Sim Racers 4 Life - Eve F2 Season - Round 6 - Belgium - Reports

[1959nikos]

It doesnt matter how much you practice here, it takes just a moment of loss of concentration to be totally killed :o

At my first race about 3rd lap I had a noobs mistake, hit the bails at Eau Rouge (Im still blushing..).
As the car was drivable, I decided not to repair at pitstop so I had to cancel repairs with the keyboard.

BUT..keyboard was at the wrong side of the desk as always and I had to grab and carry it over the wheell and place it between my tea and bits and things.
I decided to do that at Masta straight, a wrong choice, I crashed at top speed :'(

120secs pitstop :S

Next race worse, again a momentary lapse of sense at first lap, got off, tried to get back in, couldnt, and then I saw why, by back wheel was off me and lying on the track.
Sorry to all the people I killed there

So, I dont know what happened after I was dead, report here gents to get me informed in my afterlife.

[sdancourt]

I love Spa, specially this old 14 km long version which I know quite well.

Qualy: Nearly my PB: 3.46.6 on my first try, so I didnt make more efforts, good for P8 and considering the high numbers of aliens in this race, it was a very good position for a very dangerous start.

RACE 1: Pure joy, I decided to be very, very conservative, making a good start but having a John Cook behind, who is usually faster than me, I make some initial resistant to his pressure but make a little mistake in Stavelot and let him go away in the first lap, so, I stay in P9 with no danger in sight, running at 3.48 with easy and waiting for the abandons that will eventually occur in front of me. In the end, I was P5, but had a very intense battle with Dan Bayford for P4 that last almost 3 laps. My best result in this champ.

RACE 2: P6 at reverse grid with slower people in front of me except DJ. Made a good start and pass two drivers at Masta straight and then another one before Stavelot on lap 1, so I was P3, but a bit to nervous and driving as fast as I can when lost control in Blanchimont and good bye sir. Very happy anyway. Waiting for The Ring.....

[Connor McKnight]

Just Made It In at the Warm Up " Like Many Of You I Love This Place " ..Too the start and just stay clean .. 1st lap no bother 2nd lap (Your Not The Only One Nikos ) enter Eau Rouge at the bottom clip the left side at the bridge and thrown to the right into Bails What a MUPPET D'Oh) :-[ I was taken it far to easy ..get going and at the top I spin with the damage ( in a Ditch ) crawling and crawling & crawling as cars pass and I'm already lapped he he he he he so now go a whole lap with a bogey handling car ..4 may 5 times off or up side down laughing at my self and trying to keep out off everyone's way PIT stop 217 sec's he he took a pit stop meself lapped again ..so rolled around keeping it off the green & out of the Fence ..That was Till a Mr. R Hedlund was kind enough to Loan me a Wheel At The Masta Kink ..I collected the wheel and hit the Fence lol .. decided to stay behind yea Hedlund as you had me well lapped and might need some help some where as yea limped home.. sure enough he called in for a cuppa behind some house and as I had cars passing behind I didn't Want to Mess there race up Sorry as i was temped to reverse and try a push ..

R2 ..Happy days Sort-Of Keep It Clean Barr a Spin and light damage entering the pits (D'Oh ) rolled around taking places due to others misfortune ( Not quite Racing but Hay ) 11 place Great Run Great Fun Great Work From the Server Host Big Thanks

[edwin]

my report.

Well it sucked.....better said I SUCKED what a mess.

[bullwinkle]

Race 1 ditto Edwin and I feel your pain friend.

Race 2 got out unscathed and finished 8 laps oh my how wonderful I envy you guys that can handle your cars so well congrats to all

[Lecram]

Nice races for me.

Qualy brought me 2nd spot on the grid. Behind Robert Hedlund, very speedy mate Had a bad start race 1, seemed 1st gear was a tad too long maybe, or I should have let it roll a little just before green.
Dc had a massive start. I had Robert at the left side going into eau rouge but I could hang on to 2nd place.
I closed in on David Coyne and decided to hang on to him, at least for a couple of straights, to draft him and create a gap between me and Robert who was really quick. I almost went into bumpdrafting, as me and others are so used to do in practice sessions. I outbraked David at la source and got to p1. After that, they were fighting behind me, a pack of four cars and I thought they would catch me very fast, using their slipstream. But they didn't, they kept fighting each other. Kept running till the end of lap 5 cause I was still gaining time. After the stop, which was 50secs and seemed like eternity, I had Gorgias behind me which was surprising and he was quite fast. I was able to control the gap and drive to victory.

Race 2 it was a matter of survival and attacking at the same time. The first lap I had way too much oversteer running though Burnenville, I had to slam the brakes in order to set the car straight again. I managed, luckily John Cook didn't collect me during my recovery but I lost a spot to him and was in 11th place I think.
Masta coming up, someone spun off the track there, no yellows. Some were slowing and again seeing green flags, I decided to go for it and overtake John and Gorgias. Quite a risky move but it worked out nicely. Then there were some slower cars in front of me and overtaking them went well, up to second spot, behind David Cruickshank, the polesitter. 8)
Again racing till start of lap 6 at which I made my stop, being in 1st place as Dj made his stop a lap earlier. I was about 4 secs behind when I left pit after a 48 sec pitstop. I didn't think I could still win the race but at least I could try to get up close to him.
Didn't drive the best laps of the weekend but I got up to the back of Dj at the last lap, just before Masta. Game on! I waited some corners to rule out counter-overtakes. I was just close enough exiting the corner before Blanchimont to draft Dj, drs wide open , and got in front just before Blanchimont. Knowing Dj, he sure hangs on if he can, lemme tell ya so it was a very hairy time racing those last corners. Braking as late as I could for la source and running down the hill to start/finish I was very happy and satisfied and yelling I won again!!!. Now my girlfriend is deaf on one ear but yeah shit happens... :

I realise if Rikard was there he would have won both races while stirring his tea and reading comics but this was very nice. At least I beat one Hedlund Hiss boo to you too

Congrats to you all, thanks for hosting!

Cheers,

Marcel.

[edwin]

I realise if Rikard was there he would have won both races while stirring his tea and reading comics but this was very nice. At least I beat one Hedlund :p Hiss boo to you too

That put a big smile on my face ;D

[JimmyC]

Congratulations to the podium finishers and to all who started so cleanly. First race, I started pretty deep in the field and was very lucky to avoid cars spinning in front of me and the odd hay bale here and there. I managed to keep my driving pretty clean, except for the last lap when I went off, wandered around through the shrubbery for a while, gingerly re-entered the track and even made a pass back to P6 before the checker. Somewhere in there I also put in a new pb. Race 2: Good clean start, then I barely tapped a post and went off and was captured in the fencing and couldn't get out. Fun racing as always.

[gorgias1976]

Qualy
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I wasn't able to do a perfect lap, always making a small mistake at some different part of track so I had to get 3rd row which was something I didn't really like in this track.

Race 1
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Did a very good start but had to brake to avoid running into Robert, so I kept the same 5th position I started in. Standing the last of the leading pack I was surprised to see David Coyne leading it. At first I thought he had jumped start but when we finished the first lap and he continued I then realised he had done a superb start.
Laps went by until lap 4 when it was my pit time. As I hate having cars in front when entering the pitlane I decided to attack the cars ahead (Marcel had already gained a gap to the pack). I didn't know I was having a high ping and when I overtook DjC to get second place I saw him dissapear as if we had crashed each other.
I went for my pitstop, run a little wide and had to reverse to get in my spot. Fortunately pitstop was quick (46sec). DjC appeared too in the pits and was honking in hunger (didn't understand why at that moment). Exited the pitlane 3 seconds ahead of David Coyne and thought I was about to get too close to Robert when he did his pitstop.
A lap later both Marcel and Robert pitted and I found myself in second place, 2 seconds behind Marcel and 3 seconds ahead of Roberts (who should have David on his tail). The remaining three laps I was pushing as hard as I could as I feared Robert could get to me quickly but a lap later he suddenly was 8 seconds behind and the next lap he was no longer there, so wasn't David. So the final lap was more comfortable having no one to attack me and finally ending the race in second place, good feeling.

After race1 I exited rfactor2 and did some speed and ping test showing no lag. Entered rFactor2 again and everything was fine again so I guess my high ping had to be something game related.

Race 2
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Exited carefully being held in traffic battles. By the end of lap 1 I was still in my starting 9th place. I was having Robert ahead of me and ahead of us John Cook and Juraj Rimes who touched wheels. Juraj took the worst of it, went straight to the fence and his car rebounded straight into me. Just couldn't avoid him and went flying and sommersaulting without control. After getting back control of the car I rejoined the race in 14th place. Right front suspension was damaged but car was driveable so I decided not to repair it on my pitstop. As laps went by I overtook some cars on track, others at the pitlane finally finishing in 5th place which wasn't that bad considering the big crash.

[deecee52]

Race 1

I nailed the start 8) and got through Eau Rouge in first place , I held this position until the last corner when Marcel got past , over the next couple of laps I dropped places as Rich and DJ drafted past , had a good battle keeping a hard charging Gorka behind me until he got up my inside into Haute de la Cote , chased after him hoping to get the draft but approaching La Carriere I was surprised to see DJ about 30 metres above me :o and obviously practising for his pilots licence .
Followed Gorka into pits and pitstop went ok chased him out and followed him around , next lap approaching Eau Rouge I could see a car leaving the pits but I lost sight of him , tried to stay wide in case he was alongside me but put a tyre on the grass and then got up close and personal with the barriers :-[, car was stranded on top of barrier so race over .


Race 2

Was buried in the pack so decided to take the start slow and easy , you could tell how slow I was cos Nikos overtook me : , slowly picked off other cars and managed to avoid various accidents that kicked off in front of me and by the race finish I was in a very surprising 4th place .


Great racing everyone , good to see Marcel back in the fold but he is still too fast dammit > .

[1959nikos]

you could tell how slow I was cos Nikos overtook me :

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[deecee52]

you could tell how slow I was cos Nikos overtook me :

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;D ;D

[rob.hedlund91]

I won't be able to make a long story short cause it was of course unsurprisingly so many moments in this event.
Practice/ Qualifying - Joined the 18 minutes left of the practice session was a little too short for a warm up on Spa, but I was pretty confident cause more than a week before I had already started to practice alot with both Spark F1 and Eve, trying to find out a good setup for me. Later in the qualifying there was of course traffic to handle, a couple small mistakes and some random hay bales laying on the race line, there was not much time left to go for pole, now in 3rd. But I managed to go for it, set a high 3:41 time which put me up in Pole Position in my last try.

Race 1 - Unfortunately my Pole didn't give me the perfect start I wanted. When test-starting I usually practice with the Spark F1, because it's such a difficult car to drive and - in this case would be able to help me alot when starting the Eve F2. But no, just accepted it and keep focus on Eau Rouge, placed my car to the left of the track and every other second look back, to the right, to make sure I didn't made contact with another driver. Now in 3rd behind Wiegers I noticed that Coyne managed to just fly away and build up a gap in the lead, so my first plan was to just hang on to the guys in front but Marcel got so quick after lap 1 so it was hard to catch up. So I was just fighting for my position and trying to make it difficult for anyone to overtake me, but really that isn't the smartest thing to do on this track if you wanna catch anyone seconds ahead in he lead.

But in the 3rd and 4th lap with Cruickshank and Gorka meters behind me there was an intense fight for this 2nd and 3rd position. I nearly crashed from my defensive line when I battled 2nd postion on lap 4 at Masta-Chicane, after that I lost speed while both Cruicky and Gorka passed me and now in 4th having (the flying starter Coyne) behind. Later the same lap on the shorter straight near La Carriére, Gorka was from my view going in esses looking like a wild snake or something, probably some internet connection causes, I don't know (?). But he pushed Cruicky out hard who spun like a propeller hitting a pole Coyne and I was lucky to avoid him keeping our cars to left of the road.

50 sec pitstop in the end of lap 5 gave me fresh new tires as the car became lighter as well. Now my goal was to drive faster and faster cause at this point it was pretty lonely out there and no one to fight. For that I have to use the the whole wideness of the track but disaster striked at the last lap at the Masta-Chicane. (Sigh) :'( I was so close to make it through there and it seemed like I almost kept the same line all the laps before, but the small wood-fence was strong enough to kick the s**t out of my car, thrown to the left in the grass.. I noticed I lost a wheel too but I was so pissed and tried to get out on the track as fast as I could, of course braking before and look if someone approached. As I got out just to the left there was someone approaching fast and I tried to avoid him but it was too late. I'm really sorry for that! Risky desicion, but I wanted to finish on 3 wheels as I joined the track again now very sure no one was coming, so I kept my car out of the race-line and at the same time looked back very often.. Took it very carefully but as soon I turned to a left corner, my car was suddenly too fast and of course EXTREMELY understeer cause I lost my front-right wheel. at this point La Carriére, my race ended up in a horse-paddock with fences around, unable to get back on track again. Congratulatons to all finishers.

Race 2 - Starting in 13th Position and knew it was gonna be difficult to handle all cars in front, but already my decision was to just take it easy especially on the first lap cause everything can happen, and as I said earlier.. If anyone makes a mistake on Spa Francorchamps a couple other drivers are going to get involved in the shit- is very true but I started ok and placed my car behind and kept my postion. While others in front made mistakes or was slower than me/ allowed me to pass, I don't know. It's not clear enough for me to remember the half first lap but in the last corners my overtakes of one or two cars suddenly took me to 10th or 9th, and in the last corner I decided to brake very hard to overtake Gorka in front of me.
Lap 2 at the first long left corner (Les Combes), 2 other drivers John Cook and Juraj Rimes made contact to each other, Rimes was thrown hard into the fence, became a passenger and back on track again. The moment later I saw and heard Gorka crashed into him. I watched replay of the accident and I could see Nauman, Coyne and Gerrits were extremely close to hit Gorka afterwards.
Now I was easily up in 6th and my plan was to finish as good as possible. End of lap 3, I was once again very close to hit another driver. This time Steve Combey who clearly locked his rear-wheels while braking, crashed into the concrete wall. "Coyne, The Flying Starter" kept pushing from behind, likely made constant lap-times and it seemed like I was unable to pull away from him at first, but I managed to be in my nice 3rd position till the finish flag.

After all, a very nice event though one disaster from my view, I didn't finish the first race but made a good comeback in race 2. 8) And also I gotta say it was a surprisingly nice clean start in both races! So, thumbs up all. See you next time