DIVISION 1 - OLD (Season 3)

Count me in for tonight. Had zero practice but just happy we can go racing again.

Hmm got some nasty storms on the way but I think I'll be trying to race regardless, can't throw away a championship like this, save the ability to drop the worst points round for an interwebs drop-out or something.

Sorry for the double post but is Outta still host tonight? One hour to go and there's nobody to be seen. :?:

Edit: (Better not triple post....) :lol:
[size=150:zc84tmj7]Paulie Rings Up Round 3 at Autumn Ring

This past Sunday was round 3 of GT League Oz, held at the prestigious Autumn Ring circuit. Held with a slightly diminished field of just 7 drivers, most of the form drivers were present and accounted for, including beau261 after a round 2 absence. Qualifying was a near formality, in the early stages Beau looked strong, cranking out some fast cold tyre laps, however once Paul's tyres came up to temperatures he was able to get on with the job of taking the top of the ladder. After his initial run which involved light contact with 3rd placed driver in the championship, Koastr, on a fast lap which he abandoned and entered the pits on to bolt on some fresh rubber, he was able to come back out and strike a 1'26.9 knock-out blow to nab pole position. Beau retained 2nd place while OuttaAngst filled out the podium.
Paul had the following to say in a post qualifying interview. "The contact with Koastr was entirely my fault, I was on a hot lap and he was just ahead of me. He was just keeping ahead so I pressed on with it, until the entry to the loop which comes on to the bridge I carried more speed than he did which resulted in light contact. I just hope I didn't ruin his best lap."
At race start it was even between the front runners, where Paul went defensive in to turn 1 to retain the lead while Koastr jumped OuttaAngst for 3rd.

A lap 1 mistake from Beau where he ran wide exiting the first sector provided a gap which Koastr capitalised on. With Koastr now in 2nd place, he wasted no time in applying the pressure to Paul. On lap 5 a mistake on the entry to turn 7 gave Koastr a look at 1st place in to turn 8. Paul began to go defensive before realising the position was already lost.

Unfortunately for Koastr the lead was short lived as he ran wide in the final sector of the same lap, and the grit picked up on his tyres from the off track excursion meant he had no grip to enter the home straight where he ran wide again handing 1st place back to Paul and losing 2nd to Beau in the process.



It became a two horse race from there when Koastr dropped off the lead duo. The gap between Paul and Beau rarely exceeded a second as the 20 lap race pressed on. On lap 7 Beau was able to grab the fastest lap of the race at a 1'27.0, which was played by Paul's 1'27.1 on the same lap. Come lap 15 the battle was intensifying. A few sloppy mistakes through laps 17, 18 and 19 saw Paul taking the defensive line at some of the overtaking opportunities, and on lap 19 at turn 11 it was bumper to bumper as they exchanged paint.

As they entered the home straight on lap 19, we'd see Beau crank it very sideways which gave Paul the breathing room to bring it home with a 1.0sec gap over the final lap. Koastr rounded out the podium with a solitary 3rd place while OuttaAngst brought it home in 4th.
Paul said the following during the podium presentation. "Yeah it was a hard race right through-out this round. The game early on was to make sure we conserved the tyres after we lost round 1 at Grand Valley Speedway with tyres that were worse for wear. Even with Koastr applying the pressure I just tried to stick to the game plan, and unfortunately the lap 5 mistake was just a mental error which luckily for us did not prove too costly in the end, but it worked as I'm pretty sure we were able to keep pace with Beau for tyre wear this race which is a positive heading in to Tsukuba. Beau really made me sweat right through the whole race, and being able to keep him at bay in his return to GT League Oz after coming off 2nd best at Grand Valley Speedway really made this victory all the sweeter. Autumn Ring is a track I enjoy coming to and driving at, it reminds me of a local track back home called Lakeside Raceway, and even though I'm pretty sure we didn't get the fastest lap points haul this round, a win is a win is a win. I just want to thank the Trans Tasman Racing pit crew for their work this weekend, and congratulate both Beau and Koastr for the excellent races they drove. Now we must look forwards to the endurance round at Tsukuba next week."


I'm the red Tamora.

Great write up Paul, really enjoyed it.
/cheers.

A bit of a boring race for me. Was happy with 3rd in qualy, I think it was a 1:28.0. However I am just fundamentally missing something at the autumn ring being 3/4 - 1 second off paulie and beau's qual pace. And based on Koastr's race pace, he had .5 seconds on me.

I bogged down off the start and was 5th by turn 2, I rounded up natman a lap later, he was a bit wild and made a mistake. Then I was not focusing for the first 5 or so laps, putting in 1:30's, when I should have been in the low 1:28's (in qual I was stringing 4-5 laps of 1:28's together without too much trouble). Once I noticed that never enough was closing on me I started to focus and put in some high 1:28's/low 1:29's and was gaining a little on Koastr after he had his off and had dropped back to 3rd. But the damage had been done and he already had a lead on me of the length of the straight (10 seconds or so).

It was a bit futile, if I could have kept up my pace without any errors I was only gaining tenths/lap, I needed seconds. So I resigned myself to 4th and brought it home. I did daydream a bit towards the end and drove straight into a wall with a couple a laps to go, but there was a big gap behind so nothing to worry about.

I hope ill be more on the pace in tsukuba, I think I have identified a problem with my driving style, will see if it makes any difference!

Um, Interesting write up paulie. Congrats on the win too.
I'm fairly pleased with my result considering the laid back approach that I'm taking towards my online racing. Its a little more enjoyable, not such a chore with all the practice.

I was disappointed to see koastr bugger up his race with that off. For a couple of laps it was looking like it could have been a 3 way battle. In the end it was just tit for tat with paulie out front. I was gaining on paulie in the middle sector but losing in the final sector.

In case it sounded strange to you, it's sort of something we do at Trans Tasman Racing, to write a race report a little bit like a press report. That or you thought I sounded up myself. :lol: I know you said you had 30 laps practice, I had 40 laps. When I watched the replay it was quite the case of you had more entry speed and I had more exit speed. I think it was the same at Grand Valley too.

Good write up paulie, it gives us not there, a picture of how the race went. Keep up the good work i be tuning in next week.

Great work as usual Koastr..

Was very rusty coming into this race; I hadn't touched GT5 since our last round however many weeks ago that was.
Had an appaling start, I was messing around in the settings menu and completely missed it, which sorta set the tone for the rest of my race; I just couldn't concentrate enough to do any better. I found myself at some stages half daydreaming, just driving around without any real focus.

I was keeping in touch with natman through the early part of the race, but made a few mistakes which let him get away. I thought my race was done at that stage and was really starting to struggle with the tires, so I made a pitstop (which seems wasn't necessary for the majority of you guys).
I don't know if natman made some mistakes along the way, but i was surprised to be in front of him after he pitted. I managed to pull a few seconds out on him, but started to get scrappy and let him close right up. It was tight for the last 2 laps and only managed to get a reprieve at the kink in the main straight on the final lap as natman hit the wall and spun.

Hopefully we get a big turnout for the enduro next week.

Hey stu,
We do play with the brake bias on the tamora. Personally I adjust my brake bias depending on the track. I often use a heavier rear bias to help the car overcome some of that corner entry oversteer. It depends on your style though, some guys hate this.. Some prefer a traditional front bias. At the start of a race meeting i'll usually start with the default 5-5, you cant go too far wrong with this if your drivings style suits it. As i learn the track i might tweak it forward or back. During the race I will typical gradually adjust the bias further to the rear to compensate a little for the understeer as the front tyres wear down. So i might start a race with say 5-5 and finish it with something like 4-6 or start with 4-2 and end back at 5-5.

Your not going to find leaps and bounds in brake bias alone. IMO the key to gt5 is driving smoothly and nailing your lines every time. And understanding how to "rob peter to pay pall" with your choice of lines. Allot of the time if a guy is just a tenth or 2 up on you in a particular sector, he is probably just using a different line to you.

Your welcome to turn a few practice laps with the division one fellows pre race if you like.
good luck mate.

Lets not forget the tsukuba pit entry rules.. Link here
http://gtleagueoz.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=294

I fell out of pit lane in a practice run before, you've gotta slow down a bit more before the computer takes over.

Did quite a few laps last night, got a best of 1:03.427. Thinking maybe the top div 1 guys will break into the 1:01s


I did the same thing to Paul, if you go to fast it spits ya out and you need to do another lap to get in.. This will cost time so its worth practising the pit entry.