SimRacing.org.uk

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Car:	LMP2 HPD ARX-01C or GT2 Ford GT
Track:	Spa Francorchamps GP
When:	Sunday 2nd October
Practice:	17:40 (80 mins)
Qualifying:	19:00 (30 mins)
Race:	19:30 - 21:00 (90 mins)
Start:	Standard iRacing double file rolling start
Resets:	One

Password:

>>>> see above <<<< (#post_event_password)

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There will be a hosted practice session on the Saturday evening before the race - hosted by our partners at Legends League / TWFR.

The session will run from 18:00 UK time with 3 hours of practice and then 20 mins qual & a 25 min race.

Sorry for the delay getting this notice up ... it will all be going ahead as usual.

Tonight's practice server will once again run from 18:00 UK time with 3 hours of practice and then 20 mins qual & a 25 min race. Adam needs to alter his cut & paste text :)

nb: I think the practice server will have been set up to use the endurance pits. I've asked the guy who sets up our servers to change it to the GP pits but if he doesn't get to see it in time apologies.

Sorry couldnt make the practice session, anyone got the results so i can see if im on pace or not please?

http://members.iracing.com/membersite/member/EventResult.do?&subsessionid=4223444

Thank you  :)

Erm ... don't know why the session isn't showing .... no pending sessions showing either.

New one started now .... qualifying and race timings as usual.

Well I seem to suck more and more at iR each time I race it. The GT has to be one of the least rewarding cars to drive as well :(

Not sure I'll bother again this season.

It took me a quite a while to get my head around the GT, but I'm pretty sure I'll race it full time in the next official season, I'm starting to enjoy it.

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Anyway, that was a great reward for a very long afternoon of racing; started at 5pm with the Petit Le Mans, and got second place in split 2's Corvettes despite one of the Ford GTs (accidently) attempting to take me out... twice!

Once that ended I hopped straight into this event, just in time for qualifying. I did a couple of laps just to check everything was okay, having only turned maybe 4 or 5 practice laps total over the weekend, then went off to quickly grab some food.

When I came back I was astonished to see that I was still 4th on the grid. :o

Start went okay, with Dmitry eeking away ahead and me just about managing to pull away from Baz behind. I had no idea how much fuel I'd need so, having worked out that the race would be about 45 laps I decided to switch from my usual strategy of going very long in the first stint and doing a short middle stint to work out when my second stop should be, to stopping at the end of 15 and 30, knowing that the first stop would tell me how much I'd need for the second, and the second would confirm that or reveal any necessary tweak.

That worked perfectly, taking 40 at the first and 35 at the second, which turned out to be spot on.

The only real excitement I had was when Dmitry spun in Eau Rouge just ahead of me; I anchored up and took to the runoff by the endurance pits exit but heard a sickening sound as I clipped his car and saw the 4x contact come up. Pulled away carefully and by some miracle the car seemed undamaged; Baz managed to go by whilst I was still getting back up to speed, but that only lasted a lap. :laugh:

The only other excitement came from two of the times I lapped Russel's Ford, when he switched lines right in front of me trying to be helpful. Stop that. :P :angel:

In the end I was really glad when the race ended; my left ankle is seriously stiff after three and a half hours of almost solid racing. :wheelchair:

Next race is the last one for me as I'm off on my travels after that.

Come drive the Honda Pete :)
It was a complete joy to be there tonight 8) & a bit of a shock too, so I'd only actually done a handful of laps in the car or track. But figured I'd turn up & just keep it safe. So I was most chuffed to not be last on the Honda grid & my pace just got better as the race progressed.
Every single Ford driver was excellent to get past, each one seemed to make clear their intent & that makes it much easier/safer 8)
I had just one moment with Barry, when he span at the final chicane, I followed Dave through wide but unfortunately Barry was still gently rolling (I just hadn't spotted) & as he tickled my back left tyre, my car catapulted round & I had to repair the damage :'(. As a competitive event it was then over, but as far as online driving experiences go, it was still very much alive & kicking. I wish iR was like this a year back, I'd never have given it up!

I should have plenty of practice to be ready for the next one, hopefully should make me more competitive, so I just need to work out how I'm going to convince the Mrs I need to be able to drive @7:30pm now :-\

Chris

p.s. The only thing missing from tonight, was once more the joy of being on track with beating once more my older / fatter / balder teammate Blunder :'(

p.s. Now there should be two of us again, watch out for Team Oldie moving up the table. Could be a force to be reckoned with next season! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Well that went ok

Was not looking forward to driving the car as i am not in love with it at the moment, i have swapped to the Ford Falcon which compared to the GT40 is easy to drive.... :o

I had more spins in the race than the ferris wheel at Suzuka...ffs
Brakes locking up
Car not wanting to turn
So apart from being a pile of fish it was great  ;D

All other cars gave plenty of room so that was something not to worry about...thank you.

Really didnt want to be there but managed to get to the end....which was a big bonus.

Thank you all.

Andy G

That's how I felt about it at first, until I worked out that the car has two vices:

1. The steering is stupidly sensitive; some people recalibrate their wheels to effectively increase the steering ratio; personally I just live with it and drive with fingertips as much as possible. It does make catching tank slappers very hard though!

2. Like the Corvette it's a big heavy lump, and you can't just stand on the anchors like you can in the full on race cars. You have to squeeze the brakes on quite progressively - you'll find you can brake much harder than you thought.

Great race!!

Was a shame the numbers were down a little in the LMP2's mainly but it made our race a little easier in the GT40.  Did a decent qually and was feeling pretty confident with my race pace. Start went ok and i got quite a gap from the other GT40's but almost threw it all away in the braking on the long straight  :P  just managed to keep it together but Jasper was gaining. My race pace was a bit down from what i had been doing and jasper was keeping up. The gap would mainly stay around 4 secs but every time at the final chicane he would catch right up as i was very cautious everytime there and then i would pull a second away through en rouge. Stayed like that till the pitstop, i had 5 seconds on him entering the pits but again i was slow going into the pits and he must of had a great entry as we both stoped pretty much together. We then pulled out almost exactly the same, i think our 2 cars were inside each others as we exited, wasn't sure what to do so i just went for it  ;) and just got myself ahead. Jasper was now all over me and i was having to defend quite a bit and we both started making small mistakes. Eventually i got a gap of 5 seconds again and then i think he had some kind of incident maybe and i had a 14 second lead so just needed to bring it home.

My race was so very nearly ended early on lap 17 when i came up on Rob Burtoner with a damaged LMP2 going through en rouge, i slowed down as i could see he was slow and he spun at the top of the hill and came back across towards me and just missed wiping me out by inches  :o

So managed my first SROUK iRacing win and about time i got a decent result after some silly mistakes in earlier races.

Grats Andy on the LMP2 win, Jasper and my teamie for a good 3rd. Team championships looking good  8)

Well after a disastrous practice on Sat trying to get some running in traffic in and then being taken out before Eau Rouge on first lap and feeling jet lagged, was pleased to finish this one and P3 was a bonus and lead lap. Very low turn out though where were you all?

The only racing was early on and after pinching P3 from Dimitre and Gizmo I cocked up the bus stop chicane to allow Dave back past. ::) be glad when DK sorts this heat problem with the NTM, I was on an ice rink once I had locked up, and it was a real pig for a few seconds, sorry Chris didn't realise you were so close to Dave, no damage at all to mine. We could have had a good race as we were similar pace  :'(
Hope I didn't mess up any GTs races, as they were all brilliant when lapping.

Hello Dave

Yeah i think i was the only one that like the quick steering when the car first came out, i never had a problem with it.

Think my main problem last night was that i did'nt calibrate the brake far enough out of my range....so it was spiking and sticking on.
Also i could not find a set up i was happy with, i used the one from when i raced there in the past.......but could not get on with it.

Maybe i was over driving the car having been racing/ practicing in the Falcon.

I like the Ford GT except the slow spin thing that just seems to happen, 2 or 3 times of taking a corner the same way it will just decide to go round.........Maybe its set ups or me.

Oh well Philip island next.

Was having a great race up to 5th after a pitstop, and after 1hr was really doing well, until I spun at last corner hit rear of my car on wall, and kept going but 2 corners later it spun at top of the Hill, and I had to do a reset, Luckily I only lost 1 place as everyone else in my class was a lap behind.

Got going again and was battling with Dimm for 5th place, when I let Dave through he spun at the last corner, I was trying to miss him and got taken out in the process of trying to avoid him :(

I really was in tears, I had such a good race up to then with about 20mins left...
So bit disappointed the way it finished..

First off, sorry to Rob for qualifying. I was properly having a no-brain moment - thinking I'd slip by before starting the next lap. I should have just backed off and found space. Getting turned around on the final corner of a 2+ minute qualifying lap is pretty low.

I might put part of that down to being knackered. I'd actually spent most the weekend out the bike, riding round most of Southern England (with every other biker I think), enjoying a bonus summer's ride out. As I can never seem to the remember the start time for these races, got back about 3 minutes prior to qualifying. I'd done a few practice laps in the week, but no low fuel runs, but got in a pretty good lap early on to grab pole.

Had no plans for the race, but knew I'd enjoy driving the track, so went the approach of getting the finish, and have fun doing so. As the season has gone on, I've made steady progress with driving this car. At Watkins, I always felt on the edge, and knew if I got off line, went in too deep, I'd be off. That happened, and ended up being a short race. At Sebring, I knew i just had to finish the race. Admittedly I was also learning the track, but found I had to drive incredibly conservatively to avoid a repeat of Watkins. I managed it, but never felt like was doing anything but cruising. By Silverstone (a track I love), I started to feel I could push more, and that was a lot more fun. But still, too many mistakes when pushing hard lost me too much time overall. At Spa, I was starting to really feel I push lap after lap, and I guess that's what's needed for a result in these races.

I got away from the start well enough (half lap pace lap caught me out a bit), and put a little bit of a gap back to Peter, but ended up staying at around the 2-3s mark. Was really having to push on at this stage, and a lazy spin into the final chicane handed the lead to Peter. Unfortunately, almost immediately, Peter ran in trouble with a GT car, and damaged the car. By this time I'd got a reasonable lead, but spotted my annoying consistent nemesis Dave G now in second. For most the first half the race he kept the pressure on - and I was very lucky to get a away with a quick spin out of Fagnes (sorry again to Rob, and thanks for avoiding me!) trying to build a gap.

As things had settled after the pitstops, I had a good enough lead, and knew i just had to keep it on the road. I kept on pushing, if only to keep the concentration up. With a few laps to go, got a bit of a fright as the server quality started creeping up. Bit like seeing an oil light in the last hour of Le Mans, I guess. Actually no - that's a faintly ridiculous comparison ;)

Cheers all for racing - thanks to all the GT guys, don't remember any close calls, and congrats to Gary on winning the (more competitive?) class ;)

AB

EDIT: I forgot (I knew there was a reason I mentioned bikes earlier) - think I have a theory for seemingly finding it a little easier to drive this week: Spend all weekend 'riding sensibly and obeying all traffic laws', and driving an LMP2 seems remarkably tame.