Round 7 - Michigan 500 [Jul 23rd]

Points are up.

That was a nice race. Switzerland is now two for two on the superspeedways. Congratulations to David, good win mate.

My race ended when Michael Drechsler came sliding down the track into my path. My collision with him caused superficial damage, then I hit the outside wall and lost a wheel. 

On another note, I was frustrated by the near-constant jockeying for position in the back of the field.  This basically ensured the leaders would break away each time we went to green. Here I am, trying to stay in contact with the cars in front, and the other drivers around me insist on running side by side simply because they can. I'm glad the open race will allow for handling to decide things more than slipstream.

I was having lovely race. Just a Sunday drive, going as fast as I needed, maintaining a gap, boost down to two, saving fuel, waiting for the pack to get their shit together to mount a challenge, just enjoying myself and maintaining my concentration in case something weird happened.

And it did.





Hey! Shit happens, Bob. Don't worry about it.

By the way, it was a very nice take off. Maybe next at flight school they'll teach you how to land the sonofabitch.

Close finish in the end, but still very happy with a unexpected 2nd place. Not found the pace (only 18th on grid). I am not the best oval driver, but i learned much last year from Bob which results in some top finishes (3rd at Indy, now 2nd). Big thanks also to Juha for his magnificent setup. Now i finally have to win a WEC race on exchange


Two big incidents occured during the race:

Flying Urick was frighten me, but somehow i managed to get by without any damage



And got a unlucky supension damage from that Coxon/Forester incident, but i took me back to the frontrunner who were already pulled away after the first restart in the last 20 Laps.


At the last pitstop i made a big error with loading too much fuel. I miscalculated because of the action on the track, and had to finish with 100 Litre Fuel at the last lap. Could have made it much easier, but well.
The last 5 laps were very intense, close battles, up, down, 3-wide, little contacts. Got in front on the backstraight, David sliped by, and after the last turn i pulled beside him, but not managed it by some feet. 100 Litre were too much for that. But he deserves it, incredible finish rate and always in the top 5, WD

Glad to have a little summer break now to be back fresh for the 2nd part of the season. Five Road Courses, and only two ovals should suit me well.

Yugo starts, Yugo finishes!!!

Oh, I hear no jokes any more

Yugoslav production proved its quality and durability.

First, I supprised I saw my rocket in 10th on quallys.. the lap was not so great, but it looks the others just didnt made their best.

Then, my Yugo went to stratosphere, it was in first fifth of the race. I though, this is it. Stupid mistake, driving in pack, avoiding some cars in front, went over the pit entry, and "oh my god is full of starts". But, again, Yugoslav labor showed their skills, 267sec repair made the car go allmost like new. With 5 laps down.
Last position, but race is long. And yes it is..

Another kiss with (I think it was mr. Stephens in pits), another 60sec repair, but with position I was stuck in, it made no difference. Just another lap down.

And finaly, the "top" drivers took care for the rest... At some moments I thought that all those "take it easy"'s, "its 500miles race"'s, are pointed to them, not to us, mortals.

So, with just avoiding trouble, as much as I was allowed to, I made it to the end. And even more, to points.

I would like to thank mr. Stevens for setup base he provided, it made that "click" in my garage right were it had to.

I would like to thank to several drivers I had "duels" with on the track, from my perspective it looked like we are really great drivers. And specialy to mr. Bos, I think he was the only one who got the point of "sling-shooting" eachother to reach the packs in front. Really great time, and amazing pleasure, and above all, great experience and progress in (my) driving skill.

Id like to ask mr. Wilks not to perform any "kamikaze" drive any more. You knocked me out in Indy500 in very first lap, and same situation repeated here, several times. There is no doubt in our driving skills difference, and speed on track, but such reckless driving at very beginning of the race, upon every restart that I was near you.. Its one thing if you fly-by me (and others) like a sidewinder, but you forced me to avoid you several times, and that is not ok. Id say if it was at the last laps, but, even then Id expect more scrupulosity from a driver of you calibre.
Last thing Id like to see is me hitting you out of the race. After Indy500 I was quiet, since I was not sure was it my fault or not, but now I saw that it takes two to tango. Same goes to mr. Foster, but in no such ammount.
Id hate to be blamed by you for ruining your races, and just becose you had to be in front in very first moment.

Allmost same goes to mr. Chacon, dear sir, you hit me once, and I managed to remain on the track, what, unfortunately was not the case with you, and then you did the same thing again, near the very end of the race, with 2 or more laps behind me, and with no any need to "fight" for the position with me.. I just cant find any sense there, Im sorry. I was sorry to see you off the track, we could have a great duels to the end of the race...

And, finally, encouraged with such outstanding race results, and after seeing a blast of its product in friendly capitalistic rival, USA, Yugoslav motor company "Zastava", proudly anounces a new car model, which is to conquer the north american continent, and restore peace and order on global leve.

Ladies and gentlemen, hold your breath....

Jason White wrote:

My race ended when Michael Drechsler came sliding down the track into my path. My collision with him caused superficial damage, then I hit the outside wall and lost a wheel. 

Was that when I had my own crash or was it another incident? In any case my apologies.

Also sorry for the guy right behind me I gave that huge fright when I hit the brakes in the middle of the straight. A moment ago I was following Scott close, but still sensible distance, and a split second later he lags and I can read the serial of his rear wing support I totally freaked out and hit the brakes. Worst thing to do, I know, but in that moment a reflex.

Jan Kowalski wrote:

Big thanks also to Juha for his magnificent setup. Now i finally have to win a WEC race on exchange

You're welcome. Can we turn Mugello into an oval so I can come up with a suitable setup?

Raul Jereb wrote:

Yugo starts, Yugo finishes!!!

Oh, I hear no jokes any more

Why do Yugo drivers recognise each other so easily?

They meet every morning at the garage to have theirs cars fixed.

I'll stop it now.

Raul Jereb wrote:

I would like to thank to several drivers I had "duels" with on the track, from my perspective it looked like we are really great drivers. And specialy to mr. Bos, I think he was the only one who got the point of "sling-shooting" eachother to reach the packs in front. Really great time, and amazing pleasure, and above all, great experience and progress in (my) driving skill.

That was the plan, but I think my setup was better than yours because I had to back off a bit too often and it felt to me as if you didn't have the speed to make the pass. It probably cost us some time, but being so many laps down it didn't really matter. Can't complain about the driving though, nice clean drafting.

Raul Jereb wrote:

Then, my Yugo went to stratosphere, it was in first fifth of the race. I though, this is it. Stupid mistake, driving in pack, avoiding some cars in front, went over the pit entry, and "oh my god is full of starts". But, again, Yugoslav labor showed their skills, 267sec repair made the car go allmost like new. With 5 laps down.

This is the incident that put both Simon Wattman and myself out of the race. My car ending up over the debris fence and out of the track. Please be more careful in the future, this was an avoidable incident that put two innocent cars out of the race.

Jason White wrote:

On another note, I was frustrated by the near-constant jockeying for position in the back of the field.  This basically ensured the leaders would break away each time we went to green. Here I am, trying to stay in contact with the cars in front, and the other drivers around me insist on running side by side simply because they can. I'm glad the open race will allow for handling to decide things more than slipstream.

I too thought that was frustrating, but on the other hand, I now regret that I didn't feel out how the car felt at ten tenths earlier on! I didn't realize that I had a huge push until the final dash to the flag, waaaay too late. I didn't touch the boost button until that stint either. Guess I could have planned that better...

Raul Jereb wrote:

Yugo starts, Yugo finishes!!!

Oh, I hear no jokes any more

Yugoslav production proved its quality and durability.

+/- 1 I finished like a Yugo. Off the side of the road missing a lot of parts and smoking.

On October 4th, 1987, Yugo and Lada had a showdown to determine the pride of Eastern European manufacturing prowess. The endurance event was to be one lap around the Olympic Village in Sarajevo.

As soon as one of them gets back to the start/finish line, we'll let you know.

So, see? Still jokes.

David Sabre wrote:

This is the incident that put both Simon Wattman and myself out of the race. My car ending up over the debris fence and out of the track. Please be more careful in the future, this was an avoidable incident that put two innocent cars out of the race.

Im terrebly sorry becose of that.. I forgot to appologise. I hate to see anybody quiting becose of me.
I just wached the reply of that incindent becose I just couldnt remember what caused me to exit the track. I still cant remember, but i think I started to avoid mr. Ridall when he started to move to the right, but then he changed his direction to the left, and since mr. Fredriksson was allready at my right, I rejected manouver to the right not to touch him. I think I was avoiding mr. Ridal and went left not to touch him..

Im sure that it was not an overtaking manouver, since I was not overtaking nobody, my car was rather slow in corners and I was just hanging behind others to save fuel..

Im sorry again..

No problem Michael, it was me behind you both times.

Regarding the lag with Scott, yes your were disappearing for split seconds, or shooting up the track and then back down in an instance. One time i was following close behind you, but then you lagged for a second and i was suddenly in first. 

I was lagging, too?

Scott Urick wrote:

Hey! Shit happens, Bob. Don't worry about it.

By the way, it was a very nice take off. Maybe next at flight school they'll teach you how to land the sonofabitch.

Thanks Scott  I do feel bad about ending you race.  
I knew that getting close to the grass there was dangerous.  But I also knew that for me the quickest times was when I came out of T4 very low.    Not worth the risk I see.

 I was within a lap or two of making a pit stop. I had let Bruno  get a few car lengths ahead. (For a large chunk of the race up till then we had been very close on the track).  lapse of concentration.

I had one lag episode with Raul (I think,  White car). He had been 2-5 car lengths ahead of me  and in a blink of an eye he was even with me on my left with only inches separating us. He then smoothly motored away.

Congrats to the finishers. And thank you to Bruno for  providing some fun laps.

So close.

Great shot!

Hell of an ending! Was happy to be watching, even though I'd have rather still had a dog in the fight...even if it was a weak dog.

One tenth of a second behind, and still only 4th...

I guess that one beats Dana and me at TWS last year

Two things I knew going in: stay off the start/finish grass and don't touch the back straight wall.  Well, on lap 29 I did brush the back straight wall, and I mean just brushed it, and I started fishtailing out-of-control down to the inside of the track pushing Alan Forster into the grass. Sorry Alan.  Viewing the replay I see I lost the rear wing.  Went to the pits and 110 seconds later I was back in the race a little bruised, a little sadder, a little wiser and two laps down with a long way to go. I settled in, put in a lot of fun laps racing (drafting) with the back group, pitted every yellow and made slow progress up the standings as others fell to misfortune.  I will add that while my car still seemed pretty fast (relatively) my first gear no longer worked, which was only a problem when pitting, until the end.  Can you lose a gear in this sim?  

I'm running 11th counting down the laps with twenty or so to go when a yellow comes out.  The guys (gal?) in front of me start slowing and I do too.  As I enter the back straight the cars in front brake harder and then I do and my car immediately swaps ends and I end up stationary at the bottom of the track pointing up the banking. I quick shift to first and the engine revs but nothing happens.  Oh yeah, no first gear.  Just as I shifted to 2nd someone makes contact with my front right side removing my right front wheel. Game over.

I see I still gained a point for finishing 12th, and I'm grateful for that, but after all that seat time and all that had happened, I really wanted to finish the race under power on this amazing two mile oval.

Thanks to the HSO crew for putting on the fine show.

Jason White wrote:

Amazing

500 miles to win by 6 inches.

I think ESPN really wanted J.R. in the booth for this one. I guess the Goodyear blimp was at another venue..

I'm still not quite sure what happened. I was having a little bit of lag at the start that seemed to be getting better, but I was nowhere near the apron when the Lola started doing aerobatics. It was a fun race to watch though. Superb finish!