iRacing Season 4 Mazda - Zandvoort (GP) - Nov 16

[Adam Parle]

Gah .... one horrific lap in the middle there for me made things hard .... was chasing Pops for a good few laps before I clipped a kerb and got spat into the wall ending my race ....

Annoyed.

[Mike Wrightson]

Darren, I am so sorry that it ended the way it did, I sincerely didn't want that to happen

It's not the way I want to win a championship either.

[popabawa]

Not much to report from me. I just couldn't coax any more speed out of my Star Mazda tonight 

Which meant it wasn't the most exciting race but thanks to others mistakes that was my 2nd best points for the season. Which is kinda depressing I guess

More ovals required I think

[Ken Murray]

More ovals required I think

Yes, yes, yes.

As for tonight, I was well pleased Iain cocked up the times or I might not have made it. As mentioned previously I'm still struggling with this gearbox, especially here where previously you could do alot of changes mid corner to maintain the correct rev/speed relationship. Now if you try that it either doesn't change or it lurches the car around so much that you loose all momentum, at least it does with my hamfisted footwork!!

Anyway I managed to secure 5th on the grid. Lost out to Ross at the start but he spun early on. I was chasing Dave and staying in touch but then Mike spun and rejoined between us. Mikes extra pace spurred Dave on and they slowly pulled away. I was elevated to fourth when Brendan discoed, and then on to the podium after the last lap shinanigans!!

So can't complain, but what techniques are others using with the gearbox? Are you all rfb's? Is that what I will need to do ultimately??

[Mike Wrightson]

So can't complain, but what techniques are others using with the gearbox? Are you all rfb's? Is that what I will need to do ultimately??

I left-foot brake and just try to brake in as straight a line as I can when downshifting.  I spun because I got a double-downshift.

[Darren Seal]

Apology accepted Mike...  Sorry for my outburst, it was wrong of me...  

I've never been close to winning a championship before, and winning races are rare occasions for me.  But after 22.9 gruelling laps I thought I had done enough to secure a valuable win which I needed to push the championship title race into the last week of the season.

Sadly my frustration got the better of me.  It was a combination of our contact @ T1, then again @ T11 (which spun me) and then getting stuck in neutral for over 30 seconds (putting me back down in 6th) which tipped me over the edge...  

Congrats on your championship..  You have been the most consistent amongst us so I guess you deserve it...

[Mike Wrightson]

T1 was my last clear chance and I tried to get to the outside, but slid around on the downshifts.  I didn't feel anything, so assumed it was a lag-touch.  All I was trying to do in T11 was stay close in case you then made a mistake at the last turn, I screwed up there, I had no other overtaking chances and should have followed you home.

I don't feel like a winner tonight, in fact I would rather be DQ'd from Zandvoort and race for it at Road Atlanta.

[Ken Murray]

So can't complain, but what techniques are others using with the gearbox? Are you all rfb's? Is that what I will need to do ultimately??

I left-foot brake and just try to brake in as straight a line as I can when downshifting.  I spun because I got a double-downshift.

I wasn't changing down at all at that corner Mike. I would have with the old gearbox, but not until I was part way round. If I changed down in a straight line while braking then it felt like I was overrevving and slowing down too much so I was keeping it in 3rd, but you have to be so careful to keep your momentum up or it bogs down.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Not really the way I wanted to win a race but I'll take what I can get!

Car balance was good and I didn't do much with the setup (I think I took my Brands one and just tweaked the tyre pressures and caster). I never quite know which end of the car is going to let go first but I found some good if inconsistent speed, and I was happy to be fourth on the grid... until I realised that they've swapped the grid round so that pole is now on the right and the even numbered spots are on the left and thus the outside of T1.

Luckily, Brendan shot away at the start and I was able to tuck over behind him and hold off Ken and Ross during the opening lap, made easier when Ross misjudged where I was going to brake for turn 9 and locked his rears. That just left Ken to worry about, until Mike spun and I was temporarily up to 3rd. Brendan blinked out through the final couple of corners and failed to blink back in - a real pity.

By this time my tyres were properly up to temperature and I pushed hard to stay ahead of Mike, but mindful of the championship, when he finally caught me I didn't contest the pass at all, knowing that I was still in a secure podium spot, and that my only chance to catch Darren in the lead was to send Mike off after him and hope that they slowed each other up.

After that it was just a matter of watching him slowly real Darren in and start to attack whilst I balanced the risk of pushing against the gap to Ken. In the closing laps Darren was defending really hard in turn 1 and I was closing the gap down quite quickly, thinking that it was starting to look a bit frantic up front and there might just be a tangle.

I was half expecting them to collide in turn 1 so after they'd made it past that point on the final lap I figured that third place was where I'd finish, and I was completely happy with that. So imagine my surprise when I saw the yellow flag out on the approach to turn 10, passed Darren's spun car, and then Mike's slow car on the run down to the final corner, to be the first to the chequered flag! I couldn't quite believe it.

I need a big push now at Road Atlanta to try and steal 3rd place in the championship from Shark...

P.S. I left foot brake and just give it a big bootfull on each downshift. It does make the car want to swap ends in the corners but as long as I'm expecting it I never find it a problem to correct with a dab of oppo.

[Simon Gymer]

Apart from the lack of overtaking opportunities, Zandvoort is one of the few tracks the Mazda seems reasonable fun at. Had a good qualifying, beating my PB by half a second thanks to Gizmo's setup. This meant I started from almost precisely mid-table in 7th.

Was very cautious at the rolling start, leaving a gap and not wanting to try and overtake on lap 1. This resulted in a nice clean start to the race for me. Once I got into my rythum it was clear both Ross and Blunder were holding me up, but after a few half attempts at T1 I was left pretty much hoping for a mistake. It came in the shape of Ross losing the car into the wide, but sharp left hander before the waste of space little chicane. Unfortunately Blunder was following so close he had nowhere to go and that ended both their races which was a shame. I was also very close behind Blunder, but somehow, unbelievably got stopped in time and avoided them. Unfortunately this lost me 3 or 4 places so what would have been 5th at the time turned into 8th or 9th I think.

Anyway, this led me to have some fun chasing down Picnic, Adam and Rob and overtaking them to then try and catch Ken. Catching Ken was never going to happen though and I had settled for 6th until Brendan's unfortunate disconnect and then the incident with the leaders on the final lap which gave me 4th for a very respectable finishing position.

Thanks for hosting the race and I look forward to Road Atlanta which I quite enjoy in general.

P.S. Well done Sharkies on the team championship and Mike who I think has wrapped up the drivers, but maths isn't my strong point. Unlucky Darren, maybe next season will be your season.

[ross.mcw]

I really seem to struggle at this track in whatever car I'm in - I just don't seem to click with it at all.

Qualified higher than I probably deserved and had a decent start.  Had a couple of half spins on laps 2 and 3 at the same annoying left hander before the loopy bit near the end, the second of which unfortunately resulted in Martin hitting me through having nowhere else to go and Simon losing a load of places.  Sorry to both of you for being the cause of that.

Looking forward to Road Atlanta though.

Cheers, Ross.

[Mike Wrightson]

P.S. Well done Sharkies on the team championship and Mike who I think has wrapped up the drivers, but maths isn't my strong point. Unlucky Darren, maybe next season will be your season.

As it stands, I've won.  But I don't deserve it because I haven't won a single race, and have been outrageously lucky a couple of times.  I had a golden opportunity to win Zandvoot and I threw it away.  That was really annoying and why I was so aggressive towards the end, I really, really wanted to take it with a win.

So, stats may say I'm champion, but I've won it by default.

[Blunder]

I really seem to struggle at this track in whatever car I'm in - I just don't seem to click with it at all.

Qualified higher than I probably deserved and had a decent start.  Had a couple of half spins on laps 2 and 3 at the same annoying left hander before the loopy bit near the end, the second of which unfortunately resulted in Martin hitting me through having nowhere else to go and Simon losing a load of places.  Sorry to both of you for being the cause of that.

Looking forward to Road Atlanta though.

Cheers, Ross.

No worries Ross, if I have to go out of a race then a normal racing incidents such as this is fine by me!

Shame as we were gonna have a really good race!

[ross.mcw]

At least the Williams practice session at Lime Rock (30 odd cars) was a laugh afterwards! Lol, it was like a kind of sim racing equivalent of a FPS death match!

[Ken Murray]

At least the Williams practice session at Lime Rock (30 odd cars) was a laugh afterwards! Lol, it was like a kind of sim racing equivalent of a FPS death match!

He he, they certainly are a little crazy!

Thanks for the driving advice guys. Seems like I'm not doing too much different, maybe just need to be a bit more aggressive. I suppose there's no valves to worry about in the "hairdryer", so it should take a bit of abuse!!