Sorry Boss, looks like I blew that one for UKNL. No excuse either; was just in cruise mode trying to pick up some team points and crashed for no good reason.

Showed up cold since I hadn't gotten any time to practice for this one and it bit me. I lost count of how many times I went off in the 2-3 laps I got in online before Q and then just lost it out of Eau Rouge right about mid race running 4th. Every lap through there had been a nail-biter; Pouhon too which looked like I'd never seen it before. A bazillion laps at Spa under my belt and I forget a corner; must be getting senile!

Bad part was I flattened the left rear and was tricycling for almost a whole lap to get back to the pits. Car would turn right ok even with the right front waving in the air, but oddly enough even the slightest turn to the left would spin it. Went off about half a dozen times it seems, trying to get back for new tires.

Grats to Heinz for the win, Matjaz for the series title and the guys at CanAm for taking the team champs.

@ Brian - that was me. I was right behind you and Peter when you got on the curb and spun, but somehow managed to come out with no damage. Felt for you, since I did the same thing there in the E30 race the other night.

Very fun race, but aggravating at the same time. Had begun it with a brain fart since I'd forgotten to change my setup for qualy and did it on race settings. My brain was probably still smoking from the Vertigo race... ;-)

Got a great launch in the race and picked up three spots into T1, coming out in 3rd behind Tristan and Heinz. But going into the multi-apex T8, their cars suddenly froze right in front of me and I went straight into the back of Heinz. Freaked out, slammed on the brakes and spun off, only for them to reappear in good shape up the road after a big warp. Once again I asked myself; how on earth did Simbin go from GTR2 to THIS?

Waited for the field to go by and rejoined in last, then just kept my head down and worked back up as far as I could get. Had made it to 5th when everyone ahead pitted together at the end of lap 12. And then sat there while losing several spots in the autopit sequence to cars that entered right behind me - nice. Watched the replay to see what happened, and my car was parked motionless for 5-7 seconds longer than several others that pitted at the same time, obviously running the same fuel load. WTF? Repeat same old curses directed towards Simbin. Seems I even suck at autopitting!

Oh well, back out in 8th and on to chasing again. Second verse, same as... ;-) Got up to 5th, then Brian's spin almost gave me a heart attack in 8, but I just slipped under him with a slight touch. Was having a good go with Peter after that, but he outbraked himself going into the tight corners at the end of the lap and I was done in 4th - too much room to make up in the time left.

Really enjoy driving the Race07 cars, or I'd just bin this mystifyingly flawed game. You'd think with the supposed ease of updates via Steam they could do smaller and more frequent patches. Lord knows it needs a few.

Thanks Heinz, that was a blast wasn't it? Shame about Kent's off; a 3-way version of that would've been great. Oh well, at least he proved the rear wings are included in the cars' collision box... ;-)

I really did foul up the start. Got away fine, but with all the noise I couldn't hear my own car and didn't catch 2nd properly, so I was banging on the rev limiter. By the time I noticed the tach and shifted, I was getting passed on both sides!

That dropped me to 3rd, but I soon slipped under Kent when he dropped a wheel off at Seat. Tried to go after Heinz then and was really looking forward to it since we were so close on pace, but then I got into the grass off the next to last corner and Kent got me back. Didn't lose much time luckily, so we were still at it after that and it was shaping up like a great 3-way race.

Unfortunately Kent got on the Curb of Death leading onto the front straight and it sucked him into the kitty litter. Looked like he'd had some understeer before that, and that's a hard corner to handle if you're understeering. I'd be surprised if there's anyone who's driven more than a handful of laps at Barca without going off there at least once!

That put me in 2nd, with a bit of a gap up to Heinz. Pushed as hard as I could and gradually got back up after a number of laps. We had an excellent dice then; I'd set my car up just a click shy of too loose since you can lose lots of time here in the long corners if the front pushes, and I think that was the difference. It wasn't much and almost made me loop it in Renault a couple of times, but it was just enough to let me pull off an over/under move for the lead late in the race. Had soft fronts on though, and they were well done-in by then from the hard chase. That meant a real struggle to hold onto the lead the last few laps, and I was having to brake really early on entry to compensate - sorry Heinz, just had no front grip left by then.

Looked like I might just make it, then I almost threw it away by thinking the next to last lap was the last! Short shifted straight to 6th out of the final turn and then didn't get the flag and thought "Oh No!" Didn't have much of a gap anyway, so the last lap was pretty much a tossup. Barely escaped with that one - very well done, Heinz!

Grats to Barry and CanAm for bringin' it all the way to the end, and my mates at UK-NL for taking the team champs.

Congrats to Rob and Venom on the champs; that's getting to sound familiar!

And to Heinz of course for the win; sorry I wasn't able to make a decent show of it, but unlike Tristan I'm not so good at getting around on 3 wheels!

Was just unprepared and paid the price, really; hadn't done any laps before the race, so once I was on race fuel load I didn't have a handle on proper braking distances. The first miss let Tom under me at La Caixa on the first lap and the second one put me into the wall hard at T1. Thought I'd try to continue even after seeing my splitter go flying, then I caught sight of my left front bouncing out of sight in my rear view mirror. Wasn't about to risk anyone's season by trying to limp back to the pit so I just bailed.

Pretty much the story of G3 for me this season. After winning last season, S7 has been a miserable one with five DNF's out of six events - awful! I have to own this last one though; can't blame it on the motor letting go or discoing, just bad driving.

On the plus side, it did give me some time to practice for the Vertigo and F3K races, which I needed. Silver linings all 'round... ;-)

I'm feeling your pain on the timeslot Michael; after a long day at work staring at papers and LCD's, my eyes are about shot at that hour (EDT here) - I'd be thrilled if these night races could get moved up a bit, but that might make it tough for west coasters. Also with you on the sleep bit; hard to get the brain dialed up to race and then drop straight off to dreamland.

But at least in dreamland I could've won, unlike in reality! ;-)

In reality, Rob handed it to me with a very nice drive to the win - a well earned one. My fault I suppose, since I had a small edge on pace and started from pole. But I just had a small problem with this turn, you see... Turn 8 it was; that was the one area I'd gone into the race thinking might present a problem, and sure enough it did. Pretty bad understeer through there, and in concert with cold tires it got me up over the curb costing me the lead on lap one, then again later on lap 12 while pushing to challenge for the lead. Spun the 2nd time and that was all she wrote.

Very enjoyable outing aside from that; pushed hard from lap one of qualy all the way to my late race spin. It's always fun when you have good competition that's close on pace to race with, no matter where you are in the field, and Rob definitely made me work for it.

Had good pace though I was a bit disappointed to miss an :02 in qualy. Wouldn't have mattered though, since I was just too inconsistent in the race. Really had to fight my tendency to overdrive after losing the lead, and by the time I got calmed down I was nearly 3 seconds back. Almost got demoralized until I saw Rob get sideways off the last corner and the gap fell to 2 seconds.. I thought it might be doable then, and from there to my spin I'd closed to about 1/2 second. The last 3 laps were looking like a great race until I felt the rear let go in 8 after I'd pushed out onto the curb.

Was a tiny bit bummed since it would have been a fun fight to the end, but had a great time up to then so I went away happy. Well done Rob, and 'grats to Mark for taking 3rd.

Kind of lucked into 2nd in this one - lots of mistakes and a bit of warping going on out there. There was one moment going into T1 at the start of lap 3 when three of us were right together and everyone disappeared for a second or two. Fortunately we all came out of it OK, but that was a crapshoot.

Had Les all over me for a while but he looks to have discoed, which is too bad since we were having a great dice. Pretty much just cruised around after that maintaining place, since I never even entertained the idea of trying to mess with Scott. Kept looking up in the sky thinking the mothership might arrive and beam him back up to join his green brethren, but no such luck!

A fun one; I'd flirted with an :04 in the morning, but couldn't match that pace come race time. No surprise, but then I think a jug of coffee before a night race might not work so well for sleepytime. Sucks getting old... ;-)

Had a good start but struggled both races on cold tires, and would have had my hands very full in this one if Kirill hadn't spun off in that fast, multi-apex T8. Got after Conor once things settled in as he'd gotten a good gap early, and while I was able to get up to him I couldn't get by. Had fun trying though!

Grats to Conor on the champs and Scott for dusting us so bad it hurt.

Damn good race! Figured it would be from the entry; shame about Matjaz discoing from the lead.

Suppose this is one I could be disappointed about, but the racing was too good and way too much fun for that. That was a blast, even if I choked a little from being a bit too keyed up. Seeing how tough the field looked, I made sure to get some practice in before, and 15 minutes before joining had gone 37.1 in race trim and 36.6 in qualy trim. Felt pretty good about that judging from the Euro race times, and dropped a 37.5 my first lap of online practice. Looked good until...

Qualifying! Got out 1st as intended, but instantly had cars on my tail gunning for it on the outlap. Normally I'd ease over and let 'em by to get some space to run in Q, but it looked pretty busy in the mirror so I stayed up front. For a bit anyway; it was really distracting with people being so racy in Q, so after mucking up my 1st flyer watching the mirror for cars trying to pass I did ease over and lay back to get some room. Might have worked if my darn PC didn't start stuttering like crazy. Drives me nuts when it does that, and having just dropped for 2GB of high end RAM I was not amused. Scratch another lap, and then traffic took care of the rest. Was a bit bummed to be 6th, a full second off the pace I'd just done a few minutes earlier, but was still looking forward to the race since the grid looked great!

Start went fine, and then I lucked into a couple of spots when T1 got hectic and I came out in 4th. I struggled the first few laps from cold tires and nerves, but finally things calmed down a bit. Was still outbraking myself in almost every corner and killing my exits (which is what I do when I get fired up ;-)), and Rob was all over me at first. Kent and TomO were wailing on it tooth and nail just ahead of me, and it was so fun to watch I actually screwed up a couple of times from spectating!

Right about then Matjaz discoed and we all threaded around him bug-eyed in mid straight. Not long after, Tom dropped a wheel off and I squeezed by into 2nd. Tried to get on terms with Kent, but was still overdriving and just couldn't get settled in. That soon had Tom on my back again, and after several laps he got by when I barely slid off in T1.

That minor off also put me back in Rob and Heinz's clutches, but I think Rob had as much going on in his mirror as he had trying to get by me. That had to be busy! Gradually eased out a tiny gap, and then finally started to drive instead of watch everyone else. That seemed to do the trick and I set my FL as I was closing a little on Tom.

Unfortunately, he dropped a wheel off exiting T1 and spun in front of me. It was like "Days of Thunder" all over again, except I ain't Tom Cruise and I didn't come out the other side of the smoke with the lead... ;-) Wasn't sure where he would end up but I thought I could miss him if I went far left, but dropped a wheel myself and it had the same effect on me as him - it turned me right. Into Tom. Crunch! Wish I'd managed to slip by as he could've still had a shot at a top finish. He was flying and might well have ended up in the mix again with me, Rob and Heinz. That would've been a hoot.

Got it going again in 4th and before I could get bummed, Mark was on my butt and it was back to racing, post haste. Car was a bit the worse for wear from the hit, but not nearly as bad as it could've been since it was a good whack. Stout cars, these Vertigos! Didn't want to turn in so well though, and Mark very nearly had me a couple of times - excellent, clean driving on his part. Kept shifting the brake bias back and got it sorted enough to just stay ahead of him to the end. Whew!

Crap, I've written a book again. Oh well, a good race deserves a good story.

Congrats to Kent, Rob and Heinz - well done guys. And to UKNL for taking the team title despite the boss' apparent abduction by aliens. Or maybe he went off to the pub with JD... ;-)

EDIT - darn, thought this was the last one for some reason. Looks like Barca will be the showdown - Rumble Time! ;-)

Just want to add my ditto to Garret's comments. Congrats to the series and race winners and to the rest of the podium guys - well done all!

That was a busy one for me, and a lot of fun too. I'd only done about ten laps this morning to get familiar with the track before tonight, and after seeing the Euro race times I wasn't expecting much since I'd only been in the high 53's using my Brno set. Got a bit more out of it in qualy, but still didn't figure I could find the pace to run with the front bunch.

Almost had to try though, since I got a good start and moved up from 6th to 4th going into T1, then up to 3rd when Kevin went testing the Tilke runoff zone midway into lap one. Was wondering if I could manage while I was struggling early on cold tires, but then Mike got into my rear on braking into the tight turn 12 near the end of the lap. Spun me off and with traffic still tight I had to wait for everyone to get past before continuing. Felt bad for him at the time since I knew that would mean a DT and in a race this short that's it. Been there myself. Recently... ;-)

Got going again in 13th and had a number of good battles the rest of the race; Graham and Ryan R put up particularly good fights. Had just gotten by Ryan R when Ryan A went off just ahead of me in T9, but instead of getting by, I of course followed him off. Guess he figured I needed a stronger hint since he went off again in the next corner! ;-) Got the message that time and went by into 7th, which soon became 6th when Scott went off up ahead.

That put me behind my UKNL teammates John and Bill, and we had a fun intrasquad race to the finish. Which lo and behold has put UKNL on top for the series team standings. Well done guys, the boss will be happy!

Good Job Justin, congrats!

Unlike me! Not only did I get a major-league awful start, once underway I made mucho mistakes and ended up getting together with two cars, first Justin in T6 on lap 4 and then TC in the Keyhole on lap 11, one or both of which got me a drivethrough from the steward (my 1st!) which I promptly botched by switching off the limiter a moment too soon, getting me yet another DT. I just hosed this one all around; apologies to both guys I got together with. Sheesh!

Justin - until I watched the replay after the race I didn't even know you'd spun - was amazed to see that since I hadn't had a clue during the race. I was outside and it looked like I had a clear shot into the corner, (see my incar screeny which was right before impact) then suddenly you were there on the inside; we made contact and my car bounced out to the grass, but when I got it collected I saw a car right there and thought it was you so I kept going. Turned out it was Rob!

Chased up to Tommy and we had a nice dice for several laps and it promised to offer some good action for a while; we had plenty of time so it was cool. Unfortunately I missed my braking point getting into the keyhole by just a bit and washed the front out a little. Again it looked clear going in (see in-car screeny from that one just prior to hit), but I didn't manage to keep it tight and we rubbed wheels. Unfortunately TC spun; definitely not my intent as it messed up what promised to be a really fun race for us both.

Nothing to do then but make amends, so I pulled wide and waited for him to resume. That's when Rob and Justin went by us both. I pretty much decided to just drive it in then and had resolved not to pass anyone even if I could as penance for screwing TC up, but then got the DT so that was taken care of for me... ;-)

Watching the replay, I was thinking I may need to think about changing my FOV since I don't have much peripheral vision in car and it makes it tough to get close in corners. I'm running 48 in the PLR file and it comes out like the screenies show; what are you guys using? (edit) At a 16/10 aspect ratio that's about 77 degrees horiz, which is more or less what I've run all the way back to GPL. Hmmm...