USA G3: Monza

I am happy and unhappy with that race.
I qualified well, and was happy to start especially well. Gained a position and sat in 4th. Battled with Johnny, and then a couple other drivers.
Had a fantastic battle with Steve.

Was happy with my race until i knocked Mike Monahan off under braking. Wanted to penalize myself, which came later as in the last 5 minutes i got a stop/go for going off the track and coming back on. What i don't understand is why I got a stop and go for not actually cutting the track.

Either way, The race was fun, and i accept my 14th place for a bit of a wreckless drive all around.

Congrats to Matjaz and John making up the other podium spots.

That must have been the most relaxed podium ever.. No battle :)

In quali i already realised Matjaz was going to cream the pace i was bringing to the table and john was a little slower, so at the start of the race, kept it clean and followed as fast as i could.. Was happy to maintain the gap i did, but think Matjaz was short shifting hahahaha.. Im sure if he needed to push i would have had no chance..

Well done all

Yuck! I am sure Monza was not designed for G3's!
Had a lot of trouble finding a good setup, and ended up basically using the default.
Had some good racing throughout, unfortunately Gregg came and went, so no usual battle between us two - sorry Gregg.
With all the warnings issued, I found myself taking my eyes of the road a bit, causing a couple of hairy moments. I am happy with a top 10, but realise it only came about due to so mant offs and spins.
Was glad when it was over, as the car never really settled. Not sure what happened with the timer, but I was in some close racing with Steve, and next I looked down the timer was blank. Put it down to not paying attention untill after the race when other guys commented on it.
Monza is played to death on the public servers, and at one stage thats the only track I raced, but unfortunately, it got tired very quickly, and apart from a lap or two here and there, this is the first real go I have had at it for about 6 months.
Congrats to podium, this was a tough race (for some!)

Overall I was pretty happy with the race although I started off horribly. I made a bone-headed move trying to defend my position with an outside line in the first big sweeper turn on lap 1 - cold tires pushed farther than I expected, clipped the grass and I went into a 4 wheel drift back across the track in front of traffic. Sorry guys...that was definitely poor judgement on my part.

Luckily I didn't take anyone out with me or damage the car, so got back on track in 19th place and worked my way back up to 10th. I qualified 9th so making it back into the top 10 from 19th in a sprint race felt pretty good.

Had some really fun battles along the way although I'm not sure who was who. One gentleman in a BMW was a lot of fun...we danced around and traded positions a few times during the twisty sections but I got a good run on him in the last turn and was able to gain some distance in the long straight. If there wasn't such a huge power differential that would have been an epic battle spanning many laps. Great driving on the Z3's part although it made me feel a little guilty for selecting the Viper - the horsepower advantage was a bit unfair and must've been really frustrating for everyone not driving it.

I did get spun out by a Porsche coming into turn 1 but it was obviously accidental and didn't damage the car any...hope it didn't set the other driver back too badly.

Great race overall though...had a blast and can't wait for the next one!

Qualified 4th and finish 4th. Lost a few positions at the start because I bogged the clutch and had a awful start. Worked myself back to 4th. I was clipped in the back and back to 7th position I went. I decided I wasn't going to push the car to hard. Strange thing was I started recovering ground very quickly.

I noticed throughout the race people were battling for positions and it was great just sitting back watching. Sat in back of some until they would make a mistake. caught up to another battle for positions and they made a mistake so I made my moves. One thing I've learned, sit back and wait, watch the battle and when they start twitching around in there cars, take advantage and go for the pass. Saves gas and tire ware also.

Great setup and great fun driving this beast. Luckily the race was short as my soft front tyres were starting to struggle big time. So no short shifting from me Heinz :D, just tyre "problems", but I guess I could squeeze some extra life from them if it would be necessary.

Weee, 1st non-Viper. Almost like a win... not! ;-)

Actually, I did try the Viper briefly; this is its den after all. Entered with it never having driven one before and realized in the lap and a half I did with it that I didn't have near enough time to get on terms with it.

Bailed and grabbed ol' familiar in time for a lap or two of practice, but duhh... no setup. Grabbed one from Brno and hoped. Got another 1.5 laps in before Q, so all I could do was dump fuel, throw softs on and give it a go. Car felt OK, but had too much wing on and was geared way short - revs were pegged well before the s/f line. Qualified in 8th, but probably wouldn't have gotten much farther up even with a proper setup. C'est la vie.

Started making wholesale changes during warmup but didn't get a chance to test them, so the race was looking pretty interesting. Turned out not to be terribly far off, just a bit loose at high speed and unstable over the curbs. Fun! ;-)

Race started OK for me; almost ran over a sleeping snake in front off the line but made it through T1 unscathed. Got up behind some Vipers and went into Parabolica on the outside, but the car inside slid out and bumped me off. Figured that's the risk of that line, so I got back into it and finally slotted into 7th behind a 3-way Viper dice for 4-6. Could make ground in the corners and lose it on the straights as expected, so it looked like a decent result was do-able. Especially when two of the Vipers got into each other putting me up to 5th. Looked like a lot of argy-bargy in Viperland out there.

I kept having trouble and going off in the last, fast chicane and would almost lose a spot or so back on the straights after. Had a fun few laps with Andrew as he noted - always a good battle when the cars have different strengths. Gregg finally got by me going into that chicane late, and as we entered it someone else came from way back and just plowed me in the rear - same car as ran me off earlier. Dunno what that was, since there was no way that move was going to work. I'll chalk it up to shot brakes... ;-)

Got back on and after it, with no serious damage fortunately and worked my way by Kris right at the end. Which came about 2-3 laps early for some reason; anyone ever figure out what that was about? Not that I minded, as it kept my total of offs down to single digits. Maybe!

Hi all,
Hey Steve, it was me 'the same car that ran you off earlier, SORRY!!!, yes i was in the trio of Viper, and yes, the first time was a bit temerous to try to go on the outside line, like you said, and second time, i think you were already a bit sideways when i touch you, that explains why, your battle got both of you guys slower in the chicane and tried my best to avoid cause i tought i could have a run at both of you, didn't happened that way!! + i was starting to have brake problems, and also, i think the game is giving you less downforce when you follow that close, didn't compensate for that also, i'll try to remember that, but anyhow, it was fun to battle like that, with Kriss too, clean fight there, but i ended up losing brakes in the parabolica 3 minutes before the end and was dissapointed :(
Seeya

My racing time has dwindled, so my post get even less, but this was a good event and figured it deserved a few comments after having some good fun.

Got on late so didn't have a chance to get me rhythm going but was real happy with 6th.

The start up front got a bit touchy as we entered T1, there was some contact, nothing major but had to avoid some slower cars correcting themselves. Upon approaching the last turn on Lap 1, I had Daniel and Andrew in front of me running very close together, as they approached the corner I was able to get myself setup for the inside part of the turn. I was disappointed in how Andrew came down with a hard block whilst under braking forcing me to go high out of the corner in order to avoid contact. Here is where I found myself in the runoff and Slooooowly making it back on track in 16th.

@ Andrew - friendly note, when you take a line that far into a turn (that particular one has more then 1) stay with it, you were right behind Dan and must have seen me coming on quickly and you dropped it right down on me, this could have taken both of us out. Again just a friendly observation, Good driving!

@ Kris- when I saw you up ahead of me, I was thinking the same thing, but I had a great setup and was so in the zone trying to get back to the top 5. If I didn't have my T1 mishap I was ready to do some battle with my good Race friend Heinz!

Steve, we had some good laps, and if anyone could squeeze the extra umph out of the GT3, you are one of them. It was an exciting place to pass, but was so confident in my car and your driving I knew I could get it done. You looked like you were driving the piss out of it every single turn! NICE!

Good race guys and again congrats to the podium.

Thanks Gregg; if "driving the piss out of" is the same as "hanging on for dear life and trying not to crash" then yep, that's what I was doing! ;-)

@ Daniel - no worries, I put myself outside in the danger zone on the 1st one and the other did look kinda like a no-brakes deal. Those big truck motors are so heavy they take a looong way to slow down!