nGTX Barcelona

The car sucked. The setup sucked.The driver sucked.

A blast! Way to go Garry with the top 3 finish!

Team True may be loosing its reputation as just a back marker!

Ran a few good practice laps but could not replicate them in the qual. I qual'd 12th I think. Start of race I braked early expecting mayham in t1 which there was, as people flew into the corner by me. T3 was the same thing, 2 cars side ways in front of me sliding across the race line. I whacked someone in the door but didn't do any damage to my car. 8th place by t4. I pitted about 37 mins into the race. 2nd by pit in and 11th after pit out. Hooked up with ray, who caught and passed me. Then I got a little to close in a corner and gave him a helping hand into the beach. Sorry. Then a few minutes later in 10th after a few lost concentration moments, Ray caught me again. I had a blue flag waving and I checked to see where the car was and when I looked up, I proceeded to dump ray in the kitty litter a 2nd time. Very Sorry RAY. Finished 11th. SORRY RAY. I ruined your race I think...

That was brutal. I dunno what it is about Barcelona that I just don't get, but I'm never competitive here.

T1 was nice and conservative and clean (at least in front of me), then all hell broke loose around T6 or so. I got punted hard, then hit again, ended up staring in the eyes of the Ferrari behind me while the rest of the field kept coming. I managed to reverse out of the way and rejoin. I'm sure these races are a lot less exciting if you don't drop 10 spots in the first lap or so, but just once I'd like to try it :P Lucky for me the Porsche is durable, and I didn't notice any ill handling effects. Started giving chase and took one more contact when Anthony spun in front of me (just bad luck that time). The pack stretched out after that, I had some good laps with Greg Martin, Chris Smith, and some back and forth with Don Hibner.

So with less than 10 min to go I've only worked up to 13th, and I'm really wishing I could break the top 10, when Bryce gets into Ray and I blow by them both (felt bad about it too, Bryce was still apologizing on TS while Ray dug out). Then Sam disco'd in the middle of the track, a real scare for me but even worse luck for him. So I positively stole 10th, and I think that's about the best I could have hoped for here.

That was a fun and challenging race for me. I drifted into the sand on the first lap, and was almost able to regain my position after about 7 or 8 laps, when POOF... I got blasted from behind! Had to work my way back up from the back of the pack. I think I was in 20th position after that one. Worked my way back up to 11th or 12th I think and had to pit with very little fuel remaining. Got back on at the back of the pack and continued to try to chip away at positions, but it was to no avail.

I practiced a lot for this event and was ready for a top 5 finish.

Oh well. All in all my best race to date, even though I finished 16th. It was fun trying to get back into it with the top 5, but unfortunately, I never made it into the top 10 after I got punted.

Oh well...that's sim racing.:)

thanks for a great race guys.

How about that... disco when 2 laps to go and 20 seconds lead..just f***ing perfect.

Well , it was a good 1st half and a nice 3 way fight with Richard and Rick. Lost the lead there when i was lapping a car and there was a contact , but i could stay on the leader untill pitstops . After that i had a nice lead and just preserved my tires . Things were going perfectly but then the dreaded DISCOOOOOO weee... :S

What a disapointment , but atleast we had a good 30 mins fight and fun before it all went down.

Thx Rick and Richard for the good race and grts.

-----
Samuel

I honestly can't believe my luck with this result. I started off in practice running my race set and was surprised to be right at the top with it. I knew I had a decent set so when qualy came I just took out some fuel and put soft tires on it and got pole by the slimmest of margins.

I got a good start and Sam gave me plenty of room to take the early lead. He was able to pass me in a braking zone and I was content to follow him as it is easier for me to drive behind someone. Rick was right there and the 3 of us were within 1 second of each other for a long time. Sam got caught by a back marker and both Rick and I got through but he didn't lose any time to us. As the tires wore down Rick had the measure of me and it was all I could do not to cede the position.

I pit first and was crossing my fingers that both Sam and Rick would take tires as well as fuel. When everything got shuffled through I was 5 seconds ahead of Rick and 24 seconds behind Sam. Sam had chosen the right strategy and I was just going to pedal along in 2nd hoping Rick couldn't catch me.

All of a sudden I had 9 seconds on Rick and I breathed a sigh of relief and then, with only 5 minutes to go I was catching Sam like he disappeared ( which I think he did ). I saw the yellow flag but couldn't avoid Sam's car and I lost about 6 seconds with an off track excursion. I then looked at the clock and saw only 2 laps to go and I backed right out to get the car home. Rick pushed hard and finished only 1 second behind.

That was definitely Sam's race as his strategy ruled the day.

Excellent run to the podium Rick and Garry...Awesome job by Sam to run so quickly on what were obviously hard tires!

Well, lap 1 was a total disaster. I went from 21st to 17th by weaving my way through the wrecks. Then Jared Bibi punted me right into the sand and just kept on going. Took me forever to get out and that plus the slowness of the Z meant it was a successful (no spins or major offs due to my error) last place finish. It was an interested experiment, but I'll be taking a faster car next time.

I was wondering what happened to you Samuel. Same happened to me last week with 4 to go. :(

Had about an hour of practice earlier and tried a different setup that I got from Mr.True and it felt better, but a full second slower. However I felt it was a good long run setup and went with it just before the race started. Damn glad I did. Got a podium out of it! WooHoo!

About 20min to go and I saw Mr. Morisette (not sure of spelling) was gaining on me at about half a sec a lap, so I got up on the wheel as they say and stretched it out to about 6sec. Just cruised from there.

Great Race All!!!

EDIT: Sorry 'bout the chat before all racers were complete. Won't happen again!

Easily my most frustrating night of racing in a long time. Had a poor qualy session - twice had laps going that were .6 faster only to have someone spin in front of me. A back half start is always entertaining - if you like walking through rose beds barefoot - and tonight was no different. I got a good jump and had gained several spots only to be drilled from behind (Dean nailed me looking at the replay) and sent for the loop-de-loop ride at Barcy. I ended up back in 20th or so and start the climb back towards points. Eventually I catch up to Tom and Bryce and bide my time cuz they are scrapping pretty good. Bryce was a little erratic on worn tires late in the stint and eventually he goes wide in the hairpin and I get the inside and make it work despite some contact. Then I head to the next left hander and with Bryce behind me only Bryce decides he wants to wear a Porsche suit and off to the beach I head. Then After closing the gap again Tom gets really wide heading towards the hairpin and comes back on track and crosses right in front of me so I dive inside to avoid contact with a car and get to enjoy some impromptu rally crossing. Finally I pit after Tom but his stall is right before mine. I have a quicker pit stop and he heads out and as I do and the wonderful auto-pit control puts my car into his left front fender. I come out in 12th or 13th and move to 11th after the pit stops cycle through. I am 7+ behind 10th and start pushing. I eventually catch Bryce again and make a clean pass only to get rear ended yet again and sent into the sand. So now we both drop out of points contention with only a few minutes left to go. Any points would have felt like a huge victory given the nights events. I make my share of mistakes tonight seemed to be a night where people raced with their emotions rather than their brains - very frustrating. Oh well - lets see what Hockenheim brings....