NAGP GT2 - Round 1 Qualifying at Suzuka

Longshot Racings' second season in the NAGP GT2 category kicked off last night at Suzuka in Japan. The format for the first (Suzuka) and last races (Spa) are different than the remaining 8 races that make up the season. A separate Superpole followed by a 30 min qualifying race set the grid for next weeks 2 hr. event at Suzuka.
This season we drew third for our lottery pick which gave us high hopes for getting to choose a car of our liking. We were hoping for the Ferrari F458 Italia GT in the black and green patron colors. Luck was with us and we got our choice. This Ferrari is fast and stable, easy to drive, and gives us hope for a successful season.

Glenn at speed during Suzuka qualifying race

Jarrod has plans on being out of town for the 2 hour race, so Eric was called up to fill his seat. During the Superpole, I put in a decent time, but became dangerously close to blowing my engine 1/2 way through the lap. I tried changing my gearing selection going through the esses in hopes of keeping the engine revs at their sweet spot. It didn't work as well as hoped and almost ruined the engine. It cost me almost a second of my practice pace and set me back into the 24th spot. Eric fared much worse as he went off course coming out of turn 1 on his hot lap, bouncing off the wall.
I hoped to have a clean race and possibly move myself up to a better starting spot in the qualifying race, but the typical turn 1, lap 1 incident changed that in an instant. A couple cars got sideways causing those following to take evasive maneuvers. I was able to slow down in time, but the driver behind wasn't as quick on the binders and rear ended me. This put me into the grass and tweaked my suspension a bit. It got me a little miffed and I gunned it to get back on the track. Once my tires hit pavement I pitched left and hit one of the yellow corvettes making their way around the carnage. That was a dumb mistake on my part. I should have waited until all the traffic passes before entering the track again. It may cause a penalty on me, we shall see.
It took a couple of laps for me to make my way back to 28th. The car was tight, from the bumping and banging earlier, but still pretty fast. Had a Ford GT get sideways in front of me and knock me into the gravel a few laps later and that put me back down again. I guess I could have parked it then as I was way down in position. Couldn't get much worse. But I kept going because... I don't like to quit. Every lap is good practice.
I drove the car pretty hard to see how it would handle under stressful driving conditions. Despite being beat up it still had good pace. What I didn't notice was the engine gauge drop to 0% and on the last lap, it gave up before the finish.
So, I will be starting from the back of the pack near Eric, who didn't fare well either. And, for the 2 hour race, I'll take it easy and let others drop out and try to pick my way carefully up the field and look for a finish in the points. I'll be sure to watch the engine health gauge closely also. Hopefully, that's not a weakness in the car. Most likely it's because of my out of control driving and off road excursions.
Glenn

RD iRacing Star Mazda Series - Brands Hatch

Round 5 of the RDSMS series traveled to the legendary Brands Hatch race circuit. I had very little preparation for this event and was hoping to get lucky with a posted setup by a generous competitor. Sure enough, Lars and David both had theirs up for sharing. I jumped onto the server with about 5 minutes before qualifying and grabbed Lar's setup. I managed to shake out a few Brands Hatch cobwebs before going to quali.

Glenn at Brands Hatch

Qualification didn't go very well and I ended up not posting a time. Really, I was ok with that. I figured I'd go easy the first few laps to get used to the car and get my rhythm. I gridded 14th of 17 entrants. Team mate Eric was in the 10th spot and John Sydenstriker gridded 12th.

Eric at Brands Hatch

On the start I spun the car going into T2 braking hard to not rear end the driver in front of me. I drop to the last spot, but soldier on. Brands Hatch turned out to be a brutal course as many top drivers dropped out from accidents or fell back because of troubles. I had a few offs and twisted the nose a bit when I spun in T5. After that the car pushed a bit on the tight turns. With a few laps left in the race I found myself in the 5th spot. I had found my rhythm and was just turning laps. Go figure. So, I finished 5th, one lap down, and Eric was behind me in 6th. John finished in 13th, 16 laps down.



 Eric's RD report:
"Worked last week on a setup based on one found in the forums - got it down to the low 24's. Got on today and couldn't run a 25 with it. Luckily found Lar's setup in shared and it worked much better - right back in the 24's after stabilizing with an easy lap.

Blew my second lap qualifying, but the first was worth 10th on the grid.

Had car in gear and clutch in on the grid - apparently not enough of right foot on brake - as soon as the lights came on screen, i started rolling - instant black flag. The stop took a while because a) it changed all 4 tires and b) i was set to add to 19 gallons. Managed to get to the fuel menu and stop it at about 10 gal.

After that, it was avoiding mistakes for the rest of the race (only 4 inc in race). Paid off, making up 8 grid positions to 6th in the end. Kept an eye on the gap to Glenn for that one-more spot, but made up time far too slowly to have a chance.

Did anyone look at tires after the race? Mine certainly didn't feel very good after 20 laps..."


After 5 rounds, Eric is tied for 5th in points and John tied for 9th. I missed round 4 at Laguna Seca so I'm sitting in 13 place. Everyone gets two drops and I'm ok with dropping Laguna as it's not a track I like. In two weeks we go to Road Atlanta for round 6.