UKGTR Season 14 Formula 1 1988 - Paul Ricard (Club 1986-99) - Jun 28

[phspok]

No top driver in one of the Ferris for sure. Managed 6s in race trim until the fronts wore out
which happens very soon in the red cars. Did a low 5 with low fuel and softs just to give
Legzy and GT something to aim for 

Seems I am here for this race. so I'll jump in my normal Ferri unless I need to take something else?

[goldtop]

Seems I am here for this race. so I'll jump in my normal Ferri unless I need to take something else?

Yep.....you're place is secure in the Alboreto car 

[phspok]

Enjoyed that one.
Pace was ok on fresh tyres, but as always the fronts went off big time around lap 15
Son was very good not to hit me a few times as I got in his way, eventually I got
tapped up the bum and off went my rear wing, the pits said it would take 42 secs to
replace, but if it did then they swapped it while changing tyres, cos the whole stop
only took 45 secs. No worries, was about to pit anyway.
No idea how Legz and GT managed to keep up a decent pace without a stop
but I caught Nav twice, second time made it stick and sneaked in a late place.
Was weird when Cosworth caught me, he was very close at the end of the fast
straight, but seemed a safe distance, yet my car suddenly speeded up by 10 mph
and I got up the kerb trying to hold it, I think there was slight contact, and Cos
went off into the scenery. I can only assume that the tow works whether the car is
in front or behind?

[Legzy]

What a cracking race!
Couldn't believe the pace of some people so had to do my best in qualifying & snatched 4th

There was something about the car though during the race, that just never let me feel comfortable .
Managed some very good laps though & plenty of scrapping. Never quite got it on (so to speak) with GT sadly, as I think we were bang on the same pace, merely separated by our taking it in turns to make small errors.

Think I could have had some fun with Purdie after he pitted, my straight-line speed would have made it hard to pass for him (even with his Lotus). But I knew he was way faster & could tell TT wasn't going to pit this week (so I had no chance to catch him) & knew that Purdy's race was with TT, so let him past as soon as I twigged that. Was chatting about it on TS with H@L & we agreed Andy would catch Tom just before the end. Just what he did too, with 1.5 laps to go & he took him with what H@L described as a "superb move", though I'm sure there was little left in TT's tyre by then

Great drive Andy, deserving winner tonight!  (Now go get a slower car )

[goldtop]

Results and replay in the usual places



I appear to have put Navin in the wrong Tyrrell hence his strange looking entry. I'll ask the boss to change it when I've plucked up the courage 

[Legzy]

I appear to have put Navin in the wrong Tyrrell hence his strange looking entry. I'll ask the boss to change it when I've plucked up the courage 

Didn't want to put you through that , so I've sorted it for ya

[goldtop]

lol thanks Legzy 

[Navin R Johnson]

Wow, that was a rough run.. I thought I had gotten a hold of the track(having tested all of the "missing cars" here)and the Tyrrell before this race but in today's practice and it was clear I had to gain some lap time to be anywhere other than the back. But it wasn't to be as Dan in the other Tyrrell for this race was 2 seconds quicker in qualy and 1 second in the race. In the race I went with my usual hard tires and wasn't planning on pitting. Seemed like I was the moving chicane for this race. Had a couple of spins and then managed to spin out SRW entering the long back straight. Very sorry for that SRW . I never thought I'd have a run on you like that being I was on old tires and you were much faster on fresh. Even though I wasn't on the same lap as SRW I still waited for him and let him by as it seemed like the right thing to do but that lost me another 8 seconds or so. That killed any change on holding onto a higher finishing position being I didn't pit. Plus my tires were knacked good and I was just a lame duck to be passed by just about everyone . With that crap showing I will have to ask Mr. Ecclestone if I can have the keys back to the Benetton for the last race. Big congrats to a well deserved win to Andy:thumbup1: and congrats as well to Tom and Legzy:thumbup2:for their solid podiums spots. Also, thanks to Hal and GT for putting these fun races together .

[Legzy]

With that crap showing I will have to ask Mr. Ecclestone if I can have the keys back to the Benetton for the last race.

It's not you in the wrong car mate, you're roughly mid pack pace wise, ignoring the 3 fastest. There are some still in cars that make them too competative. They're the ones that should move to the right cars, not you move back to one you were blatently too fast in, surely? Also remember this is a track all about the power.
But GT's the boss.

[Truetom]

I must confess: I was a bit sad after the race. Did everything better than ever before but it was not enough. All in all I'm very satisfied with the last two races - my pace was better than in the races before. Is it the tracks or did I get the right setup at last? I made just a few tweaks from Montreal setup - oops, there was Detroit in between and it didn't go all that well. So it must be this car fancies fast tracks with faster corners.

Anyway, congrats to Andy for deserved win. I think I made the right decision with a no-pit race as pitting would position me into the fray of battle for third place. My tyres were all more than 35 worn at the end, so basically the rims were a bit scratched already. I need two seconds to stay in front of Andy on the last straight, no more. I made a feeble defensive move but he was past me before corner entry. Grats to Legzy for third.

Nice to see grid getting towards 15.    

Edit: must agree with Legzy - I found GT race here more enjoyable than F1.

[purdie]

Happy with a 3rd pole of the season, 1 with the March and 2 with this beast 

I went for a very low aero setup and soft tyres with a pit for tyres at half way. I knew hard tyres would be quite slow and I didn't have a lot of confidence on them in the technical bits in S2 and S3.

Start went well and life was easier after Cosworth_DFV and Son both had offs and fell down the field. TT was consistently 11 secs behind for the first half of the race and I decided not to push so I could drag 20 laps out of the tyres. The tyres worn message came on lap 20 !!! When I pitted TT must have been 30 seconds up the road  and it dawned on me after a few laps he wasn't going to pit! I caught Legzy slowly and he relented quickly and now I know why  Cheers mate, I was giving you room into the right/left kink but I heard you lift right off 

I caught TT on the last lap, slowed down on the exit of T1 so I could exit T2 quickly and it worked well. The Arrows was still quick in a straight line but I just got in front for the fast-right hander at the end! I'm sure TT called me a few names at that point 

Well done TT, quite a drive and very tough driving on worn tyres, never mind hards!!!! Made it the best race of the 2011 for me!

Thanks for the comments guys  .... this has to be my favourite form of sim-racing full stop at the moment 

[purdie]

(Now go get a slower car )

As I said last race happy to swap cars... the Lotus is chassis isn't great but the Honda power certainly helps, especially at this track. As before I did practise a lot in this car, and a server was coincidently running this combination yesterday which is how I met Cosworth_DFV and got him to join as he is obviously very quick... even in a Ligier! We (and Son Gok) had a 20 lap race so a good mock run for real thing.

I would like to try the Williams or Arrows remaining but they may not be too dissimilar to the Lotus. So then I would join Legzy in the March. Any thoughts GT?

[Dan Minton]

Really enjoyed that race. Was very pleased with my qually effort although i could have taken another couple of tenths off my time .     Planned to go the whole race without stopping but my inexperience in these cars showed as i couldnt adjust quick enough as the rear tires went off so after a couple of silly spins decided to pit.      
My pitstop reminded me of a mordern day F1 pitstop just with an extra 40 secs added on     Ended up being nearly a lap down on GT and Legzy and only 12 laps left had no chance of catching them.

Grats to podium .

Shame there isn't a league addition of this mod...

[Dan Minton]

Cosworth_DFV and got him to join as he is obviously very quick... even in a Ligier!

Ligier is mega... well it is after driving the Tyrrell         

[goldtop]

Been looking forward to racing here all season and last night didn't disappoint for me. Was going with softs and a one stop, but realised as quali went on that I was going to be way off pace anyway, so quickly adjusted my setup to a hards and no stop.

Concentrated on keeping smooth and getting speed out of T1 and not sliding it round too much so that I had some tyres left for late race. Was probably a bit conservative because tyre wear was only 20 ish by race end. Had 2 or 3 silly spins at T1 which I guess cost me about 25 secs and maybe a pody, but pleased to come away with 4th.

Congrats to Andy, TT and Legzy for the podies and thanks to all for turning out for this.

I would like to try the Williams or Arrows....................March. Any thoughts GT?

With only 1 race to go this season, I don't want to be massaging the grid in an effort to create close championships or close racing. The amount of practise drivers are able/willing to put in could potentially unbalance any changes I make anyway. I think most of us are finding others to race with as it is, which after all is what it is about. If anyone wants to change cars (within reason) I'll leave it down to their judgement.

At the start of this series my thought was that drivers would pick a car which matched their pace at that time and then develop it through the season, and swap cars only if it was clear they'd made the wrong choice. I still think the basic idea is good, but I am working on a system for next season which will hopefully create more parity.