TC65 Alfa Romeo GTA @ Le Mas Du Clos / Mondello I'mediate / Thermalito - Thu 20th Aug

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Stuart Thomson

The Stoat Without Fear ™
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Servername: RACEDEPARTMENT.COM
Class: TC65 Alfa Romeo GTA
Track: Le Mas Du Clos / Mondello Park Intermediate / Zolder
Practice: 15 min
Qualification: 10 min
Race: 10 laps - The above session timetable will be used for all races.

Note1: Click here to read the password and golden rules!
Note2: Default skins only.
 
Some great racing today, lots of fun, the Alfa's always deliver top racing. Three nice tracks too.

Le Mas du Clos: Qualy P7, but made a huge mess of the start. I was probably still asleep (it was about 5AM :sleep: ), forgot to put it in gear and dropped the clutch in neutral. :doh: Sorry to Nigel behind me. Dropped to P9 but had some good racing through the field, especially with Nige and Kris, and then later with Ulli and Matt, to finish P4.

Mondello: For some reason, I was struggling with poor frame rates at this track. Qualified P6, but dropped to the back to avoid any lag problems at turn 1. Again, a nice drive through the race to take P4 again.

Zolder: Best racing of them all, heaps of fun and laughs. I seemed to dial into this track better (or I was finally waking up) and qualified P2. Another sluggish start allowed Amir to get the preferred outside line into turn 1, so I backed off to give him enough room, and he also gave me plenty as well as we went into the turn. However, Ulli made an "ambitious" dive into the tiny gap inside me that was sure to end in tears :messed: . Ulli bumped me into Amir causing me to spin off, and Amir to drift into the sand. Sorry Amir, but it was out of my control. Back to last now. :frown:
The rest of the race was brilliant. I had some amazing racing with Kris, Steven, Nigel, and Matt, at one stage the five of us were side by side / nose to tail belting down the main straight into that infamous turn 1. Huge fun and great racing from everyone. :grouphug:
Screen shot below for the memories.
Finished P5 but with a big smile, great stuff guys. :D:D:D

Well done to Sam for giving us another GTL lesson, but special thanks to all who raced.
 

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Le Mas Du Clos - I didn't even know which way this track went in practice, but I loved it. Managed to get a good lap together to qualify third. Made a reasonable start and set off in pursuit of Sam, it never gonna happen though!
With a couple of laps to go Stuart managed to slither up the inside of T1 and in my haste to get back past I binned in through the fast sweepers. Wound up third.

Mondello - What can I say, couldn't get the track working for me, kept falling off the road then the connection dropped - dire!

Zolder
- Awesome race. Made a perfect getaway from 3rd, nearly had the lead in turn one but didn't want to smack into Stuart. Took the lead when he ran wide after the chicane and attempted to put some good distance between us. This, of course, led to a ruinous accident in turn one, took too much kerb, spun, smacked the barrier and stalled.....

Got back on the road in 4th and set off after Sam, Amir and Stuart who were having an awesome battle ahead, struggled past Stuart coming into the tight right hander, with some paint swapping. Was never going to catch Amir and Sam who were in a class of their own. The final lap was great. Stuart got by me after a mistake in turn one, I had caught him after the chicane and tried to put the same move on him down the hill, Stuart was wise to it this time, and almost had me on the grass as i tried to squeeze through the ever decreasing gap. I locked everything up trying to outbreak him and we ended up side by side coming towards the last chicane where Ulli was moving slowly after letting the leaders by. Stuart muscled me to the inside and I nearly wipe out Ulli as we go by, another Kamikaze move into the last turn and I had third, just.

What an amazing race, just watched the replay. Looked like a great race for everyone.

Looking forward to the 911's tomorrow!
 
Great fun as usual in with the GTL boys.

loads of stuff happening IRL for me at the mo, so not been doing much racing. got a PM from Steve about the race so signed up and i`m glad i did :)

had quite a few CTD`s and screen freezers, which has never happened before in GTL, but no worries as i`ll be getting a new i7 based PC very shortly woop woop :worship::worship::worship:
 
I just read the recent posts and realized there is some need for me to appologize especially to Warren and Amir.

Sorry Warren for having bumped into you... and thus causing you to kick Amir off the track! --> Although I intend to stick to the golden rule # 1 by heart, this one must have slipped passed my attention!

So, once again sorry!


This was my third event, and also the first I hadn't prepared for (cause I did not know at first I was gonna participate).
... and I payed the prize for that (especially cause I've never been on any of those track until training time ... to which I showed up late).

Le Mas du Clos: Really nice track! Took me some time to get a decent run on turn 1 and on the last turn, but I liked it very much. During quali, where I could have hit my best lap, my AVM popped up sending my staight to the desktop and off the track ... rrrrh. But I think, I wasn't last :)

Then as usual, great take off when the race started, but again subsequent labor defending my position (damn thats hard when you are infront of the faster guys and are not allowed one tiny mistake ... that burns calories ;). I don't know how you guys did it, but in the series of the hard turns, at the exit of the first of those, the red Alfa passed me from the inside big time... and I considered my driving OK (for my standards at least). Remains a miracle to me ;)

Dropped back to last place, but got lucky when the quarrel of the two infront of me ended in my favor :) and made me finish 8th.


Mondello: Again, good take off, but no long race cause at one point, while accellerating, my screen filled up with flames, and so did my car ;)

Never happened to me before, and I still don't know why?!
But that was cool with me as I had gotten a chance to grab myself sth to eat and enjoy the rest of the race :)

Zolder: Worst race. Apparently no concentration at all, although I was 4th right after take off. But then, after dropping back to 10th place... one sloppy mistake after another. Last place after lap 3, poor driving and the resulting urge to end the race. But hey, I would consider it shabby, if s.o. ended the race just because he's not doing so good, so I hung in there and tried to keep it up.

Tom commented my slow driving after the last chicane... I did this on the very left of the staightaway intentionally to not get in your way and let you pass by! Cause I checked my RVW and saw that there was a battle going on :) ... none I wanted to interfer!


All in all, I'm not very content with my performance!
My concequence is not to sign up as tentative unless I know the tracks!

Although I won't be attending this saturday's race (cause I'm not ready for the porsches yet), I will be back for upcoming races cause it's a lot of fun racing with you guys!


BTW, Stuart, is it allowed to join the sever just a spectator? Cause, if I have the time, I would love to watch the races on Saturday! ?
 
Ulli, thanks for the apology, it was no biggie, I had some great racing after that.
The red Alfa was me, that pass was one of my better bits of driving, I think I nailed that series of turns perfectly that time.

Ulli, I think you should join up and race with us as often as possible, don't worry if you feel a little unprepared. We often join unprepared too, but this is a great friendly group, and as long as we try to drive cleanly and just have fun, that is all most of us look for.
 
Yep, I second that. I don't get much time to practice, usually the ingame session is the first time for some of the tracks. Stuart does a great job of selecting tracks that have a long and short version, so by the end of the 1st practice session you know 75% of the track.

Running offline doesn't prepare you for real life competitors either, by joinning more events you'll pick up race craft a lot quicker than running with AI. Plus think about all the "fun" your missing out on by not participating, like Warren says we have a great bunch of racers in the GTL club, it's not the "win at all costs" attitude of some of the other sims.
 
  • Bert Van Waes

Seems like some great races to me.

Phillip is doing fine guys, :). the surgery went well and he got some bars and bolts, or how you call them in his leg. Will probably be out for work for a year. He will need to "relearn to walk" in 5 weeks from now if everything goes fine. But they left his left leg open with an incision for the fluid the leg is building up.

Crazy stuff...:shout:
 
What can I say that doesn't sound like gloating :redface: It was yet another brilliant night's racing, with our little "band of brothers" here it is almost a foregone conclusion that it will be but it does need saying..........over and over again, the core goup in GTL at RD are something else!

Race 1 at LeMas du Clos was the only one I'd tested for and I felt well comfy round it and it got me pole, which I was determined to make good use of, I duly did and took the LTF win, although Tom and Stuart did their utmost to take it away by chasing me all the way home.

Race 2 at Mondelo, a track I'm very familiar with, in a car I am also comfy driving, was easier than race 1 as almost everyone had their moments apart from Amir who followed me closely to the end and who was starting to develop a morbid fascination with the bootlid of my Alfa, as was later revealed in Race 3.

Race 3 at Zolder, one of my bogey tracks, I can never seem to take enough speed through the back section chicanes to make a fast lap, and I was starting to feel a bit tired from the first 2 races so decided to sit out quali to try to retain some energy for the race, this old fart's body not being what it used to be, mmmmmmmm?, "was it ever?" I hear in the background :silly: hehe. Stared second last on the grid, p11 I think, but was up to 5th by T2 by avoiding most of the mayem, a bump or 2 was had but without consequence thankfully, at T1 and managed to reel in and pass 4rth and 3rd placed cars reasonably early on, started to catch Stuart and Tom up front but they were running very well together and I knew catching them would be one thing, passing would be quite another, sure enough, got to Stuart and he was determined I was going to have to work for it, we made contact into the second chicane and I spun him, sorry for that Stu, I waited until he got away which let Nige through behind Stuart and Amir onto my tail, and let Tom get away from us all in the bargain, this set up a brilliant battle for the podium places, or so I thought until Tom spun out and let myself, I'd managed to get past into second just before, Amir and Stu back through, this was when Amir decided to start practicing his morse code skills by passing me messages through my back bumper, :) he seemed quite adept at this as it continued all the way to the final chicane when he must have thought I had recieved the message and went for a "bin it or win it" pass up the inside only to realise, as he slid off onto the grass:blowkiss:, that morse is not a language which I have much of an knowledge :rotfl: and I went back through to hold on for the win:smile-big:.

I have to say that after the race finished my missus had to come though into the computer room and "help" me as I had started to struggle for breath from just after half distance, with the last 2 laps being absolute torture, almost forcing me to quit but I was so determined to get a win at a track I don't particularly like I would not give in, once I had recovered the sense of achievement was so gratifying it more than made up for the effort though, for which I must surely lay the thanks square at the feet of you guys, particularly Amir for the close competition last night and Stuart for the organisation of ALL the nights of fun.

Sam
 
well sam i'm glad you survived it:wink2:

must say that watching the replay of this race( thanks to steven) was like watching a real life race and that's what it felt like to me. this race was just briliant.
after your two "easy" wins in the previus races i decided to give it all and had my" red mist" on. very close and fair battle up to that last chicane when i decided to, as you say to "win it or bin it". well i lost it but i t dosen't matter. it was a great fight and i thank you for it.
i must be honest and say that lately i didn't have that much fun racing online. i understand the spirit which says that friendly racing is the most important issue here at rd and accept it. saying that i think that the basic need for me playing the game is to try winning when i can. i got the felling lately that staying out of trouble was more importent then trying to win it fair and square and even thought about qutting . well that race last night was all i needed to remind me how good and rewarding this game is . i thank you all for that.
 
  • Matt Crouch

Screenshots from Le Mas Du Clos. Good race but I got a bit distracted by reading someone else talking on my other monitor, and one way or another span off and drove in to Knut's path... oops

Not taken any of the others yet
 

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i understand the spirit which says that friendly racing is the most important issue here at rd and accept it... i got the felling lately that staying out of trouble was more importent then trying to win it fair and square...

The spirit of friendly racing IS the most important thing while I run GTL here at RD.

But I don't think that your 2 later points should be mutually exclusive.

It is entirely possible to win without getting into trouble or using dubious tactics.

And winning by getting into trouble is not fair and square in my opinion.

Staying out of trouble doesn't mean not racing as hard as possible - it should just mean racing as hard as possible, while adhering to the same rules as everyone else about cutting, contact and respect for others so their races are not ruined by an over aggressive attitude.

There have been - and this is in general to everyone, not specifically at you - some incidents recently, nothing major, but small yet cumulative things. Some by over aggressive driving, poor lines, and then not waiting, and not apologising; some by the newer members not as attuned to the online race concept as the more experienced heads. These things can add up to frustrations, and it's generally the people with most respect for others and the rules who suffer the most. Those are the people who, despite having races ruined on an alarmingly regular basis, won't send in a report as they don't want people to get banned.

I won't let that happen, I won't let GTL go down that road, so unless people buck their ideas up, there's going to be some harsher words / punishments.

Please - All - take this as a wake up call.
 
  • Matt Crouch

Mondello, including some singed eyebrows and a wheelie (although I'm sure I wasn't the only one to wheelie it)

Race started well for me, but steam decided to pop up a window in the middle of the race to tell me about an event, which minimised the game. So I tried to steer it off the track and when I came back I was pretty much on my own for the rest of it
 

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