iRacing Season 2 Skippy - Brands Hatch (Indy) - Mar 2

[Kerr]

Brands Hatch just is not my circuit.

Qualified 5th with a time that was not my greatest but as expected everyone was really close. Great time by PaulR.

At the start I was all over Brendan and Dan all over me. Brendan took a tight line only to run wide and that was opening for a move. On the power too early and the back came around and I had to drive on to the grass to control.

Had to watch a few cars go past.

There was an accident in front on me and I've no idea how I missed Brendan's car skidding across the track.

Chased Dan hard for laps as we were closing in on Ken only for Dan to spin and leave me nowhere to go. It was only a minor clip but that's more than enough to bend the suspension.

Ken was now quicker and pulling away and Stuart was slightly faster behind but I was trying to adjust to driving the bent car.

A few laps later Ben lost it and again I was left with nowhere to go with no chance of missing him. Bang, race over.

I really thought that race was going to be fun tonight but I'm afraid it was far from it. Far too many accidents and incidents going on.

[Mark J]

bah was really enjoying that until lap 14 with close racing with don and couple ahead, when someone ahead span on the exit of graham hill bend. Had to take to the grass to avoid hitting don mid apex  Rejoined with a big gap and then span a lap later. Must have lost my wing as the car was undriveable for next 3 laps so i hit the tow button and rejoined miles behind and no one to race. :'(
Then disaster, after neatly allowing lots to lap past me, had contact with my own team mate Paul R and saw his nose cone disapear. Sorry Paul, had every intention of letting you by after graham hill turn but you dived down the inside of me and we hit

The skips in a race here were brilliant fun, like all those single seater races ive seen at this place    I still find them deadly boring to practise with though.

[Adam Parle]

Incidents-tastic .... although a very clean start which was nice.

The first few laps gave me some great racing with Pops and Ross - all of us having "moments" .... I very nearly took Pops out on the run up to Druids after touching the grass ..... thankfully Pops gave me a wide berth, and then made the pass.  Ross fell off a little late, leaving 1.5 seconds to make up on Pops.  I seemed to making up ground on him when disaster struck.

I Clipped a spinner on the exit of Graham Hill bend - my car was a bit squirrely going into the bend which didn't help, and although I tried going round the outside on the grass I made the decision too late and clipped the other car, giving me a big chunk of suspension damage .  That off dropped me back a few positions, and the car was a real handful after that .... ultimatley leading to a spin into a wall and a lengthy wait in the pits.

I rejoined a couple of laps down, and then had a good few laps chasing Don round the circuit .... had I not been 2 laps behind him it would have been a LOT more fun .

I really enjoyed running the car round this circuit, it's just a shame there were so many incidents and discos.

[Ken Murray]

Wey hey, I'm still mopping up the champers from my race suit!!

Well I didn't pick any four leaf clovers or have any birds crap on me today, but I sure got a dose of good luck tonight. With numerous spinners, both back markers and near competitors, I was lucky not to make any contact. Then to cap it all Paul runs out of fuel on the last lap to gift me 2nd place. Throughout all of this I had Gary for company, initially ahead of me, but then after he spun at Paddock he fell behind. However he slowly but surely made ground on me so that he was right on my tail for the last 3 or 4 laps, just as I caught Paul due to his contact with Mark. So it was a three way scrap for two podium positions. The fact I had Paul to chase probably helped me, and then as mentioned he started spluttering out of Clearways and I thought all my Christmases had come at once!!

Grats to Paul H on his comfortable win.

[Brendan]

Hmm, my first race for a while...and it showed.

Was very pleased to scrape under 53 seconds on my q lap to line up 4th.  I knew Brian behind me had quicker raw pace and I was very aware of how close he was.   After he had dropped a wheel off track, Dan took his place.  He had a better run at me through Graham Hill bend but I was able to keep a tighter line onto the SF straight.  We were side by side through Paddock and Druids and heading back into GH again, the space ran out.  Sorry Dan.  It's hard to tell from the replay, but I think I may have turned in slightly early and we both careered off track.  I lost control on the grass and came right back across track.  I tried to get out of the way but poor Darren had nowhere to go.  Sorry mate.

After the obligatory tow, I spent the rest of the race trying to claw back some pride and after numerous disco's, I hauled myself from last to 12th.

Sorry to those who I 'met' on track, but congrats to Paul, Ken and Gary.

[Ken Murray]

We were side by side through Paddock and Druids and heading back into GH again, the space ran out.  Sorry Dan.  It's hard to tell from the replay, but I think I may have turned in slightly early and we both careered off track.

I got a birds I view of that and I know it's cruel, but I couldn't help emitting a shout of glee as I nipped past.

[Mike Wrightson]

Qualified a very uncomfortable mid-pack.  The car is really touchy here and I had no confidence in it.

Disconnected on the grid as the lights went green.

Reconnected and drove round for 44 laps..  The end.

[popabawa]

That was an incredibly intense race.

I was chuffed to finally break into the 53's and post a 53.6 and start in 13th, then dropped a couple of places being a little too cautious, had some very minor contact with Ross, not really sure what happened, but the car felt really weird after that and I couldn't really push.

Spent the rest of the races picking up places because of others misfortune.

Sorry to Ade & Dave, I just let you past as I didn't really feel confident racing closely late on as I was struggling quite a bit with the car, not sure if it was the contact with Ross or whether I'd destroyed the tyres by that point.

Messed up horribly on the last lap with Ross bearing down on me, I just needed to hit my braking point for the last turn, didn't, over compensated and Ross span making sure he avoided me. Apologies Ross, I think I cost you a place there.

Interesting to note I was one of only 4 drivers who failed to go under 54s in the race but I still finished 7th....

[Dan Minton]

It was only a minor clip but that's more than enough to bend the suspension.

S**t Brian didnt realise you clipped me  ....Silly mstake by me ,done about 80 laps in practice and didnt spin there once. But having you in the mirrors dont help.

[Dan Minton]

We were side by side through Paddock and Druids and heading back into GH again, the space ran out.  Sorry Dan.  It's hard to tell from the replay, but I think I may have turned in slightly early and we both careered off track.

No probs Brendan    ...Yeah you just caught my rear wheel which steered my car to the right . It was a shame as it was some nice driving by the both of us.

[Dan Minton]

I think Ben would have been wiser to park it when his car got to damaged.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I Clipped a spinner on the exit of Graham Hill bend - my car was a bit squirrely going into the bend which didn't help, and although I tried going round the outside on the grass I made the decision too late and clipped the other car, giving me a big chunk of suspension damage .

Me clipping you whilst trying to squeeze through the gap between you and the spinner probably didn't help either.

Completely and utterly bizarre race for me. Couldn't get a handle on the car at all in practice; tried multiple setups, lots of tweaking, all to no avail. Had absolutely no feeling for the car, most of all coming out of the final corner where it would grip or spin seemingly at random.

Still wasn't happy at the end of practice, so I made a strategic decision to qualify at the back, and drive well within myself for the first few laps at least. After the first lap I started to wonder if I wasn't going to watch the field walk away, as to my surprise nobody fell off, but then the spins and crashes started on lap 2 and I was soon working my way up the field.

After the incident where I clipped Adam my steering was somewhat bent. I resisted the urge to quit and carried on; at first it was really hard work, and I finally succumbed to the random handling in the final corner, spinning back a few places. However, what I had noticed is that with the suspension bent, the steering actually had a little more feel so I picked myself up, dusted myself off and got stuck back in. Soon I was hacking my way back past cars again, and despite one frightening moment when a pack of three cars suddenly checked up in the last corner when I wasn't expecting it (probably had the same random handling I had!) and I ran into the back of somebody, luckily without any further damage.

After that I got past that little gaggle and was up to about 11th; reeled Pops in for 10th or so and after that it didn't look like I'd get much further.

Then suddenly in the last 10 laps or so all hell broke lose - cars started falling off and crashing into each other left, right and centre. With a lap and a half to go, I was 6th behind Simmo. I was catching him fast and I realised that he must be running out of fuel - I hadn't checked my usage at all, but half way round the penultimate lap I got the "5 to go" message - not a good sign in the Skippy.

The car started coughing into Clark curve on the final lap but there was no value in splashing and dashing, so I just pressed on, short shifted, and hoped that Simmo would run out before me. He did.

Last to 5th. Bonkers.

Great result for me personally - but I hope the car feels better round the GP circuit if and when I do an official race in it this week!

[Kerr]

During the race it was evident there was far too much action going on.

I don't think I have even been in a race with so many incident points scored.

[Fred Basset]

Qually went well with a new PB for 3rd, kept it off the line, initially I had Brendan giving some pressure but breathed a sigh of relief when he and someone else skated off at Graham hill, I was a couple of seconds behing Paul H and pulling away from Ken.

A few laps in Mark J spun in front of me going through Paddock and I had to come to a deadstop which wiped out most of my gap to Ken, this put me off my stride and I spun at Paddock next time round and dropped 5.5 seconds behind Ken, I worked on clawing this back and was on his tail when Paul R spun and we were nose to tail for a few laps. When Paul ran out of fuel on the last lap and I got 3rd back.

Pleased with that but would have been interesting to see how close I would have been to Mr H in front on the last lap with my extra fuel load but for my two delays in the race.

Good fun and a special mention to Brian who showed great kindness in qually when he made a small mistake and lifted to let me past so as not to ruin my lap thanks Brian.

Regards
Gary

[Paul968]

Nice to win that one when I wasn't really expecting it. Practice was good for fastest lap but dinner + kids as usual meant I was catching up again in qual and didn't get a great lap in. Luckily I got 2nd though and could tuck in behind Paul R and pull away a bit for the first half of the race, where we were a second or so apart every lap. Then Paul had a slow, lazy spin in Paddock and left me with a 6 second lead, so I just concentrated on consistent laps. Found MJ rather harder to lap than I expected given the 3 laps between us but when Paul had problems lapping him shortly after I was left with a nice big gap and could ease off big time - sorry to Dave who wanted me to lap him to save on the fuel, but sounds like it was for the best!. For a moment near the end I wondered if the fuel would run out for me, but although it spluttered near the end I still had 0.3 gals left.

Brands is a tough track in the skippy, so the incident count is perhaps no surprise. A lot of the problems though were caused by people coming back on track after a spin. I have to wonder whether some of these could not have been avoided.

Grats to Ken and Gary for the podium places. As for fuel Gary, who knows eh? Anyway, what's the problem, I let you beat me at Infineon, isn't that enough?