RDRC S4 Round 9 - Hokkaido Rally (29th September - 2nd October)

Senad Subasic · Sep 29, 2012

SS01 - went well, I even won the stage, of the three of us there

Changed my controls just before the rally, higher curvature on the throttle, lower strength FFB, and it feels nicer to drive. Promising start.
SS02 - had a spin halfway through, but still very happy! I should've changed these settings a long time ago

SS03 - getting frisky o_O. Enjoying the driving with my new settings a little too much. Had another spin, and a few close calls.

Still, no damage, happy with that.

SS04 - second run through Tanner. Felt very happy with it, 1.5 seconds faster than my first run. But Viesturs has found a rhythm, and is destroying my times.
SS05 - ouch. Didn't take wet tires for bad conditions... Not pretty, understeering everywhere, no grip, lost a lot of time.
SS06 - an awesome stage. Couldn't do much better, just one mistake, went into the bushes at high speed, but not too much time lost. Very enjoyable, I wonder how I'll fare against the fast guys here.

Break

SS07 - damn. Had to reverse, got damage... Not good.
SS08 - oh dear god... Had to reverse, twice, and had to call for help. Really annoyed.

SS09 - understeered into a tree, killed the engine, annoyance reached maximum value, giving up

Thanks to Rick and Warren for setting it up, been a while since I had some good stages, enjoyed (the first part of) it.

Good luck everyone!

Viesturs Priede · Sep 29, 2012

SS1 - No crashes, just very slow and out of my rythm.
SS2 - Again clean stage.. at least from crashes, had some dumb mistakes.
SS3 - Nearly rolled the car and to avoid that I went far off the road where my engine stopped. Had to reverse out from there, lost many seconds there.

SS4 - Definately better than the first time here.
SS5 - First crash, nothing too big but still made me be more careful afterwards.
SS6 - Had few scary moments, also way more mistakes but nothing bad happened.

SS7 - Some mistakes and crashes, lost my front bumper but at least I didnt spun.
SS8 - Spun and had a heavy crash after the jump (2nd one).. Well, you can only imagine how hard it is to get back to the correct dirrection at such a narrow stage. Got pretty pissed after this. Had a smoking pause.

SS9 - Went really bad, guess I was a little bit distracted after the pause and got out of rythm. Plenty of mistakes, a spin. Just couldnt make it work.
SS10 - This is my most hated stage EVER. I just cant be decent at it.. After all it went OK, no big moments, still extra slow just to finish it.
SS11 - Not as good as I would like to but no crashes at least.

SS12 - Fairly better than last time. Although I had some extreme moments.
SS13 - Went off the road twice, also spun.. It was a terrible attempt at this stage.
SS14 - Time was better but it went really bad this time. Got distracted right before the co-pilot said "GO" so the first split was just awful. Had 2 dumb mistakes during 2nd split and then, right before third split a message appeared "80 percent of track cut has been detected" or something like that.. I was like "WTF???" This got me distracted again and I was lucky not to crash the last split.

I was expecting way different result than this. I just hate Japan stages, I suck at them and I didnt expect my self to finish even half of the stages. Had a little practice yesterday and I finished only 2 out of 8 stages so I really had a good feeling about this

But after all it went more than fine. No retirements, I even hadnt to call for help. So Im pretty pleased. I was hoping for an interesting battle with Senad at OC1 session but unfortunately he started to crash & stuff.. and then just left. Oh well, looking forward to final results. Good luck everyone who still have to do this. And of course - thanks to the organizers for making this happen.

Manuel De Samaniego · Sep 29, 2012

What is "rank" in the entry list?

Senad Subasic · Sep 29, 2012

Manuel De Samaniego said:
What is "rank" in the entry list?

Last season's finishing position.

Manuel De Samaniego · Sep 29, 2012

Senad Subasic said:
Last season's finishing position.

Thanks

Manuel De Samaniego · Sep 29, 2012

Finished the Rally, I left on SS9 after hitting a three, it's ok, I just wanted the Rally to end, it was really boring and frustrating I was feeling a little sick at the wheel near the end wich caused a lot of stupid mistakes including choosing a gravel setup in the tarmac stage, also the accident. My championship chances are over wich takes a big pressure off.

thanks to the organizers for this great event! good luck to the guys left to run. Was nice to see Andy and Tom also competing

hehehe this same thing happened to me:

Senad Subasic said:
SS09 - understeered into a tree, killed the engine, annoyance reached maximum value, giving up

Andrew Koojo · Sep 29, 2012

ooh Dear. im soo pleased its over.. as manuel explained it was boring. only three of us and ll different classes.

did tons of mistakes on the noikers.. aaah

but at least didnt retire so chances of being the S champion is alive.. thanks to all the organisers and perticipants.
Manuel that was a pitty you were doing very well on there. sad to see you were out. we kept on and we finally finished the race.

Tom Peters · Sep 29, 2012

Before the rally I thought this would be the end of my winning streak because of how tough these stages are. I might get on the podium, but I'm doubtful of a win...

SS1: I forgot to practice on the fog, and I somehow set a new personal best.
SS2: Some mistakes but decent run.
SS3: The long one. I prefer this direction a little more and given how long it is I had to push in order to win. Lots of untidy mistakes left me with a time I didn't want.
SS4: Good run again.
SS5: Bad conditions are the best time to gain time over your rivals. In testing, however, I found out my car's diff is completely locked and can't be changed! I found myself getting lots of wheel spin out of the slow corners no matter what, and this is with intermediates! Can't wait to see those times.
SS6: Tried to push, but of course my driving's just to sloppy.
SS7&SS8: I'm not really sure how to get a fast time considering there's no look to apex. No mistakes though. The car handles the jump well

SS9: Long stage, try to get time, sub par time in my opinion.
SS10: Not too bad, I think the time is okay.
SS11: What an interesting surface. The car digs into the ground and won't let go, but then it may slide all over the place. A motocross racer would do well considering all of the ruts. It was going well until I hit the inside bank of a corner and rolled.
SS12: Same as the first run, though a few seconds quicker.
SS13: Better run. Good time, new personal best I think.
SS14: Wouldn't these stages be fun in the wet!

I remember the last group N team rally used a damp version of the reverse and I was second fastest by not sliding! Anyway, same as last time; go out for revenge, do well, roll on the same corner.

I'm pretty disappointed in my driving. I had way too many untidy moments as well as two crashes. I'll get my revenge in Wales, Ole! Good luck to everyone else! Don't crash for me!

Edit: I know it's unorthodox to put this here, but I'm watching the Global Rally cross Championship right now and Richard Burton just had a serious crash by missing the gap jump and landing his car from 50 feet in the air. My thoughts are with Richard, his family, and his crew. My opinion on the gap jump is now changed, to bad he's just a privater; they may not make a big enough deal out of it.

Warren Dawes · Sep 29, 2012

Senad Subasic said:
Last season's finishing position.

It was originally supposed to be last season's finishing order, but now it is not showing that either. Looks more like an adjustment to account for overall position at some point during this season, but not certain. Only Rick knows for sure.

Manuel De Samaniego · Sep 29, 2012

Warren Dawes said:
It was originally supposed to be last season's finishing order, but now it is not showing that either. Looks more like an adjustment to account for overall position at some point during this season, but not certain. Only Rick knows for sure.

Yeah, I wondered why Fernando was shown as 1 and Magnar as 2 I thought it was last season's finishing possition but replacing the guys that aren't competing this season like Sebastien and Nigel being replaced with this season's current possitions which would be Magnar and Fernando I guess but that didn't explain why Andy and I were shown as #5 anyway not that it matters lol.

Thanks for the info

Michael Nelson · Sep 30, 2012

That went well! ...sort of.

I came into this rally wanting to have no CFHs and no DNFs. Unfortunately on SS10 I took a corner much to fast and rolled my car onto it's side, luckily no damage, but a CFH. And then, on the last stage MSN stole focus from me, so I was unable to finish the stage... =/

Damn, oh well, I felt like my driving was better than it has been on any of these rounds before.

Anyways, in keeping with looking for ways to improve:
No.1) make sure MSN is closed before driving!
No. 2) Practice more on the stages. I hadn't run Noiker in my practices, and so on the rally I was finding my second run through to be 30 seconds faster than the first!

Ah, so a bittersweet rally for me, but I had fun. Good luck to all the other competitors yet to run, have fun.

Norbert Serban · Sep 30, 2012

what a disater rally, for me...
I think THAT was the worst rally in my season

I had couple of stupid mistakes on ALL stages, but until ss12 I didn't have CFH or Retire.
But on the Noiker II I hit a tree, after that, on Sipirkakim, I go down to the bushes.
I hate to say, but I can only hope for the other contenders mistake, otherwise I have to say goodbye from the title...

John Cunningham · Sep 30, 2012

For me: I didn't practise, except for 40mins before the start... it showed both in my very slow times and my retirement on ss9. I haven't really practised for any of the rounds and I dont think I have had 1 clean rally this year.

That being said I really enjoyed myself, real wide eyed, fear gripping fun. The usual mutitude of feelings,
like the hope of at the start:
'hmmmm I feel like im on fire, maybe, just maybe this will be the one...

'
Followed very soon with dissapointment with:
'aaaaaaw balls whupped by the group 'Ns' again

'
The joy of knowing your just in it for the fun and this definately is
'not the one

'
The inevitable hideous high speed crash, the retirement, the horror.
'no words, just sobbing

'

Followed by the sheer delight that the rally's over and I can now do my chores <--- that last one is sarcastic

I will of course be posting my replays for comedic effect if someones making a movie.
I am off, now, to stand beating bits of metal in my garage everytime I hear the girlfriend approaching, pretending to be 'busy' doing 'stuff' avoiding chores

Have a good one folks, and of course, thanks again to all concerned, both competitors and organisers!

jc

Timo Hakkarainen · Sep 30, 2012

Sorry for Norbert. We had a good struggle until ss12. He was little bit faster at the beginning of race, but then i was able to bypass him.
Now i manged to do intact performance, without bigger mistakes and driving was safe and clean.
I think i maybe get some good points from this event.
Luck for everyone!!

David Jundt · Sep 30, 2012

Stage 1: Hits something hidden in the tall grass(retirement), although I haven't felt an impact. Rally already taking a turn for the worse

David Jundt · Sep 30, 2012

Nothing to say....

Just wasn't in the mood I guess, took on Senad's job and crashed my car like there's no tomorrow. In the end, I just stopped caring.

Oh btw: The Poland stage looks great

Alasdair Beck · Sep 30, 2012

Another round, another lucky bugger mistake.. But we'll get to it.

First off I think this was probably the toughest rally I've done so far in this championship, these stages are super challenging. Also I'm sorry to hear about your day Norben, especially as you were so looking forward to this one.

First loop: set a new PB on Tanner which i didn't expect as this is probably my lest favoured japanese stage.. Backed that up with 2 solid runs on the next 2.

Second loop: i went on wets for this loop purely because I thought I would really struggle in the rain on Pirka otherwise. I think it was a gamble that paid off because I took a big chunk of time out of the other guys in the server on this stage. Other 2 stages were solid albeit slightly slower than my first runs.

Third loop: Took it easy on these 2 because the barriers are pretty close and I didn't want to pull a Latvala.

Fourth loop: Here comes the escape. About 3 corners into Noiker I nudged the rotary dial on my steering wheel which, unbeknownst to me alters the cars brake bias! i genuinely didn't know this before tonight. This meant the car was a nightmare to drive through here and I had a few wild moments. It finally got me in the fast section at the end when I braked for one of the bad compressions and the back slewed round and I headed for the trees. I bounced off them amazingly missing the radiator and just carried on with a touch of bodywork damage and slightly altered suspension. I got through the other 2 ok but I had to deal with a slightly odd handling car.

Fifth loop: Guess what I did about 3 corners into Noiker? Nudged the rotary dial....... Again!.....I'm not smart. The effects weren't quite as severe this time so I got away with just a couple of hairy moments. I had a good run in Sipirkakim and poland apart from overshooting a medium left and brushing some bushes in poland.

Another rally without any retirements or CFHs. All we need to do now is see how Mr McGregor gets on. Here's hoping for another good result..