Round 1 Brands Hatch GP - Thu Oct 1, 2020

A rather disappointing race the mine.
I did bad qualifications.
In the race I had a good start, but unfortunately I was hit by the mess of the first corner. I had serious damage to the front wing and this changed the handling of my car. I found myself last on the second lap. I tried to make a comeback and finished 16th overall. It can be done better.

Congratulations to the winners of the two classes and I'm sorry for Matteo, bad luck.

 

Congratulations, Tim! Well deserved That M1 was pretty powerful but also handful as I saw. And also, congratulations Dennis for the Div. 2 win!

Started 5th, possibly could have moved up one spot but couldn't put it together for a 'perfect' lap. Grabbed 4th in the Druids and that was it for passing for position on track. The pace of Matteo and Louis in the Capris, with Tim in the mix, watching that was awesome. Tim was the rabbit for me the whole race I really enjoyed that chase. But so far, I had nothing much for those guys. Was so fixed on the apexes here at Brands that I didn't even notice Matteo and Louis falling back behind. Kind of risky not pitting for tires in the latter parts of the race. But for sure the time lost in the pits is huge for these 60 minutes. And having no break for an hour was exhausting If the race was 90 minutes, that would be a different story for strategy. Only other option I see right now is maybe taking mediums for better pace and half distance fuel for a ~mid race pitstop. I think mediums can hold for 30 minutes if watching the rears, not pushing very hard with sliding, wheelspins etc.

Well, need to figure out this torquey Toyota in the next two weeks. I've been mostly driving the Ferrari so far and the Div.2 Ford Escort before that. So pretty happy with 2nd place in the end as I kind of rushed into this season pretty late to have some good preparations. So I just chose to not miss braking points, not to go off track and not have contact with other cars. Did some smaller mistakes anyway. All the guys pretty respectful on track in my view, while still having a big Div1 + Div2 grid. Really enjoyed it all and looking forward to the next round.

If you or anyone has troubles with this non-binded turbo management or lack of buttons on the wheel, you can use numbers on your regular keyboard from 1 to 10 to have it set immediately from 10% to 100%. That's default I think.

 

I see your point ill try making it.

 

Hell yeah!

 

Mine saved - grab it here : https://www.dropbox.com/s/fk1bkq21swq0j8q/SRO DRM S1 R1 Brands Hatch GP osrw.rar?dl=0

And congratulations (almost) on nabbing Grp2!

I didn't expect to win that in a thousand years - I'd only moved to the M1 about 4 days ago in order to race with Matteo when he joined, as result I went from fully understanding my 935 K2 and it's setups, to a car I've not really spent any time in and that I knew should only be about 3rd or 4th fastest here at Brands (that's still better than the K2 by all of Grp1!).
Qualifying 3rd was a happy surprise - especially as I messed up my one clear flying lap and caught Grp2 cars on their own flyers on other laps. Thanks to the guys that saw me coming, but don't abort your own laps just because a Grp1 car is steaming up behind you (unless you're on an out or cool-down lap) - you have just as much right to the track while qualifying.
On that note sorry if I accidentally baulked anyone on one of my cooldown laps - the rear visibility is almost non-existant in the M1 and I forgot to turn off the 'view car in mirror' feature of Shaders Patch before the race

At the race start I got away well with just the right amount of wheel spin and reduced boost, Matteo had his hands full which gave me the chance to follow Louis around the outside into Paddock hill and somehow resulted in my getting through Druids cleanly onto 2nd.
I had a small brown trouser moment when my brakes were even worse than expected and I found myself WAY too close to Louis' car just before the apex
Until the tires started to warm fully I seemed able to hold my own fairly well - I guess even the Capri's are a bit too dicey to race hard in while cold!

Once his tires got warm Matteo was all over me as I'd expected, I couldn't over compromise my lines to defend as the M1 is so cumbersome I'd loose seconds a lap doing so - Matteo simply put his nose up the inside into Surtees where I have to enter wide and drove past while I was still waiting for the straight to start

After that I just had to concentrate like crazy to keep Filip behind, the M1 massively over powers the Toyota, but the Toyota can nearly match the Capri for handling so I really didn't want him close enough to start occupying bits of track I needed.

I didn't even realise Louis had pitted until I watched the broadcast, one minute he was occasionally visible ahead up the road - the next he was still visible just up the road but suddenly in 16th on my timing screen!

I'm finding the tire issues for Matteo strange, I've done long stints in several cars when preparing for the season and they all last an hour easily. As Matteo said after the race that his rears were totally destroyed I wonder if the setup was too unbalanced or if you just used them too hard?
I managed 70 minutes of racing here at Brands Vs the AI (so much fun ) while in the K2, with tire wear at 200% - the tires were shot by the end of the 60 minutes but even halfway (1 hour tire life normally) they were fine.
The Porsche ate it's rears slightly faster than the fronts in that event as I'd actually found a way to make it turn better, normally it handled like my M1 did (epic understeer everywhere) and I imagine would have worn the front tires harder.
The BM was absolutely hammering the front left tire here last night - that went yellow 4 or 5 laps before the rears which probably helped my stability a lot. I only avoided even more horrific understeer from this point thanks to the lower grip at the rear which made trail braking easier.
Assuming you hadn't run on Mediums my mistake maybe look at dialing in some more understeer or a tighter diff? It'll make the car harder to go fast in, but should help look after the rears.
Another very important thing I found with both compounds is that they really hate getting too hot. And it's a vicious circle when they do as hotter=less grip=more sliding=hotter etc. Factor in also that tire wear accelerates like crazy when you over heat a tire (I think AC simulates this to some degree, ACC does this very well), so pushing really hard the entire way regardless of temps will result in the end of the race becoming much trickier.

I'm going to have a go in the Capri over the weekend if I can to understand this, as it shouldn't be the only car to be unable to do an hour.

Well dome to Filip and Laurent for filling the D1 podium - and Dennis, Mac and Toni for D2.
Outside of AI races I've never seen Brands so busy - it was a blast. And despite the volume of big wide cars everywhere I think I had only one issue with a backmarker driving into me while I was alongside, so a great standard of driving everyone.

Looking forward to the next one!

 

As Ted says, the best way to do this is to keep coming and watch what the more experienced drivers around you are doing. Offline practice is critical for setup work and car familiarity, but you won't learn race craft with the AI.
My first ever on-line race many years ago in GPL was somewhat embarrassing to put it bluntly - I eventually got to about 4th then got over-stressed/excited, got cocky and made an error, and then wiped out about 5 cars all in one accident .
Next time out I went slower having learnt that lesson, instead I made a point of following some of the faster, more experienced drivers who just happened to be in slower cars than me - in order to learn how to drive the GPL monsters. I learnt very fast doing it that way - offline I'd have no-one to learn from and would have needed months/years as opposed to weeks/months to really get up to speed.

Starts in big grids are always hard into the first big stop - even if you remember that the cars in front will be literally que'd into the corner ahead, things can still happen that end up in contact. When down the order I tend to place myself well to the inside and coast or back off well before I expect to have to brake - the more clear headed drivers behind will match you rather than dive-bomb, and that lower entry speed will let you avoid the cars in front while also giving the cars behind time to avoid you.
Best of all is that if someone does dive-bomb and mess up then you'll be in a position to avoid them and the ensuing accident, and will gain you some free spaces
In anything longer than a 20 minute sprint it's safer not to gamble in the early laps - the risk is massively higher than the likely reward.

While here sorry again for the bump in practice - either the M1 has a longer nose than I thought or I just misjudged when you'd get onto the power.
My fault entirely, not yours, so I hope that didn't factor in you deciding to take time out.

 

@Matteo, reducing the turbo is the answer. The 935 also eats through tyres at 90% but far more manageable at 80% You can also adjust the turbo via the number keys on the keyboard, ie 7 is 70% etc

What a spectacle that was last night, with near 30 of these flame spitting monsters at the amazing Brands Hatch GP
Thought i was in for a long night and bad car choice during qually when a 1:29 could only get me 20th or so on the grid. After the race i realised my mistake, forgot to put the medium tyres on and increase turbo boost to 90. I was on endurance tyres and 80% i blame a mental week at work
But anyway my fears were soon dispelled in the race. Got a good clean start and avoided the couple of spinners at T1. Saw a lot of fast cars going off track for the next 5 laps, cold tyres or too many eager beavers trying to win the race in first 10minutes? By mid point of the race i was running 10th as hadnt made a single error and was quite content knowing mostly quicker cars in the top 10 anyway. Those Capris looked a handful ! saw two of them have big off's
With only 22 mins left on the clock i was a bit annoyed to be nerfed off at paddock hill by Ansteys ferrari making a lunge up the inside. I was ahead and on the racing line so if you knock me off track surely you should give the position back? especially as it cost me 5 seconds, two places and put me out of the top 10 If you thnk you are faster at that point, you still have to make the overtake cleanly. Anyway, carried on now 12th and with 12mins to go i got nerfed off again this time by a catching Lancia. This was more of a side by side through a tight corner so i can be more foregiving but again i lost 5 seconds despite being on the racing line. After that it was a case of just getting it home to the line with my very worn boots in the last few laps. Finished 11th i think, so not bad in a slower K2 car.
Well done to all that finished, Brands is relentless with its numerous fast off camber corners and tough work focusing for an hour in these beasts. Congrats to Tim on the win (cant believe you took a fast car!?) and grats to the podium

 

That was kind of cool indeed. I felt like having a smoke on the grid and started feeling my mustache..
It took a few laps to get in a clean lap for qually and I think I was placed around 10th somewhere. Took it fairly easy at the start, unlike some others behind me who tried to win it in T1 and ofcourse I got punted off... again... Come on guys! Fortunately I did had a blast with reeling in cars in front and got upto 9th place. Especially the fights with Paul and Mark where good fun. (That 935 Porsche must be the best looking car in this grid! I had a great view on it for quite some laps)
But that driving took a heavy toll on the Endurance tires under my Capri, the left rear was turning red after 25 minutes already!
I also took the gamble not to pit and drive it home, but the car was like on ice for the last half hour sadly. That also forced two spins and put me right back in the order. I certainly hope the next track is a bit nicer on the tires..

 

I only did this to race Matteo when he joined us - also Michal looks like he should be strong competition when he gets to grips with his car based on both his laptimes and what Matteo told me about him.
Part of me is sad I had to ditch the K2 - I'd nailed the setup for it here and had it as fast as I think it can go. Would have liked to see how it placed had I driven it.

The M1 was chosen on purpose. As powerful as it is, the handling is woeful and it is very setup dependant. Capri was too fast/popular, K3 is the fastest on every track I tried - even places like Ebisu, and the Toyota is much easier to drive, so I would have been very fast in it consistently once I'd started on the setups.
Especially given that it is just a more extreme version of my own track car!

The M3 and Toyota have similar pace when averaged over fast and twisty tracks, so I picked the M1 as no-one else had.
And the decider is I used to have a matchbox M1 in the BASF colours when growing up - how could I not drive that?!

 

i dont blame you at all Tim actually, having just watched the replay, i think its right that the fast guns are in the hot cars up front. Thoroughly enjoyed watching you guys duke it out up front in the fastest weapons even the qually duel was scintillating ! Plus the M1 looks mega on track, i have a diecast model of that BASF M1

ps care to impart your works team knowledge on the K2 to a plucky privateer team? On closed channels naturally

 

It was hard to find a clear qualifying lap. I was on a 1'26.5 but made a mistake. In the end it wouldn't have placed me higher anyway.

I was a bit too cautious at the start of the race and Filip passed me into T1. My FPS was quite low with this grid, that didn't give much confidence. I need to lower my settings for the next one I think. Later in the race the frame rate got better.
Not even 10 minutes into the race I damaged my engine quite badly. Crew chief said "That engine doesn't sound right mate!" and indeed it was dark yellow. I was unsure how I did it and dialed the boost down to 80% for about 20 minutes. I had good hopes to catch Filip before the engine damage as I hadn't difficulty to keep up, but now with the damage and lowered boost my plan was to manage my pace to Phil behind. Phil was about 2 seconds behind, not much so I had to keep it clean. At about mid race I damaged the engine again and what caused it was down-shifting too soon into T1 and not the boost. So I cranked the boost back up to 90% and was cautious with my down-shifts. I did make a mistake in the last turn where I missed my downshift completely and went into the sand, luckily Phil was about 5 seconds behind at that point. I also lost about 2 seconds lapping Ted Hough which brought Phil right on my back at some point.

Really happy with P3 as I did not expect to bring the car home after sustaining the engine damage!

 

I was obviously with Endurance tires chaps, as everybody on the grid. Right now I programmed two buttons on the wheel to manage turbo pressure and will see how it goes in race 2. Reading that even Stefan (4th Capri on track I forgot to mention) had tires issues in the same window of me and Louis, makes me feel that turbo managing will be only a palliative care for tires to make them last 25 mins or so more than their natural life.
As for setup, as some of you know, I'm really bad at it. I usually change really few things on default setup, and that has always been my last thinking to prepare a race. I just worked a bit on gear spacings, and leaved the rest with default sets. Will try something different for the next race.

 

I did a race simulation with the Ford Capri a few days ago. Race fuel and endurance tires and I went through the left rear in 25 minutes time. The excessive wear is due to the tire getting waaay too hot. The Ford Capri is quite aggressive in cornering so that makes sense. Perhaps more than other cars on this particular track. By adapting driving style you could cause the rear left to not overheat that much or by making setup changes.

 

Had I realised what I'd done I would have given the position back. I really didn't know I'd done that. Very sorry for this. I feel bad now.

 

Within the first 5 laps I'd been hit multiple times. One car I was beside decided to change his line and punted me off the track. Now with front and rear damage the car just didn't turn into the corners. But it didn't matter I had a huge smile on my face from start to finish. The fights I had with the cars around me were great fun. Again sorry to Mark. I remember the move but I don't remember hitting him. I will need to see the replay.

Well done to the winners
Thanks to Caitlin for another great broadcast. Really adds an extra dimension to the racing.

 

no worries Paul, thanks for the apology. though you did rub salt in the wounds by finishing 10th just ahead of me Your Italian flagged car looks amazing by the way

 

Just watch the replay. Looks like I understeered into you through paddock bend. After the damage I picked up earlier in the race the car just wouldn't turn in. It would had been a good move otherwise. Damn had I known I'd done that I would have given the place back. If you're behind me in the next race I'll let you through to try and make up for it. It was good fighting with you must have past you multiple times through it all. Yeah the skin goes with the car and the alternative logo for Tag Heuer is funny.