8.- GRAND PRIX DE DONINGTON PARK

Lucas Degen · May 21, 2010

Race Report

What a race, was expacting rain on Donington, so planned a 2 stopper.

Had a good start, after a few laps P16, could hold of a few but one was "overtaking" me on the right, almost pushed me of.

Had a steering wheel problem this week (after complete reinstall (*) of my pc), steering to the right out of nothing. It pushed me of into the wall and the engine stalled.

After that I watched the race on the monitor, was a tight race between the top 5. STC had developed well in two years time. Two more races to go in this cup.

Full race report:
http://simracingteam.degen.be/2010/05/20/donington-down-the-drain/

(Anyhow, let me focus on other things inside our team)

* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5429211&l=942b220ed4&id=711872779

Michael Hart-Jones · May 21, 2010

Well what can I say.

Quali:
After 100's of laps I had my quali setup ready and headed out. I put enough temperature into the tyres and brakes and pushed hard through Goddards to get the flying start I needed. My lap through to McLeans was faster then I had managed before and I felt sure I was going to get myself into a good position. I rounded Coppice and ran a little wide but managed to keep myself on the track facing down to the Esses. As I came down to the bridge before my graphics locked up and my system froze for a few seconds, my 1:32 was now looking like a 1:37 :eek:. I got throught the Esses unscathed and made a good run into Adelade. Once again out of Adelade and in to Goddards my graphics locked up again.

My final time 1:42

Race:
Well with everyone dropping out and rejoining I was left a little confused as to who I was meant to let through and who to keep behind me. David, you only told me of one person in TS then sprange another one during the start phase. I know at least 3 passed me so......

Well I know I was near the rear so had all the work to do. My first lap saw Richard Tranter and someone else coming to blows down in to the Esses and giving me 2 positions. Go me. I held my position closing in on someone ahead but was slightly off line through the Craner Curves and so lost the backend and gave the wall at the Old Hairpin a light tap. This put me dead last again. For the next 3 to 4 laps I pushed har and saw my splits with Eckhart drop from 11 secs to nothing. I finally caught him in to the Esses and made my pass as he slithered across the grass, missed you braking point?, and he gave me a friendly nudge into Adelade, Don't worry it was not hard or cause any issues, So I pushed on though Eckhart did stay with in 2 secs of me for the next 3 laps. I pushed again for position and as I came around McLaren my frame rate dropped from 30 odd to 1 frame per second. I managed to pull off the track and hoped that I could regain some FPS but it was not to be. I retyred there and then as the leaders began lapping me.

Rami Kaukola · May 21, 2010

What race!! I promise to drive this Wednesday evening, so training was not a lot of time,luckily Marcin had a good setup for me

thx dubby
Quali: 1:30,6 P 5
Race:Lack of exercise was reflected in the early laps I really lost lot of time on those two last corners but eny way I lost my place to Tackman and when Korkiakosi had that crash he join whit us.It was really hard make passes becose lag but I make my move on the chicane side by side on Tackman and I see that Tackman spin sorry that was not my intention

and after that I lost so musche time there becose wrong line and Mikko passes me...Pittime and after pit I get my rhythm and I was lonely there Mikko was some 5 sec behind and Vince 7 sec front I just try to do good laps and catch up Vince and I succeed to catch up Vince and pass him but Vince came back on next corner little pump but no problem it was nice to fight Vince I know he pit really early so tyres worn out or even soft tyres meiby??? Too bad that Marcin got this problem so rpm sucks again lol ok I had a nice time there grats to winner Mike Simiani nice drive there and Vince Staal too.
bye

Mikko Korkiakoski · May 21, 2010

Qualied in P2 for my surprise and Vince getting the pole meant we had the best situation to start the race. I gave Vince some room in the start to drive into the sunset. That didn't happen as again to my surprise I was able to keep up with him (lack of practise for sure). Then on lap 7 I'm turning in T1 and suddenly BANG and my car is on two wheels and then of the track. I got some strange damage and dropped to P8- or P9 or something. After that the car was actually better in fast turns but in turn MUCH worse in slow and mid-speed corners. When I cought up with Rami and Fredrik?? they were fighting it out and I tried to take advantage. Well positions changed a few times but when Rami spun Fredrik in the chicane I just slammed right onto his wrong-way-facing front. No way I could have avoided that but I'm still sorry about that. Anyway after this my car was absolutely rubbish but still I just got passed Rami and then into the pits a lap or two later. Rejoining the track Vince and Rami had done a quicker stop and passed me with Mike in the lead and Marcin retiring after his shifter broke. So I was on P4 and losing a bit of time to Rami and Ludde closing in slowly from behind. He got very close but then started to lose ground again and I was able to hold my P4 till the end. I don't know why but my car was just very slow on 2nd stint... I suspect it was my engine that had gone down -51% when I crossed the line. I felt like my lines were good but had no power in turn exits.

After starting 1-2 getting a 2-4 is a major dissappointment but again it was due to circumstances you can't do anything about. We really have to do something to get rid of this lag because it is in EVERY race. The problem is not fixed yet.

Congrats to Mike who had a solid race as always (excluding our incident). Great drive from Vince with so little practise so congrats to you too. And last but not least congrats to Rami who again battled very hard with people including me. Good to see a finn on the podium....too bad it wasn't me.

Adam Shaw · May 21, 2010

Grats to Mike, well done mate.

Ok Quali for me although an over cautious lap saw me almost a second from my target.

Enjoyed the first stint on softs, got a tire warning after 22 laps and changed to hards, got a tire warning after 24 laps even though I was 1-2 seconds a lap slower, don't understand the tire mod here tbh, it may be my driving style but it really seems the extra life available in hards don't match the draw back in lap times.
Struggled on for last dozen or so laps with shockingly low grip from destroyed tires so happy enough to finish with a handful of points.

The lag in the beginning was terrible, just couldn't get close enough to make a move on the car ahead due to lag, really compromised my early push, surely there is a reason for this, we don't get lag like that on our GTR server or even on public servers, why so bad for stc?

Well done to all who raced.

Ivo Simons · May 21, 2010

Lucas Degen said:
What a race, was expacting rain on Donington, so planned a 2 stopper.

Had a good start, after a few laps P16, could hold of a few but one was "overtaking" me on the right, almost pushed me of.

Had a steering wheel problem this week (after complete reinstall (*) of my pc), steering to the right out of nothing. It pushed me of into the wall and the engine stalled.

After that I watched the race on the monitor, was a tight race between the top 5. STC had developed well in two years time. Two more races to go in this cup.

Full race report:
http://simracingteam.degen.be/2010/05/20/donington-down-the-drain/

(Anyhow, let me focus on other things inside our team)

* http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5429211&l=942b220ed4&id=711872779