Season 11 - Division 3

Yeah thanks Serg, the spreadsheet had a glitch, and I had to fix it manually and missed that one

Nice work Turbo, I knew you got a better run down to the final chicane, think that's what spooked me and with my wrecked tyres, just couldn't turn enough to miss the bloody lump on the chicane... game over. A few mistakes near the end cost me a couple of positions, I was holding the gap to Emmo with 4 or 5 laps to go, and just lost concentration too many times.

Was a fun race, at least I made it through 30 laps before going off-track, better than my last few rounds where it was lap 1... lol

What a great race, I qualified third and held that from the start following Close (from pole) with Ven keeping him honest. I sat a second or two back from them for the first few laps (watching them fighting it out was very entertaining) and had Stumbles and Disturbo chasing me hard.
Ad2mny was coming up through the field from seventh and was soon harrying Stumbles and Disturbo. After a few laps Ven got past Close and began to pull way and I followed Close from a few seconds back. Ad2 had got up to
fourth behind me and I had a bit of a gap back to him, Disturbo and Stumbles as they fought over the 4th place. Disturbo and T_B ran a two stop race so dropped back after their first stops. Around lap 12 I started to close on Close and was very near him and only 7 seconds back from Ven when they pitted on lap 14. I took the lead then as I was running 16 lap and 15 lap stints. I pitted on lap 16 and Venda, Close, Disto and T-B passed me while I refuelled. When I came out of the pits in 5th, Stumbles who had pitted a couple of laps before me was right on my tail and as hard as I tried to defend, his warmer tyres made me easy pickings for him. I was then running sixth but felt that Stumbles 5th place would probably be third at the end and I wanted it back. A lap or so later I had a lazy
entry onto the finish straight and Ad2 came out of nowhere and flew past me (Doh). In the mean time Stumbles had passed T_B and that put two cars between us. I was now 33 seconds back from Ven and in 7th (WTF, 7 secs
before the stops, 33 after??, I've got to work on my pit stop strategy), It wasn't looking too good for my third place at this stage, but I got back in front of Ad2 and then it was only T_B between me and Stumbles. I got a run on T_B down the back straight and as I passed him my car suddenly jumped to the right, ghosted through T_B who then had a wobble and then he lost it completely when he got the left hander at the end of the straight. (sorry about that T_B, it was very strange), I then set out after Stumbles but Ad2 still wanted my position and we swapped places a couple of times until Disturbo arrived on ad2s tail with fresher tyres, while Disturbo kept Ad2 busy I managed to catch and pass Stumbles whose tyres were older than mine. I watched behind me over the last couple of laps as Ad2, Stumbles and Disturbo fought furiously over 4th. Ad2 prevailed and looked set for 4th but ran out of fuel on the last lap (should have kept those fuel dockets Ad) letting Stumbles and Dusturbo through. Under pressure from Disturbo, Stumble fumbled the last corner and slammed into the pit wall, Disturbo followed him in and they waltzed (more like a breakdance) towards the finish line. Disturbo was completely sideway as he crossed the line for 4th, Stumbles gathered it up to take fifth, Ad2 trickled in for 6th with T_B almost catching him. Evil and Dan followed them in. For a track where passing is supposed to be hard there sure were a lot of position changes during the race.
Meanwhile Ven was running off into the distance and scored a very strong win, congratulations to him and Close for their well earned 1st and 2nd.

Congratulations to Close for wrapping up the championship with still one race to run, you are going to give them hell in Div 2 next year.
Congratulations also to Ven, he has second in the championship all but sealed, what a shame about the disconnects, you would have been fighting for the championship to the last race without them and you will also be
right up the front in Div 2 next year. I am now in a battle with Disturbo for third in the championship with only a six point advantage after I drop my 5th place from Monza. I need to just finish one place behind him to
take it out unless he wins in LeMans, if he does, there will be nothing I can do to stop him from snatching third.

How embarrassing :/ After bagging out S_CLOSE I do exactly the same thing. Did someone say KARMA?!

GRID:S_CLOSE, VENDALISM, emmo46, disturboed, Stumbles01, X-3vilm00n, t_b_williams, me, daninline6



Was doing some good times in warm up but when X-3vilm00n reset the room I just could not find any pace and qualified 8th. Jumped into the pits to avoid another laggy start and waited for the countdown. Got a good start and was past t_b_williams and halfway up the side of X-3vilm00n by the start of the esses but backed off a little to allow him the cleaner line but he must have slowed dramatically for the final part as I ghosted through him and settled in behind Stumbles01. X-3vilm00n, t_b_williams and daninline6 got tangled up at the right hander after the tunnel which let me off the hook for a bit and concentrate on the cars in front. Stumbles01 outbraked himself end of the back straight into the long lefthander which let me get past into 5th behind disturboed.



Followed him around and drafted past him in the same spot next lap with a little tap on the way out for 4th.




Start of lap 4 made up some ground on emmo46, and even gave him a little tap under brakes into the left hander before the final chicane which upset his car a little but he managed to hold it together but with my slight hesitation let him get away again and allowed disturboed to catch right up and he hounded me all lap 5. Outbraked myself a bit at the long left after back straight and disturboed tried to get past going up into the esses but I managed to keep him at bay and he then started to drop back. Next few laps went by fairly uneventfully with S_CLOSE, emmo46 and I sitting about 2-3 secs apart not really closing or pulling away until lap 10, first emmo46 clipped the wall coming into the tunnel onto the back straight, and I hammered the same wall sending my car into a slide to the other side of the road and damaging my right front wheel. After I recovered Stumbles01 was right on my tail with disturboed in his tow. disturboed pitted end of lap 10 and on wearing tyres trying to catch up to emmo46 and pull away from Stumbles01, I was making little mistakes everywhere and eventually I clipped the tunnel wall again in the same spot though not so hard this time but enough to let Stumbles01 get a good draft on me and passed me at the end of the straight. I really wanted that 4th spot back but try as hard as I could best I could manage was to stick my front wheel up the inside on some of the slower corners. We passed VENDALISM and S_CLOSE when they pitted lap 14 which left emmo46, Stumbles01 and me 1-2-3. Stumbles01 pitted lap 15 while emmo46 and I stayed out. I was going to do 2 more but by about the end of the back straight VENDALISM was making an appearance in my rear view so I pulled in with emmo46 end lap 16 with VENDALISM about 3 secs behind me.

I did some full distance testing coming up to this race. 5 litres would not have been enough. 10 litres was a little too much. I put 8 in thinking that would have been spot on. I shoulda just put 10 in like I was going to all along. Oh well, them's the brakes.

X-3vilm00n pulled in to his pit just as I pulled out and Stumbles01 zoomed past just as I exited the pits and was right between me and emmo46 with VENDALISM 1st and long gone, disturboed about 3-4 secs behind him, and S_CLOSE leading t_b_williams into the first tunnel after the esses. Stumbles01 got past emmo46 at the end of the back straight and I tried not to let them get away. End of lap 18 emmo46 got a poor run onto the main straight which gave me a chance up the inside and I managed to squeeze through. Little later in the lap I touched a bit of grass just before the second tunnel which leads onto the back straight which allowed emmo46 to get right behind me and try to draft past but I held him off running faster around the outside on the left hander.



Lap 20 Stumbles01 got past t_b_williams end of the back straight, and emmo46 got past me when I ran wide at the last right after the final esses. emmo46 and t_b_williams had a strange, glitchy coming together on the back straight lap 21 which let me past t_b_williams while he struggled to recover and put me up into 5th.



Lap23 emmo46 got a bit offline at the first esses and slowed right down for the final part putting 2 wheels on the grass on the outside and I brushed past him up the hill into 4th. He tried to draft past me again on the back staright but I held him out again, but as we entered the start straight he got a good run on me and managed to somehow squeeze up past me entering the esses. He touched a bit of grass exiting the right hander after the first tunnel and got very sideways which let me back past but he recovered well not losing too much ground. I now set my sights on Stumbles01 and slowly started to reel him in, all the while disturboed was sneaking up slowly on emmo46. Lap 27 emmo46 put a move on me up the inside at the tunnel end of first esses and made it stick putting me back to 5th with disturboed coming up. Lap 28 tried a divebomb on emmo46 at the end of the back straight but ran wide to the outside exiting the left hander and had 2 wheels on the grass coming up the hill so I backed off to avoid a spin which put disturboed right behind me. Ran right onto the grass at the end of the first esses on wearing tyres but managed to recover not losing too much momentum but disturboed had gotten past. Next lap in the same spot disturboed, while trying a move around the outside of Stumbles01 did exactly what I did only getting much more sideways and I got back past.



Caught Stumbles01's draft on the back straight and got past up the inside at the long left hander, then ran a little wide at the right hander after the second esses which let Stumbles01 alongside but on the outside, and disturboed gave me a little whack up the rear and pushed me back past on the exit and holding 4th start of last lap.



Stumbles01 was all over me and disturboed was pushing him too. He tried again for a draft pass back straight but I moved over to the inside early to protect my line and held him off around the left hander, but as I accelerated up the hill, the power cut out, out of fuel I moved over off the line and watched Stumbles01 and disturboed blast past and kept checking my rear view all the way to the finish only just beating t_b_williams.

Awesome win VENDALISM, and congrats to S_CLOSE for winning the championship too, plus another well deserved podium for emmo46. See you all at Le Sarthe, where hopefully the premium fuel is a bit cheaper

Nice write Ad.

As I caught your draft up the back straight, I was having a little happy moment, then just as I was going to go the inside line, you ducked over there... Nice move, pity about the fuel load.

Fabulous report Ad, the second half of the race was definitely a whole lot of fun. That 7th image where I am following Stumbles makes it hard to believe that I struggle with the understeer on this car, it got a bit taily at times, with a little help from my friends some of the time.

I like reading these reports. It gives you an inside view on how the other drivers' race went according to them, and the feedback you get for how your race went really adds a lot to the whole experience. Great reports guys

Fully agree. and your photos bring it all to life.

It's funny, I used to play all sorts of different games but this year since I have joined this league GT5 has barely come out the console. If I'm not practicing for the next race, I'm reviewing replays trying to find that little bit extra for next time. I'll admit it, I was getting bored with GT5, not finding decent rooms, and the AI was just no competition at all. This league has brought this game back to life for me. Ya's might lose me for a bit when the new GTA comes out but I won't go far lol.

Here comes the final round!! Got the jerry-can and some hose in the boot, just in case.

Glad to see you back rumbles