SR4L F1 League Race Reports Rnd 5 Essington

[Lecram]

A great night with a great turnout! Thanks all.

Reports please!

[gorgias1976]

After a very busy week I had very little practice time, and the little I had I just couldn't make a setup that was fast and driveable, really struggling for grip at slow corners.

Qualifying
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Managed to get a 1.41,5 which was the best I had achieved in this track. Getting any faster was imposible so I set my objetive for the race "just bring it home safe" as the faster guys were way faster to be battled.

Race 1
---------
First laps were a hell, first Robert and then DjC were throwing lots of smoke at brakings and that made for sudden drops in frames which put me in serious trouble to get to drive the car.
Driving some smoke-safe seconds behind the main group I saw Hector at mirrors going wide at turn 4 so Bart took his position and quickly approached me and passed me. I had no chance to defend as the car was starting to become understeery at slower corners.
Pitstop arrived, which took 49 seconds. After It I was some seconds behind DjC. A lap later I saw Bart coming from his pitstop just behind me, he quickly passed me again. I just didn't want put much fight on it, just wanted to finish the race as safe as posible.
David Coyne was several seconds behind so I could drive comfortable laps without taking many risks to finish in sixth place.
Two laps to the end at turn 1 I saw Bart coming from the gravel. I passed him there but he quickly rejoined right after me. I tried to hold him through the last lap but almost lost it at turn 4 and he passed me there again.
Finally finished sixth, really unhappy as I felt too far from what I should be performing.

Race 2
---------
If race 1 brought me the saddest feelings race 2 really put a big simle on my face.
I started with lots of care and I was able to avoid all crashes that took place at first lap. I was behind Marcel after turn 1 and that was the best place to be if I wanted to be close to the top of the race. Some laps went by, really interesting, overtaking people.
Being behind Marcel's tail without having to deal with smoky brakings was great.
We approached galaga, the new driver of the day who forgot to take his pitstop during the race. Robert and Marcel were able to overtake him through the traffic. I had to struggle for a lap and half but finally passed him. That put me away from Marcel's tail.
Pitstop time came. Had a quick 47s pitstop and that helped me overtaking Robert at the pit lane.
If the first half of the race had been really fun now came the best part. We all aproached DjC and for the next 8 laps there were constant battles.
DjC was struggling. Marcel couldn't find a way pass him, I stood there trying to get a bite if something happened and Robert was just behind me wating for the same.
3-4 laps later, at the downhill hairpin Marcel and DjC touched and both spun. I just couldn't avoid them as I was too close and got some colateral damage being thrown to the grass and hitting the wall that brought the car some damage (wheel slight veered to the left). Robert took his chance there and passed we three. The remaining 4 laps was a classic SR4L battle, DjC in third place, me in fourth and Marcel in fifth. It was as tense as fun. The three struggling with damaged cars and with grip looking for a way pass the one in front. And finally we three ended at that very position.

P.S.: This second race has brought me back the passion I was feeling that was going away since Montecarlo.
Silverstone is next, I hope I get a better pace than in this track.

[Hedlund]

Yes, great turnout once again Bring on the race reports! I enjoy reading them.

QUALI
I knew this was going to be really tight. I knew Marcel had an small advantage, based on laptimes we did earlier this week, because he was the only one below 1:41. Cruickshank, my brother and I were all in the low 1:41's. I knew Gorka is always quick too, but had no idea if he had done any practicing. So the quali started and I was among the first to leave pits. My first lap was just as good as I could wish, 1:41:1. So now I had time to try to improve. The first 15 minutes of the quali, I was driving with 20L fuel because I had set my best laptimes with a heavier car. The other half, I took 10L out. The car felt more unstable with less grip, but soon I realised I was still faster. To my surprise, I soon did 1:40:8 and for the first time I was in the 1.40's. Still there was at least 10 minutes left of the quali so I had time left to improve. Because the lap was far from perfect as I got a big slide in the last corners. The following laps I was probably overdriving and could not improve. With only a few minutes left Marcel took over the lead. My very last lap was going to be my best, but still 0,025 behind So, 2nd place on grid just like Monaco. But here I had no advantage because I had no rubber at all on the right side of the track.

RACE 1
Started on the dirty side of the track, but still I did a good start. Djc was also really quick off the line and I had him on my left at T1. But I had the inside so no problem to hold him off. Marcel was really quick the first laps and set fastest lap of the race with 40.9. My race pace was not that good, but I managed to create a gap to djc and Robert. Soon djc disappeared and I don't know if he made a mistake or entered pit very early in the race (?). Eventually, I begun to gain some time on Marcel, and at the end of lap 9 I was breathing down his neck. It seemed he had no grip at all, and he pitted at the end of that lap. I continued one more lap. I hoped that Marcel would get a slow pitstop or join with traffic. But he didn't, and when I joined track after my 48 sec pitstop, he was right in front of me again. And once again he opened up a gap in the beginning. But towards the end of the race, once again his tires were finished, and I could easily catch him. The very last lap I tried to find a way past him, because I was so much faster through the slow corners. I tried in the very last corner but missed the braking point slightly, and Marcel got past me again to win the race. Well done Marcel ;D

And... Somewhere in the middle of the second stint, Marcel and I had was going to lap a few drivers. And after the long straight we catched up with Rick Nauman who obviously missed the blue flag and blocked us both through the long right hander. I was trying to draw his attention by honking at him. But no way he was going to let us past. Down the hill and in the braking zone Marcel eventually got past him, finally, but I was still behind. He was still unaware about the blue flag, and through the slow corner I was still honking at him. His slow speed surprised me through that corner and we made gentle contact a few times until he spun off. Sorry but it must have been obvious we were about to lap you Rick.

RACE 2
Exciting as always, the reversed grid I took it really easy in the start and left plenty of room to the cars ahead of me. And like always, many cars crashed at first corner The guys on the inside (Marcel, DJC, Marcel) were lucky to avoid it but I lost a few seconds. Anyway I avoided contact, and down the long straight for the first time I found my self behind Gorka and Marcel. All of a sudden, a car was flying through the air in front of me and another sliding over the track, through the grass, and bouncing at the guardrails back on track. I managed to avoid a disaster but once again I lost a few seconds to Gorka in front of me. But no problem for me catch them before the end of the lap as they were held up by slower drivers. In the last corners I found djc on the grass and got past him. At this time, I was right behind Gorka and I was faster than him. But no way he was going to give up his position too easily 8) After a few tries without succes, I finally got past him on lap 4, by tricking him into talking the inside through the long corner 3 right hander. He carried too much speed and slided to the outside, while I got past him on the inside 8) Now I was right behind Marcel and to my surprise I was much quicker. Probably he tried to save his tires so I tried to overtake him in the braking for turn 4 (my favourite overtaking spot in race 2 btw). He did not left much room for me actually and we made contact. None of us lost any time by that gentle contact but I was still behind him. But now he was driving faster and built up a small gap. But just like race 1, I catched him at the end of his stint. And just like race 1, he pitted at the end of lap 9, and this time I did too. Really bad stop this time, 54 seconds.... Marcel probably had same bad luck, but Gorka who had also pitted, must have had a better stop, because he got past me in the pit! And once again he was in front of me > I was a bit nervous, and at the esses on my first lap, disaster struck... I lost control and hit the wall HARD. But I managed to crash the car against the wall with the nose first. And I had no damage at all ;D I continued but now I was really far behind. I gave it all and managed to set fastest lap of the race but no chance I could catch Gorka and Marcel again... Or? lol. At turn 4 a few laps later, all three (Djc, Marcel and Gorka) had crashed themselves out ;D I got past both Gorka and Marcel, but with Djc still in front of me. Probably he had some damage because I was much faster. After 2 laps or so, I managed to overtake him in the braking for turn 4, and could quickly build up a gap. No chance to catch the guys ahead of me so I was driving alone the remaining laps. Finished 2nd behind brother Robert Galaga finished 1st but he had not done his pitstop so I guess he is dq.

Overall, I'm very happy for my two 2nd places And my brother won his first SR4L race, congratulations ;D

Very entertaining battles in this race... Thank you very much guys!

[edwin]

Although i had serious track time here and realy trained my ass :o off. i couldn't get some good lap times anymore. Can blame it on myself because last week i have installed a head tracking programme called tracknoIR.
I like that very much but have to adjust to it. (not used to look into the corners :-[)

So quali went not well and i was second to last at the start of race 1.

In lap 3 i was in front of Cosimo and we both managed to get past our tutor Nikos who was recovering from a spin he made trying to avoid a collaps with Hector and Mel. Next tree laps we had a nice battle going on with me in front. But in lap 6 Cos had found a way to get past me in turn 4 and there was Nikos at my heels. In turn 11 Nikos took his change and managed to get past me also. in the process i hit the curbs and spun off.....grrrrr > my bad. So i decided to do the best i can (as always btw) and drove the thing back home safely but at 12 position or so, so no glory for Edwin in race 1.

Race 2 didn't give me much more luck. After the start i had Nikos (yes again him ) on the inside of turn 1 and 2. Trying to let him alive i came onto the grass and spun with some damage as reward. So i decided to go and make my pitstop at the end of lap 1. 68 seconds it took so not to bad but i had to do 17 laps with a heavy car and on these tires...
I was managing my tyre wear all the time but at some point i came closer and closer to Mel and Cosimo who where fighting eachother.
Cosimo came out as a winner from that battle and while Mel spun off (and i don't know what happend with him later on) it was my turn to make live as tough as possible for Cos.
But Cosimo was faster all week and so he was in race (who did tell him about the heel and toe thing ??? which he has learned very very fast) thus i had no opportunity what so ever to get past him. Had a realy fun battle with him though. But at some point i thought that he had to make his pitstop but he had already done that ....... :-\ Brought the vvv car home but in a dissapointing place at the end of the ranking.

Cosimo again thank you for the realy enjoyable battles we had, a win for you well deserved
Marcel again a great job done hosting this event.
SR4L i love you guys.
Hector we do have to go to the team and speak with them to get our car in a better shape (think we need to get slicks 8))
Nikos my first setup for Silverstone is in the process of being made but the price went up

Cya all soon on track i hope

Cheers

[Hedlund]

Towards the end of race 2 when I finally had got past djc, I was 3rd and had no idea who was in front of me because I'm not using HUD. I supposed Robert, but couldn't guess the other guy as both Marcel, djc and Gorka was behind me :o lol

I found out it was Galaga who had not done his pitstop, but it could have been Hectari who had the lead until he crashed hard and destroyed his car, I found out by watching the raply after the race. Bad luck

[Hedlund]

Although i had serious track time here and realy trained my ass :o off. i couldn't get some good lap times anymore. Can blame it on myself because last week i have installed a head tracking programme called tracknoIR.
I like that very much but have to adjust to it. (not used to look into the corners :-[

I know what you mean... I got TrackIR before the Putnam Park race with F2's last season, and in the beginning I was slower. But I soon felt more comfotable with it, and so you will

[gorgias1976]

I'd like to know what happened to DjC. I didn't see him at all through the first half of the race and when we catched him after our pitstops he was really struggling with the car.

[giorgetto giaguaro]

Unfortunately an unexpected work commitment made ​​me lose the round.

Hope you had fun at Essington.

[deecee52]

I wasn’t looking forwards to this race as I just could not get a feel for this track or indeed any feel from it , the FF on my wheel did not seem to register anything even though I turned it up , I didnt feel confident to push the car , so I decided to drive for points .


Qually

I went early as usual and wanted a lap in the 42s , I got it straight away so I sat back and waited to see who I got around me , as expected it was Hector and Bart so I was happy with that .

Race 1

Started ok and went straight into race plan , stay tidy and stay out of trouble , protect the tyres and see if places come to me . I picked up a place when Hector went off on I think lap 3 or 4 and was pretty much racing on my own for the rest of the race , pitstop (53sec) went ok and I came out on a clear track so just drove cleanly , a bit booring but I achieved what I set out to do and finished in the points

Race 2


Took it easy at the start and thought I had survived the first corner but then a spinning car tapped me from behind and I spun slowly off , no damage occurred so I got going quickly , saw a crash ahead of me on the straight approaching the big bend which brought out waved yellows , saw Jesus back off ahead of me but I was carrying too much speed to brake safely so I passed him and then slowed and pulled over to give him the place back , I know the yellow flag rules don’t apply it was just an instinctive thing to do , after that I did the same as race 1 and drove quick but safe and made places where I could . I survived and finished 6th .

[gorgias1976]

I wasn’t looking forwards to this race as I just could not get a feel for this track or indeed any feel from it , the FF on my wheel did not seem to register anything even though I turned it up , I didnt feel confident to push the car , so I decided to drive for points .

I think I suffered the same lack of FFB feedback and feel of this track.

[troffeo]

After a very busy 2-3 weeks I had very little practice time, and only for few laps....

Quali
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Managed to get a 1.44.08 which was the best I had achieved in this track.
So finally i had the 9th position in start grid.

Race 1
---------
In T1 Cossimo kick me from behind (no problem Cossimo, this happens ) and start again the race from the very last position...the 20th, without any damage!!!
Drove some crazy laps for my skills :o, manage to overtake any driver who are front of me until the 9th position.
Pitstop arrived at 10th lap, which took between 41 to 46 seconds, I can't remember well.
Finally finished 9th, really happy and felt exciting about that race.

Race 2
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I started again from the 9th position in grid with lots of care (again from the inside dirty line) but again in T1 this time, the disaster comes to me....
I can't remember the reason of this crash.
Again starts from the last 20th position, but this time my car had serious damages.
So pitstop at the 1st lap for 176s and when i come out i have only the Bart behind me for a couple laps.
Again manage to overtake some drivers, but the gap between my car and the middle group are more than 40s, so I decided to bring my car in the finish line without any other issues.
In final lap Nikos (after crash with Bart at T3) and Thanos (ran out of fuel 2 turns before the finish line) wants to give some gifts to me so finally finished at 16th position if I remember well.

Overall was a amazing racing Sunday evening with a lot of fun and passion for me.
Thanks all, Thanks SR4L!!!!

[Lecram]

Qualify: Very tough competition but pole nevertheless.

Race 1, I don't have much more to say than what Rikard already said in his report. Those last laps of the stints were a bit of a struggle but I lmao when I saw Rikard flying by in an attempt to overtake me last lap last corner. I braked a bit earlier and took the inside line and drove to victory. ;D

Race 2, lots of action in the opening stage. All went well, I think I was aiming for 2nd, maybe even 1st (?) until my pitstop, which cost me 5 seconds more than the one in race 1. Because of that I came back on track behind Dj, instead of in front. I was quite a bit quicker than him, he was quite defensive and it's so hard to overtake here but at one point, after the long back straight, I lured him into a little mistake. Dj went wide, onto the grass just before the tight hairpin while I tried to overtake using the normal line but he wasn't able to scrub off enough speed and hit me. We both spun, Gorka was right behind us and hit me but we got underway again, although being passed by Rikard. I had some left rear damage and was easily able to hang on to Gorka and Dj in front but unable to gain any more positions.

@Rikard, I saw your crash in the esses, amazing you din't have any damage, such a big impact :o

A great evening it was.

Cheers,

Marcel.

[cosimo]

I'll keep it relatively short this time. As usual, I forgot to enable replays, so I'll just go from memory.

QUALIFICATION

I got out immediately, and got a low 1:46, not bad for my standards.
At 10 minutes from end of session, I got out again and managed a 1:44.5, lowering my PB by a full second. Still, 12th or 14th pos, IIRC.
Quite happy with the feeling of the car, I relaxed a bit waiting for the race.

RACE 1

Decent start, but while braking for T1, I panicked when I realized I underestimated George slowing down and slammed on the brakes, losing the front, bumping into George Mallis. (Sorry again George) As far as I know, neither me nor George got any serious damage.

As it was my mistake, I waited for George to overtake me, so took it up from last position.

Don't remember much of the rest of the race, except:
- car felt great, and I could drive relatively fast (for me, LOL) without taking risks
- there must have been some accidents ahead, because I could pass a few people easily
- at some point, Edwin said lap 6, I did something that put a wide smile on my face. Overtook Edwin passing him on the inside of the great right hander.
Frankly, I don't know how that happened. If I do it again a hundred times, I'm sure I'm going to crash hard :-) That was one of my greatest simracing moments. I just loved it :-)
- great battles with the "midpack" guys

Last 6-7 laps I had George Mallis ahead of me, but I quickly realized I couldn't hope to get him, he was just faster. Finished in 10th position. I had secretly hoped for something more, but not bad. Maybe if I didn't hit George at Lap1...

RACE 2

Mega-wreck at T1 saw me badly damaged so as I usually do, got to repair + change tyres early, Lap3 I think, planning to do all the rest of the race with same tyres. That's pretty much how it ended. Managed to keep Edwin behind me. At some point Mel was really determined to pass me. He did at T1 with an outer line, while I kept a good fast line, I was prepared to repass him at T2/3, but he overshoot the braking point and got into the grass. I didn't see him again. I saw Nikos instead, a few laps after, stopped after T4 out in the grass. Finished 11th I think?

All in all, Essington is an incredibly fun track, car felt amazing, a bit stiffer setup than needed to be, but gives me more confidence and allows me less mistakes.

I loved these two races, it was a closer fight than usual, even if just for mid-low positions, but IT IS REAL FUN!!
Guys at the top were simply unbelievable, I have given up any hope of staying behind them :-)

Thanks SR4L folks for another great event.
Thanks Edwin for your nice words. Yes, I do appreciate these battles like you do.
Thanks George for not taking it too badly when I kicked you.
Thanks Nikos for encouraging me every time :-)

(if anyone got replays... :-)

[rob.hedlund91]

Qualify- I didn't beat my best time that I did in practice on Friday or Saturday, which was right at 1:41:000! So my plan in qualify was obviously to beat that, but I did a 1:41:100 instead and started in 4th. The qualify ended up as I expected, I knew that I had a chance to start in top 5 and I did it.

Race 1, I was able to make a OK start because of the dirty side of the track, so I almost lost one position when Gorka made a better start than me. But because I kept at inside to the first corner, I could take it pretty easy and keep my position in 4th. Now my decision was to catch Cruickshank in 3rd, but I noticed it was pretty hard due to his speed as he driving as fast as I did or maybe a little faster. So I stayed behind but in lap 3 I took over 3rd place when he braked too late in last sector and went out on the grass. ;D

I knew Rikard and Marcel were in front of me now and they were probably having a sweaty fight, but I found it comfortable to not stress too much and make pretty "stable" laptimes everything between low 1:41's and low-mid 1:42's. I kept going, felt like I was alone on the track at times because of the gap to front and behind. 8) My pitstop at lap 9 was ok, 50 seconds. And in the end of the race I just noticed Cruickshank a few seconds behind and had eventually catched me up a bit, but I finished in 3rd and was happy by that.

Race 2, turned out to be more eventful, though the mess at first corner I could stay away from those who crashed and take over alot of positions. After turn 2 on the straight, there were probably 5 cars pretty close to each other in front of me, and a big smoke cloud appeared to the right of the track and maybe 2 seconds later, all of a sudden a flying car above the smoke. Two cars have crashed and I prepared to avoid them by taking it easier. I didn't realize how close Bart's car was to hit me as it came down from the air again, until I watched the replay. Also, there I could see Bart's car was a horror view for alot of other drivers behind me. :o

I think I continued in 7th or 6th position and I could catch some slower drivers on lap 2 and 3, so I went up to 3rd. On lap 4, Mel Fisk had a gap down to me which I catched up totally but unfortunately in the last esses, I was too close behind him to realize that he actually slowed down (to let me pass I don't know?) ??? but then I touched his left rear tire and he spun. I would say that was a misunderstanding, and of course I didn't mean to do that. After, all I could do was continue the race. At this point, Hector Thompson in 1st place had a comfortable gap of maybe 5-10 seconds. But it surprised me after my pitstop, that his name disappeared and Galaga was in the lead instead, having a way bigger gap as I was 20-30 seconds behind still in 2nd. I thought he would go in pits soon so I could start to smell my first victory, but he stayed on the track the whole race it seemed! I guess that means he got DQ and I won instead! ;D

My 2 races at Essington was great and I had alot of fun since I found a good setup for me, which turned out to be a little little oversteer but I handled it well. Just because of that I knew I had to keep focus and watch after my tires more often than I normally do. I have to say that 3rd and 1st for me was more than I expected. And congrats to my brother who finished in 2nd both races! Thanks for nice racing all!

[thazio]

Great technical track!

I loved driving and i have really started to enjoy it.... 8)

In comparison with the previous races i went quite fast at qualifying but not so high at the grid.

Race 1 started well avoiding the problems but made a mistake and boom!
Then disaster: pitstop extra 50L (stupid) - difficult to drive car, another off another pit stop + 50L and so on...............

Then i assigned button to cope with my lcd... ;D

Race 2 started fantastic and avoid any problems let the fastest guys pass but again made a small mistake.So i choose to
make my pitstop early.But i made another mistake (a lot of mistakes... ;D ) and added only 10L :-[ so 2 turns to the end run out of fuel... :'( (ok i risked it and not refueled driving slowly using 5th)

Well done to all!
Well done SR4lL!

Bravo Giorgo! (George)

P.S. sorry for writing this again but i would like to have your opinion:
Isn't it very unrealistic to be able to destroy 50 cars during qualifying?

[gorgias1976]

Thazio, that could be something interesting to debate.
Being able to, as now, have the car repaired everytime you press scape and return to garage?
Having a car that cannot be repaired?
Having a car that could only be repaired at pits with it's normal repairing time (as in race)?
Can that kind of things be implemented? Who would get more/less benefit of that?

[thazio]

very useful thoughts, but how can we control that...(i mean not to return to pit and what about changing setup)
I would prefer we could be allowed to make only 12 laps (4 flying) for example

[troffeo]

P.S. sorry for writing this again but i would like to have your opinion:
Isn't it very unrealistic to be able to destroy 50 cars during qualifying?

I agree with that!!!!
I suppose the game comes more realistic and also open new strategy window at the quali section.
I don't know how easy is to prepare and modify the rules, but in my mind still interesting.

PS. Thano at the next time please buy a gas station near to the track with home delivery options ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Axe]

+1 to prohibit esc in Q. It can add thrill and immersion and if you fail you can still do much in the race, the race is not completely lost.
Unfortunately I do not know about smart solution for checking. In my home league we used this rule only in special events and it was the task for admin to check replay manually and of course we are small friendly community so there is a high level of trust between us. but SR4L seems to be on par in this. So generally for me not problem to set the rule as a "gentlmen agreement" and rely on conscience of the drivers.

another 1 question, I am a bit confused:
Can be the tires replaced also during the first lap simultaneously with repairing? Is it counted as a mandatory pitstop? I think there was somewhere here the post before Monaco that the tire change is impossible (or prohibited?) during the first lap, so in Monaco and Essington R1 when repair pit stop in the first lap I switched off tire change and then did second regular tire change pitstop mid race. So how is the rule exactly?

[1959nikos]

Having a car that could only be repaired at pits with it's normal repairing time (as in race)?

That would be real cool.