iRacing Season 4 Radical - Watkins Glen (Cup) - Dec 7

[Fred Basset]

So is it 52 laps then Pops?

Regards
Gary

[Adam Parle]

I'll be there tonight, I was getting another Grand-Am race in last night after I ended up in the top split on Sunday night and getting absolutely whupped!

... same result last night then

[popabawa]

52 laps it is!

[Fred Basset]

Cheers Iain

[popabawa]

Server's up

[Simon Gymer]

What a useless last race for me, all of my own incompetance.

Qualified mid-pack, fine, quite happy, competitive with people around me. Started the race and discovered I'd only put in qualifying fuel, so I had to pit very early in the middle of a scrap for 3rd/4th/5th/6th position. Made the biggest hash of the pit stop going. Over-stepped the marker, had to reverse up, then when I tried to engage first in a fit of pedal to the metal rage of course the stupid thing wouldn't go into first. Must have lost 6 seconds in the pit stop. Ok, fine carry on, thought this might yet play into my favour, but after a few laps realised that despite me taking more fuel in total than I was intending in my first stops in the first place I was 2 laps short!!!

I short shifted for 20+ laps, going 1 second or more slower than my pace and my fuel consumption still said 2 blinking laps short. Got so cheesed off with the fact that I didn't have enough to finish despite me driving like a granny, that when I decide to do a short stop with 15 laps to go I ended up spinning and whacking it into the pit wall on the last corner. Probably for the best as that was a complete waste of time having royally screwed up my fuel load at the start and then not taking into account just how much more the Radical used at Watkins, despite already allocating more.

Grrr. Could have been a good race too.

[Mike Wrightson]

Congrats on the championship Gary, I had nothing for you here and ended up with a spin, then driving a tanker around as fast as I could, then had a long fight with Paul T which unfortunately ended when he spun at the top of the esses and I just didn't quite squeeze past.

[Paul Thurston]

First off, a massive apology to Mike.  I got a couple of inches off line up through the esses, the rear left lifted and I was a passenger with him right behind me and there's nowhere to go through there.

As for my race, qually went very well, though I was never going to get near Gary.

I managed to suss the start this time and settled into place ready to watch Gary disappear then into the Bus Stop second lap I left a little brake in and span it.  for once I didn't hit anything so I set off again.  I caught Mark and got alongside and ahead up the hill but did exactly the same thing again.  Mark slowed up after that but I didn't think I hit him.

After that I settled down but simply couldn't find any pace.  In practice I was doing 1:07s on fuel but tonight I was half a second off that.  I caught Martin who moved across to let me by (thanks mate, I don't have a TY key set up) and started chasing down the guys in front.

I gained a place at the stops by not changing tyres and came out a couple of seconds ahead of mike.  For 10 laps or so we were nip and tuck then I started to make mistakes and he caught me.  We then had a few laps nose to tail including one very lairy moment from me in the Loop which I caught but in doing so cut back across the apex.

Then Dave and Darren came together in T1 and I saw the possibility of a podium.  With Darren in front of me and Mike behind me I made my mistake with two to go for which again I can only apologise.

Congratulations to Gary.  IMO he's been the standout driver this season along with Mike.

I'm going to miss the Radicals.  We have to do something on a Tuesday.

Paul

[mr_oily]

Yep congrats Gary - that was some pace and I suspect there was quite a lot more in reserve if you'd have needed it!

Chuffed just to finish one of these darn league races and even more please to get a decent result. If Paul hadn't have lost it and Darren had practiced I'm sure I'd have been down a few spots but I'll take what I can get.

Nice little dice in the opening laps Dave and I have to say I was most relieved to get the stops out of the way - never my strong point and I know yours are pretty slick so I was expecting more trouble but fortunately it never materialised.

Darren kept me honest for the second half while I did my best to maintain a 3 second gap - that flag couldn't come soon enough trust me!

Thanks for that, really enjoyed it and don't forget - MX-5's at Road Atlanta tomorrow night, 9.15 race start I believe (Club England). Turn up early or you may miss your spot  .

Nighty...I'm off to lie down  

[Mike Wrightson]

No worries Paul, it's just racing and that happens sometimes.

I was giving it absolutely everything to catch you up, I had nothing else left.  After I has spun my way out of podium contention, I fuelled up and put some fresh tyres on.  I was getting nervous at the end as my fuel fill was a bit of a guess, I would have had less than 0.5gal left I think, the guess had been perfect.

I didn't have the pace to win here, Gary was in a class of his own

PS.  I'm going to miss the Radicals too

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

Nice little dice in the opening laps Dave and I have to say I was most relieved to get the stops out of the way - never my strong point and I know yours are pretty slick so I was expecting more trouble but fortunately it never materialised.

That's 'cause like Shark I wrassed my fuel up - not quite as badly but I needed two clicks more than I thought, and to add insult to injury with my box being just in front of yours I lost another second or two getting in and had to stop at an angle (hopefully my car delayed your exit, although it seemed like you drove through me - which isn't supposed to be possible, must've been an optical illusion).

That small combination of factors delayed me just long enough to allow Darren to get past when he stopped and despite being massively quicker out of T1, he was so much faster into the bus stop (and so willing to keep driving a defensive inside line towards it) that I just couldn't find a way by. With only three laps to go and Paul and Mike threatening to catch us I broke early for T1 and got back on the gas even earlier than normal, but miscalculated just how slow Darren was by that stage and clipped him, spinning both of us. I had to wait for Paul and Mike to pass to rejoin, by which time Darren was long gone, and I must've picked up some splitter damage because after that I had some understeer.

I think I already had 3rd in the championship sewn up barring a big field and an early bath but it was a bit frustrating to have the pace for a final podium and just not quite make it happen.

[Darren Seal]

I think Mike's bad luck with PCs has rubbed off on me.  First my sound card died just before the Mazda race last week.  Then on Friday my SSD stopped working.

This meant a frantic reinstall, and with 30 minutes to go before qualifying, I had yet to set up my headset, steering wheel and pedals.  On top of this, all my setups had been lost (yes I know... backups   ).  I joined the server totally unprepared.  I wasn't expecting anything and was just there to boost the numbers...

Qualifying in 7th, way off the pace, I knew had to hang on during the early laps.  I was surprised to see Simon pit early, but thought it was a good strategy if he felt he was being held up by the traffic in front.  I know now Simon wasn't trying to be clever.  

Lap after lap, with the help of slipstream I was able to hang on to the back of Dave.  I was planning on following Dave into the pits, but he took me by surprise when he dived into the pit lane on lap 23.  This gave me a clear track ahead of me.  So I pushed really hard for a couple of laps to try to gain an advantage.  Luckily it was just enough to enable me to jump Dave via the pit stop. (now that's a first!   )

The second half of the race was intense.  While slowly catching James in front, I had Dave camped on my back bumper.  I knew he was faster, but there was no way I was going to make it easy for him.  As the laps ticked down, Dave became more aggressive.  He was trying every trick in the book to try to get me to make a mistake.    
Unfortunately our little battle came to an end when there was contact @ T1, spinning us both out.   Luckily I didn't receive too much damage and was able to limp home to an unexpected podium..

Congrats to Gary for the win and for the Championship.  Well done James on a well deserved 2nd....  It's nice to finally see a Shark FREE podium. 

Thanks guys for a great season 4.  It's had quite a few ups n downs but I've enjoyed it...

See you in season 5...  

[Paul Thurston]

No worries Paul, it's just racing and that happens sometimes.

Still annoying though.  I was after revenge for VIR in the Skippys.

PS.  I'm going to miss the Radicals too

I've had an idea on that:

https://www.simracing.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=8744.0

Paul

[Fred Basset]

First off congratulations to Team Shark for winning the team championship.

I was expecting a tough battle with Mike and Dave last night but as things turned out this wasn't to be. After qually it was clear that I just needed to drive and not make any mistakes so I settled for an easy pace and never really pushed. After losing out at Zandvoort because of the pit penalty I did the slowest pit stop possible and then ran to the flag.

Whilst it was a nice easy way to win the championship I'd have preferred a close battle like the one Mike and I had last race.

Congrats to James and Darren on the podium and Mike to second place in the championship.

Like others have said I will miss the Radical, personally I think that it and the DP are the best cars in the sim.

Regards
Gary