USA G3: Donington

It was mine to lose, and thats exactly what i did!
8 laps to go and I turned it round, got stuck in the gravel, and had to wait for all to pass.
It was great racing up til that point. Managed to claw a cpl of places back ,but ended up 9th.
Congrats to the podium. I almost made it!

That was painful! 2nd race in a row the Porker's expired on me in a ball of flame at the end of a race. Same way, too - over agressive downshifting. Some people never learn...

Was a blast (hehe) of a race up until then, though. Spent the whole thing in a Snake sandwich with various Vipers doing the bread chores. Was even thinking I might still have a shot at the win right till it went kerblammo with about a lap and a quarter to go, but so it goes. Instead I get another DNF, five recent ones of which are now sending my poor rank to Davy Jones' locker!

'Grats to David, Maciej and Dennis for getting it done, and a well done with sympathy to Kris and Mike for good drives that got away. Some racy Z3's out there too from the looks of it! Not that I'll ever have to drive one, since my plan for staying out of the top five is working marvelously! ;-)

Qual:

Had some trouble with traffic. Catching up one car that had a near spin (destroying his lap) yet he didn't give me an inch as I tried to go by while on my fast lap.

I let others through if I mess up a particular lap, so I guess I assumed he would do the same.

Race:

Wow, that was fun.

I blew the start messing with some controls and went from P4 to P7 in a heartbeat.

I focused hard on getting into a rhythm and protecting my tires with such a long race. It was really interesting to see how it went as we all moved up and back within our place.

I got by a couple and then settled into 4th after getting by Maciej, who seemed to be struggling under braking.

In 4th for a while, watching a great battle with Steve in the GT3 and Mike and Kris in the CC's.

Steve and I eventually worked past Mike, who seemed to struggle on exit. Then when Kris put a wheel off under braking at what I consider to be one of the hardest turns in motorsports, his lazy slide into the gravel meant we were now 1-2.

I got a bit optimistic when I could see that Steve was hanging on to a beast under braking and seemed to be practicing his drifting through the apex as well. :-)

He held one drift through to the exit and, with his bit of opposite-lock and slight lift when he put his rights in the grass, I was by. Only then did I check and see that there was way too much time left! The remaining laps varied up and down by almost a second for all of us and the gap would grow and shrink.

Going into lap 22 I was starting to have tire issues and mirror-driving issues. This helped Steve to take a giant chunk out of the gap (1 sec) on that lap.

On lap 23 & 24 I focused until my brain hurt and seemed to reduce and even reverse the rate Steve was catching me up. I knew that even if he caught me he was going to have a tough time getting by with those burnt skins and I could still pull a gap on the back straight.

Then somewhere on lap 25 he just disappeared. I didn't even think about it being fuel until I got my fuel warning coming to the end of lap 25. [edit: Looks like Steve tested the limit of his valve train]

Major bummer that the last lap fight didn't happen but my heart appreciated the reprieve and the chance for a conservative lap 26.

Was a good race for me. Although i almost punted Dennis M on the first lap when he snuck by me at the bottom of the hill. I'm glad the tap wasn't that hard.

After that had a battle with Garret D. and after quite a few laps i managed to get by him. I then started catching Mark C. and Rob A. as they were battling up ahead of me. For almost the rest of the race had a good run with Mark C. We traded positions a couple times but i made a small error and he got past me again.

I then had the fuel warning message around mid lap of lap 24 and had to start short shifting. I made it to the finish but i dont think i would have gone much further as my fuel showed zero going into the final corner.

Congrats to the podium.

Wow, what a surprise ending.

Congrats to the podium and congrats to my teammates (Mark and Kris) as all of us were able to post results in the top 10. Great job in getting on front row in Qual Kris.

I don't really like this Z -- sorta getting tired of driving it. But I suppose on the plus I'm starting to figure out how to keep the car and tires in good shape during the race. But even with 2/1 wing, it still has no balls.

Qual was about as good as I expected, I was never able to get into the 1:09's, so I stopped trying and worked on my race setup.

Had a great start, got into T1 well but I could feel Maciej on the inside so I left room. Got overhaul by a Viper or two as I expected early on. But I kept on it hoping for a top 10. I was having a solid race til an Elise that had gone off came back on the racing surface right at my apex exit. I was thinking "not AGAIN!!", did my best to avoid the Lotus (how ironic), but clipped it with my left front -- this cost me two spots and I'm surprise I didn't have serious damage.

I caught back up to Mark C. and managed to get along side after a bobble on the front straight -- we both went in pretty deep but I drove it on the curb to prevent any contact. Killed both our exit speeds, but I managed to keep in front.

After that, I was trying to catch Dennis, I was able to bring the gap down from 6 seconds to 2-3 seconds but I figured I was going to just settle for 7th. Then the last lap and the front runners just started dropping like flies -- in a matter of a few hundred yards I went from 7th to finish 4th.

Great race, good to see so many folks at a very competitive pace -- still stuck in Z hell, but so is Maciej.

Frustrating race for me, but I enjoyed some close racing. Could not put together a great qualifying lap and ended up in 13th. Late in the race I had some close racing with Mark Peeler in the BMW. We swapped positions many times. He tapped me and I spun on what I thought was the final lap. Then he waited for me to pass him on the next straight (nice racing etiquette Mark!). Then I promptly lost it at the next turn :)! Anyway, it didn't matter because I ran out of gas on the final lap. Incidentally, I could have sworn the checkered flag went out before I crossed the line. Oh well, DNF for this one. Right before the race I bumped the fuel down from 33 minutes to 32, and I paid for it!

I ended up crossing the S/F line with 25 seconds left, requiring one more lap. Not knowing what was going on with Steve and Maciej meant I couldn't just sit there waiting in an effort to avoid lap 26.

I wonder if that played a role for those that ran out.

I was running pretty good for most of the race. Started 19th and got up to 13th for a few laps. The I overshot one corner and got passed by two cars that were putting the pressure on me. I spent the next 4 or 5 laps closing the 3 second gap, finally doing so with only 2 laps left in the race. I'm coming out of the last chicane and the backend started to fishtale. In that fishtaling another car came up behind me, probably couldn't find a good line around my car, and accidently hit me. My car went sailing up into the sky, came back down on it's wheels, and I was able to continue onwards, now another position back. Wasn't enough time to catch anyone, plus the car didn't handle correctly after that anyway. I did finish a few positions higher than I started, 14th, so that's a good thing.

I can not believe i'm still in the Top 5. Seems to be a repeat of last season. :-( No matter what i do setup wise to the Z3 my lap times are the same. My quili setup was soft/soft, low fuel. Race setup was soft/med with plenty of fuel and i ran the same times in quili as i did in the race.. Atleast i'm consistent... consistently slow..LOL

Great battle with Ryan Robbins, with the time closing down i got a good run out of a corner and bumped him. Sorry again about that Ryan, bummer you ran out of fuel.

Seems the team did a pretty good job, all of us finishing in the top 10.

Started 16 and somehow managed to finish 11. I had a problem with a rookie/back car. Couldn't keep his line and wouldn't let me pass. Everytime I tried to pass, straight line would come up and he would just hit the gas and leave me. Seemed like a drag race. It didn't look good and I knew sooner or later there was going to be an accident with him driving the way he was. Few laps later, BAM, accident. Just let the faster car by if he has an opening. What's the use in fighting a faster car? Anyways, enough of my blabbering. Always fun racing here.

No Z3 for me anymore, thanks goodness. Back in a faster car with a faster track coming up (Monza). Going to need the power.