I joined the server with 7 mins to the end of qualif session, but I didn't have time to practice with the Escort. This car surely need some setup tweaks, but the only thing I could do was to change the brake bias, and stiffen the rear springs before the start. Unfortunately during my quali lap, I forgot to check the tyre wear and temperatures, and evenmore I started the race with soft tyres. It was absolutely a wrong choice.
Despite my 4th position on the grid, I splashed off like a bullet, gaining immediately the lead. My poor knowledge of the Escort on this track, didn't let me to escape from the followers, cause I did practically the same mistakes for at least 3 laps. Then I put a wheel on the grass of the right corner before the chicane, and my car spun in the escape.
I tried to push a bit harder to fill again the gap with the leaders, but lap after lap the tyre wear grew exponentially, and the left-front tyre was hot enough to cook a steak in less than one min. I realised to have lost the train when my pace started to get really worse than the first laps. After mid-race, I was hooked by NPP, that passed me after a couple of laps, cause I was unable to open the gas, and my car kept sliding for the rest of the race. Unfortunately for NPP, he crashed just in front of me (no harms done mate, I just had to go 4 or 5 seconds on the gravel to avoid you), so my race finished desolately alone on the track.
Talking about the white lines, I watched the server replay, and I guess to have been really clean at the chicane in my action, going just slightly external to the white lines only a couple of times at the chicane. At the third sector corner, I went out of the white line for a good 75% of my lap, but I didn't feel comfortable when braking in that corner and my left front tyre had no grip at all cause of the high temperature.
However, every version of Hungaroring in which I raced, had this extra-space outside the kerb in that right corner of the third sector, like the 2 Rivazza of Imola, and it's quite natural fall into temptation of exploiting that extra space.
I guess it's not so rare to see even in Formula 1 or GT races that drivers put 2 wheels on the synthetic grass and 2 on kerbs (so with all the wheels out from the white line) especially when they're accelerating out of a corner, and nobody charged them of "cheating". I hardly remember S&G penalties for such manouvres in some recent times. It's just a matter of rules. I understand and I agree that chicanes need a better concentration to keep the wheels inside the white line, without cutting it, but at the same time I understand and I agreed with Matt, as he stated after Imola race: "There are kerbs with kerbs after them, the green kerbs were put there to be driven on by the circuit designer, so they are going to get used at times." In this case, I think that nobody used the kerbs for cheating, but cause it is a natural consequence of that kind of corner with that second kerb after the first kerb that is an unresistable temptation.
It's just a matter of common sense, cause if the rule is interpreted so tightly, myself, John and Geoffers should be DQ by the race, and I would consider it a dangerous precedent IMO.
It's up to you as ever, but this kind of trouble could be easily solved, with a simple rule like: some corners got a kerb after a kerb, and in that corner is allowed to keep 2 corners on the painted kerb and 2 corners on the "added" kerb". Obviously this rule should not affect the chicanes, but only the exit of a corner. It's just a proposal
Grats to Geoffers, John and Clive for the podium! Cu
