Round 16 - Phoenix (Dec 18th)

The car was handling like dogshit and I tried to force it around the track and destroyed my tyres. I had a couple of close calls with David Sabre and Scott Urick; my apologies Finally vaulted the retaining wall and rolled into the scenery. What a frustrating end to a great season.

Nothing but bad luck for me this season... Car was quick altough on the ragged edge. I went all or nothing. Started smoothly, but then my game minized and i went to the desktop. When i got the game back up, i was in the wall with a ton of damage... altough slower, i could have still won the race, but in the last pitstop, someone must have touched me, because the "%!%$"% stupid option of REPAIR ALL was again on!!! That was the end for me there...

Jukka Maattanen wrote:

Finally vaulted the retaining wall and rolled into the scenery.

I saw that!    Bad end to the race, but must have made for compelling TV...

I had few horror moments wathcing in my mirrors some cars airborne!! Jesus, that was scary!!!

Quite nice race for me, I managed to make first 50 laps without touching the wall, which was my annual goal . Then I touched it, but nothing serious happend, except cosmetics.. Martin started those early on, though, but no worrys Martin, car got even faster!

Since Im still affraid of this cars, I can say it was a succsessfull season (in this mod). Im really looking forward 1988 (I still wake up nights, covered in sweat, with '98 images in my head )

Thank you all who made this (and everything else) possible. Respect.

First of all, congratulations to Jacob, My teammate, David Sabre, and Mick Chapman. Congratulations to the HSO Team for this great Mod and Season.

My race went bad from the start...I screwed up my qualifying lap and started 17th. The first few laps went OK, then I brushed the wall coming out of turn 4 and damaged my right front suspension. Then the yellow came out and I spent 62 seconds in the pits. To make a long story short, during the rest of the race, I managed to hit the wall in the same place 2 more times. I hope I did not get in anybody's way...I was really struggling with my car's front end.

Very grateful to have finished this race.

Wooohooo! Did not expect this kind of end to the season!

The plan was to stay out of trouble. I did not have the best pace, but since it became a race of attrition, I felt I had a chance of a podium. The STP Eagles were faster than me, and were very tough to pass. So the pit stop at the caution right at the middle of the race was just a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing. Seem like a good idea to get out of sync with Wilks and Sabre.

I thought that without a yellow I wouldn't able to make it, but obviously had mileage enough! Some laps were quite slow, but only after noticing how much time Sabre and Wilks lost in the pits. I laughed my way home the last few laps, a very nice feeling!

Thank you all so much for the congrats and for the competition this season! My favorite HSO season so far. Can't believe I end 2016 with 3 wins!

I'll return later with a full season review.

How to blow a race

I was totally out of pace in qualifications. But that was not the case in race. With the draft the car was not so bad. I gained confidence then in the car for the race as it was very easy to handle. I also change my front wing to 15 from 19 and rear wing to 22 from 21 as I read it on the chat. I think it was Alberto saying that. Thanks for the tip:hello: . And it works quite well. The car wasn't overheating its tyres and has lost nothing in smoothness on the throttle.

I also make a bet for my strategy. I was quite sure there will be a yellow between lap 20 and 30. So I start with only 61 liters in the tank. With so few methanol the car was more than a match to the slower Offy. I was 19th in qualy (or worse don't remember) and I was capable to follow the pace in battle for 10th.
I got a very frigthening moment when I was hit from behind on the first yellow then hit again on the side. two guys blew their braking point and used my car as a mean to slow down. But the car was, fortunately, not impacted.
The good window for yellow arrives. And so does a yellow flag. No need to say I was most happy about it. So I wait one lap to avoid the rush and I do my first pit stop. Change only one side of tyres and full tanks. After it I was still in the race for the 6-8th place. I had the advantage to have only one more pit stop to do then. Everything was good. Luck was on my side...at last.

During that stint I keep my pace. The car was a true delight. Smooth on enter, smooth on exit. A yellow occurs with 76 laps to go. I then took another bet. It wasn't planned then but I made quick calculation. With 76 laps to go my car can't make the arrival (I will missed 2.2 l). But with 74....it will be good as I will be at least one lap behind the lead at arrival. So I wait. The car safety was still on the track on the 76 laps of the race...Well go for the pit. Nearly good call. I get out just as the race was green again.
But I've lost any draft then. With the Chevy it was a huge handicap. Nonetheless I was quite confident I could finished somewhere between 6th and 8th. I was 11th but no more pitstop to do while my rivals had to do one more. And we were in the same lap. So my strategic choice was paying.

Alas my luck runs out. I made a small mistake on T2. The car hits the fence and I lost a tyre. Back to the pit to retire. Everything I've done so good so far was lost. But the pitcrew changed the tyre to my surprise. But I've ruined anything I've gained with my strategic bet. To make everything worse the rear right suspension was bent. The car was hugely oversteering (nearly lost it quite a few time) in straight and exit. There was nothing more to do but to reach the checkered with a very difficult car to drive.

Instead of the soft finish I've to battle with Juha during the 10 last laps. He nearly overtakes me during the few last laps but I managed to prevail...only to loose my position on the roster after the race. Got a one lap penalty and got expelled from my 10th position.
A very sad end for a season of discovery of oval racing.

Nonetheless many thanks for the modders, the organisation and everyone who made this season possible.
It was a great moment overall despise being unable to use to its best my car.

They told me to practice.

They told me to setup.

They told me to survive.

I did, actually.

Now I tell them to be careful whilst racing in the pack


Race (competitively) over after like 3-4 laps when some cars collided in the pack and I had nowhere to go... already had a scare when Petr flew down my inside at the last turn when I was about to #occupy that piece of tarmac aswell.

#patience  

I managed to limp back to the pits as the most important, the engine, was still running and I had enough wheels to drag it to my pit stall.

While other cars retired, I got my car repaired to a drivable state and kept going.

In the end, I managed to wrestle the car home in P14 whilst not being last to cross the line.

But damn it was frustrating.

The front tyres were losing grip early in all stints as the understeer increased through damage, impossible to be fast anymore.

I tried to leave room when much faster cars approached, but I nearly always kept drifting out to the outside wall at the exit as my front just wouldn't turn.

Sorry to those that got scared or held up.

BIG SORRY to Jason as there was one instance where the caution domino effect led to me running up his rear wing

Too bad none of these 3 races had a happy end, I hope I'll be more fortunate in the '88 season.

That didn't go as planned.

My PB would have put my 7th on the grid. Instead I made a mess of both laps end ended up 13th. No big problem though, I had a good race setup so I was confident I could improve on that.

The opening laps were like qualifying, useless. I was running behind Ludovic who slowed more than I had anticipated into T3. I couldn't avoid him and my hit slid his car into Bob Holada's path, and then Bob Wilson, and I think Hlavac as well. Sorry guys.

After that I had more understeer than I wanted so all I could do was aim to finish, while trying to get out of the way of the cars lapping me. In the final laps I closed in on Ludovic again but I lost out by a few tenths. He then lost a lap and I got 10th place.

It wasn't how I wanted to end the season, but I enjoyed all of it. I hadn't expected oval racing be such fun, and I'll definitely be back for the 1988 season. Thank you for organising this.

Results and final points are up. 

Congratulations Jacob.
I was happy enough to qualify second but was nervous about being on the outside at the start but it was a good clean start and I decided to just sit behind David Jaques and wait until later in the race. After a few laps Dana was right behind me and trying to find a way past and that slowed me down a little. I managed to hold on and it looked like Dana was being challenged by Richard Wilks and then Dana disappeared. Early yellows allowed me back up to David Jaques and I was able to follow him until it looked like he got a disco, it would have difficult to overtake him. The first pitstop dropped me down a few places but I was back to second following Richard Wilks. The car had picked up a little bit of damaged getting back to second but I was still able to keep up with Richard. I stopped a little bit early for the second pitstop, parked cars in the pits and an overshoot delayed me more than normal. Returned to the track in fifth a lap down and hoping some of the cars in front would have to stop again. Jacob and Mick didn't stop again and I was pushing as much as I could to catch up as there was a chance of catching Mick. Having caught Mick with two laps to run it would difficult getting past but a gap on the inside of the final turn on the final lap I managed to get by. Sorry Mick but I had to.
A very enjoyable race and a great end to the season.
Now off to watch the youtube coverage.

Now what a waste of time and effort...

I found a nice setup this afternoon, which was just as I liked it and was lapping nice and constantly. Didn't care to much about a quali setup, but found something nice, but when it came to the session, the car proved to be somewhat to loose and I couldn't get a lap together. Oh well, gotta fetch that up in race, I suppose.
Race went off okay, soon we had the first yellow, I could avoid the melee in front of me, but got hit from behind, hit the wall and lost my nose. Awesome! I could continue and went to the pits, but a lap was lost to begin with.
The race continued, and I tried to find some confidence in the car. It wasn't handling as nice as I remembered, having to fight the understeer again that I just got rid off. I don't know if the track had changed or if damage played into it,it sure wasn't a pleasent drive, but could find some kind of a halfway steady pace. Unfortunately, I was involved in the second yellow of the day, again. Greg Dellacella passed me, but then lost his rear coming out of the last turn, hit the pitwall and pushed me into the same, too. Luckily, all parts kept attached, and going through the next two turns, the car felt no worse, so I decided to stay out. Fast forward a bit, we got a longer stretch under green and I could burn half of my fuel of, krept up a few positions, and took the opportunity to refuel under the next yellow. That put me behind some guys I was already in front of, track position wise, but a short calculation showed I just needed fuel for anothe 30 laps at best. My strategy was already for the birds very early on, so my plan was to go as far into the second half of the race as possible and then see where I'll get from there.
For most of the race I was somewhere around Petr Hlavac and Juha Bos, and while I couldn't really judge where I stood compared to Petr, I was faster than Juha, it just proved difficult to pass him, as I had the higher cornering speed but he could accelerate faster out of the corners, so I couldn't really complete the pass him and lost time on Petr. Out came the next yellow, and I decided to try getting ahead of Juha on the restart by the next wave of the green flag. I kept close to him and tried to accelerate early to fetch him, but I pushed the throttle just a bit too much, out came my rear and I hit the beginning of the pitwall and skidded somewhere into the paddock. Having no idea where I actually was, and being somewhat annoyed by now, I decided to quit.
A not so great ending to a season that started off pretty well with 7th at Texas, but the switch to the Eagle chassis wasn't an easy one and Trenton a characterbuilding experience. Indy proved to be better, after a nail-biting quali, the car performed pretty well, I just blew the engine in a most stupid way during the race. Yet made it far enough to become Rookie of the Year. Woohoo!
What followed was a characterbuilding stretch over a couple of races, where I slowly got behind the tricks of the Eagle, but results were a bit lacking. Got hit from behind under yellow in Milwaukee and Michigan, a crash at Pocono after some bad luck before, second Milwaukee bad luck with yellows and refueling again, Ontario quali heat, I did what was possible, but I was the slowest car out there this time, Ontario 500, I got DQed for dunno what. Makes 3 500s I didn't finish, not so grand. The first of the Michigan twins was done after a crash under yellow, though this time it was my bad. The second heat was a bit F.U.from the beginning after the chaos in the first heat, by running without yellows, some stupid driving in my group, spending too much time in the wind and in the end being one or two laps short of fuel. Trenton 2 was a pretty good race, but the late decision to run without yellows at Texas II cost me dear again, as I once again ran just a lap or two short of fuel again. Well, and now Phoenix, that took me quite a while to get the hang off, then some input by the others didn't help me at first (seriously! How can you drive like that with so much understeer??), but combining the provided setup with my wings and springs just did the trick. Just raceday didn't go as smooth as described above. Oh well, there's soon a chance to do better, if I see that right

Thanks for organising that great series and the (mostly) good and fun racing! See you soon again on track!

That was me who hit you Michael, sorry. Was behind you and when you slowed down I did not have anywhere to go and hit you

Regarding the understeer, I was driving the Finley and that thing has so little grip that you cant run more FW than that.

Richard Coxon wrote:

Results and final points are up. 

Sorry for my absence

Did not get home in time

David Jundt wrote:

BIG SORRY to Jason as there was one instance where the caution domino effect led to me running up his rear wing

No worries; there was no damage incurred on my end.

Firstly thanks to everyone who was involved in running this mod/season, even when there was issues with penalties/safety cars the races were still good fun Even driving the cars on an empty track(something I normally hate) was enjoyable

This race I didn't get much time to practice so never got the car to work well so am happy to finish and in 6th place, results seem to be wrong though as Richard C finished in front of me?

Also appeared to be an issue with the pace car periods, after I pitted under yellow the game wouldn't tell me who to follow, so I just followed the car I was behind but some people were using that issue to significantly improve their position without penalty which doesn't seem fair or right?

Also on one safety car period when Ludovic and me were the first 2 cars behind the pace car we had the 2 lead cars lining up beside us for a 2 wide restart which is abit weird?

I got a 1 lap penalty, it was silly but partially justified. I decided to leave it.

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

That was me who hit you Michael, sorry. Was behind you and when you slowed down I did not have anywhere to go and hit you

Regarding the understeer, I was driving the Finley and that thing has so little grip that you cant run more FW than that.

I'll send you an invoice, okay?

Well, concerning the setup, when I was considering giving up and have relaxed sunday, David Sabre and David Jacques did their best to guide me through the track and provided me setups that were adapted to the Eagle-Foyt, but the car was still understeering like stupid, and while I had difficulties going under 27s, they both ran low 26s, while all I had was a wall constantly running into my car from the right. The car wouldn't turn to save my miserable life! That's why I don't get it how one can go that fast with a car that much out of whack like it was before I redid it.

Screengrabs are up

http://historicsimracing.org/en/resultatscourse/1219

Richard, feel free to post these on the HSO FB page

Tried a little experiment.. the first few laps of the race viewed from the stands, as if from the point of view of a racing fan.

I would like to address the Bob Holada accident that occurred off turn four in the early laps of the race today.  I have reviewed the replay many times and it is what it is, I hit Bob and put him into the pit wall and into a frightening accident.  

I was running behind J. Boss, L. Tiengou, and Bob Holada and we were just starting to exit turn four when L. Tiengou tried to get under J. Boss  and lost control and got sideways.  Bob started to go under him and Tiengou, trying to correct his car, turned  down on Bob, pushing him off the racing surface at the entrance to pit lane. This happened in the blink of an eye and I thought Bob was going to enter the pits, but he came back onto the track right in front of me, at a reduced speed and I hit him and turned him into the pit wall.

I feel awful about this and can only say to Bob that I am truly sorry for what happened, but please believe me it was not intentional.  This was a racing accident and I know how it feels to get taken out of a race at the start. (Rex Mays Classic)

Congratulations to the Winner!
Fantastic Mod, fantastic Track, very immersive race for me.
Some little trouble during my race, but to finish it, its my happines!
During the pace car, i was scary to put the 1st gear, to not go to the spin, i lost some position.
I recive a stop.and.go, but i dont understand why, i think blu flags.
Stay Behind message go to change many time in one yellow flag stint.
75 seconds to repair car and second time to the pit the same situation, (leave "not reparir damage" in my hud  its not possible).  
My immagination bring me to back in time at 1973, fantastic sensation!  
Great HSO!
And so many thanks to share the Setup!

Gianluca Desposito wrote:

I recive a stop.and.go, but i dont understand why, i think blu flags.

More surely because the game thinks you were too slow under yellow....I've got the same issue myself

Jason White wrote:

Tried a little experiment.. the first few laps of the race viewed from the stands, as if from the point of view of a racing fan.

Looks great, fantastic idea