iRacing Season 4 Mazda - Laguna Seca - Sep 14

[Blunder]

Yep Simon, took us all by suprise but I selected first and then floored it!
I clipped you and it was all over after that!

Rats!

[IanBassi]

Managed to avoid all the carnage by stopping before I got there,  saw a gap and tried to go through it for Rob to try and get moving again, and touch me.   

A shame, but one of those things.

Roll on a fortnights time, and hopefully I will complete more than a lap and a half.

Ian

[Mike Wrightson]

Ooooer!

Set a new PB for 3rd on the grid, then waited patiently for the rolling start.

Ahem

When the lights appeared I popped it into 1st, then noted the lack of a pace car and everyone revving up  I was completely unprepared and Andy shot past me as I just floored it and set off.  Got past Andy when he got loose going down the hill, then chased Brendan as hard as I could, finally got an opening when he made a mess of the corkscrew and only completed the pass when we got to T1.

Then it was pushing hard to keep Brendan out of striking range, but couldn't close up to Darren, who stayed 6 seconds up the road.

Thank god I got it off the line 

[Legzy]

The pile up worked well for me as I finished 7th.

I really like driving the Mazda (& Radical) but I'm just not getting any racing each week. It was 28 out of 29 laps on my own. Obviously the crash impacted that, but even in normal conditions I'm sure it would have been lonely :'(

Anyway, I'm off to get the violin...

[purdie]

was just about to ask about the start on the grid and Pops said standing.... almost rear ended Mike as he was bogged down but squeezed past by the wall ...    

jumped from 5th to 3rd by the 1st corner... then the natural order resumed and I dropped back to 5th after a couple of laps. Was in no-mans land for a while as half the grid missing left a large hole in the field for me to secure 5th by just staying on the track till the end

had a few minor skirmishes off track but happy to finish   caught James when he had an off and even regained 4th for a short time before running wide and giving back the place   Trying to apply pressure was hard as he was clearly quicker   good fun

Grats Darren  

[Brendan]

Happy to qual 2nd on the grid and used the clutch to get off the line reasonably cleanly.

Did my usual trick, though, of taking too long to settle into a rhythm and as Mike says I made a cock-up of the corkscrew and was then off line for the rest of the lap trying to hold him off.  Mike got a good run out of the final turn and outdragged me down into T1.

Spent the rest of the race trying to to reel him back in but the gap remained pretty constant and I think the only places I was marginally quicker was through turn 7 and out of the final turn, but I never got close enough to try a move.

Mike, you were mighty through the left hander after the corkscrew  

Anyway, grats to Darren on another faultless drive and also Mike for a great performance, too.

Brendan

[Darren Seal]

Don't blame yourself Pops..  Easy mistake...  Next time we'll be better prepared...

I know it's too late now, but I guess the rules should be amended to include situations like this.  Next time if there is no Pace car we should do a SRouk rolling start instead.


Heading into qualifying I didn't know what to expect.  I had a feeling the likes of Brendan, Mike, Shark and Gizmo were sandbagging in practise on racing fuel.  I was expecting them to magically put together sub 1:20 laps.  With that in mind I pushed really hard and at one point I was on for a 1:19.8, only to drop a wheel in the dirt with a couple of corners to go.  Luckily a 1:20.3 proved to be enough.

On the grid, I noticed there wasn't a pace car.  Panic set in.  I'm not normally on Pole so I wasn't sure what to do.  Once I saw the words "standing start" from Pops I regained some focus and waited for the lights.

The lights turned green and I floored it.  The car crabbed sideways off the line, but it wasn't a bad start...  Looking back in my mirrors I could see the chaos.  I was all over the place on the opening lap due to me being easily distracted; reading all the retirements (including several of my teammates).  However, I was soon forced to focus once Brendan and Mike closed in.

Luckily, they had their hands full fighting each other, so I was able to pull out a 5 seconds lead.  It was a tough race; not knowing if I should just do enough to maintain the lead or push and risk falling off.  In the end I took the safest option, but Mike and Brendan kept me honest with some fast laps of their own.

Overall I'm happy with 1st, but knowing the problems of others at the start, and the fact that faster drivers like Brian and Paul were missing, my victory doesn't feel as good as it should do.  

Congrats to Mike and Brendan for their podium places.  Great racing guys, you never gave me any time to rest.

[Brendan]

Overall I'm happy with 1st, but knowing the problems of others at the start, and the fact that faster drivers like Brian and Paul were missing, my victory doesn't feel as good as it should do.  

To use a football cliche, you can only beat what's infront (or in your case, behind) you.

Don't be so hard on yourself, you were the best on the day, revel in it. 

[Mike Wrightson]

Overall I'm happy with 1st, but knowing the problems of others at the start, and the fact that faster drivers like Brian and Paul were missing, my victory doesn't feel as good as it should do.  

To use a football cliche, you can only beat what's infront (or in your case, behind) you.

Don't be so hard on yourself, you were the best on the day, revel in it. 

^^ What he said

[Darren Seal]

Yeah sorry guys, you are right!  Any Srouk victory is an big achievement, especially for me.

I was just feeling sorry for my teammates..  I'm over it now. so... 

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

I had a feeling the likes of Brendan, Mike, Shark and Gizmo were sandbagging in practise on racing fuel.

I think they were except for me. I was already peddling as fast as I could.

Still got zero feel for this car. Once the slip angle gets more than a couple degrees over the limit it's going in the wall with no chance of saving it, so I never feel I can push at all the way I would in the proper cars.

[Truetom]

Well... we should all be aware of the realistic chance that someone can't move the car on start - it happens a lot of times in real races as well. Seems like drivers there mostly avoid the stationary car / are prepared for this kind of event. We were not. For myself I must say I did see a comotion in front but the gap was there and I went for it (the big car directly behind me helped me in this decision as well ). Of course, by the time I got there the gap was gone, I crashed, the shape of the car was close to 8 and I quit.

I don't think we can blame Pops all that much and excuses about not training for a standing start seem a bit ... well, less realistic than manual clutch.  

Of all iCars I enjoy Mazda most and I'm sad my race ended this way as I felt I can drive this car on this track. Well done Darren and thanks for a great setup.

[Simon Gymer]

I had a feeling the likes of Brendan, Mike, Shark and Gizmo were sandbagging in practise on racing fuel.

Not me. I was only doing practice on race fuel true, but in qually I wasn't even as fast as I was in practice on race fuel until the very final seconds of the session where I got a new PB of 1:20.5. Was never in danger of going anywhere near 1:19s.

Again apologies for the start, it ruined a great evening of racing I'm sure for both me and everyone else. I only got on the grid with a few seconds to go anyway as I was still debating fuel and when the lights came up I just went into automatic mode of standing starts by bouncing it off the limiter in neutral and then a box full of nothing as I clicked the up shift paddle when the lights went green. My immediate reaction is to keep trying as if the button isn't working and then realise it's cause of the new transmission model . Needed to wait for revs to drop, by which time already getting piled into :'(. Took out 3 of the 4 Team Shark drivers which I think is pretty impressive even if I was a Legends driver.

Naughty of me to suggest, but could we include 2 drop scores for this series cause of this start debacle? Don't shoot me, just asking.

[Adam Parle]

I was pretty gutted to have missed this one .... now I'm not too sure

Grats Darren on the win.

[ross.mcw]

Very happy to have qualified as high as I did given the lack of practice, but all came to nowt at the start as I got driven into the pit wall as people dived sideways to avoid Simon.  Just one of those things.

I agree with Darren that if this happens again the pole car should act as pace car for a rolling lap.

Cheers, Ross.