BMW 320 Gr5 @ Paul Ricard 75 & Rattlesnake Point - Thu 1st July

[Stuart Thomson]

Servername: RD GTL Racing Club
Class: BMW 320 Gr5 mod
Track: Paul Ricard 75 / Rattlesnake Point
Start Time: 19.00 GMT
Practice: 20 min
Qualification: 10 min (1 timed lap only)
Race: 2 x 15 laps
Note1: Click here to read the password and golden rules!
Note2: Default skins that come with the mod only

 

[Horatiu Haba]

Oh dear that post above by 'Cristian' was me... I just pulled what my twin Dragos does all the time, go on another computer with a different browser and forget that someone else has cookies saved on it. My apologies.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

It's a whole lotta Habas :good:

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Just so everyone knows - Ricard is the most familiar to the majority of us, so we'll definitely be starting there in Race 1.

That way, we can extend the prac for RSP in Race2 if anyone needs it.

 

[Carlos Diaz]

Sorry guys, I won't be there today.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Server's back up now - 10 lapper

 

[Ross McGregor]

Race 1: saw 'rocket bob' pirouette at the start, so breathed a sigh of relief that i hadn't lost a place already. Got into the first tight turn and ran wide, letting Jack through. Managed to get past, and after a spin later in the lap, Bob & Stu got past. Had a nice battle with both of them until lap 5, after both made mistakes and went off. Now i tried to reel in the guys ahead, and managed to overtake Tom (i think?) who had went off. Had a half-spin later on, and played it safe from there on.
Race 2: Slow start from P2; thought i'd covered Horatiu, but he nudged past down the inside. However, he lost it big time going into T1, and everyone took evasive action. I ended up tapping the guy in front (again not sure who it was) and he spun out. Waited for him then got going again, and concentrated on keeping the car on the road. Due to other's mistakes, i found myself in P2, and despite the overtseery attentions of Horatiu, i held it to the line!
Always enjoy the BMW's, looking forward to the next event!

 

[Steven Palmer]

Great nights racing in these monsters again.

Race 1
I had a real nice view of Knut and Horatiu battling it out for the first few laps and a nice couple of opening laps with Stu until he got a wobble on just before the main straight and managed to hold a gap despite an off track excursion of my own. Then it was a case of keeping it on the black stuff for a podium.

Race 2.

Nice circuit....had some nice pace too, so was looking forward to a good race. Horatiu had a cracker and was in to second by T1 but unfortunately got a wheel on to the kerb and spun right in front of me. No problems as I was going to miss the spinning car but having to lift off caught Ross off guard and he tapped me round. No probs what so ever just one of those things. Ross let me back through, but blow me, I put a wheel on the kerb in the sweeping right handers and it was good night vienna, straight into the wall and I lost my splitter. Chugged around for a bit until I came across Bob recovering from a sightseeing tour of the barriers and we had a nice battle to the end, Bob taking the place after I stuffed it on the very last corner Thanks for trying to give the position back.

Good night and top tracks.

Grats to Knut (did I spell that right Bob :wink: ) for the double, podium finishers and all that turned up for tonight

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

Race 1: Had a great time the first five laps with Horatiu. Close and clean racing. Really nice overtakes too Horatiu, especially going into the first esses:good: On lap 5 Horatiu spun and for the rest of the race I managed to keep the gap around 7-9 sec. Had a "doh" moment in the second last corner while looking in the mirrors. I spun and tried to pirouette around as fast as possible. Horatiu slipped past as I floored it towards the last corner. Luck was on my side though and Horatiu spun in last corner.

Race 2: Got off to an OK start and managed to stay in front. For the rest of the race it was pretty quiet. Had one spin and some mistakes but held the lead.

At Paul Rickard I finally felt I could push the BMW 100%, much thanks to the setup and tips from Horatiu:good:. Felt really nice on both tracks.

Very good track choices, they really suit this car. Rattlesnake was amazing, so many nice corners!!! Hope to see it again

Thanks Stuart, RD and all drivers for another great event

 

[Jack Smith]

Wow! I practiced hard, lowed my times somewhat, and then had terrible races, but it all goes into the experience databank. Thanks to Bob for the help and to Stu for the event in Canada. I believe that I saw an old girlfriend in the crowd. She must be in her late 90's now.

 

[Tom Wilson]

Sorry for me pathetic showing last night.

Race one - Over before it started really, Bob had a spin off the line and I got caught up in it. Lost the front splitter and from then on I was fighting massive understeer. Eventually gave up which i'm not proud of but I was so frustrated at going off into teh huge run off areas every lap.

Race Two - I felt much happier at Rattlesnake, the long track was a little hard to learn at first but after a few laps I was looking forward to a strong race and forgetting Race 1......unfortunately I lost connection mid-practice and couldn't get back online.......

Not a great evening for me but I'm looking forward to a bette rshowing at the next round!

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Enjoyed both of those :good:

Ricard is a good track, always good value, but it can bite you if you make a mistake. Had a good few laps behind Steve, until changing down to 1st too soon and getting a wobble on, and then several laps trying to keep Ross at bay before bumping over the final kerb and letting himm through.

However, RSP is an absolute gem. I'd only driven 10-12 laps on here before, and knew it suited the quick cars, but once I got into it, I had an absolute blast. Quallied OK, but was about 3 sec off the pace and wasn't quite sure why - on TS the boys suggested T1 is the most common culprit, and they were right. Once I got that sorted, it was more of a fair fight .

After the T1 issues, I suddenly found myself in P2. Had a couple of really nice fights throughout the course of the race with Bob, Ross & Horatiu, and thoroughly enjoyed every single minute.

We will definitely be back at RSP in the not-too-distant future, and in something yummy :good:

 

[Bob Hutchins]

Wow, another great night in the now, like by all & loved by some, Gr5 BMW 320.

Before I start I would like to appologise to Knut for misspelling his name last night, really sorry man. That out of the way onto the nights racing.
After some practice got my PB down by .5 sec at Paul Rickard although the aliens up front were still a couple of seconds faster but hey who want to be an alien? On my superpole lap all was going well until the last corner when I cliped the inside kerb and the car spun so I just exited to the pits which ment I was going to start at the back but to my amazement not right at the back. As some have mentioned, rocket Bob, did not have a good start, too much wheel spin and before I knew it I was heading towards the barrier collecting Tom on the way. Really sorry about that Tom, also sorry about your front spliter coming off in the process. After this things went down hill for the race although I did have a couple of laps racing with Tom & Ross. After getting by Tom set off up the round but after a couple of laps went off only to go back behind Tom & Ross again. After Tom had an off tried to get on terms with Ross but as this wasn't going to be my race had a few more spins before crossing the line almost last. Oh well thats racing for ya.

Race 2 at Rattlesnake, this track is awesome and this being only the second time I've raced at it. Again improving on my PB by .5 sec qualifed midfield. Now due to my mishap in race 1 I knew I had to redeem myself off the line. Unfortunately this start didn't go too well either. After being over cautious & not wanting to light the wheels up again, this time not enough throtle and I just bogged down but this was a blessing as I didn't get caught up in the T1 incident. After getting through all the stricken cars I found myself in P3 behind Stu. Now as Stu mentioned he was loosing time during the lap and during our TS talk he said he was going to follow us round to see where this was. As this was the opening lap Stu was slower than me at this time so I was quickly on his tail looking to make a pass. After some jostling I finallly got by before the end of the lap and on lap 2 started to pull a gap back to Stu. This was not to last as on lap 4, I think, coming out of the penultimate cornner I put a wheel on the grass and the car took off towards the wall on the otherside of the track. After loosing my front splitter and taking and age to get back on track I now found myself at the back of the field behind Steve. I was going to pit for repairs but thought I see how bad the car was before loosing a lap in the pit repairing the damage. The car didn't feel that bad and as I was keeping up with Steve decided to finish the race without the front splitter. Lap after lap I was holding the gap to Steve but I knew there must have been something wrong with Steve's car as he was just under a second quicker than me during practice. It was fun to see just how hard I could push before the understeer kicked in which wasn't until the long corners and as the laps counted down, chasing Steve was enjoyable in that it was nice to have someone close that you could set your sights on. Thanks mate for making this race enjoyable even though we were both driving cars that had some damage.

Once again, thanks to Stuart for bringing this mod to the series and again for choosing 2 great tracks to race on tonight. Grts to Knut for winning both races and thanks to all the guys that showed up tonight and hope to see all of ya next time when we go to the rock.

 

[Tom Wilson]

I knew it I was heading towards the barrier collecting Tom on the way. Really sorry about that Tom, also sorry about your front spliter coming off in the process.

No worries mate, nothing either of us could have done. The power these cars have it was inevitable someone would have an off at the start. 100% racing incident.