RDRC S5 Round 2 - Rally Norway (16th - 19th March)

[Jack Hintz]

So another snow rally, with mixed emotions and/or outcomes.
Probably doesn't help that I only had enough time to practice 1 stage.

SS1: Wary through the snow, but constant speed, no mistakes.
SS2: Couldn't see as much as I would have liked to, only one major mistake but thankfully no damage.
SS3: Would have set a reasonable time if I hadnt realised how slippy it was! slid off twice on 2 consecutive corners, and damaged a wheel, but back to service now. Will remember those corners!
SS4: Pushed a bit harder this time, pleased with my time, even if it it slow next to the aliens.
SS5: Could have gone better, flat out approach still not working for quick times either. I suppose knowledge of the stage is key to winning these.
SS6: Missed the two corners but clipped a hidden tree on one corner and took the front bumper off :\ no extensive damage though
SS7: Dissapointed with my pace, bottomed out over a bump and had a high speed spin and lost a few seconds.
SS8: No mistakes and fairly quick pace the whole way. Wish I was an alien.
SS9: bottomed out halfway through a corner and lots all the oil. Greeeeat.....
SS10: Fairly decent run through, cautious being night and all.
SS11: Went a bit wide near the end but didnt go offroad at all, which is a big plus.
SS12: Satisfied with my performance, but super slippy so power at about 90% (and very cautious over bump!)
SS13: Consistent (...ly slower than Fernando) but on the whole a good run for me. Major moment near the beginning though, definitely one for the highlights reel!
SS14: Better performance than last time, definitely more slippy than usual with the new road wear option, will be sorting that in the future.

One retirement is better than lots, so I'm happy(ish) with my performance. Could have been better, but I think snow drives me a little nuts

Thanks guys for organising, very much appreciated!

Bring on the tarmac, I say!!

 

[Alberto Alvarez]

I wrote this after each stage, as if an interviewer was doing me questions, if something is written in italic, that's the journalist

PRE-RACE



You had a great season start, with a P2 in class, you are probably expecting to keep fighting for the win here.

Monaco was a great rally for me, that's for sure, but it had very special conditions, very hard to find any grip at all, very easy to do any mistake. Here it's clean snow for all of us, wide stages... I'm sure it will be harder to repeat that result, but I'll try to do my best

But during most of the rally, your stage times were up there, always very close to best times, you should be confident, shouldn't you?

Yes, but as I said, it was a very special race. This is a completely different story, faster and wider stages, lots of hills and bumps, and the drivers with a bad result at Monaco will surely try to redeem it here. I think I can be in top positions again, the team did some snow tests after Monaco and the car is great, but let's see how it goes stage by stage.

RACE Day 1

-Stage 1: Just feeling the rally here. Visibility was very bad, so I didn't go as fast as I could but it was a clean stage. No problems or scary moments. Just good enough to start

-Stage 2: Much better than the first one, I think I had a good pace. Unfortunately I don't have many RDRC2 references in my group, only Gerben, but I think it was a good time here.

-Stage 3: Good because I could make it clean. For me this is the hardest stage of the rally, completely different to the rest, very narrow and slow, lots of traps everywhere... so I just wanted to complete it.

-Stage 4: It felt really good, I'm surprised... my co-driver says I was only 4 seconds faster than my previous time. Visibility was good and from the car I felt I was pushing much more, just a small mistake early but I don't think I lost much time there.

-Stage 5: Very similar to the other time, actually a second slower. I was pushing hard and went wide a couple of times, almost hugged a tree once, but could avoid it. Other than that I'm going fast and enjoying it, so for now, rally is going great

-Stage 6: I'm happy I'm done with this stage. Taking a bit more risks, in the... I think it was the first right hairpin I drove over an inside tire and the car didn't turned for a while, good think it was at low speed, and a bit later I spun and faced the snow wall, had to engage rear, so a bit of time lost there, but overall, I made it and car is good for next stage, so moving on

-Stage 7: I love this stage but visibility was very poor again. Still, it's in these stages where a big difference can be done, so I drove as fast as I could, for a while I was driving faster than my eyes could see what's coming , putting all my faith in my co-driver voice but I think it worked well, stage was clean an fast

-Stage 8: It's a very fun stage, very fast and a pleasure to play with the car, unfortunately the rally is going very well for me and I'm getting closer to my limit, spun again here stopping against a tree and later I cut a corner a bit too much but luckily these incidents haven't affected the car, but they're a reminder for me to keep calm

-Stage 9: We keep waiting here for Alvarez, it's been a while since the WRCs passed but we still don't hear the Fabia S2000 engine...
It's here, we hear it now! coming closer to the control-stop... but it's not a Skoda, it's Gerben's Ford!, let's see if we can ask him a few questions... he's taking his helmet off... Gerben, how was the stage?
- One of my favorite stages...unfortunately i spinned in the first secton while hitting a advertising board. (copied from the post below )
have you seen Alvarez during the stage, did he have any trouble?
- Yes, he was at the very first corners, in a left-right section, he made the first corner but went wide into the ditch and crashed against a tree.
Is he alright?
- He was fine, warning about the crash, yes.
Thanks Gerben. As you have just heard, it seems Alvarez has crashed and his rally is over.

POST-RACE

You were having a good rally, but what happened at Chirdonhead?
I'm not sure if I can explain it, really. I went a bit wide, entered the left ditch, but I thought I could save the car without much troubles... however there was a small tree I didn't see until the car stopped againts him. Couldn't start the engine again.

It was a pity. Sure crashes happen, but I perfectly knew how Chirdonhead was and it was an early, little speed crash, if I'm pushing and take a bad jump or misjudge a curve... that's OK... or more OK than a crash when you are just trying to drive the car around a difficult section.

But this is rallying, can't put a foot wrong and I can't change it now so looking forward to the results of the stages I could finish to see where I was, because I think I had a good pace, and then look forward to the Sno*-Drift rally
____________________________

A bit extra info, after the crash at Chirdonhead I tried to keep going but my brain disconnected. Again crashed very early at Autiovaara (against the rocks in a left curve). Moving to Sikakama, crash again. Tried to save some points at the Power Stage, but crashed, at least in the last part and because I was risking a lot. Probably a good thing because I don't really like the super rally way (although I understand it, specially here for a game) so I can say my rally ended with the crash and the team couldn't repair it

Thanks to the organizers and good luck to the rest of drivers!

 

[Gerben Kelly]

A small report from me

SS1 - i was logged in, then you have to wait 15 minutes...so i went looking on Marktplaats (kind of dutch Ebay thingy)...i forgot the time and i couldn't start SS1 anymore..doooohhh
SS2 - No big mistakes, maybe to carefull.
SS3 - In the first section i hit a tree with the back while oversteering out of a corner. In the second section i got into a ditch, i took me some to get out of there. But no CFH!

SS4 - After i few corners i hit a tree again..some damage in the suspension.
SS5, SS6, SS7 went pretty well, few mistakes. No serious damage.

SS8 - Nice high speed stage, nice and clean run!
SS9 - One of my favorite stages...unfortunately i spinned in the first secton while hitting a advertising board.
SS10 - Nice technical stage, i made a mistake after a jump, suddenly there was a bridge Suspension damage after that hard and uncomfortable landing on the side of the bridge. But i finished the stage!

SS11 - Nice stage, drove it faster that SS8
SS12 - No walking over advertising boards this time! Nice and clean run!
SS13 - Again a nice and clean run, was really carefull at the jump with following bridge this time! Only 1 spin in the end...
SS14 - Nice, clean and fast run for me!

Nice rally! Looking forward to the next one!!!

 

[Fernando Agapito]

Hi everyone,

Fortunately my performance for this round went well, started with a normal pace on the early stages and gradually increased my rhythm on the high speed stages. I attacked on the Power Stage and luckily no accident this time, but went too wide on some corners so I still lost some time there, not a perfect rally but at least no spins or CFH. Here are some shots of my run:

Thanks all and good luck guys!

 

[Norbert Serban]

So, what I can say, I'm in real trouble...
Where is my computer, there isn't electronical power, and there is electronical power, there isn't my computer, and I just can write to this topic by mobile device, so its really impossible to drive this rally...
sorry Arwyn to not scoring points for the team...
Is there any chance to make the rally on Friday?? (just a joke...)

 

[Manuel De Samaniego]

Hello, this is how my rally went

SS1 very nice time but in the end I noticed I had suspension damage for SS2 and SS3 I have to just nurse the car, to make things worse false start on SS2 in SS4 good feeling and try to not damage the car again from SS5 to SS7 I tried to set the times I need and drive smart, very happy with SS8 and good SS9 & 10, SS11 & SS12 steady. SS13 I remember my accident here last year and decide to just cruise and conserve the car for the power stage.

SS14 good time, happy with it.

Overall I am very very happy with how this Rally went and very satisfied because this time I didn't retire or call for help,

Thankyou very much to the organizers and congratulations to all that participated and good luck to the ones left to run.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Nah, for me the cartilage pops back in after a few minutes and I'm good to go after that! The operation to fix the knee locking has a 6 week recovery time, but it doesn't lock up much for me these days so I won't need it done!

Ah, nothing pops in or out here! ;P

Anyway, I can now bend it like normal, and as long as I don't put much weight on it, it works ok. So that'll do.

 

[Alasdair Beck]

unfortunately poor health means I have to withdraw from this rally

 

[Jonatan Åcerclinth]

I will drive at a later time (most likely during the night or tomorrow evening GMT), I hope this won't cause trouble

 

[Senad Subasic]

I will drive at a later time (most likely during the night or tomorrow evening GMT), I hope this won't cause trouble

You can drive in whichever session suits you best. As per the rules, or any of my five million posts saying the same thing

 

[Sion Williams]

I will drive at a later time (most likely during the night or tomorrow evening GMT), I hope this won't cause trouble

As Senad said, once signed up, free to take part in any you like

Don't worry, I'll be joining you tomorrow now as I'm to tired so we'll have a little RDRC-3 battle

Sion

 

[Tero Leppanen]

oh man, forgot to close my steam, and it decided to tell something during ss5. nice

 

[Roy Magnes]

SS01 - Hopelessly untidy...
SS02 - I had a spectacular rollover about halfway through the stage. The wheels are now pointing in any direction they wish...
SS03 - 2 km left of the stage, then I lost control and speared into a post on a straight part.

SS04 - This one was a lot better, but still I bendt the left rear wheel.
SS05 - Another HUGE off at the same place I rolled the last time.
SS06 - Very slow, but still I did hit my fair share of pins and bushes ans poles.
SS07 - Unpredictable and slow.

SS08 - Blah... And this is my home-event and everything...
SS09 - Skipped
SS10 - And that was my last stage of the rally... Annoying!
The rally of the season where I am supposed to do well, and I totaly ruin it. Disappointed in myself

Still a nice rally, thanks to the organizing team

 

[Ross McGregor]

No practise at all for this rally, which surely means my performance was perfect?

Ehhhhh... no.

DNF'd two stages, had a couple of rollover moments, a couple of CFH's, and some enjoyable driving in between. I've also been suffering from norovirus over the weekend so i was sweating like crazy and had to make a couple of emergency 'comfort breaks' in between stages! I think i did ok on the stages where i didn't hit anything, but i have to say the R4 Evo X felt a tad 'lazier' than the last time i drove it. Hopefully nothing major has changed with its physics or else i may have to look at the other cars...
Still, i loved the Finnish & English stages, but Peklo is about as enjoyable as having a brick slammed into your face!

Cheers admins!

 

[Magnar Haarstadsveen]

I had a very good rally this time. No big mistakes or CFH. I was the only FWD in this session so it's difficult to compare times but i'll think it's ok. I also won this session, i'll think i was the only one who finish all stages,
Thanks for a fun rally.

 

[Tero Leppanen]

Started the rally carefully, my goal was to finish every stage this time and get some points.
SS1-4 went without any problems, and also about 35 % of SS5 Then suddenly the game jumped to windows because something popped out in steam. Was very frustrated after that dnf but.. next time I'll maybe remember to close it before rally event. Or drive in windowed mode SS6 was ok something broke near the end when I went a little wide in one right hand corner. Nothing major but made SS7 pretty scary to drive because car wanted to go right in high speed SS8 was ok.
Had one spin at pretty high speed at SS9 but was lucky and nothing broke. SS10 was hard. aaaand SS11-14 went pretty well also.

except that one incident I'm very happy with my rally,. There was also 9 other drivers so it was nice to drive in this session. Thanks.
Thanks to organizing team
and good luck everyone still to compete

 

[Magnus Lindgren]

Came to Norway after a fantastic start of the year. First a contract and a drive with a professional UK-based rally team. A dream for every young (well at least unexperienced) scandinavian rallydriver. Then I surprised everyone including myself by winning the production class in Monaco. Now in Norway, close to home, favourite surface and as a topdriver - on everyones lips - the man to beat.
Felt some pressure, but this was supposed to be fun.
SS1 - Good start. Took it calm but recorded an OK time. Was thrown direct from sOKavegamemenu to RSCenter. Couldnt save game.
SS2 - Everything was OK until the middle of the stage when everything got dark. Latermy mechanics identified a software problem. An App called Steam sent a message to my machine in the middle of the stage and this crashed everything.
SS3 - Ok. 2 small offs. But could get going without help from the spectators
SS4 - At the starting line the software problem Steam appeared again. Couldnt drive the stage. But at least had time to let my mechanics uninstall the Steam software before next stage.
SS5 - Good drive.But had a two wheel moment and landed hard. After that I had nervous vibrations through the stage.
SS6 - First big driver mistake. Crashed hard into a tree. Killed engine and more
SS7- Second big driver mistake. Rolled and crashed hard. Killed engine and more.
SS8 - Decided to calm down. Maybe there could be a chance to score some points? Sikakama was a good stage to find the rhytm again.
SS9 - Third big driver mistake. Went off the road and destroyed the gearbox. Linked to the finish. Lost more than 3 minutes.
SS10 - Continued with failing gearbox. Could only drive about 50 kph. Lost another 2 minutes.
SS11 - OK
SS12 - OK, but overshot a crossroad (ran so much slower last time around)
SS13 - OK, saving the car for the Powerstage.
SS14 - OK. No big mistakes. But was it fast enough to score points?
Well, this was not a good appearance for me. 4 retirements. 2 due to mistakes and 2 due to Steam. But on some stages I could show homecrowd my speed. Surely I will loose championship lead. But I m looking forward to regain it in the next round...

 

[Corey Twyman]

Well I hope I'm able to practice for the next round because I felt I could have done at least a little better. It was nice to be able to run with Tyrone and Sandro in US4, You guys were setting some good times.

ss1-ss5 - slow a few offs but nothing major
ss6 - DNF with 24% left in the stage
ss7 - Not bad
ss8 - I rolled it early in the stage and bent the suspension but landed on the wheels. The car began to pull to the left.
ss9 - Fighting the pull to the left but made it to the finish with an ok time.
ss10 - Fight it all the way and rolled it, literally across the finish line.
ss11 - Better than the first time - thank goodness for service.
ss12 - clipped a tree at the 90 right near the end of the stage and then went the wrong way for a few feet before realizing it.
ss13 - I had an off but it wasn't so bad.
ss14 - Not bad again this time around.


Thanks to all who made this possible and to all the drivers.

 

[Daniel Monteiro]

Might join EU4 but not sure I'll drive in Norway. (this does not make much sense )

 

[Ondrej Kapal]

I'll join today's EU session. I just hope it wont be another 2 hours race