2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

[xxPinkyKissxx]

One woman's trash is another man's treasure. I love DT Gardens in reverse as it's technical as hell. And with the tyre wear and fuel, it resembles Tokyo last season and I LOVED that race!

In fact, at my level (B) the ignorance is usually quite high, so if this is in fact a one stop with fuel save, the number of people not taking note of that will be stellar. They'll be going all out resulting in 2 stops and easy passes once again. Just like Tokyo.

BMB A doesn't have difficult corners with high spin chances. Less practice required, unless you want to drive it fast.

Ah yes Tokyo, I should have had a top 3 there. Had my lap time and strat nailed for that race. Oh well Will give DT a practice and see if I can get a good enough strat. I just hate those 3 left handers. Can never get through them consistently.

Had a go at free practice for BMB this morning and have got a 1:06.9 so far so not sure how that will fair at my level. Will try and get into a lobby to practice next week. If you’re in my lobby then I’m sure one of us will have a accident as usual to ruin it

 

[Raptor013]

Replay of my run in the GT-R

As I mentioned above, some decent battles with some of the guys towards the back of the field.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

there, but only light.

The suspension damage makes it hard to run a straight line and harder to hold your line in turns.

 

[Norrin Radd]

OK am I 1 or 2 stopping? 2 is safer and worked OK in OZ, but 1 is faster. Let's see how quali goes and then decide. 5th and should have been much higher, but an idiot came off and rather than just pulling off mucked about through COD and lost me a sec at least. Starting on hards decide by end of 2.
Came in on 1 was slipping too much and had dirty drivers around me. Made it though the pack quite easily and after pit stops thought 4th or 5th was a posibility. Got to 5th OK and closing fast on 4th, but will he let me past? No chance idiot ends up it the kitty litter for his troubles and I can see 3rd has tyre issues. Catch him at end of 19 and pass on 1st corner. Finished 3rd about 20 sec behind front 2 so probably the same if I'd gone for the one stop if I'd still managed to keep it clean. The front 2 also 2 stopped, but did their hards in the middle. Maybe an idea if I get pole cos I like this one and I only race for fun anyway.

Might try a different car though Genesis only so far. Any suggestions that aren't Supra

 

[barak181]

OK am I 1 or 2 stopping? 2 is safer and worked OK in OZ, but 1 is faster. Let's see how quali goes and then decide. 5th and should have been much higher, but an idiot came off and rather than just pulling off mucked about through COD and lost me a sec at least. Starting on hards decide by end of 2.
Came in on 1 was slipping too much and had dirty drivers around me. Made it though the pack quite easily and after pit stops thought 4th or 5th was a posibility. Got to 5th OK and closing fast on 4th, but will he let me past? No chance idiot ends up it the kitty litter for his troubles and I can see 3rd has tyre issues. Catch him at end of 19 and pass on 1st corner. Finished 3rd about 20 sec behind front 2 so probably the same if I'd gone for the one stop if I'd still managed to keep it clean. The front 2 also 2 stopped, but did their hards in the middle. Maybe an idea if I get pole cos I like this one and I only race for fun anyway.

Might try a different car though Genesis only so far. Any suggestions that aren't Supra

From what I tried, the Beetle and FT-1 both do okay here.

I'm personally faster in the Supra but I'm still inconsistent through the COD. I still have some time to try and find consistency, though.

 

[Norrin Radd]

Tried the Mustang and it was OK, couldn't qualify due to idiots and the discoed do might give it another try later or just take this as a sign.

 

[watto79]

Despite very little practice I qualified 9th and was on for a solid top 10 result. Pitted end of lap 9 (had been slowed down considerably by a hard runner but couldn't find a way past) and came out in front of quite a well known GTSport player who was yet to pit. Things went rapidly downhill from there.

 

[KosmoKazi]

Going in to this race my DR is about 12k higher than usual. So I end up door 5 in a split I wouldn’t normally be good enough for. There were several GTPers in there including @ClanFever. I’m the only RSR in the lobby among a bevy of Supras and a few Corvettes. I’m either a genius or an idiot.

Qualifying goes ok as my first “banker” is good enough to get me Q8 after I have to pull out of my second lap due to catching the guy in front.

I start on hards and feel like I’m running good race pace until I run off at the bottom of the esses on lap 6 and lose 3 spots. I slot in behind Clanfever and unintentionally give him a bump into the CoD when he brakes where I didn’t expect it. My bad but he holds it and I lift to keep him ahead. Guys who started on mediums ahead start pitting lap 7 and I lose track of where I might be in the pecking order. I go in at the end of lap 10 in p4, clanfever is p3 and stays out.

I rejoin in p6 and get head down to try and build a gap to the pack behind. When clanfever pits it gives me a chance to see how my strat is tracking and, unexpectedly, I go by while he’s in the pits and it’s p5. On about lap 16 P3 hits the CoD and I get past as he’s ghosted. I keep it together for the last 4 laps and bring home p4!

195 points, my highest ever. Needless to say, one and done.

The RSR is a viable option here people.

I was planning on running my trusty Porsche instead of the Supra, despite my best lap in the Toyota being faster. The RSR is just such a good race car come race conditions. And although the reverse layout of this track doesn't prioritize the brakes as much as the other way 'round, I still expect that it will be very effective at 'racing' the Toyotas over the length of the whole race. Thanks for the confirmation... I'm in.

 

[GTWolverine]

There was a 1X tyre wear race last season - 13 laps of Spa in Gr.1 with Racing Softs, Mediums and Hards. Only the Hards were mandatory.

There were 2 strategies for that race: Either spend the entire race on Hards and try to push on limited grip without binning the car or dump the Hards on the first or final lap and go flat out on Softs for the other 12 laps. Both strategies were viable, but I think most went for the latter strategy in Asia. The risk of binning it on the no stop was too much, I think.

I sucked at qualifying so I went with the no-stop strat. In spite of qualifying mid-field at best I spent most of the race(s) at the front due to everyone else opting to spend most of the race on Softs, but I'd always get mugged on the last lap as the Soft runners charged through and I had no grip to defend with...

I still finished better than I started in all of my attempts though, so even if I'd gone with a 1-stop it probably would've resulted in similar results.

 

[Hasnain282]

Taking the RCZ for a spin

 

[VulcanSpirit]

Entered the first EMEA Nations slot of the day for a bit of fun, having found some confidence wrangling the Supra around the reverse death chicane route. Was expecting to get thoroughly trashed at 60K DR despite my past results on this circuit in Gr.4 machinery, which made the outcome of this particular lobby very surprising.

15:00 Nations
What was not surprising was that the 15:00 was mainly a one-make affair; the only non-Supras starting were two Beetles, two Vantage GT3s, a Corvette and a Viper. Gave myself plenty of clean air in qualifying to set a 1:38.268 on my first run. Only less than 9 tenths off the pole-sitting Portuguese Supra (door number #3), and enough for a 14th place start ahead of the Nintendo-liveried Corvette.

Went with the 10H-10M strategy which I practiced during a test lobby yesterday, and proceeded to get stuck into an early battle with the Corvette and the #18 Supra despite my connection dropping to 3 bars. Avoided the #11 Vantage which the chicane claimed as its first victim, before pulling past the #18 the next time we approach the first hairpin. Went too deep under braking which allowed the Corvette to run side-by-side into the tunnel. As the chicane was fast approaching, I thought wisely to slot in behind and pressure the Corvette until he ran wide coming out of the S-bend. I was very close to him by the time he hit the barriers and got ghosted, so was again lucky to get away without being collected! Looked back to see others at the tail end having problems of their own, which handed me the perfect opportunity to break away and see how much ground we could make up in cleaner air.

On Lap 3, the #15 German Supra gets spun out of 6th place and struggles to re-join, giving me another place. Experience from the test lobby suggested that the Supra felt fantastic on Hards even on a full tank, and this was proving to be the case as my lap times eventually broke into the high-1:39 range. Was concerned about having only 77% fuel remaining mid-way through Lap 5, however, so started short-shifting to compensate for the heavy fuel burning on the formation sequence. This didn't seem to stop me from making rapid gains on the Russian Supra (#9) up front; my next lap after that was a 1:39.704. Jumped the Russian through the pit cycles (where I briefly mingled with the top runners) and found myself up in 10th. 10th. In a lobby worth 326 points.

Astounding as that sounds to me, I did have some nice pace on Mediums, setting two consecutive 1:38.6s before the compounds started to wear down. The only major drama I witnessed during the second stint was on Lap 16, when the #14 Supra hit an invisible barrier through the exit of the death chicane. Watching the replay suggested that he was close, but didn't actually touch the barriers on his right, so I'm certain that an invisible barrier was involved somewhere. This is the screenshot I took of the nanosecond before the #14 was sent pinballing across the track...

If I was in that driver's boots, I'd be kicking as well.

Inherited 9th place out of the #14's woes and stayed there until the end. Mediums felt dicey towards the end, but no chicane mishaps for No Face...

After this lobby, I can definitely see why the GR Supra has been one of the more dominant Gr.3 cars in Nations Cup for so long now. Under current BoP settings, the straight-six turbo is far from short on power, the car as a whole feels lighter and more composed through technical sections than something like the GT-R GT3, and the gearing is perfect for low-speed corners such as the three hairpins and the final S-bend. For something which I initially treated as a joke race, that went amazingly well! Received another near-500 point DR boost in the process which might have some interesting effects on the next lot of Manufacturers races coming up...

 

[Hasnain282]

Was in a relatively low ranked lobby for this one. My first lap felt pretty poor but the last sector was pretty good and could only match the lap time on my 2nd lap and that put me P4.
Started on hards and just tried to stay in the slipstream as well as I could. Gained some positions thanks to some deaths at the chicane and pitted lap 10 onto mediums and was P6 after the stops. My outlaps were pretty poor but got lucky with an incident up ahead to put me into P4. Was pretty close to the car in front (who had started on pole, crashed and recovered) but never within slipstream, but the one time I did get close, they made a mistake which allowed me through and I just managed to pull away at the end to bring home a P3
I drove pretty safely in that one and luckily it paid off, though judging by the gap to the win I could've been in with a shout if I did take a few more risks but can't complain with the result, it's been a while since my last 250+ score

 

[Seth_Logan]

If you’re in my lobby then I’m sure one of us will have a accident as usual to ruin it

Amen

 

[OJBrit]

Ok ok I’ll take a look at BMB! Can’t remember there ever being an x1 tire wear race before! Was kinda hoping it was going to be the oval layout as I’ve never finished out of the podiums places on that track

If I do enter and have a bad result, I’m blaming you all

That's the spirit. I'll happily take the blame.

BMB A doesn't have difficult corners with high spin chances. Less practice required, unless you want to drive it fast.

The hairpin disagrees.

In a tournament today so unable to do a race today. I will be reading your reports on Monday to see how much fun I missed.

 

[Timm Sheehan]

Ok jumping in to the NA server's first slot, wish me luck.

 

[barak181]

Ok jumping in to the NA server's first slot, wish me luck.

 

[KosmoKazi]

META

 

[ShiftingGears]

There was a lack of depth yesterday

 

[afc5150]

Happy to finally have something worthwhile to post in here.

Pretty uneventful first slot, really. All B/S lobby worth 133 points. Made a couple of small mistakes in qualy and lined up 8th in the Supra. Some hard-fought, but fair racing in the first couple of laps brought me up to 5th. By the 10th lap, I had moved up a further 2 places. I had started on the mediums and pit on lap 11 when the leaders did and came out in 8th. As the rest of the pit stops cycled through, I was back up to 3rd where I finished, 14 seconds behind 2nd and 20 seconds off the lead.

Not bad considering the top 2 qualified a full second ahead of 3rd, so basically 'best of the rest'

122 points that count and 1200 DR back ~27.4K DR

 

[barak181]

I could not have had two more different races...

After a bit of testing last night, I was unsure which car I should use - the Supra or the FT-1. I was definitely faster over a lap with the Supra, about 5 tenths so, but felt like I was more consistent with the FT-1. I was hoping to run two practice races this morning but that ended up not happening. So, I just went with my gut and jumped in the FT-1.

Slot 1 was pretty much a disaster from the get go. I get door number 20, for starters. I get caught up in traffic during qualy, smack the wall in the COD but somehow manage Q16. I try to run 11H/9M. Right away in L1, someone wants to go two wide into the COD. I back out, knowing that's a bad idea all the way around and get plowed from behind in the first of my many trips into the wall.

The frustrating thing was that when I wasn't bottling it, I could tell I had good pace and could pick up a couple places. Heck, I even went purple in Sector 1 twice. Both times I managed to either go wide into the gravel at the hairpin or completely bottle it in the esses somehow. I lost count of how many times I wrecked myself. At least six times, I think. The worst being on the final lap, I'm limping along in a safe P16 and completely spin myself in the COD. My 23 sec lead over P17 evaporates and the only reason I didn't finish lower is that there were three DNFs.

Slot 2, I give serious thought to the Supra. I mean, if the entire reason I chose the FT-1 was consistency and the only consistency I can find is wrecking myself I might as well go with the car that give me a faster lap time; but I thought better of it at the last minute.

I end up in basically the same lobby but this time with door 19. Qualy was almost as bad as slot 1. My first flying lap, I space out for a second and put myself into the gravel at T1. I jump out and just make another out lap in time and am doing a decent lap until I catch up to someone right before the esses that decides he wants to defend. He has a hard time of the esses and goes wide at the last turn, I blow by him but he lunges for the apex on the tight left hander. I slam on the brakes to avoid a collision but lose quite a bit of time and distance. He obviously didn't improve his time but he did cost me at least half a second and three places. I start P13.

One thing I could tell from the last race is that if I keep it on track, I should be able to get 10M if I start on the hards. I try to be careful with the cold tires but still somehow go wide on T1 and let four people by before sliding back on track but that probably turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I gain one place back getting a better exit out of the COD. I get one more when someone goes wide on the esses. I then gain four places when there's a pileup at the second chicane. A pileup that I very well might have been a part of if I had keep my starting position. I then get a run up on P10 and actually pull off a nice move up the inside for another place.

From there it becomes about consistency and strategy. I get another place when someone disconnects. A few laps later P7 & 8 are fighting and door banging so hard that I get by both of them when the knock each other wide jostling for position going into the hairpin. I gain my last position when an Aston tries to run one lap too many on the meds and hits the wall in the COD. I pit L10 for the RM and come out in clean air.

And that's pretty much it. I can't gain on P5 but maintain my distance on P7. Towards the end I'm just trying to be careful not to do anything stupid and probably take the COD slower than I need to but hey, I had a 7 sec cushion. Losing a sec a lap being safe is way better than losing 20 sec trying to push too hard when I know I'm not going to catch the people in front of me.

All in all, I end up P6 for 78 pts, with none of the major screw ups of the first race. I mean, just look at the difference in the car after the two races.

 

[C_Raccoon23]

NA Slot 1, A/S Lobby, 190 points, Door #9

I decided to go with the Beetle as I've never used it in a FIA race before and I found it fun to drive during practice. As expected, most of the field was in Supras, but there were a few unusual choices too like a Viper and Genesis. I was joined in the lobby with @KosmoKazi and a certain very problematic player, who fortunately did not become an issue in this race. More on him in a bit. I qualified 12th and started on Hards.

At the start of the race, the pressure was quickly taken off my back as the cars behind me messed up going through the death chicane, creating a big gap. For the first half, my strategy was to just sit in the draft of any Supras I came across and I gained a number of positions from the mistakes of other drivers. The aforementioned trouble-making player was claimed by the death chicane (go to 9:41 in the video below to see for yourself ), making him completely irrelevant. One less thing to worry about.

I come into the pits on lap 10 while in 4th and come out in 9th. After passing some drivers who decided to pit later and overtaking a couple of Supras on Hard tries, I made it to 2nd. 3rd was a second behind in a M6. However, I was not able to maintain this gap, as I messed up the entry to the chicane before the main straight, allowing the M6 an opportunity to pass me. With only two laps left, I wasn't able to get the position back much to my frustration.

Still, can't complain about a podium and my second one-and-done in a row. Big congrats to @KosmoKazi on the win, especially in a non-meta car.

 

[GTWolverine]

After some extensive testing, I settled on using the Corvette again since I was slightly quicker in it than the Supra.

Slot 1: Found myself in Top Split as car #20 so I immediately knew not to expect good things from the race. I qualified P16, more than 1s off of P15. I finished 15th and didn't pass a single car on track. 3 people quit but were already so far ahead of me that I didn't even see what happened to them, one person parked in the pits, and another died at the chicane but soldiered on behind me. Given how awful my qualifying was, I opted for a 1H/9M/10M 2-stop because I had nothing to lose, and spent the entire race by myself as a result, which was probably for the best, because I would've inevitably pushed too hard trying to keep up with those around me and ended up as one of those who ragequit. On the bright side, I was the highest-starting AND finishing car that wasn't a Toyota (the only other non-Toyota was a McLaren that qualified behind me and quit during the race) . I actually gained 29 DR in spite of the poor finish as well.

Slot 3: I skipped Slot 2 expecting it to also be way too stacked for me to finish well and get a decent result, and it probably paid off since I was car #4 this time and qualified 9th. I started on Hards again and decided on 10/10 strat. I got up to 7th at the end of Lap 1 as a couple cars struggled for grip out of the slower turns, then fell back to 9th again for a few laps before getting back up to 7th, where I stayed for most of the 1st stint. In hindsight I probably should've gone an extra lap on the Hards, because pitting on Lap 10 put me right behind an Aston on older tires that it took me half a lap to get around. I eventually ran down 6th and took a couple laps getting by, and thought I would finish there, but I guess 5th chewed through their Mediums much quicker than I did, because the roughly 2s gap that had been slowly growing as I followed them through the field the entire race shrunk rapidly until I was on their bumper and eventually passed them with 2 laps to go. I saw 3rd and 4th having their own battle and was hoping they'd at least slow each other up enough to allow me to join, but it wasn't to be and I finished 5th, a few seconds off the podium, for 211 points in my first Nation's race this season. Unfortunately I wasn't the top-finishing non-Toyota, because another Corvette finished 3rd...and to make matters worse, he's my main challenger for the #1 position in Michigan.

 

[JoeDaSnow]

Tonight's round of the Nations Cup involved me starting in 9th and finishing in 5th with 26 points.

 

[djidane57]

Despite very little practice I qualified 9th and was on for a solid top 10 result. Pitted end of lap 9 (had been slowed down considerably by a hard runner but couldn't find a way past) and came out in front of quite a well known GTSport player who was yet to pit. Things went rapidly downhill from there.

i just watched that replay on his channel , thats not his first ride , i knew he wouldnt back off and i feel you saw that coming too

 

[MCL1974]

Despite very little practice I qualified 9th and was on for a solid top 10 result. Pitted end of lap 9 (had been slowed down considerably by a hard runner but couldn't find a way past) and came out in front of quite a well known GTSport player who was yet to pit. Things went rapidly downhill from there.

He is known for being very dirty, Youtube is filled with videos showing his bad behavior. Odd that he has so many followers....

 

[MCL1974]

I haven't tried this yet, but I would probably start by using FM 1 for the front straight, through the chicane and through the next straight leading up to the hairpin. Switch to FM 3 or FM 4 just before the hairpin, and keep it there until you straighten up at the front stretch again when you go back to FM 1.

I can't remember which direction this race is so just do the opposite if it is the other direction. FM 1 from the hairpin to the end of the front straight, and then FM 3 or 4 through the 4 brothers and esses until the hairpin.

When I've used fuel mapping with auto in the past I have tried to limit the FM change to 2 specific spots on the track like that so that it isn't too much to remember and have to fiddle with.

Thanks! it is Gardens II.
did some testing, starting on Mediums: first lap all out, starting lap 2 FM2 or 3 at first turn, then back to 1. in 4 brothers FM 3, then back to 1. and the final section again FM3, then back to 1 before the final turn.
Doing this I can do 9 laps, then switch to hards, fuel up for 9 laps and need only a little fuel saving for the second stint. Seems like a fun race to do....

 

[KosmoKazi]

Seaside has been good to me, at FIA events and Daily Races. After considering the Toyota, I decided to try to continue my good momentum lately in the Porsche RSR... hoping to leverage the great tire wear and brakes to outperform the META over the race distance.

Had time to practice a little more than usual, and I chose to do it mostly on the Hards, to get a feel for the expected race grip.

Qualified provisionally in 3rd without a tow, just hundredths off 2nd, then slipped to 5th on the second lap, perhaps when people were taking advantage of a slipstream. But was still thrilled with that, as the going in position was that the RSR wasn't as quick as the Toyotas on a single lap.

Was a little discouraged that public enemy #1 was in my lobby, and had qualified ahead of me. But was optimistic that just holding my starting position would yield the most points I've earned in the FIA season.

Committed to an overcut strategy on the M's, expecting the RSR to manage its tires better than others, and also having gotten really comfortable with pace on the Hards, so that my second stint would still be fast as the tank was emptying. Got a good start, got around a BMW in Larini, then managed to put some pressure on the car in front of me heading into the CoD, and just wanted to avoid mistakes.

After the menace to society collected another in the CoD early, found myself hounding a Hyundai for the lead. He was messy, but I decided it was better to stay behind him than risk it or wear the tires, knowing that my strategy was sound. We managed to stretch a lead as the laps went on, which surprised me, but it played right into the strategy.

And it was! I was the last to pit, after 12 (or 13?) laps, and when I came out, I had a 7+ sec lead! I knew then that all I had to do was manage that gap, even if others were on M's, they would fade by the end, and I was able to pace within 1 sec of the M's myself, based on practice.

Nailed the CoD every time, stretched my lead a bit down the hill and eases and lost a bit in the first sector, but overall was looking like I'd be able to cruise to a win. Started to get nervous, palms sweating, tunnel vision into the CoD, but exhaled and focused. Watched @C_Raccoon23 (who had moved up from 12th in another not-META car!) closing the gap to me little by little.

(with Raccoon in the Yeetle, fighting for second and a TPC double podium behind me in the closing laps)

Considered slowing at the line for a TPC 1-2 photo opportunity, if I won! But eventually I found myself on the last lap with a little breathing room of just under 2 seconds, and crossed the line for my 2nd ever FIA win, and one that I was really happy with, at the higher DR, and #17 on the door. I haven't sniffed a podium in forever, and it felt great to execute, and against a field of "METAs" in my favorite Gr3 racer, which keeps proving that its one of the most versatile race cars in the field. Didn't make any mistakes, and used the advantages of my chosen car to put myself in position to win if others did. Very fun evening.

(replay posted on GT Sport Community)

(also interesting to note that the podium was Porsche, BMW, VW, and all of us well clear of all the Supras filling out the field… have to rethink the whole META thing… FP times are not the end all and over a whole run, the BoP mix seems to be really good right now.)

 

[KosmoKazi]

Wanted to follow up and give a shout back to the good feedback from @csmirnoff and @D_Dragline ...

A couple of things that you each pointed out here, when I asked for help, really rang true with me, and I think I've been able to put them into practice in the month since.

Namely, focusing on the exit speed, getting on the throttle at the right time (not too early, but then again, early as possible) and carrying the speed on exit all the way to the outside of the track... I'm framing up the corners in my eye completely differently in the last month, look at that exit target instead of further up the track (and much earlier, even before the apex, which I may have been keying on too long as I entered a turn), and it's paying off a ton, I think. Mostly in race trim and over the course of a tire wear stint.

Also have worked on braking earlier, not later (except for the RB X2019... that car seemed to thrive on late braking in the chicanes, anyway, but with the aero it's a bit different than a Gr3/Gr4 car). Watched this @kirethk video... while it didn't ring completely true with me, I recognized I had lots of room to improve in this regard. Again, especially in race pace situations.



All of this added up to some increased race pace, and also better consistency (as well as being able to more effectively protect my race position when in close quarters... huge advantage to gain).

Nabbed some good Daily and FIA race finishes, including at RBR where I'm historically awful, and after a year without a sniff of a podium at a dry FIA race, earned a really convincing win at Seaside this week, which was awesome.

So again, cheers, fellas, for the really generous and helpful feedback. Really appreciate it. The results have already started to come in, and

OK, here we go. Again, I'm usually close to your pace so maybe a quicker driver should advice instead, but I'll give it a try. First impression, it seems faster than the laptime suggests. I didn't put any time into TT, but I did a 55.5 with tyre wear on, so I believe I could have managed a high 54 in TT. Your time is slower, yet you don't do things that differently...

• T1: All good. If you hit the apex a bit more, it helps rotate faster, and you could have been a bit more aggressive on throttle at the exit, but it was fine.
• T2: Here I was staying in 2nd gear. I was taking your same tight line, but I think you overslowed the car there. I was carrying more speed into the apex, running over or close to the entry kerb and putting the right wheels over the green astro at the exit. You carried too little speed and had a lot of extra track available.
• T3/T4: I was braking a bit later, more in an angle and apexing a bit later than you, which allows you to get on the throttle earlier and get a better line into T4. You made T4 a little too tight for yourself and had to back out of the throttle at the exit. I'm sure your T3 is faster than mine, but compromising it for better exit speed out of T4 more than makes up for it as a straight follows.
• T5/T6: I don't see anything wrong there. I think I was carrying a little bit more speed into the corners though as it seemed like you almost made them easily, I was understeering to the edge of the track, but they were fine.
• T7 (hairpin): I was braking later and aiming directly for the inside and keeping it much tighter. Seemed better with the 911 that way, I think your line obliged you to steer too much, sliding and scrubbing off too much speed.
• T8/T9 (Schumacher S): I think you took that better than I was doing, no advice I can give there.
• T10: Good one there. I think I was using the entry kerb which allows you to be a bit less hesitant on the exit, but it was fine.
• T11: Perfect. I was usually sliding more than you there.
• T13/T14 (chicane): I was doing that in 2nd gear for safety. Entry line was perfect, but I believe you overslowed a bit, so you could have been a lot more aggressive with your line into the second bit, making the chicane straighter and carrying more speed to the exit.
• T15: Here I think you were asking a little bit too much from the tyres and induced a slide. I think you were trailing the brake too deep into the corner. Sure that one was just a small mistake.

Hope it helps. I don't feel quick enough to advice, but at least it's what was working for me. 😄 Unfortunately, I didn't save any TT laps. Could share my fastest lap from the race (mid 56) but it wasn't a particularly good one, hehe.

Edit: on what we discussed earlier on smooth inputs, on that lap, you weren't overdriving at all. Maybe it was a bit too conservative instead. In general, overslowing the car, not using all the track available and being a tad hesitant on the throttle. I'm sure anyone quicker than us could say the same about any of our laps, however. 😅 Driving techniques such as racing line, trail braking, etc. are all sound though!

Just got a chance to have a look. I'm no alien, but I feel like I have gotten a good handle on this particular combo. My best FP time was a 56 dead, so take this as intended and with a grain of salt.

My observations;

Your fundamentals are good. You don't make any big mistakes and your lines are generally excellent. You probably brake a bit too long in a lot of places and choose lower gears than necessary. A detailed turn by turn critique is below.

T1, could be tighter to the apex for extra rotation, but other than that pretty darn good.
T2, hold 2nd. You're losing heaps of time through engine braking there. (LESS SHIFTING NOW!)
T3 and 4, you were braking too deep into t3 and then turning too shallow into t4. you can just let the car coast in 1st, take a later apex in t4 and then get on the power and not lift.
T5 text book.
T6 Hold 2nd gear and use all of the track on exit. You lose a big chunk of time here.
T7 (Hairpin) you can delay shifting down to 1st a bit and take a bit tighter line. Not a major flaw
T8 and 9 (esses) really good. If you get the line absolutely perfect you don't need to lift, but you are so close it's not funny.
T10, Hold 3rd if you can and get your left wheels on the green stuff.
T11, Again, hold 3rd if you can. Exit was great.
Chicane; you brake a bit too long. You can lift off the brakes at turn in and hold 2nd gear. This one gains you A LOT of time.
Final turn: Take exactly the same line but hold 2nd gear to avoid that tail stepping out.

 

[avgracer41]

Picking the old reliable Porsche was a good idea after all. Started 11th and finished 5th (highest non-supra car), capitalizing from people's mistakes and two stoppers.

 

[KosmoKazi]

Picking the old reliable Porsche was a good idea after all. Started 11th and finished 5th (highest non-supra car), capitalizing from people's mistakes and two stoppers.

Top 3 in my 36k-41k A/S lobby at Seaside: Porsche, BMW, VW. Another Porsche only a few spots back from there, and a Hyundai that held the lead for much of the first stint just in front of me.

More important to avoid disaster at the CoD than to choose the supposed META! (I was marginally quicker in FP in the Supra myself, but I knew the Porsche would be solid and I could “race” it better when conditions and traffic were factors.)