GTC76 Porsche 914-6 @ Road Atlanta, Zandvoort 67 - Thursday 19th February 2009

[Stuart Thomson]

Servername: RACEDEPARTMENT.COM
Password: click here

Class: GTC76 - Porsche 914-6 only
Track: Road Atlanta & Zandvoort 67
Track Downloads: Road Atlanta (Long layout) & Zandvoort '67
Weather: A balmy and dry 72º C

Practice: 19.30 GMT - 30 mins
Qualification: 20.00 GMT - 20 mins
Race: 2 x 15 laps

Skinpack: Porsche 914-6 skinpack You must have this skinpack installed to run this event.

Notes:

Important: Please pay special attention to Racedepartment's Golden Rule: If you hit another driver and disadvantage him, we expect you stop and let the other driver regain his position on you. If this costs you many places (eg first few laps) then consider this a penalty for your driving infringement. Doing this shows respect to your fellow drivers and will encourage drivers to be more careful. Please use some care when letting the other driver regain position, do not immediately stop your car on the driving line where it can cause further accidents. Not following this rule will result in your membership of the racing club being terminated at once!











Entrylist:

1. Stuart Thomson
2. Péter Bártfai
3. David Cuthill
4. Marty Pierce
5. Simon Bacon
6. Andy Marsden
7. Kris Leeten
8. Matt Crouch
9. Warren Dawes
10. Amir Margalit
11. Benluigi Tustorosso
12. Sam J Simpson
13. Mark A Warmington
14. Piotr Misiorek
15. Nigel Atkins
16. Driver
17. Driver
18. Driver
19. Driver
20. Driver
21. Driver
22. Driver
23. Driver
24. Driver
25. Driver

Reserves:

1. Dave Stephenson
2. Marc Good
3. Hans Sneep
4. Luc Frachon
5. 
   Driver

 

[Stuart Thomson]

And - wasn't it great seeing an 18 man grid for GTL again? :good:

 

[Matt Crouch]

nooooo I just lost my post by accidentally going back

I like these cars, quite difficult at times but very smooth when it works. Wanted to watch the replays but GTL already seems to have written over them with two very short replays of my car sitting in the garage :s

Race 1 was good, another opportunity to touch stuart and a few silly mistakes on my part, but all fun. Unfortunately it turns out this track suffers from the same issue as Jerez, and one of my laps didn't count as I ran wide of a timing point - think I would've finished in 7th instead of 9th.

Race 2, a nice first couple of laps in a smooth line. When Stuart disconnected Nigel sadly collided with his corpse and I decided to try the atkins diet, nudging him round a bit - decided to wait anyway. Continued on and started to catch up again, then everything went black. Don't know why, but it seemed to coincide with my housemate plugging in the vacuum cleaner :spy:. came back to find myself in the grass but not a huge one.

Carried on again and was feeling suitably impressed with myself for not making any stupid mistakes, or even going onto the grass until L12, when I spun at a corner and ended up stopped in Kris's path. Sorry . Span again a lap later, and on the final lap I started thinking about what to write in this post. Bad idea when I realised I was at T1 and had completely forgot to brake, and made a break for it over the fence. Over and out.

Was a nice race anyway and I never felt bored in either of these combos, thanks for the event

 

[Simon Bacon]

:woop::woop::woop:
:beer::beer::beer:
:dance2::dance2::dance2:

4th at Zandvoort, me bestest RD GTL result to date (might put it in me sig later:bang Anyway, more of that in a mo'.

Road Atlanta.

As predicted, a late job at work (gas explosion in a house in Camberwell - miraculously no-one hurt though the house and street were carnage.) and some diabolical traffic around Crystal Palace, saw me come late, at the end of practice. Bit of a half arsed attempt at qually, followed by race which lasted 3 laps. Sincere apologies to Andy for that rubbish move through the corner - a rush of blood too far me thinks
Anyhow, ducked out before I did anymore damage and took my time to get my head together.

Zandvoort.

Put in PB qualifying (1.34.xxx) but still didn't put me anywhere near top half, so I figured a conservative strategy in order. Knowing the Porsche went loopy when the tyres were hot my idea was to keep it neat and finish. Saw sand and cars flying everywhere in front in the first few laps but managed to avoid the carnage. A few good laps with Kris behind me then Nigel, out of no-where. What followed was hugely enjoyable, thanks to Nigel's excellent driving until I cracked under his pressure and started to slide around. With Nigel passed I spent a couple of easy laps cooling the tyres before pushing for the finish, thinking 5th would be blinding. Bad luck Nigel on the last lap, saw the sand fly up and thought maybe you'd got it back but I overtook to finish 4th.

Seriously happy chappy right now, tinged with a bit of badness for Nige.:handshake:

Thanks Stuart for the top-most skins and RDGTL bods for the organisation, I'm off for beer.

Ta

Simon

 

[Warren Dawes]

And - wasn't it great seeing an 18 man grid for GTL again? :good:

Yep, really great to see so many people joining GTL now, a testament to the great effort Stuart and Andy are putting in.

I can only describe todays racing as masochistic fun. The Porches are unbelieveably frustrating to master. And I learned something new about them today, when you have your first serious spin, that is the end of the tyres and plenty more spins will follow.

Race 1 was hilarious. I spent most of the race swapping spins with Nigel. We nicely took turns at the same damned spots each lap. At least I finished but it was sure hard work.

Race 2 was looking more promising as I settled into about P4 and seemed to have the Porsche under control this time. Unfortunately, while following Amir, he seemed to suddenly slow and I wasn't quick enough to miss him, tapping him off into the wilderness. Very sorry Amir. After waiting we resumed again but someone spun in front, so I followed them off with a massive spin of my own. From that point, almost every time I tried to take a bend normally, the rear tyres would just give up and round I would go again, cooking the tyres even more. In the end it was nigh on impossible to keep it on track, but I managed to soldier on to finally finish the race.

These Porsches continue to be nightmare cars for me. Oh well, one day, one day. :quiet:

Great event though, nice tracks, and the Stu-Art skins looked great. :clap:

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Wanted to watch the replays but GTL already seems to have written over them with two very short replays of my car sitting in the garage :s

In your GTL dir, got to User Data -> Matt Crouch -> Matt Crouch.plr

And set this option to "1"

"Replays Dated="1" // Replays have date in filename"

That way, the game timestamps the replays and avoid overwriting turmoil.

Don't hate the game, hate the plr file. :good:

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Some screenies from tonight at Road Atlanta

 

[Piotr Misiorek]

Road Atlanta

I love that kind of challenging tracks. I didn't know Road Atlana but now it's one my favourites :clap:

In qualifying I couldn't set time I was hoping for but third place was good enough as I usually have quite good starts

After start I've jumped to the lead and then we have two or three exiting laps with Ben and David. I was holding them a little bit as I didn't want to make mistake so it was close fight but then they both spun and I had some free space behind but my concentration was poor and I was afraid to put wheel wrong so I was quite slow.

At some point I see in my mirror that David is close again and somehow I've managed to put some reasonable laps and win the race :dance2:

​

Zandvoort

Again it was not my day for hotlaps but time was enough for second row on the grid.

Just as first race I had good start and I was second after turn 1. Ben overshoot corner at second lap so I was defending from Sam. They had collision on fourth lap I think so again I was leading race alone. Around half of the race I missed my braking point and spun on turn1. Lost two places and wanted do took it back fast. Too fast
My manoeuvre on Marty was too optimistic and I spun again on turn1. There some laps to the end of race so I pushed hard and catch him two laps before the end but I pushed too hard and cooked tires, had slide on fast corner and that was it I was surprised that nobody is coming from behind and just keep sliding car on the track for rest of the race. Three spins = third place :wink:

​

Thanks everyone for this great event :good:

 

[Marty Pierce]

My Last Gtl race on Thursday and it was intense.

I could not find a good setup anywhere so I did very little changes. I think in the end that helped because my car was pretty consistent both race's.

Road Atlanta was allot of fun and it took total concentration. I ended up 3rd after Peter lost his connection. I had Sam in my Mirrors on several occasions 2nd half of the race. Man it was good to see the finish at the end. Finished 3rd

Zander was about trying to be consistent. Made allot of places just staying out of trouble. Was in second chasing David at the end, but all I could hope for was a mistake as David had better pace. Piotr was very fast catching me twice and both times going back with mistakes. The second time I was prepared to let him by for 2nd because I new it would be allot of pressure till he got by and it was all I had to stay on the track at the end. Finished in 2nd. Very fun race Grats to David on win.

 

[Kris Leeten]

My first RD event since a few weeks now. First I'd like to thank RD (especially Stuart) and all you drivers out there for showing up and giving us a nicely filled grid.

Atlanta: Great track with some scary moments - eg the uphill chicane/lefthander or the downhill righthander at topspeed for a start but after a few laps even the most simple corner gave me sweaty hands).
Completely underestimated the tyre-usage and the effect of it on the 914.
I started at the back of the pack and was able to gain some places by keeping it steady for the first 2 laps (remember screaming to myself when entering the final corner in lap 1: "Don't crash, don't crash!") But as the laps past by (and the spins), my tyres became completely useless, which had an avalanche effect as described by Warren:

when you have your first serious spin, that is the end of the tyres and plenty more spins will follow.

Had to enter the pit in lap 9 due to a wrecked car (suspension, bodywork, no more rubber...)

Zandvoort '67:
What a blast this track! Driving this in real life would be so scary (the Porsche went ok, but something a little bit faster and I would be wetting myself). It has much more drama then the new version (perhaps because it's a lot faster?).
Reached a 1.34.2 in Q which satisfied me most. Had a really nice first 2 laps when we were driving like a train (10 cars with each 2m. in between) Then the spinning began Same story as in Atlanta: spin, more spinning, most spinning...crash...
Luckily I wasn't eaten by some sandworms (you never know in the Dunes). After a 125 sec recordbreaking pit-stop (completely crashed the car and was happy to reach the pit) I rejoined the fun for a few laps untill I crashed into M. Crouch who was hiding in a cloud of smoke. Sorry Matt, I should have been a little bit more carefull. I tried finishing the race but due to another spin (when driving 160+) I hit the dunes to hard and I ended on the wrong side of the fence Game-over.

Also finished this race in the pit, but I had a very good time nevertheless.

See you next time!

 

[Piotr Misiorek]

My acrobatics from the race. Somehow I didn't crash

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Well held, sir! :good:

Some of those kerbs were brutal.

 

[Sam J Simpson]

What can I say that hasn't been already, my first full race with GTL since Dec was excellent for the most part, Road Atlanta was so much of a giggle, messed up the drop over the hill and spun into pitlane, took a drive through without penalty and carried on to finished 4th behind Marty, Zandvoort I was looking forward to because it's one of my fav. tracks, thought I'd cracked pole until the last few minutes of Quali when Ben stuck an enormouse lap in to take it, bogged down off the start, high first gear so I could use it through the hairpin, got passed by Piotr, than a few laps in I got caught up in Bens spin, NP BTW, but I rolled forward onto track and got clipped by someone, sorry for that, and it caused a bit too much damage to continue, I was tired by then anyway, managed to tell Ben, who was waiting for me, to go on and retired myself, tired but satisfied, thanks to Stuart for setting this up, it was indeed nice to see a decent turnout.

Sam

 

[Nigel Atkins]

bit of a theme going on here :laugh2:

what a great pair of races, these Porches are great fun to drive.

Race 1. qualified mid pack and got a lowsy start, but soon picked up places from people spinning off. 6th after a few laps then tyres started to go off and so began my spinning comp with Warren lol. finnished 7th.

Race 2. i manged to hook up behind sam for a couple of laps in praccy and i was 3rd fastest for most of the session. and also managed to get 5th in quali. but mad a duff start again. but still was soon upto 6th and trying to look after my tyres. then after tangling with stew`s car i think i was down to 10th.
a few laps later i saw i was catching Simon in 5th but my tyres were getting hot so i let them cool down a bit then pushed to catch him, which was bloody hard work but also great fun. after passing Simon i soon pulled a slight gap, then with 2 or 3 laps to go i saw i was catching Piotr in 3rd. i could see he was struggling with his tyres, but the thought of 3rd place got to much for me and i spun out on the last lap i made a desent recovery but Simon had the speed to get past.

many thanks to Stew & RD for setting this up and also thanks for the great skins :clap::worship:

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Sorry about the contact Nige, I was having my pc turmoil then, and a few freezes, hopefully it didn't do too much damage.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Also, I think it's safe to assume we will be back at Road Atlanta and Zandvoort in the future based on the reaction so far :good:

Atlanta has several layouts that can be used, so it might not always be with the big old bruisers either...:spy:

 

[Andy Marsden]

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge Stuart my friend, if only they knew....

 

[Nigel Atkins]

Sorry about the contact Nige, I was having my pc turmoil then, and a few freezes, hopefully it didn't do too much damage.

no need to apologize m8, twas out of your hands. and didnt do no damadge :clap:

 

[David Cuthill]

Well that was the best I've performed in a Race Department meeting so far. Second place in race 1 and first place in race 2.

Interesting that many commented on not liking this car. I too had this opinion when I started testing earlier in the week and couldn't keep it on the road for much more than a lap or two but once it clicked how it needed to be driven (smooth, very very smooth) I really started to like it. Two great tracks as well.

Race 1: Got a nice qualifier in for second on the grid behind Ben's scorching time. I was in a close three car line with Piotr and Ben for the first few laps until I spun it off the road, leaving me mid-field. After chasing through the pack, I ended up about 5 seconds behind Piotr with around 7 laps to go. I was gaining a few tenths per second but not enough to get close enough and finished a second or so behind for 2nd place.

Race 2: Starting back in 7th, I got off to a clean start and watched as those ahead started to fall off the track. Around lap 6 I was in the lead and I then held it together for a pretty faultless race for first place.

Another great event - thanks.

 

[Hans Sneep]

Get home 21.30 change close get a coffee,start GTL and just in time to start practice.
Something strange happens to me lately in privet training I am always faster then in Pract.and Qualif on line and I don't no why, on my own I did a 1.34.xxx
IN Practice and Quali. fastest time 1.39.xxx??? don't understand this.

OK Zanvoort I was so happy, first GTL race here and the Old layout of this fantastic circuit can you imagine the F1 in 1967 on this track?

Start place 16 good start past one car but kept it easy on cold tyre's first lap went ok second lap I was already faster then my Quali time ? BUT in third lap
disaster strikes,Andy and Dave are fighting together Andy of to the left and Dave to the right ,and coming together again in the middle of the track,no way to avoid them so I went strait trough and hit them both lost front spoiler,car handling a little strange( did not notice loss of spoiler) and lost the car in the Tarzan- insite corner car hanging on the curfs good get it off anymore so hit escape and watch the race from the pits ,and a fantastic race it was.

Hans