Round 1 - Grand Prix of Miami [Jan 25th]

apologise Austin
car spins in the stand
sorry
it s me that you have seen in back

What a great race! I did a great (for me) lap in qualifying, so I started higher up than where I should have been, so I took it easy on the start. After the first yellow, I found my groove and could battle my way through to where I started, around 10th. Had some great racing just before the pit stop phase. The pit stops worked great, too.

Except:

During the 2nd caution, I entered the pit when it was open for the lead lap cars! I don't think I lost too much on that, but I had to restart at the back, and I hadn't caught up with the pack when the green flew. Still, I could catch Gregoire to finish 10th after all, and I'm just glad that the race went as smoothly as it did. Great job, everybody!

I would say that altogether it went quite well. My own race was screwed by the yellows, what an irony.

First yellow I decided not to pit expecting there would me much more, and not only had I to pit under green, but the pit alert came too soon and I still had enough fuel for 10 more laps. My middle stint I had to cruise at low boost and save fuel, till I pitted for the second and last time. And just after pitting, the 2nd yellow of the day came out and not just that, but I find myself right behind the pace car All the guys I could have caught, did the full turn around the track and were now just some dozen meters behind me! There goes a top ten finish

Other than that, I only must say that some people must learn that they can't block here as in a road track. You can't throw yourself to the corner apex blocking and losing loads of speed, I almost hit some guys who played that game several times (And had to go down two gears!!). There is no way that going at the apex 15 MPH slower than normal just to block someone can be acceptable  

The lapped cars were great, sorry to see some people struggling with the blue flag galore. That is a weak point in rFactor, as in real life there is much more tolerance with moving away due to blue flags.

Ans speaking of blue flags, some people should have more patience and not shoot for the inside from 50 metres back at 10 MPH higher than normal apex speed. This is perfectly OK on a road course, not so here.

See you at Canada, Albi and Lime Rock  

Sorry Martin, i did not think that i've been that near to your back.
After our second contact i first saw you gaining control back over the car and thinking "oh lucky" - but then mayhem came


I was surprised about only to full course yellows, but sadly i generated one of them

Petr Hlavac wrote:

Well,this didn't go as expected. First, I had a completely unnecessary contact with Yves. I had a lot of room on the right side,but we tangled wheels anyway. I'm terribly sorry, Yves My race ended shortly after, as Roy Schroten overcooked pit entry and slid back into racing line. I couldn't avoid him, baged my car really badly, so that I couldn't even keep it in straight line and gave up. But it's the contact with Yves that bothers me. I ruined his race and introduced myself as a wrecker

Should explain

My game went to desktop, and when I came back the only thing I could do was to trying to make the pit entry, which ultimately wasn't possible. Couldn't get it slowed down :/ Sorry nevertheless...

Superbe course,jamais je n'avais rouler sur un oval,2ème au qualif,6ème a l'arrivée.Les courses de samedi,était un bon test,j'ai analyser,les tours de Austin et de Rocky. Reste a maitriser,la stratégie des pitstops.
Bravo au podium,et a tous les participants.

good to be back.

Great racing, dramatic finish!

Thanks to Alberto for the setup
Thanks to the 2nd yellow that I was hoping for a while.

Quite a fight for 3rd with Richard in the end
although I didn't get why some lapped cars wanted to get in that fight so close to the end, with nothing to gain really. Trying to stay in the lead lap in front of the leader is one thing, but messing with other lead lap cars is something else.

Roy Schroten wrote:

Should explain

My game went to desktop, and when I came back the only thing I could do was to trying to make the pit entry, which ultimately wasn't possible. Couldn't get it slowed down :/ Sorry nevertheless...

That explains everything Don't worry Roy, I was having a bad one, anyway.

JP Campmajo wrote:

although I didn't get why some lapped cars wanted to get in that fight so close to the end, with nothing to gain really. Trying to stay in the lead lap in front of the leader is one thing, but messing with other lead lap cars is something else.

I had Samuli closing in on me, what can I do?

Best race I've had, the 1st stint was ok, got my pit entry spot on and after everyone else had pitted was surprised to find I had gained 5 places to 2nd. Then when Rocky Pitted I took the lead until my stop.

Then came the 2nd yellow, After it I thought I may be able to hold on to the lead but wasn't to be, the tires just didn't switch on until about 10 laps after (About lap 130) But anyway, Had a great fight with JP, probably the best I've ever had at HSO so Thankyou for your part in it sir

But as JP also said, I couldn't understand why you was trying to get in between us two Alessio? Was we holding you up that much?

To say I was nervous before the race as I thought I would be off the pace, I was pleasantly surprised.

Great fun again, Thanks for organising.

Oh and a massive thanks again to Martin and JP for getting the yellows/safety car settings just right, wouldn't be the same without them.

P.S Nice clean start too, Let's hope Motegi is the same

Richard Coxon wrote:

But as JP also said, I couldn't understand why you was trying to get in between us two Alessio? Was we holding you up that much?

When Samuli was a couple of seconds back, I was off the throttle on the straights trying to keep out of your way. So when he turned up, I started pushing as well and not trying too much to get in the way at the same time.

OK we had a few problems with the .xml but it's all sorted now, so here are the results. Still a few glitches in there like Lee's car missing or the nationalities of newcomers but we'll correct that ASAP. Championships standings will be updated tonight too don't worry . Apologies for the delay re the race results

Alessio Campigotto wrote:

Richard Coxon wrote:

But as JP also said, I couldn't understand why you was trying to get in between us two Alessio? Was we holding you up that much?  

When Samuli was a couple of seconds back, I was off the throttle on the straights trying to keep out of your way. So when he turned up, I started pushing as well and not trying too much to get in the way at the same time.

Ok, Sorry didn't realise, according to my HUD or I missed it Samuli wasn't in 5th.

Nice to have you back Samuli too.

@JP, Was your top speed really 236 at one point or did my HUD make a cock up?

Puhh, what a race. My first experience in oval racing and was able to keep the pace of the cars around me after the start. Was really surprised that it took so long until the yellow came out. Then, in the first full course yellow, i decided to go into the pits. but after my crew was finished, i forgot to put in the pit limiter and got a penalty and had to stop for 10 seconds in full race speed. with one lap behind, was able to get place for place back with some nice laps and some nice battles. hopefully didn`t block anyone, and if so, sorry for that. the second full course yellow was pretty good for me, because i had to stop soon and didn't lose any time. so was able to get back and finish as 8th.

sorry greg, think i hit you somehow. didn`t see you in my mirror but just got a boom into my car and realized that you we`re not there any more.

lets see us in canada next sunday.

all the best
mario

Martin Audran wrote:

All was fine (16 laps before the first yellow, I did not expect that) until there was a contact between Mathias's wheel and mine. We managed to not spin but we lost speed, and a car coming from behind hit me. Race was over

That was me that hit you from behind Martin,after your accident you came across and i could not avoid you,it was also end of my race.

Richard Coxon wrote:

@JP, Was your top speed really 236 at one point or did my HUD make a cock up?

No idea

Martin Audran wrote:

after your accident you came across and i could not avoid you,it was also end of my race.

Sorry for that but I was just recovering from a half-spin and I was not controlling very well the car

Standings are up

I was happy to start on the inside line for the race. I followed Austin into turn 1 at the start, but he drove away. I was finding a rhythm and trying to keep it cool. I feel back to 6th, but stayed in the draft of 2-5th. Then the caution came out farther into the race than expected. I had a good restart and got to 2nd after a few laps. From then I was able to hold onto 2nd for a long time all while Austin was still driving away.

I was debating about doing 2 stops or 1 and I put in a full tank of fuel for the start just in case. Once Austin and the other leaders started to pit after lap 50, I stayed on track as I had plenty of fuel to make it to half distance. I made it to lap 80 and I pitted. I came out in 3rd, less than 10 seconds behind the leader. I knew that I just had to bring it home for the most part. But then the 2nd caution came out. There were only 4 cars on the lead lap, so I decided to pit for fresh tires.

I restarted 3rd and got a good run on the outside. I got by Kevin amongst the traffic and then I caught and passed Richard. I tried to build as much of a lead as I could. Then I paced myself for a bit, but I saw that Kevin was catching back up. So, I pushed harder and didn't let him get quite close enough. The last few laps were exciting and scary and I was relieved get across the line 1st.

Thank you very much for the good racing everyone. You all did fantastic at this difficult challenge. See you at the next one!

Well done everyone, looks like (almost) everything went smoothly for a first oval race
Gérard

Indeed congrats everyone, I must say I was very worried before the start But, despite some mistakes and some doubtful maneuvers, the overall result is great

Congrats to the top 3 and to all the finishers, especially Gérard who showed us a great pace for his first race on an oval

C'était une course formidable. Dans le 1er relai, j'ai réussi à remonter de la derniere place à la 15eme, j'ai eu beaucoup de chance quand 2 voitures se sont cartonnées juste devant moi. Le 2eme relai a été plutôt calme et je me suis même retrouvé 5eme grace aux ravitaillements. Les 50 derniers tours, money time, ça a été la folie. Là encore j'ai eu beaucoup de chance sur une glissade de l'arriere. Je finis 7eme, super content du résultat et de ce grand moment de simracing.

J'ai été trop occupé à m'initier au mod pour envisager autre chose qu'une stratégie "mouton de panurge" mais la prochaine sera différente.

Yves, t'as perdu ton pari même si, j'en conviens, tu t'es impliqué à mort


Merci à tous ceux qui ont contribué à l'organisation de cette course, c'était exceptionnel

Pas facile cette première expérience sur ovale...    
Assez amusante toutefois, malgré le manque de maitrise de tous les éléments nécessaires pour mener une course dans ces conditions... Il va falloir que je revois certaines choses, pas pour être plus performant ou rapide çà je crois que ce sera dur, mais pour bien m'amuser quand cela est possible.

Parti 24ème je me suis maintenu aux environs de la 20ème place durant les 2/3 de la course, en bagarre avec Ben, Karel, Stefan et Petr, merci à tous   (spécialement à Ben pour son contact amical... )

Jusqu'à un gros et long frizz (carte graphique ou rF, je ne sais pas...) au 103ème tour qui m'a fait percuter le mur, après quoi j'ai trouvé qu'il valait mieux arrêter-là pour cette fois...
Je ne sais pas si cela a occasionné un autre drapeau jaune (j'ai fait échap dès que possible...) et je suis sorti du serveur un peu énervé, je n'aime pas abandonner...

Bravo à Rocky et au podium  à tous les finisseurs et merci HSO

A la prochaine

Vincent Beretta wrote:

Yves, t'as perdu ton pari même si, j'en conviens, tu t'es impliqué à mort

C'est clair, et c'est tant mieux !

Guillaume wrote:

Well done everyone, looks like (almost) everything went smoothly for a first oval race Very Happy
Gérard Shocked cheers

Martin wrote:

Congrats to the top 3 and to all the finishers, especially Gérard who showed us a great pace for his first race on an oval

Merçi