2023/4 GTWS Exhibition Season 2 – Manufacturers’ Cup R2 – Watkins Glen Long Course
GT2 League - B / S Lobby – 126pts to winner
The new year celebrations are traditionally a time to remember and renew old friendships, so what better way for me to start my racing in 2024 than by competing at the first real-world track that I ever drove on in sim/game/virtual racing – I’ve been acquainted with most of The Glen since the original NASCAR Racing for PC in the mid-1990s, although that was the shorter layout that the Cup Series uses (ie no “boot”). I really enjoy its flowing nature, but even after all these years I’m still trying for a reliable, consistent, fast line through the Inner Loop (aka The Bus Stop, aka Yeet Chicane).
Still in GT2 (I did think about entering with my A account in GT1, then realised that I wouldn’t be able to make any of the evening-only start times), so I tested the Gr4 GTR vs my old favourite, the Silvia. The latter won out in race-length runs in Custom Race because it seemed to look after its tyres a bit better in my hands, and after a while in TT mode I was able to do consistent 1:54s, getting down to a 1:54.1 as my fastest (albeit I only did a handful of laps under 1:54.5, most were between that and 1:55.) Tyre wear was noticeable enough to cause a 1.5s delta in lap times towards the end of a race length Custom run, but nowhere near enough to make a pit stop viable. No danger of running out of fuel either, so it’d be a 10 lap sprint to the flag. This was the first time I’d driven the Silvia in what seemed like ages (manufacturers’ cup last summer – I was only able to do 1 round of manufacturers’ last season, and that was Gr3 at N24) and I’d forgotten how well-balanced it felt. Would that translate to lower top-end speed? Time would tell.
Unusually for me, I did multiple runs of this, I’ll quickly go through my first runs then go into my final one in a bit more detail.
Run 1: - EMEA slot 1 - B/S – 131pts to winner
Waited until 4:10 left on the clock to go out in Qualifying, figuring that I’d still get 2 flying laps in just like those who left early. I was lowest-ranked in this lobby so I knew I’d be struggling, but I was pleasantly surprised when a 1:54.6 got me Q5.
In the race, I was able to hold station at the start, and latched on to the back of the leading group, hoping that they would pull me away from the field. One of the cars ahead of me got sideways at the Outer Loop on Lap 2 and I was able to take P4, where I stayed for ages even though the car behind was never more than 0.5s back. That lasted until lap 7 when I took the first apex of the Inner loop too tight, clipped the barrier, went onto the grass on the other side and was reset by the game – down to P12. I eventually recovered to take P10 (83pts), but decided to try again later. If nothing else, taking a slight DR hit would make it slightly easier to qualify up the sharp end, wouldn’t it?
Run 2: - EMEA slot 4 – B/S – 127pts to winner
Door 3 this time despite the DR drop, so I was a little more confident. That confidence lasted all the way to my out lap when I reprised this season’s theme of “going wide at right-handers when under no pressure whatsoever” by doing exactly that at the Toe. We all know what that means – track limits penalty and no opportunity to serve it until your first flying lap, leaving my final lap as the only way to set a decent time, meaning I had to take it easy for a “banker” lap of 1:54.8 for Q7. Not ideal.
The race started and I was in the hunt to get up to the leading group before they sailed into the distance. I drafted someone on the back straight, but the car in front of them was slow out of the Esses meaning we were 3 wide coming to the chicane with me in the middle! I decided to back out by braking a few yards early, but all this meant was that the car behind me pushed me over to the left entering the Inner Loop, meaning another penalty (why is the second apex so much more tight for penalties than the other 3 apexes on the chicane?), and to add further indignities I went off on the left approaching the Outer Loop then went into the boot alongside a Lambo whose driver seemed to be an expert at the old Movie car chase side-swipe. Once I had served the penalty after the Toe I was, of course, DFL. What followed was actually rather enjoyable from a pure motor racing point of view, albeit not great for my DR or GTWS points, as I set about making places up – partly through others going off or getting penalties, but at least 3 or 4 good overtakes, including a Gr4 GTR driver who was in the top 5 earlier on but was already struggling for grip by Lap 6 when I got past – at least that vindicated my decision to take the Silvia. A Megane had to serve a penalty on Lap 9 making me 9th and that’s where I stayed for 86 points (so an improvement despite everything that went wrong!) and although it was still DR down it was the highest position to reduce DR so hopefully it was just a flesh wound so to speak.
At this point it was looking like One Of Those Days where every single run is spoiled by one or two moments and it seems impossible to get the run that you know you’re capable of, and things only get worse as we get later in the day and others also get a little more desperate. I did consider taking the 86pts and running, it wasn’t a bad score but was 30-35 down on what I knew I could get, but if I kept getting low finishes my lobbies would reduce in points, wouldn’t they?
It is said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. With this in mind, I started wondering how I could change things up a bit to my advantage. Unlike the last round, this race allows a small number of suspension settings to be changed, so I went looking for any setup tips. Most were for the road car version of the Silvia, but there was one elsewhere on here about setting up the Gr4 Silvia as a good car for World Circuit races – obviously I wouldn’t be able to apply all of it but I could use some of it, so I did. Thanks to
@BongoFury23 for the tips.
I didn’t have time for a race-length run so I just did TT laps until the next slot. Was it faster? Not in terms of balls-out lap times – my 1:54.1 from earlier still stood – but I was now getting in the 1:54.4-1:54.5 much more consistently, the car was also more consistent to drive, meaning that most crucially I now finally had a line and approach to the Inner Loop that was consistent, that I was comfortable I could repeat 10 times, and that was reasonably fast too.
Run 3: 5th EMEA slot – B/S – 126pts to winner
Thankfully only a very small drop in the points on offer, and a slight lowering of my door rank to 5. The added confidence I had in the car now meant that I could get good speed out of corners without worrying about going wide, meaning I felt comfortable attacking the track a bit more in qualifying, resulting in a 1:54.4 for Q3, behind two Supras.
Past experience had taught me that the Silvia isn’t the quickest off the line, so I was watching the radar for the Q4 Lexus as we started, and up it came to my right as we approached T1 – I left them room and went round the outside, they had to go tighter on the exit and couldn’t get the throttle back on as quickly, and they were also concerned with P5 attacking them, so I kept the place. Up the Esses and along the back straight we were being left behind by the Supras and their posher cousin was still looking for a way past me. I positioned slightly defensively on the straight and took my new line and approach into the Inner Loop – perfect, the Lexus was instantly the best part of a second behind. Meanwhile, the 2nd place Supra has not had such a good time through the chicane, then goes slightly wide through the Outer Loop and also doesn’t quite nail the line going into The Boot, so has to go defensive against me into The Toe. This means I get a much better drive out up the hill and over the penalty line, they cover me by moving right but to their credit they do leave room, I get by, keep it tight through The Heel and am away into 2nd. They don’t fade away – they were within a second of me until lap 5, and indeed would briefly take P2 back at T1 on the second lap, but they went wide on the exit and I regained second. The leader has by now gone off into the distance, and by lap 2 has 2.5s lead. They are very fast but prone to track-limit penalties – they’d get to 2.5-3s lead, then I’d round The Toe to see them ghosted up ahead and be back within a second or so. This would repeat a couple of times, then on Lap 6 I notice that I’m closer to them coming out of T1 – they’d outbraked themselves, and not only had they got another penalty for going wide they would have to carry a loss of speed all the way to the Inner Loop. By The Toe I am only 0.6 behind so was able to pass when they served their penalty (and kudos for following the WG etiquette of moving to the right when you are serving a penalty, allowing unpenalized cars to take the normal line up the left). The Supras appear to be running out of rubber – P3 has dropped back a couple of seconds and the former leader is a bit squirrelly coming out of tight corners. I keep it tidy through laps 8 and 9 and hold onto the lead. The polesitter shows their quality though, and despite being compromised for grip gets an excellent run through the last turn on lap 9, draws alongside as we enter the final tour, and retakes the lead. There were a couple of half-chances to have a go back through the boot for the final time, but it would have required a significant send, and I had too much respect for this driver and the competition in general to try that (plus the points on offer were too decent to throw away😊). So P2 for 121 points – new GTWS high score, beating my 120 from SSRX last season.
Looking at the replay afterwards with all race info turned on, the two Supras had more white on their tyre gauges than I did – perhaps the Toyotas wore their tyres less but were somehow affected by it more? In any case, the tweaks to the suspension did help me out with tyres a bit as well towards the end of the race, so that was good.
Overall, a good day, really enjoyed the car and track combo, even though I had to go for 3 runs due to my own errors. One thing I did find remarkable was the lack of Mazda3s – I would have thought at least some people would have chosen the Hiroshima marque for a series with two Gr4 races, but I didn’t see a single one all day. Is the Mazda Gr3 car that bad? I drove it in the GTWS season in summer 2022 and thought it was alright.
I can’t do Bathurst due to prior commitments – probably a good thing for my scores, I love Mount Panorama both for its history and as a track to drive on, but the one thing I’ve never done there is place well, last time there was a daily there I struggled to get into the top 10. So I’ll get straight on with familiarising myself with Dragon Trail Gardens for round 4 next week – at least it isn’t the one with the Chicane Of Death (er – I think – let me just look it up again…)
