A thought:
I know of Racedepartment's attitude towards club races. But I think it would be beneficial to differentiate between "Special events" and normal club races. "Special events" being long races such as this, or tough tracks/cars. The rules for club races are fine. But maybe we should use the 107% system that Andrew mentioned, for Special Events. Hard to say how to enforce it though...
Maybe instead of the 107% system, each driver will be required to provide a session log, showing he did at least one practice session of 30 minutes. It won't even require file sharing - we could just paste the text onto the proper thread.
@Steve Sperry
You probably have already concluded this yourself, but you did ask us to pick at your driving, so here is my main and only point:
If you are chasing someone into the braking zone, and you are not at least somewhat alongside him before breaking, you should either a) Keep a safe distance (consider these factors: DRS, draft, human reaction time, possibility of other driver braking early, etc), or b) go on the inside line (or whichever line the car in front isn't on). The point of (b) being, you might be able to outbreak the guy in front into the corner. A move often called "dive bombing", but if done right, and without aggression, is a perfectly good move (That is, if you can outbreak the guy into the corner, and maintain the line you are on throughout the corner, without pushing the other guy off the track because you came in too fast (or "dive-bombed")). In this case, you were way too close for comfort in the braking zone, even if Andrew did break a touch early. Another thing: When chasing someone into a corner, it's better to just let off the gas before you brake. You don't lose any time doing that, and it is the safest way to follow a driver into a corner without running into the back of him. I believe in the movie "Grand Prix", there was a scene where the driver explained this tactic.
Bear in mind, this was your first race (If I understood correctly). While I was way to scared on my first race to be so close to other drivers in the braking zone, it is perfectly acceptable that you did, considering. The important thing is to better yourself and learn from mistakes, as you've mentioned!
Hope to see you again in the races!