Mixed Class @ Vitus Parc Club - Thu 23rd Sep

[Stuart Thomson]

Servername: RD GTL RACING CLUB
Class: Mixed Class
Vehicles: Jaguar MkII / Abarth 1000TC / Lotus Elite / Renault 8TS / Lancia Fulvia HF / TVR Grantura
Track: Vitus Parc Club
Start Time: 19.00 GMT
Practice: 20 mins
Qualification: 10 mins - one timed lap
Race: 2 x 16 laps
Note1: Click here to read the password and golden rules!
Note2: You can choose any 2 cars for these races - although you must use a different car for each race.
Note3: Default skins only for the mod cars. Please also install the TC65 & GTC65 skinpacks
Note4: Any version of any of the cars are OK, assuming they have multiple versions within the mods. Abarth TCR not allowed.
Note5: This is a NON Rankings Point event.

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

I can't make it tonight. Waiting for Logitech to contact me

 

[Raf Nix]

Then i'll step in

 

[David Cuthill]

I can't get into the lobby at the moment. Getting the "Could not connect to server" message.

 

[David Cuthill]

Nope, couldn't get on the server grrrrr. Have fun.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

2nd race starting now

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Renault 8 setup

 

[Bob Hutchins]

Top nights racing and oh what fun the Lancia. Didn't quite get it together in race 2 but I think that was down to all the excitment had in race 1.

Top night there Thommo, thanks for setting it up and for putting up such a great combo of cars. Grts to Chris & Lenno on their wins and thanks to all that showed up without which we couldn't have this much fun.

 

[Warren Dawes]

Good fun again, with an unusual array of cars, all fairly closely matched on a really nice track.

Race 1: Jaaaaaaaaag:
I couldn't really match the pace of the field (mostly Lancias) in the old mafia boat, but it is always an enjoyable ride. Managed a surprisingly good start, but unfortunately that put me in front of a few quicker guys, so I held them up for a bit, especially Carlos. :tongue: Sorry for taking up so much track space, but the old blunderbus needed lots of room.

Race 2: Lancia:
This car couldn't be more different to drive than the Jaaaaaag. It seemed to be slightly quicker than the others, so I managed pole, but quickly blew any advantage with another of my hopeless starts. Dropped immediately to 5th, and noticed in the replay that I pushed Gary wide out of turn 1, sorry Gary, I didn't see you outside me there, and the FWD understeer caught me a bit. Still, it made you work harder for the win. :wink:
Managed to get into a huge scrap for the lead with Chris in the "gulp" Jaaaaag. Catching him was one thing, but pulling off a clean pass was a whole new challenge. Having driven the Jaaaaag in Race 1, I knew where he was struggling, but he wasn't giving any room, and was hanging in there tenaciously. My first attempt to pass resulted in me going into the grass, putting Gary onto my tail. My second attempt to pass the Jaaaaag resulted in disaster. Through the last chicane, I was fairly sure I had achieved the pass, but, to make sure I gave Chris maximum room, I took a tight line through the last turn over the curbs. That proved deadly as the Lancia launched into the air and rolled into the wall on the other side. Oops!!. :eek:
After that, the Lancia was handling horribly, so I had some fun by trying to glue onto Bob's rear for the last few laps.

Thanks Stu, another great Car and track combo.

 

[Carlos Diaz]

You weren't holding me up Wazza just showing me the correct lines :good:
This layout of the track is short but very tricky, at least for me it was lol.
Had a very hard time trying to find the best lines through some of the turns.
I should have practiced a bit more but I just didn't have time, I barely made it home in time to join race1.
The Lancia felt kinda nice but it seemed like it would spin the rears rather easy.
I wasn't doing so bad until I spun it towards the end. And then I ran out of fuel in the last lap.

In race 2 I tried to drive the Renault but it was just too tail happy, I was running out of time so I didn't want to take the risk of grabbing Stu's setup and then still not liking it and not have enough time to switch cars. I tried everything in the book to get rid of oversteer, it got MUCH better but still not good enough to have a 16 lapper in. The Abarth is familiar to me, so I chose that instead, but I didn't have enough time to dial it in well enough to be competitive. Strangely enough, I had more spins with the Abarth than with the Lancia. Towards the end Tim was nice enough to wait on me everytime I went off, so I returned the favor when it was his turn to go off-roading. It was funny watching him cross the line in reverse after smashing his front suspension up so bad he couldn't drive it forwards.


Thanx Thommo for setting it up. Thanx to all who showed up :thumb:

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Well, that was interesting, and enlightening on various topics.

Race1 - I chose the Renault as I (correctly) suspected it wouldn't get a lot of love. It's default handling is evil, but some pretty extreme settings alleviated most of that evilness (for me) and downgraded it to "sulky". It's not miles off in pace compared to the other cars, but all the setup work in the world won't help if you stick the Renault on it's roof by hitting a kerb. Doh!

Was having a good scrap with Ralf in his Elite, he got away, then I closed up, then he got away, then I closed up, then I was upside down But that was only the second best scrap of the night, as I'll come back to later.

Race2 - I went with the Abarth as I had to miss the recent Hilltop & Le Mas event. Yes it was a known quantity, but I hadn't driven it against anyone for ages. It was nice and perky around most of the corners, but that lack of guts in the engine was costing it on the straighter sections - never quite making the most of the time it had made up in the previous corner. I had a bit of a wobble, and closed up on Carlos, in his Abarth, and a recovering Nige, in his TVR. Absoultely brilliant 3-way fight there. Unfortunately Carlos went a bit wide and let me & Nige through, and we kept it nose to tail for a few more laps until we came across the stricken Lancia of Warren just past the last chicane. Nige managed to go wide without slowing, but my line meant I had to back right out to avoid Warren.

That opened up a 2.5 sec gap which again we kept constant, actually closing up on the leading Chris (manfully throwing the Jaaaaaag around like a getaway driver in a 1960's Ealing bank job caper) and Gary (nipping at his heels in his TVR). I then had a bit of a spin as I pushed too hard to try and catch Nige, opening up another chunk of gap, which stayed constant until the flag. A brilliant fight right the way through the race with Nige, if he'd had an off or even just a wobble, I'd have be all over his back, but he kept it rock solid all the way. Great stuff :good:


I think only me & Ralf (who had to leave before R2 anyway) didn't have the Fulvia 1600 on the menu for this event for either race, with 6 out of 9 drivers taking it for race 1.

But - it did seem to cement the thought that the Fulvia would be a great single make event choice, and possibly even using it in a FWD frenzy with/against the Mini. So keep your eyes out for that one in the not-too-distant once I can test out my theory.

 

[Carlos Diaz]

Wait...the Fulvia is FWD?!! lol
No wonder it felt "strange" hehe. That means I wasn't spinning the rears, I was spinning the fronts lol.

Sometimes I amaze myself with my own ignorance lol.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Most Lol-some :good:

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

lol Carlos I thought for a long time that it was fwd. I guess the looks are deceiving with this car. It has the attitude of rwd Alfa.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

lol Carlos I thought for a long time that it was fwd.

Errr, that means you're correct though

 

[Knut Omdal Tveito]

lol, I meant to say I thought it was rwd before

 

[Nigel Atkins]

superb couple of races

race 1. qualified 3rd in the Fulvia but got swamped into t1, so then got to have fun moving back up the positions. warren did a great job in the opening laps but i was able to sneek by him and chase Thommo, who desided he didnt want to play and turned turtle on me at T1 lol. i think ralf was still getting used to the track and let my past. next up was Lenno & Bob but with only 5 or so laps and 10 second gap i had little chance of catting them so finished 4th.

race 2. qualified 2nd in the TVR & got a nice start to take the lead. after a coupe of laps Chris was still fairly close in his JAGGGGGG and i made a mistake and took to much curb at the chicane but wasent in total control and the next right and span. once i got my head down again i was in a Arbath sandwich and the more Stu presured me the more i pressured carlos who ran wide at T1 letting us past. i was lucky that i had a wide exit and didnt get hindered when Warren spun, but it gave me a 2 sec breathing space to Stu so i was able to knock in some quick times and chase down Chris and Lenno, but it just didnt have enough laps to get right with them but was well happy to get within a couple of seconds.

thanks for the great event Stu and to all thouse who raced

 

[Gary Lennon]

I was another one confused with the Lancia until Stu informed me it was FWD,so i arrived ready to go with it,just barely maintained my 2nd place around T1 and from then on it was just watching Chris ease away lap after lap but i didnt keep an eye on Hutcho chasing and closing rapidly,so my task was fending him off to the finish.....just ;P.
A good launch with the TVR for race 2 and the only piece of track available at T1 was outside edge,so i took it and sadly this time it didnt pay off and i found myself hobbling out of the gravel last and the back of the pack disappearing down the hill out of sight,i honestly expected very little from then on,even more so when i saw how much time and effort it was to catch up and make my first pass,but then gradually it started to unfold more in my favour with some gifts along the way and without noticing i was now in 3rd place looking ahead at the Warren Vs. Chris tussle for the lead,the harder they went at it the closer i got and happily made it a good old 3way fight until Wazza checked out at the last chicane with a slightly strange but never the less impressive "Roof-Flip" leaving me to take up the push on Chris,had so much fun trying in vain to pass,that Jaaaaaag just had the top end legs on the TVR which just kept Chris ahead despite some mighty corner exit runs at him.
Now on the final lap we exit T1 and i reckon both slightly distraced by a back-marker,who is doing great and keeping well out the way i should add....but Chris just ahead steps out wide at that very ordinary right "kink" just after T1,i almost follow in time honoured tradition,but just manage to scrape the front end of the TVR a bit tighter right and keep just on the tarmac enough to nick the lead and dive down the hill with some comfort gap too ,so a highly unlikely win!!!,could be some lovely highlights vid material with the Chris battle too,GTL Classics!! .
Thanks all there giving us an event worthy grid.

Big thanks to Stu/Carlos & RD