iRacing Season 4 Mazda - Silverstone (GP 2000-09) - Nov 2

[popabawa]

Can anyone view the results, it seems to be stuck on 'finishing' for me.....

[popabawa]

Looks like there's a general problem with results, I'll keep you posted

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

After qualifying, if you'd offered my 4th I'd have bitten your hand off. Clearly I shot my bolt early by nabbing 3rd on the grid and then making a horlicks of Vale corner on lap to let Darren and Dan past. Never really looked like I could catch them despite them fighting and was concentrating on not making any more stupid mistakes and risking being caught by Shark, only to have Dan have a big wobble into Chapel a few laps from the end and putting me right on his tail.

Applied as much pressure as I could muster and to my complete shock it worked, getting a few more wobbles out of him and culminating in another big one on the last lap, allowing me to chuck myself into the gap and defend into Stowe and Vale. Once I came out of Club slightly ahead I knew the place was mine as I'd been much stronger through Abbey on the previous few laps. Fourth is a good result for me in a single seater, but I'll never know if I could've been on the podium had I finished the first lap in 3rd place... On the plus side, I got to have a fantastic scrap with Dan instead of having to sweat buckets defending from him and Darren.

Can anyone view the results, it seems to be stuck on 'finishing' for me.....

There's some announcement up about the stats not being updated, so perhaps it's related to that.

[popabawa]

Results are up now, just importing....

[Dan Minton]

Brill race..       Car felt really strange during qually and couldn't even get near my practice time so had to settle for fifth.     Slotted in behind Darren at the start after the agonizingly slow pace lap     , Dave made a mistake at Club which alowed me Darren past.  Stayed with Darren for a bout 16 laps both of us with very different set-ups. I could get a good run through Copse and the Becketts complex but just couldn't get a tow due to my higher wing settings. Saying that Darren was rock solid and never made a mistake ...good drive  .
I think it was lap 18 when i made a mistake just touching the grass coming out of the last right hander of Becketts which let Dave close back up  , Last lap battle was great i made another mistake    coming out of Becketts and Dave got past going onto Hanger Straight.   I took a wide line into Stowe to try to get a run down into Club , Dave covered the inside into Club and went in a bit deep so i pulled out to try to go round the outside through Club but Dave's shorter line put him ahead and that was that to the line.

I always seem to lose concentration about 3/4 through the race and it always seems to be Dave that takes advantage of it.  

grats to podium ...  Mega pace by Brendan and Michael .

Thanks for the race.  

[popabawa]

I have to say that was a really demoralising turnout, dunno if it's the cars, tracks, day, time or just that there's simply not enough interest in iRacing. I just don't get it

Anyway, on to the race...

I was pleased to grab 6th in qually but ended up with Mark, Simon, Pete and Martin all variously breathing down my neck I was making loads of errors and of course Simon got past with relative ease

Pete and Mark were queuing up to pass me, I was still pretty erratic (sorry guys). Pete squeezed through and Mark half span leaving me to chase Pete. It was a really exciting race, I tried to pile on the pressure (between mistakes ) but didn't get a real chance. Less than a second lap after lap, this really is a great experience when you're driving against someone you can trust. Nice drive Pete!

[Simon Gymer]

I had about 2 laps practice before the race started and with the only time I'd mustered whilst fiddling with the setup to try and get something driveable I was starting on the second to last row.

After being gifted one spot by Martin at the start, I then spent the first 3rd of the race getting past Picnic, Spanner and Pops. Enjoyed that, but then I was in the middle of nowhere without the pace of everyone else in front of me so ended up driving around quite lonely for the rest of the race.

Hopefully the Mazda will get dumped for something more exciting next season as I can't say I'm enthused to bother with it for another season.

[Brendan]

I'd put in quite a bit of practice for this, mostly focussing on my race pace after recent poor showings.

I was putting in purple sectors all through qually, just not on the same lap, but was pleased with a 44.1 and pole.

As soon as the pace car pitted, I gunned it and was pleased just to get onto Hangar straight in the lead.  After a few laps, I knew I was in for a tough battle as Mike was keeping the gap to within a second.  Knowing Mike was leading the championship, I was pretty confident he wouldn't try anything rash, but I still decided to turn off the F3 screen and push on.  

Lap after lap, Mike was clearly visible in my mirror and every time I seemed to eke out a bit, he reeled me back in again.  I was making the odd small error here and there, especially down shifting into Club, but with about 5 to go the pressure eased off slightly and I kept a steady pace to the end.

Thanks all, great drive Mike and also Darren for 3rd.

[Kerr]

I have to say that was a really demoralising turnout, dunno if it's the cars, tracks, day, time or just that there's simply not enough interest in iRacing. I just don't get it

I feel bad for not turning up when I was able to tonight.

I'm only a bit part player and thought I'd let those fighting it out for the championship get on with it.

Over the last number of races it seems to be a common thing that the races are clashing with big football games.

There just seems to be too many things on the go at the moment.

It's a new season at iRacing and that Williams has got my attention.

[Darren Seal]

After my Disco at Barber and the (best to be forgotten) Milwaukee race I knew my chances of the Drivers Championship were fading fast.

Before joining the session this evening I was given some encouragement when Mike suggested in the forums he was struggling.  However, any ideas of beating Mike were soon smashed in qualifying when he set a time well beyond anything I could manage.  My task was made even harder when Dave performed his usual magic trick (gaining large amounts of time) in the dying seconds to take a well deserved 3rd on the grid.

Starting 4th, sandwiched between Dave and Dan, I knew I was in for a tough race.  However, something very rare happened.  Dave 'no mistakes' Gymer actually made one, and to my surprise I was up to 3rd right behind Mike.

Lap after lap I tried to hang on to the back of the Brendan/Mike train.  While my low downforce setup allowed me to fend off the ever persistent Dan, my lack of grip through the twisty sections meant I could never get close enough to pick up a tow from Mike.  I pushed really hard early on, which meant my tyres took a battering.  Once tyre wear became a factor my pace dropped off a bit, which allowed the front two to pull away, and for Dan to put me under even more pressure.  It was relentless!!!   Through the twisty sections Dan could close right up onto my wing, and then with draft assistance he was able to just about stay with me down the straights...

Something had to give, and luckily it was Dan with about 6 laps to go.  A small mistake meant I could pull away enough so that Dan couldn't gain from a tow.  A few laps later, Dan dropped back....  Unlucky Dan..  great racing, you never gave me a moments rest up to then...

With a gap of now 6 seconds to Dan, I was able to cruise home to gain an unexpected 3rd.  Damage limitation complete.

Congrats to Brendan for the win.  You showed amazing pace throughout the session.  Your victory was well deserved.

Also well done Mike.  You are without doubt the most consistent fast driver amongst us.  While the Drivers Championship looks almost a certainty, I'll do my best to make sure you don't get your hands on the trophy until after the Road Atlanta race.

Thanks guys for another great race.  Shame the numbers are declining.  See you all at Zandy!!!

[picnic]

Well that was tough. As others have said there were initially 5 of us run nose to tail at the start. I knew Shark would be faster than me so let him passed going down hanger straight so I could get in behind him before Martin could follow. Shark made fairly quick work of Spanner and Pops and it was the 4 us us racing nose to tail for several laps. Spanner then looked like he was making a move in to Vale and around the outside of Club, but that actually allowed me passed. I followed Pops for a few laps, seemingly getting no signs of a tow up hanger straight, and was relieved to see Pops run wide in T1. Boy is it so much harder to lead than to chase I was already pretty much at my limit following and trying to eek out a couple of 10ths here and there proved impossible. At one point I got the gap up to 2 secs (it was usually less than 1) only to almost bin it.

Shame Spanner and Blunder had spins or that could have been a 4 way battle to the end. Very fair driving all round Great stuff. No incident points for me either until I pranged Sharks car after the end. Nice to do a whole race without a silly error.

[Adam Parle]

Grats to the podiumers - well done Darren - another solid drive

Shame about the turnout, I would have been there but was called up for a badminton match at short notice - not that it's really changed my championship fortunes much!  Something's definately got to change though - the attendance for the ACHF race shows that we can draw in the number of drivers we want - it was a full grid, with more people wanting to join!

[picnic]

I think last Friday everyone was keen to try out their new MX-5. We don't usually get so many turn out.

[Simon Gymer]

With the 2 dropped weeks in place, I don't think the drivers championship is as wrapped up as everyone thinks. Heck even I could still win it.

For example if Mike scores less than 24 points in both of the next two rounds he'll have 768 and if Darren wins the final two rounds he could have 1,085. If I win the last two rounds I could fly up to 946 points, which means Brian and Brendan are still in it too. There's still everything to play for. Yes realistically Mike and Darren are the front runners (quite rightly too I might add), but with the massive number of points on offer there is still the potential for disaster to befall the front runners etc.

There are some many combinations of what could happen you just have to do as well as you can at every round and see where you end up. It is one of the problems with having dropped weeks as it makes the scoring hard to read until after the final round.

[Mike Wrightson]

Indeed, I'm not counting my chickens just yet, any of the top 5 could take the title.  My lead is not as big as it appears.

EDIT:  If I finish 2nd in both the last 2 races I will have 1088 points, if I sit them out (or score less than 24), I stay on 920.  It would be nice to win one of the last races though, I would feel I deserved it more if I did.