Panoz fun-run

I must have cut a corner somewhere as I was DQ'd during qualifying and had to start at the back of the grid. I got a good jump at the start and passed three cars before T1 and was content to hang back until lap 2 but there was a little contact between the top three and that allowed me to make a pass into the tight left-hander.

I fueled up to go the distance and med/med tires were fine event though they were quite worn by the end of the race. I think this is the first time FMMS has run 1-2-3 so grats to my teammates for their strong run. Congrats to the podium in GT1 and to Scott for a podium in his first race for Feint Motion.

Lesson learned - Parke-ferme on tires in this series! I took soft/soft for qual and ended up having to race with those too. I was originally going to do a stop, but just before starting the race I decided to fuel up just in case. Well, as luck would have it, the softs held up nicely for the first 30 minutes. After that they were slippery, but my 90 second lead allowed me to run very-VERY conservative and cruise to the win.

I was really trying to burn the clock those final 5 minutes, but crossed S/F with 15 seconds remaining and was forced to complete another lap. I could not slow up any more because there was a train of cars coming up on me and I didnt want to cause any problems.

Fun cars... you cant drive them like a hot-lapper during a race. You really need to alter your mentality into "enduro" mode and just run clean and steady laps. I really like that.

Fun race...the highlight was trying to control where the lapping GTR-1 cars caught my GT2, so that I could let them by quickly in a place that didn't hold either of us up very much. I was mostly successful, other than once when two of them caught two of us GT2 guys approaching the right-hander at the end of the back straight...had a hairy moment or two trying to take advantage of the car I was pursuing (Pat, I think) being forced off-line by the first of the 2 lapping cars as he went by. I jumped in behind, but maybe too close for comfort in front of the second GTR-1, as his headlights quickly filled my cockpit. Fortunately nobody went off, but I think it was pretty close. Those closing speeds are HIGH at the end of the straights!

Also, I think that the parc-ferme rules might have only applied to the GTR-1's in this race, as I was able to change the tires on my GT-2 between qualy and race.

First lesson learned with these cars - the default setup is not very friendly on tires. All the way round the track I was fighting the car, and even with mediums, I was on ice at the end of the race.

It was far from a boring race for the #45 Panoz Esperante GTR-1 though. On the start I was a bit lackadaisical and let a couple of drivers by, hoping to reclaim those spots shortly. However, the drivers were in sprint race mode and not in any mood to move over. Net result, I was held up behind cars that I could have easily put distance on, and this caused me to be harder on my rear tires than I would have liked. Halfway through the race I had a couple of unfortunate self-spins that lost me valuable time, but I was able to move up to second on my no-stop strategy.

That didn't last long, however, as a class car overtook me the next lap. On the very same lap, he was a bit overeager to move by a GT2 car at Bridge, made contact, and spun. I had nowhere to go to, was collected, and dropped all the way back to fifth after spinning past Priory.

At the end, I was happy to finish fourth and was happy to get off the tires I was on - they must have looked a fair bit the worse for wear!

I like the GTR-1 as well. Takes about 3 full laps to be able to really plant your foot. I made the same mistake as others and qual'd on softs, not knowing that that's what I'd have to race with. Had a great battle with Omar (damn, that hybrid really leaves ya in the dust on the straights!) and Sean in the opening laps, and I drove a bit too hard to try and fill a hole that Omar might leave open. At 1 point I was right on his rear bumper, and a few laps later he made a mistake on the back straight giving me 4th, but by then I had cooked the shit out of the rears and later I spun, losing the position. I manage to get right back on track, but a few turns later I spun again. Then trying to get back on the track I spun again. And again! I was now last in class but still ahead of the GT2 cars. I was thinking of pitting right there, but Sean must have bobbled and I closed the gap, so I stayed out. What a mistake, because my next time around, I ran right into a spinning GTR-1 right in the midle of the track. Might as well pit now! Came out behind 3rd place GT2 and drove my ass off to try to at least finish in front of all the GT2, but it just wasn't in the cards I guess. Ran out of laps. The GT2 guys were AWESOME. I know exactly what it's like trying to drive your race with cars that are much faster than you. It takes alot of watching the rearview and being patient when getting passed. Everyone I passed was predictable enough for me to know where to put my car cleanly, and that made this whole thing worth the price of admission. Great race and I'm looking forward to this series.

I didn't qualify too well, but that's normal for me...

I got a good start, which was made better by the fact that Pat, who inherited the class leader position in front of me when Richard dropped back, did not.

Pat went for an outbraking maneuver at Stowe after he got a bit of a run in Hanger and had slid past Garth, so I gave him what I thought was just enough room to squeeze in front. I was back on the throttle at apex and he was still braking, and it appears we made contact. I tried to avoid an impact with the slowly spinning car but was immediately spun when Garth got into the back of me, since he was right on my tail and most likely didn't expect me to be slowing up there.

I got going again at the tail end of the field, and made my way up through it slowly but steadily for about 20 laps. I eventually worked my way up to 3rd thanks to some pitstops as well as some excellent racing and courtesy by GTR-1 and GT2 drivers alike, and held on to finish there.

edited.

Thanks Tim/Todd.

Bob you could not be more right!!!!I thought my 1st F1 race was tough being that I was slow and having to be 100%.But I got to tell you last night was by far on of the most intence races ive been in since here at R2P!!There was never a time you could relax.I had good close racing almost every lap.So much took place out there for me that its to much to write up..Iam still tired.Although right at the end of the race with like 3 laps to go as i was looking at a P4 and no one seemed to be close.Next thing you know here comes Pat...Well as he came up to me I stared making my car real wide.We went at it for over a lap i think with him all over me(FUN).Well coming into the sharp left before last turn I got a littel out of pace and pat took me on the out side.I was able to chase him for what i thought would be the last lap but was thinking P5 would be a ok finnish.But then Pat most of come up on a lap car going into the fast right hander and had to lock up his brakes from trying not to hit him,At the point all I saw was smoke and I was gone.But when i crossed the finnish line It gave me no flag.So I stayed on the gas and went for one more lap.

I didn't know I was the only "Funky" looking color car...lol... I want to thank Tim for his setup, it really helped me as the rear kep snapping on me...lol...My problem was with the Anti-roll bars, they were too stiff, pretty much the rest was about the same, wings were at its highest... But I just couldn't find the issue until I compared both setups after the end of the race with "rFactor Setup Comparer"... I didn't know the GTR-1 has the Parc-F rule and also q'd on soft/medium... I cooked the tires, because I had B. Fay and S. Pivek on my tail for about 30 mins... At some points I was able to pull away from them with 5 secs or so, but then my tires just started wearing out and I had to pit...I lost 3 places, but gained 2 and one at the end because of the incident with the other 2 GTR-1 at the pit entrance.... Sorry to see Madigan loose a place like that :( ...

OG

We arrived in the UK late. We ordered our GT2 Panoz the week before and the factory shipped the container where we picked it up in customs; but we had to wait. We used the time to searched the pubs & eateries for a suitable car tuner. We ate our fill of fish and chips but passed on the warm ale as it didn't suit our palate. We are still not sure why they drink it warm. Anyhoo, we found a guy. Ian Thatcher a local sports car mechanic who was pleased to help with the Ponaz. We showed up at the track and it was clear after some laps with the factory defaults that our driver was in trouble. "Mate, He looks like his juggling cats the way he's sawing on that wheel." I couldn't agree with Ian more. We had no forward bite and our inexperienced driver was coming off the corners sideways. If he overdrove it then it was worse as he had too much wheel cranked in to overcome the problem. Ian decided to install some real soft springs and decrease the front to rear spring split. We installed soft tires also. "It'll be forgiving mate, and he's so slow we shouldn't have much problems with the tires." Well Billy Bob seemed a little smoother in the car and had some good practice laps with times in the middle of the pack. The race started and we were in the back. The car was very forgiving and Billy Bob seemed to be enjoying the drive. He was hitting his points and staying out of trouble. We brought him in for fuel and tires at lap 14. This is when things started going for the worse. We were caught speeding and had to serve a pass through. These officials were real strict and I think they were looking for a way to get back at us for a incident during inspection. Reckon we shouldn't have insisted it was a hood when clearly it's a bonnet. Anyhoo we served our penalty and it seemed to shake Billy Bob up some. "He's bottling out mate," Ian said. Huh. "We didn't give him anything to drink." "No Mate," Ian said. "He's running low on talent." Well it was obvious. Billy Bob spun the car three of four times in the last 10 minuets. He didn't hit anting but we were glad the race was close to being over. Billy Bob came into the pits like he had won the darn thing. Grinning ear to ear and going on about how much fun the car was to drive. Well we have a lot of work to do to become competitive but if fun is anyway to judge success by then we are winners. Oh and it was pointed out to us by Ian the reason for the warm beer.....Lucas refrigerators. :-)