iRacing Season 5 Sportscar Challenge - Spa (2007-) - Jan 11

[popabawa]

That wasn't an auspicious start with my new wheel

It wasn't looking good with 2 disco's in practice (problems at my end) but I decided to give it a crack anyway.

For some reason I couldn't get on with the car at all last night, I switched to Darren's set-up for qualifying, which I found worse, then switched to what I thought was my previous set-up for the race but the car felt even weirder so I think I must have loaded up something else entirely 

I decided to just lap the race out when I started losing connection, all the other cars disappeared as I approached Eau Rouge then reappeared on the other side when I found myself hurtling towards Spanners stationary car which gave me a split second to avoid, I just managed it but put it into the wall in the process

[Paul968]

Paul, I watched some of the race, and it looked like you were slightly on the brakes out of Pouhon (and I mean a long way after the apex). Could you be riding the brake slightly by accident?

[ross.mcw]

Started 8th, finished 8th which was as high up as I was realistically going to finish given the pace of the guys ahead so I'm happy with that although I spent the majority of the race on my own with only brief spells of excitement with Dave, Ian Rogers and Rob.

Realised around lap 8 that I'd underfilled for a half time stop, so pitted on lap 10 just as Ian was starting to gain ground on me.  Wasn't sure whether I'd need new tyres or not but figured my only chance of getting ahead of Rob and Ian was to hope they had longer stops than me so didn't bother changing them - right choice in the end although it sounds like I was very lucky that Ian had problems during his stop.

Around lap 17 I saw a slower than expected Dave behind me so figured I should help him out by getting myself a cut corner at Eau Rouge.  That let him past without any drama but as I turned into Les Combes I saw that Rob was trying a do or die dive up the inside which wasn't ever going to stick. There was only minor contact but clearly Rob's car was damaged and needing a tow while mine seemed to have some very minor damage to the rear (gearbox also seemed a bit less easy to change as well) - thankfully I didn't need a tow.

After that it was a case of just keeping it on the track.  I could see that Dave was struggling for grip in front and I guess if I'd still been on pace, I could maybe have made more of it, but as it was a couple of big slides at the top of Eau Rouge put paid to any thoughts of gaining any places.

The Radical at Spa is fantastic combination - would love to do this again with a bigger Radical only field.  No idea how you guys were doing 15s in the Radical!!!  Congrats to the pods.

[Paul Thurston]

Paul, I watched some of the race, and it looked like you were slightly on the brakes out of Pouhon (and I mean a long way after the apex). Could you be riding the brake slightly by accident?

Spot on Paul.  Ta for looking.

After I posted I looked at the MoTeC trace and I was doing it quite often and losing time as a consequence.  The lap Mike got past was particularly bad and I was a full 10MPH down mid corner.

I think a footrest might be a good investment.

Paul

[Paul Thurston]

The Radical at Spa is fantastic combination - would love to do this again with a bigger Radical only field.  No idea how you guys were doing 15s in the Radical!!!  Congrats to the pods.

I'm waiting for the new official season schedule before deciding on the venues for the latter part of the series but I am very tempted to run Spa a second time as the last race.  By then we should have the efficiency upgrades and hence fewer frame rate problems.

How would people feel about that?

Also, we did get a decent turnout at Gary's impromptu Monday practice session this week.  What's everyone's feelings on that?  Should we run them?  The Indy cars races are mostly synchronised with the official series so there's no point but if there's a demand for the Sports Cars then I'm happy to run them?

Paul

[mr_oily]

How would people feel about that?

    

[spanner]

I decided to just lap the race out when I started losing connection, all the other cars disappeared as I approached Eau Rouge then reappeared on the other side when I found myself hurtling towards Spanners stationary car which gave me a split second to avoid, I just managed it but put it into the wall in the process

Err.. yeah sorry about that

Not sure why but i seemed to struggle with eau rouge in the race. Admittedly i never went through it the same way twice in practise but still never got it as bad as i kept doing in the race. Kept hitting the inside kerb at the top. Then i stupidly ended it by watching Dan in the mirror trying to gauge how quick he was gaining, while i then drive into the pit wall... sigh..

[Paul Thurston]

Not sure why but i seemed to struggle with eau rouge in the race.

Perhaps the fact that it's a fairly difficult corner could have been a contributing factor? 

[purdie]

After I posted I looked at the MoTeC trace and I was doing it quite often and losing time as a consequence.

have you got motec working with iRacing??? please please please tell me how 

[popabawa]

http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/457406.page

[Fred Basset]

As Mike and Paul have said the Radicals were excellent here and we had a great race.

I really didn't do any practice here until Sunday night due to work, family commitments and some bloke pestering me about Japanese steering wheels - only kidding Iain.

After practice I thought I might just be able to pip Dave but knowing he's a wiley old bird that he might have more speed than he revealed. Lining up fifth on the grid I twigged pretty much straight away we were'nt going to do a full lap. The start was ok and on the lead lap I was pestering Dan, lap 2 and I pretty much hitched my front spoiler to the back of his DP through Eau Rouge but I made a mistake on lap 3 and got a slow down penalty which let Paul and Mike through. The 1x etc are really bad here and I hope iRacing sort it out.

I was six seconds down on Paul and Mike and set to work on catching them. I got Mike with a classic slipstreaming move coming out of Eau Rouge onto the straight and set after Paul. He was quicker through Eau Rouge and it was harder but I thought I'd show him my intent but it went wrong on the exit as I clipped the kerb and span.

This dropped me behind them both again and Rob in the DP. Rob and I had some close but fair racing over a couple of laps and I was off again after the leading Rads but now 16 seconds down. A quick check of the number of laps left and the pace I thought I could run showed it was worth a spirited drive to see if I could catch them. For once my pitstop worked like a charm and I took a couple of seconds out of them there and just as I got on their tails they swapped places.

I got Paul at the top of the hill and realised he hadn't fought too hard and then it took a little while to close on Mike who was now pushing on. As I got closer he just turned in too early, clipped a kerb and whilst controlling it I was through. Shame as it would have been a thrilling battle to the end.

Congrats to Darren and thanks to Mike and Paul for a great race.

I actually like the DP better than the Rad but wanted to see how the latter would fair against the DP over a season, its a real blast at Spa so I'm more than happy to run it again. As for the practice sessions I think we should run them if we aren't using one of the official weeks tracks as they help people get used to running with others on the track.

Regards
Gary

[purdie]

http://members.iracing.com/jforum/posts/list/457406.page

cheers mate

[Paul Thurston]

please please please tell me how 

You b*&^&%d.  I now have Duran Dubloodyran going round and round in my head!!!

Mu works really well.  I've found a lot of time by analysing the telemetry files.

Paul

[Fred Basset]

Whose files though?

By the way WHS is dead.

Gary

[Paul Thurston]

Whose files though?

By the way WHS is dead.

Gary

Anyone and everyone's.

The WHS being dead explains a lot.  Did I kill it?