USA G2: Monza

I couldn't have had a more perfect race except I didn't win! Pole & fastest lap. Although, I was struggling on a no-stop strategy with the left front dying. The wear was up over 40 when George passed me on the last lap. Way to go George! I had thought the race was 45min/21 laps. Thinking we were way ahead of the 45min timelimit, I started easing off at the end to hold George off 2-3 more laps. Little did I know that we were on the last lap!
George and I traded paint into the first chicane and I wound up in the litter.

Sorry about not talking to everyone on TS. I guess my microphone has bit the dust. BTW, I heard what you said about me TommyC!

Looks like a fine crew that will be in the Mosler or Morgan at the next event...

Congrats George on the checkered flag!

Well, lets see, I qualy'ed 19th and finished 19th. Hooboy! I was running in 10 for a few laps, then was collected by a couple guys, and buy lap 11 my tires were too fried to give any grip so I pitted for new skins. I come out of the pit in dead last. Manage to pass a couple guys, saw one other driver pit for tires. For a race that was set to 2x tire wear there sure weren't many taking on new tires. Maybe we should return to a required pit stop? Setting 2x isn't doing it. Also, seemed like my brakes were set to 2x wear as well, just had terrible brake fade. Oh well, it was fun when I was up in the 10th thru 12th positions, after the pit stop, not so much.

Great race with my friend Gregg Mulgrew, we had a good battle the whole race. Considering how practice was going I was surprised with a top 10. I chose softs front and rear and I had nothing left mid way through the race, I tried to save them-- I thought they were going to blow up!The only blemish was on the very last lap at the first chicane. Barry Kennedy was making a move on me, and I was sliding all over the place and I might have squeezed him a bit (probably a whole lot from his point of view)-- my apologies, I just had nothing left in steering input.

Just as a side note (this was being discussed on TS), I had 43 wear on my LF at the end. I don't know when they're supposed to blow. By she hung in there.

In the eurorace I did a stop. That cost me a place, so I decided to try this one without one. Qualied in 2nd which meant ... no cars in front. :-) Was chasing Garret the whole race at 2-3 secs. In the second to last lap Garret went a bit wide and into the gravel at Ascari and I got by in the run to Parabolica. My tyres were also at their end and Garret closed in again when we got to the last T1. We went in side-by-side ... Garret at my right. On exit I tried to leave room but the tyres didn't really allow that anymore which got Garret into the gravel again. Glad to hear you were ok with it Garret. Not happy ofcourse ... but ok :-).Looking forward to the next one. I'll be in a Mosler for sure. :-)

Fun race.

Steve B. was the porker that wouldn't die tonight! You drove the wheels off that thing Steve!

Watching that damn Turbo approach the first time I figured I wouldn't be able to hold him off, but then he couldn't get a proper run on me down the straights and couldn't quite outbrake me without locking them up and finding the beach. Each time Steve would have a bobble trying to pass I would think, 'whew, now I don't have to worry about HIM anymore.' Only, two laps later my mirrors would be full again!

Eventually, I guess the tires quit and that was that, but it was a valiant effort.

Outside of that I had a nice run with Dennis to the checker, that was alot of fun.

Finally, I'm not sure how this car restriction will work out, but it is guaranteed to be interesting at the very least.

I suppose that the 20th place person should post...well, like yesterday in the F BMW match at Mosport, I was doing okay in practice, but once I got into traffic I choked.

I hadn't played any racing sims since about July, and while I was doing great alone, traffic scared the living daylights outta me. I was only 2 seconds off the lead pack in qualifying, but the field was so tight that it netted me 17th. After doing well for the first 15 minutes, I began to cook the tires and overheat the brakes, and around 25 minutes I was losing 2 to 5 seconds a lap on everyone, regardless of what I did. *shrug* its nice to be back out here, but I need to find my line and my nerve again.

Arghh... 1st S6 race ends with a DNF. At least it can only get better!

Just got home in time for qualy, but had done a few laps in the morning before work so that was ok. Chose the Porsche since I haven't really been having much luck in the BMW of late, and as it turned out it was well suited to Monza. Bobbled around on mediums in Q trying to get a good lap in, but kept screwing up the 2nd chicane. Just couldn't come to grips with that one all night.

Still had a decent grid spot in 4th, but hosed that with a completely inept first lap and a half. Had decided last minute to skip a pit stop since I stink at pitting, so I started on hards without ever having practiced on them. I'd made a couple of setup changes in hopes of compensating for them but still was caught out early by the lack of front grip.

Got away well and entered T1 in 2nd, only to completely miss it. Went off again later in the lap and again early on the second one, finally getting going back in 15th spot.

Nothing to do then but get my head down and chase. Gradually the tires came in, and I worked my way back up through passes and others' errors, until I was in 6th behind Scott and Dennis. Which was the fun part of the race! They were running close together and I kept trying to set up a pass on Scott for 5th. Got by a couple of times, but the passes were pretty much Braking Hail Marys and I gave it back both times. Damned miserable chicanes... ;-)

Thought I might have one more shot if I could get back up to the duo, but just when I was closing in late, the motor expired in a haze of turbo smoke. Scott, it may have looked like the wheels were coming off, but it was just the engine spreading itself around the track! ;-)

well dang -
saw 41 seconds left on the clock till race ,, ran to the kitchen for a beer [ aprox - 12 seconds ... ]
came back , tried to hit the race butten ,,,,,
and the race had started and i saw DQ next to my name -
dang - i was so wanting to race -did the admins start the race be4 the timer was up?