Nice event guys, like someone typed in chat, it had been since 2003/4 I raced in an oval kind of track (
old Sierra game).
Although I did remember many of the setup & driving rules of the ovals, had to give a good look into a setup by
Yves. Glad I did so as I had the RL suspension setup the other way around, thanks… :wink2:
Had a long freeze in practice (
about 20 sec including reinitiating the visuals, alt-tab), luckily it wasn’t in race...
Position wise, this event would be all about 4th places for me…
Qualify (
4th)
Managed to do a very high 45 in an alone lap…
Race 1 (
4th)
When the race started I was a bit surprised by the point of acceleration of the front group so I lost immediately about 2 seconds to the top 3. Worst yet, 5th placed lost about over a second to me, so with 3 cars circulating together in front, me in a “no man’s land” in 4th I knew I would lose much time to the front and eventually be caught by the group in the back (5th & 6th).
But that wasn’t happening; I kept losing a few .1 sec here & there to the top 3 but continued to keep the gap to 5th.
Later Aponte with lack of top speed lost contact with the front 2 and I ended up overtaking him easily. Then while coming on a back-marker we had a misunderstanding and I end up hitting him strong in the rear. The result was I lost all the advantage I had over 4th & 5th but above all I too lost 3 km/h top speed (aerodynamic damage).
All this did was to spice-up my race as from then on until the end of the race I battled with both Nigel and Aponte for the final podium position. Both me & Aponte didn’t had the top speed but could turn inside Nigel at turn 4 so it was very fun and clean all the way. In the end Nigel defend well his 3rd spot and I come 4th.
Race 2 (
4th)
I’m not a big fan of grid inversion but I can handle it… I think
The front 5 from race 1 I knew how they went about their race (l
ines & such), the "other" 3 (
now in the top 3 spots of the grid) were a mystery… :wink2:
The race went way very well this time, as the cars were all tight together when over the start finishing line (
fine job).
My plan was just to follow
Aponte as I knew he was faster than those in front him; where he went, I went (
line wise). Immediately I sow that this 2nd race would be “different”, as many people don’t follow the NASCAR tacit rule of keeping lines (
inside, outside) above all when going in/out of the turns (
yes, you may change lines, but if there is no one in/out of you ).
A bump here, a bump there all normal & fun when tight racing… a few seconds later the top 3 wasn’t anything to be surprised with , Aponte, me and Yves. I was just thinking “let’s keep the train going guys, so we can escape that “mad bunch" back there”… immediately after Aponte car vanishes (froze on the track), not expecting it, for a split second I take it from the throttle in a straight, went from 1st to 8th with a few bumps on the mix. :crying:
Short after, when I was again in the middle of the “mad bunch“ had one of those situations where one can’t do much… once the contact is made, one become a passenger in his own car. I knew I would likely turn
Emilio's car around, but I also knew if a took it off the accelerator in that situation I would immediate spin too, so kept it on and hoped for the best… behind, all hell broke loose for a few seconds
.
Again from very early I got aerodynamic damage, again I lost 3 km/h top speed and again got involved in a race long battle for 3rd spot with Aponte (coming from his freeze), Martin with Nigel not very far. All close, all "clean" and giving room when possible… In the end got another 4th.
Congratulations
Yves for the overall win and thanks for organizing this fine event and once again; wish everything nice for the “birthday boy” :good:
Special thanks to
Nigel,
Aponte and
Martin as they were the ones racing most of the time very close to me. As I typed earlier, all very fun & entertaining :good:
Thanks everyone who took part, sorry to those who somehow got the “wrong end of the deal”, all in all it was one of the finest club events I’ve been lately, thanks.
