AC GT3 @ Sebring - Sunday 2nd October 2022

[Chris Down]

Back for the first time in a few months. Nice to see you folks again

 

[32chainshard]

i will need to miss this one... have problems which are i am unable to fix at a moment... i am sorry

 

[32chainshard]

yea i know ... but no worry i am in next week

 

[32chainshard]

 

[eN1xes]

taking a different layout

(the worst feeling)

 

[Chris Down]

Great race everyone! Sitting on the starting grid as the only front runner on mediums didn't give me much confidence, but thankfully the early pace was enough to get away and the dropoff wasn't too bad until about 15 minutes from the end. Even then, it was manageable, just slow.

Nice to be back and hope to race more with you folks soon

Here are the simresults for those like me who like that sort of thing: https://simresults.net/221002-y0C

And my VR onboard:

 

[eN1xes]

Congratz Chris on ur win tonight Patrick for p2 and Ernie for putting the small z4 infront of Godzilla

 

[Shed 17]

taking a different layout

(the worst feeling)

Is this the gap in the barrier that Brian warned us off pre-start????
If I had found that one I would have parked up at the hotel and had a few beers!!
Everything Ernie said about the 911 was spot on, the itch has been scratched and now on to the next experiment, whatever that might be.
Well done podiums, respect to Fulvio to get the 911 round on softs and thanks Brian for setting this up.

 

[Kek700]

And a particular well done Fulvio for your epic drive in the 911, never thought I would see that in our race department.
Easy race for me, Han disappeared from the off, so that was a weight off of my mind, I was pretty sure the Godzilla was going to knobble me on the long straight, so a lump of luck for me there.
Next was Brian, who was stuck to my tail. Very lucky that the Ferrari would bite just at the best moments for me, usually just as he was going to get into an overtake position.

For me, the front runners were out of my league, so again no problems for me there, and Brian gave me a lot of grief for 10 laps before the Ferrari bit him, hard.
So as good as a result that I could "reasonably" expect.

 

[Interslice]

One of those weeks! Quali went pretty bad. Fastest lap was hindered by both shifting into neutral on one corner and running out of fuel exiting the last...
Luckily Han bogged it on the start and richard had a wobble out of T1 so i was right in behind ernie straight away.

Mid first stint I could feel the small gap to Ernies bmw closing a bit. On lap 10 I took the last corner too well... Coming past the apex and around the back of the corner, the gap to ernie closed by a chunk. I was sitting in his dirty air all of a sudden, understeered, slapped into the wall and spun.

Carried on licking my wounds.

Pitted not far behind richard about 5-6 seconds behind Han... Then it git interesting. The Ferrari mechanics lost the tyre guns and so the 488 had to carry on with the original set.. New territory for me. Ernie pulling it off in the Lambo recently gave me some confidence I could make it to the end!

In two minds about going back in for tyres, Han spun on the outlap, so I said I would just keep nursing it and not pit again. He was definitely getting by if there was even just one more lap at the end! I don't think it was the optimal strategy but definitely faster than going back in for a set of tyres

 

[Alfred Wayne]

Felt pretty comfortable in the merc today.

Had some pace early and was hanging with richard and han, but one slight off put me back 5 seconds and a hard bounce into the wall after richard out braked me into the last turn put me back a little further. Drove the rest of the race with a slightly bouncing hood

Almost caught up to richard and han in the last third of the race, but they had good pace too and I couldn't make much of a dent. Lots of fun going through those esses here.

Nice job holding onto your 1 set of tires Brian and congrats to the podiums. Some fast times up there

 

[HF2000]

Well mixed feelings for me.
On the negative side:

• didn't pay attention to the red lights. Totally screwed up the start: from 5th to last.
• didn't find the best line in the last turn until the last 5 laps.
• too early on the throttle on the kerbs exiting LeMans Curve -> snap oversteer ending with frontal collision with the concrete wall on the right side-> loosing 19s and two places.
• couldn't catch Brian in the last lap

On the positive side:

• Good qually (5th) with new PB
• Good pace whole race
• Good consistency (99.37%)
• Some nice overtakes on Robert and Richard(2x).
• More fun than with a normal start and looking the whole race at the ass back of Ernie.

Congrats to the podium.
And thanks Brian for organising (incredible the whole race on softs!).

For those interested: this Tuesday an event with Group C cars on Spa. https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/group-c-cars-spa-tue-4th-october-2022.249797/

And there are still some spots available for the upcoming Fat-Alfie's championships.

 

[JamKart22]

Positives
o I wasn't last (thanks Paul)
o Setup was stable, so only one spin
o Fairly consistent lap time

Negatives
o Couldn't get first or last corner right
o Still off the pace of the mid field. Probably needed to shave 1-2 secs off my time.

This was a high quality grid so a fairly lonely race at the back.