RDHGP S8 - Round 5 - 100km - Early Brands Hatch - Tue 13th Dec 2011

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Stuart Thomson

The Stoat Without Fear ™
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RaceDepartment Historic Grand Prix Season 8 Round 5
Welcome back to Round 5 of the RDHGP S8, and our final event before the mid season break. Round 4 at Jerez was a good contrast to the preceding race, wide, lots of run-off areas, long-ish track, more a true GP/GT track than one of the shorter style tracks. That style of track allowed for a slightly different style of passing, where you can set the move up as much by altering lines through multiple corners to achieve a different strategy at the passing point. On the smaller tracks, there are fewer workable lines, and so it tends to be a slightly more opportunist passing proposition, but the racing is always nice and tense.

Round 5 stays with the longer, more GP/GT style of track, and is one of the most famous names in world Motorsport.

We go 1,000 miles North Northeast from Jerez to West Kingsdown in Kent, England, and the Brands Hatch GP Circuit – “Early” Layout.

s8r5.jpg


Circuit Notes
West Kingsdown is located in North Kent, in the South East of England. It is located about 8 miles south of the River Thames Crossing between Dartford in Kent & Thurrock in Essex. Brands Hatch is most definitely my “Home” circuit, as I live less than 15 miles away from it in real life (across the Thames in Essex), and (on a good day) can drive there in 20-25 minutes.

The name of the circuit is derived from the Gaelic “Bron” (wooded slope) & “Hach” (forest entrance), which, as anyone who has ever been there can testify, described the setting pretty much perfectly. The circuit was first used as a dirt track motorcycling circuit on some farmland, around a naturally formed amphitheatre. This dirt track was tarmaced and became the first layout of Brands, and still exists as the “Indy” circuit. In 1960, the track was extended from its 1.25mile (2km) to a 2.6mile (4.2km) layout. There was a slight layout change in 1976, and some events prompting renaming of corners to the ones that are still familiar and in use today. This is the layout the RDHGP will be using for this race.

Brands has hosted virtually every class of British motorsport over the years including 12 British F1 GP’s, 2 F1 European GP’s. It has also participated in overseas Championships as an “away” event for WTCC & DTM. It even set James Garner on fire in the film Grand Prix.

For any motor racing fan, and indeed any simracer, Brands Hatch should be a very familiar location. It is essentially a rather simple layout, just 9 turns over 4.2km, but the natural bowl of the Indy sections and the high speeds and tricky cambers of the GP section mean that it is one of the best driving circuits around anywhere.

A lap of Brands Hatch starts on the gently uphill sloping Grid, where all you can see ahead is the sky and the top of the old standings board. After a very short run, as you reach the top of the crest just past the S/F line, you need to brake and then start to get the nose in for T1R – Paddock Hill Bend. Paddock is a monstrous corner to start a lap, it starts by being blind, then approached downhill, and as the corner turns, that gradient means that the corner is actually negatively cambered, meaning that your car will be sliding wide even more than normal.

Exiting the turn, you will be drifting wide left, flat out under acceleration onto the short downhill- and then sharply uphill, Pilgrim’s rise. As this is the early version, there is no green concrete run off area that is commonly used today. We will be using the 2 wheels on track at all times rule exiting Paddock along Pilgrim’s Rise.

The tracks starts to flatten out as you go under the banner, but it at that point where it’s hard, hard on the brakes for T2R – Druids. A tight hairpin, falling away downhill on exit, it’s a corner where trying to go too fast will cost you way more time than being steady through the turn. The kerbs on the left are not too slippery on exit, but be warned that there is a very strict (but not unfair) cut warning at the end of them. You have all been warned (and will be warned again lower down) about this cut, so any complaints will not be given much consideration, as everyone drives to the same rules.

Accelerating downhill out of Druids, stay right and dab the brakes as little as you dare and sweep the nose through the inside edge of T3L – Graham Hill. This is a corner that invites you to attack, but is protected by an adverse camber, and a long exit radius with very bumpy and slippery dirt & grass waiting if you go too wide on exit. Getting this corner right feels glorious, and the reward is the speed you carry onto the gentle curve of the Cooper Straight.

At the end of Cooper is the approach for T4L – Surtees. This is another tricky approach, as the bend turns left and uphill, past the Indy circuit join, and tightens ever so slightly, which can cause a problem if you are running wide, as the tightening is to accommodate the outer wall of the Indy circuit confines, and the footings of the bridge that spans the circuit at this point. Again, you will save more time being safer and prudent through here than having to reverse out of the wall.

Surtees opens onto the longest straight on the circuit, leaving the Indy amphitheatre, passing under the bridge, it crests and then falls away into the long and shallow Pilgrim’s Drop, where you hill hit your top speed. The track flattens and then starts to climb slightly as you just dab the brakes and throw the car into T5R – Hawthorn.

Hawthorn is a devilishly fast corner, carry as much speed as possible through here and onto the Derek Minter straight, and then it’s time to step on brakes again as you approach T6R – Westfield. Another corner that drops down away from you, again the altitude making it off-camber, so care is required on the left hand exit kerbs. You bottom and then climb sharply out of Westfield, accelerating hard uphill before feathering the throttle and turning in blind into T7R – Dingle Dell.

Dingle Dell is another fast corner, carry speed through here and then stand hard or the brakes for T8L – Stirling’s. A fairly tight 90, grip is fairly good through here, so you can be fairly assertive standing on the loud pedal out of here.

Stirling’s exits onto the downhill straight Clearways, under the footbridge before you dab the brakes and turn into T9R – Clark. A fairly shallow turn, but again the camber makes it difficult to get the nose in if you drift too wide, and the dusty sand on the outside will slow you right down. Accelerate hard out of Clark, onto the Brabham Straight, past the pits, climbing again past that grid and over the S/F line for another lap of Brands Hatch GP.
 
Well, unexpectedly, I had a lot of fun. After finding out I had been practising on the wrong version of the track, I suddenly found myself 3+ seconds a lap faster. An unexpected phone call during qualie disconnected my internet (note to self: get new microfilters!), but I made it back with 10 minutes to spare. Q'd in 8th.

A better start than usual put me in 10th after T1, but Ross and Dymtro's tangle put me in 8th again. A few more off's by other racers left me in 5th, and having a great battle with Roland, with Thommo, Jay and Ondrej chasing hard. A few laps & swapped positions later, and I got past Roland, then Thommo breezed past. I was hoping that Jay and Ondrej would keep each other occupied, but my inability to get Paddock Bend right meant on lap 23 they both nipped past. I managed to stay with them though, and squeezed by at the last turn. A screwed up T1 saw them both fly by, but again I was able to stay with them. Stupidly though, I caught Jays car and span him round. I waited for him, Roland got by too, and I finished 9th.

All-in-all, a fun race, on a track I was not expecting to enjoy at all. Thanks to Thommo and RD, and long live GTL
 
Awful race for me. dissapointing. :(

Was 4th after T1, then 1st !!! after T2, and I knew that I wasn't fast to be in front longer that couple of laps. I knew also that I wasn't fast enough for a top 3 either. I was right. After few laps I was 4th, then disasters came like a tsunami. Was kicked out from the track twice. First contact with Dmytro (blue Grantura), I spun big time and ended in a grass on a top of the hill. Dmytro didn't waited for me so I realised that he didn't knew there was a contact. Lost several positions and I was very angry after that because I found it hard to back into rhythm. Few laps after another contact with Jay, another spin and finished deep in the grass again. :( After that incident I was completely out of the rhythm logically, so I drove just to finish the race on 10th.

Very strange and unique race from every aspect, was 1st after lap 1, and had two major incidents, none were my fault. I will soon forget strange & unique. :)

WD Dmytro and podium.

c ya in 2012, cheers.
 
Started i think in 6th but got good grip off the line and a quick swerve around Ondrej who either missed the light or could not get grip but either way i got past and was up to 3rd as we exited turn 1. Turn 2 saw the two car in from of me collide and i did my best to avoid them but i had to go around the TVR the long way and as i came back to the racing line i got t-boned by Jay who had managed to keep the proper line but my luck was in as he glanced off i hardly moved and kept it going only to be nudged wide by Ondrej 2 corners later. So i started in 6th, made it up to 2nd then back down to 6th in the space of 5 or 6 corners.

As i settled in 6th i slowly started to close the gap to the cars in front hoping that they would soon start fighting for places and it did not take long for it to start as Ondrej ran wide letting me up to 5th.
Predrag was next as he held 5th for another 3 or 4 laps until he ran wide at T1 which gave me the inside line for T2 and i was up to 4th.
A few laps later saw Jay and Thommo collide which gave me a very brief 2nd place but Ross was hard on my heals as we went past Jay & Thommo, Ross then squeezed past at T2.
The better handling Lotus soon made it clear that i was not going to catch him as every bend saw him increase the gap and pretty soon i had the second TVR chasing me down and he got the better drive going up the hill and went flying past me, i guess we either had different gearing or i had more damage than i thought as the speed difference between the two tvr's there made me think i had missed a gear or something.
Back to 4th until we lost Ross, so by half distance i found myself in 3rd with not enough speed to catch those in front but with enough to keep a steady gap to those behind, so an eventful first have of the race and a quiet second half.

Thnx to all GTL gentleman drivers for yet another great event, not a full grid but the 17 good drivers we did have more than makes up for that.
 
Had a horrible start as always and lost a few positions off the line. In the 2nd corner I had to slow down for a spun car in front of me and was now second last iirc. But after that it was pure joy for me. Throughout the whole race there were always cars around, motivating me to push harder to catch up/get away. And again, the speed of the cars are very well matched! I really appreciate the varied field and the matched pace.

Thanks Stuart for organizing yet another great event and to all drivers that showed up.
 
Practiced a bit, but had to take care of something, so was AFK for a fair bit. Missed quali, and race start by a couple of minutes. I'll gladly take a no show, which it basically was. Sorry all.

Ondrej did well I see, congrats. My 1:54 in practice was probably miles off your pace?
 
Practiced a bit, but had to take care of something, so was AFK for a fair bit. Missed quali, and race start by a couple of minutes. I'll gladly take a no show, which it basically was. Sorry all.

Ondrej did well I see, congrats. My 1:54 in practice was probably miles off your pace?
Nope, your time would have been ok mate
 
Q=5
R=2

Never felt comfortable with Brands Hatch, still was it an great evening, must be all great drivers here at historic league:)

Was only 1 sec from missing the start....back at race rig was it counting down to zero when pressing the race button, and ingame is it counting 3, and here I go..... Have done much worse starts with perfect preparation, so that I only lost 2 positions was spot on:) going behind Thommo into T2 and coming out as 2nd, still behind Thommo, had to follow him around for a coupple of laps with great side by side racing at some moments, Good drive there m8:)
Finally I manage to pass, but he had not give it up, so some more good racing side by side, until I managed to get a little gap enough to get focus on driving and not watch in the mirrors all time.
Felt great to be in the lead for first time at this league:) even thought I could watch Ross increasing the gap lap by lap, He closed up so fast that I just drove aside and let him pass when he had reach me, Then Dmytro also gained very much and closed up on me, suddenly is Ross just dissapering in front of me and I am again in the lead, with Dmytro close behind, tried to give him a fight, but his TVR was just to fast on the straights for me to have a chance.
So for the rest of race was I driving in 2nd, very happy for a good race with a great result.

Thanks Thommo and R-D for this awsome league:)

Grats Dmytro for the win and Neil for a podium. Thanks all nice racers, c ya at LeMas du Clos
 
Ondrej did well I see, congrats. My 1:54 in practice was probably miles off your pace?

Thanks Senad, this was truly my best pace ever in RDHGP, in qualification I made the fastest time and was beaten later only by 4 drivers. And I still was in a half a second gap with the 1:51.6 :)

I start with this to complete my story. I am not quite satisfied with the results and in next lines I will try to explain. As I mentioned, qualification went amazingly well and I have to bring out that with the manual H-shifting and clutching I was losing a lot of time comparing to sequential gearbox, but after I saw the results I said to myself - Who cares about that, its much more fun. With these circumstances in my mind, the qualification was really remarkable for me. This is something I was really proud of :) I must admit I didnt get close to that time anytime in the race though.

This leads to the race. If there is something I have to improve, its start with FWD car. Or, to be more specific, with my little red FWD. I lost my 4th place before T1 in a seconds, because the car is very unique in this - I rev the engine and after pulling off the clutch, it dropped very fast down to 3 thousands. No power at all here, I got overtaken by a lot of drivers. But I was able to bite trough the field back to 4th or 5th place, where I settled behind Pedrag if I remember well. He was slower, but I was very limited by the power of my engine. He fought like a true warrior for every space on tarmac and I couldnt pass him by, even though in corners I was out pacing him. This led me to lose a lot of time and firstly, it was Rosso who got ahead of me from behind (he had crash with Dmytro?)... Then blue lightning, Dmytro was next to pass me. I had now to forget Pedrag and had to concentrate on Dmytro. I was again limited by weak engine, a lot, but I was able to defense in turns. Having this advantage, and the fact I could brake later and be full out earlier in turns, gave me possibility to catch again Pedrag, but still with Dmytro behind. I was using this advantage a lot, but now with Dmytro to overtake me in T1, I overdid. I braked TOO MUCH late. Run off, crash. From 4th to middle field, got passed by Tim, Roland (am I right?) and at last with Thommo. After the race I realized that the gap between me 5th, 6th Dmytro and then Tim was big enough to finish 3rd, after Rosso had a DQ and Stuart with Pedrag had hard times - thats the main point of my unsatisfactoriness, mainly because this run off was the only one mistake I did trough the race.

Never the less, this didnt happened and at that Time I had to fight for every second to not finish that back. I started to do stable laps and I was caching Thommo every lap closer. Until I tried to overtake him, but again my weak engine refused to work harder and he passed by again. I tried to disadvantage him in turn, but I did, not major, but mistake and 3 laps of caching were gone. Still enough laps to get him, how we were both closing to Tim and Roland. There Thommo passed Roland and flied away and I was again slowed by Roland, whom I was fighting. I overtook him, but with big lost and next on my list was again Thommo, being now slowed by Tim by their fight. I got behind them, Thommo was successful to overtake and now it was me to get by Tim. We swapped for few times, until Roland got overtaken by Jay, who now was trying to pass me. Stuart disappeared and there was no chance to pass him, so my next mission was to defend Jay and pass Tim. Luckily Tim went off his racing line and we both, with Jay got by, and then Tim spun Jay and I had last lap all alone just to finish.

All in one, very realistic race with professional behavior from everyone. Interesting, amazing fun, enjoyable. I am just angry on myself, because I got by my stupid mistake and weak nerves rid of podiums. Shame.

Thanks RDHGP community for keeping me in this great addiction! :) See you next time!
 
And again, the speed of the cars are very well matched! I really appreciate the varied field and the matched pace.

The main thing here is that really, the TC65's is easily the best matched class, albeit in 3 distinct groups.

The higher up the power chart you go, the harder it is to get matched vehicles.

GTC72 is the only other one that sort of works, and that's mostly mods.
 
As I mentioned, qualification went amazingly well and I have to bring out that with the manual H-shifting and clutching I was losing a lot of time comparing to sequential gearbox, but after I saw the results I said to myself - Who cares about that, its much more fun.

That's the spirit, glad I'm not the only one ;) (Although I don't know if it makes me slower, and I also use realistic steering ratios)
 
Then Dmytro also gained very much and closed up on me, suddenly is Ross just dissapering in front of me and I am again in the lead, with Dmytro close behind, tried to give him a fight, but his TVR was just to fast on the straights for me to have a chance.

The better handling Lotus soon made it clear that i was not going to catch him as every bend saw him increase the gap and pretty soon i had the second TVR chasing me down and he got the better drive going up the hill and went flying past me, i guess we either had different gearing or i had more damage than i thought as the speed difference between the two tvr's there made me think i had missed a gear or something.

Guys, I do not know where from came a legend about a phenomenal straight speed of Grantura, maybe from tech specs, but I can say(all of which tested my experience) that Grantura has no speed advantage on the straights. I found it when I was preparing for the enduro at MagnyCours at the end of 2010(then, with Ryan, we were much faster than any other, we won not on the long straight) and when I was preparing for this championship and picked up the car. Grantura gaining time on twisty roads (with mixed turns), but not on the straights. Where I won the pole position this year earlyer? At Vayline - there was no straights at all, there were some twists and turns. At the same time, Westwood and NorthPoint - two fairlylong straights.Grantura not like lifts very much, it has badly divided gear ratios (the second is too short, and a third is too long), it is less stable in the turns than the Lotus. Simply it is necessary to understand and feel this car.
About Brands Hatch's straight - I overtook several cars on it because I came out correctly from Surtees and starting to pick up speed earlier than others.This is a very important turn on this track. This is the whole secret (no extra gears, hp or boost :) ).
 
About race.
As you know, I finished the last race at Jerez on the second lap pressing ESC because of problems with my state of health. I am still experiencing these problems. Because, I almost did not prepare for the race (I went 15-20 laps on Monday) and was not sure I can drive a race.
Because,all of that was yesterday- it was more than surprising. I won the pole position (and can be quickly somewhere in 0.5sec). I won the start but because of the incident with Rossco (np mate ;) ) I was down in the middle of the peloton. But I was pretty quick in the race and was able to win the race. After the first lap I did not believe in it. On the last laps my legs were numb again, but I was able to survive and get to my first victory in the RD championships (leagues)!

I want to thank all my mates for this race (many guys have surprised me yesterday of their pace, well done!) Well done Nils and Niel! Pity about Rossco. Thanks to Stu and RaceDepartment! This was fantastic and unexpected race day.
 
Had a great battle with Hans until lap 21 when my tyres would not work anymore, was going to pit for more but with a 35 second gap to Jack thought I would push it to the end and only just made it, losing nearly 10 seconds per lap. I propose that from now on all races last no longer than 15 laps.
 
This race was an awesome load of fun!:) Some might remember me mentioning that I somehow always missed out on the close racing action; well this time I had about as much close racing action as I could handle and was loving every minute of it...

Practise was OK but qualy was not that great as I only managed 13th, but then.. time to race!

I absolutely did my very best race start ever, went from 13th to 8th even before T1, and found myself in the middle of the action right away.
Back to 9th, until some early laps incidents and running a consistent pace even got me as far up as 5th place after a few laps, by which time I got myself into a very intense, highly entertaining and very clean battle with Tim that lasted past halfway the race.
By then Tim had slightly escaped me, however Thommo and Ondrej were breathing down my neck. A little off of mine stopped me from fighting Stu, but as Ondrej mentioned in his report I made his life a bit harder and it took him a while to get by.

No time to relax however, as Jay and Knut had arrived for a close taillight inspection.. Another slight mistake allowed Jay just enough room to pass, while I held off the very careful -thx mate!- Knut a little longer. Eventually he too got by (note to self: this car has no 6th gear, shift from 3rd to 4th instead!:D ), so found myself running 9th, while still having sight on cars #4 to #8 until the very last lap, when Tim and Jay's little gettogether handed me a 7th place finish on a silver platter. That of course was a very welcome gift, but I would have been perfectly happy with a #9 finish as well.

I had a blast all race long! It was over before I knew, never had a dull moment, but only non-stop racing action..:):):)

Bit of a shame that I ended on the bottom side of every on-track fight, but in all honesty, my pace just isn't good enough to claim any right to top-10 finishes for myself, so I have to rely on luck and others' misfortune for that.:cool:
Then again, if I can have intense racing action like this all the time, I don't really care about where I finish.

Congratulations to Dmytro, for a great drive to a well deserved victory I believe, and to Nils and Neil for completing the podium.
And again, Big thanks to Thommo for another big fun event in what really is a great season in a field with only gentleman drivers..

So, Seasons Greetings to all of you, hope to see you all again @ Le Mas du Clos.

My replay can be found HERE.

RDHGPS8R5.jpg
 
My pace was a bit below most but I stayed relatively close for about 1/4 of the race but I again had three offs only because of trying to use all of the track and ever so slightly touching the edge of the grass and off I went. Now I was so far behind that I was alone for the event, hoping to come across someone to race with but no such luck. I had a good start but I was not aggressive enough and I lost all positions gained by being passive at the first corner but I would rather lose position than cause mayham.
Definitely need to prepare more. Wd all. Fun track Stu. Grats to podium people. Good results Tim, Roland, and Hans.:)
 
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