SimRacing.org.uk

Car: Star Mazda
Track: Infineon IRL
Practice: approx. 18:00 for 150 mins
Qualifying: 20:30 (15 mins)
Race: 24 laps (approx. 40 minutes)

Start: Standard iRacing double file rolling start
Flags: local only

THERE WILL BE NO RESETS AVAILABLE!

NOTE: All sessions protected by the main password, there is no seperate 'pre-event practice'
Password: see above (#post_event_password)
(2) Driver lists can be found on the championship standings page (https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=LM2R;group=255;theme=33)

Managing reasonably consistent 1m29s here on low fuel.  I ought to be in to the 28s before the race, but I think I'm quite a bit off the pace at this place.

Anyone else?

Cheers, Ross

That's not too bad Ross.

The really fast guys will be around high 1:26 / low 1:27 in qually and about 0.5s slower with fuel.

Similar pace here - on race fuel I got down to a 1:29.2 last night, but that steward of a chicance always seems to knacker my lap....

I'm aiming for consistency rather than outright pace - it's done me alright in the Mazda thus far this season.

Nevermind, i was happy with my 1.30.3 last night. Using Dan's setup from Brands which has helped transform the car for me.

I'll be getting some laps in tonight, I suspect I will also be slow.

Infineon takes me even longer than usual to prepare for.

1:28.5 with race fuel so far.  Working on it.

I qualified and raced on iR last night. It was all a bit rushed cos I'm away for the weekend and I have been otherwise engaged tonight, so it was my only chance. I was quite pleased with a qually time of 27.9 but my race was pretty poor. I lost about 3 or 4 places being cautious at T1/T2 (but better than crashing out I suppose), but I just gradually made my way to the back from then on in!! Tyres went right off and I also got my usual Infinion puncture near the end. Trail braking and locking up I presume. But how do you make good times without doing that??? My best race time was 28.6

I got into the 1:29's pretty easily last night but then couldn't go any faster, that was with race fuel.

Low 1:28's now.  I tried an official race last night and got taken out on the first lap by two idiots trying to go side-by-side through T2/T3

Some improvements, but still low 28's, looks like that's pretty much it for race pace.  My second attempt at an official race was a belter after battling with a fellow Englishman for half the race :D

1.29's in race fuel for me!
Managed a 4th in a public race!
Thought I hated this track but it's brilliant in the Mazda! :)

All tracks are fun in the Mazda, except maybe Laguna, but that's just a personal thing!!

Still not a fan of this track, 28.3 in Q trim is as fast as I can go. Would think I will be 1-1.5 seconds off that with race fuel. My setup (stable as always) is on the Team Shark website if anyone wants a slow but stable one.

After a fairly significant effort, I just can't break 1:29 in my race set-up :-[

That'll probably be my last practice before the race unfortunately.

We meeting on an open practice session later!?
Seems daft to host one when there will be loads available?

Woohoo!!!
http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/EventResult.do?&subsessionid=2045728&custid=37203

A weak field I know, but finally a win in the Mazda!

Cheers, Ross.

Well i'm on now...

 :'( Where were you all !? Ross and Spanner excluded!
May be you all have a life!?  ;)

Well done Ross, would have done that one myself but lost track of time! Soo much fun !!

Apologies for the lack of practice server guys.

It's was my boys 3rd birthday party yesterday and I'll be honest, I completely forgot about starting the server :D

Really wasn't any need for one Pops, as Martin said - plenty of open session available to join.

I popped in for a bit late on.  I'm set now, no more changes needed :)

Had hoped to go quicker but seem to be stuck in the 30-31's. I tend to run a more understeery car than the accepted standard setups which i think might be holding me back a bit. Never quite got on with this track and still a few corners i struggle so hope to at least till half distance lol

I popped on for a quick session but can't say it's helped a great deal!

Always find this track tricky as hell, particularly that turn 2/3 uphill and blind crest bit so the goal here once again will be to bring it home in one piece, oh and not to crash in to Ken :)

Server is up!

He he, happens to even the best drivers, but at least we aren't in the same team!!!

Bah, why do I bother? >:(

Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid ass. Completely my fault Dan, so sorry, nothing you could have done to avoid me - completely misjudged how much room was on the left and clipped your wheels like a pratt. Robbed both of us of what could have been a great battle. Not sure what else to say really. Back to the Solstice for me...with stabilisers.

Woo-haw. Team Shark 1-2-3, thanks to John and Mike with me a rounding out the podium with a jammy 3rd.

Started in my best grid position for a while in 6th, with some practice actually paying off and I knew my race pace was better than I had hoped for too, being able to drive in the 1:28s.

When Oily took out Dan at the start that put me straight up to 4th and very soon after Ken nicely lost the rear of his car (I think it was over the crest of a hill) and I was up to 3rd.

Ross then chased me for half the race, but in the second half I inched further and further away whilst he battled Brendan. By the time Brendan had got past Ross, I was 6 seconds up the road and only 5 laps to go so I just cruised to the end with a sedate last couple of laps to make sure I didn't make any stupid mistakes and lose 3rd.

That circuit is very hard, so I'm not suprised to see so many people go out. Looking forward to Zandvoort as I've only used it the once before (in the SRou Late Model race), but I fear that is a tricky circuit too with so many tight twisty corners.

YAY!  ;D

I pretty much matched my PB to go 4th on the grid, that was OK.  Had a grandstand seat for the T1 incident and that jumped me straight up to 2nd behind John.  I concentrated on settling into my race and getting the tyres up to temperature, I was gradually pulling away from Ken and Shark, but John was beetling off into the distance.

I knew I couldn't match that kind of pace, so drove fast enough to keep the concentration up and reeled off the laps to bring it home 2nd.  Boring being all by myself, but a good result.

Yeah Grats Team Shark :P

Well I got pole finally, despite me not getting a very good lap but was enough for pole anyway.

Shame Dan and James had the coming together would have been a good battle but it did make my life a little bit easier, and grats to Michael and Si for the podium.

Pretty uneventful race for me but I'll take that at Infineon any day! :D

I put in a new PB to go 10th on the grid but was soon up to the giddy heights of 6th but around half way Ken and Ade were catching me pretty quickly and I was soon down to 8th again but with a big gap over Martin in 9th.

I knew my only chance was if someone messed up and Ade obliged, which was a pity, it seemed like an excellent drive up to that point.

I nearly nicked 6th from Ken as he punctured, another 50m and I have had it!

Pleased with 7th though: that's 7th, 8th and 7th so far - Mr Consistent :D

Dont worry about it James... Luckily enough i watched "The Book of Ely" today and it put me in a real calm mood  ...  :D  Puts things in perspective.. :D.    Reccomend it if you like apocalypse films.


Grats to Team Shark on the podium......Think i might stp practicing for the races and just do a Simon ..Turn up and get a podium.

Good fun that one and nice to be up (somewhere) near the front for once! After being gifted at least three places through early incidents in front, I found myself close behind Simon chasing for third. Initially it seemed like I had him on pace but just couldn't see where I'd ever get to make a pass and knew he was fairly unlikely to make a mistake. I applied as much pressure as possible for two or three laps but it was inevitable that I'd slip up through trying too hard and as a result I dropped a couple of seconds and couldn't keep up whilst watching Brendan looming in my mirrors.

That left me fending off Brendan as best as I could and really all I needed to do to secure fourth was too hold it all together for the second half of the race.  However a number of scrappy corners left Brendan right on me and I eventually buckled under the pressure. Surprisingly though Brendan was too much of a gentleman and he let me fight back a couple of times but I knew I was out of my league really and so with a couple of laps to go, he was past and away so I settled back for fifth.

Very happy with that really. Certainly my best performance to date and a definite improvement in pace even from my race the night before.

Well done to John, Mike and Simon for their podiums, amazing pace at the front as ever!

First time I've enjoyed an open wheeler at Infineon, but right now I'm loving the Mazda everywhere.

Was doing quite well early on, but then a recovering Purdy started putting on a bit of pressure & like any prodigy driver would, I crumbled & lost 3 positions :-[
Made a bunch more mistakes after that & managed to pick up about 12 incidents for clipping grass & 2 maybe 3 spins in a lonely 2nd half. :(

Happy enough overall though with my nights drive.

p.s. Disappointed that I've beaten Oily in two out of three races, yet I trail him by more then 150 points! :o (Stupid scoring system... :angel:)

I'm surprising myself and quite enjoying these Mazda outings. Lack of time for any practice meant I deliberately didn't put a competitive qual lap in so my lack of skill on cold tyres wouldn't wreck anyone else's race. And par of the course I had a spin on lap 2 while the tyres were still probably a bit cold. Had a few more moments on route to the flag but was pleased to be able to pull away from people who I passed when they had off track excursions ;) Never had a chance to pass Martin who handled what little pressure I could apply really well for the last few laps. Even managed a high 28 in the race which I was pleased with.

I can't get this place sussed out for any race of significant length. I just knew I'd get a puncture at some point, it was just a case of when. Luckily it was not until the chicane on the final lap and I was just able to trundle it home ahead of Iain. If I try to brake early and turn with less front end scrubbing then I'm just dog slow, and it is visible on track if I'm circulating near other cars. The only way I can run even mediocre race pace is by braking late, which tends to lead to trail braking and scrubbing the fronts, especially the left. Although there must be something inhrently wrong with my driving style, because I used to destroy tyres on the Dallara at every track we went to!!!

Anyway, back to the race. Qually wasn't to far off my PB so couldn't complain. The Dan and James incident had me straight up to 3rd but on the second lap I lost it on the crest at T4 when I clipped the curb. It was intersting fighting through the field, and I had Ade for company all the way. In fact as my tyres were suffering towards the end I think he could have had me but unfortunately he slide off track at the big downhill left hander. After that I really did try to save the tyres but I still had one go pop as described.

I haven't even bought Zandvort yet so looking forward to exploring that next week sometime.

Well, all in all I can't really complain with coming in 10th.

Having been ill since the back end of last week practice hasn't really happened, so I was still very much finding the limits in practice, and partly in qually too.  I got into the 28's, and although I could have been quicker I wasn't dissapointed with it.

At the beginning of the race, we went green as I was turning round the hairpin, I got onto the power earlier than Ade and managed to make up a place which was a bonus .... even if it didn't last as long as I would have liked!

For pretty much the rest of the race I was trying to keep people behind me whilst watching them pull away in front.  Had I not been so terrifically crêpe at that slow chicane I might have had more of a chance at keeping folk behind me, as I was running pretty solidly if not blindingly quickly.  As it was despite braking at the same point (or so it seemed) and at the same intensity, I seemed to end up at the corner with wildly different speeds from lap to lap.  Ultimately I had to take a few trips accross the gravel, and that let everyone I was slowing down get past.  It's a shame, I'd had some fun keeping folk at bay.

Five incident points, all at that same corner ..... I really don't get on with this track.

I was in two minds whether or not to enter this race, but I'm glad I did.

The bank holiday had robbed me of any practice time, and Infineon is a long way down my list of favourite tracks.  Qualified in 8th with a reasonable 28.2 and kept my nose clean over the first few laps.  

After the unfortunate incidents up ahead, I was up to 5th and tried hard to keep Simon and Ross within touching distance.  Once Simon had wriggled free from the attentions of Ross, I was close enough to try and apply some pressure.

Ross was driving well and was getting good exits from the slow corners meaning I was struggling to find a gap.  Lap after lap this went on until he made a small error out of the hairpin and I got by down the hill through the esses.  My joy lasted all of two corners though as he made a daring move down the inside into the chicane to regain the spot.  

With a couple of laps to go I managed to squeeze by again and bearing in mind what had happened previously I drove very defensive lines to keep Ross at bay and finish a very pleasing 4th.  

Fantastic race for me, great battling with Ross with some hard but fair and most importantly clean racing.  Grats to the podium and see you all at The Glen.

Stupidly, I forgot to save the replay and meant to watch this afterwards as it was a great few laps - anyone have a replay they can make available?

Cheers, Ross.

Just uploading it now Ross.

Looks like it will take about 30 minutes to upload but when it's there's it'll be downloadable from;

http://www.legendsracing.net/iracing/SRouk_Mazda_InfIRL.rar

Nice one, thanks Pops.

Great fun and again I DNF'd in the final laps  ::)

Clipped the wall on the exit of the last corner ever so slightly half way thru.... and car felt fine except in the fast chicane, which when I took a tad too much kerb, put me in the wall with 7 mins remaining   :'(

I'm still fairly crap at iRacing but a chequered flag would be nice... and the hardest thing is having no one else to blame!  :P

...if in doubt, blame mr_oily... ;)

You should know by now that nobody's immune...not even team mates!

Seriously though,  I'll be fine next round, I've recruited the finest driver coach (my) money can buy :)

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/07/31/article-0-0003C17E00000258-84_468x374.jpg)

Evening all!
Made me chuckle reading your posts! :)
Disappointed not to see more of you for a practice on Monday night :(
Guess you guys have a life!!
Really pleased to have put in some practice, qualified at about my best pace and finished
Solidly! :)
Way off the pace of you guys but at last I am really starting to feel comfortable and feel like I am really pushing as hard as I can throughout the race.
I'm a big fan of the old phrase 'You can't win a race you don't finish but I may be guilty of over compensating!!:)
Had a great battle with Adam and a few others. shame you had no idea of your braking point for that chicanery Adam! :) Would have been very difficult to pass you otherwise. We all found a fixed point on the right scenery for that one.
Had a minor spin on that fast downhill left which I'm half pleased about as I was pushing hard.
I even tried Dan's set up and stuck with my own which again I am pleased about.
( Lol... Pls don't stop sharing Dan !!! It was a one off !! :) )

Thanks all, really enjoying this and finally we are getting back to some closer racing!
Hoping we have more of this as we all adjust to iRacing

M

Quite enjoyed that even if the end results wasnt nice. Happy i got under 1.30 in qually though i think that was more Dans excellent setup. Few slip ups in the race and good chance to run with people as various people slipped up. Managed to get into a bit of a rythm and was susprised to get passed halfway in one piece. Though did notice the tyres getting worse after half distance which probably helped me fall off eventually. Looking forward to next week round Watkins now.

I thought I was braking at the same point each lap ....although the results would argue that I wasn't!!  I'll get the hang of it one of these days.

Looking forward to Zandvooooort now - had some good racing there .... and the "fun" race in the Late model.

I think that was almost certainly one of the cleanest races we've had using iRacing so good job everybody :)

It was the lowest incidents per driver we've had in the Mazda and the most number of cars finishing on the lead lap too  8)

I think the decision to use the Mazda was the right one in retrospect, we've had (nearly) 20 car grids for each race.

While Paul & Brian haven't been around it's good to see some other guys take the opportunity to get on the podium.

I think the Mazda (especially since the recent updates) is a great balance between the 'wheels on grease' Skippy and the 'wheels on glue' Indy - great fun.

....and the DP's a great alternative every other week.  So a very good combo - democracy clearly works ;)

Cheers, Ross.