SimRacing.org.uk

Car: Riley Daytona Prototype
Track: Infineon Raceway (Long)

Practice: 18:00 for 150 mins (approx)
Qualifying: 20:30 (15 mins)
Race: 20:45 40 laps (approx 60 mins)

Start: Rolling - standard iRacing double file start
No fast tows will be available

Pit Stops: You must make a minimum of one pit stop during which you must take on at least 1 litre of fuel and/or change at least two tyres. You cannot take a mandatory stop at the end of the pace lap, or with less than 1 lap to go.

Just wondering if we are having a practice session for this tonight?

Cheers
Gary

iRacing's schedule seems to be Mosport this week so I will start a practice server around 7pm.

Sorry for the slight delay - server has been started

1:26.5 - I expect the quicker Pauls will be into the 25s or even 24s. I've never had any pace round here.

Thanks Pete

I joined in for a little while tonight.

I'm so out of sorts with this car at the moment. Loaded a setup from my garage and it felt so wrong so I switched to one of the shared ones and things were a little better.

Still zero consistency and loads of mistakes after 45 minutes practice.

Very inconsistent laps means I'm nowhere near what iRacing suggests I could be doing with all good sectors connected.

Never been a fan of this track and it's never kind to me either.

Not sure if I can race tomorrow night, but if I do I will require a good bit more practice just to finish.

That's the nature of the track I think.  My theoretical optimum is nearly a full second quicker than my PB, normally I'm nearer a half second.

Paul
:)

I was quite pleased to get into the mid 1:28's despite that meaning I was towards the bottom of the list.

I ended up using a very low downforce set-up, it really felt like a bit of extra downforce would help but every time I tried adding some it just made the car horribly understeery.

I'll be pretty happy to hang on for 60 minutes tonight  :o at least it won't be boring!

Just squeezed into the 1:27s in practice last night, but I was really chucking it around and obliterating the tyres. Won't do that in the race so I'd be surprised to not be lapping in the 1:29s for race pace. Tried higher downforce and like Pops just had understeer and despite then trying to compensate for that with stiffer rear it didn't really help. I'm now on a compromise setup.

What brake balance are people running? I've got it at 51% which is about normal for me on this car.

Still can't do those first two corners. Just can't see where the heck I am or where I'm going when I come up to them. It's either slow through there or lairy, both of which lose a second to the faster guys. That whole first section is just horribly difficult.

Really not sure where we're supposed to overtake here so I better qualify properly so I don't have to try and find somewhere to get passed Pops again. ;)

You say that about every track!

Alas, I sorely doubt I'll repeat out-qualifying you like I did at Watkins.

I have to get my excuses in early! :P

I do like the subliminal advertising in your signature Simon ;D

Gary

Yep, 51%.

Havent really had any chance to get practise in and i dont want to cause too much mayhem as i'll only bounce back off the barriers into someone so might miss the race.

Oh, i've got the vote thing, just not sure where i'm supposed to be voting for it!

Server has been started, have a good race all :)

LOL, yes I like it too!!!

Haven't had time to prepare for this at all and not keen on the track either. If I find time to get on the server early enough I might give it a go.

Particularly as it's not even one of the options.  :D

Phew - that was hard work!

Qually was as good as I could manage - it would have been nice to break into the 27's though.

The race was as expected - the guys in front gradually dissapeared, and I had to keep an eye out for my pesky Legends teammate in the rear view.

A cockup or two let Ross get by, and with no chances on track the pitstop was my best bet ..... AND IT WORKED!!!  I came out a couple of seconds infront of Ross, and Pops was behind him.

Another cockup let the pair of them by, and I had a fair gap to make up.  Thanks to their tussle I caught up, and then after Ross got a tank slapper and Pops took evasive action I got past the pair of them.

After that it was a question of not cocking up too badly, as passing would be tricky at best.

In the end Pops let me off the hook, and I took it easy for the last couple of laps to finish 8th, where I started.

Glad that's over - but it was a proper test, for me and my machine.  After the glitches I suffered in the last race I'm glad to see it was rock solid this time.

The less said about that performance the better ::)

Good fun racing with Ross and Adam even though we were like the Keystone Cops at times :D

I knew that I did not have the pace to match Gary and that was the story.

The only way I had a chance was to steal pole and try and stay ahead. Started 2nd and Gary was just a step ahead moving away every lap.

Dave was never far behind me but then dropped back after he caught a backmarker and I assumed there had been a bump.

I never felt the need to push too hard as I knew I could not catch Gary and I had been having too many crashed myself to push.

After the pit stops my car felt much better. I gained time on Gary in the pits and pulled a few tenths each lap after the pit stops.

I was left wondering if he had eased off or had some kind of a problem. The gap came down a little more but then I caught Dave for a few laps. Again I was unsure if he had crashed or as it turned out he was running some strange pit strategy and I knew I had to make a pass.

Dave's tyres were obviously very tired and his car was not as fast as before. He got on the power a little early and lost the back and that was me back into 2nd.

Gary was still 9secs ahead and I had no chance of cathing without a big mistake from him.

Never looked like it would happen and nor did it.


Great drive and win Gary.

I think that's the first time this season in either the Riley or the Mazda I felt I got the most out of the car. It helped that I did the most practice I've done for any UKiR this season just to be able to get around ok and be on the pace for a change. Been struggling for time and motivation to move other stuff out the way to make time recently, so I guess this week it paid off.

Also the first time this season one of Gizmo's setups has worked for me. Took a second off my times from yesterday so thanks for that! Made some very minor adjustments to make it more stable in the race, but hardly anything, although it did have the effect of using way more fuel meaning I started with 8.8 and had to add 9.5 at the stop.

Best qualifying performance to date in the Riley dipping a shade under 1:27 which gave me 4th in a small grid. Was in 4th for the first half of the race as Gizmo pulled away slowly and the two fast guys at the front tore off into the distance. Really struggled with the tyres towards the end of the stint as I had over driven them and Mike had closed right up behind me after Oily's demise. We entered the pits together, but he got the jump on me by not changing tyres. That gave him a 7-8 seconds lead out of the pits, but I couldn't have done the 2nd stint on the same rubber and I quickly closed the gap to him coming up right behind him with about 9-10 laps to go.

Unfortunately as I've said before with like-for-like machinery here at Infineon it's almost impossible to overtake unless you are 2 seconds a lap faster. As it was I was up to a second faster, but the only overtaking points are the 2 hairpins and I just couldn't keep close enough through the preceding fast corners in both cases to even think about having a go. My only hope was a mistake so I just kept with him waiting.

Thankfully I didn't have to wait long as first Gizmo ahead crashed into the wall and then not too long afterwards Mike also lost it after clipping the grass in the fast chicane near the end of the lap. This left me on my own to chase Gizmo's bent car and eventually as I closed on him he went off at T1 and I sailed through to 3rd place.

That's a really hard circuit and I'm not surprised people stay away, it doesn't produce good racing imho and there's usually a high casualty rate too. Holland vs Cheating Poop-Meisters Uruguay might have something to do with it too, but didn't think we had any Dutch or South American drivers in this series. ;)

Oh dear.

Thought I might be off the pace, but that didn't go well.

Failed to equal my PB in qually to start 6th.  Ran there for the first part of the race until James spun and I was closing on Shark.  There was no way past on track, so I went for the pits a bit early.  Shark went in with me and I jumped past him by not changing tyres.

After that the car was a bit of a handfull, Shark closed back up but as long as I kept it tight there would be no way past.  Then one slip of concentration in the esses and into the wall I went.  The car was still driveable (amazing!) but extremely twitchy.  There was a 20 sec gap to Paul, which disappeared in 3 laps.

My car finally killed itself by jumping across the front of Paul exiting the hairpin.

Glad that's over.  I doubt I'll be trying the same at Brands.

It was a shame about the poor turn out. The world cup was a factor but too often people will not race tracks they don't enjoy, find too difficult or are not up to the pace they think they should be.

It's not a favourite track of mine, but it's a challenge. Time for a shiny new next season I think.

& that was only Race 5. I agree & it's why I think shorter seasons work best (6 is cool). People just get that "coming to the end of season" feeling & drift away, seems to happen in all sims.

That's not what I was meaning. I should read what I've written before I hit post.

What I mean was, it's time to replace Infineon with a new track next season.

I'm for a longer championship. If drivers attention has gone after 5 races that's worrying.

All my time here I've argued for drop weeks. It's good to have high attendance but guys like myself are always on the back foot as can't attend every race.

If you had a longer season with drop scores the guys who can't attend all the time will still have a chance and those who attend all the races will still have an advantage that they will be able to choose their drop weeks have have a better change of purging out a bad one.

Hopefully the guys who can't attend every week or have a couple of bad races don't throw the towel in so early.

Sorry I misunderstood your 1st one Brian.
But looking at just about every season on every sim run here, average attendance drops as a season goes on. Hence I think 6 races is good, because it'll surely catch most the drop outs before they go, keeping attendance high (I think ;)).

p.s. I am pro a drop week too.
p.p.s. Sorry this has gone off topic chaps. :-[

Legzy/Brian, as I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm considering introducing one drop week.

I've always quite liked this Infineon layout and seem to go well there. The combination of the slow technical bits with the high speed esses is a particular challenge for setup. I sacrificed speed in the first section to ensure I was super quick in the section between the hairpins.

Qually did not start well, Dave was very gentlemanly and let me go by on the out lap but whilst messing around saying thanks I binned it in the fast right.

I knew I had good pace here but was worried by Brian and Dave's with his usual no tyres strategy. My pole lap was strange as it was not a great lap but I got a great exit from the final hairpin and it was enough.

Sitting on the grid I set up for a tyre change and fill for about lap 25, the plan being to pull enough time to be able to change tyres without losing the lead if possible. However I could switch if necessary to no tyres as I knew I could get them through to the end if necessary.

It was somewhat intimidating sitting on the grid as the lone Team KC entrant for tonight with the massed ranks of Team Shark waiting to pounce.

I seemed to be able to drive just off my ultimate pace here and pull away from Brian, I'd notice Dave drop off the relative screen early so assumed he was on his early stop no tyres strategy that beat me at Sebring. On lap 23 I decided to pit a little early, after my stupidity at Road America I kept well away from the pitlane speed limit and lost a little time.

Exiting the pits Dave was 4 seconds back and after a couple of steady laps I started to open out a gap again although I was not pushing as hard as before the stop. At one point I was 10 secs in front of Dave but once Brian got by he started whittling away at this.

I caught the Ross, Pops and Adam battle and could see they were scapping hard but they all very kindly let me through and then it was just a case of managing the gap to Brian until the end.

It was nice to chalk up my first SROU win.

Regards
Gary

I'm still acclimatising to the DP.  My GPL influenced driving style doesn't suit big, heavy cars with downforce and I'm having real trouble unlearning old habits.

I'd done a fair bit of practice here as I'm not a fan of Infineon though I've had a few decent races here in the past.  I was pleased that I'd got down to the mid 1:27s and my 27.1 in practice was a PB by some distance.

In qually I simply couldn't get it together.  At the end I somehow managed to drop in a 1:27.3 which I was ultimately quite pleased with until I looked at the grid.  That was a lot of work for 7th!

In the race I got a decent start and was matching Mike initially then little mistakes started to creep in which would lose me ground.  Andy behind me was a bit slower and I was easing out a comfort gap there but the increasing gap in front meant I was getting increasingly lonely.

I'd started the race without the split times as I thought I'd be able to concentrate better but after 7 laps or so I changed my mind and found it actually helped, giving me a focus.

When Oily had his off I managed to get near him for a few laps but never close enough to pass.  When Mike and Simon went in I thought I'd do a few extra laps on low fuel to try and get past.  Bad move.  My tyres were evidently shot as I went just as quickly when I finally came out on new ones and Mike and Simon were 20 seconds up the road.

My pitstop probably didn't help.  That was my first ever competitive pitstop.  I think I may have missed the cue to go and I don't know how long I was sitting there looking at the 14 seconds message.  Hey ho.  I got past Oily who'd gone off again in the Esses.

After that I got into a rhythm and cruised.  With about 9 to go I spotted a dust cloud and saw a car exiting the hairpin as I was coming through the Esses.  Looking at F3 I saw that 20+ seconds had become 10, a few corners later it was 9.  The car in front had obviously got some damage, game on. :)

There were still plenty of laps left so I didn't rush.  I felt like a cat stalking an injured mouse and when I caught him I sat behind to look for the safest way past.  I thought it should be fairly straightforward but as Simon says you need a big speed advantage here to overtake and Mike's car may have been undriveable but he was undriving it beautifully, making sure he got a good exit at the key corners and keeping the speed up down the straights.

After a lap or so of this I figured my best chance was at the final hairpin.  My car was miles quicker through the Esses.  the next tiem round I got too close though and had to back out slightly at the critical point.  Mike went to the inside to cover the hairpin so I went round the outside.  There's not a lot of grip there though and I struggled to keep it straight, giving Mike the advantage.  He seemed to be having trouble getting the power down so I went for the right but at that moment his car cried enough and span broadside in front of me.  It was way to late to react and I hit him straight on, knocking him unceremoniously out of the way.  Sorry again Mike, I can't think of anything I could have done differently.

Amazingly my car still went mostly forwards so I aimed for the finish.  Having practised hard for three races now and only managing one corner under racing conditions up till now there was no way I I was not going to finish.

I thought I had two laps left but in fact it was three.  Gary had been closing on me for a while to lap me but that was not going to happen.  I could see I had about 10 seconds a lap leeway and managed to nurse it to the end.  Halfway round the last lap it occurred to me that Gary had already finished so wouldn't pass me now but I didn't ease up for fear of screwing up and I had to finish the lap to avoid being lapped.

All in all quite eventful for a lonely race.  I need to work harder on my pace in this car and figure out how the pitstops work.

Congratulations to the top three, particularly Gary who's been threatening to win one for a long time and I suspect will only get quicker from here on in.

Roll on Brands. :)

Paul
:)

Nothing particularly strange about my strategy. It was pretty clear that Gary was too quick for me to do anything about, but I was fast enough to consider not changing tyres to jump Brian and then seeing if I could hold him off, knowing how hard it is to pass at Infineon.

Aimed to stop and half distance and take another 8.5 gallons on top of the 8.5 I started on, but when we caught Spanner as the first lapped car the opportunity to pit 4 laps early and avoid any traffic presented itself and I took it. Told the crew to leave the tyres on and bumped the fuel up to 9.9 just in case as I hadn't got far enough to be absolutely certain of making it on just another 8.5. In hindsight that was a mistake as the car felt rather heavy for a few laps, and it turned out that I finished with over 2 gallons in the tank.

Anyway, after other cars stopped I was back up to 3rd, with Gary way off up the road and Brian just under 40 seconds ahead. I thought that would be very close when we stopped, and sure enough my double stinting strategy worked and he came out a few seconds behind. After a couple of laps getting his tyres up to temperature he soon caught me, and I had to start pushing hard in two critical places, the very fast chicane at the end of the lap and the exit from the long downhill left handed carousel type corner (T6 I think), as both lead to possible passing opportunities.

It worked for a few laps but I was pushing a bit too hard on old tyres and fed the power in too early on the exit of 6. The car snapped left and I couldn't quite get it straight before brushing the wall and letting Brian by. With some trepidation I set off again and realised immediately that the at least one of left suspension arms was trashed, making braking tricky and right handers downright scary. With nearly 20 seconds to the Sharks behind I pressed on, but at 4+ seconds a lap off my pace there was no hope, and eventually the car failed to turn into the first right hander of one lap and Simon scampered by.

With Mike having his own dramas I still managed to nurse the car home for fourth - actually, I didn't so much nurse it as slave drive it to within an inch of its life. Very sad to end my solid podium run like that, but with Paul H missing this round that's enough to ensure that

I am the champion! ;D

and also that

Team Shark are the champions! ;D

Just for the record I didn't miss this week due to being end of season. It was Infineon so was easy to find something more important to do.

Yeah, bit of a disappointing turnout really. It seems to be an unpopular track, I'm sure you weren't the only one Pete :(

I will consider carefully before using Infineon again for the faster cars.

Pah, its a great track. I don't know why people don't like it ::) and for the record their are 5 overtaking places, the two hairpins as already mentioned, out of turn 3, out of turn 4 and into turn 5.

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Gary

Ah yes, congratulations mate you've driven well this season.

Gary

Pah, lightweights.  I can't stand the place but I turned up.  I even practised for it.

I would have no problem with Infineon being dropped from a great height into oblivion.

sorry couldn't come after my gf's Saab 900 broke down.... it wasn't the car, just her reversing into a fence and driving off without an exhaust.....which she exchanged for a bit of post and rail  :D

Grats Gary on the win!  :thumbup2:

Grats Dave on the championship  :clap:

It wasn't the track that stopped me racing (I like all the challenges of infineon far more than the dull plod round road america), just a lack of enthusiam. I tend to go through cycles where I can't really be bothered to race (or more precisely, prepare to race) and I'm in one now I think. It doesn't help that work is quite busy atm + my wife has a broken foot, so there is less time for everything. I think I'll take a break for a while and see how I feel in the autumn.

Grats to Gary on a long overdue win and to Dave on the championship.