Very nice event, obviously this is "
my kind" of event since
GTR2 days...
Endurance racing can be rewarding (
but also cruel) as the time the event takes to develop really lets everyone have time to do their best (
or worst).
_______
Before going into my proper race report , will just post here a little bit more of "free/do whatever you like kind of information" that many of you (
endurance veterans) know about, but as perhaps a few don't, and as usual "
if from those I can help one in any coming event", it has already worthwhile... :wink:
A few "
tricks" that really help in long events (
above 120 minutes in a single stint)... Btw, also, for those of you who have done long distances driving stints in real live nothing of this is obviously "
strange"...
The long straights are not only places to do draft overtakes, but are too and above all in long distance racing, places of "resting"...
Meaning (more if you use "strong" FFB settings/effects, if not 1 & 3 are needed too anyway), the Nord's "power hill", after Eau Rouge at Spa, the Mistral straight at Paul Ricard and so on are place to:
- Take the eyes of the track/screen... (Yes, blink the eyes, close them for a split second, look to the side of the room and such...)
- Do upper body "relaxation"... shoulders and above all neck (rotate head/shoulders).
- Variate the distance to the screen by moving forward and beck in your place (this applies in real driving too and serves not only to awake your eyes/reflexes but also to do lower back "exercise").
The pits are not only for vehicle "recuperation"... but also for virtual driver "recuperation"...
- For sure drink (not drunk :tongue, and "change your waters"... Yes, in 40 seconds a lot can be done... even if you come late, who cares, what is 10 seconds lost in a virtual 180 minutes event?
- If you are able to drink & drive (again not drunk & drive :eek, you don't need to drink nor "change your waters" while in the pits, good too, take the 30-40 seconds to speak to your kids/wife/mother/whatever, yes anything will do, the whatever "weather talk" will do too....
In the long race, find
circumstantial objectives at every given moment in the event...
- Keep the pace of racer X, gain time on racer X, do your PB, delay as much as possible going a lap down to racer Y, try to give a lap to racer Z, and when you look... the event is almost by its finish. :wink:
Moral of the story; if you want to arrive to the 60's
not blind and
able to move your upper body (
& virtual racing long distance races at same time)... don't be a "
stiff"! :wink:
_______
Yet before going to my "short"
race report, a funny but not too correct occurrence I saw in this endurance event...
Yet early in the race, 3rd or 4th lap I don't really recall, I was overtaken by a police
Audi GT1 going up the "
power hill".
Being a
Police car I think it should give the example, but... :tongue:
As usual I don't defend draft overtakes, much more so in an endurance event... (I'm not saying I don't keep the "best" line to myself & won't delay the braking...).
The Police went in front, being I in a "puny" GT2 (on a "different" race from the GT1), I though :"nice, now I can take a long draft up this hill following this police car!"
My M3 top speed was 281 km/h at the maximum allowed rpm I set for this event (8100rpm) in 6th gear...
But no... to my dismay the police car started to "serpent" on the track (yes, doing S's) trying to brake the draft... I was like... "come-on... Are you serious?!... :eek:!"
I was laughing so hard... Not only it is against the "rules" (1 extra line change allowed after exiting a turn), but also my M3 has about100 hp less and being in a race apart should not be much of a threat for the police... :wink:
I was like... "
OK, you win!, Take the bicycle dear Sir cop!"
don't take the above "too personal"... the all mater was kind of funny due to & above all, the skin you took for the event... after-all one expects the
police to fully behave!
_______
Qualifying (
2nd in the class, 10th overall?)
As usual the qualification in these long events is of reduced/questionable value, but... Went OK, did a 54 low, 1 second slower of what I usually do on 2 laps at the Nord. Andreas (1st in the class) did a 52, a time only 1 second slower of what I usually do over one lap so it was a very quick time for 2 laps at the Nord, grats :wink:
Race (
1st GT2, 5th overall)
The start was confusing... but with all things considered, it went quite well, people in this event really did an overall good job; at least from where I was standing.
I didn't notice anyone dropping from qualify to race, but noticed the admin (and pole man) in the pits...
So like a few of you I was like:"will this be the real go?".
On top of it, someone questioned, 2 or 3 seconds before the lights went, "if it was a rolling start?" or something of the likes... So some people took it very slow and I had to start the event by taking avoiding action (front car was "parked"). 2 turns later, everyone went into "place",cars of mixed classes, at least around me, all ended up going single line to the coming first fast corners, I lost a grid position place btw...
The first 3 or 4 laps were very funny as people of the GT2 class were all around me with a few "slower" GT1 guys in the mix...
A "slow"GT1 (
this "slow" is very relative, as "slow" to some is obviously "fast" to others or the other way around, in the end everyone gives what they can...) is a "funny" but painful (
in an entertaining way) "thing" to deal for the GT2 guys...
GT2 guy goes faster in the tight & hard braking bits, when there comes the high aerodynamic support fast turn or long straight, the GT1 goes or wants to go away... hard (
but fun) thing to balance for everyone involved I think... (
endurance is all about mixed class racing too).
Anyway, back to the GT2 race (or "sports"), with all the "concertina effect" from mix class racers being together, in the first laps for me it was all about Yves (C6)/Andreas(M3) to the front, Stefan (Marcos)/many BVM (M3) to the near back and a race pace almost 7 seconds slower than my usual lone pace ...
I noticed early on Andreas had an off, I don't know how it happened, but noticed the bump in the car body, so I knew he had lost top speed with that... My old F1 team-mate Yves on his C6 was a concern too, until he went the "grass route" at the "Flugplats" (early fast 5th gear "kink") and later showed to be in a 3 stop pit strategy...
The rest of the race can be shortly resumed...
The truce is
I didn't put a wheel wrong... after 3
RD events where "
lady luck" surely wasn't with me (
2% engine health start, accelerator pedal not going above 90%, OS HD KIA 45 minutes before an event), this time it was surely there with me.
I could do 9 laps with the setup but went for the symmetric pit-stop tactic as I didn't need to "invent"...
Went to the pits at the end of lap 8, did my race fastest lap (58 low) on lap 10, stopped on lap 16 and took extra fuel in just in case the GT1 guys all "bent" their material and I needed to do the full 24 laps.:tongue:
More to the end I "
dreamed" with a 3rd overall as I could see 3rd & 4th in GT1 were doing 50's high a lap at a point, but in truce my setup was a 7.01 overall (
average over a full stint) so it was just that, a "
dream"...
By race finish went a lap down from 1st & 2nd, was happy to see 2 very "
interesting" cars leading the GT1's (
my much liked C5 and a the "big" Viper), took the flag after completing lap 23 in 5th overall and 1st in the class.
As everyone I was tired, in urgent need of a bath (
30º here) but the car sure was ready for another 23 laps if needed as it lost "only" 10% engine health in the all race (
from a full health start... the minimum engine start I saw in a M3 was 45% so far).
to the
podium finishers in both classes,
congratulations to
all who finished this special event as 16 racers finished the race, that is almost
70% finishers from a total of 23 race starters (
removing the 2 unfortunate DNS :frown
.
Some of you really went the "extra mile" by having to "nurse" very "bent" cars for quite some distance (1% engine health, full laps in 3 wheels and such), much thanks...
Also very correct racing from everyone around me, for instances; at the beginning when racing among 5 cars of the same class I looked at the names and thought "nothing to wary, all known competent/correct virtual racers", so again much thanks.
Thanks RD for the server,
Eric for the practice server, and perhaps above all,
Remco and
all the staff for putting this one up & together, see you guys on the next one :wink:
One last thing; I think there will be an official classification available and as there were no "
ghost discos" there is no need for me to post an "unofficial" classification (
there was someone with a car not correctly load, which is different)...
Anyway, here stays a screen with almost everyone, but
Andreas is missing as I think he left the server earlier after the event finish (
he was 3rd in the GT2 class? At least by the last time I looked in the XD).
cheers & see you guys next one,
