Sim Racers 4 Life - Lola T280 Season - Final Round - Le Mans - Reports

[1959nikos]

What a sweet way to conclude the season, Im really sad i couldnt make it to Le Mans.

Place your reports here gents so I can at least read about it.

Btw did Bryan come? Did he wake up at five in the morning his time? Eeek it frightens me even to think about it lol.

[Paul Swire]

Sorry I couldn't make it guys. >

I was stuck in a massive traffic jam on the way back from an air show. I had to start the server remotely with my phone, thank the lord for technology 8)

Hope you all had a great race. Lets see your reports so we can at least read about it. I will watch the replay of the server later ;D

[Paul Swire]

Replay and result files are on the dropbox for those that require them. (Me an Nikos for sure!!)

[gorgias1976]

Sorry I couldn't make it guys. >

I was stuck in a massive traffic jam on the way back from an air show. I had to start the server remotely with my phone, thank the lord for technology 8)

Hope you all had a great race. Lets see your reports so we can at least read about it. I will watch the replay of the server later ;D

Are you fan of airplanes, Paul?

I am a big fan of general aviation, and flightsimming. Sadly I had to chose between sim racing and flightsimming and finally racing took the victory. (I miss flying the LevelD 767)

[gorgias1976]

Mi report.

Qualy
-------
Took fuel for two flying laps. I aborted the first lap after a mistake and in the second flying lap did a 3.53.X which at the end was enough for third place.

Race
-----
Started safely on the rubber side and overtook D Coyne who probably was struggling for grip. It was a nice first half of the race always close to DjC and sometimes even battling him. Struggling a bit after his turbulence at turn 10 I locked up the front right tire and started having vibrations on the wheel. D Coyne wasn't far enough always being visible on my mirrors.
It was lap 14 and time to do the pitstop. Brain started thinking on how to approach the pitlane when I run wide at Indianapolis, losing good seconds to get out of the gravel and also losing position to D Coyne.
After the pitstop I started pushing hard to try to catch both Davids but that only increased damage to tires and mistakes. Finally having a couple more incidents at the very Indianapolis curve and therfore losing a lot more time there.
The final 10 laps were difficult having tires already in yellow status after my mistakes and had to drive well concentrated in big wheel vibrations.

At the final lap D Coyne did some mistake too and found him like 5 seconds ahead but not enough to catch, so finally ended third.

Now time to start packing things, 4 very busy weeks coming ahead.

Kudos to everyone finishing the race. Finally it didn't look to last as much as it may but shoulders say they need a bit of resting.

[bullwinkle]

not much to say started where I expected to be, had a hiccup on lap one but got back to where
I started and finished 6. Was a long race started to lose concentration at end. Finished on lead lap that's a win.
Great season for all made new friends look forward to F2's and more friends.

[edwin]

Well it was a long time ago participating in the lola's, and didn't do much practice what definitely showed :o

In the first lap Rick Nauman and i had i little come together and Rick waited for me to get on track again. Class act Rick very sportsmanlike.
Couple of laps later Dan had spun in the first chicane and drove backward just when i overtook him, sending me skyhigh. Dan immediately stopped after that incident which he shouldn't have done. No harm done Dan just a racing accident, you didn't see me coming and i despite yellow flags ran full throttle past :-[

Half way the race Mel, Rick and me where in a great fight together but at some point (being third from these guys) i lost it under breaking and spun. One moment later when i regained on track i went from 10th to 9th because Rick left the race. I'm not sure and i think i didn't touch anyone when i was out of control but did i touch you Rick?? :-[ when i did then i have to say sorry to you. I really didn't wanted to ruin your race.

Al in all i had a lovely night racing with you guys again. I didn't show up that much in this season because of busy rl and the fact that me and the lola do have a love/hate relationship. in other words don't like the car that much.

Next championship is historic F2? well if my team boss still wants me in his team, you guys can count on me

Thanks for hosting this season!!!!

[Ricknau]

In the first lap Rick Nauman and i had i little come together and Rick waited for me to get on track again. Class act Rick very sportsmanlike.

Waiting for you was the least I could do after such a bonehead move. I'm really sorry I bumped you off track and put you way behind the pack. I wanted to kick myself! I was just a little too hot going into Indianapolis.

Half way the race Mel, Rick and me where in a great fight together but at some point (being third from these guys) i lost it under breaking and spun. One moment later when i regained on track i went from 10th to 9th because Rick left the race.

Yeah, the race was just getting fun after lapping alone since our lap 1 coming togther. Then my friggin wheel went bonkers, going into it's cal routine, and the game just locked up. Had to use Task Manager to kill it. Arrgh! The stupid wheel has been iffy since day one. It craps out about every 4th or 5th session.

Though we were racing each other before my wheel died, the truth is, I was doomed to last place with my 3 stop (edit: 2 stop) strategy. I think everyone was done with their stops but I was going to have to make another one. I need to learn how to adjust my strategy on the fly. I think that's possible in Rf2 isn't it? Lord knows there were enough long straight-aways to do the mental calculations.

But... fun race none the less. Great season. And congrats to David on his championship. All you front runners amaze me.

See ya!

[jerry 33]

hey guys..
I feel your pain rick about the wheel, that has happened to me this season and it is a Bitch! :-[
qually - didn't go well but I got a good start and first stint went well... came into pit, car came off of jack stands, crew done.. waiting, waiting.. where is Michael Delanney? in the motorhome with the blond? NO - he was in the porta-John! > ya didn't really think I was going to make two hours did ya..
tried to make it up on track with full tanks and used up my tires trying to catch tim - couldn't and finished 7th to his 6th. just like in the championship..
well done tim!
congrats to DJ for the win and the championship! congrats to Dave and Gorka for Podiums in a very tuff race!
also, to all those that made this season happen! Paul, Nikos, Gorka, Tim and Chris... job well done guys!

[deecee52]

Qually

Went out early and set a time which got me pole , I knew this would be like a red rag to a bull for DJ , sure enough he went out late in the session and pinched it , I was stupid not to go out again as there was more time in the car .

Race

Messed up my start with lots of wheelspin and then clutch slip , was lucky to make 1st corner in 3rd place , followed DJ and G and was just trying to stay in touch whilst preserving my tyres , I was hoping to be able to attack later in the stint .
I was trying something new for me with the tyres , my fronts had a very high pressure whilst my rears were my normal pressure , I found this gave great braking and turn in and tyre degradation was only 2% per lap .
On lap 3 I totally missed my braking for turn 1 and flat spotted my tyres , this gave me a horrendous vibration for the rest of the stint , this appeared to effect the handling but it could have been my confidence which was damaged ,i started to drop away from the leaders , the good side was it kept me awake .
On my last lap of the first stint I came across Gorka scrabbling in the gravel at indianapolis which gave me a few seconds to get into the pits before him , knowing how quick G is with his pitstops I thought this was a blessing .
Managed to get out of pits before G , I knew he would try to close me down but I knew my front tyres gave a lot of grip when cold so I decided to push and see if I could pull him into mistakes , fortunately it worked for me , after that I just tried to keep it tidy .
Towards the end I started making silly mistakes as my concentration lapsed , I did an unitentional double downshift entering mulsanne and spun off , then on the last lap I took the escape road at indianapolis but fortunately I held my position and made the finish , PHEW that was a hard one .

Well done DJ you showed why your a great champ , well done Cookie you pinched my number 3 but its only on loan .

Big well done to all SR4L admin , you gave us a very classy 8) and fun series .

[DJCruicky]

Thanks for all the congrats all .

My last minute qually time was a surprise, I thought for sure DeeCee had it.
Never did a 2 hour race before so had no idea how long brakes and engines last on this car.
First hour of race had Gorka within 2 seconds of me most of that stint. He over took a number of times, normally after me making a mistake, but I could always get the place back. Was a great battle, never once did we touch. But as Gorka said it all went tits up for him just before and after the pits, lots of offs into walls or the gravel.
Second half of race I was alone, only cars I would see were the ones I was lapping.

Was different for me with tyres, my lap times were getting faster and faster each lap as the fuel load went down. Did my fastest lap near end of race with 3 laps to go.

Thanks for the hosts and to the drivers that stuck to it to the end. CU soon.

DJC

[1959nikos]

I need to learn how to adjust my strategy on the fly. I think that's possible in Rf2 isn't it?

I think you can do anything you want there Rick while you are racing, just scroll up or down menu with up or down arrows at your keyboard, and select what you want with the left right arrows. No enter needed afaik.

Next championship is historic F2? well if my team boss still wants me in his team, you guys can count on me

Your car is waiting for you
With the appropriate pay cut of course :

Congratulations to all and especially to the champion
Great season all, great effort from everybody for another great season, thank you SR4L

[lamer of fortune]

Hi all,

here is a report from the end of the field.
I was curious about the long race and really wanted to finish it.I only came back from vacation the day before the race had had very little practice. I did not expect to be able to keep up with the pack but want to drive as consistent as possible. It did not work out. Start was ok and the first few laps I made no material mistakes and there were drivers behind me. Then someone felt the urge to apologize in the chat and i missed my breaking point due to distraction. I was cutting the corner and sent off for stop and go penalty. I thought ok, could be worse. Unfortunately the penalty stop counted as a stop but no fuel was put into the car and when I stopped the next time for the regular stop only 20liters were added which i had assigned to a second stop in case of something stupid happening. This probably was the stupid thing. To make tings worse, i had changed the wheel profile and not assigned keys to the LCD commands so i could not change the amount of fuel for the next stop. Trying out random keys while driving is not a good idea I discovered. I then had to stop every 4 laps for fuel. After all that trouble I thought I made it in lap 28 (i got lapped two time) after discovering a checkered flag behind the grid list and quit to the pits. Muist Must have been one lap to early as i was registerd as a DNF in the results. I felt stupid after that move. It was still an interesting experience and butt and wrist were hurting afterwards.

[DJCruicky]

That sounded like a nightmare night for you. To top it, think you were running with a high ping too me watching the server replay.

For anyone interested, tonight I made a 10 minute clip replay file of last nights race, lots of action and lots of the overtakes using the server replay file.
Just drop it in your replay folder and click the replay option ingame.

https://www.mediafire.com/?b4gty6mjr9ft46z

It mostly has John Cook vers Juraj Rimes battle, also Me vers Gorka battle too .

enjoy

DJC

[Paul Swire]

Thanks DJ.

Look forward to watching it 8)

[Ricknau]

I also want to add my thanks to all the organizers. Your efforts are appreciated. I'm looking forward to the next season.

Rick

[gorgias1976]

I was trying something new for me with the tyres , my fronts had a very high pressure whilst my rears were my normal pressure , I found this gave great braking and turn in and tyre degradation was only 2% per lap .

That was really noticeable. I could see on my mirrors at the final 2 chicanes how quickly you approached me every lap.

[gorgias1976]

That sounded like a nightmare night for you. To top it, think you were running with a high ping too me watching the server replay.

For anyone interested, tonight I made a 10 minute clip replay file of last nights race, lots of action and lots of the overtakes using the server replay file.
Just drop it in your replay folder and click the replay option ingame.

https://www.mediafire.com/?b4gty6mjr9ft46z

It mostly has John Cook vers Juraj Rimes battle, also Me vers Gorka battle too .

enjoy

DJC

I'll watch it tonight, will be great to see.

[gorgias1976]

Darn it, I can't seem to be able to open that video file in my Ubuntu laptop

[DJCruicky]

It not a video file, it's a rfactor2 replay file. You open it with rfactor. enjoy