USA e30: Pau

Wow, What a crazy track. I never drove this track until 15min before qualifying. I think it might have showed. I started last with the goal of not wrecking anyone and just finishing the race. I managed only one of those goals. At one point I was running as high as 6th (mostly due to others misfortune) With only 4 laps to go and not one shred of grip left on the tires I happened to miss my braking point by a mile and KABOOM! Huge front end impact. Car came to rest sideways blocking the track. Sorry to Charlie who had to negotiate my demolished racecar. Well it was still alot of fun. Congrats to the podium. I think the FBMW race here will be nuts.

Grats to Garret and my 2 teammates Mike and Scott for making the podium. And I didnt DNF, that's quite a change.

Congrats to Garret for the win & a nice second & pole for Mike! Great race Scott! Glad to see you on the podium. You deserved that. Great drive my man. I’m sure you have many more to come.

My race was one I would like to forget. I had a good pace and managed 6th in qualifying and made it to 5th at one point. I was so afraid of curb cutting, I came down on Garry in one of the turns and got spun. This was the first race in a long time that I’ve been spun and is just a testament of how good all of you guys race. Had fun working my way back up but then my stupid freaking windows vista system tells me it’s time for a virus scan. Crap. I forgot to turn it off before the race! Happened at the end of the front straight. I wound up at the run off area at the end of the straight. Lost about 20 seconds from that. So the process starts all over again to work my way back up. So 6th I’ll settle with. Maybe someday I’ll get that podium.

Was so very sad to see so very few in the race. I know it’s summer, but I would love to have more entries. Thanks to Wing, Scott, Garret, Les, Bob, Garry, Dan, Mike & Alberto for showing up on a constant basis. You guys are so much fun to race with. You all are great drivers. This series is the most fun I have here at R2P and hope it makes a return next season. Would also like to see the race run at a full fuel load every race so tire management comes into play as well.

Thanks again guys for the great fun and hope soon to be running up front with you all.
C-ya,
CP

Congrats to Garret, Mike and Scott for the podium!

Couldn't find the pace here, tried different curbs, sliding all around, still found myself at the back of the grid.

Nothing special in the race, couldn't keep up with anybody. Once Charlie had some misfortune and I was right at his back, pushed hard trying to have some fun chasing him, but still had him disappeared from my sight within 1-2 laps. Ok now my goal was to not being lapped, but after a few spins I needed to change my goal again to be not blocking the leaders' battle. Fortunately I did it :)

Happy to make up the grid with you guys here, but really wish more people!

See ya in the WTCC event, wish I could do something better!

DAMN!! What a track!! This track was brutal on the tires on my end. Didn't have alot of time to put a setup together. My tire wear was definately showing because of it. Was struggling the last half of the race just trying to keep up with Les. I could see though he was having the same issues i was. So i just hoped and waited for a mistake. He had a slight fumble and that was all i needed. Les that was alot of fun, and you had me stressing pretty hard. Both mentally trying to stay with you, and on my tires. Was running alot harder than i should have and paid the price later in the race. Also noticed that I think it was Charlie maybe Wing, and Bobby also, caught up to me quick a few times. Had really clean racing from all tonight. Thanks for that. You guys all did great. Tough track. Gotta say i actually like this track. It so difficult to run the same lap twice that it just constantly had me working to keep the car stable. I just wish i had more time to work on a setup. But am very shocked with the podium. Will take it and run with it though.

Big congrats to Garret for the great victory. Beating Mike is no easy task. I still can't figure it out! So well done! Mike again you were super fast and great job on the pole. Way to be for CT racing! Also Bobby well done on the great finish. You guys are why CT is doing so well!

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

I didn't know how I was going to fair here as I hadn't raced in a week being out on a holiday. I had run a few laps last week in prepartion. In practice, I changed my line to not cur, as I was doing it badly. I was suprised to be alongside Mike in 2nd after qualy after such a dramatic change in my line.

The race started well except for a bit too much spin on the launch. I settled in behind Mike. He started pulling away little by little and I found myself over 2s behind after just a few laps. I had the same gap back to 3rd and tried to hold steady. Mike crept up to a 3s lead and was starting to leave. He got a bit anxious on the throttle in T1 and had a slow spin winding up sideways. He recoved quickly, but I managed to get a good run a take him into T2. Mike hounded me for a few laps and then got a bit greedy on the throttle heading out of the first hairpin and kissed the wall. I pulled out a decent lead, but he came back! He got within 1.5s and faded only to come back again! And, repeat. Yes, Mike crashed 3 times and still came back on me quickly. I don't know how you did it, but fantastic driving Mike!

To my relief, the end came before he had another shot at me. Great race everyone.

I'm going to win this championship without winning a single race this season. I took my customary 2nd place finish last night, but I am not dissapointed considering the potential for disaster at this track and Garret drove a very fine race. You earned the win Garret! I made way too many mistakes to earn a victory.

When I first got Race07 I visited the public servers. Whenever this track came up in rotation I would leave immediately. I absolutely hate it. Still, I had to run considering the championship fight.

I could not find a comfortable setup during practice. I wanted soft and compliant, but I just couldn't get the car to rotate. In a last minute desperation move, I added a bunch of rear spring to get the car to turn. It worked great in quali, but that was low fuel and I only needed to hang on for 5 laps. I backed it down a bit for race and added fuel.

I should have backed down the rear spring more for the race and just used the diffulty to pass to my advantage. After a few laps, I could tell I was too loose and I paid for it. I crashed no less than 3 times. Not big ones, but little bobbles that put me into the armco that did some damage and made me lose a postion and then time to Garret. Each time, I did some damage to the car and had to adjust to the new handling characteristics. The 2nd crash actually helped my oversteer problem. Like Garret said, I got within striking distance numerous times, but I couldn't get by. I'll use this as yet another learning experience.

The points races are getting really tight. 6 points separate Garret and I for drivers championship and only 1 point separates CT Racing and the Over the Hill guys. This is getting exciting!

Congrats to Scott for a fine podium finish and to Bob for a 5th which helps keep CT Racing in the lead.