ARI Fun Race #10 Heartland Park Topeka Short

[Dany_Mitchel]

Location: Topeka, Kansas, United States of America
Time zone: GMT-6
Owner: Raymond Irwin
Opened: 1989
Major events: National Hot Rod Association, O\'Reilly Summer Nationals, World of Outlaws
Grand Prix Course
Surface: Asphalt
Length 2.5 mi (4 km)
Turns 14
Oval
Surface: Clay
Length: .375 mi (.6 km)
Turns 4
Dragstrip
Surface Asphalt
Lap record: 0:4.487 (Doug Kalitta, Kalitta Motorsports, 2004, NHRA Top Fuel Dragster)

Please post your Reports on this event here

[Fergy]

Results are up
http://=standdrv&dataarray[IDseason]=1]SR4L

Looking forward to reading some reports from all the action.

[gorgias1976]

Here comes my report.

I was taking this race as a defensive race. Not comfortable at all with the car no matter how many changes I tried with the setup.
Qualifying was better than expected making second after Marcel\'s super lap.

Race1
Starting second I new my only chance of winning was to make a superb start and then trying to hold Marcel for the rest of the race  :lol:
I was able to make a very good start, reaching side by side with Marcel to the first braking. I new he had the inside so there was no point risking the race there, so I just tried to care for what was coming behind.
Great battle for the following 12 laps with Stefan, passing each other several times. Unluckily we had a little undeliberate contact, enough for spinning through the grass and having to restart engine, making it to the end of the race in 7th place.

Race2
This was an espectator race. Whatching first Stefan and ? fighting till they made contact in the first braking. This brought me to be the espectator of the battle between David C and Jonathan, remembering me the old day battles of the beggining of this ARI F3 league. I just kept trying to reach them but couldn\'t remaining always in a 2.5-1.5 sec distance. The last laps were of great emotion as we approached Nikos and then Everon. They were very gentle letting as through.

Race3
The lottery race was quite good to me. Lucky to avoid the accidents at the start and the after chicane crashes too. Tried to hold Jonathan and Marcel, but Jonathan was in god mode and Marcel was just too fast. Mel Fisk as he was leading the race suddenly disappeared from screen. As I had no pressure from behind, at this moment I just limited to race to make it third in the end and score the points.

[1959nikos]

You had the report from the front, now get the report from the back.

Vittorio was missing, John Cook was missing, Paul Swire was missing (btw what happened Paul, you attended all previous days), so I was left battling with myself for last place lol.

At 1st race, Everon joined just before start and made some mistakes as he didnt have any practise.
So, we had some battle there, also Jesus went to pits for repairs I believe, he had some contacts with people I heard and he was 1 lap behind and generously he did not interfere with my battle with Everon.

Second race was much the same, with Everon getting steadier and steadier so he could keep me back in safe distance.
I did manage to get me a sub 1.16 though, which felt good  

3rd race was a disaster for me, reverse order grid, as I managed to miss the second part of the chicane before back straight and then chaos came!
I got out of chaos, with small steps, and hided in my hole, quitting  :oops:

Please organizers, review reverse grid, its no fun being chased by twenty demons 8O

[Dany_Mitchel]

Nikos Noted about reverse Grid we are trying to give everyone the chance to be near the front but if this is how the Moriarty feel then may be we should rethink this, thanks you for bringing up your concerns.
this is what the forum is for and hopefully by the time this game goes live and is released we will have the perfect settings for our league that best suits our community

[deecee52]

Another excellent meeting , well done all who raced and thanks Bryan and Dany for the work you put in to give it to us.

Race 1

I made an ok start and tried to hang on to the fast guys but they pulled away leaving me and Stefan to fight among ourselves , this we duly did all race long but Stefan kept his lines tight and made his car wide and kept me behind , great racing between us .

Race 2

Made another ok ish start but started to lose places as the handling was all over the place , I think I was getting lag as I saw cars going off into the boonies and then suddenly reappear in front of me again , Bryan actually pulled into the pits on my screen then suddenly appeared back in front , I think it was the lag affecting how my car handled . but still had an enjoyable race with Bryan and I think Stefan again , I think we all took it in turn to spin out or launch ourselves at the scenery but Bryan bested the pair of us . I must apologise to Waldemar I unwittingly took him out , if I had realised I would have stopped and given him the place back , I went off on to the grass at the fast right / left , I had seen Bryan in my mirrors but no one else , on rejoining I stayed wide to let Bryan through and then just dropped in behind him , I felt a light bump but thought it was me coming off the grass and there was nothing in my mirrors when I looked . I should have checked my mirrors again before rejoining , bad driving on my part .
Race 3

Made a good start but the car was handling strangely again and it seemed magnetically attracted to the barriers , I only ever went backwards through the field , again I appeared to have lag as other cars were doing strange things , next event I will reboot everything to ensure I don’t get lag again.

[Dany_Mitchel]

Great report deecee52 made me laugh the sections on
[SIZE=18px]"I think we all took it in turn to spin out or launch ourselves at the scenery"[/SIZE]

that would make a great forum Sig

[1959nikos]

David I was watching you randomly at race 3. At some point before finish, your front tyres were locked to the right but you managed to continue. Then suddenly they came back straight again!

[gorgias1976]

I think the problem with the reverse grid race is people getting too impatient to try to gain places.
Races are long, around 20 min. With experience I\'ve learnt there\'s no point in trying to be too agressive at the start, no way in trying to take all positions in the very first lap. Sometimes this can lead to victory, but most of the time will probably lead to disaster. It\'s better to take it easier and wait for your turn to overtake, you\'re supposed to be faster, so take advantage of it. :wink:

[Fergy]

The reverse grid order is maybe a little desperation on my behalf. I\'m trying to give some variation to the races but it seems reverse grid can be problematic. With no Tyre mod, no proper weather effect, a pit bug and no Tyre wear multiplier we\'re simply missing so much. The positive is that it\'s such great fun as it is. As a finished product are we going to have some incredible racing.

I\'m in favour of the reverse grid, it\'s good for our league in terms of building driver skill in all situations but if it\'s not what members want we would ditch it in a minute. The game is still not ready for longer races in my opinion because of those missing features.

Maybe next race we could try a ranked reverse grid order/custom. Than any of the top drivers having a bad result in race two won\'t appear up the front. Dany and I will chat about it but feel free to pm me or post here with your ideas.

[gorgias1976]

One simply idea. i don\'t know if this can be done without restarting the server and losing rubber.
How about making the reverse order race a rolling start race? This could minimize accidents at the start and give the drivers at the front a better change for defending their positions.

[Fergy]

We would lose the rubber at a guess, I\'ll test it.

[1959nikos]

Reverse grid as such, is not a bad idea at all, it definatelly gives a big fun factor at races.
Problem is,Im not confident yet to stay in there and Im prone to big mistakes.
On the other hand I certainly dont want to spoil the fun factor for anyone, so its up to you all.

And surely, losing rubber is definately, a no no

[Fergy]

My race report,

Qualifying was a great session, and such a hight standard. My 1:13.5xx put me 8th on the grid with more 13\'s behind me. Impressive..

Race 1 started very competitive. I managed to stay on the tail of Stefan and DC before making a bad mistake. Midway through JJ in his first race with ARI and I got together in the fast right left, maybe a little ambitious by JJ but also my front left was pointing inwards so he may have seen it as enough track to pass.The rest of the race was spent making places up from 11th. I started 8th and finished 8 and all in all not a bad comeback after the mistake.

Race 2 was my best for the night. A great 3 way battle with DC and Waldemar. Lap times were good and heat was on. I started 8th, dropped to 9th and finished 5th. Pretty happy to finish in that position give the standard.

Race 3 was a disaster. Involved in someone\'s crash at the start with nowhere to go I fell back to last and was content just to finish the race, got back to 9th when much to my surprise I lost connection. That\'s annoying and should not be happening in 2012..

Postives for the evening, mirrors worked for all 3 races. Thanks to DJ for finding the fix and to Dany for applying it. Nice touch.

That\'s racing sometimes, 3 races one result. You just have to wait for that next great battle to come but just be ready when it does

Well done to Marcel, two wins and a second, sharing set ups and advice in between a ton of practice perfecting his laps. That is what it\'s all about here. Big thumbs up mate.

[B1K3R]

Where do I start I qualified 6th, very close to the first five, except Marcel as he pulled out an alien lap! My problem was the last sector, losing almost a second there but the other sectors was quite fast. I could not find where I was slow in last sector, most probably set problem, so then I gave up on it.

Race 1:

Started well and as David (deecee52) said, we had a great battle. he was always stuck to my back in the last sector, but then I always managed to hold them off. Nice battle David! Then unlike Gorka said, he touched with someone (and not me like you said ) and I got to 3rd place. Good race all in all.

Race 2:

Started 3rd and I had gotten some confidence and was holding the position well. The after a few laps, the new guy SJ braked late (Schumi style lol) in the first corner and took me out. I admit that he was a bit faster in the last section, but not the first, so I am sorry to say that it was necessary to take me out. Anyway,  managed to rejoin and finished 9th, shame really.

Race 3:

I\'m so ashamed about myself about race 3. Started 6th or something and had a good start. Dany had a slower start and I moved left to overtake him. My calculation was bad as I wanted to avoid hitting the guy on my left, so instead my front right tire hit Dany\'s left rear taking us both and and creating a havoc at the start.

I don\'t know, either I was tired or a stupid mistake from my side, whatever it was I am so sorry guys!!! It would have been a good race for me and for you!


Anyway, thank you all for the great races and sorry for the mistakes....and also others are forgiven too

Cheers
Stefan

[Dany_Mitchel]

I had an Idea that might help Us newer drives to obtain a better start we have a drag Strip in the track set already I could load that on a spare server add a live timing on it so the hotlaps get recorded
but as it is a drag strip it will if fact be the time it takes you to get off the line and then change gear flat out to finish
this I feel help in locating the perfect time to change gear and also help Starts as you will need to have a good start to get a good time.
just an idea

[1959nikos]

Drag strip?
I dont do striping, especially with drugs.
Streaking though, well, I can always get rid of my new skin while racing...

[deecee52]

David I was watching you randomly at race 3. At some point before finish, your front tyres were locked to the right but you managed to continue. Then suddenly they came back straight again!

Thanks Nikos that pretty much confirms it was lag and not an out of control right foot

[Paul Swire]

Paul Swire was missing (btw what happened Paul, you attended all previous days), so I was left battling with myself for last place lol.

Sorry nikos, I was so much looking forward to the race but unfortunately something came up at home and I had to miss it. I too was so looking forward to our battle for last spot lol.

[deecee52]

On the subject of reverse grids , i am all for these as it gives the racing an interesting edge , it gives the slower guys a chance to hone defensive skills and makes the faster guys use their skills and work harder for the placings , as someone else said all it takes is patience , the old saying " you cannot win a race on the first corner but you can lose it " very much applies .