Post Sandown Enzed 500

What a race. Hope you guys/girls did well.

During the week i managed a time of 13.4 on low fuel and hard tyres. Didnt manage to get back there on softs and equal fuel. rawr. Qualified in 8th spot.

Race....

Got an average jump off the line before Shano sent me a "dont even think abt it champ" just before T1. Nice one mate. Lol.

After settling a little i found myself in 8th behind DV8 and being followed by Stevo. This guy is a very keen racer to say the least and he was very cheeky trying to dive in on a few corners where there was no space at all. I managed to stay in front of him for the time being. On lap 3 he got by, but because he had taken such a risk, he over shot the next turn and i got back by.

I was chasing DV8 closely until Floydie out-braked me or something into T1 and he got by. I wasnt happy with this lol. About a lap later DV8 came unstuck at the end of the back straight and i couldnt go anywhere, slammed right into him and turned around, Floydie got away. I caught up to him just as it was time to pit on Lap 18.

By lap 32 i had been catching back up to DV8, who must've had a problem because i closed on him pretty quick and overtook him into T1. He was much faster earlier in the race. Dunno what happened there. Had to pit again on lap 34.

From here in 10th place, was just trying go go as fast as possible, taking a couple places back from the slower cars. Some people must have pitted late in the race, because all of a sudden i was in 7th place. Shano was only 5 seconds up the road, so after having resigned to the fact that id be finishing around 10th, i thought maybe i can chase down the Sierra. It was very hopefull thinking. Shano pulled out to 10 seconds with a couple laps to go and my tyres were starting to suffer. So i slowed a little and accepted that 7th was the best i was going to do.

I didnt make any mistakes and only one incident that wasnt due to my stupidity, so that is a good thing.

7th place is ok, as the cars that finished ahead of me were never in my reach, being mainly Sierras and a VL.

Was a great race though, had a few good close fights with some VLs, that could have ended badly. lol. Well done to the winners. Mozza for his first race back. Great result man.Thanks to Sharyn and David, for making it easy to get by the Corollas. Sharyn scared me on the back straight at one point lol, but all ended up ok. Kekek.

Love the long races, they give you a chance to make up some ground and get a decent result even if things dont go so well. Bathurst is gonna be epic. What a way to finish.

good to get back into the longer races again and finish.

It's been a long time but we do have a driver under investigation for corner cutting to gain ground.

W26

I made my debut tonight had a fun race.
Qualifying
Joined in about half way through set a reasonable time .25 off my best. I may have gained from running wide through 6 and 7 I should have slowed down on my fastest lap, I don't think it made much difference as my next fastest lap put me in the same spot.
Race
Didn't go to well I decided I would try to do it on 1 stop, it didn't work. My start was average ran full fuel and hard tyres, had an alright pace going I was short shifting to save fuel. I did have a spin at around turns 6 and 7 Shayn ran wide and ended up in my side which caused a little bit of damage. In the second stint I dropped more revs but I really wasn't saving much fuel so I gave up on that with about 16 laps to go. I pit in for softs and 8 laps of fuel to bring me home groupca jumped me in the pitstop, I passed him back just due to the power difference. I should have gone for 3 equal spaced runs in terms of pitstops.
I'd like to say thanks to everyone for the race it appeared to be very clean and fair and ran smoothly. I don't think I'm up for Bathurst but I will probably have a practise mid week. Oh and for some reason my chat never sends messages when I press enter if your wondering why I'm a bit quiet.

Wally26 wrote:
It's been a long time but we do have a driver under investigation for corner cutting to gain ground.

W26

in this case no charge

W26

great run for me tonite had an awsome race.

Qualified in 3rd and got a blinder of a start and led into T1 with racer on my bumper. I fully expected to lose the lead by the the end of L1 cos racer is always damn quick and i tend to buckle under pressure lol.
For whatever reason i feel very comfortable at sandown and managed to hold the lead for 6 or 7 laps before racer pounced and passed me for the lead. I hung on for all i was worth not wanting to lose too much time b4 pitting and was able to stay in touch when i got the low fuel warning at L12 ... bugger stuffed the fuel, managed another 3 laps but realised i needed three stops.
First stop was good and got me back to 10th.. and after all the other stops was back to 5th i think.
I was so happy to see racer exiting the pits as i passed him again into T1. It wasnt too long b4 racer got me again putting me in 2nd pos but i knew the 3rd stop was going to stuff it for me so I just tried to drive clean rather than outright fast and protect the little gap i had and just maybe cover the time for a splash and dash at the end.
Not to be... everyone was going so quick tonite and my 11 sec stop coast another 3 spots to finish 5th.

Great night of racing

Good to see you finish man. At one point you were about 6 up the road from me. But you pitted I think so no chance to chase ya.

Well done mate. Was a good race.

[quote="shaynskyline"]
Sharyn scared me on the back straight at one point lol, but all ended up ok. Kekek.

Yeh, sorry about that Shayn. Must admit I was holding my breath waiting for whoever it was behind me to hit me. You did really well to avoid slamming into me.

Well what can I say about my race. I drove like an old lady without her glasses. (no comment Wally)
My own fault, hadn't touched my computer for about 6 weeks and only did about 10 mins prac on Friday and about 30 mins on race day. My driving was all over the place but I did manage to finish the race.

Sorry if I got in anyones way.

Sharyn

I think you did really good. Esp in that car, to push on and finish the race is awesome.

I was more worried about stuffing your race than my own when I swerved around you. I don't like lapping people, incase I turn the wrong way and even though I had a bit of room, it was still a little scary lol.

Hope to see you at the finale. And everyone for that matter.
Be good to have 20 cars on the grid for the final race.

G'day All,

Thanks again for yet another good, fun race.

Pre Race:
I was struggling throughout the week to find a good balanced setup for the M3, only managing high 16s. Was then happy to see the Thursday Night practice times ranged from around 14.4 to 15.4, so figured I wasn't to far off the pace. With a bit more tweaking and (after watching some other drivers' laps) deciding to get a bit more aggressive with the turn 2/3 curbs (which would later ultimately lead to my undoing in the race), I was happy to get sub 16 with a 15.4 on Sunday morning. Feeling confident I went for some more practice Sunday afternoon..... hello, cars are now doing 12s and 13s. Not so good!

Qualifying:
Couldn't get together a good lap during qual, only managing a 16.4. But in the scheme of things, that put me where I felt I should be on the grid.

Post qual there was some talk about single stop strategies. Based on the fuel usage calculator, I could do it. This was based on 27 laps off a full tank, and allowing for the fact that I would most likely finish one lap down. But I was a bit wary as with this calculator Sandown and the M3 don't seem to add up right. So I set out with one stopping in mind, but with a backup plan if required.

Race

Warm Up Lap
The warm up lap starts and cars start to head off. There seem to be a few practice starts and so on, but people are generally moving. I pull off at a slow pace and start warming the tires. I am in second gear and scanning through my info display when I look up to see the cars in front stopped. Oh CRAP!! Being fairly new to TTR my worst nightmare is my actions somehow ruining a far more skilled drivers race. At this stage the back end of Group C's M3 is closing fast. Brakes Hard On, Clutch In, this isn't supposed to be happening, it's only the warm up lap!!! The car stops and i hear the lightest 'chink' sound as I tap Group C's rear bumper. I quickly change the display to check car damage. All clear here. Hopefully Group C was the same! A few other drivers then say that there rear bumpers are damaged by similar incidents, but not Group C. The rest of the warm up lap was uneventful for me. I find my spot on the grid and wait. (Apologies if you were damaged Group C)

First Stint

Race start was ok, not bad for me. We pull away and for a lap or two I am able to stick close to Wal and Group C. I think "this isn't too bad, Wal is no slouch and I am staying with him", then Wal says something about finishing his coffee and away he went into the distance, gone, Oh well!

The rest of the stint was fairly uneventful, with my times coming down as the car burned off fuel and I got into a rhythm.

A few cars started to stop around Lap 15 or so and I thought my strategy might work. Then at Lap 20 the fuel light came on, so I had to pull in at the end of 21. My new plan was to do another full stint, then splash and dash with 10 laps to go. Or that's what I thought would happen.

Second Stint

After pulling out of the pits and getting back up to speed, I was overtaken by Floydie's commodore going into T1. At T2/T3 Floydie hit the inside edge of the T3 curb and his car was launched onto 2 wheels. He managed to save it and continue. Great Driving. I think "gee, better not do that". The very next lap I hit the exact same spot and the car is launched onto two wheels. Oh Crap. I get it back onto all four only to have it spear right and hit the outside wall front on. Pit strategy out the window.

I nurse the car back to the pit and get repaired. (41sec stop). However, I'm now sunk, because it is only Lap 24 and I still don't have enough fuel to get to the end of the race. Oh well, chin up and carry on.

There was only one other incident of note before the next pit stop. I'm not sure what lap it was, probably 35 or so, but I was heading into T1 just as a sierra and commodore caught up to lap me. I stayed wide through T1 and backed off a touch, thinking they would apex the corner and fly past me. However, I was shocked to hear a bang, then see both cars spinning in my mirror. Again my worst nightmare comes to mind. I am however certain that no one made contact with my car and that the two cars hit one another, taking each other off. As the cars were behind me I couldn't id the drivers, but they would know what I talking about. If I caused this incident please accept my apologies.

The rest of the race was relatively uneventful. I seemed to have a real knack for passing David Paterson, getting over excited then running off at the next corner, only to have him pass me again, grinning I'm sure as this happened to me two or three times!

There was a few occasions when I screwed up my braking at the top of the hill into the fast left hander (T5?) and careened across the grass, staying straight and re joining the track. I'm not sure if these were the incidents you were investigating Wal? If they are, they were genuine screw ups, not an attempt to make up time. After all, I finished 3 laps down

Thanks again to everybody for a truly enjoyable race. I won't be able to make Bathurst as I will be working night shift. I am however looking forward to joining everybody again next season.

Good luck at Bathurst!!

Damo.

Haha, I thought I went into too much detail in my reports, but that one takes the cake and eases my worries. Great account of your race Damo, was a good read.

Good to see. And well done on your race, it seems like you had a good time, which I'm told is the main thing lol.

Shame you're gonna miss bathurst, maybe you can stop by practice server during the week, just to see what times you can manage.

qualy went ok got second which was ok but i knew i would screw the start lol....

yep well i did got off to a shit start dropped a few and may of shut the gate on skyline but thats racing .... got back up to mozz and pete and batlled all through to pitstop.. mozz and pete werte drivin awesome...pitted came back out just behind mozz and pete again and battled all the way to next stop.... screwed up me petrol and only put in 5 laps lol... so had to stop again and put in more... totally stuffed my race but once again thats racin....

was some epic dicing wit me mozz and pete carvin back markers 4 wide lol... think pete lost on that 1 too...and mozz lost on the 4 wide into turn 1 wit another back marker lol....

bloody good racin lookin forward to bathurst..i may of cut a few corners but it gets hard after a while with brain fade lol...
and thanks to all those who moved over to let cars through was pretty kewl espicially when in battles....

will look at replay later shayn to see how nicely i took you out lol.... or you took yourself out..

and gonna be tough to push grp c of 3rd spot from my disapointing placing last nite.. but will be happy to finish behind my ex ligier boss once again.....

crazy season wally been awesome... hope bersley and webber make bathurst...

Haha shano, nah it was all good man, I had no buisness being there. I woulda backed off anyway or it woulda got ugly into T1. I may be dumb but I'm not stoopid.

lol i did see ya all over me but i was commited so had no choice... all goods we smash panels in hqs ok.... lol

Well a tough round in the M3... great to see some new/newish faces in racing now!!

Quali: Well i put it out there for a tow down the straights, no one came to the party HAHAHA think i was 11th... Just in behind me was Wally & Damo.

Race: Got a great straight, think i jumped Benny on the run down to T1, but i was way too early on the brakes n pretty much lost that advantage and chance to get into the tow of the likes of Shayn, DV8 & others... from there i basically just drove around lap after lap 52 times... wasnt the most exciting race for me... damage control championship wise... I'm trying to hold onto 3rd which i will be stoked to do so, but after Sandown i just don't know how the M3 will go pace wise around the Mountain.
Time will tell...

Congrats to Racer for taking the Championship... you've drove awesome all season long and really deserve it mate!!! Well done also to my mate Shano, a big result is just around the corner i reckon champ, unlucky with the pits episode...

See you all on Sunday!!

A great race by all last night, was great to see so many new faces as GroupC said, hope you guys all had a good run and will be back for more.

What a competitive race! Something like the first 7 cars still on the lead lap at the end.

Big congrats to Mozza and Corty. Moz, you did an 'Allan Grice' on us, stay home all year, rock up for Sandown and are right on the pace! Hope you can make it to Bathurst, you did a great job. And Corty, ripper effort in the Mustang to come third.

My Race: Billy Bob got the jump on us at the start and lead, i tried to get him on the run up the back straight on lap 1 but couldn't get past. For the first bunch of laps Billy was setting a great pace and i match billy, but wasn't quick enough to pass. The early laps were great with Billy, myself, Mozza, Peter308 and Shano all in pretty much a freight train.

Billy ran wide onto the straight at one point and i managed to nudge past. A few laps later billy pitted, while i kept going until lap 20. When i came out of the pits, billy swooped past so i had to do all the work again. I managed to get back past again at around mid-distance, and when billy made his second stop i had abit of a lead until i made my second stop on lap 40, and was pleased to emerge about 3secs infront of billy. Was a shame that billy had to make his third stop, you drove so well and would have pushed me to the end.

Really looking forward to next week at Bathurst

groupcaction wrote:Congrats to Racer for taking the Championship... you've drove awesome all season long and really deserve it mate!!!

cheers groupc. Your giant-killer performances in the BMW have been just as commendable, some of my best memories of this season are our dices at Winton, Lakeside and Amaroo.

What chance of bolting on a turbo for Bathurst ?

congrats to racer for the championship... extremely well done mate.....

and cheers grp c.... struggled a bit with the sierra but was a good challenge...

Finally got back online and my shit sorted out in the middle of the week, so I started some offline praccy to get back into the swing of things. I felt so unco-ordinated for the first couple of days, just not being able to pick anything, turn ins, braking, acclerating... everything.

Ended up trying some server time in the Merc to try and get a rhythm and get the feel for the show. After I felt comfortable back in the seat, I tried the Skyline, but man. Just. What. The. Lol. Poor Shayn, you've done a man mountain of a job in that car dude. I never thought I'd ever say this, but I picked the VL cos it was easier to drive, especially as the tyres get worn.

Aaanyway.

Quali - Managed a 13.1 in quali. Was trying like all hell to get a 12, but just couldnt get it. My last lap I was -.2 at the second split, but muffed it in the last sector.

Race - Got an awesome start. No idea how, but yeh, managed to get past both Shano and Pete in the run down to T1. Was quite happy sitting with Billy and Racer, as it didnt seem that they were pushing that hard, and I was able to stay kinda close, more comfortably that I thought. Then I bagged up the rears and had a half spin coming onto the straight and Pete and Shano got past.

Spend the rest of the race, more or less nose to tail with the 2 sierras, although they did seem to be wearing their tyres alot harder than the VL.. Particularly Pete, who was power sliding through turns....

Just before the 2nd stops, Pete locked his rears in front of me as we braked for T1. I started trying to judge where he was gonna stop, but didnt judge it too well at all, and we hit and spun. This gave old Shano a nice healthy advantage, and I'd started to think that 4th was gonna be it.
Pitted that lap, and then drove fairly hard, knowing the tyres still had to last 13 or so laps. Managed constant mid-high 13's and came out and was right on Shanos backside when he decided that he didnt have enough fuel.... Almost collected him as he put his pit limiter on. Lol.

Having already passed Billy, who was topping up, I pretty much couldnt settle for 2nd as Corty was pushing hard behind me. I managed to stretch the gap a bit to him, and closed the gap down to racer to about 11 seconds from 25, although he would've been coasting home by then.

Well done to all that finished, was a hard race.

Well done to racer on the championship. Nicely done mate.

And Billy, man you are driving awesomely well man. Hats off to you. You and Shayn are by far and away the biggest improvers. Well done fellas.

Cheers

Moz.

Well done to all finishers here, and well done to racer69 for taking out the championship!