iRacing Season 5 Sportscar Challenge - Spa (2007-) - Apr 5

[Mike Wrightson]

I'm not going to make it I'm afraid, a family problem needs solved and needs solved now.  Bit gutted as I do love the Radical

[Simon Gymer]

Should have known better than to race. Even with 30 minutes practice I only managed a single lap without spinning or falling off. To say I had no clue how to drive that car at that circuit is an understatement. Somehow managed a whole 7 laps in the race before binning it, although that was more luck than skill. Decided not to bother with the tow though as I just couldn't drive it. It felt like I was going to be spat off at most of the corners and it was embarrassing not even being able to beat the Radicals here.

[picnic]

Well that was a waste of time for me too. Only 4 secs off the pace  I watched Paul on relay and I can't believe how late he braked. If the sound is at all close to reality he requires about half the braking distance I do! No matter what I tried I couldn't brake any later

Anyway, all that frantic braking meant my race frame fell apart and the pedals fell off. Can't drive without pedals  :'( Game over. I'm beginning to regret asking for all those iR credits for Christmas now  :'(

[Gazza49er]

Enjoyed that, good combo.

Might of given Paul a run for his money if i hadnt of lost concertration and spun and just touched the wall which did some small damage as it started to oversteer alot more round the right handers and i could only manage high 16's low 17's.

Tottally muffed the start and then i had a DP between me and Paul for quite a while which was tricky as i had to keep lifting at EnRouge as i was quicker there and i couldnt really run my own pace. With Pauls spin it might of been close if i hadnt of had that off.

Thx for the race and well done all the champions 

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

That was a very tough race. I can't believe how bad my setup from round 1 felt when I started testing at the weekend but I managed to get it into drivable form yesterday and made further improvements today to finally dip into the 2:12s, which was good enough to grab 3rd on the grid ahead of Darren.

My focus was on Paul T who I needed to beat to get 3rd overall, especially with Mike unable to attend. I couldn't worry too much about the team championship, just focus on my own race and hope that the other Sharks would score enough points to keep the bendy yellow ones where they belong, in the crates behind the brasserie.

For once the start went well for me and better yet Paul managed to slip past Darren, holding him up for a few laps and allowing me to settle into a rhythm. I'd planned to stop at half distance exactly but with Darren close behind and Paul not that much further back, I moved it up a lap to avoid any sneaky early stops on their part.

With hindsight it was a mistake; in fact, the whole strategy was too defensive. I should have taken almost enough fuel for the full race and splashed and dashed, without tyres, at the end. But hey ho, I should still have finished third, especially with both Paul and Darren following me in at the end of lap 12 and leaving behind me.

But something was amiss with the car; whether the extra fuel weight damaged the tyres more or in a different pattern I don't know, but pretty soon my pace was dropping off and Darren was closing me down. I seemed to have better traction out of the slow corners, and a definite advantage out of Stavelot, but he was faster everywhere else and it was getting harder and harder to hold him back. At least Paul had had a drama of his own and I knew that if Darren did slip past I was still sure to finish ahead of him.

The car got worse and worse as the stint wore on, and with about three laps to go I ran wide in Blanchimont, picking up my only incident point of the race and letting Darren through whilst I slowed to ensure I didn't lose the car over the curbs.

In the end I finished where my pace indicated I should, and I'm pretty pleased to pick up 3rd overall when over the course of the season I've been in the slower car. Very disappointed that we didn't take the team championship thanks to a lackluster display in the final round, but well done to the Bananamen - looks like Fred gifted the Radical title to Paul in order to secure both outright and team victory.

I've a feeling this result may remain provisional for a while though looking at the incidents...

[Fred Basset]

I've a feeling this result may remain provisional for a while though looking at the incidents...

Only got time for a quick reply tonight - why's that mate, suggest you look again I can't see anyone got that many. I had 4 in total,  2 for a loss of control and 2 1x doesn't seem excessive for 26 laps of Spa does it?

Regards
Gary

[Darren Seal]

Returning from a 2 month break from iRacing, I was hoping my DP setup (which was good enough to win here in round 1) would still be competitive.  It soon became clear last night that things had changed on the DP front, and that with the new build 2:13s would no longer be fast enough.  :'(

I tried everything to gain time, but no matter how I setup the car I still struggled to break into the 2:12s...  Looks like I need a major rethink before S6 starts...  

After qualifying in 4th; behind Dave, I was forced to change my usual 50/50 strategy to a more risky 'fill her up and just change tyres' approach.  Dave is always a tricky customer to pass, so the plan was to try to hang on during the first half of the race, then use a fresh tyre advantage in the second half to get by.  This plan instantly backfired as my heavy DP became a sitting duck at the start.  With Paul now in front of me I had to be very cautious on the opening laps.  Knowing how different the top speeds and braking distances are between the two cars I couldn't take any risks.  I was forced to wait several laps for the right moment to pass.  This allowed Dave to build a nice buffer early on, which he held until the pit stops.

As usual Dave 'Pit God' Gymer left the pits with an even bigger advantage.  My only hope was that his grip levels would fall off enough to allow me to get close enough to put him under pressure.  Luckily that's how it played out.  Within a few laps I was on his tail.  Lap after lap I tried to get a run on him, but my gearing sucked.  This meant I could never get close enough coming out of La Source to mount a serious challenge up through Eau Rouge and on to Les Combes.

As the laps passed by my tyre advantage became less.  With 3 laps to go I had almost given up on 3rd place.  Up to that point Dave had driven flawlessly.  Then out of the blue he made a mistake; running wide at Blanchimont.  I'm not one to turn down a gift, so through I went.  

I was expecting a fight to the line, but for some reason Dave dropped back.  

Thanks for the race Dave, it was good fun as usual.  

Well done to Gary and Paul for the class wins.  Congrats to the sweet-shop boys for the team championship.

[Fred Basset]

I'd actually not been trying to win the Radical championship this season,  I'd always had my eye on the overall title and team title for Epicurie Banana. I had originally wanted to run the SR8 all season but the botched standing start at Laguna and the machine crash I had at Silverstone meant that I needed to be more competitive at Spa to acheive our aims and that meant taking the DP.

The obvious risk being that I was running an unfamiliar car as I'd not driven it for two seasons, the last time I ran it Brendan beat me at Brands. I was extremely lucky that the first setup I downloaded from the iRacing forum suited me for both low and high fuel with out any changes so that gave me time to just get used to the car.

Qually was a little nerve racking last night, with nine minutes gone I was last  but I settled down for one lap just behind Brendan and one just infront.

The race went well enough and I got a 4-5 second gap back to Brendan which was important because I didn't feel I could drive the DP well enough in a close fought battle with the limited practice I'd had with it. I pitted two or three laps in front of Brendan and didn't take tyres but I was now in uncharted waters as I had not run this long before. Brendan put up a spirited attack but it was stalemate between us until I hooked first just a little early and I had a half spin at the bus stop which fortunately did not put me off track and I was able to resume with a couple of seconds lead.

From my point of view I think Brendan was quicker through La Source, Eau Rouge and upto the entry to Les Combes and through Blanchimont but I was quicker through Les Combes, Pouhon etc up to Blanchimont and it felt like I was through the Bus Stop but its sometimes hard to tell. Whatever, Brendan is a fine race driver and I knew I was in a real fight. We finished with a couple of seconds between us.

Not a bad season for Epicurie Banana, overall, Radical and team championship with Paul putting in some great races too. Forza Banana. 

Congrats to Brendan on the Riley championship especially with five wins in a row.

I've really enjoyed the racing, shame there were not more of us at times and as such I doubt its worth running the sportscars again with the new endurance format. Shame as the SR8 and the Riley are well matched, I can't agree with Dave that the SR8 was the faster car , the Riley was quicker at four rounds, Spa (twice), Silverstone and Barber. The cars were equal at Brands and the SR8 was quicker at Laguna and Infineon in my view.

With Paul now in front of me I had to be very cautious on the opening laps.  Knowing how different the top speeds and braking distances are between the two

cars I couldn't take any risks.  I was forced to wait several laps for the right moment to pass

Hopefully you download the skins from trading paints Darren so at least you got to look at the new Epicurie Banana livery we've had done, I watched Paul over the line yesterday and thought it looked superb.

Regards
Gary

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

As usual Dave 'Pit God' Gymer left the pits with an even bigger advantage.

Actually I lost a couple of seconds on the way in - it was a big surprise to gain time overall.

All I can say is... from your comments I'd say you need to do more pit stop testing to understand what does and does save time...

As the laps passed by my tyre advantage became less.  With 3 laps to go I had almost given up on 3rd place.  Up to that point Dave had driven flawlessly.  Then out of the blue he made a mistake; running wide at Blanchimont.  I'm not one to turn down a gift, so through I went.  

I was expecting a fight to the line, but for some reason Dave dropped back.  

Out of the blue?! You obviously hadn't seen my car wiggling about all over the shop in that second stint! That nice 4 second gap I started with pretty much disappeared in two big moments - I'm really surprised you couldn't see I was struggling. That's why I dropped back - I was already taking risks trying to stay ahead and didn't want to risk binning it trying to pressure you and hand third outright to Paul.

[Paul Thurston]

Today, Kong is a happy Kong.

After Infineon Gary and I looked at the various tables and figured that we had two options; go for a 1-2 in the Rad championship or try a more risky strategy and attempt to win the three that Brendan hadn't already won.  Given the low turnouts have devalued the rad series we figured the latter would be more fun.

There was no way a Radical was going to win at Spa so Gary had to take the DP and beat Brendan in it.  My job was to at worst follow Mike home but I needed to win a race to make a series win at all meaningful.  I should have won at Barber and it was starting to annoy me.  To win the teams was the difficult part.  Gary had to win, I had to beat Mike and one of the DP Sharks.

Mike not making the start was disappointing (I hope everything turned out OK mate).  I like to think I could have beaten him anyway but that's life.  Rad championship assured though I set about the team challenge.

Qually went well.  I'd not done any low fuel running at all but knew that my race fuel pace in practice was quick anyway.  I managed a mid 14 in my first run which looked like it'd be good enough but did a second one anyway.  The chequered flag came out as I was approaching the Bus Stop on my first timed lap and I hooked up the chicane beautifully for a 14.2.  Kong was pleased, doubly so when he saw where Gary was.  Trebly so when he saw Simon was struggling and we had a chance of the teams.

Darren was asleep at the start.  I knew it wouldn't be long before he came back by but pushed to get a bit of a gap to Gary H behind me.  When he did go past into Les Combes I saw that Simon had nipped ahead of Gary too.  I figured that he'd get quicker as he went on so continued to push.  By lap 6 I noticed I was doing mid 15s which came as a surprise, so much so that I missed my braking point into La Source.  I managed to get round the corner but got myself into a right faff ending up in 5th.  I just sorted it out before Simon came round but my 6-7 second gap was now down to 1.

I pushed to extend the gap and got it back to around 3 seconds then suddenly simon was gone and I had a comfortable gap to Gary.  Checking the laptimes I noticed I was now doing 15.1s.

I pitted early.  I could have done a couple more laps and maybe nipped past Dave but it would have been temporary and I had a comfortable gap to Gary behind.  I'd forgotten to try out the pitlane so wasn't entirely sure I was going in the right entrance but luckily I was.  After the stop I had a 35 second lead over Gary H so settled in for the long haul.

After a few laps though the handling went off.  Before the stop I had done three consecutive 15.1s but now I was in the 17s.  Worse than that Eau Rouge was now becoming difficult to take flat.  A couple of times the back end stepped out at Raidillon and I had to catch it so I started to lift which lost me more time.

Then one lap it went and I didn't catch it.  The car went right round, it seemed like twice.  I slammed the brakes full on and managed to avoid the walls and luckily ended up facing the right way.  I only lost 5 seconds.  After that I didn't worry about pace as I was very conscious of Gary 30 seconds behind me as I figured I'd used up my luck quotient.

It's sad the series hasn't been better attended but you can only beat who's there.  I think if we're going to do a series six then we need to move it to a different day.  Maybe we should like it into the Sundays the endurance races aren't running and use the same tracks.  How about a series combining the Corvette, DP and Rad?  most people own them all.

Anyway, it's been a good season.

Paul

[Darren Seal]

Out of the blue?! You obviously hadn't seen my car wiggling about all over the shop in that second stint!

That would be a no... While your car may have been wiggling about for you, my end the prediction software made you look good.

That nice 4 second gap I started with pretty much disappeared in two big moments

Actually that 'nice 4 second gap' was actually 7 seconds after I left the pits.  On fresh rubber I quickly banged in a succession of low 1:13s which helped to close the gap.  Perhaps your "two big moments" came when I was initially out of sight.  But while I was behind you, I didn't witness any dramas.  In fact, I don't even recall one puff of smoke...

Darren was asleep at the start

Have you tried the DP recently?  1st gear acceleration is not great, especially with a full tank.  Besides, I knew you was racing for a championship, so once you stuck your nose down my inside I decided early to back off and not fight for the corner.   

[Gazza49er]

Paul just for reference did you take fuel and change tyres at your stop? or did you start with fuel to finnish?

[Paul Thurston]

Paul just for reference did you take fuel and change tyres at your stop? or did you start with fuel to finnish?

Yeah, I was doing low 15s on 16 gallons...

I ran two stints of 8.5 gallons but didn't take tyres.  With hindsight I wish I'd changed as I think my early pace took the edge off them.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I ran two stints of 8.5 gallons but didn't take tyres.  With hindsight I wish I'd changed as I think my early pace took the edge off them.

IMHO the Radical doesn't suffer from tyre wear - the fuel load is the critical factor. On many occaisions I've set my fastest lap right near the end of a race on worn tyres. IIRC the tyre model for the SR8 is one of the oldest in the gamesim and hasn't been tweaked at all (other than the global tyre damping change last year).

[Paul Thurston]

Have you tried the DP recently?  1st gear acceleration is not great, especially with a full tank.  Besides, I knew you was racing for a championship, so once you stuck your nose down my inside I decided early to back off and not fight for the corner.   

Why on Earth would I want to do that? 

I suspected you'd come out of it by the way I pulled in front before La Source.  I did get a good bounce out of the chicane so was right on the power but I was a bit mindful of the last time I overtook you at the start of a race...