Great turn-out guys, 11 drivers on track with only Gary missing, look forward to having you back on track next week Gary. My race, hmm, too many spins. Once I settled down, was banging out 2:04's, but all too late. Congrats to Bernsy on his rookie win, welcome to the league mate, looks like we gotta keep our heads down to keep up with you. Great fastest lap to Hosie, well done. We roll into Apricot Hill next week, remember to change those tyres boys, running Race Mediums for the sprint round.
Thanks mate!! I thought I blew it on lap 1 at the chicane! (floodsim, andrew, hosie had a good view) I will say my heart rate was going a hundred miles an hour on cold tyres! Oh and yeah, the start cracked me up!
I bet there was some swearing going on at that lap 1 chicane...lol, and then S_Close spun onto the front straight right in front of you. Heart in the mouth stuff.
I had the worst possible first lap. First I span on cold tyres, then I span on dirty tyres. Oh well, was a good race anyway. Had my mirror full of Stumbles for quite a few laps, but I couldn't keep up. Now for Apricot Hill on RMs
You did well Jimmay, nice tight lines, took me a while to find a safe way past. The grid... (hmm, came out a bit dark)
First race back after sitting out a few seasons I didn't have high expectations, so to come out with a 2nd place is pleasing and unexpected. After the pre-season tests and the meet-and-greet night my biggest concern was being consistent and cutting down on mistakes; so to get away with just 1 major incident was also good. Qualified 4th and got an okay start, kept out of trouble on the outside of Turn 1 and found myself in 2nd behind Bernsy. Coming into the chicane Bernsey out-braked himself? and I snuck through to take the lead. I was NOT expecting to be here first race back! I knew I wasn't fast enough to stay there though and sure enough Bernsy and Hosie pretty quickly caught up and passed me; I didn't even bother fighting for position, I just wanted to try stay in touch with them with the draft. But I was still trying to figure out my lines and gears for corners so ended up dropping back ~3s behind. Hosie had a big off and I moved up to 2nd. From there it was just a case of trying to keep in the rhythm I had and stay tidy. For lap after lap Bernsy and I seemed to be running at a very similar pace, he would pull out a few tenths, then I would pick up a few tenths, neither of us making any real progress for what felt like 5-10 laps. Bernsy was driving well though and took a few more tenths than I could claw back. Over 10 laps his lead grew from 3s to ~5s. I could see people behind gaining on me, but it seemed as though they would always come unstuck before being close enough to race me; Hosie, Andrew, Serg, Ad, all gained on me but appeared to bin it at some point; a testament of what a horror this car can be to drive on curbs and bumps. Can't say I like this car too much. Around lap 16 I made a mess of the exit onto the back straight and spun. I got that damn "friend gone offline" message mid corner and glanced at it which put me on the curb on the exit. Curbs and this car DO NOT MIX. Didn't cost me any positions, but did cost me my confidence. After that my lap times went to . Often dropping into the mid-high 2.06s. I had enough of a gap to those behind to slowly make my way to the finish. Happy with the podium place, but disappointed that I just didn't have the pace to make any impact on Bernsy; he ended up doing it easy. Thanks to all for racing. Nurburgring GP is a funny track in that you can feel like you've done a great lap, but end up with a slow time. There are still some corners I have no idea how to drive quickly on that track (I think Turn 6 and 11?).
Well must say that was one of the toughest 45 odd minutes of racing I've had for a long time!!! I hadn't put in any practice or completed any tuning on the Subaru and given the notorious camber variations at the Nurb GP circuit I wasn't hopeful of doing much except make up the numbers! Qualied 10th I think and pootled around for the first few corners whilst the pack sorted itself out. There were a few spins ahead of me on cold tyres, so I happily snuck through and tried to keep it clean, but after 3 laps, my torn tricep tendon was killing me and I was all over the shop. Lost count of how many times I spun, sheer lack of concentration and dodgy match-fitness. I think Stumbles scared me clean off the track coming onto the main straight, I was so focussed on the sight of him looming larger in my rear view that I totally forgot about steering for a moment! Had to laugh when I tried to overtake Jimmay (I think?) heading into the last chicane - speared up the inside and smack bang into the barrier like a bobsled at Sochi!!! It was largely a lonely race at the back of the pack for me, I pushed in a high 2'04 on lap 8 and from here my front tyres began to wear and I ended up with armfuls of understeer which became progressively more difficult to deal with as my right arm was on fire and my elbow was totally numb! I think the average of my laps were in the 2'05s and I'd sunk into the high '06s after lap 18. I was sweating and mentally drained come the last lap, but it was extremely rewarding as I'd come unprepared and enjoyed some good dicing. Am starting rehab on the arm today with a gym session, won't mention last night's race to my physio as he'd kill me, but definitely time to do a bit of testing and practice for next week's race. Bunnyhopping around hairpins and through the Schumacher S was frustrating! Great race by all, well done to Bernsy for a well-deserved win! Regards, Sonny
Hahaha yeah that was a classic! I know I braked late, but you braked even later! I had no choice other than to stay straight, otherwise you would have flown straight into the side of me.
Must've been quite a few funny moments in the mid pack then! I was looking across the map heading into the Schumacher S and seeing everyone in a tightish group! Yeah Floodsim, mate I overcooked it! I was slightly worried about the draft and tried to brake later and nope didn't work. I thought I was in for it then, being in the pack, but then Andrew spun exiting Schumacher S the next lap, Serg spun in front of me onto the straight (That was more like sh*t a brick then heart in mouth Stumbles!) and then I got Flood back into turn one. Was a good mental battle Flood, I definitely was concentrating so hard not to make a mistake (anyone notice me make 3 mistakes in qually? Slightly nervous...) but yeah I was pretty consistent (2:05 flats) and that was what I was aiming for. Still, a mega race, the fear factor of the dreaded mistake was in all of our minds I think. Have to agree with Floodsim on the car though, I find it shocking to drive, I find that it is really hard to push it to it's limit because the suspension (the rear end) is too sensitive!! Bring on Grippier compound tyres I say!
In the options at the bottom of the viewfinder on the camera there is an exposure option.... I cranked mine up to 1.2 to get some light in the pics from our race which I will throw up tonight
"Andrew spun exiting Schumacher S the next lap" - that was me being off line at the start of the Schumaher S, but because I was in 2nd, looking at getting a run on first place, I needed to keep the throttle pinned instead of lifting!! By the end of the "S" i was up on the outside kerb thinking I stilll had it under control!! By the time I hit the fence, I realised I didnt! Stoopid! Great race race though! Awesome dicing with X-3 man! Looking forward to next race!
Ahh, that would be when Moon and myself came through and ploughed into the back of you. I was concentrating on getting a good exit from there and then moon shifted right, collected you then I went straight in, copped collision penalty and damage to the engine. Scared the crap outta me when I hit you...lol
Yup, got a 6s penalty from that. I didn't realise my engine was damaged as well until S_Close started nudging me. Good race other than that incident though.
Ahh ok! I was hoping you didn't fire off the wall back into the track quick and get me, I think we all took a deep breath lol
Well done Bernsey, Flood and Hosie. Now what can I say... Had decent pace but made so many mistakes that I lost count (damn rumble strips can't get used to them in GT6). Took me half a race distance to get a fast lap (personal best anyway), and for a while could see Ad closing in on me until I put some space between us thanks to Hosie getting in the middle, then got that dreaded message: you have been disconnected from the lobby.... You did not disappoint Bernsey, definitely the guy to beat, shame I won't get a chance to challenge you this season. Don't know if I'll be on next Sunday till the last minute, so hopefully will see you all there.
