GP Toulouse-Lautrec Albi Vintage GT

Great race all! Congrats to Mike for hustling that Cobra to the win! Nice conservation job by Barrett to pull off a one-stopper in the Lotus!

I had a middling qual to land in 7th. The start grid is tight, 3 wide in front, so my great launch was wasted as I had to check up behind Mike & Ray. First couple of laps were clean and I was actually beginning to work on Mike for 4th or 5th. Got a great run on him at the end of the straight, but should have waited another lap- I got inside but panicked on braking, dipped a tire into the grass and ended up nosing gently into the wall. Lucky I didn't gather anybody up on my way! Got back on track in 10th and settled down. Ran fun laps at various times with John, who was wagging the tail of his Cobra just a little too much, and had more fun with a Lotus or two. I was surprised to see some very early pitting- I'm telling ya, don't trust the garage estimates, they're way low, you have to do some testing to see how far you can go. I pitted on lap 22, came back out in 4th I think, got another spot as somebody else pitted, then was astonished to find Barrett in front of me around lap 30, no idea how he managed to pull off a one-stopper. Had some great laps gaining on straights and losing in corners before I was close enough on the hairpin exit to pass and make it stick. Thrilled to bring home second, but I've a feeling it won't last as the L88s settle in for the season...

Replay available here (they'll be in the same place all season).

Grats to Mike, Hutch and Barrett. I almost dropped out because I only practiced a half hour last weekend and then I was on travel for the past week. Took Mr. Bodin's set-up and made a few tweaks off-line this morning and felt almost ready to go.

I made a good start and made it up to 7th but he pit stop was my undoing as I forgot to turn the ignition off for three minutes.

Good racing with FZ and LL on the last lap or so. I think I owe Francesco one (redeem in Arca or this series) because I'm not sure if he made contact and with me and then waited for me. A true gentlemen, Francesco is.....

No practice at all, default setup, "stop and go" for speeding, fuel miscalculation... Sad story, but race was fun! :)

Congrats to podium.

I can't understand it... I cant put three action's together without blowing the whole deal. Qual where i like to, 1st turn scare's the heck out of me. I felt really good, so i figure to stayawhile back and have a fast paced no mistakes race. Then i go out there and do something that looks like i've never touched this sim before and its the first time, LOL. I figured regroupe and have pit stops and relax... i went in and did just like Bill, right after talking about this in PRERACE talk. It said 179.00 or 279.00 for my stop, Anyhow had good fun with these cars. Had good racing with a few guys, And this was a fun fast not tricky track, maybe my Doctor can prescribe something to fix my racing, just a pun. I always ejoy being on the track with you guys,
glenn

Oh my, oh my...
First, an apology to both Bill Kaiser and Les Lamont. I passed them both on what I thought was the last lap and made my car wider than a semi especially on the front straight and stared in disbelief when I did not see the checkered flag! And yes Bill, I felt (haven't watched the replay) that I leaned into you in the braking zone on the *real* last lap and that's why I rectified that. I hate passing that way, meaningless to me.
Okay, what to say? First, lovely series and excellent competition-- what a talented lot. Desptite a last minute switch to the Ferrari 275 GTB, I was still embarassingly slow: the ony way I got close to Bill was because he was having technical issues with his wheel. I was by far the slowest man out there, and by a big margin. Amazing: people were passing me on the straights like I was riding the scooter in Dumb & Dumber. Having said that, I know, I know I can find an other second in the yellow car-- which means that although I will not be a winner or top5 I can at least stop providing thousands of two-dimensional spectators with an endless supply of giggles. Because of my last second switch I used the default setup so I know with a little work I can improve. Also created havoc in the pits when my crew chief suddenly realized that I forgot how a pitstop in GTR2 works; Mr Dumbledweed (my crew-chief) shoved a giant clipboard right in front of my visor and I stared wide-eyed at it until I realized the arrow keys have meaning and are not just a decoration.
Terrific job by everyone: this is a top notch series and a top notch crowd.

I am absolutely gutted.

Qual - had difficulty with clear road for a good flyer, but ended up nailing P6 before the end of the session. Pretty pleased given the monsters in front of that.

Race - Had a decent launch and stayed with the lead pack... until the back straight. I knew from practice times that I had the fastest car in the first section, but it was all for nought where HP matters. No matter, I ended up with the most exciting battle ever with Colin in another Lotus. Door to door, bumper to bumper all the way around. We had each others number in 2 different places, and we swapped position a few times till he spun off. Unfortunately, a wobble of my own at the same time let Barrett through, so I started chasing him down. Sadly, this is where it all went wrong for me. Going in to T2, I dropped a wheel in the grass just before turn in, and slid right off the track and nailed a cast iron haybale. Terminally. Car dead. Wouldn't restart. Retired with Suspension damage.

Gutted I say.

This really was shaping up to be a great race. Pace wise I was comfortable. But like several others, I relied too heavily on the GTR2 fuel calculations. From here on in, I do the maths myself.

I came through shortly afterwards, and saw the tail of your car sticking out of the haybales and smoke pouring off, looked pretty dramatic!

I couldn't get comfy in qual after turnin 21's in prac qual trim. Put the big Daytona 5th on grid. Was up to 3rd after a lap with Mr Miller giving chase. He had a little bobble in t3 or t4. You know with Mr Miller behind, that you better not screw up LOL. Of course I just touched the yellow curb and I put the Daytona in a slow spin of death. Now I found myself in 5th. Another stinkin touch of the yellow curb and now I was in 7th. Friggin brain farts sux.
Was very surprised to see people pitting so early. I stayed out till lap 25. The early spins cost dearly. Brought home the Daytona turning laps in the 22 sec range. The car was fast enough to be podium but not the driver. LOL
Nice run Ray!!! Had fun for a few laps with ya. Drafting you a few laps we got up to 157 down the straight. Great stuff.
See everybody in 2 weeks.

grats to Mike, and Michael.

This was another fun race with NASRL.

Picked the Lotus after giving them all a test drive because i just felt more comfortable in it. I knew i wouldn't have enough prep time for any given race and i wanted to be able to have fun at least.

Pete's pre-race post on fuel efficiency put a bit of a chill in me, but subsequent testing showed the car to be both easy on fuel (about 2.1 L / Lap) and tires. I've never seen the notoriously unreliable GTR2 calculation off as much as it is with that car!

In the race i know i squeezed a couple of you while i was still getting used to the "physical" size of the car, the misleading GTR2 mirrors and the absolutely scary closing speeds some had. Sorry for that. My only excuse is that i was really intent following a straight line from the exit of the last corner to the brake zone of the next. You lose speed with every correction in this car.

In the end, it was a lot of luck (good for me, bad for others) and pit strategy.

See you next time.