Round 9-10 - Ontario (Oct 16th)

Well, another oval race to forget. The car just wasn't fast enough and i wasn't good enough. I gained some positions after the penultimate restart. But the last one was a disaster. First, i was over optimistic in the last turn and went a little more than wheel to wheel with Jan, but without consequences. But then Alan made a move to the inside. I was three wide in the middle. I guess Jan thought the the "car low" message was for Alan, but i was still there too. We touched, he went into the wall, i lost all positions i gained and ended up last. Sorry for the contact. No matter how i like to watch oval racing, i suck when it comes to driving.

Michael Drechsler wrote:

Richard Wilks wrote:

Well i just circulated around, it seems my setup doesnt like too many restarts and i lost force feedback as i did in the 1991 F1 race. So i just cruised to the finish. I guess i better try to extract a bit more out of the car for the 500

Assign a key on your keyboard with the 'reset FFB' option. That should do it. Had problems with the RealFeel plugin, though, if that one fails midrace, it can't be reset.

Well thats what failed, so no joy, i tried to reset it to no avail

That was fun!

After ditching a Foyt engined ride I finally got the engine I wanted, the Offy. I qualified a bit slower than I wanted but 13th is better than what I'd done before.

I failed to tag my wagon onto the leading train at the start and gradually fell back. There was a short fight with Petr Hlvac until I messed up T4 and got trashed by Petr, and subsequently by Jan Kowalski as well. Bob Wilson closed the gap too but I opened it up again.

When I entered the pits I was in seventh place, at the exit I was overtaken by Bob who'd stopped earlier. The next caution meant I could catch Bob and we had a good scrap to the line, with Bob in sixth place and me in seventh.

Petr Hlavac wrote:

First, i was over optimistic in the last turn and went a little more than wheel to wheel with Jan, but without consequences. But then Alan made a move to the inside. I was three wide in the middle. I guess Jan thought the the "car low" message was for Alan, but i was still there too. We touched, he went into the wall, i lost all positions i gained and ended up last. Sorry for the contact. No matter how i like to watch oval racing, i suck when it comes to driving.

Lost my left front suspension in that fight at the last turn (already had damages on both FR, RR). I tried to take turn 1 close to you, but with all the damage the car went a little bit more to the inside than expected, and you were nearer than i thought too and a little bit off the white line on the inside. Well it was very unfortunate. Hopefully we have a better 200 Lap race next time

The race so far went well with the M16C. I had a almighty setup (Thanks to Bob Wilson), and could easily built up pace as the fuel burnt down. Only massive problems to follow a car during a corner. I lost a lot of grip everytime and had to back off. So i had to choose a different line to use my straight line speed to overtake.
I started at the back of the grid (due to my Q problems, rFactor crash when pressing Exit "to garage") and had some close fights all over the race. Near end of the race i slammed into the wall following the other Gulf McLaren and damaged the right hand side of the car. From then on, it was very difficult and ended with that contact.

Perhaps next sunday there will be a possible better result.

That was a good race with lots of overtaking even if it got a little close at times. I need to work on my restarts as I was getting overtaken at each one. I fell to about sixth on the final restart but the car was good enough to fight back and take a win (or is that pole).
Was the Simon Wattman car using qualy boost as it came past everyone with a much quicker top speed and was the first car to pit.

Results and points are up

I joined the server late and totally missed the qualy engine thing

Also sorry to David Jaques for pit exit

I should be DQ for this event

Quite stressing these sprint races, but fun, and I have learned on the way some important things regarding the setup.

My car was slower at the start (Hence me losing several positions on cold tires), but a rocket from mid to end of the fuel tank, yet I didn't seem to be able to get back all distance I had lost in the first laps of each stint People were drafting each other away from me, and when you lose that train on such a power track it's hard to get back to the top even if you have a quicker ride. Dana was again very lucky with her pit stop, when I saw the yellow just the lap after she pitted I thought myself that would end her race, but nope. After that pit stop I pressed hard and caught the leaders again, then at the penultimate corner Jason slid upwards and pushed Dana outside, and I found myself in the perfect position for the oportunistic move and stole their wallet

Now I will have to spend some time setting up the car better for the 500 miler

Indeed, what a "nice" move from Jason on Dana. It deserves a bouquet of flowers.

Jan Kowalski wrote:

Lost my left front suspension in that fight at the last turn.

Yeah, that was a stupid move, i apologize.

Ben Paulet wrote:

Indeed, what a "nice" move from Jason on Dana. It deserves a bouquet of flowers.

Yeah, that "move" was 100% unintentional; my car just slid up the track as I tried to hold the inside line.
My apologies to Dana for a clumsy end to what was a great battle.

Heat 1:  Really enjoyed the racing.  Let's admit it, I'm not the fastest sled on the slope, so generally I like long tracks and long races as they allow me more time to work a points paying strategy.  Forty laps? Hmmm.

The first half of the race was calm around me but after a perfectly timed mid race yellow (two actually) things started to heat up. In the last few laps, running 9th,  I caught and passed fellow Eagle/Offy driver, Michal for 8th. I then started closing on Raul while dreaming of a satisfying 7th place finish. Last lap: I caught Raul's draft down the back straight to get close and remained close through T3 and closer into T4. I fought getting loose out of T4 and then gained draft speed and finally pulled out for the pass.  Heart pounding and hands sweating I lowered in the seat hoping to reduce the 191 mph wind resistance. Alas, it wasn't to be as Raul beat me to the line.

Congrats to Raul for fine 7th place finish and thanks to the Admins for putting on this amazing event.


(at the finish: closing on Raul but it was, too little, too late)

Jason White wrote:

Ben Paulet wrote:

Indeed, what a "nice" move from Jason on Dana. It deserves a bouquet of flowers.

Yeah, that "move" was 100% unintentional; my car just slid up the track as I tried to hold the inside line.
My apologies to Dana for a clumsy end to what was a great battle.

Don't blame yourself Jason, Dana did come down the track into you just as much as you slid up (Very little) It was a racing incident.

I lacked some speed down the straights so I couldn't quite run with the leading trio before the pitstops. I stopped one lap too late actually, reaching my stall on fumes. 40 gallons of fuel, right-side tyres and slight wing adjustment later I had gained three places, only to watch Richard Coxon soon fly past in his superior 73.

Scott beat me on a restart and I couldn't get close enough to try any serious moves after that. As much as I don't like cautions, the late yellows may have helped me retain third place, Pascal was running very strong in his McLaren there.