Great fun, tonight. I was in 10th on lap two, and seeing 5 cars pretty much side by side going up Eau Rouge? Epic. Came in 2nd to last, slowly being left behind by hr31gts. I probably would have been in last if Homebrew hadn't spun out on turn 15(?) on lap 6.
Well, firstly my hat trick of pole positions was DENIED! Booo! Had been a few days since I had practiced so it took me longer to find my rhythm. I only found it once the race countdown started and I was 8 tenths up in the first sector from Hatfield's pole time!! LOL! Started from 3rd on the grid behind Hatfield and Emmo. By the end of the first corner I was back in fourth behind Dutch who got a bit messy on the downhill run after the first long straight and i slipped past under brakes. Soon after Hatfield had a scare allowing me to catch right up and I passed soon after that. Emmo was out in front and I set about chasing him down. Next was about 3 or 4 laps of great racing including a bit were I got real close under draft at the long straight, Emmo got taily out of the chicane and went left onto the grass, and I promptly did exactly the same thing! We both managed to keep it going and got back on track, but Haze got through both of us. I was able to get Emmo again under draft, but it wasn't easy! I then set about chasing down Haze about 6 seconds up the road. Slowly narrowed the gap and made my move several laps later. Now with about 10 laps remaining, I was in the lead with a little cushion, time to get crackin'! I got a decent gap of about 7 seconds happening and I could see a great big blob of triangles behind me, "great" I thought "keep themselves occupied". But alas, Hatfield carved his way through and broke clear not long after. With Aussie in the backseat coaching me along he said to keep it cool and make it consistent, make HIM do the pushing to catch you. So I bunkered down to keep it consistent and it worked. Until about lap 14-15 when I had a slightly wide exit on the first downhill left hander before the big left sweeper and a big collective "OH" went up in my loungeroom! Somehow managed to keep it pointed straight, but it lost me about 2 seconds getting Hatfield within striking distance. The gap was now hovering around 1.8-2.2 seconds. I seemed to be getting better drive out of the corners, and I looked faster in the first half with Hatfield faster in the second half of the circuit. Lap 18 and he had a wobbly moment in the downhill section giving me a big breather. I was able to relatively cruise home 6 seconds in front to take my first GT6 ROOZ win!! Yeehar!
Well done turbo, I was pushing to catch you and I was but only little by little until the fateful wobble on lap 18. Starting in pole was interesting and emmo mistook his breaking point and ghosted through myself on turn 1 and I then had a small gap, only to get on the grass half way through the lap and by the time I recovered from low grip I was 8th. So I worked my way back through and the rest is history.
Great fun last night. Earlier in the day I'd been doing some practice laps and could hit the 2.29's consistantly (with a few 28's), however this seemed to abandon me come qualy time and I think I could only manage a 2.30 lap (though from the pace of some others a 28 lap wouldn't have made much difference anyway). The start of the race came and the 1st turn saw a few love taps happen but nothing too bad and I managed to stay straight and get going out of the corner. The pace was on by the leaders from the get-go and I was in 5th (I think) for a few laps before Dutch and I battled for a handful of laps, swapping our positions under draft at the end of the main straight each lap. Eventually Dutch got in front and I made a few small errors trying to stay with him which saw him gain a larger gap. A few laps later I was pushing too hard approaching Campus and hit the ripple which spun me onto the grass. Emmo buzzed by and I managed to get back on track and going again. HR31 was soon ominously catching from behind and he slowly started to reel me in. A couple of small mistakes saw HR catch right up through the chicane onto the finishing straight and then it was on. We battled for several laps before I noticed HR's position on the map fell behind and I assumed he had gone off track or made a serious error and backed right off to correct, but either way I had a decent gap with about 3 laps to go. Dek made a mistake and I passed him mid-track but that only lasted a few corners before he caught me and I knew his pace was well above mine so I let him go by near Campus and then drove it home for 7th place. I'm really enjoying these race nights and the time just flies by. Couldn't believe when I looked up and we were already on lap 14 or so. I really need to get more time in behind the wheel and find some more pace so I can stay with the guys near the front, or at least make up positions after making an error. How you guys fall from up near the lead to near the rear of the pack and then claw your way up near the front is beyond me. I was pushing pretty hard mid-race trying to make ground on Emmo after my spin and couldn't make a dent on the gap. All in good time I guess. Can't expect too much from my first season, and second race using the DFGT wheel. Looking forward to next week already
Here's some photos of last nights Div 4 race around Spa. Div 4, waiting for the green light Tackling the first turn of the night Emmo & Turbo go head to head early Emmo, don't touch that grass... ...or else - anyone for a T-bone?? HR31 goes too wide Hatfield drafting Dek The field spreads out a little Pushing it 'round the turns Doogle takes a spin... Hard under brakes... Turbo takes the victory!
Great pictures! On another note, are replays transferable between PS3's? If so I might try my hand at doing the write ups for the season. If they are, could someone upload them for me to download?
That is good to hear Hatfield, I was about to message you guys and see who we could get to do the D4 reports, Ad2mny will add you to the work zone, and I am sure it will be fine if you start with this round, I wouldn't worry bout rounds 1 and 2 now.
I haven't had the time to watch the replay unfortunately but i bet it would be a cracker. What a fun and stressful race from pretty much start to finish. Had some great battles along the way as well with Dave and then later DBN swapping positions each lap along the back straight and sometimes during the middle sector. Was ultimately let down by another bad start where I underestimated the cold tires and struggled with some jittery vision in the close pack. Ended up dropping back to 8th place quite early on then got into the zone to claw my way back to 3rd place (though DBN gifted me that last place on lap 19 i think). It seemed the main passing opportunity was at the end of the back straight after getting a good slip stream out of eau rouge. Passed Dave this way in the first half of the race and retook the racing line, only to completely overestimate the breaking point for the additional speed i was carrying and had dave shunt me quite heavily. Sorry about that Dave, but i think we both carried on unaffected. Another back straight pass about lap 16 i think was toward the end of the great battle between DBN and I. Having learnt a bit from the shunt with Dave earlier, i intended to break much later into the chicane having passed DBN, but at that necessary millisecond to make it work our cat jumped through the window and landed right beside me. Off into the run off area i went and copped a deserved 3 second penalty. Hopefully i didn't affect you too much DBN. I was out of the zone from that point and started to realize i was struggling with understeer and/or confidence and wasnt making the laps the way i wanted to as DBN pulled further away. Until he made the mistake i am sure all of us have done in practice and ended up parking it backward at the pit exit (that strip was a biatch). I was in third by a decent margin by that point and took a moderate pace toward the end. Really enjoying the close racing and car this season and will be looking to minimise my mistakes moving forward. Having said that, I am definitely enjoying this mid pack racing and making my way up the field as well....
Good write up Dutch....and no harm, no foul. In Div 4 I expect we'll all make mistakes from time to time (I know I do), so all is good.....and it was a great few laps we had chasing one another. I can still remember coming out of Eau Rouge down the straight and looking back to see you gaining quickly and thinking, just let him pass and chase him for the next lap, which we did a couple of times until you were too good for me and got away (and got me to push a little too hard and I made a mistake). Looking forward to next week's fun around Trial Mountain
Thanks Dave. Just wanted to be sure you didnt think i brake checked you or anything. The other thing i need to work on (and apologise for) was probably too much tapping coming out of slow corners. I think im going to blame the big ass diffuser of the BRZ for this, but ill work on it. Worst one at Spa was during the battle with DBN coming out the the last chicane. I was always taking it quite slow as its slippery on the exit but i took a different line to come out faster and i managed to tap DBN maybe more than once and he went into a spin because of it. i slowed down a heap to redress and suddenly (somehow) DBN comes out beside me and speeds off so he must have caught it really well. That allowed some others to catch up behind but we both carried on pretty well from it. i think ill have to watch the replay when i get a chance.
Cool pics Dave! Well that was my best rate to date since joining ROOZ. Leading for nearly six laps. No major incidents either. Ultimately i wasn't quick enough to stay out in front, but i had a great time in the race. I've always really liked the Spa circuit,so maybe that helped. Looking forward to Trial Mountain.
$10 says I'll do my usual thing on Trial Mountain, which is turn in a tiiiny bit too early on the last corner before the straight, and fly into the pit lane. Also, on Turn 8, the left hander after the short tunnel, before the long one, do you clip the yellow marks on the road? Or is that out of bounds, and counts and cutting the track? I would assume it is, but just making sure. I have very carefully and professionally illustrated the corner I'm talking about.
You can use the yellow lined area, it's only outside the white lines you must have at least two wheels on the track.
Good to hear. In all other series I have been a part of, the yellow area has been ok to drive on. Would be difficult to change my lines now
Great pics Dave, you've captured the essence of my race, fabulous battle with turbo, stupid lose into the fence, fight back from 8th crashing into a wayward HR on the way. Except for spinning when I was just getting settled into a race long battle with Turbo, it was an enjoyable race
Race 3 lap times are up http://www.raceonoz.com/threads/gt6-season-1-race-lap-times.908/ unfortunately I don't have times for Div 6 except for Rumbles.
Brake far less/later than what we do, turn in perfectly on every turn, hit the apex maintaining momentum and power out of the corners using the best line possible. It's so easy Fertro! All that we have to do now is become aliens so we have any chance of making this repeatable on every corner, on every track - LOL
