Round 12 - Grand Premio d'Italia [Jul 30th]

Little broadcast tonight

Will Jason be there to call on the action and shake his head while we head through the first chicane?

Btw: What are the rules at the start regarding the paved area behind the white lines on the right side? Are cars trying to evade slow starters or in another way spreading out allowed to go there or is it forbidden?

Evasion past white lines on the start is allowed.

Equipment failure more or less put me out of the race

Didn't open my window, thought it wasn't too warm because I wasn't at all uncomfortable like I usually am when it's too warm in my room but my computer or wheel overheated a little bit causing input lag so when I pressed the brake pedal for Lesmo1 I had half a second when nothing happened steering or brake wise and just careered off losing my front wing and picking up some steering damage.

Opened my window during the pit stop but it was too late, I had gear issues which caused my mind to wander away, put myself without a safety margin braking for Ascari, got onto the grass and was a passenger as the car went into the tire barrier at unabated speed (would have loved for the gravel to slow me a little bit but it is what it is now) and broke off both my front wheels


I wasn't looking forward to the race but all I had to do was to keep the car on the road, had it been due to a driver error that I picked up the initial damage I'd be all good but when it is my equipment that caused me to go off I can't describe my dissapointment at the moment

Anyway, at least Monza's over with, it can only be better for the AGS from here on in...

Am I missing something?  Why is there no broadcast? 

I just noticed after crossing the line on the cool down lap(in 3rd car view) that I picked Boutsen again instead of Comas, even though I picked the right car during qualification.

Is that a DSQ by the rules? With 9th place, it doesn't really matter I guess.

Terrible start by me. Did not expect the middle pack to slow that early for the chicane. I dodged left but ended up on the grass and slid all the way into the chicane entry. Sorry if I damaged anyone. I lost a wing so I assume I did. After repairs it pulled left until the LF went yellow then was fine.

Mick Chapman scared the heck out of me when he spun well ahead of me while he was in the lead. I pulled way right and then saw him shoot across behind me. That was close to a disaster. Thank you to Jason Whited for easy passes when lapping.

Surprised with the attrition and did not expect a 10th with my horrid start then 1.5 second slower car (from mid race on I was much faster in practice).

Grats Pascal on the win.

Any advice for "connection lost?"

Thought I could grab another point or 2 for Minardi!!
Huge applause to Grant Riddall & P Rosetti
That was epic! Need to watch replay to see what happened to the 2 of you when we came up to the 2 lapped cars. Tried to leave space for the Larrousse on my right, but thought I felt contact.
Suddenly I was on my own, until the disco

Sorry guys, it seems that the broadcast didn't work.
I tested that afternoon, it worked. I did surely an error with the creating of the event.
My bandwitch being rather weak, I can't verify on youtube in the same time, if it works or not.
OBS didn't return me any error, so I thought it was working.

David Jundt wrote:

I just noticed after crossing the line on the cool down lap(in 3rd car view) that I picked Boutsen again instead of Comas, even though I picked the right car during qualification.

Is that a DSQ by the rules? With 9th place, it doesn't really matter I guess.

If I was a hard ass, I would DQ you, but I won't.   Same equipment.

I trained a lot with Leyton House, but since I could not get the seat, i had to run with Larrousse, Leyton's configuration did not work in Larr but i was lucky and Pascal (Jereb too) gave me a hand to has a Chance to have a good race.

Thanks to the low consumption of the car i build a rhythm for a good result, got 5 positions at the start, but i
prefer to stay conservative to avoid accidents, but this time he came to me, a wing flying and a broken suspension and end of race!

But I'm glad, I signed AGS contract and I hope with J. Acerclinth to lead the team to good results!  

Victor Montenegro wrote:

I trained a lot with Leyton House, but since I could not get the seat, i had to run with Larrousse, Leyton's configuration did not work in Larr but i was lucky and Pascal (Jereb too) gave me a hand to has a Chance to have a good race.

Thanks to the low consumption of the car i build a rhythm for a good result, got 5 positions at the start, but i
prefer to stay conservative to avoid accidents, but this time he came to me, a wing flying and a broken suspension and end of race!

But I'm glad, I signed AGS contract and I hope with J. Acerclinth to lead the team to good results!  

Setups a-plenty at least, I've got the car down as to how to set it up but of course the car has its limitations (such as around this Monza circuit), but hopefully it'll be decent in the last few rounds

Also, Welcome to the team

ANTHEMS  -- CONGRATULATIONS ON WIN #2 PASCAL!  (First solo HSO win)

WINNING DRIVER





WINNING CONSTRUCTOR

Well done Pascal.

Yeah, well.. First Formula One/Solo in general win for me, eh? If someone asks, "How does it feel?"
Feels good, man!

By the way, I'm kind of writing a book here as my report, but I think that's understandable.
Also, it took me three or so attempts because my damn laptop kept going back to the forum homepage while I was writing

Practice

It all started on Monday with the first day of practice. I noticed how well my qualifying setup from Hockenheim would fit the straights of Monza but we'd need a teeny tiny bit more wing. The same day, I messaged Lewis Stephens and asked him if he wanted to work on a setup with me, to which he agreed. Alright, to be fair, I did most of the setup work but what Lewis did a wonderful job with was testing and also reassuring me how wonderful the setups were even when I just had to take a few minutes break due to whatever kind of frustration.
And this went on until Thursday, when the first qualifying session started.

I noticed that my time could get low in the 1:23s, and if I pushed so much that I must not make a mistake to even complete the lap, I could even get into the high to mid 1:22s (where Ayrton Senna's 1991 track record lies if I believe what it says in the track's GDB ). I showed Lewis my hotlaps and told him where he could go in which gear, how much turn-in on the wheel he'd need for a specific corner (the second Lesmo was a very big problem sometimes, since the car would just break loose on the curb) and he learnt very quickly and adapted to this beast of a car.
Come qualifying #1, I'm on the pole, very closely followed by Ray. Alright, good.

Between Friday and Sunday, we worked a bit on both setups, hoping my (mostly) unchanged Hockenheim race setup would work. Since Lewis wasn't in the first three rows after both qualifying sessions, I advised him to keep the car in one piece, wait for the usual DNF's to occur and to basically, play it safe, which he did in the end.

Saturday qualifying, I hope to improve my time a bit and there's Ray again. Great. No pressure, hm?
When I saw him beat my time and get into the 22s, I told myself and Lewis on TS³ with just 5 minutes and one runout to go, "I'm gonna go for it, balls deep. I'll get this pole position" and again, Lewis with his reassuring and encouraging managed to get me to push enough and brake late enough, etc. to get Pole Position. Wonderful, first hurdle is now behind me.

Race Day/Race

On Race Day, I suddenly realized that my car lacked a lot of straight line speed compared to the Benettons, Ferraris and even (at least Jaques') Jordan! So what I did, was apply some minor changes to my setup, which mainly meant, "Remove as much wing as possible but make the car keep wanting to turn in when you reach the Lesmos". Most of the day, I wasn't very happy with my pace in practice because I was afraid my main competition would just eat me alive on the straights (which they did anyways, but that's just because I ran higher wing than they did, I assume). Ask Mick and/or Juha, I honestly had to close the game like, three times or something because I was just frustrated with not being fast enough on the straights!

Anyways, shortly before the race began, Lewis joined me on TeamSpeak and we had a little setup and strategy talk. Turns out he wasn't happy with 30/26 wings either and turned it down to 25/20, just like me. What a surprise
I did some practice starts in the pit lane because I knew that the start was my secret weapon (for the first few laps, at least) to get a good lead. Lewis, starting 7th, wanted to play it rather safely, so I told him to just let the clutch slip and keep the revs up.
So, the race starts, I put up a nice start, not quite as nice as I wanted but hey, I was in the lead! Lap 2 or 3, and I look in my mirrors to see a Jordan approaching fast to get me. Oh my goodess, here we go, I thought. But I have to admit, I'm really glad every single one of those lead fights happened, because I was really tested about my way to defend my position, about my driving style, etc.
At first, Dave could just overtake me on the straights, but I always managed to brake later than him and go up the inside, taking back the lead (By the way, Dave, if you've actually read this far, How much brake pressure did you guys run? I only ran 80%!) for about another lap. After about 6 or 7 laps of this, Dave slightly lost it at the Parabolica and slid into my rear. Nothing critical, however my steering was (or at least felt) slightly bent to the left. I must admit, looking back now, his car must have taken a bigger beating from that incident because the very following lap, he tried to outbrake me into Variante Della Roggia (the chicane before the Lesmos, for those who don't know), and since I braked later than everyone else in general, he lost his car and landed in those gravel traps. So now there were two Benettons behind me! Not that much of a relief, I must say 
When both Benettons closed up on me, I was almost shitting bricks because I saw their top speed. I thought, "Those guys are gonna eat me as breakfast on the home straight", and they did. And also, very smart move from them, to attack me together. I didn't know which one to defend myself against! Well, in the end, my game was the same, just let them overtake me, slide into the slipstream and then pull off a braking move that would even impress me. Well, after a few laps, Juha lost the car in the first chicane and cut, with Mick taking over and continuing to attack me. Unfortunately, the same happened to him.
And if I hadn't forgotten him, Dave was right behind me again, a few laps after his big slide. Holy shi* man, I didn't expect that! Well, same deal again. Let him overtake on the straights, outbrake him, defend yourself by braking late, that was my train of thought. After more laps of this, Dave lost the car again, this time in the first chicane. At that point, I heard Lewis say, "Maybe he's got some problems with his tires", which I could barely imagine, since my Softs were still runnning perfectly, despite me pushing like a madman. When I asked him about his tires, he said his front left is completely screwed, at 60-something % while my tires were still green. I told him to pit ASAP, which he also did.
So, after a few laps, I saw all my direct competitors go for a tire change. Didn't quite know why; My tires lasted the whole race. Anyways, after a few laps, Juha was behind me again and this time, I made the mistake! I lost the car at Parabolica, went into the gravel trap, almost stalled the engine and went back to 5th. Ugh, great. My first thought was, "God dammit Francois, why do you put this deep sand in here? This is gonna cost me the win!", but when Lewis saw what happened on his GID Display, he turned on his magical re-encouragement skills and told me to go for it, he said "You got this, you can do it. Just push, but keep it safe", which I did. And tadaa, five or so laps later, I overtake Juha for the lead again! Wonderful.
We went on fighting for the lead, until he then lost the car at Variante Della Roggia. I honestly didn't see it coming. I was already turning in, when I saw this yellow lightning rush past me into the gravel. My first thought was "Oh shi*!", before I even went to dodge him. Luckily, he didn't suffer any damage.
But from that point on, oh boy, here come the Ferrari! I could hear the Tifosi cheer on their seats, cheer for the Ferraris because they were chasing me like nobody else did. I kept trying my strategy of "let them overtake, and then outbrake them", but it didn't work as well as it did before! Dammit. They must have run higher brake pressure, lol.
Some fifteen or twenty laps before the end of the race, Lewis asked me about my tire wear and when I intended on pitting. I coldly told him "I got no time to pit" and let him know that I'm going to finish the race on the tires I started it on. I thought he'd doubt my choice and tell me to get new rubber, but no, he told me to go for it and that I can manage to carry this race home! Wonderful teammate, he is. Absolutely wonderful.
When I went back from my collosal mistake at Parabolica, I saw Michal pit and Lewis asked, "Maybe Ray has to pit too? You've got good chances to go back to the lead."
Great team mate, Lewis is. Re-encouraging skills like a boss.
So, since that happened, I was now fighting them both, and they had fresher tires. Oh boy... Anyways, Michal then apparently spun at the entrance to Ascari a few laps before the finish, so I only had to worry about Ray. And in my opinion, if I hadn't won, he would've more than just deserved the win. In fact, in the last lap, he even managed to overtake me before Parabolica but unfortunately, he lost it a bit under braking so I could slip through and secure the win.
In fact, on the finish straight, I had my hands off the wheel, holding my fists in the air and cheering as loudly as I could (which isn't very loud if your younger sister is sleeping in the room next door) and I was so relieved and happy about finally having won a Formula One race.


I mean, it wasn't just a win. It broke my damned losing streak, my damn DNF streak which held on to more than... well, since Hockenheim. And I swear to God, I had to really work for this one. And the best thing of all, both McLaren's scored points! For only the second time this year, if I might add. I was also very very happy indeed that Lewis managed to finish in 5th place. Very well done, man!
One thing to note, if it wasn't for Lewis doing his thing, telling me that I've got that, that I can win, I think I wouldn't have held onto it as much as I did. Really wonderfully done, sir! Best team mate ever, if I might say so!

Last but not least, the apologies.
@Dave Jaques, I don't know how you see it, but I may have blocked you from overtaking once or twice in a manner which could easily have gotten me into trouble. Sorry for that, but you see, I was defending a race lead. Glad none of us collided badly though.

Thank you very much HSO for making this race possible and thank you in particular Lewis Stephens for being an absolutely wonderful teammate and friend. (Now I hope you can make a good Stock Car setup to make up for it, eh? )

David Sabre wrote:

Well done Pascal.

Thank you very much, Dave!

Congratulations Pascal!

You finaly did it!

Congrats Pascal, thats a group 2 ticket for next season

Well done, see you at Estoril

Jan Kowalski wrote:

Congrats Pascal, thats a group 2 ticket for next season
 

Oh shit!

I'm glad I gave you some work to do Pascal.

Pascal Mikula wrote:

On Race Day, I suddenly realized that my car lacked a lot of straight line speed compared to the Benettons, Ferraris and even (at least Jaques') Jordan!

My setup was really aimed at the straights, just as it was at Hockenheim. I lack talent and precision for high speed cornering so I had to get my speed elsewhere.

Before qualifying I reckoned I could make the Top 6 and that's exactly what I did. My start was a good one and I managed to outdrag two people into the first chicane. I kept an eye on the leaders but I couldn't get close enough and I ran 4th behind Pascal, David Jaques and my teammate Mick.

Pascal Mikula wrote:

So now there were two Benettons behind me! Not that much of a relief, I must say 
When both Benettons closed up on me, I was almost shitting bricks because I saw their top speed. I thought, "Those guys are gonna eat me as breakfast on the home straight", and they did. And also, very smart move from them, to attack me together.

We're a well organised bunch.

Pascal Mikula wrote:

So, after a few laps, I saw all my direct competitors go for a tire change. Didn't quite know why; My tires lasted the whole race. Anyways, after a few laps, Juha was behind me again and this time, I made the mistake! I lost the car at Parabolica, went into the gravel trap, almost stalled the engine and went back to 5th. Ugh, great.

It was great. For Benetton. We had a nice 1-2 going until Mick lost it at Parabolica and handed me the lead on a plate. I didn't get any relief though because Pascal was closing in and the Ferraris were making up ground after their slower opening laps.

Pascal Mikula wrote:

And tadaa, five or so laps later, I overtake Juha for the lead again! Wonderful.

By now I was doubting the usefulness of my setup. And how did you manage to brake so late? I couldn't brake any later and you left me for dead each time.

Pascal Mikula wrote:

We went on fighting for the lead, until he then lost the car at Variante Della Roggia. I honestly didn't see it coming. I was already turning in, when I saw this yellow lightning rush past me into the gravel. My first thought was "Oh shi*!", before I even went to dodge him. Luckily, he didn't suffer any damage.

My only big mistake of the race and I'm glad you saw me coming or it would have been a real mess. I could have easily cruised to second place but I wanted to win. I've had enough second places, I don't want to go down in history as HSO's very own De Cesaris so I piled on the pressure.

I got a great run on Pascal exiting the first chicane, pulled alongside at Curva Grande and forgot to take into account I was approaching the chicane a lot faster than I had before because of the slipstream. I braked at the usual place and soon realised I was never going to make it.

Ran out of brakes, space and talent. My fault. Leading the race and throwing it away in pure De Cesaris fashion. He would have been proud.

And you might hate François for the deep gravel traps, but I thank him because on any other track the car would have gone straight into the wall but it stopped inches away from the wall.

No damage, just some hurt pride and down to 4th. I tried to catch the Ferraris but I couldn't close the gap and had to settle for 4th place. Still it's my 4th points finish in a row, hopefully I can keep this going in Portugal.

Again the result could have been better, but I suppose I should be lucky with getting away with an undamaged car after my accident. I hope the speed will be there again at Estoril. I'm looking forward to work with Mick again to find a good setup and finish in another non-winning-points-scoring-position.

The only bad thing is I'm screwing myself for next year's car group attribution with these constant points finishes. Admins please be aware it's all about the car, just look at how sh*t I was in the Jordan and still am on CART road courses.

Pascal Mikula wrote:

Jan Kowalski wrote:

Congrats Pascal, thats a group 2 ticket for next season

Oh shit!

Your fault for winning. You could have stuck behind me and we'd have classed you as a second rate driver.

I lost concentration on the parabolic entrance and could not avoid the containment barrier.
I made a conservative start, avoiding the party at the first corner and got on well, from 21 I was already in 18th place.
I was able to keep Acerlinth under control and I was looking for Jundt when the accident occurred to me.
All I had left to do was watch the race on the server.
Congratulations Pascal What a brilliant race! First the Benneton and then the 2 Ferraris who had not fought so much between them, would have pressed Pascal better.

one of the best races of the year to watch and race
only the wrong outcome for the tifosi!

congrats Pascal

the Dallara's couldn't do what they did at Hockenheim
ended early in my so beloved gravel traps, by lag of decent brakes.
so i joined to girls with Hunt to party and cheer on the Tifosi

still looking for a way to make this trackpack as realistic as possible , and this gravel is good but not when entering it at highspeed , they slid too much , what they need to do is to stop you hard, but for the gameplay still able to get out like it is now, however with group C cars you race is over once standing to a halt.

now it's time for a big summer brake but David Sabre will have some headache's in the near future for my plans for Estoril

enjoy the summer, enjoy life
cheers everybody!

Congrats to Pascal on the win!

....hanging on by a mere thread I was fortunate enough to be elevated to a grid spot.
Finishing up under power and in P13 was a challenge in the Coloni, a car ill equipped [understatement] for Monza (or anywhere, for that matter)

Did what I set out to do....survive, and stay out of the way of lapping cars, which is always tough but made especially tough by the speed differences seen in these cars.
I often find racing wheel to wheel "on the edge" to be relatively "easier" than being lapped. Probably the stress factor of knowing that you could ruin races you're not even a part of that adds to that, for me anyways.

...Had fun watching the battles as they blared past me, quite a few times. Had to really strain to keep my focus, keep the car on the track..tough when you are alone for many laps. Thanks for the cautious lapping everyone.

....and onward we go.

Thank you (and the other lapped cars) for moving out of the way when were approaching.

Well my first outing in the Ferrari and what a race it was.

Made a good start but soon realized my pace on a full tank wasn't fast enough resulting in me dropping back to sixth then on the lap I was pitting David and Pascal were both off at the last turn. After my stop I was 5th next lap Mick was off now 4th behind Michal, WIth about 13 laps to go Juha made a mistake, now ferrari are in second and third and catching Pascal on our fresher tyres. Me and Michal swooped positions a few times until he had a spin at ascari which left me to fight for the lead, then last lap into the last corner I thourght I had him , but I was slightly on the grass could'nt put the power down and Pascal went passed for the win.

Well done Pascal you defended well and deserved the win.