RM Z06 Pratt & Miller GP > First major series Spa race this Sunday!

[CSLACR]

Shocked to see I qualified fourth, had already developed a game plan for starting further back, as I'm admittedly not a big fan of being mid-pack come start time.
Didn't know what to expect from everyone off the line, wasn't planning on going for a pass at all, actually let off in first gear a bit to stay behind Red (I think) before I saw what a great run I'd had on him, left me in a tight space (where I probably would have had room and momentum to make the pass without the brief let-off) on the inside three wide heading for turn one, did my best to hug the inside and slow a bit early to let Red through and keep us from going three wide actually into turn 1, which he and Wardez shot right through, Sifer had the better (outside for apex) spot to be, and trying to stay inside I ended up sliding out a bit towards him, so I eased a bit to let him through, no need for hurry on lap 1.
Ended up getting a decent gap between myself in 4th and Welsh in 5th, was hoping to stay out of slipstream range, but couldn't get around Sifer fast enough, he caught us both, shortly after which, I got around Sifer, but I don't think Welsh did, at which point I became the mouse. After a short while I noticed a few close calls on my rear, I let out some aggression in turn 1, which was almost perfect, but ended in the grass, just stayed out there and cruised back on behind Welsh, but it cost me 10 seconds and the draft.
Now I just had to focus, drive steady and fast, and keep some rubber on the wheels, as I was in the clear, and at this point needed everyone in front to make a mistake big enough for me to catch them.
Around lap 8 I caught someone, I think Sifer, a close call for me almost rear ending him made me realize my tires were shot (time had flown) and I got my pit on time at lap 9, very, very surprised to see nobody else had seemed to pit that I could tell (think I was wrong though), at which point I had a feeling I would do well, most of us don't have the black magic required to run 13 laps as fast as Welsh did, and I didn't think anyone could, not possibly.
Caught up to Red somewhere around 19 I think, right after leaving the pits my second and final time, had some mild battling, wasn't willing to bother really battling it out yet though, we had leaders to catch, but finally, on lap 22 I think, I braked 2-5 feet to late, and almost clobbered him entering final chicane, got left and managed to find the e-brake button (O) slowed me just enough to miss, but over-steered and had to settle the car, lost his draft, and that was pretty much my guarantee of fourth, as I believe his tires were fresher, in any case, I ran great laps for me in the final stint, I remember 57.1, 57.0, 57.2, 57.7, 58.5, 58.5,, or something along that line.
Finally had a brief hope when the time dropped to -5 seconds with a lap or two to go, had some hope, managed to push to hard and not crash, but the rubber just wasn't there after the quicker laps.
Finally on the last lap, saw the highlight of the race for me, when Mule literally dove off the track in turn 1 onto the back-up concrete so to not hold me up at all, left me a truly open road, was fantastic.👍 (not that I did or will in the future "expect" this kind of extreme courtesy from anyone, just a good gesture and commitment level of WOW)

Pretty pleased with my race quality, only lost about 15 seonds total time over an all-but perfect run for me, and even though fourth, only 5 seconds off first, with what had to be some seriously goosebump inducing final laps for the top 3, Red, Wardez, and Welsh.
Almost the perfect "tortoise and the hair race" for me.

If anyone could just post a replay of the last 3 laps from their views, that would be spectacular for anyone to watch.

Average lap for Welsh and Wardez .001 apart (.027 26 laps)
Average lap for Red only about .017 slower then Welsh.
Average lap for me still only .192 slower then Welsh.

I like numbers, just the ones I observed.

And not an incident I'm aware of at all.

Edit: Best lap 1:56.8 I believe, didn't even try once until the last lap to hotlap, not even once, was very pleased to see a 56.8 off relaxed driving.

 

[redreevos]

Congrats to Welsh on the win. He managed a one stop race and eeked out Wardez by .042 seconds.

But all is not lost for Wardez as he qualified at the pole and also took fastest lap with a 1'56.542.

Right before race I thought my wheel completely died. I reset it three times while we were in the pre-grid position, and I got some life out of it. Glad it made it to the end(sort of). lol.. It has been going off calibration by as much as 90 degrees while I have been racing, and I have actually gotten two seperate Return Authorizations from Logitech... But I always find a race I want to be in, and think I will send it in after the next race.

I don't think I can wait anymore. Lol, during my second stint it got 70 degrees off center.. Which isn't that big of a deal now, as I am used to this. Just replug in at every pit, and it re-centers. But this time it had about 30 degrees of dead zone. Not the best for Suzuka

Poor wheel has taken a beating. Just too much fun. I would like to blame my crash in the second stint on the wheel.. but who knows, there is a very good chance I could have done that with a fully functional wheel.

@CSL - sorry for the tap on lap 16 or maybe 17. I think you internet went into a bit of a funk there. You were all the way off the track crashed, and then suddenly you would be back in front of me like nothing ever happened. Tried to give you plenty of space, but eventually gave you a tap in a scary spot. Thankfully you absorbed it well and I don't think either of us lost any time.

@Wardez - great job catching me back up.. I think I had a 15 second lead at one point.👍

@Welsh - Great job managing the one stopper. Suzuka is a scary track to be driving a high-powered car with no tire tread. Impressive display of car control.👍

@Sifer - I watched bits and pieces of your race on the replay. I know you had one incident where you tapped Welsh off. Its happened to all of us. I commend you for waiting for him to rejoin and being a gentleman about it. You would be suprised how many people continue on after those instances. so 👍 to you, and I look forward to racing with you some more.

@Mule - Thank you for giving me space to pass in my attempt to catch Wardez and Welsh. 👍 Unfortunately I came up .425 seconds short in the end.

@Dr.Watson - Thank you for the space up the inside of the hairpin. Watching the replay I could see your tires were shot, while mine were optimum. Thanks mate:tup:

When watching the replay I did see some weird stuff from the back at the beginning of the race. Not sure if it was all attributable to lag or if someone was being to aggressive.

There was a bit of humor in the replay my PS3 captured. Nethereal and Lefty were side by side.. on my screen though Lefty was on only his two left wheels for about 2 full seconds. I would say Nethereal was being too agressive in the beginning, but could have been all lag.EDITAfter watching again I believe it was all lag.

Had fun racing with all of you as usual.

Rees

 

[CSLACR]

@CSL - sorry for the tap on lap 16 or maybe 17. I think you internet went into a bit of a funk there. You were all the way off the track crashed, and then suddenly you would be back in front of me like nothing ever happened. Tried to give you plenty of space, but eventually gave you a tap in a scary spot. Thankfully you absorbed it well and I don't think either of us lost any time.

Must have been, though I didn't see anyone glitch all race, very pleased to have been able to race around people without busting them up with lag, as I will have to pull off if I see anything that looks like that again.
Racked my nerves, I did brake a bit early, figured you were expecting me to give it the business, no harm done.👍

 

[redreevos]

These are the pics of what I found quite humorous. (although probably not as fun for those involved) It is possible they didn't even register on eachothers screens.

It begins here:

Ever been on the outside of a turn and wished you were on the inside? Lefty shows us how to do it -

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Lefty follows this up with some Dukes of Hazard (or Night Rider, your preference) moves and rides out the whole corner on two wheels -

[/IMG]

Lefty I knew you were fast, but I didn't know you could fly!

 

[CSLACR]

How did I miss THAT in my rearview?

 

[redreevos]

Must have been, though I didn't see anyone glitch all race, very pleased to have been able to race around people without busting them up with lag, as I will have to pull off if I see anything that looks like that again.
Racked my nerves, I did brake a bit early, figured you were expecting me to give it the business, no harm done.👍

Glad no harm done my friend. Like I said, you absorbed it well.

As far as lag, I wonder if your download is solid, but your upload is funky? You are seeing everyone elses packets fine, it just seems the server is having a hard time getting all of yours. IE - The server is missing some of the info, so it just guesses where you should be, and then gets updated information and places you correctly? Don't know.. We can hash out GT5 lag issues all day. Probably only Kaz and the game designers could give us better info.

Either way, no harm done. Great fun racing with you.

Oh.. and I presume the bungees held up. Just info that I found here and helped me out.. I am glad I got to pass it along.

Now I look forward to peeking in on the WRS and seeing your name at the top with all the aliens in Gold

Oh - and on a seperate note, that was Nethereal's car being jumped by Lefty. I really think there was no fault by anyone. They just both got caught in a lag storm.

 

[phil bell]

I know these things aren't easy to keep on the road but this is ridiculous!

 

[LeftyWright69]

I don't know what happend in the race because I could only see like 3 or 4 other people on the track and they took off. I couldn't hang and I didn't wanto to just drive by myself for 15+ lapes just to get laped so I left. I thought that we had 9 people and then it was just me and a couple of other guys.

When I went into the lobby everyone was there and there were only 3 blue bars on the roster like the race was started and only a couple from the lobby were racing. Sorry for leaving I wasn't having a good day.

 

[redreevos]

@Lefty

Sorry to hear Lefty. Just the way it goes sometimes. Too bad that the race didn't load up properly for you. Probably just another item to add to your day.

I know I haven't been around the WRS lately. But i always did enjoy your enthusiasm in those threads. I was looking forward to getting to race with you today.

Hopefully next time.

To tomorrow being a better day

 

[Wardez]

Great reports guys, it really was an interesting race from all sides.

My start was pretty good, Rees (redreevos) and I got off to a good clip and I was just looking forward to getting some good laps in early.

I had a few good laps and Rees kept close. Then I just lost focus a couple times, going slow, having little offs here and there but keeping it somewhat together. Then I messed up and spun and off he went. I didn't like the way my tires were dropping off around lap 10 so I decided on the two-stop there.

After that I remember just being confused as to exactly how far ahead or behind I was. It seemed like Rees and CSL pitted over and over again. I thought I had been way behind by about lap 20 but then saw that Rees pitted yet again and though, " whew, still got it"

But it wasn't that easy. I had Nige (Welsh-Bain) in front of me and was sort of confused as to what strategy he was on, didn't know if he was on good or bad tires, had just pitted or was going to, etc.

Turned out he was on a one stop and it started to show at around lap 23. I stayed behind him one more lap then passed him and went for my final push on lap 25. I lapped a black car, it was Mule! He let me by nicely and off I kept going on the second to last lap.

Had a good pace, kept it clean.
Then I spun going through 130R. ahha, I couldn't believe it. Nige passed me up pretty quickly and I thought, " This sucks... but I still might be able to catch me"
So I recovered pretty quickly and the ultimate chase was on. Me on decent tires and him on balds. I had a feeling it'd come down to the line.

I caught up to him around the hair pin after \Degner but I noticed a black car that just seemed to have popped behind me. I was like, " Damn did Mule just stop of something, he caught up qui-... IT'S REEEEEEEES"

I couldn't believe I completely forgot about him, he was still very much in it. And to think I blew his run off.

Anyway, it was us three fighting for position, not knowing quite how to push eachother since we were all on different strategies.

I was able to pull on Nige's draft leading up to 130R, I got through it perfectly then put my crosshairs on passing him through casino.
Welsh isn't a pushover even on bad tires so I was only able to get up along side him. We went through the last turn pretty much together and I had a bit of a good run on him going down the little hill onto the straight. All this was happening with the black death all over my rear-view. I almost had to close my eyes and hope for the best, that run up to the line seemed like it took forever. But I could still see Nige's front right tire so I knew who had it.

A close one, great runs from all. 👍

Cheers guys, I'll get all the stats adn the leaderboard up tomorrow. Looking much forward to the fabled Le Mans.

 

[CSLACR]

I knew something happened, went from 13 seconds down to 5 in one split. Shame I couldn't keep Red's draft a few laps back, would've been a four way finish. Of course without my off early on I would have been around Welsh all the way to lap 8 also, impossible to evade the slipstream here unless the trailing driver screws up, made for great racing.

Looking at the details, I actually think the 2 stop plan was quickest, and Welsh made the least mistakes, I knew me, Red, and Wardez all made bo-bo's, because of how quickly and randomly I gained on them at times, not so sure Welsh made any real mistakes, if true, a perfect example of how mistake free is the way to be.👍

One thing that helped me, was every time I would be drafting someone approaching a corner (not trying to pass) I would simply ease up to 1/4-1/2 throttle a little before the braking point, making my end speed slightly lower than when driving solo, this combines with longer stopping distance of slipstream, and gave me the same braking points as normal.

As far as lag, I wonder if your download is solid, but your upload is funky? You are seeing everyone elses packets fine, it just seems the server is having a hard time getting all of yours. IE - The server is missing some of the info, so it just guesses where you should be, and then gets updated information and places you correctly? Don't know..

I very much think that is exactly the problem I get usually, as long as nobody else is on my internet, I can have pretty much clear racing like tonight, (though still a bit), and viewing my current package and speedtest download/upload readings you're spot-on.

Download: 1.11
Upload: 0.37
Ping: 74 ms

I know the upload/download speeds are downright ugly here, not sure about ping, I think 74ms is better then my 20mb/sec cable internet was before though.
Hopefully come Wednesday I find I have Verizon's slowest package and can upgrade to at least a little better, seems like just double that speed and I'll be lag-free all the time.

 

[Denilson]

Early La Sarthe practice: 3:48.4..

Still 10 bhp short, but no miracles to expect if I had them.. a tenth here and there perhaps.. Pretty happy with my tune also. Needs a few more tweaks, cause it EATS tires. From what I can remember racing La Sarthe in the SGT cars, the tire wear is pretty modest. But not in this car.. I'm going to try and reduce the wear, but it's far from modest in the Z06 to say the least, so I do not expect any miracles.

I can see a low 47 with a perfect run I guess.. and a fully broken in engine..

 

[Wardez]

Thanks a lot for the insight Denilson, the week leading up to this epic race is going to be just incredible.

That's interesting, what you said about the tires 'cause I've found them to be about the same as the SGT cars or even a little better. We did the same distance at Laguna Seca as the WSGTC race and a lot of us said, after the race, that we thought we could've definitely one-stopped it.

We'll see though, have you tried our base tune, what were you running?

Again, thanks a lot, makes me wanna get out there!

 

[Denilson]

Thanks a lot for the insight Denilson, the week leading up to this epic race is going to be just incredible.

That's interesting, what you said about the tires 'cause I've found them to be about the same as the SGT cars or even a little better. We did the same distance at Laguna Seca as the WSGTC race and a lot of us said, after the race, that we thought we could've definitely one-stopped it.

We'll see though, have you tried our base tune, what were you running?

Again, thanks a lot, makes me wanna get out there!

I saw the base tune in the OP. However, I never try a tune from anywhere. I imagine that it will force me in a sertain direction tuning wise sort of speak. I want to create my own tune from the input I get when driving my self.

Don't got the exact tune yet, still needs to improve it. Perhaps I can share it when I'm done with it.. Cause I don't want to give out a bad tune.. 👍

NOTE: While testing at Suzuka, my impression was also that the wear was similar to the SGT cars.

 

[CSLACR]

I saw the base tune in the OP. However, I never try a tune from anywhere. I imagine that it will force me in a sertain direction tuning wise sort of speak. I want to create my own tune from the input I get when driving my self.

Don't got the exact tune yet, still needs to improve it. Perhaps I can share it when I'm done with it.. Cause I don't want to give out a bad tune.. 👍

NOTE: While testing at Suzuka, my impression was also that the wear was similar to the SGT cars.

I often lean the same way for my tuning, however, I've learned more and found the best setups I've ever had by trying others tunes and modifying them to my preference. So if you post a tune I'll definitely try it, sometimes you swing and miss, sometimes you gain half a second a lap instantly.👍


Just something I'm not sure everyone is clear on, anyone that wants can make their own practice rooms and post them up, practice doesn't require anyone or anything to do. I feel like I'm pointing out the obvious, so forgive me if I am guys, just noticed a lot seem to talk about practice these past few weeks but it seems people may be waiting for rooms opened up by others?
I also definitely plan to run at least one session for practice and a second session for qualifying at some point, my times will likely be afternoon/early evening EDT, or later at night, maybe 11pm-3am EDT, if that helps anyone with time frame.

 

[Wardez]

Awesome guys.

Btw Denilson, what times were you hitting at Suzuka during your testing?

I'm guessing that my hunch of 1:55's might've been correct

Also peoples!

I'm posting the qualifying procedure for Le Mans very soon as well as full details on the race and the special prize that's going out for the winner.

Also, there's going to be a new deadline starting this round!

The deadline for qualifying submissions is going to be midnight October 1st, the day before the race.

So get your practice in soon and do lots of it, this should be treated as almost an epic spot race since we're doing 2.4 hours, handing out one-time prizes, using heavy damage and more!

And yes, heavy damage will need to be turned on for qualifying laps to be valid just for this round.

To give you a quick glimpse of the qualifying process before I post full details tomorrow, here's a rundown:
The qualifying settings for Le Mans will be only 1 lap. Due to the extreme length of the track, we will only be timing your lap from the end of sector 2 and the beginning of sector 3 (after the first chicane), on. Consider the first two sectors to be your "warm up lap" and the rest of the distance to be your qualifying track.

Qualifying will be done on the non-weather, non-timechange, version of the track. We will be runing full weather and time change during the race. And, like in Suzuka, we will be starting in the dry, but after that it will be all a surprise.

 

[Denilson]

Awesome guys.

Btw Denilson, what times were you hitting at Suzuka during your testing?

I'm guessing that my hunch of 1:55's might've been correct

Also peoples!

I'm posting the qualifying procedure for Le Mans very soon as well as full details on the race and the special prize that's going out for the winner.

Also, there's going to be a new deadline starting this round!

The deadline for qualifying submissions is going to be midnight October 1st, the day before the race.

So get your practice in soon and do lots of it, this should be treated as almost an epic spot race since we're doing 2.4 hours, handing out one-time prizes, using heavy damage and more!

And yes, heavy damage will need to be turned on for qualifying laps to be valid just for this round.

To give you a quick glimpse of the qualifying process before I post full details tomorrow, here's a rundown:
The qualifying settings for Le Mans will be only 1 lap. Due to the extreme length of the track, we will only be timing your lap from the end of sector 2 and the beginning of sector 3 (after the first chicane), on. Consider the first two sectors to be your "warm up lap" and the rest of the distance to be your qualifying track.

Qualifying will be done on the non-weather, non-timechange, version of the track. We will be runing full weather and time change during the race. And, like in Suzuka, we will be starting in the dry, but after that it will be all a surprise.

I only had those 30 minutes of testing, so my best was a 56.8. Did'nt put in any more time, caus I was not able to race, I just wanted to do a quick test to see if I was up to pace. 👍
I was not satisfied with my tune, and the car was not even close to be fully run in, so I really think 55's would be possible.
I had a lot of corners hwere I could gain plenty of time. Degner 1, hairpin, out of spoon, 130R and the Casio chicane. And that combined with a fulle broken in engine and a good tune should def reach pretty deep in the 55's. I'm going to give it a go later. 👍

Looking much forward to the La Sarthe race.
Quali is not as important here, as on lets say Monaco, but the exitment, and the practice you get from doing it is good to have when you enter the race. The race is long, and no matter where you quali, the possibility to win is there for everyone.

Regarding quali (Just for clarification): We only get 1 lap (sector 3 - finishline), right? Not 2 laps like usual?

 

[Dr_Watson]

why not do two laps so you get one high-pressure flyer?

@Dr.Watson - Thank you for the space up the inside of the hairpin. Watching the replay I could see your tires were shot, while mine were optimum. Thanks mate:tup:

Yeah, I was one lap away from the pits on a 1 stop strategy; there was no way I was going to keep you behind me.

 

[Müle]

Well, here's a mini-report if anyone cares to read it:

Basically, I was able to run consistent times whenever I could keep the car on the track. I had literally 1 lap of practice before the race, but I was able to keep it around the 2:00 mark, dipping to 1:59's on my third stint.

The entire first stint was basically a battle between me and Nethereal to see who could crash the most. I think he won, luckily, and he'd eventually quit, leaving me in last again.

Second stint was me trying to catch up to whoever I could, but I realized I was too far behind, so I pit a lap early and just tried to see how fast I could go.

Third stint, I was able to put down a few 1:59's, but when I tried to go for the 1:58, I wore my tires down too much and couldn't keep it on the track. This was when the leaders caught me, so I basically pulled over and let them all go.

Hopefully you don't have to worry about lapping me next week, as I'm better at La Sarthe than anywhere else, really.

 

[GTP Sifer]

Red,yes, and i'm sorry about that, i had some problems with the connection in first laps, he was flying and i was afraid to pass him untill i hit him out. Same with CSL, sorry i think you was flying a bit too, maybe i hit you when i was behind you! i lost alot of time in my 1st pit stop (connection problem maybe or don't know but it was crazy) and it's pretty hard to hold the gas with 20% of tires and someone behind you, i hope to get a wheel soon, i really need it. I would call it bad luck, and i hate when it happens!

I'm glad to race with you guys, being in that race was like be me x3, that's what i was looking for in GT5, competitive races!

Thanks.

 

[Dr_Watson]

Red,yes, and i'm sorry about that, i had some problems with the connection in first laps, he was flying and i was afraid to pass him untill i hit him out. Same with CSL, sorry i think you was flying a bit too, maybe i hit you when i was behind you! i lost alot of time in my 1st pit stop (connection problem maybe or don't know but it was crazy) and it's pretty hard to hold the gas with 20% of tires and someone behind you, i hope to get a wheel soon, i really need it. I would call it bad luck, and i hate when it happens!

I'm glad to race with you guys, being in that race was like be me x3, that's what i was looking for in GT5, competitive races!

Thanks.

btw, thanks for pulling over after the last lap spooning. 👍
Did you get in the grass on entry or something? Was a pretty hard knock.

 

[nethereal]

hey mule, was fun to have some company at the back
we were both greenthumbs on the car and it showed!

i quit because as i was pitting after 13, right before the pits, lots my rear and did a 180 - entered the pits backward resulting in a drive through
when i got out - had a look at the mini, thought i had time to sneak back before traffic came, but just wasnt the case, and doing another lap on those tires would have risked other peoples races which i just wasnt willing to do. so i quit :/
was fun tho, and now that i know about this series, will start to get some practice / tuning in so ill be better prepared for next race
always a pleasure racing in wardez' series, can count on the racing/sportsmanship to be top notch! 👍

 

[CSLACR]

Some reference.

Vagabond lap solo

GTP_Jet, Yanaran, Myself starting at 6:08
You can also find MadMax's D2 upset taking 3rd overall starting around 3:00 in.

 

[GTP Sifer]

btw, thanks for pulling over after the last lap spooning. 👍
Did you get in the grass on entry or something? Was a pretty hard knock.

Yeah, i'm sorry it was my fault, my tires were on 15%.

 

[Dr_Watson]

Yeah, i'm sorry it was my fault, my tires were on 15% , anyways i did let you win and waited for you!

I know, and that was jolly nice of you. =]

 

[CSLACR]

I had a short test last night, love this track since I learned it, only got 2-3 full laps in though, running 3:48.9 I think. I expect it to come down at least a second from that with better driving and some fine tuning.

Starting with tune from Suzuka, seemed to work fairly well here to, so that will be my "base tune" this week.

Suspension
6 / 0
11.7 / 10.8
4 / 8
8 / 4
6 / 4

Camber and Toe
2.0 / 1.2
+0.10 / +0.20

LSD
7 / 10 / 13

BB
4.4

And gears, I broke down and told Sifer in our rainy then sunny practice, so here goes my secret. (that's not actually a secret, but seems somehow unknown by many)
Set your transmissions to default, then set top speed all but one click to the left, and lower final drive to where you see fit.
This will make the gears closer than you can make them the "standard" way.
After doing this, I lower (numerically) first and second gear, make third a shade quicker, and 4, 5, & 6 even to 3 in length on the graph.
By length I mean the bottom of each on the graph.

Any questions probably have answers, just ask. 👍

 

[RIP_Welsh_Don]

Well I guess I should put my 2 cents in from Suzuka!

Basically I'd run no laps at all until 45 minutes before the official race start time, so ran 4/5 laps in my own lounge before joining the race room in the hope I'd still be able to try and qualify. Luckily, Wardez is a gentleman and allowed me to attempt my qualifying laps. I put in 2 very ugly laps being unable to stay on the track due to such minimal track time (I feel ya here Mule, lol), finishing with a time of 2'00.6xx, some 4s off pole After this, I came very close to leaving the room, for fear of messing up someone else's race, but decided to stick it out and see if I could learn quickly!

Come race time, I figured I'd just try to run around 80-90% in order to stay on the track and see how things panned out. First 5 laps or so went well, after jumping from 7th to 5th off the line and slotting in behind Sifer and CSL, with Wardez and Red just a few seconds up the track. Steadily I was becoming more comfortable with the track/car combo and felt I could push on. After CSL made a mistake, I took a look at Sifer and after he made a slight mistake at the hairpin, I slid up the inside to collect 3rd. Unfortunately, straight after this heading into Spoon, Sifer made a slight mistake and tagged me, causing me to go sand-bagging. As a true gent, he waited for me to get back on track and we set off on our merry way . A few laps later I re-passed Sifer before Turn 1 thanks to the draft, but ran wide and spun out after catching the outside of the track At this time, being about 20+ seconds back on the front pair, I decided my only hope of a decent finish, would be to try a 1 stop strategy.

By lap 11, I was thinking this was a bad decision, as with having a number of moments as well as the two off track excursions, the tyres were getting tricky, but I was committed to it by this time. Before I got to pit at the end of lap 13, I was passed by both Red and Wardez, so basically I was then driving for a podium finish. Luckily for me, everyone was making some mistakes here and there and when I came out on fresh tyres I pushed hard for 4/5 laps, running a number of 57's and a best lap of 1'56.538 (not quite quick enough to beat Wardez's best of 1'56.452 I believe). Before Wardez pitted at the end of lap 17 I think, I'd cut the lead from about 32s, to 21s meaning I was able to re-pass Wardez as he pitted for a second time (I think he exited about 5s behind me, but with fresh tyres). Red continued for a couple more laps before pitting around lap 19/20, when my gap to him was then around 13s or so, so he exited the pits about 10-12s back, with CSL close at hand in 4th. Within a few laps (when Wardez set the fastest lap of the race), I had a Yellow peril on my tail, with fresher tyres, toying with me

At this point I was looking to take 2nd and with 2-3 laps left Wardez made his move and pulled out a 3s lead with just over 1 lap to go, but I could also see Red and CSL on my map, not too far back either. Next thing I know, there is smoke up ahead and the Yellow peril was driving in the dirt just after 130r. I slowed to make sure I didn't get caught up with Wardez, then crossed the line for the final lap with just a 2s lead to hold onto on 12 lap old tyres Really wanted to push, but had to stay on track, as a mistake could have easily put me back to 4th. I drove as hard as I could for the final lap, but exiting 130r for the final time, Wardez was right back on me, with Red right behind him waiting to pick up the pieces. I made sure I kept it clean through the chicane, then held a tight line for the drive to the line, giving Wardez just enough room for a fair run up the inside. Luckily for me, the line isn't too far down the straight and I was able to hold on for a 0.027s victory!!

Pretty shocked to say the least, but I guess fortunate that pretty much everyone made mistakes at some point or another, keeping the race very close at the end. Not too sure whether 1 or 2 stops was the right way to go, but if any of us in the top 4 had driven a clean race, they would have won by a good margin. I think this shows that anything can happen in long races, especially with high powered cars on old tyres, so you just have to stick at it.

Sorry to hear of the problems you've got with your wheel Red and hope you get it sorted out soon. Some great pace out there by everyone, with a number of people in the mid to high 56's for fastest laps.

Great job guys and a great job on the series Wardez. 👍

 

[CSLACR]

Red,yes, and i'm sorry about that, i had some problems with the connection in first laps, he was flying and i was afraid to pass him untill i hit him out. Same with CSL, sorry i think you was flying a bit too, maybe i hit you when i was behind you! i lost alot of time in my 1st pit stop (connection problem maybe or don't know but it was crazy) and it's pretty hard to hold the gas with 20% of tires and someone behind you, i hope to get a wheel soon, i really need it. I would call it bad luck, and i hate when it happens!

I'm glad to race with you guys, being in that race was like be me x3, that's what i was looking for in GT5, competitive races!

Thanks.

No worries, two or three small bumps, it was a bit unnerving, but clean, and made a good test for me, I've improved at it and hope to continue to.

Any word on the wheel Red?
I don't know how you can drive with your wheel doing that, pretty incredible, it'd be a shame to have you out this week, but I can't imagine putting up with that for a 2 1/2 hour race.
(I assume taking it back to a store for exchange isn't possible?)


Nice reports Welsh, always enjoy seeing it from the front angle.

 

[Denilson]

quali, La Sarthe

GTP_CSL: 2:35.600

chorda: 2:35.084

 

[Wardez]

Wow, are you guys still in a room?