AC GT4 @ Watkins Glen - Wednesday 01 May 2019

[wazowski]

G55 LHD for me, please

 

[Dan Costa]

ill take the maserati then

 

[Craig Dunkley]

There are spare Caymans and G55 if anybody would like to join us

 

[Craig Dunkley]

Noi problem.
It will be difficult, but all is question of fun.
I will take the Cayman then .
okay ?

yes that is fine ..thanks

 

[Björn Johansson]

hekkenberg WHY!!!!

 

[Craig Dunkley]

First race not so good, but the second race I really enjoyed, Had a great battle with @Raresch for most of the race, he had the straights I had the corners ..he eventually won the battle, but thanks for keeping it clean and fair - I gave him space and he gave me space

Congrads to the podiums @Dan Costa won the first battle and @pattikins won the second battle, well done drivers ...must congratulate all those drivers that finished the battle also ..it was a blast

 

[Craig Dunkley]

Well the Lotus, what can I say ...I fooked it up, I only drove her for 30 mins or so and thought the Bop settings were good to go ...no they were not. I should have removed her sooner ...sorry.

 

[Kek700]

Got a perfect 6th place, second race, i seem to have a strange idea that at the end of the first lap
i should be behind the person in front of me. most seem to see only first place position and get there
at least before the end of the first lap, but preferably if possible before the first corner.
Ended up facing the wrong direction, no one in sight. ( lonely old bugger )
So just plodded off the laps with an obviously well damaged car, they never seem the same after a bad accident , even though it’s 10% damage.
luckily i came across @Medilloni , he was obviously quicker, but trying to get the G55 passed the
Porsche was going to be very difficult. Just made sure not to make a mistake, even if it meant slowing
through the unimportant corners.
Got another bit of luck by catching another Porsche, made sure i got passed , this left john with
two Porsches to pass. that gave me the opportunity to open a gap.
Finished 10th, hoped for better, but actually ended up with a good race. felt like giving up at one
point, glad i soldiered on.

@Craig Dunkley you did not f.. up, you, @hape and i had this race sown up, its just that everyone eventually cottoned on to the lotus. seriously, it is a good car, just sounds rubbish.

 

[Medilloni]

Got a perfect 6th place, second race, i seem to have a strange idea that at the end of the first lap
i should be behind the person in front of me. most seem to see only first place position and get there
at least before the end of the first lap, but preferably if possible before the first corner.
Ended up facing the wrong direction, no one in sight. ( lonely old bugger )
So just plodded off the laps with an obviously well damaged car, they never seem the same after a bad accident , even though it’s 10% damage.
luckily i came across @Medilloni , he was obviously quicker, but trying to get the G55 passed the
Porsche was going to be very difficult. Just made sure not to make a mistake, even if it meant slowing
through the unimportant corners.
Got another bit of luck by catching another Porsche, made sure i got passed , this left john with
two Porsches to pass. that gave me the opportunity to open a gap.
Finished 10th, hoped for better, but actually ended up with a good race. felt like giving up at one
point, glad i soldiered on.

@Craig Dunkley you did not f.. up, you, @hape and i had this race sown up, its just that everyone eventually cottoned on to the lotus. seriously, it is a good car, just sounds rubbish.

Funny you say that about damage Ernie, I didn't realise what a difference it makes until tonight. Too many incidents in the second race to mention, but most were hits at the rear and couldn't understand why it was so nervous turning right - which on most tracks is a problem

All in all, really enjoyed tonight, 2nd race was one to forget, first race was great - huge thanks to @pattikins Patrick for such fair racing and congrats on your results tonight! Just wish I'd not put more wing on for the 2nd race, dammit

@Miguel Batista re our TS conversation, no need to apologise my friend, we all make mistakes and there's no way you could have avoided me - racing accident, stuff happens

Congrats to the podium guys and many thanks to @Craig Dunkley for putting this on - Wednesdays are getting better every time

 

[Craig Dunkley]

@Craig Dunkley you did not f.. up, you, @hape and i had this race sown up, its just that everyone eventually cottoned on to the lotus. seriously, it is a good car, just sounds rubbish.

haha so true, but @Medilloni had also cottoned on ..he wanted to change to the Lotus. When I was in practice, I knew something was wrong, because of the times...then I just totally forgot about it ...honest ..it was a nightmare removing it 45 minutes before the race, I felt like I had run a marathon.

 

[manu68]

Thanks for organising.
Jumping into the porsche after one week practising exclusively with the lotus has been less complicated I could initialy thought. But of course I just used the default setup.

After the thrilling experience to drive thru the wreckfest at the beginning of both races, I just tried to race properly my understery car into the loop.
I made 8th and 6th, which is good for me.
In the first race Ernie was too fast for my pace and over take me into the loop. I could not follow him after that.
In the second race I had a tough race stay in in front of Raresh and Craig .
I had a contact with Raresh into the esses. He was quicker as me entering this sector and I was sure he will overtake me on the following straight. I have been surprised of his attempt in the middle of the esses, just because I was concentrated on carrying as much speed as possible for the straight. After Looking at the replay, it is 50/50. I could have given him some more place (but I was slightly in front)
I want to mention the fair play attitude of Raresh who gave me back my position after the incident. It is rare and I highly appreciate. Thanks a lot to him.

 

[Björn Johansson]

Had a great time in practise and qualy
2nd on the grid ,slow start had to take care off Hekkenberg coming on the inside.
Chasing for 1and half lap taking care not to bump in to him, he lost momentum in first right hander, so I had a little advantage on him going up hill in S curve,sorry to say the care was not from both side. Got a hit and then I think all cars on the grid hit me, just bounce around all over the track. So my disapointed was huge just quit out thats not me normaly to give up. Otherwise great session as always.

 

[Kek700]

If only i could get the the nose of the Porsche into the bends, whilst maintaining a competitive speed, especially at the top of the hill. The Porsche would have been the goto car.

( Although Dan did a good job with the first race win.)"

In practice and qualifying tried loads of setups to try and achieve that,
i knew if i was anywhere near a G55 at the exit of the first corner, it would easily overtake on the uphill bit.

Thanks for @Raresch and @Lee Maunder for
scraping, gave me a breathing space from John.
You had stayed at about 6 odd seconds in front
of me, so any chance of catching was well out of the question. When you rejoined the circuit, from my own
experience I know it takes a couple of laps to settle.
So pounced on that opportunity.

 

[Raresch]

If only i could get the the nose of the Porsche into the bends, whilst maintaining a competitive speed, especially at the top of the hill. The Porsche would have been the goto car.

( Although Dan did a good job with the first race win.)"

In practice and qualifying tried loads of setups to try and achieve that,
i knew if i was anywhere near a G55 at the exit of the first corner, it would easily overtake on the uphill bit.

Thanks for @Raresch and @Lee Maunder for
scraping, gave me a breathing space from John.
You had stayed at about 6 odd seconds in front
of me, so any chance of catching was well out of the question. When you rejoined the circuit, from my own
experience I know it takes a couple of laps to settle.
So pounced on that opportunity.

I don't really know what you are than thanking me for, but you're welcome, I guess ...:-??? Was it in the first or the second race?

 

[Miguel Batista]

@Medilloni thanks for the kind words but I felt really bad since i ruined both our races. Instead of keeping 8th place I ended dead last with a damaged car that I struggled to bring close to 1:12. I was losig about half a second in the first and 4th corners alone and the lower exit speed meant that I was getting really slow(er).

First race was ok. Finished 9th and was reeling 8th in. But that massive crash on turn 3 caused a reversing ginetta to stand in my way making me crash and damage my car which lost some speed.
Still, qualified last and finished 9 which is good (forgot to lower fuel on qualy so I was qualifying with a full tank which is why I was struggling to hit 1:12).

See you lot next week. Must say I love these GT4s. They are really snazzy.

 

[Dan Costa]

That was a trial-by-fire for us having to jump cold turkey into a new car from the Lotus
I couldn't get the Maserati that I preferred, but even though the porsche was 1 second slower from earlier testing that day, its still a fun car too.

The second race had an awesome 3 way battle in the front that I was watching from behind. I wish I could join them but I was as missing 0.5s of pace by damaging the car when trying to squeeze my way between @Medilloni and the wall Sorry about that John. But allowed me to have a great fight with @Juan Viloria!

The Lotus BOP on the default setup was okish, it did about 1:10.0s. But the car allows for a lot of setup tweaks and it was doing 1:08.1xx easily when testing it earlier.

 

[Kek700]

I don't really know what you are than thanking me for, but you're welcome, I guess ...:-??? Was it in the first or the second race?

2nd race.

 

[Raresch]

2nd race.

Hmm. I remember seeing 2 cars rotated after turn 1, I think, I just passed them carefully and then they stayed at around 6 seconds behind, so I guess that was you ) still, I don't know how I helped, I just slowed down to avoid any crash and continued my race, chasing a grey Porsche and running from Craig Dunkley's G55 that was eating me alive in corners )

 

[pattikins]

All in all, really enjoyed tonight, 2nd race was one to forget, first race was great - huge thanks to @pattikins Patrick for such fair racing and congrats on your results tonight! Just wish I'd not put more wing on for the 2nd race, dammit

Thanks John. I really enjoyed the race for 3rd & 4th spot too. I think that's the first time I've won a race @ RD. Of course, if the fiendish Lotus plotters had had there way it would have been a completely different story

 

[Kek700]

@Raresch

Quite right, it was Darius @KKJUN and not you in the accident with @Lee Maunder . just looked at the replay.
sorry about that , normally know everyone in these races, but with the advent of ACC
so much is changing in AC.