hard as I dared to keep the tyre temperature up.

Stopped at half distance and the second half of the race was more of the same. Was started to get worried about Matt chasing me down but with 2 laps to go I knew I had enough in hand, and then he had his stop and go and I could relax over the last lap.

[Simon Gymer]

I messed up at the start by hitting headlights instead of pit limiter and then limiter on and off and then on again (at least it was not my engine starter button this time, lol).

That explains that then. Silly billy.

I almost collided from out braking myself more than once in the race, sorry simon and MJ.

I saw you coming on Lap 1 and thought he looks like he's heading for the National circuit, so moved over to the right so you could take the shortcut.

[Truetom]

I almost collided from out braking myself more than once in the race, sorry simon and MJ.

I saw you coming on Lap 1 and thought he looks like he's heading for the National circuit, so moved over to the right so you could take the shortcut.

 

[Jure]

"Yeah, it'll probably rain."  Guess who started on intermediates, hoping for a from zero to hero situation.

Lost 5 secs per lap due to dumb dumb decision, there were perhaps 2-3 laps when intermediates had similar performance to slicks, rest of the time I had to let people by, was clear to me rears will be fried if I push inters on (reasonably) dry track.

Rain never came.

Switched for slicks and got stop&go penalty for speeding in the pits (forgot to push the button, had 3 GT1s behind me whilst diving in the pits, my eyes were on rear view mirror, not pit-limiter. ah the shame of it all! ).

Went in and did a drive through. Came out and heard "you must do your stop and go penalty."



Now I know how idiots feel. 



Lost it later on trying to push (was 3 or so laps down) on med-hard slicks and hit escape to avoid being collected by a (Simon's Lister?) GT1 car comming in behind me.



Cool race. 

[Legzy]

Liked the Practice & Qually conditions, sunshine but damp track. Don't recall ever seeing that here before
So was shocked that when it ticked over to the race session, it was still damp but now showing light rain too (though non could be seen from the grid).
Stuck with the soft slicks that I had been happy with from the two earlier sessions, knowing that the Aston would eat them & I'd have to pit a bit earlier then normal.

Started sensibly & found others literally giving away their positions, so was up to 5th after a handful of laps & was surprised to be matching Jose's laptimes just ahead of me all the time. Was surprisingly comfortable (despite the surprise added rain with my slicks) there for about ten laps though TT was slowly gaining & had the gap down to about 2 secs, when I span myself at the left-hand hairpin (the only place on the track I was struggling all race ) & gifted him the position. Stayed out for another lap & then pitted.

Had to put Med-slicks on to be able to complete the 2nd longer stint, but they were fine really. Basically cruised back up the order as other pitted. NSFast looked like he might get close enough to make a move at some point a couple of times, but seemed to fall back again each time, pushing too hard maybe? Eventually I got back up to 6th & had been gaining on Jose for some time. I waited for numerous laps, thinking he'd give his team mate an easy passing opportunity as I was obviously being held up by him... but it didn't happen so I had to start pressing him... which in turn gave H@L & NSFast the chance to start chipping away at the comfortable 5 sec gap we'd built up. It took a few laps but eventually I out-broke Jose at the final right-hand turn, but it was obvious that Jose was now in danger from the other two as it had taken so long to get past. I then started opening up a gap on them all again & had it up to 5.5 secs after just two laps & I cruised through the last four laps to what was a great final finishing position for me 5th! under no pressure what so ever, I span myself at that damn left-hand hairpin for the 2nd time .

I recovered to see H@L & NSFast go past with Jose still a few seconds behind me. Pushed on & immediately knew I'd be able to get right back with them, even if passing would be hard... but no matter as my fuel warning came on & I basically spent the last 2.5 laps cruising to the finish line. I let Jose by with about three corners to go & finished a very naff 8th after all that.


Terrible night for Team Oldie really, as we fought amongst ourselves... it pretty much gifted the points to our rival teams & made sure we're no longer at the top as the filled hedgehog team romp into 1st place 

[spanner]

I dont know how Magny-coour is so diferent to all other tracks . Normally run soft/meds but softs on the front would wear at twice the rate as the rears and I seemed to suffer with understeer and no front-end grip no matter what i did. With the damp conditions in qually and at race start i thought i plump with the softs on the front which didnt work too badly early on but as it dried i was suffering quite badly in the braking zones and was losing the back end alot which seemed to just be me downshifting too quickly.

Too many mistakes dropped me further and further back from MJ and Matt then got distracted a few times trying to let lappers through, but it culminated in my going straight on through the first RH of that fast chicane before the 2nd split and picked up loads of damage and a puncture. Then i took me forever to get the car back on track because of the stupidly high first gear and the clutch continously kicking in. So about this time i thought id better take my stop and it was about half way anyway but after the repairs ended up right at the back of the field and just couldnt really gain much time to Matt and Dave ahead. Now because of the dry track now thought i'd go back to meds on the front but ended up suffering with the rear wearing far more than the fronts which meant i was loosing the back end alot now

I did notice Bob was warping a bit especially when lapping me into the haipin, which didnt help when he moved back online then me hitting the warping car!

[Legzy]

I did notice Bob was warping a bit especially when lapping me into the haipin, which didnt help when he moved back online then me hitting the warping car!

Yes, Bob was warping again for me too. Because we're about the same pace, that's about three races from the last three races that he's been darting about my screen at some point.

Have you been racing using a WLAN Bob?

[David M]

Sorry to TT for my error at the end of Lap 1, I felt somebody hit me but I don't think I got in anybody elses way after that...silly error to make.

I quite enjoyed the lap I had though, got disconnected in Quali, but it took me a few laps to realise so I had to jump back in and managed to get in an average lap to start 6th. Made up a place through T2 as there was a bit of madness up ahead, I took it easy into the hairpin too, just to make sure I didn't make an error and take out everybody in front of me. Made it through there ok and was up behind Simon G (or Dave G, I can't remember!) in 4th I think.

Just about died coming out of the Imola Chicane, put a wheel on the grass and got quite a wiggle on, held it alright though and then began to think that I was in a pretty decent position running 4th and keeping up with them for the most past whilst carrying a full tank of fuel (Mediums all round), then coming out of the final chicane I hit the edge of the outside wall and my car went skyward and all over the shop - TT was the victim of that and when I eventually did land I think I was out of the track boundray and my car was wrecked anyway so I bailed then.

Once again, apologies to TT, but I enjoyed my lap!

[Truetom]

Sorry to TT for my error at the end of Lap 1, I felt somebody hit me but I don't think I got in anybody elses way after that...

Lol, you couldn't hit anyone else, only the poor onlookers, tucked "safely" away behind the high fence on the stand. I hit you when you were in the air and the kick knocked you out of the track. I'd be squished like a lemon in real accident, no doubt.

Accidents happen, David (ask H@l ) so no harm there. That wall is positioned a bit wrong for a modern day circuit safety regulation, is it not?

[Mcfids]

Had a pleasingly consistent race overall and not a bad finish.

Qualified a decent 5th in GTC at the last moment and lined up on the grid after gambling with med slicks (correctly!!). Had a good tussle with MJ after the initial rain but was mugged by him after letting through a GT1. I lost ground on MJ when letting through the GT1s, which Prof and MJ didn't seem to suffer from.

Pit stops came and i came in just behind McFids in his Z4. He was very slow into the pits and even slower through the pit lane (not using limiter?)

Sorry Simon, had a very confused, befuddled moment trying to decifer where the pit speed limit started and where my pit was.

After the stop was only 8 seconds behind MJ but he and Prof pulled away with impressive pace and I finished in an ok 4th (or 3rd if you discount SBG who runs in his own alien car class )
 
     

[Jayblue]

Had vistors round at the last minute and couldn't make the race. Looks like a good result for the team anyway but i think a shot at the drivers title for me has passed now unless others have disco problems like i did at Brno and Oscher's. Glad everyone enjoyed the race and congrats to the podiums.

[Simon Gymer]

Sorry Simon, had a very confused, befuddled moment trying to decifer where the pit speed limit started and where my pit was.

He he, no probs.