20th-Mar-25, 12:48 PM
Race Report - part 1
Our dice and software weather combination cooked up a forecast for the race. We would start with a damp track, with more rain coming - but when it would arrive and how heavy it would be was anyone's guess. Sensibly, all six teams started on Intermediate tyres...
600 laps on the Barns Hatch layout should take two hours in the dry, but maybe a little longer in the wet. We'd see. It was a strong opening stint, with the quick drivers from qualifying at the wheels of the two Bentleys, two Mercedes, an Aston Martin and a Corvette C6R. Ten minutes in and Mozzie had already been into the pits to fix the Corvette's rear wing - taking the opportunity to top up with fuel. At the front, Ollie was putting in sub 11-second laps and building a handy lead, nearly two laps over Terry in the Gearzilla Mercedes. Third was the Smooth Ops Bentley, in the hands of team captain Simon - he was five laps off the lead, but at the head of three cars on the same lap - Ash in the WHAM! Bentley and Isaac in the Écurie Escargot Porsche both chasing that third spot. Dean wasn't far behind, despite that unscheduled stop...
More unscheduled stops followed for WHAM! (wing) and Smooth Ops (axle), dropping them back a little, but giving them a chance to pump in a bit of fuel. Slimline and Gearzilla had to stop early for fuel, closing up all the gaps at the 20 minute mark - Slimline on 92 laps as Mike D took over, only two laps ahead of MOZZIE as Dean was able to go deep into the window to hand the Corvette over to Matthew. WHAM! were a further four laps adrift, Scott taking over from Ash and having Gearzilla breathing down their necks, Stephen Mc now at the wheel. Escargot were a lap behind that battle, John in the car after a strong opening stint from Isaac. Last were Smooth Ops, recovering from the axle repairs and with Duncan looking to close a gap three laps to the cars in front...
Pit stops for fuel were frustratingly long - over a minute for a full tank, but it does give plenty of time to change tyres in RCS64 and clean the real rubber on the car. This twenty minutes saw another group of six strong drivers dicing it out on track, often in close proximity and always behaving like gentlemen. It was exciting stuff. The luxury of a uniformly damp track was taken away after 29 minutes and rain started to fall. Not very heavily - the track remained officially 'Damp' with what seemed a very gradual shift towards 'Wet'. Those Intermediate tyres would remain the best choice, but for how long? Would anyone experiment with Wet tyres at the next stop?
The stint settled into a steady pattern as we hit the 40 minute mark - Mike D very slowly eking out a five lap lead for Slimline over Stephen in the Gearzilla Mercedes. Seven laps further back was John in the Écurie Escargot Aston Martin, just ahead of Scott in the WHAM! Bentley. MOZZIE were a lap behind in fifth, with Duncan ten laps in arrears after some more difficulties with the Bentley.
We saw some less experienced drivers in the third 20-minute stint, none less experienced than Stephen A for WHAM! and Kevin for Escargot - both having made their WHO Digital debuts just last month. However, they drove steadily and carefully, looking after the cars...
Steve P is a relatively new digital racer and he had the wheel at Smooth Ops - who'd gone with wets. These wore quickly on the still too-dry surface, giving Steve plenty of pit stop practice! Steve C (MOZZIE) and Rob A (Gearzilla) both have digital team race experience and looked to push on. However, the one Pro driver in the stint was Rob B, driving the Slimline Mercedes and stretching their lead decisively as we hit the hour mark.
The gap at the front was 12 laps - and then a 17 lap gap back to Écurie Escargot, Kevin driving perfectly to keep his team in third place. MOZZIE were two laps back in fourth, WHAM! five laps adrift in fifth and Smooth Ops sixth and six laps behind WHAM!
Here are the stint stats from the first hour...
272 laps was 28 shy of halfway - we would be racing beyond the two-hour mark.
Our dice and software weather combination cooked up a forecast for the race. We would start with a damp track, with more rain coming - but when it would arrive and how heavy it would be was anyone's guess. Sensibly, all six teams started on Intermediate tyres...
600 laps on the Barns Hatch layout should take two hours in the dry, but maybe a little longer in the wet. We'd see. It was a strong opening stint, with the quick drivers from qualifying at the wheels of the two Bentleys, two Mercedes, an Aston Martin and a Corvette C6R. Ten minutes in and Mozzie had already been into the pits to fix the Corvette's rear wing - taking the opportunity to top up with fuel. At the front, Ollie was putting in sub 11-second laps and building a handy lead, nearly two laps over Terry in the Gearzilla Mercedes. Third was the Smooth Ops Bentley, in the hands of team captain Simon - he was five laps off the lead, but at the head of three cars on the same lap - Ash in the WHAM! Bentley and Isaac in the Écurie Escargot Porsche both chasing that third spot. Dean wasn't far behind, despite that unscheduled stop...
More unscheduled stops followed for WHAM! (wing) and Smooth Ops (axle), dropping them back a little, but giving them a chance to pump in a bit of fuel. Slimline and Gearzilla had to stop early for fuel, closing up all the gaps at the 20 minute mark - Slimline on 92 laps as Mike D took over, only two laps ahead of MOZZIE as Dean was able to go deep into the window to hand the Corvette over to Matthew. WHAM! were a further four laps adrift, Scott taking over from Ash and having Gearzilla breathing down their necks, Stephen Mc now at the wheel. Escargot were a lap behind that battle, John in the car after a strong opening stint from Isaac. Last were Smooth Ops, recovering from the axle repairs and with Duncan looking to close a gap three laps to the cars in front...
Pit stops for fuel were frustratingly long - over a minute for a full tank, but it does give plenty of time to change tyres in RCS64 and clean the real rubber on the car. This twenty minutes saw another group of six strong drivers dicing it out on track, often in close proximity and always behaving like gentlemen. It was exciting stuff. The luxury of a uniformly damp track was taken away after 29 minutes and rain started to fall. Not very heavily - the track remained officially 'Damp' with what seemed a very gradual shift towards 'Wet'. Those Intermediate tyres would remain the best choice, but for how long? Would anyone experiment with Wet tyres at the next stop?
The stint settled into a steady pattern as we hit the 40 minute mark - Mike D very slowly eking out a five lap lead for Slimline over Stephen in the Gearzilla Mercedes. Seven laps further back was John in the Écurie Escargot Aston Martin, just ahead of Scott in the WHAM! Bentley. MOZZIE were a lap behind in fifth, with Duncan ten laps in arrears after some more difficulties with the Bentley.
We saw some less experienced drivers in the third 20-minute stint, none less experienced than Stephen A for WHAM! and Kevin for Escargot - both having made their WHO Digital debuts just last month. However, they drove steadily and carefully, looking after the cars...
Steve P is a relatively new digital racer and he had the wheel at Smooth Ops - who'd gone with wets. These wore quickly on the still too-dry surface, giving Steve plenty of pit stop practice! Steve C (MOZZIE) and Rob A (Gearzilla) both have digital team race experience and looked to push on. However, the one Pro driver in the stint was Rob B, driving the Slimline Mercedes and stretching their lead decisively as we hit the hour mark.
The gap at the front was 12 laps - and then a 17 lap gap back to Écurie Escargot, Kevin driving perfectly to keep his team in third place. MOZZIE were two laps back in fourth, WHAM! five laps adrift in fifth and Smooth Ops sixth and six laps behind WHAM!
Here are the stint stats from the first hour...
272 laps was 28 shy of halfway - we would be racing beyond the two-hour mark.
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