Endurance Championship Division 1 - Season 1, Round 1, Barcelona - July 17

[Simon Gymer]

Although we were all in the same boat the random weather was stupid.

Qualifying was mad! I had full vent and short shifted and the engine was still very easily overheating. air temp of 37 or something with track temp of 47. Hot and dry.

Warmup was damp track but dry and dry forecast.

I like the rain and found the race nice and easy very smooth in the monsoon conditions and then keeping the tyres cool on the wet stuff when a dry line emerged 2/3s of the way through, but all the sessions had completely different weather and the warmup forecast was for Dry and we got to race session and it was Monsoon and flooded. Quickly put on some wets no time to adjust anything else (as this was in the countdown (that wasn't there)) and hurridly got to race without the extra wing i would have wanted etc and no real thought behind tyre choice. About 3 didn't make it into race (must have missed the countdown I guess (which wasn't displayed) and then Mark dissapeared whilst leading the formation lap with 1 corner to go (i guessed he'd disco'd as his car froze and dissapeared, but apparently not as I later saw him in the pits), so i was left to lead the formation lap over the start line and never looked back. Nice having a clear track with no spray, dunno what it must have been like for some of you behind with mountains of spray.

[fozzmeister]

That was horrid, first only about 14 drivers, and only 3 ngt, then weather that was stupidly hot in Qual, then normal in warmup, then it rained in race.

My race was a disaster, all over the place. I can't handle wet. if it had stayed dry I could run my compititors (NGT) qual pace pace in race trim with a full tank.

Still these things are made to try us :-(

Fozzmeister

[Glen VW]

Horrible race for me. I decided to run the NGT class and only 3 NGT's were there. Although I didn't get any practice before hand in the 360 (always drove the f550), I thought I could run ok. Wrong. So I hoped I could run the race at a consistant pace and end up atleast finishing and maybe even challenge a little a long the way. I made a hugh mental mistake and screwed up by not switching to rain tires from my int. tires from earlier and could not drive on the flooded track. Went off the track into the sand on the 1st turn (like being on ice without the rain tires),      disaster

After all these months of waiting and looking forward to the start of the season, I mess it up like this by a mental error of hurrying to get on the track without checking the weather.

It looked like fun for everyone else out there dicing back and forth.

Theres always the next round, right....................can't wait 

[Mark Harrison]

Grats Shark

Oh yeah, I was shuffled to the back of the grid after a 10 second freeze on formation lap.  Then went off T1.  Was woefully inept in the wet conditions, never done it before.  Was quick, but after the first corner mayhem, had no discipline.

Never mind eh.  Can't say I enjoyed the race though.  Can't have been any fun for the NGT runners either

[Muorali]

We need to sort this weather thing out - it was well stupid - I saw track conditions flooded, made two changes, and by the time I get back to the screen I'd missed the start - fooking stupid. I thought there was a countdown or something? How are you supposed to know if you've missed the start? You can't even make changes if the track condition suddenly changes! - In a lot of leagues I know they run set weather throughout the weekend - I really think we should designate Dry and wet races, otherwise the race just isn't enjoyable. Or you miss it altogether. Like me and two other people.

[Mike Wrightson]

Very bizarre!

Scorching hot in practice and qually, then just before the race, Flooded Track!!!  Changed to soft wets (already had full tank) and clicked join only to find I'd only just made it as the lights went green 1 second later!!!  That was really fast and I'd almost missed it!

Start was fine, got jumped by a couple of cars but they ended up in the gravel in the next couple of laps.  Soldiered on in 4th, then 3rd and then up to 2nd by the time the dry line appeared.  Checked the tyre temps and they were well up, so had to start running on the wet patches to cool them off. Trutom was closing on me near the end and with the tyres getting worse and the Viper's handling getting more and more hairy, I spun and let him through.  3rd place was satisfying though

Lesson to be learned, u only have 30 seconds tops to make changes when it changes to race session, I'll have to prepare a wet setup for each race that can be loaded in fast in case this happens again.

[rik foster]

Thanx for the race chaps.I dented my car on last lap and went into pits,didnt realise it was last lap so i lost fifth place bummer .Car was a pig,jus had time to fill up tank and put on soft wets and hit the "Race " button in time phew! .Sorry for those that didnt get out in time thats a real bummer,we have all been done like that at some point and its damn frustrating i know. :'(Setup was useless in race ,needed another gear on the straight had to keep backin off as my man was goin screwy about me overheating the engine .Its the first online race i have had in a long while and great fun tryin to concentrate hard again.Welldone to top 3 you earnt it today.
Is there a skin pack for drivers here or jus using the default cars ,cos i hate the standard listers they look poo.

[Truetom]

I enjoyed the race. Not despite the weather, it was BECAUSE of the weather. This is what mixes things up! More chaos, the better. 

Also, I came 2nd 'cause of wet mayhem only, I know. I was only 4th in qual, so I guess that would be about it in the race, Mark, Shark and Muorali would have left me far behind and would be racing for a 4th place with Mark as we had about the same quali time. We did compete in this race, too - kind of. Our tires were competing more than we did.  Luckily mine were in a bit of better shape and when he spun I came through. Otherwise it would have been fun, a deathmatch on last two laps on worn tires, maybe we'd both gone out. I must say I never had a race on tires so worn, not even in practice. I was literaly praying for them to last to the end, they were really melted on dry surface. FUN! Is there a way to see on MOTEC Analyser what was left of my tires?

As for the weather, I vote to leave it on random. We have sprints with set weather, why not leave this as it is?! 

[Simon Gymer]

Is there a skin pack for drivers here or jus using the default cars ,cos i hate the standard listers they look poo.

No, we chose to keep things standard for season 1 at least.

[fozzmeister]

jus had time to fill up tank and put on soft wets and hit the "Race " button in time phew!

Yeh after the race I decided to do some wet weather testing, took a dry setup and stuck wets on, undrivable (which is what i had in the race), put 15% more on power diff, 5% more on coast, softened the dampeners, decreased the brake pressure, and i could powerslide pretty much without a care in the world.

Still I guess my fault for not having a wet setup ready.

To all those that didn't turn up, you coming next time?

Fozzmeister

[fozzmeister]

deleted, as i quoted myself for some strange reason

[Don]

Sorry to have missed the race(though the weather thing sounds bad). Had a family function that went on a bit longer than I had anticipated.
Will download the replay(if there is one) when it's ready and see how you guys got on.
Don.

[popabawa]

To all those that didn't turn up, you coming next time?

If I read Fozz's earlier post correctly, and there were only 14 drivers, shame there was such a poor turnout

Dammit, I could have raced (as a reserve) last night but as there are so many reserves for endurance I didn't bother logging on as I thought there would be no shortage of drivers.

Sounds like it was a fun(!) race.

Pops.

[Mike Wrightson]

If there's one thing I've learned in any racing league it's this:  If you are a reserve, ALWAYS turn up because you will probably get a race.  I've yet to see a league where everyone who signs up full-time actually turns up to race and it was proved again last night, which was a big shame as there are plenty of reserves who could have filled the grid.

As for the weather, it adds extra interest for me.  Whats the point of all these sims having weather simulation if nobody ever uses it It keeps us on our toes and forces drivers to adapt.  If the weather was fixed, then the setups are well known and you soon get to know where you stand, if the weather changes then setups have to change and can't be quite as focussed.  Some drivers will like the wet driving as it gives them an extra chance that they might not ordinarily have.

I have to say:  Well done everyone at the start, nice and clean despite no practice of those conditions

[rufbtr]

i really hated it when i got the 1FPS bug,after a few rounds i was running on 6e place and was making a good time, to get to nr 5, and then sudddenly 1fps.      crashed my 550 into the tyres, and that was it.

gosh i really am starting to hate this multiplayer part of the game, and for as far ias i can see simbin is not taking the efort to fix it.
how can you drive a league when you don't know if you can finish a race, knowing a bug can kill you ?