Practice race at Spa

[Sean Greenlaw]

You wont want mine lol not long enough, pouhon got me dropped a wheel wide race ended:frown:. I still love pouhon ! your forgiven. I was trying a 1 stopper hards hards 100 litres pit 98 litres.

Even though i got pole in superpole i didnt enjoy as much as normal 25 min q, good to have action battle for gap on track and last minute changes, someone doing a pb with the added pressure etc. Also if your races ends early you still had some enjoyment with a exciting q.

No speed limits in pits to i found difficult, having to select my pit, put limiter off, brake for turn and brake for box maybe with more practise it would become easier but i would dread having to go in select through menu trying to find to fix certain damage etc. Ideally i think would be a increased speed for limiter and or faster refuelling if at all possible with the mod. I just feel it would take alot more practise runs etc to get right and everyone comfortable with it and with season starting so soon its maybe not a good idea to maybe be tryin these things out throughout season.

I would prefer more trials with this kind of race setup as for example some tracks full speed entrance & exit also may cause problems at certain tracks.

 

[Peter Marshall]

Hi All,
Grats Reik, Anthony and Nicolas [I think]....and everyone else too...

The three practice starts all went well for me. Plenty of action in Eau Rouge but I appeared to be able to anticipate trouble ahead of me and avoid each time. I guess it only makes sense that on the forth start, the race, karma would catch up to me. J

I received a fair wack in the rear before Les Coombes and was pushed/ spun into several cars. A tragedy there as my car no doubt damaged their cars too. Sorry gents, but I could do nothing....

Severely damaged steering/ suspension led to me turfing it into the 1st Stavelot. Sorry to Alex who was right behind me there; my car was near undriveable when I entered the corner; no grip and poor control. I wish I could have avoided that and repaired.

Nice battle to watch between Gaetano and Valter

 

[Peter Marshall]

Y I still love pouhon ! your forgiven.

+1

 

[David Turnbull]

wrecked early at eau rouge, escaped to avoid ruining anyone elses race.

hated superpole, no excitment of battleing for a free lap, no last minute changes of position in the dying seconds of q, just didnt like it at all, alot of the emotion gone from qualifying, in real life they dont get one chance at it, they have 3 sessions and even in q3 they have enough time for a lap then new tyres and another lap or two.

 

[Anthony Ishak]

very different race from what we were used to..

- superpole.. i liked the idea , it does not provide the same excitement as the normal Q session but honestly that solo hotlap felt like an entire Q session, i was a bit nervous and could not push the way i want it , there were no room for any mistake so i was afraid to lose the car and end up at the back of the grid.. superpole does shake up the whole grid and gives better chance for those who are more relaxed and more confident in my opinion.. if we go this way maybe we can have the practice session removed and replaced with the Q session instead so we have a better feeling of the grip that Q session proved normally !?

- race... i liked the no speed limit , it gives more challenge to this session , i actually missed the pit crew as i came in at full speed.., i do not mind to race a full race stint , it is more challenging and demanding and requires different strategy to survive the whole race..

That Pouhon was a killer, i saw David T on gravel there first lap then Sean a lap later so i decided to take it easy there ...

Nice race today , Grats Reik , Nico and all survivors ..

 

[Alex Galyutin]

Sorry to Alex who was right behind me there; my car was near undriveable when I entered the corner; no grip and poor control. I wish I could have avoided that and repaired.

No problem mate! This small accident did not influence on my race at all. I was one of the last on starting grid because of very poor lap in Q (but I really like the idea of SuperPole). And my strategy was also a disaster. I started on meds with 122L onboard... Stupid decision which did not allow me to challenge anyone on the track.
Now I have one week to do something with my pace and strategy. See you soon, racers!

 

[Valter Ostman]

Grats Reik, Anthony and Nicolas!

Practice starts were very competitive, in my opinion, and offered a lot of nice flying cars in my path, but I more or less got through Radillion in every start.

Q: I wasn't very quick

The practice race:
I did a one stopper with 95/95 liters.
The rubber was a little worn at some stages. I may consider to use another rubber compound in the race.

I had a few hard fights during this endurance race. Drivers dived on the inside of me and then went straight off , I saw it coming and had all four wheels still on the whole way to the finish line. Too bad so many DNFed.

In summary, I had a lot of fun as usual, thanks all for the thrilling entertainment.

I look forward to the first race my friends, and I hope for hardnosed but calculated moves in close racing.




I voted for long race, super pole and no speed limit.

I would like to have, if the options were available:

Minimal practice session.
(I'll practice before we meet)

Longer ordinary Q session.
(more "free lap" windows to choose from)

Long race.
(the different two stop strategies worked as well as one stoppers, I like that)

A disadvantage would be joining is closed a bit earlier than last season.

 

[Reik Major]

First of all I honestly want to apology to all of you for making the first practice start a nightmare. :frown: My car bottomed out at Eau Rouge which I never experienced before this way and I spun without any chances to react. I think it's caused by a different line choice at the start through this tricky section. So any other line than the race line leads into more bottoming and most likely a spin. Now I know about it. (thanks god it was practice)

Even though I put in a bad lap in Q, I like the super pole format much. I was nervous as hell, so it was thrilling. I like it because it offers the potential to bring some other drivers in front some times. A solid driver can earn some places, whilest a kamikaze driver maybe lucky or ends up on the back of the field. So it will reward the cool drivers finding the best balance.

I started from 2nd and was able to catch Sean before entering Eau Rouge the first time. From this time I pushed all the race distance, didn't make bis mistakes and brought it home first. For me the race itself was a littel uneventfull but it was a great lesson again.

Grats to Anthony and Nicolas for posium and all the other finishers! Well done.

From my point of view we should stay with this format. For sure it has some down sides like missing a thrilling 25 minutes qually session. But the races seem to offer more excitment this way.

I think it's not asked for too much that everybody does some offline pit stop practice before each event (it may take 15 minutes or so). Finally add two or three pit-in-tests in the practice session of the event to know where your pit crew and the right breaking point is - done!

I hope we can repeat this fine race with more finishers next week C U there...

PS: I'm glad you enjoyed my new skin, guys

PPS: The awareness under lapping was very, very good guys! :wink: I just want to point out that it's better to drive your own speed through a corner or corner section and clear the line on the following straight instead of slowing down in a corner section or at the exit of a corner. Please don't feel under pressure too much. It's absolutely ok to drive your normal way through some corners in front of a lapping car.

 

[Reik Major]

I voted for long race, super pole and no speed limit.

I would like to have, if the options were available:

Minimal practice session.
(I'll practice before we meet)

Longer ordinary Q session.
(more "free lap" windows to choose from)

Long race.
(the different two stop strategies worked as well as one stoppers, I like that)

A disadvantage would be joining is closed a bit earlier than last season.

I voted the same and completely share Valters wishes. But he allready mentioned the important question: Will all be able to join a little bit earlier?

 

[Sean Greenlaw]

Ye i to think longer q and longer race would be ideal option i would have voted for this had it been a option, but as you say this takes us before traditional start time for q or a little later after. Id be happy with eithier i could manage earlier or a little later.

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

The practice session is not meant to be a real session, it is just an instrument to gather all participants before we go into the qualify (or in reality, the practice start). You remember from earlier times, that we do want everybody to join before the qualify session starts. Therefore it is no need to join this session early unless you want to mingle with the guys before the serious stuff starts. It is not possible to make the practice session into a qualify session, in that case it would need to be identical to the real practice session (5 min super pole) and that would not work very well

For me, the super pole/longer race has both it's good and bad sides:
-We lose out on the enjoyable 25 minutes qualify, but instead we get one very exciting lap and a longer race
-Maybe super pole will create a small shift towards stint practice, it would make little sense to spend 90% of practice on hot-lapping if you mess up the one lap you get -> rewards those who practice with race trim -> good for the league
-A longer race demands more from the drivers, we will have to work even harder to have a strong "finished race rate"

The no pit speed limit I do not see any problems with. I agree with Reik that it does not take much preperations for the drivers and it does seem to help on the strategy-bit. And other adjustment, as increasing pit speed limit or speeding up the tyre change/refueling is not acheivable.

I will add more to this post soon

 

[Reik Major]

Sounds all very logic for me, especially the part about rewarding drivers, who invest more time in race preparation.

(honestly I didn't do much race preparation untill now, so the increase of strategical opportunities may increase the chance to beat me )

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

The Race Director told me that looking at the votes he has received so far it seems obvious that we will be implementing both changes (super pole/longer race and no pit speed limit).

However, both I and the Race Director think it would be wise to review this format after perhaps two races and have another vote if we feel it is needed. I am guessing the new format will be a success and that we'll keep it throughout the season, but if we realise after eg. two races that maybe it wasn't a good idea after all, it only makes sence to change it back (as opposed to saying that we cannot change anything mid-season).

 

[David Turnbull]

great, a non-exciting qualifying session each race.

oh goody

real life doesnt come down to 1 lap

no speed limit in pit and longer race yup it helps us get closer to reality but then with superpole its a totally artificial qual session so it ruins it again, its either realism or fantasy and its just turned into fantasy.

 

[Cristian Di Filippo]

These new rules charm me but I am me place also of the question and I put them also you:
if some pilot should do some mistakes in the super-pole and left behind have been in a position of to recover.
This is a situation in which could be create more incidens of the usual one ?

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

The way I look at it, it would create more action that again could lead to more incidents. Action is what we want and incident is what we are trying to avoid

I believe all the front runners are skilled enough to handle such a situation. If you start 10 or 20 places behind where you "belong" you need to deal with it in a Gentleman way. Being in a hurry to get in front and causing incidents due to that is a very serious crime to commit in Presto-world

I think it is all a matter of the mind set of the driver. I know I would have no problems being safe even though I was to start last on the grid. It goes without saying that every driver deserves the same amount of respect on the track.

Also, I must admit, if I had Reik behind me on e.g. 10th place I would not put up a big fight with him, it would only slow me down and he would get me eventually. The only guys a put up a fight with is those I am hoping to beat. I am guessing more than me would do the same (but not all ).

 

[Peter Marshall]

Also, I must admit, if I had Reik behind me on e.g. 10th place I would not put up a big fight with him,

I would and have but only if and when my tyres were still good I shamefully surrendered to the man when he was on fresh tyres and I wasn't and on my way to the pits.

 

[Peter Marshall]

Even though I did not get to test out a Full Length race, I voted for yes for it. Actually I wouldn't mind having a timed race instead of number of laps; saves Nico "work" and allows for wet races.

great, a non-exciting qualifying session each race.

oh goody

real life doesnt come down to 1 lap

I do understand and appreciate David's perspective [you wont be the only one thinking like this mate ], however, my own selfish view is that I would prefer more racing in preference to a hot lap battle I have no hope in winning; plus I do truly dislike it when I have one of the uber-fast drivers chasing me in qualifying as I know I am holding them up and I have no wish to impair anyone chances for glory. SuperPole solves this “guilt complex” for me; I know I should put in many many more hours but RL does not always permit and the alternative is retirement *shudder* J

P.S. I am really happy just to be racing with you all every fortnight. If we change or don''t change I will roll up to the grid

 

[Cristian Di Filippo]

Ok you convinced me Nico even if I have just voted I would like to change my vote for the new regulation (if possible )

 

[Nicolas Rouge]

I liked this new race format. Well, I don't practice much Q and I'm not worried starting at the back after a mistake in superpole. You know, since the race is longer, you now have more than one hour to gain back your position. The unlimited speed in the pit lane does great at Spa, and choosing between 1 or 2 stop strategy (or even 3, who knows!) is now a real issue.

About the race : I started carefully and gained some places thanks to the mistakes of the others, and was quickly 2nd after a few laps, but then I made some mistakes and got susp damage, but it was driveable. I was on a 2 stop strategy and most of my race was uneventful, but I think I gained some confidence in my setup. Finished 3rd, I hope I'll drive the same next week!