Sim Racers 4 Life - Eve F2 Season - Round 5 - Essington - Reports

[1959nikos]

Great attendance again

Nasty start at 1st race, I got plenty of damage and did a 130 pitstop :-[
Got back and managed to go up some.

2nd race much better, had a cool fight with Nauman ant Tobias at the end, hope I didnt make anything bad Rick cause I saw you slowing down at last lap.

Place your reports here gents so we see how was it for you.

[sdancourt]

Qualy. 1.50.88 good for 16 place. Aliens are growing fast!

Race 1: Just after the start, I was badly hit from my back entering T1, making a mess while flying to my left side. I begun recovery finding myself 16Th behind Tim, when in the esses after the hairpin, found somebody almost stopped in the middle of the track, fatal crash again and good bye.

Race 2: Start in position 20. Lost control in the Curva Grande alike turn 3, try to repair and quit.

Waiting for Spa.

[Connor McKnight]

Qualy. 1.50.88 good for 16 place. Aliens are growing fast!

Race 1: Just after the start, I was badly hit from my back entering T1, making a mess while flying to my left side. I begun recovery finding myself 16Th behind Tim, when in the esses after the hairpin, found somebody almost stopped in the middle of the track, fatal crash again and good bye.

Race 2: Start in position 20. Lost control in the Curva Grande alike turn 3, try to repair and quit.

Waiting for Spa.

1st race : = Disaster :'( Sorry Tim & sdancourt on L4 in the esses ..I was out of/or trying to stay out of both of your way as I was recovering . I was getting away but then jumped a gear which slowed me again sorry lads

2nd race = Nearly didn't start but glad i did .. Had an OK start kept it clean and ran off the laps decided to pit late .. was clean and as others pitted i found myself up to 1st (Holy Sheep Shite) carried on for 2laps and pitted before I got a NoseBleed (Not use To The Clean Air ) left the pits in 11th but slipped up in T2 dropped to 14th ..touched the wall in the twisty drop down spin around Mini Corkscrew bit Light FL damage..was OK but 2nd Last lap in the 3rd from last corner I was caught by Someone in a faster car who was unlapping themselves (20th place) hit me.. Spinning me off the track & causing damage to the RRear which led me to be caught had no choice but to give the place as the car was hard to handle .. nearly a clean race .. AAAwwwelll getting a bit tired of being a Mobile Chicane tbh

[gorgias1976]

Qualy
-------
Don't know what happens in this track to my setups but they've never worked here any season. My laptime of a 48.6 was just good for a 6th place.

Race 1
--------
Started pretty well and entered turn 1 in 4th place. I was able to keep not too far of the leading pack less than 2 seconds behind K lasky. By the end of lap 6th we both went for our pitstop. Don't know what happened to Kane but when I got out of the pits he was still there on his pitbox. I was virtually on 3rd place but on the next lap going from 3rd to 2nd gear in T1 I slipped my left foot from the clutch and lost it running wide and going through the grass giving a kiss to the wall.
I found myself with some damage on the rear right but the car was still driveable. Checked positions and was relieved to see that I was still in virtual 3rd having DjC 10 seconds behind. Next laps were uneventfull coming to the end in a 3rd place that tasted really good considering poor performance here (2 seconds from Rikard's times and 1.5 from Robert's).

Race 2
---------
Started cautiously at mid pack. Getting safely through first corners. Track was slippery and almost lost it exiting from turn 3 in acceleration. A couple of laps later we were in a close battle, Edwing, DjC, Juraj, Coyne and Robert approaching really quick. On the final corner Dj tried to outbrake Juraj and so I tried with Coyne but I was too confident and locked my wheels running wide and putting him on the grass.
That felt really bad as he was in the middle of the battle for the first places. At the end of lap 5 I went for an early pitstop, trying to do an undercut on the drivers ahead but it just didn't work.
While I was doing my pitstop I tried looking for Coyne but I did not see him going through the main straight, for a moment I thought he may have retired after the incident. Laps continued and 6 laps to the end with everyone having pitted I checked positions and found D Coyne was 10 seconds behind in 4th place so I decided that if by the final lap he was still there I would let him pass me as he deserved being in the front after putting him to the grass earlier.
So that happened and I let him pass me at the back straight, finishing in 4th place.

Good results last night after car not performing.

[deecee52]

Qually

Went out and set a time that netted me 7th , didnt think I could improve so settled for that .


Race 1

Got a good start and held position , i was chasing DJ who was harrying Rob we stayed this way until DJ passed Rob on penultimate corner , going into last corner Rob tagged DJ and both went off I fortunately managed to avoid hitting either of them , I was then in the position of being too slow to catch the guys in front but faster than the guys behind so I was on my own ,went for pitstop on lap 10 and my 1 armed 1 legged pitcrew did a 50s stop , came out just behind DJ , couldnt match him so stayed that way until the finish .

Race 2

Got a good start and made a place but dropped one later when DJ passed me , approaching last corner on 2nd lap got hit by Gorka and went off , dropped a few places and started fighting with the main pack , I decided too much time was being lost so went for an early pitstop , again my lazy pitcrew gave me a slow one 51sec but I came out on a clear track , got my head down and drove every lap as a qually , made my way up to 4th but on last lap came across Gorka going slowly , I thought he was in trouble but as it turned out he was waiting for me to pass (thank you Gorka your a gentleman) so I finished in 3rd .

Fantastic turnout and a lot of fun .

Great job Admin you gave us a great event , thank you .

[Hedlund]

I was short of time yesterday because I had to go to work, so sorry for just leaving after R1 Thanks for hosting Paul!

QUALI
I was first out of the pits and did two hot laps that was good enough for pole. My first lap was just as good as my previous pb, 1:47.2. On my second hot lap, my tires were perfect and grippy and I was able to cut off another 4 tenths and do my very first 46. Towards the end of the quali I tried to improve but I was 0.01 seconds off.. Anyway it was enough for pole, and my brother took care of 2nd spot and that felt good.

RACE 1
Got a very good start and was first into T1 with Robert behind me. A very clean first sector from the top drivers from what I could see. We were pretty much driving on rails for the first laps but gap increased slowly. Apparently, not everyone had a clean first lap, because I started to lap drivers already on 2nd lap. My tires lasted very long so I decided to pit late (end of lap 9 or 10 iirc). The final laps I had a comfortable gap to Robert in 2nd. Won the race 8)

RACE 2
Went to work, started my truck and drove 80 km/h in -13°C... Finished the race by ~5am 8)

I watched the replay of Race 2 today and I have to say that it was a pleasure to see my team mate Ed do such a good job!

[1959nikos]

I was short of time yesterday because I had to go to work, so sorry for just leaving after R1 Thanks for hosting Paul!

We thank you for staying with us till last minute before you went to work

[gorgias1976]

He was so short of time that he had to be that quick ;D

BTW, thanks Paul for settings, things go as smooth as silk on the server.

[edwin]

I watched the replay of Race 2 today and I have to say that it was a pleasure to see my team mate Ed do such a good job!

;D

Quali: went mweh, i couldn't get close to my pb and started messing around again with my set-up. In the end i tried one more time but with more fuel loaded and that did the job for me. Still not even near my pb but at least it gave me a bit of confidence to start the race from 17th position. i'm just not good at qualifying.

Race 1:

Had a bad start and got in the middle of the mayhem in t1, got hit from behind and ended up in the gravel but luckily i had no damage and could travel on in 19th position. Saw people spinning of left and right and after some laps i was in 10th or 11th spot in a nice battle with Steve. Steve was faster than me but couldn't get past. End of lap 6 i pitted and after the 50sec pitstop (guess DC's team was hired by my manager too) i never saw Steve again. After all the pitstops i was again in 10th with 9th to far in front and me not able to gain on him and 11th far behind not gaining on me. So 10th it was.

Race 2:

During warm up i realized that with reversed grid i would be on pole, which gave me the shivers :o .
But had a good start and managed to stay in front Andy lost it in "curva grande" giving Juraj second spot. but i managed to get a small gap. During lap 3 i saw DJC comming behind me and he overtook me within a lap. Again pitted in 6th lap and after that had a very enjoyable battle with Juraj in front and Dan Bayford behind…….lots of fun guys tyvm. In the end finished 6th which is good for the team points and also for my driver points.

Had heaps of fun thank you Paul, Nikos and the sr4l bunch

[Ricknau]

Had real trouble finding a place to slot into in qualifying. Too many cars on track. Can we maybe divide it up in future? Managed to do an average lap so wasn't on the last row. Then miraculously weaved my way thru the t1 mayhem to run in low teens. But over cooked the t2 left hander a few laps in and damaged the car with a mild bump of the tire wall. (damage setting seemed higher than usual but I'm sure it wasn't) Pit for repair and slide off again at same corner. Pit for repair again and end up lapped twice. Oh well... Another race coming up.

Started toward the back. Got up to mid teens when others had various offs. Felt pretty good and in control. Caught up to Nikos in 11th with a few to go. Thought I could get by him and took my time trying to pick the best spot. Thuoght the long straight would be my best chance on last lap. Tried to get close on exit of t2 and just over did the braking a wee bit. Arrgh! Slid off,on the grass and instead of grabbing p11 I slipped back to p13! Dang! Do I hate t2?! But was way better race than the first so wasn't too upset with my self.

[1959nikos]

Had real trouble finding a place to slot into in qualifying. Too many cars on track. Can we maybe divide it up in future?

What do you propose Rick?
I remember from watching GPs its much worse IRL.

[Hedlund]

Yeah it's much harder to find a gap for a clean hot lap now with 25-30 drivers, compared to 15-20 drivers. But it works, after all we have 30 minutes. My best tip is to use the HUD to see where everyone is on track I use this to see that I have a gap big enough. If number 2 is in front of me I know it's a fast guy so I don't need to leave a gap, but if it's number 15 I need to leave a big gap. Slower drivers could also use it the opposite way: try to leave a big gap to the top drivers behind you, if you experience that you loose a lot of time when they try to overtake you.

I also think some drivers need to change their attitude. When you've made a mistake and you know you can't improve on that lap, DON'T race cars coming from behind, let them pass. I experienced this at Longford.. before final corner I was careful to leave a big gap to the driver in front of me (I won't mention any names). He made a mistake in the very first corner and I soon catched him. STILL he was taking the defensive line after the long straight so I couldn't pass him and he ruined my lap that could have been my fastest. Why? I checked his laptimes later and on that lap he was 4-5 seconds off his previous best lap because of the mistake he did ??? But most of us are respectful and use common sense, I have to say.

[1959nikos]

most of us are respectful and use common sense, I have to say.

I think so too.

[jerry 33]

hey guys...
I guess it is: be careful what you wish for... it is neat to have big fields, but with that comes problems that you don't run into when only 10 guys show up.
overcrowding of the pit boxes, not finding a clean lap/gap for qualifying. accordion effect at the starts where the front of the field has to slow for those ahead, but back is coming up on this at full song, and many more off's caused by mistakes - and that is mistakes from both sides.
I believe this is a teething problem that will sort it self out thru time and discussion. like what rikard had mentioned, it will make people think and hopefully make us ALL better drivers. it is also a 2 sided effect. the fastest among us are also the most stable, I am amazed at how they can control their cars thru almost anything that happens to them and only lose like a tenth or two. then, there are the rest of us who are fighting at times just to stay on track, when I try to avoid someone else's mistake I land up in the grandstands and a DNF. in effect, we are running multiple skill levels every week, and now we are adding a lot more people..
Essington didn't have the grip level with the F2 that the tin tops had, and although that adds realism that also adds more potential for wrecks. anything you do to make things more interesting like Rain, clouds, cold weather, more cars - also increases the chance for problems...
no solutions I am afraid...... just some discussion....... just to say.

[gorgias1976]

In my opinion the difficulty to find a clean lap in qualifying is something I like, it's part of the joy of racing.

In my opinion there are three basic rules for the qualifying session:
1- If you are on a flying lap you don't have to let a faster car pass you.
2- If you are on your outlap you take big care on who is coming fast behind and leave him the racing lane free.
3- (as Rikard says) If you make a mistake that makes you lose time you abort that lap and watch for the coming cars to let them pass you.

[Hedlund]

If these new people become regulars, I think problems will sort it self out after a while. Me for example, I know almost everyone's driving style and braking points now, so I'm never involved in accidents anymore. When I was new, it was much harder.

[bullwinkle]

you are never near anyone to wreck with except lapping them

[Hedlund]

you are never near anyone to wreck with except lapping them

I'm thinking of race 2 with reversed grid. I don't know if you was a member here back in 2012-2013 but then we reversed the whole field so the winner started 15-20 something! (and I was not the winner guy back then) ;D

[bullwinkle]

No I was not here yet at that time sorry. I was only kidding you know.

[Ricknau]

My best tip is to use the HUD to see where everyone is on track I use this to see that I have a gap big enough. If number 2 is in front of me I know it's a fast guy so I don't need to leave a gap, but if it's number 15 I need to leave a big gap. Slower drivers could also use it the opposite way: try to leave a big gap to the top drivers behind you, if you experience that you loose a lot of time when they try to overtake you.

Yeah, I used the HUD. But I found it difficult watching a cluster the dots transition from the right when they are just before the S/F line, to the left as they cross it. And counting the cars as the speed past trying to hit the narrow gap while praying I figured it right. It's not like we can crane our neck around to look down the S/F straight. Combine that with trying to pick a gap that didn't have number 1-5 on my tail made it a bit much. What I did was pull off along back straight where it is easier to see and time the approaching gap.

What do you propose Rick? I remember from watching GPs its much worse IRL.

I can live with whatever everyone else can live with. But I thought maybe dividing the field in half with 15 minute sessions. Maybe A-M then N-Z. Or fastest guys then slower guys. ??

First group has to be aware of count down clock and pit at 15 minute mark. Hmm... can the clock be seen while driving?