RD Formula Pro Series S4 (rFactor)

[Eric. K]

After all the discussions, I decided to keep everyone better informed on what we are planning for the future. As it stands now, we are already thinking about some changes.

1. Shorter seasons to keep everyone focused. 9 races is too long IMO. It is hard to stay motivated and focused that goes for drivers and the staff (I am tired). Most likely we will go back to 7 events from now on. At the end of a Championship people should want more races instead of being glad it is over.

2. Take another look at the points distribution.

3. For the last time, we will use RACE Mak-Corp mod for season 4 (Sept~December 2010). Tracks and dates are still undecided. Several factors will influence that choice: 2010 RL F1 tracks, track is legal, track has not be run in season 3, etc.

4. I will not run season 4!!! As some of you already know, I am taking a 4months sabbatical from real work and RD work. I will be traveling with my family and friends throughout Europe (France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Netherlands are on the schedule for now). Dave, Ivo, Ryan and Will will run the league! I have full confidence it will be well done!!

5. We WILL switch to rFactor(2) in 2011. No mods or details have been decided, but we will also try to form some kind of partnership with FSR.

6. We are considering charging a small entry fee, but it is still completely undecided. The money would be used for the broadcast, servers, etc.. We will use it to make the league better. As of now, me and a few other people cover all the expenses. That money will not be used to buy prizes!!!

That's all I have for now... We will keep u updated when more info comes along!

 

[Mikael Hellen]

Gutted....1 point more during the season was all that i needed....
Grats Martin Vrba for championship win.
Well deserved
Also thanks to Ivo and RD for hosting another top quality league.
And at last....BIG THANKS to all drivers,great behaviour in all levels.

 

[Mattia Gottardi]

on the pit menu.... YES... but the pit crew refueled and changed tyres anyway

it happens also to me in an another race with an another mod.....it wasn't a stop&go, but it was a drive through, and if you don't do it the first time you join the pit than the game DQ you because the game is a bit buggy....

btw about the tap, don't worry i haven't any damages, and it was only a normal tap due the confusion in front of us!!!

 

[Ivo Simons]

Results are up. We can crown Martin as the champ!

But offcourse need to wait for reports or any other incident.
Dont expect it but you never know.
Congrats also to TBR for taking the team championship.

Big respect also to Mikael. He could have issued a team order to Kevin to take his position and the Championship. But didnt.

Want to thank all of you guys for the season. Very clean and respectful racing all season long. And want to thank you for the commitment also.

Results:

http://www.racedepartment.com/supported/standings.php?type=driver&leagueid=5&menu=season

 

[Ryan Callan]

Nothing to do with the game being buggy

If you don't drive through the pts then you haven;t served your penalty and get DQ just like real llife

Actually better than RACE because RACE only deals in stop/gos, so rF penalises you less if it is a minor mistake. Just keep your concentration and pay attention is best.

 

[Mattia Gottardi]

i think that you have 3 laps for doing it or not???
or maybe that is for a normal stop & go????

 

[Bruno Sousa Ferreira]

Congrats to Martin well done in a tought season and tought luck for Mikael, and don't forget Mattia a very good season for him, well done.

 

[Jayblue]

I was lucky enough to get the chance to race as a team member needed to withdraw. I enjoyed Abu Dhabi last season with the MMG mod in Race 07 so i was expecting another good race tonight.

I struggled in the week to get a balanced setup, the nose never wanted to turn in when i wanted it to and the oversteer out of the slower corners was equally frustrating. Eventually Mikael posted up his setup which was a good improvement over my attempt so i ran with that, thanks!

Quali was very close tussle with Nico, similar to Suzuka but this time i just sneaked ahead by a few hundredths. I started on soft tyres and had a fifteen lap stint to do. My start was poor, the virtual mirror obscured the start light gantry and i had to go off the count down horns instead. It looked like i would loose a lot of positions into T1 but somehow i braked later than everyone and got around the outside to retain the lead. As others fought for position i made a break and got a six second lead after three laps.

Muhammed soon took second and quickly pegged the gap, but didn't seem to be able to make significant gains on me. I pitted on lap 15 and emerged knowing i needed to push hard because Muhammed was running longer in his first stint and lapping very quickly. After he stopped the gap was down to about four seconds i think but he quickly caught me anyway. I had not test the medium tyres out in pre race testing and found they were one second a lap slower than the softs i started on. My pace dropped into the low 1:41's and my lead diminished to zero.

Muhammed passed me fairly easily - i didn't see the point of defending too hard at this stage - but then he was mostly unable to pull away. Maybe it was the slipstream helping me along I managed to re pass him for the lead and fought a little harder to keep the position as my second stop approached. Unfortunately as we were battling side by side so much on my in lap i forgot to request my pit stop in advance and the crew took 13 seconds to do a 6 second stop. At least i was back on softs now and ready for a final charge!

After Muhammed took his final stop he was four seconds ahead of me but i was back into the low 1:40's and also had the advantage of running a very high boost setting having preserved my engine in the slower middle stint. To my surprise i was able to catch up as Muhammed got tripped up by some slower cars and then the final ten or so laps were just the most intense sim race i have ever been in!

Muhammed had a quicker car on the straights so as soon as i left the slipstream i couldn't get past him, making passing very tough. I was however better out of some of the slower corners meaning i found myself trying some unusual moves to get past. Absolute respect to you Muhammed - for all those laps we battled we never had any significant contact or clumsy crashes, just total accuracy. I did nearly take you out once as we dropped down into the slower section after the first few turns but i think you saw my mistake and left some room. Other than that heart stopping moment i had a huge smile on my face!

As the end of the race drew near it became obvious we were now "playing for keeps" as it were. Muhammed had been ahead for a few laps and i knew even trying to overtake him in the early part of the lap would result in being retaken on the following straight. I had to think out of the box and make my move at the end of the lap somewhere. I had previously got past into the section that is next to the hotel before the final split time beam but Muhammed covered it well, i tried to get up the inside as we passed the hotel but that was covered too! Three turns to go and i got as close as possible. Sweeping into the penultimate corner i had one shot left, the final turn. I hit the apex sweetly and picked up the throttle early, then jinked to the inside at the last moment i dared. Muhammed moved to the middle of the road to cover it off, i took to the pitlane entry as the rear tyres briefly locked, forcing a little opposite lock. I just made the corner and managed to take the flag a few tenths ahead!

Superb battle Muhammed, you are testimony to the standard of racers found here at RD. Thanks to Ivo and the league organisers for some great races this season, congrats to Martin on his podium and ultimately the championship. I kept waiting for the team order to let Mikael passed Kevin but it never came! Well done all who finished too

 

[Ryan Callan]

i think that you have 3 laps for doing it or not???
or maybe that is for a normal stop & go????

You have 3 laps yes.

 

[Ondrej Kapal]

Martin big congratulation! It was pleasure to drive for you at Interlagos, shame I was disco'd for this last race deserved first place

 

[Martin Bulgin]

Well done Martin V for the Championship win, really hard race for me tonight as I got discoed in the RDLMS and joined the FPWS server with no practice and no setup but made it to the end of the race with the car more or less intact, I was really pleased to finish 5th in the Championship thanks to mainly keeping the car on the track and consistently picking up points in the lower mid field positions, thanks to Giorgos for letting me drive for his WBR GP team, I thought we did ok finishing 3rd in the teams championship and a big thanks to Ivo for running a very professional and enjoyable league and always being on the server.

 

[Martin Vrba]

:thanks:

well done Jamie & Muhammed, you guys were untouchable today :good:

congratulations to both Mikael and Mattia for 2nd and 3rd place in the driver championship and TBR for dominating the team championship :good:

big thanks goes to:

- all drivers for an amazing racing etiquette (nearly empty penalties thread speaks for itself...)
- my teammates Teo, Mike and Ondrej for great performance which gave Apex GP 4th place in the team championship
- Ivo for doing a great job on organizing this league throughout the whole season

also big respect to Mikael for keeping the title battle fair :good:

once again thank you guys and see you on a track

 

[Bjorn de Haas]

Martin gongratz with the championship a well deserved 2010 champion!!

 

[ufunacaoenn]

My race was an up and down race like this season.

Started in 14th with a big surprise because I was doing 1.45 when I could do 1.43 with 100L of fuel.
On the start there was a big mess so I trying to avoid it by being going alot on the exit road but then I did not accelerate quickly because I would be overtaking lots of cars and I would be dealed a penalty by the admins.

After that I was justa hard charging driver overtakig lap after lap and in the end I had a battle with Martin Bulgin (My team mate) which ended up really badly when he trying to overtake me once again on the indise and lost it on the brakes and forced me wide. Then I had to fight my way back and in the end I was in P9. I really did not push then because the gap to P8 was very big and impossible to minimiz before the end of the race.

Then came the damn mistakes. I hit the wall and lost front wing and some laps later I lost my rear wing which really pissed my of because the steering wheel had more damage then before and I could not handle the car so I pressed ESC and left the race.

I would like to thank Ivo for this fantastic season and I would like to thank evryone for the battles that we had.
For next season here is my feedback: Do not choose the FSONE 2009 mod!!!!

 

[Michael Bonafe]

Prac: did a 43.1 on a 6 laps of fuel, had little time to practice even though I have Martin Vrba's set-up.

Qualy16 with 20 laps of fuel onboard. desperate move to compensate with my slow pace through these tight and slow corners.

Race: DNF: Had a good start. got 2 or 3 places right from the start and all of those faster cars that I have overtaken were very eager to pass me thinking they were losing time behind me. great race. had some great battles through outbraking me and some braking early allowing me to regain position on braking and through corners.. I think somethings wrong with my driving style. because I brake with my right foot, it seems I'm losing time on slow sectors with accelerate then hard brake parts. Unlike track like spa and suzuka and monza which I had better results.

Sorry for the unintentional crash with Bruno Sousa Ferreira. My car spun on the exit of the corner too early on the power maybe and I lost control trying to countersteer and unfortunately hit your car and you lost front wing as a result.

Congratulations to teamate Martin.
And to the whole apex gp.
thanks for the race seat !

next season we might have more Philippine racer on FPWS..
Thanks Ivo.

 

[Mattia Gottardi]

qualify: 6th....did a good last lap and did also my PB

Race: 8th started well, but i did few errors.......did few fights, but did a bad error before the pitstop that cost me more than 15 seconds (and problably the 6th place and more fights with abdul and nico, but anyway i lost only 2 points, so it wasn't a drama in any case), after that i was just keeping my pace, but while i was lapping my team mate Konrad, i didn't read his move and so i tap him and lost front wing....so i did one more pitstop for repair it and after that i join the track behind Martin Vrba and had a lot of fun staying behind him.... i think that probably i scared him few times in some corners, but i was concentrated so i nerver was near to hit him!!!

thank you for the night and for the race
Conrgatz the podium of this race, congratz the winner of the championship Martin Vrba and also the rest of the podium with Mikael and me (XD). If i must admit i was surprised to finish so high in the championship because i was in the most races not so fast than the others, but i was a bit lucky and sometimes my strategy works well than the others!!! In any case Martin and Mikael deserve their position and really congratz to the fairplay of Mikael for not use the team orders for winning the championship. Congratz also TBR for their supremacy in the team championship.
But i must say a BIG THANK YOU to Ivo and all the staff of that league and to RD. I think that this was the most clean and respectfull league that i ever join. It was always a pleasure race with you all, and every fights was always clean and nice. Was really nice racing near other cars and know that you was in a safely bunch of drivers also at 300 km/h!!!

thank you again it was really a pleasure and thank you for the superb organisation!!!

 

[Bruno Sousa Ferreira]

1st of all thanks Ivo and RD for running this wonderful league may it long continue

Qualy: P11
Not my best qualy, messed up in my last 2 runs so that wast the best, but consediring I struggled with this track not bad.

Race:

Well the start was a nightmare got my front wing taken out when Chris lock up and slammed into the pile, I was the only unfortunate one, had to limp back to the pits.
Fixed the damage and started to chase the pack back up, keeped running until I meet Mike and unluckly at the exit of the chicane after the 1st long straight he wheel spun into my direction and i lost my front wing ( just an accident can’t blame him) got my car back to the pits while doing quick calculation on fuel to try to optimise this situation.

After got out of the pits it was the same as before pushing and trying to get to the pack, done a second stop and noticed I could still catch Martin up.
So in my last stint I pushed but due to lack of laps and having to give way to the leaders (which would lose me a few secs) I just coudn’t get up close to him to pass.
Last race of the season was one of those that could have been much better, but hey it happens this is racing.

Really enjoyable racing with you guys all season and congrats to Martin Vrba the Champ and TBR for dominating.

 

[Lee Palmer]

Thank you to all of the FPWS, Including the one and only Ivo Simons. This series has been a joy to drive in, every round the caars felt good and while results haven't always gone my way its been a fantastic championship to be part of. I appologuise again for not attending Abu Dhabi, but I hope there is a season 5 of FPWS that I can join, really has been fantastic guys. Thank you to all who raced, Chris Butcher for having me in his team and of course the FPWS Staff once again.

 

[Martin Bulgin]

I saw that on lap 1 Bruno, at the time I thought it was my fault but after looking at the replay you are right.

 

[Nico Major]

Warning: long post

P: Was mainly busy to fight a bad problem I had with low frame rate (rebooting, changing settings, …), but no problem as I felt I had a good setup and was confident with the track. Seemed to have it working then ...

Q: Went quite well. Got 2nd missing only a few hundreds on Jamie. It’s amazing to me that people practicing independently of each other, even having different setup strategies, end up so close together from race to race. Usually the first 3-5 drivers were really close.

W: The warmup started with a bad surprise. The low frame rate problem reappeared. It was a bit weird, because only parts of the track were affected. Usually frame rate was between 80 and100 fps but at certain parts of the track it dropped to low 20s.
(namely: last turn, start finish straight and T1; 1st part of long straight, getting better toward the breaking zone; middle of 1st chicane, immediately getting back to normal when facing the 2nd straight; T14 (the left hander after the S after 2nd long straight), all around the shopping center or hotel or whatever it is (T17 – T19).
It was impossible to keep the pace I had expected to go, because I had to leave a good safety margin, especially in sector 3.

R: I was a bit afraid of the start, but LC made it possible. Without it I would have stayed away. The start and T1 were OK, however, I was a bit overwhelmed by the situation (and the “slide show”), overshot T2 and got back on track in 6th or 7th position. In the following laps I tried to get used to the situation and offered a bit - but not too much resistance to Mikael and Abdul who passed me. By the time it was manageable but I was not nearly as fast as I could be. Especially sector 3 needs so much feeling …

Nevertheless, a good fight with Abdul developed. I did my 2nd pitstop a bit earlier and got past Abdul. After some laps he passed me again after a small mistake in sector 3 and some laps later I regained that position when Abdul made a little mistake. He then spun on exit of the hairpin, so I got a gap of 7 seconds with about 10 laps to go. Step by step he came closer, but I managed to stay in front until the checkered flag, finishing 6th. I loved this fight and after I was out of the battle for the champ already I did not give too much importance to the final result of this race.

I’m a bit sad that I missed a fight with Jamie again, however, I doubt that I had been able to go his and Muhammed’s fantastic pace in race.

---

Warm congratulation to Martin :drink:!
Also a “thank you” to all drivers who raced this season. I had good racing action with some of you - tough and always fair - and I pay all respect to everyone else. I never had any issues. I’m so grateful on every lapping move that shows so much consideration of the respective driver.

---

A big “thank you” goes to Ivo of course. You have been there for all races (and test races) and managed all aspects of the league perfectly. I have been in this series from the very start and it was as great as the seasons before. I also don’t want to forget other persons involved like David and Will - thank you too - and of course RD for providing the foundation.

---

Finally I’d like to say a few words to the season itself.

I liked all the tracks very much. Especially because cutting have never been an issue. The tracks where “cut safe” by design (i.e. the high curbs in Monza) or got something build in that prevents cutting (i.e. Singapore). IMO this is much better than having the stewards to review the whole race afterwards.

I was a complete rFactor newbie and had to learn and get used to a lot of things. I also like the FSONE Mod. It’s quite different to drive than the MMG F1 Mod in Race 07. Since I’ve never driven a real F1 car I can not tell what is closer to the real thing and actually I don’t care. Racing is racing. Since this was kind of a learning season to me I hope we will have another season like this one.

Thank you and merry Christmas

 

[Konrad Stanczak]

Congratulations and big Thank You to all season 4 participants, especially the winners.
Bigger thanks to the organizers.
And finally thank you to my teammates - Abdul and Mattia.