RRE Season 7 (2020) Race Room WTCR 2019 - Salzburgring - Sep 10

[spanner]

How is the grid for race 2 determined?

I assume its a reverse of the finishing order of Race 1?

[phspok]

Reverse grid of the first ten places

[SRW]

I will be racing tonight. its good to have a warm up event for the first round  of the AC TCR series on Sunday night 

[Glenn Richardson]

I feel a little guilty for race 1 as I well untruly burgled Geoff for the win. He was quickest and much better than me at getting the car turned and out of the hairpin after the first chicane but because of the big long straight I was able to sit in the slipstream and regain everything I was losing. A couple of times I was able to stay tight through the fast right hander at the end of the straight and take the lead but then Geoff would retake the position due to his superior pace. It was a such a good race with us glued together so later in the race I decided my only hope was to try and make a move late on the last lap.

Salzburgring is a bit of a funny track as the first chicane can be a bit of a lottery as can the last corner if you catch the inside kerb just right. I was lucky enough to get the kerb just right on the last lap and managed to take the win by 0.002 secs. Big well done to Geoff and also to Toni for a strong podium finish.

In race 2 I found a gap at the start and was brave on the brakes to make it through the first chicane in second, Martin seemed to have a demon getaway. After managing to slip through on the inside at the hairpin I knew I needed to maximise the gap as Geoff would take a few tenths out of me here and there to the end of the race. Again, well done to Geoff and Toni and well done everybody who raced!

Judging by the comments above, seems I'm in a minority who love these cars and the challenges FWD brings. The real pull for me though is the close racing lower downforce, lower speed and tougher cars make possible, I couldn't have sat inches from Geoff's bumper all of race 1 in most other classes without punting him off. GT4 is also a favourite of mine as it shares some of the same qualities.

Btw, a final note to everybody - the devs seem to have made some changes to the way launch control works. Previously, you had to release your launch control button as the lights went green whereas now you can release before they go green and get a perfect start. Alix told me this a couple of weeks back after a ranked WTCR race we were both in where I thought I got a good start but got mobbed. I was a little nervous about trying it tonight fearing I might get a jump start penalty but can now confirm it works. Alix did also mention the devs are considering reverting back to the old system so might be worth checking before each race.

[SRW]

i had forgot how nice these cars are to drive. The FFB feels really alive compared to other cars/sims. kept it smooth in the first race and picked up places as others made mistakes. Got smacked around like a pinball at the start of the second race, then my internet started playing up half way round the lap and i got disconnected. Roll on round 2!

[phspok]

Launch control? not seen that. I like these cars very much as well, I got too brave with the setup with too much front grip
maybe the Golf is different than the others as the rear was all over the place, Race one lost it and damaged the engine
trying to see where Pete was, and put it in a wall. race 2 lost it in the final chicane and again stuffed the motor.
Ah well, on to the next one...
These cars got the most votes, so it's not just you Glen.

Results are delayed due to unkown cars.

[Glenn Richardson]

Launch control? not seen that. I like these cars very much as well, I got too brave with the setup with too much front grip
maybe the Golf is different than the others as the rear was all over the place, Race one lost it and damaged the engine
trying to see where Pete was, and put it in a wall. race 2 lost it in the final chicane and again stuffed the motor.
Ah well, on to the next one...
These cars got the most votes, so it's not just you Glen.

Results are delayed due to unkown cars.

Yes, you can map the launch control to a button but only a couple of classes have it. The fact you didn't know makes your start in race 2 all the more impressive.

I'm going to have to start mapping buttons to my laptop keyboard as the new DTM cars have DRS and Push to Pass that need mapping separately.

The Golf is known in real life for having a very good front end but not being the most aerodynamic. I tried running my car with maximum negative rear wing in practice and it gave me about 5mph extra up the straight over default setup but couldn't hold onto it through the fast right hander. I could manage -5° wing angle but found neutral gave me the best balance in the race.

[picnic]

Had some good battles last night but made too many silly mistakes. No idea what happened at the start of the 2nd race, I got clobbered and missed the first chicane entirely with I think Stephen's car superimposed in mine. Never seen that before.

I quite enjoyed these to as a driving experience, took a few laps to build up speed and I was never going to challenge the fast guys but fun all the same.

[azaris]

Uneventful races for me. Once I lost the draft with Glenn and Geoff there was no way I could keep up in race 1. The start of race 2 was calamity, when Pete stalled on the grid then blocked my attempt to go around the right and I was forced to back off rather than pull an AI maneuver through the grass. It turned out okay for me since Mark took out both him and Stephen, parting the seas for me to slot into 4th . That turned to 3rd as Stephen's Internet went out. I got past Martin as he struggled to negotiate the final complex, but Geoff was a second up in pace and I could not hold him up very long. The rest was a Sunday drive once again. Congrats Glenn.

This is one of my favourite car/track combinations so I guess I had done a bit more practice and setup work than some of the other guys, which helped with the pace. More cars would have made it better since slipstream battles are less interesting when you are on your own most of the race. The rest of the races should see more close mid-pack fighting.
 
I agree that the RaceRoom implementation of FWD cars is the best I have seen. I tried several touring car mods for AC and was never really convinced of any of them.

[Geoffers]

Although I did not vote for these cars, I do really enjoy driving them, probably stems from being a bit of a Mini specialist in GT Legends.

Although I qualified on pole I was a bit disappointed not to get into the 1.25s. Twice I was well up on my pole time & messed up the last corner, as Glenn said if you got the kerb right you could take it without a lift but miss it by a foot or two & you would run wide. First race was a cracker, fantastic dice with Glenn. As he said I seemed to be able to get off the corners better but he was able to get his Honda to turn in & brake better than my Lynk & Co. We swapped places several times & I thought I had it won but just missed the final turn kerb & had to have a slight lift which was enough for Glenn to sneak past by a tiny margin. Initially I thought it was a dead-heat as we were both showing as 1st when others were finishing but results showed Glenn got it by two thousandths of a second  . Grrrrrrrr.

Second race was really decided on the run to the first corner. I went for gap between the two cars in front which closed up at the wrong moment & I had to back off. Then there was some shenanigans at the chicane by which time Glenn was already through to 2nd & away. Got up to 4th on lap 1 but then messed up the chicane on lap 2 & dropped behind Pete. Took a few more laps to eventually get up to 2nd by which time Glenn was already 9s+ ahead. Was never going to catch him but pressed hard all race in case he made an error, but he was too good for that.

Congrats to Glenn on two wins & Toni on his two 3rds. 

Did not know about the change in launch control Glenn, just thought the Honda got off the line better. Also I don't think it is possible to jump the start in RRE, which I think for a sim which prides itself on its realism is wrong.

[Geoffers]

A sort of problem & an observation.

Problem, when watching other drivers in practice or qually some cars sound fine, others are very muted. Anyone else have this?

Observation, Matt based the race schedule on this year's WTCR series, I noticed today that the opening races this weekend are not now at Salzburgring but at Zolder! 

[Glenn Richardson]

Observation, Matt based the race schedule on this year's WTCR series, I noticed today that the opening races this weekend are not now at Salzburgring but at Zolder! 

Yes, it only changed last week when Salzburgring decided not to go ahead with the event as planned. Zolder accommodated WTCR into the TCR Europe schedule this weekend. WTCR have threatened Salzburgring with legal action.

I did think about posting at the time but thought Martin had put enough effort into the calender not to mess him around.

[frex]

As expected that did not go well! Probably the slowest in the field and I was losing so much time on the straights, even though I had tuned out the rear wing for better top speed. Just could not keep up with anyone even when I had a tow..   Tried to stay out of the way at the start of the second race, but I think I contributed to blocking Geoff, sorry for that. Congrats Glenn for the wins, Geoff and Toni for the podiums.

[phspok]

Keen as I am to follow real world events where possible, I am more interested in producing good car/Track combos
Glen's suggestion for WTCR 2019/2020 was a good one for me as I didn't have to do hours of testing to find good events 
I just used the existing real world plan. Works for me 

[Geoffers]

Probably the slowest in the field and I was losing so much time on the straights, even though I had tuned out the rear wing for better top speed. Just could not keep up with anyone even when I had a tow..  

Sure you are getting full throttle travel Frex, my Lynk & Co seemed slightly quicker than the other cars on the long uphill section. Like you had rear wing set at 0 degrees.