GTC Season 5

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[rip|buzinator]

it's up

[Ezeon]

Thanks Buz! Also for sorting out the image placement.

Great write up BP.

[bpbriles]

Thanks guys!   

[bpbriles]

Some spy shots of the latest test session have surfaced...     

[bpbriles]

SEBRING IN THE DARK

For starters this race was INTENSE!!  

I had a good stable setup that I could consistently run 2m2's and 3's. All went well at the start, I was really taking it easy because survival/finish was my top priority. So a lap or so into the race I feel I need an extra challenge, so I think I will help myself to a self induced spin...... I touched those cones on drivers right going into T1 and BAM, I was looking the other way. I barely touched the wall and things were a bent anyway. I worked my way around to the pits and had 1m30 of repairs done to the car. Off I went to put my head down and try to stay out of trouble and finish. Pretty much did not have anyone to race with other than the clock and the track itself.

I ran the tank dry and pitted for 16gal of petrol and 4 tires. Hoping this would get me to the end of the race, I set off from the pits once more in survival mode. With about 20min remaining I started trying to calc fuel on the fly and ooops!  

Had a spin and SLAMMED the wall. I really had to struggle to get my car back to the pits after this scrum witht the tires. This was gonna be a 6m40sec repair job on my 3RD @&#*%! stop!!

The car was not right after this hit!! The wheel was cocked to the left and every time I got on the brakes, the car would pull hard to the right. Then add the bumps in the brake zones and that pull turned downright violent. Hell, going into the T5 hairpin, I would start far drivers left at the cones and would end up far drivers right by the time I was ready to turn in. To correct or try to keep straight under braking was a spin for sure. I had to start letting faster traffic past before any brake zones, so not to drift into them under braking. Those last 6-7 laps just plain wore me out!!

Well after all of the complaining/crying. I ended up with a P10 finish..... and I'll will take it. It was a really fun race and can't wait to race here again in the dark. I just hope I can work on my concentration to keep these offs to minimum in the future.

Congrats to EZ on a P4 finish!!  Great job man.  Way to make your comeback to the ISRA GTC!!!

On to Mosport!

Here is a cool snapshot someone took of the start from above.

[rip|buzinator]

Wow - eventful! Having to let the LMPs thru with that kind of handling issue really sounds nerve wracking. Add to that the fact that it's night and ... damn.

[Ezeon]

So glad to be back in the drivers seat. I finally got internet and settle in here and everything went well at Sebring. I was quite surprised I only had a few moments where lapsed judgement, ran with only about 4 incidents for 90% of the race.

It was quite odd starting off the race with basically no fuel strategy, I kind of just watched as people started pitting. The opening laps where pretty intense as everyone was trying to get into their own pace, while being extra cautious. I was leading a pack of four or five cars for the first 5 or so laps when I got a snap over steer and spun harmlessly, everyone got around as I headed back off. I lucked out and saw some of the group I was chasing also having troubles and back to right around where I was. I was starting to settle into I think 5th place in class when an HPD caught be in an awkward spot on the track for overtaking, I looked at my mirror for to long and found myself running out of track and brushed a tire wall, made it back to pits with minimal damage. Luckily it was just a few laps before the first pit would have happened so I topped off my tank while the pit crew fixed the steering. Got back out on track and didn't loose many positions, was able to work my way up to 6th overall again after others started pitting, and eventually got 5th before I started to think about my next pitstop. It would have been easy to lose position to 5th in the pits again so I waited until I had at least a good estimation on when I would be safe for the rest of the race. Pitted so I would have enough to run the last 45 mins of the race without conservation. Accidentally left changing tires on, but really didn't loose much time and got going again. Now chasing 5th place. While I was chasing him, we moved up one spot due to another cars repairs. So now I was fighting for forth and caught up to the driver after a few laps. Maybe the fresh tires helped with that as I had been closing the gap quickly, as I caught him he spun into the tires before the middle straight, I was sad too see that as it was the final third of the race and was exciting to be in a close battle at that last stage. From there it was to be a cruise just letting other classes by. But on the third to last lap I spun right as I was exiting onto the back stretch, getting on the gas too early. A lapped car didn't see me and T boned the car. Steering was at 45+ degrees for the last few laps, with the car jerking left on the straights, ARG! I was so close to fourth spot, I struggled with the car and almost ended some others races, I had some moment where I pulled right off track because some people had amazingly taken their fights to the end. I was able to get it around without hitting anyone and kept 4th spot, 13th overall, wooo. It was quite a thrilling race. I love the immersion level of this night version.

For this race I experimented with having almost no HUD info up most of the time. I used the black box selection buttons to jump onto the relative tab every-time I saw headlights coming or I was in traffic. I would memorize the positions and would know how long I would have to start worrying about traffic again then turn it off and concentrate on lapping. Took off the ping and gear indicator/spedo. I would check on my lap times periodically with the first box. It was nice not having that bright text on the screen.

[rip|buzinator]

very zen / death-star-trench-run