SR4L F1 League Race Reports Rnd 3 Texas World Speedway Oval

[Lecram]

Nikos finally gets back on track, race still not over, someone on their victory lap takes Nikos out again. Maybe they thought Nikos had finished. As Nikos crabs to try finish (with every one chatting) the server restarts. Bet Nikos is thinking "Seriously!"

That sounds weird? Early victory lap? ???

Was that race 1 or 2?

[DJCruicky]

Race 2, I should have said "out lap" not victory lap, I guess that title for the winner

@ Edwin, I don't think you did anything wrong, looked like G had over speed, goes wide and plows into you.

[gorgias1976]

Dick, I understand the words you say about people wanting to go to the back of the grid. But we must comprenhend that some people still don't get confident enough to start the reversed race at the front rows and they prefer to start at the back while their confidence increments race after the race. Could this be a disadvantage to a fast guy who had bad luck at race1 and can get a good position at race2? well, nobody does it deliberately.

Now if you get a disaster in race1 you can get a good change of winning at race2 and recover from it, but earlier, when we did 3-20min races things were more difficult as you risked everything in race1: If you had a bad race1, you started at the back of the pack at race2 while the fast guys started again on the first rows. So you ended race2 at mid pack and therefore started reversed race at mid pack again, where normally the crashes take place at reversed races. So a bad race1 meant for a totally bad event (now you at least can recover from that).



Edwin, I don't thinks there's any fault of yours. By memory; As I approached you, Marcel glued on my slipstream, I just had to find a quick way past. Thought in trying through the left, but the natural line of the road at final curve moves car throught there, so I tried changing to the right but the wavings of the surface moved us in the same direction and so my left front tire hit your right rear. Nothing you can take the blame.

My race report
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Qualifying went quite well. I early achieved a 40.5 which allowed me to try to improve that time more comfortable. In one of those attempts I found Nikos and took advantage of his slipstream to reach a 40.4 which brought me to pole position.

Race 1
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The objetive was to try and get a lead to Bart and Marcel and get them out of my slipstream. But Marcel quickly got mine and couldn't get him out of behind. Approaching lapped cars I was able to get him just enough far but I had to ease off to avoid Cossimo and so he went back to my mirrors.
Then came the lapping incident and I was quite worried about how much time I had lost. I saw I was 4th with David some seconds ahead. I was able to catch David but for three laps couldn't find a good draft to try to safely pass him. So we both reached our pitstop at the same time. David had trouble braking and went through the grass at the pitlane, at that moment I wandered If he could get a speed penalty for not being able to brake through the grass and avoid battling him.
Pitstop was slow, 51 seconds. The second half of the race was a battle with David and after overtaking him a battle to catch Bart. I was approaching him when, two or three laps to the end, he kissed the wall at the worst place of the back straight destroying his car. I was lucky to avoid the debris and made it to second place at the finish line.

Race 2
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Starting at the back was quite difficult. The first 4 laps were quite busy in traffic and quite stressfull trying to find a clean way. As laps went by I saw David Coyne was out of race, such a pitty to him as I was sure he was about to win the race (he had the pace and was starting in second place). Later I saw Bart on the grass too.
By that moment DD was leading the race ahead of Marcel, DjC and me. I was able to catch and pass DjC and started closing up on Marcel. Following Marcel's line I give a little kiss to the outside wall off the first curve ang got some damage to my front suspension. That really worried me but the next laps I could see I was not losing that much time, about 1-2 tenths per lap (from the 40.6s-40.7s to 40.8s).
Being between Marcel and DjC something wierd happened. Bryan opened his way to the left exitting turn 1, (I though he was just letting us pass by) Marcel went to the left to Bryans rear (I though he was looking for his slipstream) But when I approached them I saw Marcel had lost a lot of speed. That left me in second place and 4.5 seconds behind DD. At this moment, with about 25 laps to go I though there could be a little change I could win the race.
Pitstop time came to me and DjC. This time had a better pitstop, 48sec, so I didn't lose my position to him. The next 4 laps were a bit confusing in my racing position, I didn't know where Marcel nor DD were. After DD went to his pitstop I found myself leading the race with a 4 sec lead to David. Just turned off displays and went for lap after lap racing at my pace. By the end of the race the gap was 5.5 sec to Marcel and victory was mine.
Great to have the second win of the season.

Note
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Well, we all new this could be a wreckage but anyway, Montecarlo will be a car killer too.

[giorgetto giaguaro]

Here's my report

I was a bit afraid about the oval as I had never had an online race on that kind of track and furthermore I didn't had the needed time to practice during the previous days.

But there I was at the start of quali with a confortable setup that make me keep a clean peace.

Qualy: I managed to get a 13 position who's not bad for my kind of race.

Race1: Unfortunately I get hit from behind before s/f and found my self on the grass, "luckily" with only a little damage at RL. Back on track on 16th position and realized that the car was still drivable and then my race starts. After the pit stop I was in 10th position and was pretty confident for the continuing of the race but around th 30th lap, al Turn 1, I couldn't avoid the car of Cosimo who was spinning out of control in the middle of the banking. Car dead and so the race.

Race2: Start at 4th position. After two laps I was on 13th position and was going with my paece when I lost connection. It happened to me twice during the practice session before the qually at race time. Don't know if it depends by me, will do some tests these days.

Thanks to SR4L and his Marshall for preparing us to an interesting kind of race/track.

[gorgias1976]

Right shoulder still hurts after yesterday races, as when you drive for 7 hours on the highway.

[Fergy]

Some interesting reading here

Just to confirm a non scripted rule here. You can request to be set to the back of the grid in events that are reverse formatted. It's a common sense rule that everyone needs to understand to be a part of sr4l. If your simply not confident about taking a position up the order you make it known.

Some of the reasons you my consider making this request:

A lack of practice in the lead up to an event.
You may find it more stressful than fun. Better to enjoy the race and grow in confidence. Looks at those now brave enough to give it a go. That comes from many races and a chance to learn the ropes here. We have a mix of Exceptional Expert, experienced and new to the game drivers and that's how we roll here.
Unsure of your ping (me last night) it simply would have been disaster on such a track.
And last but not least confidence, if your not feeling good it makes no sense to put yourself in hot water.

Admin have the right to customise the grid too. On the odd occasion the balance looks to far out of order.

[Fergy]

Finally, I have to say, my respect to all of you. I don't know how many times I have said to Bryan that this would turn out in chaos and anarchy, he sticked with the plan.
Sure there were some crashes and I'm sorry to the guys involved but they happen on roadcourses too. Overall I think it went very good. Great discipline at warmup lap too!

Hat off to you ;D

Your League Marshall,

I think it worked well too. I was impressed with the rolling start, we did it well.

Also impressed with the new League Marshall's efforts to make the race smooth, this was a key factor. Well done M

Well done SR4L, bad luck to those who had a bad night and better luck in Monaco.

[deecee52]

Qualy

This went well for me and i ended up where i wished to be just behind the fast lads where they could hopefully tow me around .

Race 1

Started ok made the first bend and was tucking in behind DJ , moved slightly left and bang collided with George , went flying into infield minus a wheel , engine was stopped and i had no button programmed to restart it, race over . Sorry George i just never saw you until we hit .

Race 2

Started from pole and got a decent start , made a gap and settled into a rythm , caught up to Bart who i presume had been off , i didnt want to pass him or get close enough to get him blue flagged so i stayed back a bit as he was lapping quick enough , saw Paul up ahead moving all over the track , Bart tried to go around to his right but Paul moved that way and they tangled , i dropped down the track away from them but they tagged me and removed a wheel , fortunately this was before pit so i steered in , engine was dead again so i just pulled clutch and rolled into pitbox , repair said 35secs waited and waited engine didnt start couldnt make it start even tho i had programmed a button after last race , started pressing buttons on keyboard but Program crashed so i gave up and watched TV


Well done Marcel and Paul , overall the meeting ran very well and you did SR4L proud

[troffeo]

I expect at the end of championship, to win the most staying at pits title.....

Quali
Isn't my best result, 1:41:3xx, so I started from the 7th position in grid.

Race 1
I have a good start, but in the midle of back straight I was crashed with David, spin with him and after that my car has serious damages.
Never mind David it isn't only your fault, also it is my fault so sorry for that.
Drove back to the pits and stay for around 288'' to repair the damages...
After the pit stop I was in 16th position and was pretty confident for the continuing of the race.
Finally I was finish in 11th position.

Race 2
I started from the 6th place (reversed grid) and I had a very good start passing some cars until the end at the 1st lap....
Trying to pass Cossimo my screen freeze for a moment (or Cossimo's ping are low) so I left my foot from the gas pedal and .... lets dance .... and started spin left and right.
No had serious damages and again trying from the 16th position to pass as many cars as I could.
After 18 laps I was in 7th place and when I try manage my pitstop, I did a serious mistake with my wheel buttons, so I lost my concentration .... and my car into the wall.
Drove back to the pits and stay for around 188'' this time to repair the damages...
After the pit stop I was in 12th position, at the last place of the grid, and I was about 1 lap behind Neela and Thanos.

After very nice fights with them, I manage to finish in 8th position, overtook Neela at the last lap.

Finally was a great night with lots of fun.
Also I like very much the warmup lap.

Well done SR4L!!!
Well done All!!!

[cosimo]

Late report coming in :-)

Had forgot to enable replays in R1, would be cool if admins could post a replay file for it.
Anyway, it ended badly for me. From what I can remember, after a few laps, on the starting straight, I lost balance and car started wobbling slightly, so I was moving a bit left and right. This probably confused people behind me, so I got hit badly, IIRC twice too. That sent me in the wall, and a few hundred meters later, engine stopped without chances of recovery. DNF.

Realized that sadly my team mate ended in DNF too, so I was determined to complete R2 for points, however few.
Just after hitting the Race button, I realized in horror that I was starting in P2, besides David Coyne :-) I can totally see why Neela asked to be placed at the back of the grid. I didn't know that could be done, but as I said, I understand why.

That's why, as Wim noted in his awesome report, I slid back in P9 right after the start. I basically "stayed extra frosty", praying that nobody would hit me... :-| At lap 11 or so, I unexpectedly and mysteriously hit the right wall on last turn with my RF tyre. Watching the replay (now enabled) I could actually see what happened. I got some debris left by some other accident under my car, and I completely lost grip during the nasty last turn. Changed my strategy to pit immediately, repaired in decent speed (but lost some precious positions). After restarting, I managed to avoid wreckages and complete my race in P6 or P7, which meant precious points.

Even more precious, considering our team didn't get any others :-|
We fell back in 3rd position. Next up Monaco, which already feels like a total carnage waiting to happen. We'll see :-)

I have to say that I had good fun racing TWS oval. I didn't think oval racing could be that fun! :-)
Thanks SR4L,