Another fine event as I liked the track, the car class and the distance.
I will leave the “weather” conversation for another opportunity; I need to do a little bit more research on the matter 
QualifyingI thought I could go high 10’s only went low 11 (3rd), not that important but it was fun to see the Vertigos in the 1st row (doing low 10’s).
Having tested the Vertigo around the track I knew they were capable of doing high 12’s in race and were the cars who consumed less fuel (they could go 27/28 laps with 65L), so I thought all things going normal the race was theirs and I would be left to fight with the Vipers for the remaining podium place which would be a real pain since the Vipers do low 11’s in race like the Z4 but with a difference, they go “ fast” in straight line and go “slow” in corners.
RaceThe Start
From
3rd did a good start but was unlucky has the
1st didn’t so I had to move by the left. Was first for a few meters then
all hell broke loose…
I didn’t like, some of you did, but I didn’t and will explain.
- The 5th (Rafael Barbosa) was overtaking everybody on the left side going completely outside of the track. If I was fully on the left side (overtaking Ben), how could there be a car to my left?!! If this was a Simbin track, I bet that would be a stop & go.
- As I said I was 1st for a few meters, then I sow Gary doing a “Barbosa” but on the right side over the pit exit, which I can “eat” since it was the 1st lap. Now the problem is, we couldn’t all 3 do the turn side by side, if we did only one would come out. My 1st thought was, well I’m on my line “eat that!”, then and thankfully I though no, the Viper as more inertia, I will "bite the dust", so I played the chicken role, and took the feet off the accelerator and gave the road to them…. I wonder if I didn’t, what would have happened, one day we will know
- As I took the feet of the accelerator (turning) I was hit from behind by Ben Tusting the car was unbalanced and had to catch it and dropped to 5th (one example of the blurriness of the golden rule, I lost time, he lost time but he was behind me, nothing could/should be done).
So what’s wrong with all these? Why am I “barking” here?
As some of you know I usually virtual race in a known public server, and there, the “silver” of the house knows very well that we don’t win races on the 1st corner, especially endurance races.Notice it is a “simple” public server and the race only lasts about 30 minutes… not 75 minutes
When the things sort of
cooled down, the
1st was going away and
2nd to
5th (
me) were more or less together.
Rafael Barbosa (
Seat) who earlier had done that “
brilliant” start was losing places (
a second per lap slower).
So I was attacking his
4th.
To me he was lagging (I don’t know if it was me, him, the server or both), his ping to mo was 200ms but above all his car jumped back and forward on the track. One of those times he jumped back, I bumped into him (sorry). He did a 180° and I had to wait for him…
Dropped to
16th…
Back on the track and by now noticing the car is giving
3km/h less than it should (
no doubt result from the front and rear bumps on the bodywork), focused myself and circulated in the
13s and climbed back to
7th (
many of you let me go by, thanks).
There I caught
Fernado Almeida (
6th) and his
DB9, although he was
2 secs/lap slower than me, he decided to give me a run.
His
DB9 was fast going straight but very unbalanced turning, so he did very strange lines while cornering. He would lose the ideal line, than cut back inside (many times exiting slow from the turn) and one had to be very careful. Nevertheless, obviously
I wasn’t sufficiently careful so I bumped him one of the times and he did a
180° (
sorry) and I had to wait for him.
Dropped again, now to 10th…
Again, after a few laps I caught him (
he was 9th now, the result of our earlier contact), again he gave me a run…
It was fun, but (
virtually) dangerous, we crossed each other’s front a few times, and in one of them it was the last as he stayed behind.
Not a full lap after I finely overtook him and climbed back to 9th, he left the server…
My jaw dropped, at the time I was thinking, "I’m so unlucky”, I’ve a fight with someone that made us both lose so much time, only to have him drop the server right after it !
One goes to think, why in an endurance race a guy that is slower 2 secs/lap tries so desperately to defend his position (when 2/3 of the race are still to go) and then leaves the server?!
In the end I sow the replay, and he went in so late for that chicane that the result was only avoidable going straight, but he turned and braked…
Mid. race
After that the race went into “
normal” mode for me and had no more “
incidents”, it was about time since we were about lap 10.
For the
3rd time caught
Adam Vaughan (he was 8th at the time), and once again he let me go by,
thanks mate as by now I bet you were
dizzy watching me going front-back front-back
About lap
12, caught the group of
4 that was fighting for
4th (
Matt the
4th in a Viper was losing pace as his tires were going), so for a few good laps there were together
5 cars:
1 Viper,
1 Seat (
Barbosa again ) and
3 Z4s (
including mine the 8th that had just arrived).
Knowing well how the
Viper "
works", I could imagine the “
pain” going inside the heads of those
Z4s (
virtual) drivers, so I decided to be fast through them taking every opportunity of small errors.
I was bit aggressive (
taking the line when it was given) but not rude (
I hope) and before I knew it, was in
4th (
had to have some luck too).
When going over the grid on the lap
13th I was a full
32 secs behind the 3rd (
Yves Larose/
Viper) and I knew my race for the podium was in any normal circumstances over (
again).
Did my programmed pit stop on lap
15th, it went ok, although
Matt Alpeter did better and left the pit right after me.
We were
6th and
7th now but
2 people had to stop yet.
On that exit lap we cough one of them,
Leandro who was struggling with his tires. With both on could tires (
Matt and me) he went by me over the finishing line (
damn Viper) and we had a fight for a lap or two. After that I overtook him (
he sort of gave up of having me “messing” his Viper lines, thanks) and I was again
4th with
3rd over
20 secs in front.
End race
And there he stayed; in the end the distance was about the same, I was racing alone as Matt dropped behind (over 15 secs) and I noticed he was now fighting with his “usual” 1st part of the race mates.
I never went faster than high 12’s wish sort of can be explained by all the fight on the 1st part of the race, but not the 2nd as I was racing alone for about 12 laps, well maybe (as stated earlier) by the bumps on the bodywork from those 3 close encounters (1 front and 1 in the rear).
Obviously finished
4th and all in all another eventful race (wish in a way is good), my
congratulations to all podium finishers (
especially our winner) and my
thanks to the (
now) usual organizers and all that participated (
mainely those who didn't dropped).
Lol, I think this is my record, another long post,sorry... maybe I should seek some professional help
