iRacing Season 5 Sportscar Challenge - Brands Hatch (GP) - Jan 25

[Darren Seal]

Really sorry for the first contact Paul...  Coming out of druids I was waiting and waiting for you to get on the power, but it never happened.  The gap between us closed slowly, and then you seemed to slow down further.  No excuse though, I should have avoided you...    I waited for you to rejoin but unfortunately 2 cars had sneaked through.

The 2nd contact was when you came out of the pits and slid across the front of my car in the attempt to defend your position.  My replay clearly shows a 2 foot gap between our cars and no contact, yet you back end kicked out.    Sorry, but other than throwing my car off the track I'm not sure what I could have done differently....  Also sorry for the guys behind that got caught up in the incident.

 

[mr_oily]

More tales of woe here too - thoroughly enjoyed the first part of the race, having brief tussles with Darren, Paul and some others (sorry, was all happening a little quickly!) the car felt great and the lap times were tumbling nicely but it all came undone after the pit stops.

Was enjoying chasing down Paul for quite a few laps, hoping he'd make a mistake but when it didn't come I decided to duck into the pits a little early. Little did I know, he had the same idea and before I could change my mind we were both entering the pits together.  Had a decent stop and we both came out more or less the same distance apart as when we went in but round two wasn't to be. As we exited the pits we quickly got tangled with Purds and Gizmo and it was game over.

Sorry for the clout Andy, I don't know if I could have missed you if I didn't have half an eye on Dave steaming up behind me but that certainly wasn't the way I wanted it to end!

Got the tow and thought I'd see the race through, see if I could work on some technique but I made my first proper mistake of the race a few laps later and my poor SR8 became one with the barrier on the left hand side after Graham Hill.

Still enjoyed myself - thanks for hosting Paul, and again to Gary for the tips. Good job Daytona's only a short one hey

[Samu81]

I came to server 3 or 4 min before qual - with absolut 0 practice. I had driven this track few times at iRacing's Grand Am -series but it was weeks ago. So whole qualifying I were just trying to learn the braking points and driving lines. Thus my Q time was as lousy as it was. Race was going along okay considering my zero practice untill around lap 10 a lapped Radical spun in front of me at main straight and collected me. 2 min and 45 sec tow and I ended up almost dead last. After that I just cruised to home, zero concentration and zero interest about race.

Shame that this series and my job as commentating our Finnish Radical -series on web stream goes this badly over each others. Those races usually ends like 22:15 my local time and this series qualifying starts like 22:20 so I really cant promise I'll make the rest of the events, sorry 

[Robin Durrant]

my deepest most sincere apologies to the 2 guys at the back

my apologies to who it was I spun at turn 2 your double brake took me by surprise

That was myself Ian! I wouldn't worry about it mate. It happens so often in real life. Plus these brake lights on the Rad are crud.

Don't be silly about not coming back!

My race was a simple one. Don't crash. I over-estimated just how much fuel I needed. Ended up putting 1.4g in at the stop and having over 30 laps worth left at the end. The car was a wee bit heavy!

I finished, albeit two laps down with a bent rear end, but enjoyed it

[Brendan]

After the disappointing end at Spa, I'd decided beforehand to take tyres at my pitstop and push like mad all race.

The first stint went pretty much to plan although Gary was a little closer than I had hoped.  Had been practicing my pitstops and got the braking down to a tee, that was until Burt decided he would pit at exactly the same time as me so I lost a little time there     Rejoined in the middle of the scrap between Purds and Simon and was keeping an eye on the gap to Gary ahead, realising I'd need to get it down to around 25-secs to stand any chance of leapfrogging him.  I didn't, so when Gary rejoined 7 secs up the road I had to push again to try and reel him in.  

With about 5 to go the gap was down to just over 4 seconds and the car was feeling great, but I was overdriving it and this cost time which I stood no chance of re-gaining with so few laps remaining.

So, grats on a great drive Gary and thanks all for a great race.

[Simon Gymer]

Was having a race long battle with AndyP. I got past him in the pit stops by not changing tyres, then struggled a bit in the second half with far too much fuel and no fresh rubber whilst Andy easily caught me. Out of nowhere though I managed a 1:21.6 when I had been doing late 1:22s and 1:23s with Andy chasing. No idea where that came from all of a sudden. It was short lived and Andy continued to press. I then caught the grass out of Hawthorns I think it was with Andy right behind me and as I put the power down of course I span and right into him.

Again so sorry for that. Really gutted as we were having a great fight. Especially gauling cause it let Dave have an easy 2 places LOL and of course stopped the battling continuing for the remaining 5 laps. Lucky for me my car was driveable although it was very snappy in the slow stuff and very understeery round all the fast right handers.

Still, not a bad evening as I enjoyed nearly all of it and I didn't fall off in Dingle Dell where I was sure I would.

Was very interesting to see the Radical and Riley so evenly matched too.

[mr_oily]

Don't be silly about not coming back!

+1

[Dan Minton]

Was a bit to tense in the race and couldnt really relax which caused me to make too many mistakes.  Cocked up the pit stop slightly as i thought 9.9g wouldn't be enough so clicked up to 11.3 and came out with 10 laps too much  . Came out quite close to Brendan but car was too heavy , tires were too worn and Brendan was to fast so could not challenge for second. Nursed it home to a satisfiying 2nd in class.

Grats to Gary ..Megaton drive.

Cheers.

[Dan Minton]

won't mess any of ya races up again guys I'll  be staying away from now on  Roll Eyes

Dont be silly Ian, We all have one of those nights every now and then

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

cracking qualifying, decent start, pushed off track turn 5 then major cock-up trying to predict slower cars, race over, to annoyed with myself to continue

won't mess any of ya races up again guys I'll  be staying away from now on 

Don't give up on the back of a single bad incident, not enough Gizmo(to)s around!


Damned hard work that - qualified much better than I expected and then immediately started throwing time away with a very scrapping opening two corners, letting Purds past. After a few laps of staring at his bum I decided to roll the dice and pit early. That was working okay but I didn't really have the pace to make it back to where I'd started. That was confirmed when Darren came out the pits slap bang in front of me.

Pushed him hard for a few laps before he eeked out a tiny gap, and then the Radicals of Bananaman and Oily came out of the pits in a flanking move... I saw the smoke, slowed a little and hoped to dodge them; almost managed it, but I couldn't quite get far enough out onto the Paddock Hill gravel trap and just clipped Oily's SR8. :'(

I knew the car was bent the moment I reached Druids, but rather than just reset I pushed on for a few corners to see how it was, figuring that the other three must also all have some damage, and that now that I was ahead of them I might as well at the very least struggle back as far as I could before resetting to cut the tow time down.

By the end of the lap I felt it was okay to do another exploratory lap, and despite left handers being a bit hairy, I declared the car roadworthy and pressed on. Was just about able to maintain a gap to Paul T behind, and that left me 6th behind the Shark/Purdie scrap. I thought that's how things would end, but I hadn't counted on how hard Simona de Sharkestro was pushing trying to hold Andy off, and their misfortune was my gain as I capitalized on Shark's spin collecting Andy to hand me 4th overall and 3rd in the DP class.

I thought Brands needed huge concentration when I was driving with a straight car. Eyeballs on stalks with the wheels not pointing in the right direction!

Well done to Gary - I said to Robert and Simon on the grid that I thought he had it in the bag - and to Brendan for making him work for it.

[Ken Murray]

With my usual late and brief qually I was nearer the back than the front, but even a PB would only have lifted me 3 or 4 places.

An early mistake allowed 2 cars through, but when they repeated my error on the next lap I got them back. By then James was 9 secs up the road, whereas before I'd been on his tail. That gap remained pretty constant until his pitstop and involvement in the multicar Paddock Hill incident. My spotter called me in 5th at that point but as the pitstops unravelled I dropped back to 8th I think. My stop was pretty poor as I overshot and had to reverse a little, but I didn't take tyres and only 4.2 gals of fuel didn't take the crew long. That had me within shooting distance of Paul. Initially I got all excited and overdrove, but when I calmed down I started reeling him in. I didn't have any panels up because they really interfere with my view in the Rad for some reason, especially with my small FOV setting. So when the spotter said, 'you have five laps of fuel left, that's more than enough to finish the race', I had no reason not to believe him. However, just as I was homing in on Paul on the final lap the car spluttered out of Druids and didn't even make half a lap from there!

Luckily I was the last person on the lead lap, so even though I had to retire I kept my position. But it would have been nice to go to the flag and Duke it out with Paul!

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

So when the spotter said, 'you have five laps of fuel left, that's more than enough to finish the race', I had no reason not to believe him. However, just as I was homing in on Paul on the final lap the car spluttered out of Druids and didn't even make half a lap from there!

I dunno how they've managed to get the fuel spotter calls so utterly wrong. You ran out and yet I had "you'll need to stop for more fuel" as I took the chequered flag with 2 laps worth left!

[Fred Basset]

Wow, another epic race but I had a manic build up to it.

In common with Pops I use a Frex Simwheel and between the last race and this I replaced a major component in it that wears out. Its the first time I've done it and although not that hard it needs some adjustment to get right. After last nights practice session I knew it wasn't right and got the spanners out for more adjustments. With iRacing being down I couldn't really test it as I don't have any other sims (apart from F1 2010) on my PC.

I left work early tonight to get a little more time in case it needed further adjustments but just after I came home the car alarm started going off on my wife's car. Its not been used for a bit so clearly the battery, stupid design though as the battery is in the boot and the boot has an electric release with no manual mechanism. It was also penned in the garage so I had 30 minutes of messing about with cars to get it to at least shut up.

Fortunately when I got started it was clear that the wheel was now brilliantly adjusted but it was completely different in feel to how it has been for the last two weeks and initially I was all over the place and could not find a rhythm. Eventually it started coming together and I found some pace although a couple of corners I didn't attack for the whole evening so wound up 3rd in qually. I'd also figured after seeing Brendan's times last night and spending an hour stuck behind him in the DP a couple of seasons ago that a long stint with no tyres might just work.

Dan had a little wobble a few laps in and that got me up to second and then it was just a case of making sure I was somewhere near Brendan when he pitted. Seemed to work ok

In reality by the end I was coming to terms with the wheel (and really liking it) but my tyres were very worn and with Brendan on new tyres it was pretty hard work keeping it on the island and being fast enough.

Some very courteous drivers today with lapping, thanks to all.

Brendan you've got to win one soon mate, I almost felt guilty nicking this one off you, almost!

Sorry to Ken for the little tap in qually mate, really didn't want that to happen.

Regards
Gary

[GizMoTo]

my decision is based on lack of experience with the Radical up until the first event I had only driven this car for max 4 laps at Silverstone {my usual test track for new gear} as a test for when I first picked it up, I had intended to run in but never got round to it.


so that was my second race ever only in it, and I have managed to mess up in both races taking other people out in the process so it's going back under the dust cover until I find time to learn the car more.

was a mistake to jump into racing with it before I figured out it's handling characteristics, pretty darn stupid of me really  

so maybe if there is another season with these I'll have had more time to learn the car better but till then it's back under the dust covered in the corner  until I find time teach it my driving style {may see about using the official Rad Vette season to learn the car}

[purdie]

Finally feel back in the groove with iRacing, taken two weeks of continuous driving  

Developed my setup from the Grand-Am race there recently and gained a second overall... odd thing is I can't get the most out of this car on a low fuel load. It feels far less planted and I only go 0.3s slower with another 10 gallons.

In qually I didn't get the most out of the car but it made no difference as Dave in 7th was quicker than my pb. Started 8th and got a good start, managed to slip past a cautious Dave   and tried to hang onto Paul with Dave right behind for 3 laps till he pitted..... then Simon sat no more than a second behind for half of the race running 4th/5th when he pitted. I went for a fresh set of tyres   and 7g to be safe and came out 8 secs behind Simon and Dave right behind me.... decided to push with new tyres and closed up to Simon, I guessed he had worn tyres but when I caught him he seemed to pick up the pace and hold me 0.5-1.0 sec back for a few laps until going wide on Hawthorns... didn't realise his car was coming round and then it shot across  

Car was mangled but got to use the fast-tow (now I remembered it repairs the car! ) and brought it home 8th and still 5th in class  

Great racing