USA e30: Brands Hatch

Seems like I was invisible the entire race. I got punted about 6 times and forced to the back of the field. Nobodies fault but Simbins I guess. It looks like I only got credit for one timed lap as well.

It really threw me off until I figured no one could see me, but that wasn't until about halfway.

It is very disappointing when you're trying for the overall and team title though.

Grats to Rob.

Garret,

Yeah, this invisible car thing (GTR2 also) is certainly a real bummer -- has caught me out once also.

Was surprised to get pole (I'm a little rusty in the E30) and dang it was close between Mike and I. I got a good start, but Mike got a better start and had the edge into T1.

I was gonna do my best to push Mike hard, but passing on this track IS difficult. A few laps into it and I found my opportunity as Mike got a wheel on the grass (done that a few times myself).

I could see Tom was not far back, but it's real hard to push at this track without a mistake. I could see where Tom would gain time (the right kink over the hill) -- Tom got the gap down to <1 sec, but a couple of mistakes dropped him back but not out of reach.

In the meantime, I was trying to figure out how to be faster in the section Tom was gaining time on me. It took me a while, but I finally started to understand that Kink -- it was tricky, too much curb and I got a warning, too little curb and I had slow exit speed -- but I finally found a fast way over the kink.

There were some hairy moments with Traffic, but I somehow ended up with about an 8 sec gap.

Was a lot of fun, congrats to Tom and Scott and everyone that was able to finish.

I had to leave too Garret. I tried exiting/re-entering, but most cars on track were simply freezing on my screen constantly, and pings were all good. Didn't make much sense to me. Same thing happened a while back in a FBMW race. When I entered the grid, I only seen 2 other cars on track behind me, and the race had started.

I wonder if you guys got your Race07's updated with the latest patch?

I had an issue with the latest patch, I think. I installed it before I got to the server. But all during practice the game would dump to the desktop with the pop-up window to update Steam being shown. I installed the patch at least 6 times, but it continued. It would CTD with that stupid pop-up after just a few laps. So I bailed before official practice even started. Hoping reinstalling is all I need to do. I find out tonight.

I haven't had/seen any game patches in awhile. I have had a couple of Steam updates though. There was actually a Steam update waiting to be installed when I left the game last night.

Seems that the game and Steam are separate. If the server had an update that I didn't, I should have gotten a mismatch.

During practice, there were a couple of guys warping really bad. I didn't think much of it as my connection and car seemed fine.

I guess I should have specified that it was a Steam patch/update that I was talking about. And I don't think they are separate if the Steam pop-up was invading RACE during practice and dumping me to desktop. And like I said, I must have hit install about 6 times and it would still pop-up after a few laps looking for me to install again, and killing my game.

Congratulations to Rob, Tom and Scott for fine finishes.

Rob and I took some time to get up to speed in practice. Tom was on pace immediately. Garret wasn't as fast as I expected in practice so I was feeling comfortable. I practiced for the S7 event here a few months ago. I wasn't as fast this time around and had to adjust the setup to get the front of the car to bite. It seems like one of those patches changed the handling characteristics of the cars.

Quali: It took me a few laps to get a fast flyer, but was a bit dissapointed to be 2nd right after the lap. I didn't think I could go faster. I went off on my last flyer so 2nd it had to be. Garret showed his speed and qualified 4th so things were shaping up to get interesting.

Race: Things got interesting all right. Garret didn't show for the grid. Terrible that happened to you. At least I had problems too. I got a lightning start and ran around the outside of Paddock to grab the lead. Rob wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to pressure me. He bobbed and weaved to give me grief on corners and straights. Great stuff and clean driving. I knew it was difficult to pass here if the leader keeps tight lines so that was my focus.

On lap 2, while keeping tight to the apex at Sheene (kink with curb at top of hill) I grabbed enough curb to launch the right side of the car airborn which kicked the car a bit to the left for the landing. After looking at the replay, my left rear just barely got off track and the car never really was in a slide that warranted so much opposite lock. It felt bigger in the car while driving so I countersteered into the percieved (or anticipated) slide. When the left rear came back on track my wheel was still pointing left and the car shot like a cannon to the wall drivers left. I hit a ton losing my splitter and wrecking the suspension. I limped to the pits where the crew fitted a new splitter, filled it with fuel, slapped on some new tires, and said "deal with the suspension damage". How much can they fix with only 46 seconds in the pits.

The car behaved differently between left and right turns. The toe was badly out of whack. I was steering left to go straight, but I wanted to continue to salvage a top 10. I was on the lead lap, but just barely. I was hoping to be fast enough to stay with Rob so when we came up on traffic the lappers would move way for the leaders. I saw this at Lime Rock a few weeks ago when James Safronas got a lap down, but was quick enough to hang with the leaders in the Speed Touring car race on Memorial Day. He got by many lappers that way. It worked for me to get by 1, but there weren't enough laps. With 3 laps to go, I got off at Sheene again, but I was close to going a lap down and didn't want to spoil Robs race by coming on track aggressively. I let him go, but he must have been nervous going by me with 2 wheels off after I've crashed the very same corner earlier.

I'm still leading the driver's championship, but by just 5 points over Garret and CT Racing is just edging out Over the Hill for the team championship. It should be a nail biter to the finish.