Ferrari 275 GTB vs Aston Martin DB4 GT@ A1-Ring - Tues June 22nd 2010

[Carlos Diaz]

Servername: RD GTL Racing Club
Class: Ferrari 275 GTB/C VS Aston Martin DB4
Track: A1-Ring (Download HERE)
Start Time: 19:00 GMT
Practice: 20 min
Qualification: 10 min (1 timed lap only)
Race: 2 x 13 laps
Note1: Click here to read the password and golden rules!
Note2: The car you will be driving in Race 1 will be listed next to your name in the sign-ups. Please make sure you know what car you are driving in Race 1.

 

[Eck Simpson]

Well, I'll give this a try. Whats the worst that could happen... lol. I'm hoping and.. no, there's nothing else.. this isn't the calamity my last outing was.

 

[Martin Vrba]

Sorry, but I can't make it tonight :frown: Have fun guys!!!

See you next time...

 

[Tom Wilson]

Just about to leave work - but I've got a swollen and congested M4/M25 Journey ahead of me.

If I don't make it have a blast but I should be on time, I'll just have to inhale my dinner.

 

[Eck Simpson]

Is there a carset, I should have, for the 275 gents?.

 

[Tim Ling]

No there isn't Eck, just the plain old blue!

 

[Bob Hutchins]

right Carlos, I'm afraid I can't make it tonight as I'm at my brother in-laws fixing his 57 ford pop. As it didn't go plain sailing & I won't to get the job done won't have time for tonights race, I was so looking forward to it as well. Oh well there will always be another club race so have a great time & I see ya all on Thursday.

 

[Gary Lennon]

I'll have a go at this please.

 

[Tim Ling]

Great racing all round guys! Thoroughly enjoyed this, especially nicking P3 at the start of the second race and holding it for a whole lap and a half! If I could only stop overdriving I'd be in danger of finishing a race without spinning

Good job Carlos, looking forward to next Tuesdays challenge

 

[Eck Simpson]

What happened, after the server booted up, post race 2?. Did I have a problem, or was the server shut down?.

Tonights racing was immense, and with no technical difficulties, I may be back for more.
Race one started ace, I took advantage of Tom n Gary coming together half way round, to claim the lead. I promptly lost it again, then ensued, the mother of all battles, between the three of us. Then Tom n I started holding one another up, letting Gary go. There was much door handling and dings, which resulted in Tom running wide. I took advantage of my new found freedom, and the Fezza by the scruff of the neck. Surprised myself, first that I was catching Gary, then second with the pace I'd found. Coming into the final turn, of the penultimate lap, I was right on Gary. This obviously surprised him, as he got it very squirrelly. We made contact n I nearly parked him in the wall. It was only fair, to let him have the position, I had hoped to catch him, again. I didn't get there n we finished in the same order as we started. Great race Tom, grats Gary and... who finished third, Tom or Steve???

Race two started well too, made a couple of positions n was alongside Carlos going into turn one. Only barely though, the resulting contact, sent Carlos toward the inside wall. I again, gave the position to its rightful owner, and promptly gave away all others too. Running last, I first caught and passed, Jack. Then found Tim L, parked against the inside wall, gifting me another position. I caught Tim K, and a near race long battle began, between Tim K, Hans and myself. I nearly ran into Tim, and in avoidance lost a bit of time again. When I got back to the battle, Hans had had a minor incident. So was now behind Tim. We ran around in line, I tried (bear like) to get by. I was eventually gifted the position, when Hans ran wide, into a spin. I ran with Tim, from then till the penultimate lap. When, my persistence paid off. I did my first lap in the 52's on the last, n my only clear, lap. Great race Tim K and Hans, grats Stu, Tom and Gary.

Thanks Carlos and Stu, and ofcourse RD.

 

[Tom Wilson]

Holy Crap, I actually think I've done myself a mischief during that second race. What an excellent evening.

Race one, I was quick in the Aston but silly mistakes meant I could only manage 5th after a nice battle wth Eck. Good fun but as it turned out this was only a taster of things to come.

Race Two - Now I'll start by saying my only previous experiance driving at A1 was F1'97 on the PS1, not a great training platform for GTL but I soon found a good flow around the track, with the exception of the two left handers in the middle of the track. In Qualy I managed to get Pole with a mixture of luck and wrecklessness. Stu lined up 2nd in another Ferrari and Lenno started last after cutting qualy. Off the line I got an immense lauch, no wheelspin and was off to T1 with a handsome lead, and that was the easiest part of my race.

After Lap 1 Stu was all over me like a cheap suit, his setup clearly had more balance through the middle section that I was struggling with but I seemed to have better traction and acceleration which was good for the opening half of the lap. This led to the most legendary and stressful battle in my RD GTL history. We swapped places almost every lap, with teh overtaking getting increasingly more extravagant. However, at no point was their contact and we raced with absolute respect, which was most enjoyable. We even managed to pull a decept gap back to third but I was ever midnful of Lenno coming up from behind, in a manner of speaking.

This position swapping and general shenanigans allowed lenno to catch up at about two thirds distance, we carried on the 3-way battle all the way to the final lap. I was leading coming up to T2 and Lenno and Stu were battling it out behind me. I stupidly thought I had it in the bag and tried to just get home, but as we approached T2 I braked a bit earlier and with the maniaical enthusiasm of a hobo who's found a bottle of meths Lenno dived for the inside and tapped me, but only slightly. I managed to keep it facing sort of the right way I light up the rears trying to catch back up to the front 2. Into the lumpy-bumpy braking zone for 3 lenno let me past (no need though dude, it's just racing) and I decided to give it my all to beat Stu over the line.

Alas I wasn't able to make up enough time in the final 2 bends and all 3 of us crossed the line within a second of each other.

I can honestly say that was the most fun I've had in GTL for a long old time. The battle was the very essence of Gentlemans Racing, 3 even cars and good track and a complete barn-stormer of a race.

Thank you Carlos for arranging such a great race/event and thanks to Stu and Gary for racing so well. Extra grats to Stu for sealing a well deserved win.

For anyone who would like to see what I've been ranting on about check out my replay.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TEKDD84Y

 

[Steven Palmer]

Great race Tom, grats Gary and... who finished third, Tom or Steve???

That'll be me EcK

Was a high quality night and again Carlos a great car choice, both equally matched around here.

Race 1 was definitely my highlight in the Ferrari as I just felt more at ease with it. Highly delighted with the P3, but TBH if Tom had kept it on the road I was looking at P4 for sure.

Race 2 was by no means worse, it's just I never felt comfortable in the Aston only managing 1 timed lap in practice

Was following Tim Ling round for the first few laps but there were no openings to exploit until Tim slightly overcooked it at T3 and I managed to jink by without collecting Tim and up into P3. Lenno caught and passed me and promptly zoomed of, leaving me to have a real nice scrap with Carlos, and under pressure I lost P4 on lap 11 so with a comfortable cushion to Eck in the car behind cruised home to P5. Happy with that in this beastie I can tell ya.

Thanks all you racers for a fun event tonight and Carlos for another great event.

 

[Gary Lennon]

Race one quite well documented by those posting before me,all i would add was the final turn incident with Eck: I really had no idea where Eck was at that time,i knew he would be close like,he was showing strong there on me the previous couple of laps,i arrived there very manky and a bit too fast this time on rather shagged tyres,i really couldnt afford any of my thinking power to what Eck was up to behind,this was all just desperate scrabbling to survive,very close to going off but just scooped myself back together off the curb,my guess is Eck came rolling in at proper smooth under control race speed and was presented with a wobbly lary mess ahead to contend with,there was a small tangle and i was given time and space to recover,no harm no foul!,but for a little bit more space to work with Eck would have breezed past down the straight,but i think from then on he was too scared to get that close to me again .

I was on for a nice qually lap in the Ferrari but went out too wide exiting the 2nd to last turn and the lap was disallowed,the first couple of laps are basically a big busy blur ,lots going on behind,either side,and just ahead,my progress was very gradual and steady until i eventually found myself breaking clear of the pack and in 3rd place,now was the time for the big push,all the time watching Tom and Stu go side by side more than inline with each other,but disturbingly losing very little time in process >:/,sure i was making inroads,but not as much as i thought given they were fighting it out so hard,so by the time i arrived i had used up a lot of tyre grip credits to get there,but the timing was all working out perfect for me,just getting ahead of Stu and now in 2nd,Tom had made a little break away while me and Stu exchanged 2nd spot,then it all went to buggery at T2 going up the hill,very obviously i was way too far back to have even silly remote thoughts of making any form of pass there,as always i like to try and make some ground in braking zones,and to be fair,often fail in that and usually loose ground in braking zones ,but i noticed Tom's car getting larger and larger at a silly rate of knots! :O,i was still confident by the time i did actually arrive there he would be clear of the apex,but sadly i did indeed get there in time to clip his back wing,at the time when we exited i wasnt sure who came out the other side behind me,but it was Stu that got past the recovering Tom,i was thinking of holding out for some more turns and see if Tom would get back to 2nd and then present him his lead back,but opted for an instant ease off and feather back in to 3rd place,and the order remained the same to the finish with very little between the 3 cars over the line.

Well done all there making two highly enjoyable fine races.

Thanks Carlos/Stu & RD

 

[Tim Ling]

Was following Tim Ling round for the first few laps but there were no openings to exploit until Tim slightly overcooked it at T3 and I managed to jink by without collecting Tim and up into P3.

I think that's the first time my name's appeared in a post race comment without being attached to the word crash

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Another cracking versus event with 2 very closely matched cars :good:

Race 1 - Aston DB4.

It was noted by a few of us on TS that the Aston was setting some very fast first sector times, but then it seemed to drop them in the middle section where it wasn't as docile as the 275. Quallied midfield-ish. Got a good start, got some space and and a good line into T1, but then got hit by Hans which pushed me through the corner and around. By the time I recovered, I was pretty much last, but as it was right at the start, people weren't too far ahead. Set off on a recovery drive, and slowly reeled in those in front. Didn't make any mistakes, put in some consistent and fairly quick ones until I got up to 5th and suddenly saw Tom up ahead, saw I was closing and then started pushing harder as the laps were coming down. That caused a couple of opposite lock moments but I continued to close, but ran out of race with Tom holding it together for 4th.

Or so I thought, as Tom got a Cut, and therefore a Stop 'n' Go, in the last couple of corners after the pit entry and I suddenly got promoted to 4th (not the way I would choose to get it, but gift horses and all that ).

Race 2 - 275 GTB

A different approach was required with the Ferrari, until this point I'd been quicker in the Aston. The 275's 5-speed box eliminating some of the Astons "is it 2nd or 3rd" compromises that I couldn't quite get comfortable with. The infield section became an absolute joy to drive instead of a "just get through it clean" section like it was in the Aston. Quallied in 2nd behind Tom after Lenno had a cut lap. Got a decent start, and it was exactly how Tom & Lenno described it. Nose to tail, pass and re-pass for all 13 laps. I made an error into one of the right handers dropping "down" from 3rd to 4th instead of 2nd. Doh! Tom & Gary slipped through, but mine wasn't a big off, and it stayed nose to tail, albeit in a different order. Gary touched Tom as he described, and I was close enough to be able to nip through, and had enough of a gap back to Tom to not have to take any chances through the remaining corners, so I was slower through that last little section than normal, as I'd have been gutted to inherit the lead like that, and then drive it into a wall. Managed to do enough to stay there for the win.

These cars were very nicely matched, as always seems to be the case with Carlos's events.

Thanks again :good: