RDRC S7 Round 1 - Jänner Rallye (1st-3rd March 2015)

[Sergio Real]

thanks and GL all

 

[Goran Asad]

so once again this RBR........................., just didnt want to launch on a crucial moment on SS1, i didnt cross sector 1 so what do i do now boys?

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

so once again this RBR........................., just didnt want to launch on a crucial moment on SS1, i didnt cross sector 1 so what do i do now boys?

Sadly nothing to do but keep driving. As it is the last session, there is no chance to start in another session.

 

[John Cunningham]

Unfortunately as there are no more sessions left, you are in a bit of a pickle. If there was and if you have not reached the first split you could have run again. I don't wanna sound like a dick, but that's why I try to run one of the first sessions, just in case.

 

[John Cunningham]

oops Ole beat me to it there

 

[Goran Asad]

atleast i show some great pace in ss2 i am happy! atleat

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

oops Ole beat me to it there

 

[Goran Asad]

this SS1 messed with my head and destroyed all my chances for a good debut, screw you RBR........ the effort i put into this :SS..........

 

[samekyo]

So the rally is over. It went worse than I hoped for, but at the same time I expected much, much worse- so I am overally happy. It was my first ever proper online event (I casually join online sessions just for fun, this time I tried to prepare myself and take it more seriously). I had to ask spectators for help once due to codrivers mistake (SS05, medium right corner described as fast right, wend into the ditch). At the same time I rolled the car by cutting a corner on Greenhills (NGP physics are notorious for rolling the car), I was really close to end up on the side of the car, or on the roof- fortunetally car rolled back on the wheels. Really close call. The only stage I was happy about was SS01, but I was well of the peace compared to You guys. I think I did at least one spin or similar mistake on pretty much every stage. I also lost tons of time on each harpin due to lack of the handbrake.
I'd like to thank organizers for letting me participate without classification, hope I did not cause too much confusion by running not homologated car etc. At the same time I hope to extend Your hospitality by entering next event!

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

The preparations for this rally was... Lost my two grandmothers within a week - and the first funeral was today. Not ideal, but it's just a part of life.

Had 2 DNF's and 1 CFH, it won't get me any RDRC-2 points, and will be far behind in the A8 cup already. Anyway, I put in some OK times and at least one good time - that's all I can ask for when the day was this way

 

[Tommi Ojala]

well that went bad... last saturday i notised that my pedals disconnect from the wheel and i have friend coming over to take a look of it on friday so i had to drove all the stages fearing my pedals to go out. no confidence at driving at all and i just tryid to do rally without retirments. and i think i achieved that target. didint practise at all for this cos i have no intrest driving with faulty rig. So hopefully i get it fixed cos no money to buy a new wheel.

thanks for the rally all and hope you had a good one i enjoyed variety of stages. just tryid manage it to home this time.

see you around

 

[Luka Grm]

SS1 - ok start... apart from spin on the first turn
SS2 - brilliant fun, amazing on slicks!
SS3 - i was going like hell but then rolled that resulted in wheel wobble but i have no excuses due to the tiny amount of damage it made
SS4, SS5 - wrong tyre choice, rally ruined, winter ruined
SS6 - pretty much the same but you MUST include my finish in the highlights
SS7 - great stage, alot of fun
SS8 - another MUST for the finish
SS9 - .
SS10 - sums up my rally. there should really be a full onboard of this (5:44 at Cote)

Congrats and thanks to organisers for the..... Interesting event!
My summary -
*replays coming tomorrow

 

[DrKruntz]

Ok drivers... this evening I have finished first challenging round
To which e-mail I must send my replays?

P.S.: sorry for my choice car error... I signed up for the RDRC S7 with Skoda Fabia S2000 Evo2 but erroneously this evening I participated with Skoda Fabia S2000 Evo1...!
I hope this is not a problem... you forgive a beginner.

 

[S2M Jono]

Well that was an experience - some good, some bad!!

SS01 - Pretty reasonable run - had 2 small offs but probably only lost 10 seconds because of them.

SS02 - Solid, safe run but there was far too much understeer - made my time pretty slow.

SS03 - Best stage of the night - no mistakes and the car felt great........this is why I love RBR!!

SS04 - Very cautious - had one small off but wanted to finish rather than race the clock.

SS05 - Made a stupid mistake and slid off in to a tree early on in the stage. Left the car with a broken radiator, no water and had to limp through slowly.

SS06 - Still had to nurse the car through with no water - as such a very slow, cautious stage.

SS07 - Good run through this stage - had one minor off but lost very little time.

SS08 - Was looking forward to this stage but made a rookie mistake - slid off, slowly nudging a tree but leaving the car stuck in first gear before I'd even reached the first split. It was a long way to the finish at 65kph!!

SS09 - Made the wrong tyre choice and as such had 2 'offs' and damaged the car.

SS10 - Horrible way to finish - 2 CFH's due to the tyre choice mistake.

All in all an enjoyable event with much to be taken from it - bring on Round 2!!

Thanks to all involved in organising the event - much appreciated.

 

[Tomas Reinicke]

My goal for this rally was No DNF's :-(
ss01: Carefull start, no misstakes
ss02: Ok stage, some small hits in the armco, a bit slippery with dry tires
ss03: Nice stage, no big misstakes
ss04: One small misstake that damages the front suspension
Chose Intermediate tires
ss05: Hard to drive with suspension damage, can't go fast on the dry part, very slippery on the ice
1 CFH breaks the radiator.
ss06: The suspension feels a little bit better bus still hard to driver, but only one CFH
ss07:Slow and safe
ss08:Hit a tree after 2k, Retired :-(
ss09: No real problems, but to slow
ss10: Like ss9

Lost a lot of time on ss5-6 but still fun

 

[Daniel Monteiro]

Great to begin the season here with the RDRC!


Began by going very wide on the first right hander on SS1; luckily i didn't it anything, and it was just the wake up call I needed to focus for the rally.

The second loop went well, only having a half spin at Sorica in a narrow right hander; that meant I had to reverse a couple of times.

Unfortunately I damaged the gearbox at the beginning of SS4, which meant i had only first gear for the whole loop. It resulted in super shifting and very slow pace, but i preferred that rather than to retire and get extra time, plus with the "bonus" of not being able to drive fast with wet tarmac tires on the icy stages



The third loop was trouble free. Went wide in a left hander at Greenhills and hit a tree around 70 km/h, but the sturdy Lancer soldiered on so that the radiator would get fixed at the last service.

Very satisfied with the pace on SS9, especially with the snow tires on the dry middle section. And couldn't have finished the rally in a better way with a 2nd fastest time in the session on the last stage (despite being 3 seconds slower than through the first pass of Côte d'Arbroz). Nice to see 3 Group A cars topping this stage, with a tire choice that proved fruitful for me.


All in all very happy with the beginning of the season, and with managing to complete all the stages! Congratulations to the top and fast drivers in both classes, with special kudos to @Oscar Hardwick for driving the Evo III really bloody quickly!

Last but not least, thank you for the organizing team for setting everything up and making the event go smoothly. Big thumbs up for the new championship structure, its promotion and its fresh look!

 

[Jonatan Åcerclinth]

Sadly a destroyed event for me for the reason that the online conditions felt very different from the offline practice sessions I had spent a lot of time in

SS01 - Courcelles Val d'Esnoms

Went into the stage not having much spectations on having a good run so did my best, had a close call just after you get back to the second run through part one with a bump and a tree, otherwhise it went well enough for me to be happy with it.

SERVICE

SS02 - Shomaru

We decided to go for Dry tires to go for a fast run on Sorica as the time lost on this stage would be gained back on that stage.
So took it fairly easy, had one misstake that cost me about 5 seconds but other than that it went well.

SS03 - Sorica

Tried to push just a little bit more on this stage but ended up hitting the safety barrier in the last bit of the stage and as usual for this stage, I got hooked up on the barrier and the car turned on its side and stayed there so had to get help from the publicum, it took them quite a while to get the car back on its wheels due to where it had fallen over.

SERVICE

SS04 - Joux Plane II

Decided to go for Snow tires as I was confident in my pace on the other two stages in the legge but did my best to push on.

Had a few close calls and a spin on the stage but other than that it went allright. Still quite a bit slower than the guys on tarmac tires which I knew would happen...

SS05 - Bisanne II

Bisanne and the stage is a bit of a boogie stage for me looking back, this stage saw the end of my debut rally a few seasons back...

Took it fairly easy but tried to push but lost a lot of time in the last bit of the stage and that was very frustrating. We had 2 corners left of the stage...

SS06 - Joux Verte II

I really like this stage so I put everything on the cards but as soon as I tried to push it I felt, just like on the previous stage, the tires provided no grip compared to during practice, what that was the reason for I don't know.

Did my best, was close to crashing a couple of times, took it very gingerly down the mountain as a few occasions so the time was not one that I was happy with...

SERVICE

SS07 - Cote d'Arboz

Well, here the rally ended for me...

I did the full stage on snow tires and it was going well but then I missheard a note that would have had me going into the turn in 3rd gear, instead I flew into it in 5th and with it being the final turn, you all will know what it resulted in...

So, sadly, the rally was over then when it comes to points, DNF

SS08 - Greenhills

Wanted to try to have a good ending to the rally but I only got to the "4 Right into Fast 2 Left" and the rear end shot out, I tried to power out of it but I ended up in the trees on the inside of the Left Hander...

This locked the gearbox in 3rd gear but thanks to the nice publicum we could at least finish the stage, but a long way behind the rest.

SERVICE

SS09 - Joux Verte

Drove the wheels off the Subaru, in regards to the setup we had on the car, and did a time I was really happy with.
Not good enough for a stage win I don't think but at least I'm happy with the stage

SS10 - Cote d'Arbroz

Tried to go as fast as I could but just before the village I had the rear end come out and blasted into the Cement Blocks in the "Fast 5 Right into immideate Fast 5 left". The crash must have been quite spectacular but I was lucky enough that the crash only affected the estetics of the car so I could finish the stage.

Had that not happened I could very well have competed for the win in the GrA Cup on the stage.

_______________________________________________________________________________

But anyway, to comprise the whole event...

Overall happy with how the car felt, not happy with the feeling of lacking of grip compared to the Recce's but that will hopefully be changed for the future rounds.

See you all at the next event.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Also, I'm sorry to hear of your loss Ole. I hope that you will feel better soon and that you'll be back to your happy and fast self.

 

[Norman Bruce]

Round 1
No DNF's no CFH
I did not make any notes as to how I did on each stage, but the errors I made were not too bad. A few bumps with barriers and walls and a couple of spins. For the first round I am reasonably pleased with my efforts but will need to practice more in the following rounds
Fantastic turn out for EU session tonight with 19 drivers

Final Stage

 

[Balazs Kiss]

yep. after 1 stage test, and a right shoulder injury. I started with the season. Quite good start, and then the spuns has been started, hell ye. Lots of minutes in the air after stalls.
Great tyre choices -.- Lost almost 3 minutes. When I finished the whole rally my brother said to me which tyre would be the best choice
I love my bro

 

[Oscar Hardwick]

@Daniel Monteiro Thanks man, I think we did well for Group A on that last stage

@Balazs Kiss I too have a brother and understand what trolls they can be.


On to the Rally:

SS1 : Starting out I had a plan. Said plan was go balls out on the first 4 stages then cry on the icy ones. All went well on SS1, not the fastest of times but a pretty pacey first outing in the Evo for season 7 of the RDRC.

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SS2 : Took the dry slick/ full slick/ manly slick tyre option to get a better run on Sorica. It certainly felt on the slippy side around here but nothing awful. A couple of scrapes with the wall but probably one of my better stages of the whole event.

SS3 : So much love for Sorica. I was on it like a car bonnet through the first two timing splits and then showing all the grace of an elephant on an ice skating rink I planted it backwards in to a lamp post in sector three. I lost about 15 seconds over all but the car was mechanically sound if not a little wobbly for the 2 or so kilometres I had left to do.

All in all a good first couple of loops in the Evo III.

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SS4 : Despite the stage being damp I went for the wet tarmac tyres here. Not as fast as the inters by around 5 seconds for me but a smart choice with how the Evo acts on ice in the later stages. I normally bugger up Joux Plane royally but today was the exception rather than the rule. Very good stage for me with no mistakes and a solid pace. Exactly what was needed prior to taking on the snow and ice.

SS5 : Nope. Such a dog of a stage. I babied it all the way down and had literally no grip. You also find with the Group A machinery that they suffer from turbo lag and maintaining a speed without wheel spinning on the ice is near on impossible. The only real way to maintain a good control was to be on the wet tarmac tyre which seemed to act in a less snappy manner than the inters on the icy portions of the stage. A slow one but I did finish.

SS6 : This was a stage I had not done any running on in these conditions previous to today. That said what a different beast to SS5. Much less ice I felt and the ice that was there was all in the up hill which is exactly where you want it. Certainly not a fast stage, but one that went by without any noticeable hiccups.

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SS7 : A stage that I think everyone knows. Nothing interesting to report other than average pace and no errors.

SS8 : PHOAWR!!! I was much more confident than I should have been. A stage where I pushed the car on way more than was needed and very nearly paid the price on more than one occasion. With tank slappers and 2 wheel action a-plenty this is a stage worth watching back.

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SS9 : Well... lights would have been nice you know. Stage was fine but I ended up in the bushes at one point because the lights seemed to not be on properly. Couldn't see a thing under the trees in sector one which cost me time. That said it wasn't too bad a time but not one that I would like to repeat any time soon.

SS10 : Last stage, just take it easy and bring it home with no CFHs or DNFs. HAHAHA... smashed the throttle and at night with a lower grip level than the first run through Cote d'Arbroz I went about a second faster and took the overall stage with for EU3. Was a fantastic stage to drive and watching it back was easily the cleanest and most on point run I managed of the entire event.





Now, I certainly wont lie about this but I am so happy just to have that one done. Very few of the stages suited myself or the car and I was fully expecting a dire run through. I am pleasantly surprised with the result in the end and coming second overall in the EU3 session was a real buzz. Want to give a shout out to my team mate @Tommi Ojala who soldiered through with pedal issues and also managed to finish every stage which, as a team, is exactly what we needed to do in such a competitive and tricky round of the championship. Also that SS9 finish where myself and TommiO were only 0.03 different over the full 7 odd kilometres of Joux Verte.

Thank you so much to all of the organisers for the wonderful event and for everyone who participated making it so competitive and fun to take part in.


See you all next time out on the snow in Norway.

- Oscar.