NGT Sprint Cup - Season 1, Round 8, Oschersleben - Aug 30th

[Don]

Well that was very frustrating. My severe lack of ability to overtake slower cars on this track coupled with a rear ending on the first lap first corner really messed things up for me. I'am thinking of getting a horn installed in my car.
Don

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

i have a couple of gripes :

Qualifying... I was on a "hot" one... it may have been 3 secs off the pace, but still a hot one for me, but I still had a couple of really impatient people up my arse that had only just come out of the pits...there is not need for it... really.

It's also clearly against the rules: "Drivers who are not on a flying lap during a qualifying session shall take all reasonable steps to avoid interfering with drivers who are" (though on the web site I've spelt "interfering" wrong ).

[Edit - removed bit about the start. Will talk about that seperately.]

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

couldn't go any faster in that Bi-Turbo thingy :S

I guess Woodee is taking over the role of league masochist vacated by [ZiP]Tyf.

[popabawa]

Broke my run of hopeless qualifying efforts to get within 1s of my best time and qualify 10th. Pretty pleased with that. And that was despite the worrying appearance of the 1FPS bug on my first qualifying outlap, haven't had that since I switched the replay off, fingers crossed that was a blip, didn't happen in the race at least.

Started just behind Picnic, and was never more than a few seconds away from him the whole race! Great battle, Picnic just pipped me for 8th which was thoroughly deserved as he was obviously faster, just a couple of mistakes on his part let me through a couple of times, Picnic had the hard bit to to actually overtaking me! One really daft mistake by me let him through for the final time, I managed to hang on his tail for the last few laps desparately trying to get some pressure on but no luck.

but I think Pops must eat tyres. I'm off to hospital to get my lungs checked out for tyre smoke inhallation

Sorry about that Picnic, I prescribe a day or two of bed-rest and a stiff brandy every couple of hours  Bit disappoining I'm still doing that, I've been woring hard on getting smoother 

Not my best drive, didn't get a lot of practice in over the Bank Holiday but still satisfied with 9th.

I think that was the closest we've come to finishing in the same order as qualifying (if you see what I mean), not a lot of changes of position. I reckon that means good driving all round

Pops.

[popabawa]

Quote from: Woodee on August 30, 2005, 11:22:24 PM
Race start.... the back of the grid exited the last turn and the grid began to accelerate.... then suddenly mid field stopped dead...and many of us nearly ran into the cars in front... who the fuck thought they would brake at the s/f line and back everyone up?!?!

Please submit an incident report (if you haven't already) - even if there was no contact, bad behaviour on the pace lap is taken very seriously. It may just be a case of reminding everyone what the correct procedure is.

Some comments about the pace lap here  and in general over this season.

I've been pretty much in the middle of the pack each time and there's a pattern developed, we're NOT accellerating when the first car crosses the start/finish, we seem to have come to some kind of implicit agreement that we're going to hold position into the first corner.

Not quite sure how this has happened, I think it's just evolved to try to minimise first corner accidents. Certainly on a track like Oscher (and quite probably most tracks), it's a dangerous first corner.

I saw a few cars behind me speed up (quite legitamately), then back-off as they saw what was happening, it was good driving by the guys at the back to react to the situation 'cos it could have been disasterous.

The situation at Oscher was more extreme than the others, but this has happened before. I think we'd probably appreciate some input / guidance from the ADMIN's and more experienced drivers to try to make sure we minimise the risks of an accident.

Cheers, Pops

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I've been pretty much in the middle of the pack each time and there's a pattern developed, we're NOT accellerating when the first car crosses the start/finish, we seem to have come to some kind of implicit agreement that we're going to hold position into the first corner.
[...]
The situation at Oscher was more extreme than the others, but this has happened before. I think we'd probably appreciate some input / guidance from the ADMIN's and more experienced drivers to try to make sure we minimise the risks of an accident.

I noticed this at Enna - there's a very short run from the start line to the first turn and everyone very sensibly held station and didn't try any silly move into turn 1. At tracks where the distance between the start line and turn 1 is large, like Barcelona, we get actual racing down to the first turn. I guess it's common sense at work but perhaps we can tweak the rules a little to help. I'll start a discussion about this in another thread.

[PaulW]

In 6th I could see the leader last night and he did the right thing with regards the start i.e. didn't accelerate hard out of the last corner but crept up to just before the start/finish at the correct pace and from my position, about 3/4 down the straight, it looks like the hammer was put down there around the line.

In the mid pack in the past we've always tended to gun it out of the last corner of a given circuit- did that happen last night? Because if it did you'd all have been catching really fast with us still in 2nd gear! Previously I think the leaders have gone a little earlier which has given everyone the space to do this but not last night (correctly IMHO).


I wonder whether, if we took the last few corners at a crawl in first gear, and allowed everyone to bunch right up to each other so everyone can see and get an accurate read on when 'GO' happens it would be better?

[popabawa]

I think the situation at Oscher is compounded because the start/finish is 3/4 of the way down a pretty short straight, it seems like it's almost in the wrong place!

I don't think we did gun it (too much at least) in midfield, but you're right, that would explain it. Even a small change in pace and then braking leads to some compression of the field, and the situation gets compounded the further back in the field you get, the more difficult it gets to judge because of the concertina effect so maybe one of those guys can give their perspective.

[Matjaz Plotajs]

In the mid pack in the past we've always tended to gun it out of the last corner of a given circuit- did that happen last night? Because if it did you'd all have been catching really fast with us still in 2nd gear! Previously I think the leaders have gone a little earlier which has given everyone the space to do this but not last night (correctly IMHO).

That's exactly what happens. The problem in the mid of the pack is that the guys do exactly the same as the driver in front of them. If one guy accelerates to early the rest of the pack does the same and that creates the concertina effect. To avoid this from happening pack must be closer together coming into the start finish straight. Double file start could help as well.

[picnic]

Double file start could help as well.

Not keen on that idea myself, it would mean that every first corner is contested by every pair of cars. This would greatly increase the chances of accidents IMHO.

[Simon Gymer]

Had a good race with Mike W last night.

Qualified 3rd with a time quite a way off my PB as I had some technical issues during qualifying which resulted in my losing complete control of my wheel and by the time I'd recovered physically discovered I was parked in the middle of the track and someone hit me. Very sorry for that, couldn't get to my ESC key quick enough to get off the track, mass fumble as bits fell off everywhere. Recovered just in time in qualifying for another run to take 3rd with Matjaz miles off in the lead as usual.

After some mild confusion off the start line where Matjaz seemed to press the accelerator on the wrong line (very easy to do I wasn't sure either which line to accelerate at) I went when Matjaz did then realised it maybe the wrong line as Mike hadn't gone and I immediately gave back the place into T1 in case I had done something I shouldn't.

After that followed Mike closely knowing I probably just had the legs on him, he made a mistake coming round T1/T2 after a few laps and I went for the gap into the sharp T3 left hander under brakes. Pulled it off and then tried to pull away. Managed to get about 2 seconds on him then hit traffic for virtually the entire rest of the race. When it was clear I pulled maybe 0.1 or 0.2 secs a lap on him but by the end he'd got right up to my tail again. Fortunately I just held him off to take second place and consolodate the championship lead.

I would like to commend all the backmarkers, you were all excellent. It was difficult to pass anywhere at Oschers as there is only really the 1 and a half straights and with like for like cars it's difficult powering past so the backmarkers were quite often generous enough to let people through during corners.

[Rob Bywater "Kerb Crawlers"]

Thing is , i got hit twice,both times  really hard, and the second time (by a rocket?) that made me stuck in the gravel with a fatally wounded car  all in the first race lap!

Sorry Proto that was me, the 2nd one, dont know if you braked early or I just missed my braking spot, either way many apologies.

I got caught up in the fracas at the first corner, resulting in me spinning off the track, and starting the race with no other car in sight! Fairly uneventful race (apart from having to take evasive action from a Red 360 who decided to reverse into the middle of the track after a spin, right into my path!), after a dire quali session where I didnt manage to complete one full lap. My own fault though, couldnt keep it on the track. Ended up in 14th thanks to As-Here who span off just before the end 

Cheers

Rob

[Woodee]

if everyone accelerated out of the last run, there would be more space for everyone to negociate turn one (i.e the whole pit straight!)...rather than just giving us the little space from the s/f line to the first corner to do it. Plus, you can't really accelerate that much before anyone else out of the turn, if you only go when he goes.

This the rule still is... races are not won at turn 1....only lost

[[ZiP]Tyf]

couldn't go any faster in that Bi-Turbo thingy :S

I guess Woodee is taking over the role of league masochist vacated by [ZiP]Tyf.

Lmao! I may get it again though when it's raining, hehe, else it's all for Woodee!

T

[Woodee]

did i make a car choice faux pas?