UKGPL Season 20 (2010-2011) Graduates Cup (67) - Sebring (GP) - Dec 19

[Al Heller]

Oh dear. After qualifying 3rd, I made a right dog's dinner of the start, braked a bit hard to avoid rear-ending Bob & managed to get marooned facing a haybale right on the apex of T3. Waited for the inevitable crunch & sure enough got t-boned which shoved me into teammate Bartosz & triggered FMG's graceful triple back somersault (with pike). Massive apologies to all concerned. Car was still in one piece so resumed at the back & my thrilling recovery drive lasted about 1 lap before the engine started billowing black smoke. Was just about to park it but saw on Prib that Evil was dropping down the order so thought I might as well see if the engine lasts long enough to nick at least one ill-deserved place... Managed to get to the line & after that I just kept trundling round waiting for the engine to finally catch fire & die but the ruddy thing kept spluttering & coughing until the end! Couldn't get above 120mph so tried to keep out of everyone's way & in the end crawled over the line in 7th. Oh well, that's racing - had a chance of a decent result & screwed up but at least this time I was the architect of my own downfall rather than getting another infuriating screen-freeze. Very nice track by the way - though I wonder if that bumpy straight had anything to do with all the engine failures (not mine which was impact-related I think). Commiserations to Juha who had the race sewn up before his DNF & congratulations to Bob, John & Jethro. Hope everyone has a great Christmas & New Year - looking forward to a nice break with no more tracks to learn for a while!

[EvilClive]

I was rather hoping for a reasonable points haul here after getting a setup sorted that kept tyre temps sensible and turned in a good race pace. It was nowhere near Juha's times in the Fezza, but I thought I might keep all those BRM's honest.

I was not too concerned with a good quali time as this track is certain to have a few "incidents" and excursions. As quali finished I had a weird sound glitch on my computer and all the engine noises went into a strange cyclic warble, which I think ultimately caused the end of my race.
The start was ok and as expected someone managed to slow things down at T3 ( thanks Al  ) I intended to run the first 3 laps at a steady pace whilst the tyre temps built to a good level and that was working out ok even with Mr Nauman trying to make life difficult for me with his Brabham. He dropped back and Jethro was tailing me, I had Tom ( I think? ) in front in his BRM and everything was fine ...except for the sound!! I found that I could no longer rely on the engine sound from my speakers to judge the revs on the Waza turbine. As a result I was having to glance at the rev counter more often than I wanted to on the approach to the corners which was distracting and I was missing some braking points.
Then I totally messed up a couple of corners by down shifting too early, and yes, it must have over-revved the engine because exiting the hairpin that horrible sound was repleced with an even more uncomfortable noise.....silence!" 
Grats to all those who survived to the end.

See you all in 2011.

A

[vosblod]

Results uploaded and replay in the usual place.
Any incident reports by close of play Friday (24/12) please.

[Hristo Itchov]

Grats for 3rd place, Jethro!

[EvilClive]

Heyy!!!  apologies for not noticing that Jethro  well done mate.

So there was a Waza on the podium 

[FullMetalGasket]

I'd have had him if I hadn't had to go lie under the bath 

[Hristo Itchov]

That's not an issue in Waza, we actually drive our bath-tubes. You can too if you come back. 

[Turkey Machine]

Heyy!!!  apologies for not noticing that Jethro  well done mate.

So there was a Waza on the podium 

Had to restore some pride for the Fundoshi after SHE overdosed Hristo's cold medication and one of her minions left a spanner in evil's engine when he sneezed and dropped it.

Learning the circuit in qualifying helped, found I could push in places I didn't think possible, and explored those limits in the race on full tanks and a far better setup tweaked some more between qualifying and the flag dropping.

The start was.... tentative. Never seen T1, T2 and T3 taken so carefully and yet screwed up so badly. Got the best start of the Hondas, slotted in behind evil, waiting for a moment to settle into a rhythm.

Seeing Al's stricken Brabham was a wakeup call from hell. I cursed hitting him but there was nothing I could do to avoid him. Surveying the standings I find myself up a couple places and homing rapidly in on the pack, Juha galloping away upfront.

After people dropped out I did all I could to keep myself focused. Pushing harder does that to you! At one point I was 2nd, and comfortably so ahead of Bob. The Honda had other ideas though, and tried different tricks to spit me off the course. One of which was to fail to flag me down for the chicane after the hairpin. Waved bye-bye to 30 seconds and settled into 4th, which became 3rd when Juha's stallion gave way and left parts down by the hairpin.

Good racing was had, it's a great circuit to push. Chuffed to bits I got the Honda down to a 2:40, so nearly had a 2:39 on the board though!

[kinghiro]

unfortunatly I let myself stress by jw behind me and span

Just for the record...this was not critisism.It was fun racing with you JW as long as it lasted

[Turkey Machine]

unfortunatly I let myself stress by jw behind me and span

Just for the record...this was not critisism.It was fun racing with you JW as long as it lasted

No probs, was happy racing you, but it was funny to see so many people fall off in front of me. Anybody'd think you lot didn't wanna race with me.

[Tom van Ostade]

No probs, was happy racing you, but it was funny to see so many people fall off in front of me. Anybody'd think you lot didn't wanna race with me.

I would've been happy to race you but some BRM mechanic screwed up my engine! :'( . Or was it a Waza engineer...

[Hristo Itchov]

unfortunatly I let myself stress by jw behind me and span

Just for the record...this was not critisism.It was fun racing with you JW as long as it lasted

No probs, was happy racing you, but it was funny to see so many people fall off in front of me. Anybody'd think you lot didn't wanna race with me.

I've had that happen last Saturday in my oAo race. Started last with the BRM due to a previous race penalty and ran at 8th or 9th initially, but then people in front of me began dropping out 1 by 1 as soon as I saw their names on my pitboard. Creepy! Took 2nd eventually, lol.

[Beefpie]

Gahh, annoyed I missed this one, no more graduates races before I leave.

[vosblod]

Race moderation now published.

[Baab]

Hmm...well after receiving the email for the incident I knew I was going to lose the win...shame as it was to be my first Grads win...and in a BRM!  I understand we can't have people bashing into each other and I also read the rules post incident so the judgement was not a surprise (although I slid wide rather than lost it, is this the same thing?). 

Perhaps because I have been the subject of this judgement I find it a bit harsh.  I hit John therefore see that I should be punished, but I don't see the justification for a 2 place drop (other than this being the rule).  I have been demoted behind Jethro but the incident was nothing to do with him.  I cruised the last few laps so could have eeked out more of a lead, would a time penalty have been more appropriate?  I was in two minds whether to stop and let JR past, but thought this could cause further incident and with no prib I wouldn't have been sure which was JR's car.

Bob.