BMW 320 Gr5 @ Magny-Cours - Sprint/Feature - Thu 17th June

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

Another great event:good:

Race 1: I had good pace through practice and qualy, but in the race I couldn't find the rhythm. Made lots of mistakes but had lots of fun. Especially jumping over those kerbs, almost bit my tongue off when it went horribly wrong. Lots of clean racing in this race too, loved it!

Race 2: Got off to a decent start and built up a lead as the behind cars battled it out. Things were going quite well and tried to keep it safe and not push too hard. I had a "moment" when i thought i was on the National layout, but other than that it was pretty clean up to the first pit stop. Sorry for the chat in the pit, I pressed the wrong buttons (old habit, just changed the pit buttons) and I think I lost some time too. As people finished their stops the gap down to 2nd and 3rd had decreased quite a bit. Ross and Gary was churning out much better lap times and would have caught me before the finish line. But then I did a stupid mistake, I was too early on the throttle out of the second hairpin and spun out. Gary took the lead but I managed to keep 2nd. Luckily I ended up 2nd after some really tough laps trying to keep up!

Congrats Gary for the two wins, great driving!

Good to see the Sprint/Feature combo back! I love these events, especially with the pit stops:good:


Thanks Stuart and RD for superb event.

 

[Ross McGregor]

ANother enjoyable evening of racing again! Mucked up qualie so started from the back and witnessed Bob 'the rocket' Hutchins firing himself up the field! Started off slowly, but early doors spun before the final chicane in avoidance of a spinner. (I think 3 of us went off) Rejoined and started to get close to the pack and had skirmishes with Bob, Stuart, Carlos along the way. Made another mistake so dropped down the order, but climbed back up to P2 with a few laps remaining while everyone else had their own little problems. However, i jumped sideways over the kerbs, spun, hit the barrier, and Knut scraped through, almost followed by Stuart who sensed blood! Managed to hang on for dear life (suspension wasn't right) and took 3rd.

Race 2, qualified 3rd, with a lap that turned out to be 3s slower than my fastest race lap! These cars are really tough to drive on cold tyres. Entered turn one 4th (rocket bob) and was trying to settle into a rhythm. However, soon enough i made a mistake at the adelaide hairpin and had Stuart alongside. (i didn't notice this until it was almost too late!) Let him through into the fast chicane, but he was starting to spin in the next left-hander, so i jinked right and lost a stack of time on the kerbs. Got my head down and began to catch the guys in front, Bob had an off (i presume) so i was able to get in the slipstream towards the hairpin, and bob kindly let me through with lots of space to spare. Tried to catch Knut ahead, but i could now see Gary harrassing Bob so thought i'd better get a move on! Before Gary caught me, i spun at the left-hand hairpin, Gary went through, i rejoined, Gary spun 100 yards further on, i went past, and we were back to square one! Hilarious stuff.
I pitted at the end of lap 10 (like a few others) and took it easy on the outlap, only to see Gary rejoining ahead. For the next few laps it was nip and tuck as we pushed each other to try and catch Knut, trading fastest laps until i lost the back end at the haripin. In my attempts to catch back up, i tried to defy the laws of physics, failed, and spun a further 2 times!

Overall, really good fun, had some good tussles in both races without any 'banger racing', but that's to be expected here with you guys. The only down-point was a lack of drivers, possibly due to the 'massive' world cup tie between France & Mexico on at the same time...
It's quality over quantity though, right?!

 

[Gary Lennon]

Ninja style sneak over the fence behind the garages without a ticket to join the event ¬_¬

Away terrible from 3rd with wheel spin and slidey snaking forward,it was highlighted badly with Bobs start as well the way he blasted through,nowt fancy went on at all lap one,a deffinate sense of nervousness on the cold rubber so i think it was all just a polite train lap one?,then we got going proper and mixing it a bit,i took a lovely run out of Lysee'?,and took the run down to the final 2 turns and made a nice braking pass what started out as taking one place,about to follow Bob?,when he suddenly went badly wide,seeing as i was all tucked in tight anyway,i finished the job off and nipped through and went through the last chicane...Bingo!,in the lead ,and then it just turned in to a last man standing attrition affair as my chasers had various moments to themselves,i think mainly at the "Yomp"?,gave me the luxury of not having to take the big risks there but still had some fun there right to the end.
Awesome howler qually with 2 slapstick spins,well,the spins were standard stuff i suppose,but the recoveries were slapstick classics,back of our small grid for me then....tried not even to make one place from the start and ended up with a much calmer and better start so i took one spot down to T1,it looked like more of the same opening lap caution so no knocks or threats until we had settled a bit,then ofcourse once again...Game On!! ,some quality early action getting a pass or two done and attempting to keep the leaders within grasp,i think it was Knut making one of his early escapes up front?,suddenly at probably thee number one nightmare turn of that layout i sees a Thommo ahead going all sidey ways in super slo mo just cant be stopped 911'esque spin,when i realise im not actually going to be able to avoid him,i go for the "nudge his front end back in line again" option,i dont think that entirely worked either tbh? :/,decided to wait and try again with a bit more effort...Thommo wasnt avin it though and refused to go through,fairly doo's guv' cheers o>.....now i had some open road and really went for it,each lap seemed to be my new fastest as the car just kept feeling better and better,caught Ross and could see the pressure getting to him a bit with small wide and wobbly moments,then...lo-and-behold,he only goes and does a carbon copy Thommo spin at that same turn!,but a little bit more space for me this time to make it past with no drama,i had a nice big grin on my old chops then,very pleased and dare i say,a bit smug with myself at actually getting an avoidance move done properly,as i was giving a little wave and a cheeky wink to the cheering crowd,i proceeded to spin out in a right mad fashion,and another semi-slapstick recovery!!,Ross was through again and he gave me a cheeky wink and also some kind of 2 fingers up gesture as well??,probably just letting me know that was him back up to 2nd place eh?.. so more chase down pushage and got close again when he pitted.
Cant remember if i stayed out one or two laps more but i was grinning again coming out the pits just ahead of Ross after a fairly perfect stop by Lenno standards changing just rear tyres,i was going to be happy as Larry with 2nd place but started noticing the gap to Knut was coming my way lap by lap,sometimes in nice big chunks as well ,then i noticed a black car over on the bit of grass i ended up parking after my crazy spin,i think Knut maybe done a copy of my spin there?! ,so through to the lead by a series of little lucky breaks with a cushty gap too,a highly unlikely double,although Magny has usually been kind to me in the past.
Pleasurable laid-back night there fellas,what we lacked in numbers we surely made up for with gentlemanly sporting spirit,and when the 4 or 5 us would get a bit of close'ish racing going,it doesnt really matter anyway,thanks all there making it a sweet little event.

Thanks Stu/Carlos & RD

 

[Carlos Diaz]

I didn't get enough practice today before the event started. I couldn't get the car to be as predictable as I would have liked. I had fun taking turns at spinning it with Roman though lol! I lost count how many times I went off hehe.
I was hoping to get it set up a little better for Race2 and redeem myself, but I got a phone call from my Mom that would change my plans and have to miss out on Race2.:frown:

Thanks Thommo and RD!

 

[Roman Kruszewski]

One more great event!

These Beemer make me a lot of fun when driving, of course they aren't so easy to drive, but I do like them!

R1:
Had a synchro spin approaching complex before S/F and then had a nice fight with Carlos disturbed by few spins by Carlos and by me Once I made mistake and came off and Carlos waited for me - thanks m8, but I spun off on my own without Your "help". Then Carlos spun before straight and I drove alone to finish.

R2: Long race - qualified second, terrible start dropped me to 6th than two spins on first two laps which cost me about 18 sec. Then I was driving rather alone found my rythm and closed a little bit on Stu who was in front of me but then Stu decided to visit a grass, so I was again on my own. Then Bob had some troubles and I closed on him.
I made a pit on lap 12th, before stop I was up to 1st place, first time in my life After pit I caught Bob, Bob made a mistake I took his place and pulled away to secure 4th spot at he end.