rF2 Caterham Series - Season 2 - Roadsport 140 @ Essington GP - Fri 30th April

[Andy Oakley]

Thanks to Paul for posting, I am home now and can race the 2nd race if possible.

 

[Hans Sneep]

Did hat a good first race thanks to Stuart his setup an better tyres ,some nice fights an finest p5 thanks to the leg of fuel here an there.

start race 2 get a nice screen could see nothing any more only little collard dots, don't no wat to do now, new graphic card ? using a Nvidia 8600GT .

Thanks any way race 1was great ,good track !

 

[Graham Simmons]

What fun, just doesn't sound strong enough

Having just seen the replay of the last race at the finish line, humble apologies to Stuart for putting him into a tank slapper approaching the line:sorry:
I was trying to use the slipstream to the line but as I pulled to the right so did Stuart, to block. Thought I'd pulled over enough to clear him and finished 6th, to find I'd tapped him and finished 5th. Guess the new system will come into play now. After all I'd said about it too

Race one was a taught affair with constant hassling until I ran very low on fuel 2 laps from the end and had to pit. Nearly caught Hans on the line

Race two was for the brave. At one point we were 3 abreast approaching the brow of the hill and the sweeping right-hander...just had to hold your nerve and line and above all hope.

Then get into a four car tussle that reduced to three and the tactics then came into play. Slipstreaming and holding your nerve into corners...gulp!
Great fun and in the end I was at the back of the three for the last lap. Thought I'd use the slip stream and try and pass them both....how nieve was I following the sweeping right hander there was no where to go.....doh!
Eventually we went for the line in a line until.........

No matter, it was bloody good fun and look forward to next week

 

[Ross McGregor]

Some good close racing tonight, most enjoyable. My race one qualifying was negatively affected but somehow still ended up in 3rd. Was bumped down the order and had some great racing with graham, before 2 or 3 in front of me ran out of fuel.
Race 2- i was part of the big train of cars (3rd-10th positions i believe) sitting behind stuart until i was tapped into a spin. Rejoined in 11th (i think) and tried to fight my way back up the order, having a nice duel with andy on the way! Finished 7th at the end.
I must say it was very difficult to pull a gap on the guy behind due to the slipstream effect, but it did make for some tight racing. Cheers guys!

 

[Michael Herrmann]

i had 2 realy enjoyable races

*qualy1*
i messed up as usal but still could get on 6th spot of the grid in warmup i asked for fuel and got 25l will do it ok i filled in 27 to be save

*Race1*
got a verry good start and could climp 1 spots slipstreamd on the strait uphill and got another one now running behind Stu with a lot pressure from behind till the guy spun it coming to the hairpin
from then i was desperatly trying to reel in Stu wich worked quite slowely but i was not sure if the laps left will be enough as at the last lap on teh S&F line Stu suddenly slowed down
with no fuel had already a smile on my face as i had 2 liters more on board so i sayed to my self hey you will make it what i did not take into my calc was i was racing like a maniac
to reel him in without any slistream besides a bit in the first lap coming to the hairpin wich is 1/2 lap my engien just stopped without fuel and i was like WTF o.O oh well crap happens *shakes fist towards Stu ;D*

*qualy2*
i forgot to empty the fuel cell so i was running with 30 liters but tryed to brake as late as i could do with low fuel (bad idear i got of track in the esses) so i started on 10th but had again a
good start and climped up the grid fast the ni had the 3rd, 4th, 5th in front of me one runned of track and coming out of turne 2 on the uphillstrait i came inside of the guy in 4th
with Stu on 3rd moving infront of me wich gave me a good slipstream on top of the hill i was not sure where the other guy was so i let a bit room still in Stu's stream as he suddenly
braked verry early wich made me nearly punt him off but i was on the jump as i not realy was sure where the 3rd guy of our pack was 2 laps later we had setteld back to the same
positions coming out of the esses i hit the throttle to early and spun it into the wall got some bad front damage so i had a tuff job in right turnes and was bloody last still climbed up 1
more spot with an other one in view but the time runned out for it and as my car was 8 km/h slower on the strait even verry late braking did not helped so yes 10th i got but it was hell of a fun


after missing a lot of cat events cuz of my love to the Minis i was quite suprised doing that well as i had in both races a change of a podium and a lot of great fights
so expect me to race now more often the cats again

thanks Stu for this great mini league and a totaly blistering car track combo and thanks for hosting RD

 

[Ron Attwood]

Sounds like I missed a good night. However, it was a very good dinner and my Brownie points have soared. See ya next Friday.

 

[Gary Lennon]

I thought i was being clever with a bit of practice in the afternoon,but what i didnt know about was the different tyres so made a setup based on the old slidey ones,joined the server and hit the track and never got to finish a lap when i was instructed to "go get the upgrade sticky boots Lenno"!! :o,ofcourse this explained being +2.2xx in sector one ,but when i returned with the sticky upgrades and loaded my setup,it was all just really really wrong....
Loaded a Tone T. setup for qually and that was so much better,good enough for 2nd spot to start,but i tried the Hermy setup briefly in warmup and knew straight away that was the one for racing ,so my usual 30L fuel loaded up and away we go!.....Toni is away clear and i just barely manage to hold off Thommo,thankfully i just grab Toni's slipstream on the straight about the same time Thommo grabs my slipstream,that totally saves my ass maintaing 2nd place right there,i think it all held station with 1-2-3 spots for lap one,and then it began! ;D,no point going in to details really,but me and Toni embarked on about 23mins of solid slipstream passing action,near the end Toni worked it out that it didnt matter who was in front until the last lap and just sat behind and pounced at the perfect moment and held it to the line for the win.

Slightly better start for race 2 from 2nd spot again and a little bit argy-bargy behind at T1 lets me and Toni break clear immediatly,but this time we dont wait a lap to start the passing game ,so same deal as race one really,me and Toni stuck together swapping the lead,then it gets to the last lap and i know from experience now that this is the one that will count,so i go for a bit of an outrageous move at the tightest most difficult little downhill right turn at the end of the straight,we go in side by side with me on the outside,i know if i can keep enough speed i get the inside next turn,but for sure Toni is unaware of this and there is a little knock between us on the exit and i go to the grass,but i can hold the car and get back on no probs really and up rejoining up ahead,i dont feel right about it (sort of) so i slow up to let Toni back and i will take my chances again in the last 4 turns >;D,but Tone is not having it either and doesnt want to go back ahead .....so,i nail it through the final turns and over the line just ahead of Toni T.
So its just standard business as usual in the Caterhams really,i hope Stu Whitehead and Katsu and Marty Vrba read this and come join the love trains ,also Stu Thommo built up pace as the show progressed in season #1 and i expect the same this time,also some new names to me showed proper pace as well with surely a fraction of the wheel time me and some others have had in these things........its going to tighten up more again,i can feel it in me waters .

Thank You Stu T. and RD

 

[Toni Talvitie]

great races and like Lenno said, 1st race i just waited for moment on final lap.

2nd race i tried pretty much shake it, brake it, try to push Gary into driving lines he might ( well you can wish can you! )
not feel so comfortable in and force him into error and get minimum of 2 sec gap to avoid final lap but it didnt work
and on final lap we are again lol. then i feel bump and we touch abit and because i was totally unaware where Gary
was i felt stupid and started to wonder if i blocked or whatnot so let him go by. Then Gary slows down and kinda refuses
to win and i refuse to take it back

so all in all enjoyable racing in the spirit of RD clubevents what these were ment to be.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

Standings after the first round: