AC GT Multiclass @ Watkins Glen - Sunday 23rd January 2022

[Kek700]

Better race than I expected, was looking at 4th, but with hope waited for 30 laps before i got an opportunity.
I purposely went for a 40 min stint eventually on red tyres, with a 20 min stint on green softs, which seemed to be a good strategy.
First Stefan made a mistake and gave me an opportunity, unfortunately, he did not see me on his inside, opp's.
Then Thomas made a mistake 5 corners from the flag, again he did not see me on his inside and we collided, but luckily Thomas did not spin. So I kept my foot in and straightened him up, then we sprinted for the next corner.
I am not sure that Thomas realized what was going on, but instinct kicked in and we raced for the next corner.
Well done podiums and apology to Gt4 cars, as I was up against it, made the most of any space I got, so if I was too close to the knuckle, i apologize. I did not hit anyone or overly interfered with anyone race, that i tried to make sure in real time.
Great event Brian, thank you for organizing @Interslice most appreciated.

 

[Fabrizio]

Good race everyone. Super clean compared to last week. Congratulations Chris and Martin, great pace you had too much for me overall but the chase was fun.
Usual thanks to Han and Brian for organising another great event.

I was sweating all over Tim Before my pitstop I had about 4/5 seconds on you, but I had a very very bad pitstop. I braked to late into the box and had to put it in reverse to change my tires. All of a sudden you were 2 seconds behind me, but I think traffic seperated us again. Such nice racing guys, really really enjoyed it bigtime. And ofcourse a big thank you for the guys for organising.

 

[Alfred Wayne]

Cross another great track off the list! (and pencil in a return trip lol)

Congrats to the speedy winners and great defending from both @Casper de Wit and @Programmer_Rich . Really obscured my view of the gorgeous NY State countryside . Unfortunate about that contact Casper, I'd like to think I would have gotten by you eventually , but you weren't leaving me much of an opening

After following Casper for 10-15min, I spent the next 10-15 min crusin by myself, keeping the tires warm till I pitted with 25 min left and found myself behind Richard. I then closely followed him till the end of the race , sometimes spending multiple laps in a row less than 1 sec behind with no way through

Thanks as always for hosting these Han and Brian and thanks everyone for welcoming new members like me. Enjoying my time here a lot so far

 

[Interslice]

Nice race lads

 

[thom462]

First of all thx for another great event. Oh well, pace for P2 was there which I am happy about but the decision to go for the softs was not that clever. Didn't do much practice or half hour longrun so I thought somehow they will last without getting in too much trouble. Qualy was good although I messed up the lap with splittime 4 tenths quicker which could have been a high 1.43 . As Chris was on mediums I could follow not that far off the first 15-20 minutes which kept me motivated. But after 20 minutes the softs dropped quite intense. Went wide at the long right hander after busstop which cost me 4 seconds and after that my confidence was gone. Came early to the pits and stupidly took softs again as I had not much experience with the mediums. Mission was to save tires and get P2 home but my driving was too overcautious as I was in every corner afraid to push in order not to kill the tire. This was annoying and no fun to drive. Laptimes dropped quite massively and I was little overcautious lapping gt4 which allowed Stefan and Ernie to close up. What followed was a shootout in the last lap. Focus was to get clean and fast exits not to get eaten up by Ernie's @Kek700 Godzilla. Chose a wide line to the final backstraight in order to get a fast exist but that was a stupid decision as I let the door open for Ernie to get the foot in. I closed in to accelerate, we touched (not his fault) and on the straight there was no chance. Tried the next corner with a narrow apex and fast exit but I overshot, went wide gave Stefan a chance. He was in front while entering next corner, we touched, I gave back position and that was last lap from P2 to P4 . End of story.

Congrats to winners and thx for organizing.

Some impressions:

following Chris the first laps

last lap sprint

 

[random2k4]

Eventful race on my side, with a more or less chill mid section to cool down.

Softs are just not working on the Z4 for me here. Missing the line by an inch or accelerating to early is more then enough to get the left side into red. So I chose the medium ones. Its basically the only track I am using them currently. Was easy enough to keep them in the right pressure range and temp.

I sacrificed some tenth and decided to also do the quali with mediums, which turned out to be enough for P3. Even with softs I doubt I would have matched Thomas time.
After the first lap when the field sorted itself out, I got Ernie in close proximity behind me for the entire first stint. Seeing him on softs really made me try to push a little harder. I could maintain a 2-4 second gap before entering the pits.

In the first stint, I unfortunately had two contacts with GT4s. first one war Lauri, which I tried to overtake on the long uphill straight. Having the better acceleration I moved to the right side of the track thinking he would see me. Right when I was almost besides him he started moving over. Dont know why. Maybe no Helicorsa? We banged doors a little and I made a quick visit to the grass.

Second time was with Richard and Casper. Also on the long straight. I could catch Richard quite fast and decided to also make my move on Casper. I just wanted to bring two cars between me and Ernie at that point. Went to the inside before the bus stop and was already ahead in the braking zone. Tried to stick it to the inside, but I think I just took Casper by surprise and he bumpped into my rear. Sorry for that Casper, I thought I was far enough ahead in that corner.

In the second stint I quickly realized Ernie´s strategy, opting for new softs on the last couple of laps. Somehow I couldnt keep up my pace in the second stint, so he could catch me about 5 laps before the end. With just two or three laps to go, Thomas was slowed down by a GT4 and we almost went side by side into the bus stop. Missed my braking point and now had another visit with the grass. Could quickly recover, but I didnt anticipate Ernie to aggressively go for the gap in the downhill corner. He squeezed through on the inside and we banged doors making me going a little wide.
Knowing that Thomas was struggling in front, I had the tiny hope the battle in the last lap would make me sneak back P3.
And it did. With Ernie and Thomas battling I was super close for the last corners. Ernie made the move and Thomas went wide only 4 turns before the finish. I kept it to the inside and could overtake him. Got a little kiss on the back in the following left hander. But was sorted out immediately. So, I finished were I started in the end.

 

[Kek700]

I think “both of you” should take some gratification in the fact that you were both robbed.

 

[Shed 17]

A good start had me up to 5th into T1, but that all came undone when I followed Hape and Stefan off road out of the bus stop chicane.
Ernie got by there but I could hang on to Hape who seemed to be struggling on cold tyres in the 650s. As things settled down I had Vladislav @Fossto in the rapid 911 for company. Several laps followed where the gap between Hape and Vladislav went up and down but as my softs went past their best, the 911 behind got closer and Hape got away. Vladislav eventually got past when I was distracted by a GT4 at the end of the lap. I made a mistake trying to immediately attack Vladislav at T1 , ended up riding the big curb and spinning out with the three GT4's that I had passed going by again.
So lost a whole truckload of time and then my race was with Taj in the 488. A pit stop for new softs rejuvenated the Z4 and I manged to close in on Hape ahead but ran out of laps.
Congrats to Chris and Martin for the wins, to the podium guys, thanks to Brian for setting up another fun race and to Vladislav for keeping me on my toes in the opening laps. I had never raced Watkins Glen before but is a really nice flowing circuit.

 

[Interslice]

First race were I felt I had a good feel for the ginetta. It was really nice to drive around here and dropping the wing down to 2 from the 4 at road atlanta meant I could somewhat keep up with the podium positions, finishing about 10-15 seconds from han in P3.

I got a great start and gained a position on pat but got it all sideways, underestimating the cold tyres and fuel load effect into chute and he got back in front. Pat had a similar issue in the third to last and I got by into the final left hander.

Myself, Casper and Pat chased after richard in P4 for the first 30 mins. I was within 2 seconds at the pits. GT3 traffic got pretty heavy so I pitted one lap after richard hoping for the undercut. The strategy gods had alligned and I was 10 seconds ahead!

Unfortunately Han had gained a 5 second advantage on the in lap/out in lap so was out of sight really.

I spend the final 30 enjoying the car, pushing it hard without going too mad. Still had hope thatsomeone would punt han for a late P3 battle!

Made a video with setup. I think it is fairly much stock setup with 2 wing. Possibly an ARB click ... Trying to push for fastest lap of the race, resulted my only competitive lap of the race I was too aggressive into chute and lost a few tenths but even still don't think I had a lap to challenge the pace of Tim and Martin in me last night.

Congrats to Chris and Martin. Thanks to everyone for racing. It was good to get back to normality after last weekend!

 

[Fossto]

Although I was a little frustrated with a technical problem when I couldn't find the race server, it was a good race. As usual I lose qualifying with a smash, but because the Porsche feels great in this game, I practically ran the whole race without mistakes. It's a shame that Paul and Taj Johan died in the first corner, but before that we were driving within 1 second of each other for many laps, it was a little tense . Towards the end of the race I managed to catch up with Hans-Peter and our fight was in the thickest of traffic, which made him decide to fully apply the brake pedal on the straight when he passed Chris, which was a surprise to me and I was able to dodge that brake test at the last moment.
PS: the plan was to go without changing the tire, but after such a surprise from the Porsche had to change.

 

[HF2000]

It was a nice race mostly due to the behaviour of the Ginetta on this track and the podium I've got.
The race on Wednesday helped me a lot to have this race pace. Slow in, fast out is very important here at certain turns and that's what I discovered with the MX5.
The race itself was uneventful for me with Martin and Tim too fast and with a big gap to Richard and Brian.


At the end it was nice to see Thomas, Ernie and Stefan fighting eachother.
Congrats to the podium and thanks Brian for organizing.
Looking forward to VIR with the Ginetta!

 

[Partick Eaton]

Decent qualification had me where I expected to start. I was pretty stressed at the start and it showed . After dropping back two spots I settled in with a close line up in front and behind. I lost it coming out of turn one and ended up at the back...... oh well live and learn.

Thanks for organizing and well done to the winners.

Looking forward to next race.

 

[The Almighty Snark]

Sorry for that Casper, I thought I was far enough ahead in that corner.

Don't worry about it, was a bit annoyed afterwards but it's all water under the bridge now!

My story this race has been summed up pretty well by Brian and Robert, though post race I discovered that both ran with a notch of wing less then I did. Tried that in practice but figured that the extra downforce would compensate, alas! We win some, we loose some.