Gran Turismo World Series 2024 Thread

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One-and-done for me. That was a hard one.

Qualified P7 with a 1:44.133 and started on the Mediums for a 13M/7S. A French BMW ended up in a fight with a Polish BMW at Heel and lost a position, then I swooped in at the apex where the two layouts converge and took one myself. I then got turn 1 wrong and picked up a track limits penalty as I just couldn't quite get the car to turn in and strayed wide.

Serving the penalty dropped me to P10 and put me in the front seat for a nearly race-ending incident. A British BMW pit manoeuvred a Greek Nissan coming out of Heel right in front of me. I edged left slightly trying to avoid contact and ended up pit manoeuvring myself across a German BMW. There were just so many cars in close proximity as that all unfolded. I managed to hold it, but slid across the apex in the process and got slapped with another track limits penalty for it. Just... sigh. Serving that penalty dropped me down to P11.

A British Nissan had binned it after turn 1, so P10. On lap 5 I got alongside a French Lexus on the run down to the Inner Loop chicanes and sent it, so P9. A Swiss Nissan was serving a penalty which then also gave me the chance to go down the inside at Heel, P8.

Things then finally settled down for a while and I moved up another place after the German BMW from before got a snap of oversteer at Toe and then overcorrected and veered left. I caught up with the Polish BMW again over the course of the next few laps and we started fighting. I've never seen someone defend so hard, ever. I did manage to get alongside coming out of turn 1 on lap 8, but then almost sent myself into the wall at the Esses trying to go 2 wide on the outside, which made me fall back again.

The Polish BMW pit at the end of lap 9 and I carried on until lap 13 as planned, but the fighting had compromised me and my tyres were a lot worse at the end of the stint than they had been in practice.

I came out of the pits in P9 and caught the Swiss Nissan and Polish BMW fighting at Toe. I ended up going 2-wide with the Nissan through Heel and the last sector, only for him to then pit. I can't say I understood that - if you're intending on pitting in the next 10-15 seconds, why are you fighting someone who's just had a pit stop? He even risked putting himself into a position where he wouldn't be able to properly enter the pit lane too. :odd:

I caught the Polish BMW again on lap 16 and once again he was defending like his life depended on it. Turns out he was on Hards. I managed to get the job done at Heel, but the damage had already been done. All the fighting had wrecked my tyre management and the front left ended up completely red by the Outer Loop on the final lap. It just wouldn't turn right anymore, so much worse than the severely worn tyres I'd experienced in practice. My last lap was so, so slow; a 1:54.0.

I think there's a lesson in there. If you think you're going to get caught up fighting, the Softs might not last even if you've been able to comfortably manage them in custom races. And if they go, it's a whole world of hurt.

I ended up crossing the line in P9 but two people in front got the tyre rules wrong, so P7 and 195 points which will not count towards the season. I'd have needed P5 for even the slightest of improvements, which is where the Polish BMW finished.

 
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Ran a GT2 race just now, no reall practice, using the meta M6 and strats read here. This is my only nations, partly some time off and partly because the previous cars feel terrible on my wheel since the update. Patch please?

But 20 laps at the glen in gr3? Sign me up. Qualified terrible as usual, ran a 12M8S to a mediocre finish. The final lap (8th on softs) saw my ~2sec gap become 0.2 at the finish! If I go again, maybe do 13/7.

But what I came here to say, becasue I was sure this happened to me in the manus recently - I get a 'ignore yellow' 3sec penalty when I passed the ghosted car that caused the penalty. grrrrrr. I was sure because I had a 1+ sec gap in front and behind. Saved the replay, which I almost never do, and yes, I passed it just as it unghosts but before the banner is over. Fix your stupid code PD. (the car behind plows into the unghosted car, but did not get any penalty for hitting)

That pissed me enough to spin a couple turns later, so now I'm dead last. Ran smooth easy laps and beat some cars trying two stops or just having a bad day.

Also, also - when did they start giving 4minute penalties? Did I miss a memo? And I waited about 4 minutes in the post race countdown - is that also new? I got a promotion when someone got tired of waiting and quit the lobby.
 
Also, also - when did they start giving 4minute penalties? Did I miss a memo? And I waited about 4 minutes in the post race countdown - is that also new? I got a promotion when someone got tired of waiting and quit the lobby.
The 4 minute penalty has been in effect for a short while, don't recall if it was in effect for the Manu series. I believe I was in that race on my alt, as I believe you were. That quitter a 2 tire penalties gave me 6th. I was a few positions ahead of you in the Ford GTLM.
 
Qualified 11th in my first slot and had the dirtiest opening five laps I've had in a long time. The highlight was a Mazda trying to go up the inside of me at the bus stop. I shouted at the television on that one. I started on mediums planning to see what happened, I ended up going 11M/9H to see what they were like because I had only used M/S in practice. My fastest lap came on lap 10 of the medium stint so I suppose I was still learning the track.

Second go I qualified 5th. I'm not sure how. Pole was a smurf who was 1.1 seconds ahead of P2. See if you're trying to level up an account? Do it in daily races. Don't spoil the races that actually have meaning.

Started on mediums again and just wanted a clean first lap, which happened. An Italian in a Supra in 3rd who had a bad time of it in my first race got a track limits penalty and ended up with just as bad a race as last time. (Just noticed he started on hards, bold move)

Stayed in 4th pretty comfortably for a few laps until lap 7 when the Dane behind me passed after I made a mess of the last turn (big fan of the sunset conditions) and the leader (not the smurf) pitted, keeping me in 4th. At the end of lap 7 the Frenchman in 2nd pitted and I saw him cut the pit line, so I knew he was going to get swallowed up by traffic when he served his penalty.

The gap to the Dane stayed pretty steady until we pitted on lap 10. He also got a penalty on pit entry so I got past him. I got past one straggler who hadn't pitted and was in 2nd, with the smurf well out in front (he went 14M/6S - everyone else in the top 6 of this race was in a BMW). The Dane eventually passed me at the start of lap 14, and the Belgian who had been behind us got past at the start of lap 15. We had kept a fairly consistent 2-3 second gap to him in the first stint, and when he got past me and started gapping me I assumed he'd gone H/M rather than M/H.

When I crossed the line and saw the final times I got a good laugh though:

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On lap 19 the smurf in the lead binned it at the right hander after the penalty line and cost himself a good 13 seconds or so. He managed to go head first into the barrier on the right just before the tyres. Couldn't have hit the tyres or ended up glued to the barrier like I usually do or ended up backwards, nooooo.

I'm counting this as a win. It was a bit of a weird race with all the different strategy combos, but I had fun. The only time I'd raced Watkins Glen was the RA272 earlier this year which doesn't really count. I almost feel like I got the hang of it by the end. I also ended up top 5% in every ranking so I got 3mil for the season.

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So I believe that the M6 Sprint is the best car from what I've heard, but what about tire strats? I think 9 on mediums and then 11 on softs should be fine, right?
 
End of season stats:

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Never been in the top 100 before, but I know I've managed that solely because participation this season has been incredibly low. I was UK #6 and EMEA #50 coming into this round which was even more ridiculous.

Three P3s and a P7 with only one attempt on each round, so I'm very happy with that. Getting back into A+ after round 2 was also a big confidence booster. I just wonder how round 1 would have gone if not for my daft mistake on the second lap, as I really think I had the pace for a win there.

I do kind of worry for the post-physics update BOP in future Manufacturers seasons though after seeing this last round. Almost nothing but BMW M6s and Nissan GT-R '18s today, and those were the only two cars I could get into the 1:43s in practice. Everything else I tried was a high 1:44, assuming I could even get into the 1:44s.
 
So I believe that the M6 Sprint is the best car from what I've heard, but what about tire strats? I think 9 on mediums and then 11 on softs should be fine, right?
I found the Endurance model was faster for me than the Sprint one. And I very much doubt you'll get 11 laps out of the softs. I'm planning a 13RM-7RS, myself. The most laps I've been able to get out of the softs was 8 at the end of the race when the car is lighter. Mediums can last 14, maybe 15.

I was UK #6 and EMEA #50 coming into this round which was even more ridiculous.
I hear you. I'm ranked #52 in North America going into this final race, which just seems bonkers when my DR is at 40% A. It's wild how unpopular this season has been.

Regardless, congrats on the top 100 finish!
 
I ran the first GT1 slot in North America (7 PM EDT). I was driving the BMW M6 Endurance model from door #7. There were 191 points up for grabs. I needed P5 or better to improve my point total.

Qualifying was uneventful. I logged a 1:45.363, which was three tenths shy of my best lap in Free Practice. It landed me Q10 on the grid.

gtws-nc-rd4-start.jpg


The race got off to a clean start. I was on RM tires, with the plan of doing a 13RM-7RS strategy. I let a driver on softs by and soon settled into a pack at the back of the field. I wasn't too concerned with gaining places. I figured my best hope was driving clean laps and avoiding any stupid mistakes.

So much for that. On lap 5, the two cars ahead of me decided to go into the bus stop side-by-side. There was light contact between them in the middle part and the outside car had to slow down to keep control. That meant the two of us were going to be side-by-side for the exit.

I didn't trust the angle that they were taking for the exit. I worried that they might run me wide and I'd end up in the wall. I tried to leave some extra space for them, but ended up leaving too much and ran myself wide and into the wall anyways.

gtws-nc-rd4-space.jpg


Aero and suspension damage. I went into the pits at the end of the lap for repairs and a tire change. I decided to go with RH tires so I could go the rest of the race without any more stops. I was pretty sure from my testing that this was my best option. I wouldn't be able to make up the time of a second pit by running softs for two stints.

I spent the rest of the race puttering around the back by myself. A couple drivers quit. I eventually overtook a damaged car. In the end, I crossed the line in P13.

Happily, there were four drivers ahead of me that got the tire requirements wrong and ended up with 4-minute penalties. That promoted me to P9 for 127 points. I'll take it, I guess.
 
Slot 1: Qualified 12th in the most stacked Top Split race this season (350 points). I went with the 13M/7S strategy, and in fact the entire field except 10th place started on Mediums (they were on Softs). At the start, 11th place just didn't bother accelerating, so I instantly picked up a spot before even crossing the line. Lap 2 saw another position gained when the Soft starter spun another car at the corner where the short and full layout meet again. After that, the next several laps were about resisting the urge to push too hard while everyone in front pulled away from me. All the while, I was under slight pressure from a Lambo that never got quite close enough to challenge me in any of the braking zones. The Lambo lost the back end out of T1 on Lap 6, giving me some breathing room while he recollected himself, then on Lap 7 I caught up to the M6 that started on Softs as their tires died. They parked in the middle of the track in the esses, preventing me from getting by, but then overshot the chicane and allowed me to take the spot up the inside of the Outer Loop.

By Lap 10, the Lambo had caught back up to me and this time had enough of a run to poke his nose in at the chicane. I held my nerve and hoped he'd chicken out, but instead we both held our nerves and went into the chicane side-by-side. We gave each other space and made it through the chicane side-by-side as well, but now he was on the inside and clearly had slightly better front tires, so I had to concede the spot. He didn't really pull away though, and next lap he lost the back end at the chicane as his rear tires started to give out, handing me the spot back. He then pitted at the end of the lap (Lap 11) while I continued on to my planned stop on Lap 13.

After pitting, I came out in 10th, having been jumped by the Lambo. I came out just in front of the M6 that started the race on Softs, and we went into the chicane side-by-side, but his Mediums were no match for my Softs so I held the spot. I babied my tires for the next 4 laps, knowing the Lambo wouldn't be able to go 9 laps on the Softs, and by Lap 17 I was all over the Lambo again for 8th place (someone ahead had pitted a 2nd time, giving us both another free place), but I couldn't get by until the start of Lap 18 when his tires finally gave up. Up ahead, one more M6 killed their tires and pitted at the end of Lap 18, giving me one more spot for 7th place. 6th also killed their tires on the last lap, but they were too far ahead for me to capitalize, so I finished 7th for 262 points and a CRB.
 
gtws-nc-final-results.jpg

Woohoo! Now I, too, can brag about finishing in the top 100 in a GTWS season. Totally bonkers. I wonder how many players participated in the end. If I remember right, in North America, there were only 254 drivers with points going into the final round.

I'm not sure how I feel about this season. My races at Dragon Trail and Watkins Glen were spoiled by my own mistakes (as much as I like to blame the Death Chicken). The race at Eiger was kinda fun, but way too short. Monza was the only one that felt like actual racing.

It was nice that three of the races had some elements of strategy, anyways. That gave me lots of opportunities to test out the different options.

I'm guessing we won't see another GTWS season until after the live event in Tokyo. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to fill my time until then. It's been a while since we had a gap with no GTWS/TGR series to prepare for. I'm expecting the next one will be Manu Cup Exhibition 2, so I'm going to spend some time getting familiar with the Hyundai and Suzuki cars, as those are the options I'm giving myself this time around.

As always, the community here has been great! Thanks to everyone! See you next season!
 
Watkins Glen was very forgettable for me but overall, my first foray into GT1 league was not too bad. I prefer the longer races and even though the damage aspect bit me at the Glen, I don't mind it at all. And while the limited slots work for me, I can see how it doesn't work for others. Not sure what the solution is for that.

Thanks for all the race and strategy reports and a special thanks to @Moose78 for all his testing and reports. Where do you find the time?!

Looking forward to the next one, whenever that may be.

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Is the McLaren just that non competitive or is the Nissan GTR just the one to go with? ~57 minutes in is surreal how it felt like I was in a multi-class race getting run past.
 
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Yeah, pretty sure without all the input from @Moose78 and others, I'd have no idea what to plan for tire strategy/management. Last night I did 2 slots in GT2. First one I tried the 12RM/8RS strategy. Stuck with my, now traditional, no qualy tactic, and my familiar 'Vette from the Manu series. Started 14th of 14, made a couple spots in the first lap silliness and then got punted sideways into the chicken from P9 on L3 and dropped down to P13. Driver that sent me got a 4sec penalty dropping him from 8th to 11th for his inattention. Sometimes the system works in a fair way. By L8 I was running in third on pit rotations and by L12 the mediums had gone off enough I was getting caught and/or passed by the those that swapped tires earlier. The track and my driving were destroying the front left pretty quick. I probably coulda' made one more lap work but, with L11 in the low 50s, I didn't the think the time lost on track was worth another lap so, end of L12, from 4th, I stop for RS tires and roll out in 9th. Caught the 5-8 group by L14 and pretty much just chased them around, gaining a couple spots from mistakes costing time and some penalties. By L15 I was running in 3rd with those softs fading fast. By L17 the left front was at 1/3rd. I was losing over 1 second a lap after L16, tiptoeing through the rights. Someone in front pit at EOL18 and gave me back 3rd. Didn't last long though. By EOL19 the LF had a sliver left. Lost 2 spots on the front straight and one more later in L20. Finished a skittish 6th with nothing at all left on the LF tire for all of L20. I beat the pole sitter so that was well.

Second race I decided to run the RHs for 14 laps and swapped to RS for the remainder. Didn't have any serious incidents, although I lost the CRB for some minor contact I caused a couple three times. Started 16th and finished 5th on that one. Was a much better feeling finishing with a good chunk of those softs left. Called it a night after that.
 
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Is the McLaren just that non competitive or is the Nissan GTR just the one to go with? ~57 minutes in is surreal how it felt like I was in a multi-class race getting run past.

I mean, you were exiting the pits and they weren't? The Watkins Glen pit exit is unnecessarily slow, so of course you'll be slower going up the hill. But yes, the Gr.3 F1 isn't a very good car.
 
Is the McLaren just that non competitive or is the Nissan GTR just the one to go with? ~57 minutes in is surreal how it felt like I was in a multi-class race getting run past.

As a general rule, do not expect any car that isn't the most modern one of that manufacturer in to be competitive in Gr.3.

There are exceptions (the Ford GT LM R is normally better than the newer Ford GT, the old Super GT GT500s can be good in certain spots), but in general the BoP is always geared so that you want to always be using a manufacturer's most up-to-date car.
 
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I mean, you were exiting the pits and they weren't? The Watkins Glen pit exit is unnecessarily slow, so of course you'll be slower going up the hill. But yes, the Gr.3 F1 isn't a very good car.
Once things equalize at the bus stop where I gain on the position ahead and then the position behind rolls past like 20 mph out of the bus stop. Like multi-class difference in acceleration. BoP?😂😂😭
 
Once things equalize at the bus stop where I gain on the position ahead and then the position behind rolls past like 20 mph out of the bus stop. Like multi-class difference in acceleration. BoP?😂😂😭
No offense, dude, you had a horrible run through the bus stop. The difference in acceleration is because they accelerated 100m before you did.
 
Once things equalize at the bus stop where I gain on the position ahead and then the position behind rolls past like 20 mph out of the bus stop. Like multi-class difference in acceleration. BoP?😂😂😭
I have to agree with @bduddy This was nothing to do with BoP and everything to do with your line through the bus stop. The below grab shows where you get back on the power, and you'd been slowing the car all the way up to that point. You need to be on the power immediately after the first left (or even on it).
The GTR just took a better line than you did.
Screenshot_20240909-090504_YouTube.jpg


EDIT - Just to illustrate, this is you on lap 5 taking a much better line, same part of the track, you're 7mph faster and on the power much earlier
Screenshot_20240909-091058_YouTube.jpg
 
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I have to agree with @bduddy This was nothing to do with BoP and everything to do with your line through the bus stop. The below grab shows where you get back on the power, and you'd been slowing the car all the way up to that point. You need to be on the power immediately after the first left (or even on it).
The GTR just took a better line than you did.View attachment 1387939

EDIT - Just to illustrate, this is you on lap 5 taking a much better line, same part of the track, you're 7mph faster and on the power much earlierView attachment 1387942
Totally appreciate the details on this, that's also the grip difference between cold 140s ish tires and optimal 180s. Still the roll by was like 3x my variation. Not having a replay save because of the inane artificially imposed space nonsense makes this so much worse - unable to properly analyze and compare. :frustrated girl:🤦🏼‍♀️
 
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Well, after a five-month break, coming back to the championships and struggling with the tires has been frustrating.

I was on for 200+ points with the Honda F1 at Eiger if not punted into the wall in both races. But as you can see from the scores I struggled a lot with the tire wear in the other races.

I don't know how you guys were doing 14M/6S or 13M/7S at the Glen. That strategy either had my left-front medium dead for lap 14 or my left-front soft dead for lap 20. I had to do 8M/12H in that one and dropped from starting 7th to finishing 8th despite two guys ahead crashing.

Got some learning to do. I have been sim racing for 30 years and have never struggled with tire wear like this before.

Still enjoyable, though. I now race for fun. Top 8 the target. Less pressure on myself = more enjoyment for myself.

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Not having a replay save because of the inane artificially imposed space nonsense makes this so much worse - unable to properly analyze and compare. :frustrated girl:🤦🏼‍♀️
The way I maintain save space is to share your replay, you can delete it after it is shared. Then go into your shared replays and copy it to your collection. In Sport we could have 1000 replays in our collection, I'm not sure what the limit is in GT7.
 
The way I maintain save space is to share your replay, you can delete it after it is shared. Then go into your shared replays and copy it to your collection. In Sport we could have 1000 replays in our collection, I'm not sure what the limit is in GT7.
I've been trying this but I seem to end up with a growing "other" section that is now nearly 50% of my space. I have TBs that this should be using to save, but wasting my time to manage space like this is unforgivable, and when you think there's enough space, you just get the sorry, and then the online timer ends and you lose the race save because why? 🤦‍♀️ just infuriating and absolutely inexcusable. 🙀
 
I don't know how you guys were doing 14M/6S or 13M/7S at the Glen. That strategy either had my left-front medium dead for lap 14 or my left-front soft dead for lap 20. I had to do 8M/12H...

Got some learning to do. I have been sim racing for 30 years and have never struggled with tire wear like this before.
Are you me? :)

That was exactly my experience, but I was able to generate similar race times to RS/RM runners using RM/RH.
The problem will come when the tyre multipliers go up even more and we run out of harder compounds to resort to...

Similarly, I've been racing for decades and am now having to learn better tyre management in a hurry! It'll be a useful skill though so it's all good.
 
2024 GTWS Exhibition Season 1 – Season Review

Due to meddling pesky real life taking precedence, I haven’t really been able to contribute to this thread this season, but firstly I’d like to echo comments above thanking those who have contributed so much in terms of testing data – it really helps when you want to comprehensively prepare for a race but will have to do it piecemeal with half-an-hour or so sessions sprinkled throughout the week.

After the “proper” GTWS season finished I was fed up with online racing, courtesy of somehow becoming the victim of a dedicated rammer in the last MC round at Fuji – you know, the kind that lay back on the straight just so they can sole into you at the T1 hairpin just to knock you so far off the track that you’d need to buy a ticket to get back on. It was the very last slot (Life lesson: Don’t rush home to get the last slot for a round you didn’t think you’d be able to do – so didn’t prepare – because others will be using it to deprive folk of points as they somehow don’t care about the points themselves.) The guy didn’t even get “SR down” and I finished the season thoroughly browned off and determined Never To Race Online Ever Ever Again. Indeed, I stopped using GT7 and was racing in PC2 and AC instead.

It was the wonderful Mrs. Bald that told me not to be so daft. She asked why I hadn’t been nipping off at the weekend to catch the x-O’clock start, and I replied that the season for those races was over, I didn’t expect another one until the autumn (thinking of last year’s timetable), and in any case I wasn’t going to waste my time with online racing any more due to rammers. She pointed out that if I quit then they’d have won and made me promise that I’d race next time there was a GTWS. (yes, she made me promise I would race – I kinda remember why I married her now:) )

I went on GTP a week or so later looking for a setup tip for PC2 on a Thursday Afternoon only to discover a snap GTWS series had been called (like a snap election but for racing) and it started on Saturday. I was determined not to spend ages preparing only to have my time wasted by idiots, so I went into the series with the mindset of “I’ll prepare and drive to the best of my abilities, but I won’t do my normal level of prep and if I get a poor result so be it – 1 and done in each round unless I really fancy trying again” (in the end, it was 1 and done in each round, but that was because I never felt I could improve my result).

So to the races:

MC Rd1, Interlagos

I didn’t even put the GT7 disc back in the PS until mid-morning, although I’d been thinking about what manufacturer to go with – in the end the lack of time meant I went with my normal MC squeeze of Nissan, if only because I have all the Gr3 cars from that marque – even the legends – so would be able to fine tune my choice. A quick race-length run in Free Practice in the ’18 car, an even quicker 5-lap run in the ’13 and ’99 cars – they’re slower, no need to go further – a full-race run in Custom Race to determine how many laps I can do on RS and how many need to be on RM, and then the first bit of another Custom Race starting on RM to see how it feels starting on the harder rubber with full tanks, and then it’s time to go racing – slot 4 or 5 by the time I was ready. I felt my decision not to get bent out of shape over positions was justified as I could only get Q13 in a mid-to-upper B race, but then I never could qualify well here.

Started on RMs, made a few places up in the first couple of laps as people spun or tangled with others, then made up more places as RS starters pitted, however lost a bunch when I went in and agonisingly was passed by a group of 4 cars as I exited pit lane. Even though I was now on RS it looked like I would finish P9, then with 3 laps to go a car fell back from the group ahead with cooked tyres and I was able to get by them – now P8, DR up time, interesting – and made even better when another car ahead pitted with one lap to go – maybe they accidentally selected RS at their pit stop so had to go RS-RS-RM with the final stint being a single lap – and I nabbed P7 (92pts). DR definitely up, then, and more importantly I’d had a really good race in terms of, well, actual racing so my relationship with online competition and GT7 was well on the way back to full health.

MC Rd2, Tokyo

I was able to get a bit of practice in for this – albeit mainly full-race runs in FP to determine the best time to change tyres – both before and after the change in drying time and initial moisture that came midweek – and in terms of which car to use, the long straight meant then the old JGTC cars were ideally placed to do well, which benefits Nissan runners but nowhere near as much as Honda drivers! I knew that if the track was drying in quali then timing your run as late as possible would be a big bonus – I got that bit right, crossing the line to start my final lap with 2 seconds left – hooray! – but then had to pass a car on that lap, meaning I compromised my line through the fast Esses – boo! – and didn’t improve, so Q7.

Started well – the ’99 Nissan’s high top end speed made picking places up on the run to T1 easy and I was P5 as we tentatively braked. I picked up another place on the exit of T2 thanks to a spinner and just avoided being part of a big crash that happened just behind me at the Esses (heard a lot of skidding and wall-scraping), then settled down in P4 until I took my stop a lap earlier than most. That helped me as I undercut a car to be P3, unfortunately two Hondas got past in the latter half of the race to leave me P5 again, then the leader who’d opted for an IM no-stopper spun at T1 on the last lap so I took P4 (108pts). The win went to one of the Hondas, who’d not taken a quali time and therefore successfully did a last-to-first.

MC Rd3, Autopolis

I thought I’d sorted my tyre strategy for this earlier in the week – RS would last the race length no problem – but then Update 1.49 came along and suddenly tyre wear was up and the possibility of limping round for a single lap on a fully-red tyre was down. OK, no-stop RM it is then, at least for me – one thing the new physics has taught me is that I’ll need to be a LOT better at tyre management – with RS only used in quali. That went well, I got a lap I was really pleased with for the first time in the series – Q4.

The race started well – I was challenged at T1 but held the place, and I was able to get alongside the McLaren in P3 coming into the hairpin at the top of the hill – I had P3 as we exited the corner, but they tried to get too much power on too soon, fishtailed, overcorrected and hit me on the front corner – damage for me (thankfully we’re in GT2 here and it would go away of it’s own accord, plus I’m sure no malice was meant in the move) and I have to take it gingerly into the fast corner at the bottom of the hill meaning I’m back in P4. The Macca then overcooks the right-hander before the tight S-bend before Kermit Bridge and I’m back in P3 behind a Genesis with P1 already well up the road. We hold station with P2 drawing away from me and the gap to the McLaren behind shrinking – either I’m slow or they’re on RS. That question is answered around Lap 5 – The car behind sweeps into the pits, and I gain around 5 seconds on P2 in that single lap. I have another challenger 2 seconds behind me, and I’m just wondering how I get past the slow Genesis without losing time and being dragged into another battle, when they solve my conundrum by pitting – I hold station in P2 and that’s where I finish (121pts), actually gaining on the P1 car in the last 2 laps but never anywhere near passing them.

MC Rd4, Nurburgring

It’s Manufacturers’ Cup, so I believe there is an ancient law, passed down through generations, that there must be a round at the Nurburgring… what do you mean, it’s on the GP-Strecke? :) I’d sorted out a tyre strategy that meant I’d be suffering on the last lap on the softer boots but was still quicker than stopping a lap earlier. Qualifying was acceptable – nothing more – and I lined up Q6.

To the race itself, and on L1 there was a case worthy of “Unsolved Mysteries” – how on earth did I make a place up through AMG-Arena? I’ve never, ever been quick through there so I have no idea, but it was a genuine overtake into T3. That became another at the Schumacher-S as a car ahead went wide, leaving me P4 after Lap 1. The cars ahead pulled away and the cars behind dropped back, leaving me with a lonely first stint, I pitted and amazingly, once the cars ahead had done similar, I was in P2, and first of those who’d pitted! Once I’d stopped rubbing my eyes in disbelief I got on with trying to stay ahead of a rapidly closing P3, however we caught up with a late-pitting backmarker who decided to fight for the lead and slowed me up on the last chicane so much that even though they pitted immediately afterwards my time in P1 lasted for less than 100m and I was passed on the next turn. Another car got past me with a lap and a half to go – they’d started on the harder tyre, I’d started on the softer – and I finished P3 and 119pts. I was now at about 90%B and had had a very good season, winning UK GT2 Nissans which gave me a smile – however, the cars have become increasingly less popular, I think there were only about 13 of us in GT2 racing them in the UK, and for the first time in MC I never saw a fellow Nissan user in any of my races.

After a short break, a Nations’ Cup season was announced…

NC Rd1, Dragons’ Trail Seaside

A Nations’ Cup season featuring the X-things is as predictable as the Manufacturers’ holding a round in the Eifel mountains, and I think a lot of folk took one look at the combination of semi-guided missile of a car and 32 times through the Death Chicken - er - Chicane, and promptly nope’d their way out of there – participation seemed well down as it did throughout this series, and for the first time on this account I found myself sharing the track with A drivers – 3 of them, with me having door 16. Qualifying was good, considering – I always practice to drive consistently rather than balls-out single-lap speed, so I was happy with Q8.

Lap 1 was nice and clean for me for the first few corners as those ahead bumped and barged, then through the sweepers I came up behind a car that was already carrying a 5s penalty, they got sideways, I guessed which side to go, guessed wrong and hit them – 4s pen (deserved, I should have held back even though that would have meant losing spots) and by the time that was served I was P13. Never mind, long race and all that – I was back in the top 10 a lap later courtesy of a spinner, a chicken-hitter and a penalty server and on the back of a group all the way back from P4 to me in P10. I’d switched to a 9S-14M-9S strategy at the last minute, I’d practised 11S-21M and made it work for me but the short pit stops meant I went for the 2-stopper, and I drove conservatively in the remainder of the first stint – only making passes when those ahead served penalties or went off / hit the chicken, that meant I could get an extra lap on RS (so now 10S-13M-9s) which got me the undercut and I was P5 as I went on to Mediums. I got in some tight battles in this stint, I let the others by rather than holding us all up battling and then stuck in their slipstream, they pitted earlier (meaning they’d gone RS-RS-RM) and I was able to undercut them, I was P5 again as I re-emerged on RS with a light fuel load, I picked up a place after reeling back P4 by about 8 seconds and then set off after P3 who was a further 10 seconds up the road. I nearly got them too, finishing 0.18s down. I was a bit gutted as surely the 127pts for 4th would be the highest I’d get all season and I was within an ace of making that even more, still I’d survived a race in the X-things and I’d beaten all the A-drivers (indeed, I lapped one of them!). Oh, and no chickens were harmed at any point in my run. And I had been door 16, so P4 wasn’t bad at all.

NC Rd2 – Eiger Nordwald

Hang on, isn’t this the car/track/tyre combo that was derided by all and sundry when it was Daily C recently? The one that had such low participation that A+ and B drivers were in lobbies together? Seems a strange choice… I can understand the desire to showcase the returning track, and I can understand the choice of tyres as it’s probably something like these cars had in period, when they raced on treaded crossplies (bias-plies), but together? Maybe PD thought the sequence of hairpins was a bit Monaco-like or something. I had similar misgivings when there was an NC race in the Jimny at Lake Louise a few months ago, and that turned out really well, so let’s have a go.

Well… I managed to get in the top 300 in FP without a ghost, and I was able to win lobby races against opposition of all grades, so I might be on to something here.

The race-meeting format looked a bit odd with a quali session longer than the race, but at least it would mean that everyone got at least one good lap in, so the race wouldn’t have much barging on lap 1 but might be a bit of a procession. I waited for everyone else to get going, went out as late as I could without being lapped in the Q session, immediately got my head down and once the tyres were up to temp on my 2nd lap I logged a mid-1:13 to take provisional pole which I held for the rest of the session! Pole in a Formula 1 race – where’s my prize scooter?

At the start of the race, it seems that the releasing of the field half-way round a corner makes some positions better than others – I timed my gearchanges perfectly but P2 was still easily able to get alongside me into T1. I don’t fight too much – better to pull away from P3 together – but as the race goes on I have the pace to get by but not the opportunity, until P1 has to check up very slightly on the final corner of Lap 4, I draw alongside over the hump and time my braking (and rapid downshifting) to perfection to run the front right wheel onto the kerb of T1 like a dream while they run wide, and I have the lead back. They stay within half a second for the next lap and a half, and I begin to worry about a last-lap divebomb, but through the back stretch on L6 I get the pit-exit esses absolutely perfect, they don’t and I have 2.5s entering the last tour – enough to take no risks, indeed I think they got involved in another battle as I took the chequered flag by 4 seconds!

My first sport-mode victory in an age, a new GTWS PB of 150pts, first time I’d ever won against A opposition (8 of them!) in Sport Mode and moving this account to 99%B – I was just glad I’d managed to make a combo that really suited me count. As reported earlier, I then dusted off an account I haven’t really used since it became A – I’m a morning racer, I can’t do GT1 generally but I had an opening in slot 1 today, so I used it for a nice comfortable Q3 P3 – apart from drawing level with P2 at the end of lap 1 after they’d nearly gone in the railway station I had no interaction with other cars at all in quali or the race – and 155pts, so that’s now my PB.

NC Rd3 – Monza

A case of “After The Lord Mayor’s Show” for me, I knew that in a very fast car on grippy tyres on “the Italian Cathedral of Speed” (copyright every motorsport writer) I wouldn’t really stand out, however by now I was sure I’d scored my points for the season and I just wanted DR up, with the goal of being A by the end. I’d settled on 9S-11M if I qualified well (unlikely) or 10M-10S if I didn’t. Well, I gave it my best shot in quali but could only get Q12, however that did match my door ranking and I was the top Non-A in this race. I was ruminating about this so much that I completely forgot to change tyres between quali and the race like a moron so would have to start on RS. Damn.

I used some push-to-pass off the grid to try to keep up, however this promoted me a couple of places and I was able to get over to the left hand side of the track approaching the chicane in an attempt to avoid carnage on the apex, this I did but someone bounced out of that carnage and hit me wide along with the car in front of me, I missed the barrier and was able to rejoin without being reset and just missed another couple of cars on the exit, as I accelerated through Curva Grande I looked at the car in front and was astonished to see a “4” above them. Surely I hadn’t come out of the melee in P5? I had, and I held it for the next couple of laps until 2 faster drivers came back through and I was now P7, I stayed there until my pit stop at the end of L9, this pushed me back to 10th, and I was only able to make up one place as others pitted, so by the time we all settled down again I was P9, but at the end of a 5-car train. I got up to P8 as others went wide – great, in the DR-up places, then I got punted into the gravel at Ascari by someone who just tried an impossible send – I recovered just behind them, they got 4s penalty then immediately quit, however we’d been passed by others so I was now P9 again with about 4 laps to go. I got into a battle with P8 and made it my own when they got slightly sideways between the two Lesmos, but they were right behind me for the last DR-up place. I relaxed a bit on the penultimate lap when we passed a recovering spinner out of Lesmo 2, meaning we were now P7 and P8, and P7 was secured when my close follower messed up Ascari almost immediately after, so I could bring home a bit of DR up and 120pts. I already knew the points wouldn’t count but the DR up was a very pleasing bonus and filled the remining tiny bit at the end of the B bar.

NC Rd4 – Watkins Glen

I expected, as this was the NC round that most resembled a “Normal” Daily C, that participation would be up for this one, and it seemed to be so – certainly lobby races were a lot more well-populated and I was a bit further down the leaderboard even after putting a 1:43 in in Free Practice. Unfortunately, as alluded to above, Custom Races and Lobby races showed me very clearly that I wouldn’t be able to follow the 6S-14M or 7S-13M strategy that others could – my tyre management skills just aren’t there, I would have to resort to 8M-12H, or I could go 10H-10M if I started on the hards – however, getting track limit penalties in the first 2 laps of a lobby race dissuaded me of this as I simply couldn’t keep up with the field on hard tyres and full tanks, better to get rid of a bit of fuel beforehand. As mentioned above, I was now at 100%B so anything that ended with me in the top 8 would make me A, right?

In Qualifying I calculated I could easily wait for 1 minute before going out and still get 2 flying laps in just like everyone else, so off they all rushed as normal and I had a lovely clear track. 8 A drivers in this one so I wasn’t expecting much, but I was very happy when a 1:44.4 got me provisional P4 after my first lap – shame I overdrove lap 2 and ended up with P8. Still, OK from Door 9 and I was confident that I race better than I qualify so maybe I could get that final bit of DR up.

Remembering to change from RS to RM before the race this time, I was able to hold position at T1 despite being challenged, I then caught up with P7 at the Inner Loop and followed them through the Boot, as we rejoined the short course P4-5-6 were beating and banging on each other something rotten, we both got past 2 of them so I ended the first lap in P5. P4 went off and caught P3, their battle brought them back into my range and when P4 forced an opening at the Toe I was able to follow them through – now P4. P3 was quicker than me but prone to track limit pens – they went wide on the exit of the Outer Loop twice in succession and the second of these allowed me past them. Meanwhile, it became apparent that those ahead had all started on RS and as they pitted after L5 and L6 I led for a couple of laps before my stop for RH on lap 8. The car I had been close to all this time came in with me, also on Mediums – I didn’t take any notice of their tyre choice, I was too busy making sure I avoided a 3s pen on pit exit, they got past me after a couple of laps and after a bit of drama where the car that had taken pole by a country mile slowed for a couple of laps then went past us all again, the P3 car pulled away and I managed the gap to P5 to finish P4 – er wait, no P3 after my battler went RM-RM and thus copped a 4 minute penalty. 143 points – actually, I was as pleased as punch with this, happier than when I won in Rd2 even – and yes, that DR up did get me into A. 2nd in GT2 UK and just outside the top 16 in GT2 EMEA.

As always, there were things I liked and things I didn’t in this series, but quite frankly this post is already far too long, so that’ll be another post…

TL:DR – Guy wasn’t going to do this series but did it after his wife told him to do it, and really enjoyed it and ended up DR A.
 

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