Alfa Romeo GTA @ Donington - Tue 3rd Jan 2012

[Stuart Thomson]

Server name: RACEDEPARTMENT.COM GTL
Class: Alfa Romeo GTA
Track: Donington National / Donington GP

Practice start time: GMT 20.00
Qualification start time: GMT 20.20 (single lap)
Race start time: GMT 20.30 (16 laps)
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Practice start time: GMT 21.00
Qualification start time: GMT 21.20 (single lap)
Race start time: GMT 21.30 (16 laps)

Note1: Default skins only.
Note2: We will no longer be adding people as "maybe" or "possibles" - you sign up, you show up.

Server password & Racing Rules: click here

 

[Roland]

What is the cutoff time for sign up?
Hate the Alfa, still cannot commit.

I think as long as you're in before Q1 start (20:20 GMT), you're fine. Hope you can work out your connection issues..

 

[Tim Ling]

DD here as well, and no probs with installing anything

 

[Alexander Knoll]

Sign me up please...THX for the set...

 

[Philip Brown]

Sign me up, thanks

 

[Nils Norberg]

Yes please

 

[Roland]

I can't imagine anyones coming cold to the Alfa, .....:

I know at least two people who are tonight ... (well, apart from yesterday's practise )

 

[Ian Strom]

Okay. I will sign up if it is not too late.

But only on the condition that I am permitted to leave if my latency becomes high enough to cause issues.

 

[Tim Ling]

Okay. I will sign up if it is not too late.

But only on the condition that I am permitted to leave if my latency becomes high enough to cause issues.

I can't see that being a problem Ian

 

[Senad Subasic]

Alt+tabbed, and couldn't alt+tab back, game crashed. Ah well, busy anyway, I guess that's a sign.

Cheers for the racing, have fun in race 2.

 

[Philip Brown]

Race 1... Started back a bit ( 10th?), but had a good run to turn one, braked a bit early and Tim passed me on the outside. (have always liked the GTA's, they are very predictable and Stu's 61.5/38.5 brake bias worked very well for me...) Repassed Tim in the same place for lap two and then had a good scrap for several laps. Got sideways at the bottom of the hill and Tim and Senad both got by, but then managed to squeeze by Senad again at the exit from the back straight chicane, Senad went a little deep and I went for the appex, our front bumpers touched and we both exited onto the front straight almost side by side. Senad continued to pressure me for another lap or two till I blanked out at the right hander at the top of the hill onto the back straight and ran wide. Now in 11th, I had all but given up till several unfortunate mistakes by others promoted me to 7th.

Race 2...the brake bias was still working well for me and qualied 6th. Much more consistent race on my part and managed to hang on for 6th place finish. High point...Stuart sliding past several laps in...where did he come from?

Its -17*C outside, the fire is blazing and I have a glass of Fuller's, thanks for the event Stu, great racing everyone and congrates to Eck and Knut and Stu and the rest of the podium finishers, Happy New Year!

 

[Alexander Knoll]

oh...Stu..is starting from the last place..in Race2.....great Run!

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

Felt a little bit out of shape and actually managed to do a lot of miss-shifting tonight. I always struggle with this track and tonight was no different. A lot of tricky corners but very satisfying when you get it right. Had to tweak the setup quite a bit to make the GTA do what I wanted, but got a good pace in the end. Seeing that Stu used 61.5/38.5 brake bias and I ended up with 57/43 reflects the different driving styles I guess

In first race I was unable to keep up with Eck and Stu, but (surprisingly) managed to stay in front of Nils. He was never far away though and I had to dig deep to keep the gap.

In the second race I ended up between Eck and Stu/Nils and had a somewhat quiet race.

Thanks Stu for a good start of 2012 and thanks to all that showed up.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

oh...Stu..is starting from the last place..in Race2.....great Run!

Got a Cut on my superpole lap, so had to start back there.

Made for a really exciting race, more involved in multiple scraps than in R1, cracking good fun.

What Club racing's all about

 

[Tim Ling]

Glad I'm not the only one who struggles with Donnington. I was also struggling with RWD last night, after so much practice for the league in my Fulvia.

In both races, my errors in the last sector wrecked any chances I had of a reasonable finish, though some fights with Phil & Senad in R1 made it fun. A spin at the hairpin in R2 with Hans coming round the corner meant the ESC key was the only safe option.

Thanks Thommo

 

[Roland]

Had a truckload of fun, starting on mondaynight practise, when the server was remarkably busy already, and during the whole event as well. It was great to see quite a large grid, with again some newcomers including two of my friends who I finally convinced to come taste the great GTL Club atmosphere .

Thanks to some good advice and from studying Thommo's setup, I could set pretty fast laptimes in P1, but lacking consistency as usual :oops:

Q1 still was OK, had a good first few laps, but a minor off in L1 (already!:eek) saw me drop from 5th to 9th I think, then fought my way back up a little with Alexander Knoll soon filling my entire rear view mirror, determined to get by..
Giving it everything I had, I managed to keep him behind me for quite a while until a slight contact some 2 laps before the end spun me onto the grass; Struggling to get back to the tarmac we lost a few places and then the fight continued. Eventually he got past, I refused to give up, but he beat me to the finish line by a whopping 0,07 sec...
It was a great fun and fair fight all the way for sure, and as Thommo mentioned that's what clubracing should be;
It doesn't matter where you finish, but how much fun you have on your way there...

The GP layout isn't much different, but the two additional corners are tough ones to get right; I still managed 5th in Q2 though

Both Nils and Jacob struggled a bit at R2 start, so I managed to get into 3rd place for a while, until 2 consecutive spins in the Old Hairpin (Note to self: LEARN from mistakes, you idiot!!) first dropped me from 3rd to 5th then to around 10th. Tried to pick up my pace again but I was unable to do consistent laps. Made my way up to the back of Ian's car 3 times, but every time I got close, some silly mistake dropped me way back again.. Once encountered a spun Domagoj in the Melbourne Hairpin, couldn't decide whether to take the inside or go around him , so ended up running into his side, while stalling my car as well . Sorry mate, didn't mean to scare you .

Congrats to Eck, Stuart and to the other podium finishers Knut of course!! Should've remebered that! :oops:
Thank you Stu for this event, and to all who were there.
Hope to see you all next time, as bigger grids of gentlemen=bigger fun

 

[Eck Simpson]

That really was more fun, than might be considered legal, in some quarters.. And yet, I still hate Alfa's...

Race 1 was pressure from start to finish, well raced Stu. Instead of calming down on the worn rubber, I pushed my luck and rightly, lost the lead. Grats Stu.

Race 2 was the complete opposite, eventually. I was pushed at the start, by Knut (thanks to Donington, for messing with Knuts head..). I was allowed to drive more calmly (thanks to everyone, who held Stu back...). I was a little worried, at the end of lap 1, when I noticed Stu 7th n on the tail of 6th. I got away with it though, somehow. A win in an Alfa.. no, its still a nasty car... lol.

Grats to Knut and Stu on sharing the podium finishes with me. Thanks to all my fellow racers, amazing evening as always. Thanks to RD and Stu, for making all this possible.