7th GTP F1 World Championship (F1 2010 edition) * SEASON FINISHED :'''( *

Well I came back from Italy yesterday then went out on the town for the night but luckly not too hungover only worry is tiredness and no practice what so ever. I've got all day to practice after the race this afternoon though so hopefully I won't be too bad tonight.
 
Well I came back from Italy yesterday then went out on the town for the night but luckly not too hungover only worry is tiredness and no practice what so ever. I've got all day to practice after the race this afternoon though so hopefully I won't be too bad tonight.

Haha, no practice you say? Maybe you'll be on par with me then as i've had no practice either :sly:
 
See you guys soon, remember to be online about 5-10 mins before 20:00.

P.S. What a race again today, F1 in 2011 seems to be basically just a collection of classic races that'll go down in history. Felt bad for Hamilton, uncharacteristic mistake of him, but his race was already done for when McLaren cocked up again and gave him the options instead of the primes. Button did a great job, steady eddie - makes few mistakes and reaps the rewards in races like this, plus he was really, really fast today. Mind you, it was just awesome seeing Hamilton all over Vettel at the start, in the wet Hamilton was in a league of own.
 
Was having a good battle with kcheeb but then got D/C'ed on lap 18ish.. Shame the skies didn't open up close to the end of the race there...it was looking like a possibility.
 
Seems my races just get worse and worse in that I get more and more gutted lol. Was very happy with my qualifying considering the conditions and that I only managed two flying laps due to loosing my wing and puncturing my two front tyres. Felt I could have done better but was overall pleased.

Considering I only started practice today I was feeling very confident with tonights race as after practicing I felt that this the track I was the most consistent at as well as rather fast.

Seeing the 50% chance of rain I decided to start on primes which was the ultimate blow in my race before it even started. I somehow managed to get up to 4th after turn 1 with no contact with anyone and was really please that halfway through the first lap there was a gap behind me. But this didn't last long as into the second lap I started slipping and sliding and lost a couple of places. Then at the start of sector three Internet user clipped into the back of me and send me into the gravel. Obviously very frustrating but I don't blame him as his connection had him hopping all over the track and he waited for me so it's all good. But being this far back with primes on just made it almost impossible to get a good result esspecially that I kept sliding straight off the track on the final turn which gave me 2 penalties, I have no idea where the 3rd came from, pit lane speeding maybe. Even on primes though I was still catching up on those infront by about a second a lap but whenever I'd get close I'd mess up.

Finally got my options and the car just felt like a dream to handle. In the final few laps I was catching up with kcheeb by about 5-6 seconds a lap but I guess the race just wasnt long enough.

I apologise to Dark too for when I went off on the final turn, I just hit the brakes and tryed to park the car just off the track but it slid onto the apex just as you hit it, sorry if that ruined your battle with pipeslice.
 
Finally a decent race result for me! This has been too long coming since Catalunya and Monaco!

Qualifying turned around and surprised me with full blown heavy rain, I tried my first run with my normal dry setup on full wet tyres just to see what laptime I could achieve before making some changes. On my outlap I had to dodge Mikethehockeyfan who was extremely slow out of the pitlane, which let AliT past. As we got up to Les Combes, I decided to slow and brake a little earlier to avoid hitting the back of AliT and because I was unsure of the grip I was about to find - which led to Dark coming through the spray and hitting me off onto the grass. No harm done of course as it was only the outlap but it certainly set the tone for the rest of the session!
After a few laps attempting to get the most from my dry setup, I came in and added several points of downforce both to the front and rear wing and went back out on full wets. Instantly the car felt much better and I was constantly gaining huge amounts of time every lap. The track also appeared to be drying too so the times everyone was setting were going down fast. It was therefore difficult to tell if I was on a decent lap or not, pretty much every sector I hit said "-0.500" every lap. To end up sitting 6th on the grid was ok for me. I was 4 seconds adrift from the fastest times though which I wasn't so satisfied with as I felt I had found some decent qualifying pace before the weekend and was hoping to show it in a dry session. But hey ho, 6th became 5th after Baumi suffered a grid penalty too.

The race start was ok, I didn't lose places off the line but due to starting 5th I was on the outside for turn 1. I braked as normal and didn't hit anyone but was pushed wide a little by Mutu onto the run-off and got a poor exit out of turn 1. At this point I had dropped to 6th with Mutu and AliT ahead.
Thanks to my poor exit from turn 1, tombrooks got alongside heading down to Eau Rouge, but fortunately I managed to pick up enough speed to claim the corner and still run the optimum line, with a slight lift off the throttle to ensure I didn't hit Mutu.
I then hugged Mutu's gearbox all the way to Les Combes and into the braking zone - a little too tightly though as I bumped him in the apex as he slowed and he lost the rear-end a little. I slowed and conceded the position back and continued to hold onto his gearbox. He got very wide in several corners for the rest of the lap, clearly struggling for grip but I couldn't find a solid way through until we got to Stavelot. For some reason, Mutu ran heavily wide at the second part of Stavelot and easily allowed me past. I then had a pretty hefty lead to the next driver which was at that point kcheeb. Admittedly it was difficult finding a safe way past Mutu as he was seeming to suffer a lot of lag and his car was bouncing around the track a fair bit.

Pretty much the rest of the race was then running in 4th and not making mistakes. I pitted on lap 7 for Primes and came out just behind Baumi after another buggy pit exit. I seemed to keep with him ok until his tyres went badly off on lap 9 or 10 and he was forced to pit. From there I never saw another car again except for tombrooks slowing car near the end of the race. The gap ahead to the leaders steadily increased but not by the same huge amounts I'm used to so I was pretty happy with that. I seemed to lose around 1 second per lap which is very nice to see.

Bringing it home in 4th is nice after so many races making critical mistakes or simply not having the pace and over-driving. Its also nice to make the most of a track I like and go well at, which I failed to do at Montreal and Valencia. I think the most satisfying thing was really trying to work on my speed without losing consistencey and going through a lot of setup changes through the week. I learned a lot about the setup of the car, the track and where I could improve. It felt great to be pushing so hard and fast immediately from lap 1 and not making many major mistakes.

Qualified: 6th Started: 5th
Finished: 4th
Average race laptime: 1'46/47
Biggest mistake: Tapping Mutu at Les Combes.
Favourite moment: The entire race, effectively running 4th from lap 1 to lap 22 and losing a modest amount of time to the leaders.
 
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For some reason, Mutu ran heavily wide at the second part of Stavelot and easily allowed me past.

answering my phone lol - was driving one handed trying to reach for it. Should have waited until I had made the bend.

This was my biggest mistake of the race (apart from not having the engine on fast) because it allowed the rest of the pack to catch up with me - which inevitably got me tangled up with Ali. Plum last about 20 seconds behind Tom. That's two races in a row now where my race has effectively been ruined after 1 or 2 laps into the race.

Oh well.
 
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:lol:! I hate it when the phone rings when I'm doing stuff like this, although I hate any and all distractions!
I wondered why you had so suddenly ran so wide and particularly at that corner! I was wondering if the lag had somehow touched your car but it didn't make sense to me at the time because I wasn't close in that corner and you wouldn't normally be slowing down for me to actually catch and hit you. Plus the angle you went off at didn't make sense if it was contact.
Anyway I'm glad it wasn't because of me then!:cool:
 
Was having a good battle with kcheeb but then got D/C'ed on lap 18ish.. Shame the skies didn't open up close to the end of the race there...it was looking like a possibility.

I was gutted when you d/c'ed, it was an awesome battle, back and forth. I had so much adrenalin running through me during that battle, it was awesome, real shame it ended like that.

Vid's from the race:

Qualifying : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae6YbLsGLd4
Race 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrMpO6SzFYk
Race 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19SvnN6U5ns
 
I was gutted when you d/c'ed, it was an awesome battle, back and forth. I had so much adrenalin running through me during that battle, it was awesome, real shame it ended like that.

Vid's from the race:

Qualifying : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae6YbLsGLd4
Race 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrMpO6SzFYk
Race 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19SvnN6U5ns

Great vids as always Ken and I appreciate you getting them loaded so quickly. Has to be said though, you shot yourself in the foot big time in qualifying by pitting early. The track was improving all the time and I went almost 4 seconds faster in my last flying lap to the previous one, you could have found loads more time had you done another run.
 
Great vids as always Ken and I appreciate you getting them loaded so quickly. Has to be said though, you shot yourself in the foot big time in qualifying by pitting early. The track was improving all the time and I went almost 4 seconds faster in my last flying lap to the previous one, you could have found loads more time had you done another run.

Yeah, I mistakenly got comfortable with a 5th place, plus the rain gives me fits to begin with. Lesson learned 👍

I've got to say, watching the times get posted starting around 12:45 ish in the qualifying video was fun. You guys were battling hard. Watching my name drop down not quite as much fun :dopey:

You did a great job soaking up the pressure on lap 1 from me, I got past though, for a whole straight :lol:

Nice one Tom, turn one got you, it's an easy one to mess up!
 
Race report:

My worst fear realized, full on rain for qualifying. Took me to my third lap to actually post a time and it was 5th, totally happy with that. I came in to the pits and started watching the lap board, not thinking about going back out, big mistake. By the time I clued in to perhaps you best get out there, the track is getting faster, I didn't have time to get back to the start finish before time was done. Seems I learn something every time I race 👍

50/50 chance of rain, which I took as 50% chance of no rain :) Set the car up for max speed, I'd need as much as I could get, I'm not nearly good enough in the technical sections (yet), so speed is my friend.

Baumi was given a penalty of some sort, so I was starting 8th on the grid. Inside line, was hoping for the outside, if something happened in La Source, I could swing wide and possibly get around any 'issues'. As it turns out, it was a nice clean La Source, I did almost turned in on Mike but caught it before anything bad happened.

Whew, now to negotiate Eau Rouge and Raidillon. Surprisingly no issues, after Les Combes and Malmedy I'd managed to sneak up to 7th, things were looking good, except I had Baumi pushing me hard. Coming out of Fagnes I saw Ali get a little sideways and the line I was on was looking like it could be a disaster, so I slowed a little. Ali recovered nicely and suddenly Tom was beside me, was not expecting that!

Coming out of Curve Paul Frere, Internet_User had a moment and Ali, Tom and I got past him, up to 6th, I'm now thinking I could get used to this :) Ali and I both miscalculated the fuel load and were late braking for the Chicane, Tom took advantage and split the two of us 👍 Then it was Tom's turn for a little miscalculation, he went very wide through La Source which gave me 5th place, I could really get used to this! Hold on, Internet_User and Baumi are still behind me, don't get too comfortable.

I held on to 5th for the rest of Lap 2, up to the Chicane and miscalculated again, making it way to easy for Baumi to close the gap. I managed to hold 5th through Lap 3, Baumi was likely getting frustrated as he closed hard on me in the 2nd sector, and in the 3rd I pulled a small gap out. Slight mistake on La Source and Baumi was right beside me, I tried to stay wide through Eau Rouge so as not to take us both out, but missed the turn completely and Baumi had a free pass. I managed to keep him on my screen for a couple of laps, but his skills clearly won out.

The next up was Mike, he started closing in on me due to a couple of small mistakes by me and some good driving by him. From Laps 11 through 17, we were back and forth in an epic battle. I had so much fun through those laps, adrenalin up and not making my characteristic dumb a** moves. Unfortunately Mike got disconnected on lap 17 and put an end to the battle, way too much fun Mike!

I then went into defensive mode for a while, thinking I had a fair gap to 7th. I didn't want to do anything stupid and give away 6th. I noticed Ali was getting too close for comfort and I had to switch back to full on race mode. Fortunately Ali ran out of laps or it could very well have been a 7th place!

Such a fun race on an awesome circuit.

Looking forward to next weekend!

Cheers and well done again Shaggy!
 
just realised that I'll have to miss Monza. Unless you can delay the race until 10pm. I'm working.

That sucks mate, fraid we can't postpone it to any later than we already have it.

P.S. Just ordered my G27 online - it's going for £215 on Amazon at the moment so I couldn't resist. I wonder if it'll be any 'faster' than the G25?
 
Just ordered my G27 online - it's going for £215 on Amazon at the moment so I couldn't resist. I wonder if it'll be any 'faster' than the G25?

You cheeky bugger, i'm going to be looking out for a G25 or G27 while I'm in the States 👍
 
That sucks mate, fraid we can't postpone it to any later than we already have it.

P.S. Just ordered my G27 online - it's going for £215 on Amazon at the moment so I couldn't resist. I wonder if it'll be any 'faster' than the G25?

just got home and got your message. Cracking deal, I think I got mine for a ludicrous £200 off play.com but still, great deal.
 
You cheeky bugger, i'm going to be looking out for a G25 or G27 while I'm in the States 👍

Would you be interested in buying my G25 Tom? As I have already mentioned, the right button on the wheel is faulty but this apparently can be easily fixed by anyone willing to open it up. Other than that it's in perfect working order. Pedals, gear stick and wheel.

its good to have a g27, just look here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aww2_1ibEPc

in second 26 the driving physics looks great.

and this happens without aids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_7AacJXqLY&feature=related

awesome!!!!

Yeah, the physics look a lot more realistic, particularly the oversteer for this year. Can't wait to get my hands on it.

nope - was an amazing deal I got

Well that was a great deal, seems my deal wasn't as cracking as I thought it was.
 
Would you be interested in buying my G25 Tom? As I have already mentioned, the right button on the wheel is faulty but this apparently can be easily fixed by anyone willing to open it up. Other than that it's in perfect working order. Pedals, gear stick and wheel.

I'd definitely be interested mate, i'm sure my uncle would be willing to open it up and see what's what 👍 I'll have a look round in the U.S and if there's peanuts then i'll let you know and i'm sure we can come to some arrangement 👍
 
I'd definitely be interested mate, i'm sure my uncle would be willing to open it up and see what's what 👍 I'll have a look round in the U.S and if there's peanuts then i'll let you know and i'm sure we can come to some arrangement 👍

Cool Tom 👍 Apparently the button issue is quite a common one and is easily fixed by anyone with a soldering iron and who isn't phased by opening up the casing. Since obviously i'd be selling you what is technically a faulty product, i'd be willing to sell it at a competitive price :)
 
GTP 7th F1 World Championship - Round 13 - Belgium


13belgiumencmyk300dpi.jpg



Weather - Fully wet qualifying, easing off towards the end. Dry race with brief shower at the end.


Qualifying Results:


Pole - Shaggy Alonso (Tyrrell) - 1:46.442 (10 pts)

2nd. - DarkPSI (Benetton) - 1:47.472 (8 pts)

3rd. - Pipeslice (Jordan) - 1:48.399 (6 pts)

4th. - Mutu20 (Tyrrell)- 1:49.391 (5 pts)

5th. - Baumi27 (Brawn)- 1:49.688 (4 pts)

6th. - Ardius (Brawn) - 1:50.585 (3 pts)

7th. - AliT12 (Brabham)-1:52.701 (2 pts)

8th. - MikeTheHockeyFan (Benetton)- 1:53.833 (1 pts)

9th. - kcheeb (Hesketh)-1:55.532

10th. - tombrooks97 (Jordan)- 1:59.075


Race Results:

1st. Shaggy Alonso (Tyrrell) (25 pts) = 39m01.572s
2nd. Pipeslice (Jordan) (18 pts) + 13.1s
3rd. DarkPSI (Benetton) (15 pts) + 17.3s
4th. Ardius (Brawn) (12 pts) + 54.3s
5th. Baumi27 (Brawn) (10 pts) +95.4s
6th. Mutu20 (Tyrrell) (8 pts) + 95.6s
7th. kcheeb (Hesketh) (6 pts) + 1 lap
8th. AliT12 (Brabham) (4 pts) + 1 lap (+30 sec pen)
9th. Tombrooks97 (Jordan) (2 pts) + 2 laps (+10 sec pen)
10th. MikeTheHockeyFan (Benetton) DNF



Qualifying:

The qualifying session began in treacherous conditions, so I filled up for 3 consecutive flying laps (tyre wear isn't an issue to consider in this scenario as you won't start on these tyres in the race). I was just behind Pipeslice on track and his first lap put him top just a tenth faster than mine. My next lap improved by a full second but then DarkPSI went a further 7 tenths faster than that. My last of the 3 flying laps went a full 1.2 seconds faster than DarkPSI which I naturally felt pretty satisfied with, only to see him go yet faster by another 8 tenths - what do I have to do to beat these guys?! Truth was the track was improving all the time and the lap times were tumbling down, purple sectors everywhere, even by drivers not usually at the front of the field. I realised that the track was improving massively during my in-lap where I always switch my engine back down to cruise mode and just coast into the pits, yet I was still improving on my previous best sectors! It'd be important to refuel and get another couple of laps in at the end when the track would most likely be at its fastest.

I fitted new tyres and fuelled up for two more flying laps so that i'd be on my last hot-lap as the flag dropped. Meanwhile, Pipeslice put in another lap for provisional pole, 6 tenths up on Dark's previous best. On my out-lap, Pipeslice improved again and found another 6 tenths, I had to hope that the track had improved massively or else i'd be unable to match these lap times. Fortunately it did, I was already half a second up in the first sector on Pipeslice as evidently the grip had come to me at the right time. Unfortunately, I realised that I would miss the cut for another flying lap by just a couple of seconds as I was too slow in the pits, so I had to make sure this lap would be a good one to stand any chance of pole as Dark and Pipe would most likely improve their times again. I put in a 1:46.4 which was 4.1 seconds quicker than my previous best, and I hoped it would hold out and be enough. This was a nervous wait as although Pipeslice didn't have anymore laps in him, DarkPSI was still out there and going fast but in the end my time held firm for pole position.


Race:

We had a dry start to the race, but the forecast was 50% chance of rain so a few runners opted to start the race on primes in order to hopefully luck into making one less pit-stop - a clever strategy if starting in the midfield, but when you're at the front you need to focus on building a gap to slot into when you make your 1st and hopefully only pit-stop. I learnt this after Melbourne which was a harder fought win than it needed to be, had I just run the Option-Prime strategy like most others.

I thankfully got a good start and pulled a nice gap on Dark and Pipeslice behind so I could pick my best braking point for La Source hairpin. I got a good exit and was away. Initially Dark held onto 2nd place, but Pipeslice got a tow down the Kemmel straight and was past when Dark went deep into Les Combes chicane. Initially I seemed a little faster than Pipeslice, holding a 4 second lead at one point, but towards the end of this first stint he started to catch me so that when we pitted the gap was only 2.3 seconds. However, he missed his braking point for the pit-box and lost 4 seconds in his stop. This meant DarkPSI who pitted a lap earlier, leap-frogged him.

As has often been the way with me, I enjoy the primes more than the options (Hockenheim not withstanding) and I was able to consolidate my lead and watch it grow. After a few laps Pipeslice made his way past Dark again as his pace advantage in sectors 1+3 told (straightline speed). Spa is such an epic circuit that you can't help but enjoy yourself even when you're out on your own and there's no one racing wheel to wheel with you. There was some very light rain in the last couple of laps but no where near enough to even consider pitting. I was happy with my race, and surprised that my pace was enough to build a lead on Dark and Pipe. My team mate Mutu20 had quite a disastrous race, failing to realise that he didn't have his engine turned up to fast until the final lap! That said, his pace was great as he managed a 1:44 with his engine only in standard - very impressive 👍
Unfortunately MikeTheHockeyFan got d/c whilst battling with kcheeb for 7th, the latter who did a great job to finish well ahead of Ali T and tombrooks97. Ardius did a fine race. I noticed that going by his race time, his average lap time was 2.4 secs off mine which was exactly what it was in practice, that shows to me that he did a very consistent race without any mistakes and was rewarded with a 4th place finish. Baumi27 finished a mere 0.2 secs ahead of Mutu20 as their battle for 4th in the championship is still a virtual stalemate.

I look forward to Monza now, which is likely to be a chaotic race because of the high speed and heavy braking zones. Thanks for the racing as always, and see you all again this Sunday.


Race Footage
Courtesy of kcheeb & DarkPSI:


kcheeb's race:

Spa Qualifying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae6YbLsGLd4
Spa Race Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrMpO6SzFYk
Spa Race Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19SvnN6U5ns

DarkPSI's race:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj6RYSCxSM4

And here are the tables:

The Championship Tables (As of round 13):


Drivers Championship

1st. Shaggy Alonso - 388 pts
2nd. DarkPSI - 314 pts
3rd. Pipeslice - 241 pts
4th. Baumi27 - 209 pts
5th. Mutu20 - 196 pts
6th. Ardius - 70 pts
7th. Tombrooks97 - 68 pts
8th. kcheeb - 59 pts
9th. AliT12 - 47 pts
10th. MikeTheHockeyFan - 44 pts
11th. Upuaut - 36 pts
12th. NumbPhase - 34 pts
13th. pj-gm - 26 pts
14th. DOUQA - 19 pts
15th. Jerry786 - 12 pts
16th. Shark33 - 3 pts
17th. Manios22DC - 2 pts
18th. jordy7777 - 2 pts



Teams Championship

1st. Tyrrell - 584 pts - Shaggy Alonso, Mutu20
2nd. Benetton - 358 pts - DarkPSI, MikeTheHockeyFan
3rd. Jordan - 324 pts - Tombrooks97, Pipeslice, Jerry786, Shark33
4rd. Brawn - 281 pts - Baumi27, Manios22DC, Ardius
5th. Hesketh - 114 pts - kcheeb, NumbPhase, DOUQA, jordy7777
6th. Brabham - 109 pts - Upuaut, AliT12, pj-gm
 
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Cool Tom 👍 Apparently the button issue is quite a common one and is easily fixed by anyone with a soldering iron and who isn't phased by opening up the casing. Since obviously i'd be selling you what is technically a faulty product, i'd be willing to sell it at a competitive price :)

Woo-hoo, what sort of money were you thinking? Nice race report by the way 👍
 
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