Round 4 - Watkins Glen [Mar 25th]

Yves Plaçais wrote:

Pour moi, la course s'est bien passée jusqu'au 59ème tour (1:14:40 sur le replay), un accrochage dans les Esses entre David et Bruno laisse ce dernier en travers sur la trajectoire. Bruno, voulant la libérer au plus vite recule au moment où j'arrive avec Raul et Timo dans les roues, gros gros carton, mais la Ferrari est solide, avant détruit, mais j'arrive à repartir et finis la course en suivant Raul qui a réussi, lui aussi à repartir. C'était chaud, mais bon, cool une deuxième place, mais faut vraiment se sortir les tripes pour tenter de suivre des Mc Laren !

I dont know how your Ferarri survived that.. I saw you flying in the air.. then I saw Timo crashing in me.. I thought I wont be able to move.. but, after all, even all in red, my car was drivable, though significantly slower and unstable, expecialy in corners... Sheer luck, id say..

For me, pretty lonely race. in the middle of the gap, growing from the very start..

Gabriel Sterr wrote:

I then got into a long fight with Juha Bos whom I eventually managed to overtake for fifth and pull away from slowly.

It was a great fight (with some distance between us) but once you got through I couldn't keep up with you. I was already lapping faster than I had in qualifying, but as soon as I tried to go faster I lost it. My car became a second a lap slower after hitting a wall and was a sitting duck for Jason Whited and David Jaques. I made life even easier for them by crashing again, dropping me down to eight.

Mid Ohio isn't my kind of track so I'll be very lucky to get any points from that one, Road America should suit my equipment slightly better.

I got squeezed off in the essess on lap 1.
I won't lie, I cursed Scott Urick. ...all the way down the straight as a thunderous roar of cars came screaming around me. I was seeing red, thinking, "man, I gave you all the room in the world and you squeeze me across the curbing?"

Got to the end of the straight, trying to be cautious as cars were bunched up pretty tight and they had a bit of speed on me. Dropped the lefts off the track and proceeded to slide to the wall. Managed to slow the car enough so that the head on wasn't so bad. Hit it at maybe 25 mph or so.

Now even more angry I slammed the throttle trying to get back onto the track....and around in a half circle I went, again bumping the nose of the car on some barrier. Ugh...enough front end damage that it threw the balance of the car off, but overall not so bad. Dropped to P28 in a hurry though.

[Before I move on though....I did watch the replay and I know Scott did not see me, nor did he intentionally force me into the curbing. It was I that should have backed off, but it's really hard to lift in that section of course, even slightly, without the car becoming unsettled. I am not saying anything in any negative way about that incident. ....all that doesn't negate the fact that what I said above stands. Right or wrong, I was angry at the time]

In hindsight, dropping the wheels at the entrance of the loop was really a godsend.
After watching the replay, I realize I would have more than likely been caught up in the "action" and the big wreck (that I narrowly made it through! ..that was scary!)

The incident also lit the fire and I spent the rest of the race more focused than I think I've ever been in a race. I was hell bent on moving back towards the front and I made headway quickly, and then not so quickly as I was trying to be cautious and not run over anyone just because I was seeing a bit of red.

I made very few mistakes after that...did get caught a few times behind some lap traffic in the essess and was forced to wait it out, but overall I was pretty happy with the consistency.

Worked all the way back to P6 and was putting at least a second a lap on Gabriel and Ray who were battling hard for P4. Got the gap down to 11 seconds or so and am sure I would have caught them (though overtaking them, not so sure) .....that's about the point I realized I didn't have enough fuel to finish the race.

I took a lot of extra fuel (I thought) and throughout testing it seemed to be more than enough, but after the early troubles I spent most of the race driving the car into the ground...high revs, slamming through the gears, holding 3rd rather than upshifting for safety. 1000 wonders I didn't pop the engine, to be honest...lol

So the car was sucking fuel. And I started preparing to lose some spots for a splash and dash.
Some trouble for David Jaques and I saw the gap grow a bit. Was conserving fuel at that point so as to take as little as possible at the stop (didn't know how long that was going to take) but when I saw the gap grow slightly, knowing something had happened, I again floored it hoping to build enough gap to manage the stop and still hold P6.

Luckily, for me, that worked out and I came out of the pits still about 7 seconds ahead of P7.

So P6 it was.
Was hoping to be competitive a bit more towards the front (was really wanting to battle with Raul again ) but that's racing.

All in all, pleased with the P6, considering the entire race was recovery for me (but, seemed the same for many others as well, so it all came out in the wash)

...can't wait for Mid Ohio...one of my favorite courses and these cars should be a hell of a challenge there.

Grats to David on the win and to the podium. Nice job up there, Raul!

Also, big thanks to the broadcast team again.
(Mucho air time for me this time around ) lol lol

Lost a few places at the start and thought I'd struggle to make the top ten here, but managed to thread myself through the carnage on the start line on lap 1, and found myself in 4th. Had a short battle with Steve before his engine blew. Then Gabriel caught me and squeezed passed before the esses, now came an epic fight with me trying to get by lap after lap , But Gabriel new where to place his car and baring a mistake from him I found it impossible to get buy. Well done man that was great defending.

Well done to David for the win and thanks for reading the situation and backing off to let us fight at the end.

Timo Vermeersch wrote:

Philippe Henrique wrote:

Fantastic battle for position with Vermeersh.

Yes, those were entertaining, even if stressful.

You sure weren't willing to accept the lanterne rouge that easily! That was a slightly more rough fight, I think I even gave you a little nudge at some point...

Well, my race wasn't all that horrid, the car had a surprisingly good balance with only very little balance shift, given I had to guesstimate my setup on short notice, was maybe even a bit to careful with camber, as my left rear was just turning yellow by the end of the race. In the end I screwed up myself in the sighting lap, when I saw brake smoke the row in front of me exiting T4, I braked a bit, and that probably a bit to hard, I lost the rear, hit the barrier and my front end was red right away. In retrospect, I shouldn't have pitted right away, but checked what shape the car was actually in, so I lost two laps to begin with. From there it was a pretty lonely race from dead last to the ungrateful 11th position again. Most cars I passed were a lap or two ahead of me, actually, I just passed two cars for position, Timo and Mick Chapman. I think I made up 30 seconds in less than 10 laps on Mick, certainly a more exhausting ride, I was completely drenched afterwards. If someone says, sitting in front of a computer has nothing to do with sports, show him my tee!

Still don't know what to think about yesterday's race, the car was pretty sweet and the ride itself was enjoyful, but I would have prefered to be within my competitive environment instead of fighting not to be the last car running again, even more so as I effed up before the start...

Jason Whited wrote:

Was hoping to be competitive a bit more towards the front (was really wanting to battle with Raul again   ) but that's racing.

Argh, same here.. at one moment I was kinda "waiting" for you, i saw in my mirrors Scott making mess and counted you passed him.. but then all of you started to drop.

See you on next one mate!

Jonatan Acerclinth wrote:

You can find the broadcast replay here if you'd like to watch it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY_jcWobXTc

I hope you enjoy the show

Man, the commentary about the different lines and their effects between Ray and me was spot on, I couldn't have said it better myself. I am indeed driving this car strictly slow in, fast out, mostly on the rear wheels as per Austin's video advice as found in "the Bugs, glitches, driving tips, etc." thread. Brake early, enter wide, coast through the kinematic apex while straightening the steering before actually hitting the innermost point (very late apex, track geometry apex is much later than kinematic apex), then rocket out in as straight a line as possible! For deeper analysis, I urge you to watch the broadcast, fantastic!

You guys read all of that, my tyre wear (Tyres were very good, but the rears were going off with about 15 laps to go as you guessed), all my lines and moves just from watching. Colour me impressed! This level of technical analysis is not present in a lot of real world high level motorsports broadcasts!
Looking forward to the  F1 broadcasts!

I gotta return the compliment to Ray here, that was top notch driving and you definitely had a small pace advantage, especially towards the end. But it's always difficult to get by a car that is quicker in the straights, especially when its natural line kills your momentum in the esses where you have the biggest advantage in speed. I've really been driving this line all weekend because it's the only line that makes sense for my car and I tried using it to its full advantage. Rest assured I had to consciously calm my nerves on several occasions to keep concentration up and make the right moves!

Grats to David Sabre and thanks for letting us have at it at the end of the race from me too!

I've seen some comments about setups ITT and tbh I ran my Road Atlanta setup with two clicks less rear ARB and one click more front springs. That's it, I even carried over the gearing (except for first gear, which I was actually using at Atlanta, but not here). I think once you have found something you are comfortable with, it's best to just leave it with these cars.

Avoided the Carnage in the oppening laps, had an early battle with Weber, but then lonely race with nobody around most of the time.

Made it to final few laps with zero contact or damage. But then misjudged gap while choosing to not lap Timo, and bumped him off at end of long straight. He was able to continue, but this spoiled the mood of a solid top10 finish in the oldest old McLaren

Congrats D Sabre

Stil cannot realize how I managed to avoid all that chaos in the first lap with zero damage

From P24 to 12 after one lap, not bad I thought. Just to see all the faster guys fly away and losing position after position. That fast corners were so slow on my T160, I wondered that no one slammed into my back - nice driving everyone, especially the lapping cars.

P10 at the end and one lucky point - I fear it's the last one for this season, because the next tracks will be way more difficult for my car an point finishes should be unrealistic.

See you in the next one, congrats to the podium!

Jason Whited wrote:

I got squeezed off in the essess on lap 1.
I won't lie, I cursed Scott Urick.  ...all the way down the straight as a thunderous roar of cars came screaming around me.  I was seeing red, thinking, "man, I gave you all the room in the world and you squeeze me across the curbing?"

[Before I move on though....I did watch the replay and I know Scott did not see me, nor did he intentionally force me into the curbing.  It was I that should have backed off, but it's really hard to lift in that section of course, even slightly, without the car becoming unsettled.  I am not saying anything in any negative way about that incident.  ....all that doesn't negate the fact that what I said above stands.  Right or wrong, I was angry at the time]

First things first: I owe Jason Whited a HUGE apology for our incident on the first lap! No, I did not see you until you were over the curb in my mirrors, at which point I think I actually uttered, "Oh shit". But that excuses nothing. Despite my distraction with another problem in the cockpit, I shouldn't have come over unless I was sure there WASN'T a car there. And when I saw the replay, I felt even worse.

I appreciate your candid recollection of the incident. That is precisely the way I would have reacted has our roles been reversed! So I am extremely sorry if I cost you anything in the race.

So . . . on to my debacle.

'Sometimes you're the windshield. Sometimes you're the bug!' I'm getting damned tired of being the bug.

Since Road Atlanta, I had dedicated myself to spending at least an hour per night in my car at Watkins Glen. It was the same version of The Glen that I had run in every rFactor mod that had taken me there for the past ten years. (So it would stand to reason that it most anyone who had raced rFactor there before was familiar with it.)

So in the time since Road Atlanta, I had racked up over 3,000 miles wanting to be as rock solid as possible for this race. As most of you know, I always do a ton of practice for each race because I can't just jump into a car like some of these young turks and go like a bat outta hell and have any hope of lasting for long. I have to work for my speed. And after the start to my season, I was hell bent to get off the snide and do something respectable.

A week before the race we get the HSO version of the track for this series, like always. It drives the same, but the graphics are now period-correct so my marks have changed. Keeping with my practice regimen, I find my new marks and get right back to pace. We're ready to GO!

The black clouds started building over my raceday about ten hours before qualifying.

The night before, I checked the forum and someone is now yowling that the track is all wrong and it's "undriveable". "Bugshit!" is the one-word summation of my response. The arrogant ass can't be bothered to even look at the track until the night before the race and now it has GOT to be changed? I've heard frogs fart before, too!

The server is quiet so I do some off-line practice with some AI to get accustomed to closing rates and erratic driving. Before I go to bed (about ten hours before qually), I decide to check in to the server AND THE TRACK AS CHANGED! And our antagonist is hot-lapping while everyone else is oblivious to the rising storm. "I'll be damned. The frogs are farting tonight!"

I rip off a PM to Jason expressing my extreme displeasure and frustration, grab the new .tdf, and go back to work. I spend another hour feeling out the qually setup. It's about 1.5-2.0sec of the previous pace and the balance of the car is the same. But there is NO time to do a long and tire test and see how the balance is affected over time, unless I want to stay up all night and not be ready to race. Besides, everyone else will have to figure it out whenever they show up for the race.

I decide to check PMs and go to bed. In the meantime, Jason has responded to my PM with his reasoning for the change and understanding of my (and everyone's) frustration, much as he did on the forum. And I truly appreciate his response fully realizing the heat he was going to take for his decision.

Whether you agree or not with the track change, you MUST remember that he was put in a very difficult, and I think unfair, position. And I think his reasoning was valid. You must also remember he does all this for us. I went to bed and all of this, for me, would become a mute point on Sunday.

I arrived as early as possible for raceday. First, I wanted to get as many laps as possible on the new track, and second, I was really curious to see how the track was affecting everyone else. And it seemed everyone was down equally on time and I was still near the top of the charts.

But I soon developed a problem all my own. At one point on one of my hot laps, the car, with my foot flat on the throttle, just bogged down to a halt, killing the big Chevy in its tracks. I escaped quickly so I didn't block anybody and check my settings. The brakes were spiked nearly full-on. (And don't tell me to clean the pedals, because I have. These ClubSports have done this in other games but never racing -- on any platform.) I'm just thinking, "not today". I pumped the brakes and blipped the pedal a couple times and they seemed to come back to normal.

Qualifying: I waited for a bit for the land rush to subside. I shouted, "FREE LAND IN UPSTATE NEW YORK!" When I found a hole in the traffic, I managed a 4.1. Still behind Sabre, but I knew there was more there. Then Sabre kept cranking is down, Placais got hot, and Jereb was on fire. (Great stuff, Raul!) They all get into the 3.8's. I've .3 three in this thing. Let's go get 'em. I can't even get back to my 4.1. Brakes? Dunno.

The Race: Starting 4th. First time down the hill to T1, the front brakes lock. That wasn't me. For the rest of the pace lap, the brakes are heating up on all four corners but the car is keeping up. I'm flipping the brake pedal with my left heal feverishly hoping they'll quit hanging up. Hoping!

Green flag! Brakes haven't cleared but the car launches cleanly. Shamefully, I crowd Whited off the track in T3. Down the back stretch, I can only find 175mph -- 20mph off. "GODDAMMIT!" The crowd is coming -- and FAST! I manage to hold position through the carousel and stomp on it headed for T6.

Now we're talkin'! The car launches for T6. Up to race pace. The brakes are cleared. It's gonna be a long day like this, but I'm just gonna have to keep an eye on it. I've got to finish this one!

I'm up to speed entering T6 and the brakes are cleared but still ungodly hot. FAAAAADE! I over shoot and tag the outside wall, but not too hard. I check the mirrors and Gerard and his Lola are giving me some room. That was very gracious of you, Gerard!

Into the final turn, the brakes are still way too hot and I go too deep again. As I keep her out of the wall, Gerard gets a good line inside and will have the position. And I'm thinking, "If this brake thing doesn't improve on Lap2, I have to get out!"

It was at precisely on the exit that the Shadow hooks my right rear. I still hit the gas. My first thought was right rear suspension broken, but the car is pulling the wrong way. Hell, the lefts are in the grass! I pull the wheel to get her back on pavement.

Meanwhile, the Shadow has now run across to the inside and clapped the nose of Ryon's Lola sending at the inside wall and is now sailing back at me, and Jacques, seeing the hole the Shadow has now plowed open, is rightfully trying to slip through it. In my move onto the pavement, I caught Jacques hard on the left side. And I don't know if that sent him into Ryon. But I do know that the Shadow that was in such a goddamned hurry half a second earlier was now sitting right off my nose and NOT accelerating. I caught him square in the gearbox and that's when I lost the McLaren. I hit escape.

And on top of that . . . . . !

While I was doing Lamaze breathing trying to prevent a stroke and trying to settle myself so as not to join the broadcast in an unprofessional manner, on a bright, sunny day in Ohio, the power at my house fails! Go figure.

Once again, I apologize to Whited for the "squeeze". And I apologize to anyone caught up in the incident on the main straight, but I don't know what I could have done differently.

I would have liked to join the broadcast but perhaps the fates were saying, "Just cool your jets."

Let's go to Mid-Ohio and see what the hell else can go wrong!

Well Scott I guess you spent the rest of your bad luck there, your quota is more than filled up, so now it's the turn for the good luck. I'm sure from Mid Ohio onwards your season will just shoot upwards Just ensure your brake pedal stays put, I got really tired of the brake cell in my CSP until I replaced it for a magnetic sensor. Not yet used to how it brakes, but boy does it make a difference to know that you can rely on it!

Michael Drechsler wrote:

You sure weren't willing to accept the lanterne rouge that easily! That was a slightly more rough fight, I think I even gave you a little nudge at some point...

When you came up to pass me, I thought to myself: "What the heck, it's only about 20 laps remaining, so let's put up a fight." With hindsight, that was probably not the best idea taking into account that the Porsche, besides having no aero aid, also is down some 40 bhp on power.

With even more hindsight, some of my defending lines now seem slightly over the top. Mainly the final one diving for the inside on the approach to The Loop was kinda silly really. Sorry for that.

But in the end, I guess you got the room you needed when needed so I would tend to say: all's good that ends good.

I would just like to score a point in this championship and the Glen really felt like the best spot.

Timo

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

I got really tired of the brake cell in my CSP until I replaced it for a magnetic sensor. Not yet used to how it brakes, but boy does it make a difference to know that you can rely on it!

You still use those after I turned myself into Vermeersch Transport Inc across a half European continent?????

Timo

I got your wheel for my son, who is already making good use of it

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

I got your wheel for my son, who is already making good use of it

Does he also use the pedals?

In that case, he has one hell of a set-up. In my humble and slightly vendor clouded opinion at least .

Timo

That's a nice writeup from you, Scott, very exciting to read! I agree with Alberto, you took all the bad luck in one race here - in true McLaren fashion who always take all their 99 F1 grid penalties in one race to get a fresh start.

Equipment (un)reliability is a huge thing for online racing. Imo better to go for trusty gear than fancy shit - of course coming from the guy who uses a Thrustmaster wheel.  
For real, I spent the half a year before joining this league chasing a system instability in my new PC. Turned out to be defective RAM even though memtest86 spit out zero errors after ten complete passes. That really taught me something about the value of reliability vs performance.

Timo Vermeersch wrote:

Does he also use the pedals?

In that case, he has one hell of a set-up. In my humble and slightly vendor clouded opinion at least .

Timo

Oh yes of course, he uses the full combo, mounted on my old GamePod (I moved to a Simetik cockpit some time ago)

EDIT: For Xmas he might be getting the pressure modeulated brake pedal mod and the optical sensor for the wheel and magnetic for the pedals.

I will post a pic of his setup later if I can

Scott Urick wrote:

I appreciate your candid recollection of the incident. That is precisely the way I would have reacted has our roles been reversed! So I am extremely sorry if I cost you anything in the race.

No worries, Scott. After watching the replay, as I said, I could see that you could not see me there.
I would have actually backed off and tucked in behind you, given our cars and their abilities, but I could hear you on/off throttle trying to balance the car and it sounded like/looked like I had a bit more speed so I was just going to get on through the essess and let you by on the long straight. Plus, I could hear the screaming of the wolves behind us and was in a bit of rush to spread out a bit and get sorted...lol

Anyways...as I said, in hindsight it probably saved my race. Had I not been seeing red and ran off heading into the loop, I'd almost assuredly been involved in the carnage at the start/finish line.

All's well that ends well.

........................
I've had a similar brake pedal issue. It wants to "hang" right at the start of pedal travel sometimes.
I went as far as grabbing some software (for rF, but in AMS this can be done with the in game pedal sensitivity/dead zone stuff) and I created a profile with a slight dead zone at the first part of the brake pedal. Seems it sometimes wants to think I still have my foot slightly in the brake. I've checked to see if something is stopping the pedal coming all the way back to 0, but there is nothing. Clean as a whistle because I'm a stickler when it comes to cleaning my gear.

AMS is actually a good place to test it since there is a pedal telemetry HUD that you can use to observe it as you drive around. And, you can set deadzones at the start, and at the end of travel. Perhaps something like that might help figure it out (or rig it so it doesn't happen as often)

The software I use for other sims where I cannot see pedal telemetry (rF and rF2) came from the Bodnar website. If interested and can't find it let me know and I'll toss you a link.

Nothing worse that gear that wants to have it's own mind.

Gabriel Sterr wrote:

That's a nice writeup from you, Scott, very exciting to read!

+1

Timo Vermeersch wrote:

the Porsche, besides having no aero aid, also is down some 40 bhp on power

Timo

Oddly enough during my lapping attempts, the old M6 would get a run alongside you at the start of long straight, only for your Porsche to nose back ahead before the end of it. Must be slippery, that little bar of soap

Sent from Topic'it App

Brian Janik wrote:

Timo Vermeersch wrote:

the Porsche, besides having no aero aid, also is down some 40 bhp on power

Timo

Oddly enough during my lapping attempts, the old M6 would get a run alongside you at the start of long straight, only for your Porsche to nose back ahead before the end of it. Must be slippery, that little bar of soap

Sent from Topic'it App

I had that with other cars also. I guess you were running a higher rear wing? The Porsche does not have that option.

Timo

McLaren M6 also has no wings. Little down on power too. Gearing and aero I guess?

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Timo Vermeersch wrote:

Michael Drechsler wrote:

You sure weren't willing to accept the lanterne rouge that easily! That was a slightly more rough fight, I think I even gave you a little nudge at some point...

When you came up to pass me, I thought to myself: "What the heck, it's only about 20 laps remaining, so let's put up a fight." With hindsight, that was probably not the best idea taking into account that the Porsche, besides having no aero aid, also is down some 40 bhp on power.

With even more hindsight, some of my defending lines now seem slightly over the top. Mainly the final one diving for the inside on the approach to The Loop was kinda silly really. Sorry for that.

But in the end, I guess you got the room you needed when needed so I would tend to say: all's good that ends good.

I would just like to score a point in this championship and the Glen really felt like the best spot.

Timo

Fair enough, it was still a fight for position, though I thought it was really a bit harsh in the end when you kept moving to the right on the run up to the Loop. More so as I was suddenly surprised by some toprunners appearing in my mirrors when I pulled to the left for a run on the outside. I was to focused on what was happening right in front of my nose  But I'm fine, I got the position, and it was nontheless a nice lil' bar brawl. That Porka seemes to have oodles of traction out of the corners

Hey guys,

again apologies for the long wait, but the Glen-report is now up. Read it here.

Now getting the Monaco-rapport in scaffolding. Have to find a way to get this up sooner.

Enjoy,

Timo