Greboth

Race 1 - 4 laps Fuji Gr4 Fuji is quite a technical track with some tricky tightening radius and off cambers corners with the first half being faster with flowing corners and the last sector being all slow and tight corners. Qualifying Due to some technical issues this week - the pit out bug - qualifying had to be stopped and restarted. After the re-start the real qualifying began unfortunately Lee was still unable to leave the pits but we bravely carried on regardless. @JBR-Kiwi was considerable faster in practise and carried this to qualifying with his first lap being over 1 second faster than Mike who took provisional second spot with myself in third followed by Shucker, Tom, Bones, Phil and Lurch. Everyone was up to their pace quickly so there was little change over the rest of qualifying with the exception of Pete who improved his lap to move up to provisional third then further improved to take second on the grid. Race Following on from last week, we continued using a grid start rather than a rolling start which caused Pete some problems as he got too much wheel spin off the line and started to drop back. Paul @slamminbones and @phil bottle both ran deep in to turn 1 causing a knock on effect of pushing some cars wide. One of which was myself and I rejoined at the back of the pack with the aim of recovering as many positions as possible which was helped by Matt @Misneach_ kindly pushing Paul wide at turn 4 making it easy for me to gain 2 places. Though this was soon undone due to Gary @techno who used my car as a brake a couple of times through the final sector putting me almost to the back again. At the lead end of the start finish straight, @Shucker firmly in Phil's tow misjudges his braking zone and pinballs in to Phil causing him to run wide but due to the tarmac on the outside of turn 1, Phil gets a good run and manages to stay ahead in to turn 2. The pack had become reasonably spread out by this point however Mike @Mikepjbell and Kiwi continued to have a brilliant battle for the lead over the remaining laps with Mike taking the lead in to turn 1 of lap 2 but Kiwi soon re-took his position at turn 4 of the same lap and Mike sticking one up the inside of the final corner to again retake the lead. Though due to the length of the straight, Kiwi manages to draft up to Mike and take his lead at turn 1 of lap 3. Over lap 3 Kiwi and Mike swap places several times which allows Tom @LordBaguette to catch up and join in the battle with Tom managing to briefly get passed Mike around turn 3 of the final lap though Mike soon retakes this as they go through turn 4. This fighting slows them down meaning Shucker also is in the fight for the final half a lap but sadly this is ended as Tom runs wide at the hairpin at the start of the final sector and in cutting the grass infield gets reset costing him a podium. Pete had also managed to catch up to Shucker and with the finish line being a considerable distance down the straight, manages to draft up to Shucker with them finishing just 0.05 seconds apart. Results Race 2 10 laps Monza no chicane Gr3 Monza is a world famous track for it's heritage and speed with it's long straights separated by chicanes. In the layout raced this week though we skipped the first chicane meaning Curva Grande became turn 1. Similar to last week, the grid for the second race was a reverse order of the finishing positions of the first race so there is no qualifying report. Both the Medium and Hard racing compound tyres were available to use though the rule was that at least 1 lap had to be done on the hard compound tyre. Race Again we used a grid start rather than a rolling start which has the benefit of keeping the pack far closer together than using a rolling start. Without the first chicane it opened up the possibility of managing to sort ourselves out ready for, what is normally, the second chicane. This didn't happen! Due to the various speeds of people getting off the line and the run down to Curva Grande being so long the tow became important with the cars lining up 4 wide on the run to turn 1. This didn't end well going a few small nudges through turn 1 saw Gary , Paul and Tom run wide in to the gravel but manage to recover and carry on. @Lurch wasn't so lucky though as his trip through the gravel ended up with a spin and being parked sideways in front of Lee @GazzaGarratt. @crispymorgan kept it clean and managed to hold on the lead though running wide in the first chicane and then coming out of the first Lesmo left me with an easy pass for the lead. As it turns out the Lesmo's were a problem for a few people during the race with Lee, still struggling to get used to his wheel, becoming the second victim as he got out of shape through Lesmo 1 and spun hitting the inside barrier. Kiwi had close the gap to me in the lead and using the tow down the start finish straight took the lead which I didn't fight too hard as I had picked up a time penalty and I knew I could use the tow from Kiwi to serve my penalty without losing any actual time. Matt also manages to get a slight tow on Paul going down the start finish straight and has an attempt for a pass in to the first chicane but a massive misjudgement of his braking point saw him run clean over the chicane with the game resetting him giving Lee and easy pass though Matt closely follows Lee up to the Ascari chicane but failing to retake his position. Lee on the charge at this point puts in a couple of fast lap to catch up to Paul on the following lap and manages to draft passed him going through turn 1 to take fifth place. Unfortunately for Lee he becomes a victim to Lesmo 1 again costing him a couple of places as Pete and Paul move up the order. I briefly take the lead from Kiwi down the straight though this is soon reversed at the chicane - at this point I'm reasonably confident Kiwi is on medium tyres and will need to pit whereas I decided to the whole race on the hard compound so won't need to pit so I decide to just follow Kiwi rather risk a pass or lose too much time fighting. This is undone through as going through the Ascari chicane I get a snap of oversteer running the kerbs costing me time and allowing Mike @Mikepjbell to have the run on me down to Parabolica to take second though this reversed as I get a small tow on to the straight and re-pass Mike through turn 1. Mike then becomes the next victim of the Lesmo's as he runs wide costing him time and allowing me to have some breathing room to catch back up to the leader, Kiwi. I get a good run on Kiwi out of Ascari though he only leaves me with outside line for Parabolica which is a difficult pass. A bit of door to door rubbing ends as Kiwi, as well as Mike in third, peal off to do their pitstops (much to Mikes disguist that I would use such a tactic). Kiwi exits the pits with a few seconds lead over Mike though due to a mistake through Lesmo 1 and running wide through the gravel and grass, Mike has a run up to Ascari. Mike takes the inside line and takes second from Kiwi but unfortunately runs a bit deep as Kiwi pulls a switch back and retakes his second place which manages to hold on to until the end of the race. The final victim of the Lesmo's is Paul who on the final lap, with a chance to catch Matt, runs wide and spins at Lesmo 1 then rejoins and runs wide on the exit of Lesmo 2 also. Results Race 3 6 laps Blue Moon Bay Infield N200 We've done the oval of this track before but decided to try the infield version that has a few more corners than turning left all the time. The track has a small number of corners with an especially tricky turn 1 due to the bump in the braking zone as you come off the banked oval section. Again, the grid for this race was decided as a reverse of the finishing positions of the Monza race. Race Lee decided to really push the boat out for this race and try manual gears on top of also using his wheel. This cost him slightly at the start as he forgot to change gear off the line though for the most part Lee, and everyone else, got off clean meaning we were all bunched up through turn 1. Phil got nudged slightly which Mike was quick to defend that it wasn't him this time though Mike made up for it by then hitting Phil at turn 3. Lee runs wide at the hairpin giving Kiwi an easy pass up the inside as Gary also follows Lee wide though in Gary's case this was helped by Tom. Lee follows Kiwi out of the final corner and on to the oval section and with the help of the tow, makes a move down the inside for turn 1 but brakes late and runs wide in to the barriers of the outside of the corner. This fighting leaves Paul with a small lead much to his own and Mike's surprise but with Kiwi in second and myself in third it was going to be fun to find out how long he could hold the lead as the gap gets smaller over lap 2. At the end of lap 2, Phil gets in a 3 way fight with Pete and Gary and unfortunately gets switched back on through the final corner and run in to the wall on the outside of the oval. By this point Kiwi and I had managed to close in on Paul in the lead with Kiwi making his move through turn 3 causing Paul to lose some speed. I try to take advantage though I get caught out and have to take to the grass to avoid crashing in to Paul as I misjudged the overspeed I had. The fight continues down to the hairpin where sadly Paul gets a bit to eager and a snap over oversteer sees him get a slow exit allowing me to take second. While this is going on, Crispy, Matt and Gary are all very close and soon they're joined by Phil, Macca and Lurch for all 6 of them to run nose to tail through turn 1. It's all kept clean though Crispy forgets which corner he was at and brakes unnecessarily costing him some places. As they get to the hairpin, Lurch runs wide on the grass dropping him out of contention. Matt also runs a little wide but managed to keep it on the black stuff until Crispy, who is also running wide due to Macca on his inside, has some contact with Matt and spins him out. This leads on the final lap as Kiwi and myself start the final lap side by side on the oval as Kiwi takes a wider line through turn 1 to get ahead but I keep my car alongside to have a move in to turn 2 but fail to make the pass until Kiwi runs wide in turn 3. Though Kiwi makes quick work of recouping the place at the first hairpin which I attempt to make the pass at the second hairpin. Due to some dodgy ghosting, we pass through each other with Kiwi in the lead but on the outside for the final corner with me on the inside but with only my nose along side. We try to make it through the final corner but Kiwi, in a repeat of Phil's earlier accident, gets run out wide in to the wall. As I had so little alongside I should have backed out of the final corner so I lift off to give Kiwi the place back and for him to take the win. Paul managed to keep in front of Mike also to hold on to third which I believe is his first podium so congratulations! Results

Race 1 - 12 Laps Willow Springs Gr4 Even though the Audi TT has been given a Balance of Power (BoP) nerf recently, this race looked like it was going to play out in a similar fashion to Laguna Seca a few weeks ago. The Audi TT is significantly faster but is Front wheel drive and suffers excessive front tyre wear meaning a pit stop is required. Choosing a different car though would mean being slower on ultimate pace but able to do the race without a stop. Which would be quicker in this race of strategy...that @Mikepjbell screwed during practise by explaining the assists he use causing Phil to force them to be off for qualifying and the race. Qualifying Out of the 12 racing, only 4 chose not to use the Audi TT so qualifying was going to be difficult for us. The four were myself in the Toyota GT86, The birthday boy @JBR-Kiwi in the Dodge Viper, @tronic44 in the Peugeot RCZ and first time racer @techno in a Lamborghini Huracan. I got out the pits first and so crossed the line first, I set a new PB of a low 1:16 but this was short lived as Mike crossed the line shortly afterwards with a blistering 1:15.8 whose pace already surprised himself with everyone slotting in third down. On the second flying lap, the times and positions didn't change much with the exception of Lee @GazzaGarratt jumping up to fourth, then on his third qualifying lap take his first pole from Mike by a tenth. Race Unlike the last few weeks, we were doing standing starts, which saw Lee on pole get nothing but wheel spin allowing a better starting Mike to hold the inside in to turn 1 and take the lead. A bit of door to door action saw Tom@LordBaguette get squeezed leaving Kiwi on my tail going in to turn 2. Keeping an eye on Kiwi in my mirror, I missed my braking point for turn 3 allowing Kiwi to make a pass and move on up the podium positions. This was relatively short lived though as on the tricky last corner both Lee and Kiwi run wide giving me an easy second and as Kiwi got a better run on to the start finish straight, it saw Lee drop from second to fourth in one corner. Lee stuck close to Kiwi though and manages to re-pass him at the top of the circuit on turn 4 which also allows Tom get passed on the downhill section. The leader, Mike, touches the dirt on the way down the hill allowing me to close and get a run on him in to the last corner but the Audi is monstrous through the final corner so Mike pulls a small gap. Lap 2 it was Tom and Phil's @phil bottle turn to run wide at the final corner and losing them places. Tom running wide, left Kiwi again chasing down Lee and on the following lap, making a pass on the downhill as Lee runs on to the dirt and very wide costing him several places. As the saying goes, third times the charm, on my third attempt to follow Mike through the final corner he gaps me but I get a better exit and close up down the straight to take the lead through turn 1 which is all to brief as in a copy of Lap 1, I run wide in to turn 3 allowing Mike to retake his lead who then runs wide in turn 6 letting me back passed. Kiwi has a couple of bad laps of running wide on the last corner and ends up behind @jordie1892 who battle for the place with Kiwi making the pass, Jordie retaking the position before Jordie runs wide on on turn 3 of lap 11. To end the race Phil and @Lurch get close with their final position coming down to the final corner where Phil runs wide allowing Lurch to take the place by a little of one tenth of a second. To somewhat show how tricky the final corner of this track is, I think half my notes for this race revolved around someone or other running wide 😆 Race 2 - 3 laps Sainte Croix A Gr3 There was no qualifying for this race as we decided to try out a reverse grid based on the results of the previous race. The race is only 3 laps but as it is one of the longer tracks in GT Sport so there was going to be plenty of time for action as the faster cars at the back made their way through the pack. Race As race 1, this was a grid start which caused carnage from the start as @Shucker couldn't race but forgot to remove his entry so was at a stand still at lights out causing Mike some issues. The majority of the pack got off well and running 3 or 4 wide heading for turn 1 was a risk for a big pile up but with the exception of Pete getting knocked wide and pushing Tom wide it was mostly clean. The exit of turn 1 had Rich @tronic44 in the lead being chased by Kiwi, Lurch in 3rd with Phil and Lee bumper to bumper in 4th and 5th respectively. Mike had recovered from a stranded Shucker and was 3 wide with myself and Gary going up to turn 2 where I managed to take 6th with Mike in 7th and Gary in 8th. Rich makes a mistake runs wide at turn 6 letting Kiwi take the lead while Lurch runs wide out of turn 4 allowing Phil and Lee to close the gap. Phil takes the inside in to Turn 6 but like Rich runs deep while Lee also follows while helping Lurch in to the wall too giving me an easy pass straight to 3rd place. Sadly in recovery Lurch spins a few corners later and retires form the race. Rich goes offline through turn 8 which allows me to run round the outside of 9 and take the inside of turn 10 to move myself up to second place. Mike shortly follows with a nice move to overtake Rich at the hairpin at turn 13 with Rich losing a further place as Tom makes the pass down the start finish straight at the end of the first lap. The race calms down after the manic first lap as most people have found their rough positions and running with gaps though a few mistakes give chances and passes. I haven't really been able to close down the gap to Kiwi but in pushing Kiwi runs wide turn 10 on lap 2 allowing me to close right up but with some work still to be done if I want to get close enough to try a pass. I fail to close the gap with my last option being to try and out drag Kiwi to the line but due to misjudging my speed from the tow I brake too late for the final corner allowing Kiwi a clear run to the line. Lee, Gary and @slamminbones all get close with Lee managing to overtake Gary who shortly after takes the position though Lee manages to pass Gary right at the end. Race 3 - 4 Laps Tokyo East Loop (Wet Race) This race was scheduled for a previous week which due to time constraints it was not possible to do so it was re-run this week. In the practise for the previous weeks race, Bones was quick and topping the times but was struggling to achieve the same times during this practise session. Though I think everyone was struggling to adapt to the slippery conditions after two dry races on some of the softest and grippiest tyres available. Due to the time, we didn't do any official qualifying for this race so the grid was decided by the practise times. Race Sadly there is no footage of this race due to someone, who might have been me, forgot to save the replay which is a shame as the drag to turn 1 was interesting. Again we started this race with a standard start but on Tokyo the start line is in a tunnel so the track is dry and it's a looong run to turn 1. We all go off relatively clean but the differences in cars became apparent as Pete's speed saw him take the lead just as Phil in his Aston Martin also made a charge through the pack. Phil takes a defensive inside line in to turn 1 and brakes early catching me out causing me to have dive for the outside as I brake later. Due to the conditions both Pete and Lee run wide touching the wall but getting away mostly clean. Pete takes a drive at turn 2 to take the lead from me as Lee runs wide again this time picking up a penalty for hitting the wall. Towards the end of the lap, I make a pass on Pete retaking the lead as Lee closes up to Pete too. Lee attempts to pass Pete by going round the outside but due to the lack of grip they run wide and in touching the wall, Lee spins and sadly the game doesn't reset him until most of the pack has passed. Lee is chasing down Bones in to the final hairpin where Bones does his best Tokyo drift impression which Lee takes advantage of but Bones gets a better run and with the help of the tow repasses Lee down the straight. At the end of lap 1, I cross the line in the lead with a gap to Mike in second who has a gap to Kiwi and Phil in 3rd and 4th who in an attempt to close in on Mike try some shake and bake bump drafting though Rich has been sneaking up on them and makes a surprise pass on Phil at turn 1. Lee succumbs to some technical difficulties as his wheel slips on the desk causing him to go all pinball wizard by hitting every wall trying to re-clamp it. Kiwi without the need for shake and bake, manages to pass Mike who then tries to convince Kiwi to slow down on the straight so he can be in the tow - for some reason Kiwi doesn't.

Race 1 - 8 Laps Tsukuba Gr.4 A few of us had practised this combination over the weekend with most of us having decided on what car to use. That was until an update the day before the race rebalanced the cars. A quick check of the leaderboard soon told us the new fastest car but it was going to be a rush trying to get used to it. Qualifying; This week saw qualifying start off in some rather unusual circumstances - Rather than Mike apologising, Mike was being apologised to! This didn't distract Lurch though who crossed the line first and setting what would be provisional pole until Kiwi crossed the line around half a lap later. I followed Kiwi across the line slotting myself in to second place and bumping Lurch down to third. Over qualifying Phil managed to get a good lap together to finally take third on the grid leaving Lurch to take fourth. All the time Lee was getting more and more angry at himself as he was failing to get near his optimal lap time or the time he managed in practise meaning he had to settle for fifth. I improved my lap time but was still second though, with my optimal fast enough for pole, on the pnultimate lap of qualifying I got my lap together to take pole by less than 0.1 seconds from Kiwi. Race: A rolling start saw us all reasonably separated and so turn 1 was clean but with everyone trying hard it didn't take long for mistakes to happen. The first victim was @Stretch616 , running wide through the middle chicane but through skill (or luck?) managed to hold it. By lap 2 the pack had closed up allowing Lee @GazzaGarratt to make a nice pass on @phil bottle at the final hairpin to move up to a podium position. This was shortly followed by @slamminbones trying a similar move but failing to pull it off and running wide and costing himself a few places. Sadly this followed by Stretch running wide through the final corner causing himself to fall down the order. Out front, I was slowly pulling away from Kiwi in second until a mistake at the start of lap 4 saw my lead halved and down to just 0.2 seconds by the end of lap 4. A few more unforced errors with Matt running ride through the middle chicane before hitting the wall and Bones copying Stretch and running wide through the last corner saw further changes to the order. I had been eeking out a gap to @JBR-Kiwi but an unforced error of my own at the final hairpin meant I had to go defensive against Kiwi through the final corner and turn 1 of lap 7. Kiwi took the lead in to turn 1 but being on the outside he couldn't hold on to it. Through all the action and mistakes, Bones had caught up with Stretch and tried a repeat of his lap 2 dive at the final hairpin. Bones keeps it on track this time but Stretch gets the switch back causing them to run side by side down the back straight, the final turn and the start finish straight. Sadly for Bones a misjudged braking zone for turn 1 saw him off in to the gravel leaving Stretch to easily keep his place. And so began the final lap with the win up for grabs, I was in the lead but bumper to bumper with Kiwi in second. Kiwi took some unusual lines in trying to find a way passed with me taking defensive lines through the final hairpin and corner to take the win by a little over 1 tenth of a second. Final Result: Race 2 - 9 Laps Mount Panorama Going in to this race, it was always going to be tricky. Gr3 cars are fast and give plenty of oppurtunites to make mistakes going over the mountain where there's no run off areas and lots of walls to get penalties from. Qualifying; From practise it was looking likely that I would take pole with Kiwi lining up second on the grid. However qualifying didn't start well for Kiwi who managed to spin on the final corner of his out lap but a quick reverse up the track saw him start his first qualifying lap at normal racing speed. I cross the line first but with a lap overtaking Phil and a mistake saw Lee initially setting the pace with a 2:03.7 lap, almost 3 seconds faster than his PB in practise. Kiwi manages to get a good lap in though and takes provisional pole following half a lap later by me taking provisional pole. In the middle of qualifying, Mike has time to play deceit when Matt asks him what his time is and Mike gives his optimal lap time rather than his actual - sneaky! Phil who has been down the order gets a clean lap in to take provisional fourth but is promptly beaten to by Mike dropping him to fifth place. At this point, I nail an almost perfect (for me) lap and scrape a 2 minute dead lap time causing Lee much disguist. Lurch closes out qualifying by jumping himself from seventh to fifth on the grid and further demoting Phil. Race: Due to the extremely short start/finish straight at Mount Panorama, the rolling start didn't work out for some as it started them on the last corner and causing Matt @Misneach_ to fall back from the pack much to his annoyance at not being able to get a tow up the hill after turn 1. Lee made a great start though and with the tow from Kiwi makes a move in to turn 2 which after some battling Kiwi holds his place as Lee falls back a little. Sadly Lee's race soon takes a turn for the worse as he runs wide at the final corner of the mountain and the game reset him costing him valuable places and his sudden re-appearance causing Stretch to also hit the wall. This saw Stretch fall backwards with Matt right on his tail which starts a fight that gets picked up a few times through the race. Lee making a recovery chases down Phil until Phil runs wide on the last corner of the mountain allowing Lee to take fifth place. Phil doesn't give up though but following Lee over the mountain on lap 4, dips a tyre on the grass and spins. As Phil recovers he holds up Matt a little who is then caught by Stretch to continue their battle. Sadly for Matt, he gets a little loose out of one of the corners and with a little tap from Stretch spins right round (baby, right round) but ever the gentleman, Stretch waits for Matt to recover and retake his position. While all this has been going on down the field, Lee still recovering from lap 1 catches Lurch in fifth and following a side by side battle over several corners, Lee emerges victorious. This is short lived though as the following lap, Matt recounts his excessive penalties and distracts Lee which allows Lurch to retake his place with 1 lap to go. Lee now mostly on his own starts the final lap only to begin the celebrations a little early with several doughnuts at turn 2 letting Bones and Phil to gain an easy position. To give credit where credit is due though, Lee follows up the doughnuts with some nice drifting going up the mountain Final Result: