Will include highlight videos, interviews and sometimes even pre-race write-ups.
Trackday Thunder Highlights & Interviews
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Will include highlight videos, interviews and sometimes even pre-race write-ups.
16 November 2016, 21:19
Hi Sven. Not that much of a run last series, but straight to three heat wins in this very first race. Congrats! Is this down to the 1M, or is there something else? Thanks! Well, first of all there's a big difference between how much I like to drive the 1M and the RX-7, and in particular the setup the latter had. I've also had at least one contact almost every race that moved me down, and when I did find my pace at Tor Poznan, MinDer knocked me out while leading into the final corner. Very unfortunate series. It's also not a secret that some things didn't turn out very successful last series, like the all wheel drive of the Skyline and the 4C being a bit too easy to drive. I'm glad to be on the pace again though, had two hairy moments and some avoiding to do, but that aside a smooth drive in the first week. Now you are doing fine again, where's your team? NRTH already announced he wouldn't make the first race, and DeLof's schedule has changed a lot since a few months ago. Of course, would either of them have performed even near decent in this race, those 90 points would've made themselves count big time. We'll have to see where we end up at the end of the series, but at least I really like the car this time! But there's a good chance of more 90's to follow, right? I'm not so sure. Nürburgring Sprint was the foremost testing mule in the final testing days. The next couple of weeks I'll probably be back at my Cosy Practice Diet . Especially Grobnik will more be a test of courage more than anything else. I knew that the car last series needed an investment for each race more than others, but didn't really bother, in part because of Chip's early results. Two of the drivers that were missing this race have been regulars over the last few series: Whatshisname and MinDer K. What happened to them? Whats' let me know he was not a big fan of two of the tracks, of which Paul Ricard already was replaced. I guess there's not much to do about that when he's been pretty much the only one seriously complaining about that. MinDer is a longer story. There was a last minute setup change to both the 1M and RX-7, a new setup that MinDer didn't like. We had a good conversation, but that new setup added to his frustrations with the lack of damage for this series and allowing ABS since a couple of series. There have been good reasons for every one of these changes, but I respect his decision to at least skip this one. Hope they'll both return soon! Alright, any final words to the competition? Stay safe, there's not a lot to win, but there is a lot to lose
17 November 2016, 12:40
Hi Sparten, your official debut in a Cosy series, are you satisfied with your first races? Yes it was great and I really enjoyed it, had some good battles in all 3 heats, the last heat was the best though. Gepard Racing already has a solid lead in the championship. Where do you expect to be at the end? I really hope we can maintain a position in the top part of the leaderboard, its still early in the season and a lot can still change, but I do believe with a bit of luck and practice we have a good chance going forward. There's been talk in the Cosy Catacombs about damage being at 0% affecting the quality of racing and especially of new drivers getting in, what's your view on that? I think it make it a bit arcade'dish with no damage at all, but it don't stop me from racing Last but not least, you're currently in a close pack with OldEarl, Ceolmor and Offcorsa with Mr Chip still within reach. What's your personal goal for this series? I hope I can maintain a position around where im currently at in the standings (6th), but having heard that some fast guys didnt make the first races I could become hard to keep my current position. Didn't correct grammar, so don't become hard on me <div style="position: relative;width: 100%;height: 0;padding-bottom: 56.25%;"> <iframe style="position: absolute;top: 0;left: 0;width: 100%;height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CrrTX1a4kFA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> Please let me know by PM if the video still has issues like stuttering..
19 November 2016, 15:36
Nice vid Sven - some great moments captured.
23 November 2016, 2:01
Hi Ed. You're rising through the ranks again, was it a bad first week or an unexpectedly good second week? Hello. Yes I am trying to make up for a bad first week. I was actually quite ill and not really in a state to drive, but after all the work MinDer put in to make the awesome livery for Fretless, I couldn't bear to miss the race. As for Imola, when I saw the times people were doing in quali, I knew I would be much more competitive. My first win in a Cosy series was a nice surprise though! Congrats! Somewhat of a controversy, mostly behind the scenes, was the late setup change of the RX-7. Do you think it added to this week's success? Thankyou. Having only driven the RX-7 before the setup change on two tracks during the pre-series event, and also while I was learning those tracks, I was not well placed to judge the change to the car purely by lap times. But I find the car is great to drive. Once I learned how to drive it fast, it can keep up with the other cars in the series fine. Still, I would love to have seen what it could do in the hands of MinDer. Does MinDer's resignation keep you guys from contending from the team championship, or is there some pace left in Ceolmor and you we haven't yet seen? If we get some good practice in before each Sunday, there is no reason we both can't be competing with everyone else, but I think we would be kidding ourselves if we said we were the same caliber driver as MinDer. With no other RX-7s in the field, it is a bit harder to judge the real pace of the car. But hey on the other hand, it's nice to have a bit of exclusivity. Was the RX-7 originally a choice of exclusivity for you, or were there other factors at play? Not originally. After my brief testing, I liked the M4 and the RX-7. I ended up initially choosing the Mazda as I prefer to drive using my H shifter as opposed to the paddles. Then after the setup change, where I had the chance to change car, I could see that the M4 was a very popular choice, so decided to stick with the RX-7. Also, I knew that the RX-7 would still be at least somewhat competitive. After all, CRC is first and foremost about clean and close racing. Lastly, your performance at Imola has moved you up quite a bit. Who's your target this series? Anything you want to say to him? Well after being moved back to Am rating before the series started, my minimum aim is to win the Am league. Chip is just ahead of me, for now, so he is who I will be keeping my eye on. Hopefully I can keep performing well enough that my first week points won't get counted. What I am really aiming for however is to beat a Pro. This should show Sven he was in fact mistaken in down rating me.
27 November 2016, 14:32
Hi Urlauber. Pole this week compared to last weeks 39 race points is quite a shocking recovery! Have you become one with the car again? I'm still puzzled by that sudden pole position (my first ever btw!). Actually I expected myself to be the usual 3-4 seconds behind the 1st third of the pack as the M4 felt as oversteery as last week. I only know that I was surprised and I was really sweaty waiting to hit the throttle. But it seems that I don't belong to the front, as the T1 desaster of heat 1 proved I believe knowing that I have a reasonable pace made the difference to last week's failure. Whilst before the start of the series the team looked like a clear title favorite with the numbers 1, 3 and 7 in the overall standings of the last series, and the team currently third in the standings, has expectation worked against you so far? Of course there are expectations from our fans all over the world, but every season brings new challenges. We hope that all technical and ... ehem... human shortcomings are solved now and we can start to fight our way back to the top! Some of those fights so far have included team cars, like the collisions between you and s0ul at the Nürburgring and yourself and Barry at Imola. Does the team have a plan to avoid these incidents in the future? I can't remember much about Nürburgring (actually I don't want), but the incident in Imola with my mate Barry was inevitable, as I already was stranded in the middle of the road after the collision with a yellow M1. As a consequence our racing engineers have put me through some extra Helicorsa training. Additionally we are thinking about installing some electric wires to the driver, one on the right and one on the left side. It will give you jolts on the corresponding side whenever a car is near. But then you might want to start from the pits. With a lot of Am drivers performing quite well so far, how do you look at your individual chances? Well, it will be a bit harder to move up the ladder, but I'm positive if me and the M4 will remain friends. After all it's not the rank, it's the fun you had <div style="position: relative;width: 100%;height: 0;padding-bottom: 56.25%;"> <iframe style="position: absolute;top: 0;left: 0;width: 100%;height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d-Cynm6lp_U?vq=hd720" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> If you like the videos, please appreciate them, otherwise I'm not sure if I should spend two hours on every one of them. Hi Jonah. First of all much respect for continuing to show despite not finishing in the top of the field. You were showing impressive pace during pre-season races, but it's not yet showing in the results. How come? Of course I continue. If I were to stop, someone else would be in the bottom all the time and they might not be able to handle it. And the newcomers need someone to race against also. I think my 'impressive pace' in pre-season were mostly flukes. I was lucky a lot to avoid crashes in front and maybe it was easier for me when I know the results don't count, less pressure. And I might have been in good shape on those days where everything just clicked. There are so many factors that need to click when you spend most of the time messing with settings, apps, fov, brake points. Everything has to line up to get a good result and I just tinker too much to be consistent yet. Despite newcomers every series, there have been few people actually sticking around at the back of the field. What would be your advice to them? To stop thinking that they will be pro in a month and just keep going. Enjoy the races, relax with some nice cars on the nordschleife, stop the car and listen to the birds and just simply enjoy this great game. If they want to be better, there are plenty of videos to teach race craft also. What has been the single most helpful resource helping you gain better race results so far? I can't point out a single resource, but the 'Skip Barber going faster' video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQRmYMlmdqM and the videos from iRacing have been helpful. And Mad-rooky helped me a lot in the beginning to learn placement into corners although most of the time I still don't do it right. So even though I am still in the bottom in Cosy, I can feel a huge difference if I join a public server these days. Still I only have about 500 hours simracing experience now (and many of those are spent fiddling with settings and mods) and you need 10.000 hours to master something, so I still have a long way to go But a possible way! With Gepard Racing now in second place for the first time this series, how are you guys looking to regain first spot? Is it still feasible? Yes, I sent Angelnick back to Skip Barber for some more lessons, so he should be back to his old self very soon and Spartan and myself are also working hard on improving, so I don't think it's impossible to regain our first position again in the future. But only time will tell. Good Luck! Lastly, what's your personal goals this series? Just to stay on the track without spinning out for at least one race!
02 December 2016, 11:51
Hi Dimavika! Qualifying with the big boys every week, but the results weren't coming in. Are you feeling relieved after Grobnik? Yeah, it was a great climax this week and an absolute thrill. Extremely happy to get some solid points for my team. Like you said, I had some speed on previous race qualies, but just couldn't turn that speed into much in the races. I changed my approach to races during Imola and it seems to be working so far. Next week is a fresh start, and I'm ready for whatever happens. Hopefully more clean T1's haha. It's all gone quite fast, from racing for the trailing Dark Wolf team last series, to becoming the backbone of a championship leading Team Jake. Just how much is left in you? Dark Wolf was a superb learning experience and allowed me to get to grips with racing here, and the RX-7 was a steep starting car. Proud to be a part of Team Jake now and more so to contribute in the championship. As for how much I have left in me; time will tell. I'm guessing about 5 liters With Team Jake now taking over the lead in the team championship, how likely do you think it is you guys will get the title? Not calling anything because nothing is ever a sure thing. All I can say is that Offcorsa, OldEarl and myself will be doing our best to hold the lead and hopefully extend it. Before the start of the series there was some critique that the Corvette was the most understeering car of the pack. Has this stability helped you, worked against you or kept you right in balance? It's still an understeering cow in my opinion, especially under braking. It only likes to pivot mid-corner under power which is fun, but requires very fine throttle input to not overdo. When you get it right though, it's a missile. A missile with still three races to go. Considering you came second in November's Am championship and are currently leading the Am's in the overall championship, what's your goal for the remainder? Do my best, simple as that. Time will tell if that is enough. But most importantly, my goal is to keep enjoying the journey so far!
05 December 2016, 18:58
<div style="position: relative;width: 100%;height: 0;padding-bottom: 56.25%;"> <iframe style="position: absolute;top: 0;left: 0;width: 100%;height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lt5UOyTHjAE?vq=hd720" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div>
05 December 2016, 19:02
hahaha you had to get my excursion through the barriers didn't ya sven...
That was so much fun.
All of the 1M tyre wheelies, lol!
10 December 2016, 16:14
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18 December 2016, 13:00
<div style="position: relative;width: 100%;height: 0;padding-bottom: 56.25%;"> <iframe style="position: absolute;top: 0;left: 0;width: 100%;height: 100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cjltHzFtB5s?vq=hd720" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div>
20 December 2016, 12:05
Hi Chip, from third in the November Am championship to second in December, then first in overall Am. Congrats! How do you look back at this series? Obviously I'm really pleased with the final standings, and winning the AM championship. My main aim for this season was to find consistency, after showing some early promise and good speed in the warm up races; as it has been my downfall in the past. I had a number of excellent races this season and really enjoyed the close battling through the field. A team could've greatly benefited from your performance this season, yet you chose to run privateer. This being your best series result yet, how do you look at getting into a team again? As I said, I wanted primarily to find consistency with no team distractions or pressure! In future I will be more than happy to be part of a team. It's one of the great things about the cosy ethos I feel. As you said, you were showing a lot of early promise and good speed in the warm up races. Was the M4 just fast out of the box but deceivingly hard to drive on the edge when the series progressed? Yes, for me I think that is right. I instantly felt comfortable with it, which was unusual for a FR car! However I struggled a little when I really needed to push at times. AngelNick for example, showed what could be done, with amazing car control on the edge. I feel I have always be quicker with a more "smooth" style, but even that was limited, with the M4 being a lot of "fun"! Speaking of fun, what's was the most fun heat you've raced this series? There have been a few actually - the mid-pack is very competitive and has seen some excellent close racing, but Race 2 at Silverstone was definitely a stand-out for me. Very close, and tough but fair, door to door stuff with my old track shadow OldEarl for a number of laps! Despite some old faces being around, numbers have gone up recently and there have been a few rules loosened up a bit (ABS allowed, reduced damage). For some, this caused expectations of lower racing standards. Looking back at the last few races, did you notice a negative change? Absolutely not. There has indeed been a few new drivers recently, before and during this series. All who have stuck around are fitting in well imo, and hopefully enjoying the cosy ethos, that makes this site/series the great place to race it does. It is always going to be tough trying to please everyone regulation wise, but from my perspective, I don't have time to practice much during the week, and to have a race (or 3) over very quickly through any reason would be gutting. The high standards and number of excellent drivers here, is pretty much self regulating also, and so damage is a secondary concern as far as I can see. Right then! Since there's no "real" prize for our series champions, if there was a specific combo you'd like to race any time soon on a Sunday, what would it be? Apart from the BTCC mod ;-) ? Any of: - AC Cobra at Nurb GP - BMW M3 E30 group A at Zandvoort - F40 at Mugello Hi Ceolmor, it's apparently been a rough ride for you the last few weeks. How's it going now? I could answer that with one rude word, but it wouldn't make for a very interesting interview! To be honest, I've been disappointed with my performance. I've struggled with the car and setup and this was exasperated by my not knowing the last two tracks. I'm worried my contract won't be renewed for next season. Well, your qualifying performances were consistently in throughout the mid field, so I'm sure there is potential. What's been the hardest part to translate your pace into the races? Most definitely racing in close quarters with other cars throughout the whole race. Many online races I've done in the past have consisted of the usual carnage at turn 1, but by lap 2 you've spread out and are hot lapping on your own, which I can do OK. Not so with Cosy. I will need to learn to cope with the pressure of having cars around me so that I don't spin out every couple of laps. Which is one of the best things about close racing. It seem like practice, but mostly experience, makes perfect Enough for the bad moments then, what was your best moment of the series? I really enjoyed the first event, Nurburgring where I had some really close, clean racing . My best result (4th) at Heat 3 of Grobnik was probably the highlight, where I managed to keep it on the tarmac when many others fell off, and was able to keep pace with (if not pass) Offcorsa. Generally, being new to Cosy, I really like the 3 short heat format to each event, the numbers that enter, the close qualifying (1st and 15th at Silverstone separated by less than 1.5 seconds) and the usually, but not always, clean racing driving almost bumper to bumper. So after settling in with your first full series under the belt, there can only be better times ahead. Anything you already want to let future team managers and team mates know? If you are looking for a young, naturally talented, emerging star of the future, then move on coz there's nothing to see here. However, if you want an enthusiastic driver to watch your back (as he's not likely to be in front of you) then I'm your man. But move quickly because I think that's Toto Wolff on the phone about the vacant Mercedes F1 seat. Hi DeLof, 75 points at Tor Poznan and because of that: team champions, second in overall Am and December Am champion. You must be very happy! Hi Sven. First of all, shoutout to NRTH and you for the winning team result and yes I'm happy with the final result. Tor Poznan was a nice surprise, my lap times throughout this series were never top notch, but staying on track most of the time and some collision evasive maneuvres helped me to achieve some decent points. Before the start of the series you were moved to Am, yet you're still winning the Am championship. Do you feel the gap between yourself versus Offcorsa and Angeln1ck is actually bigger than the gap between other Am title contenders like Edtheshed and Mr Chip? Well, the title goes to Mr Chip (congrats!). Yes, I do think the gap towards the Pro's is slightly bigger than towards the Am's when based upon laptimes. However, race results depend on more than just fast laptimes. Overall, I don't have a real preference for Pro or Am as we all tend to be somewhat mixed up during races, in part due to reverse grid rules. What's your view on the reverse grid not being tied to divisions, looking from your position of often being around the edge of reverse grid spots? I haven't given it much thought, because most of the time it didn't apply to me. If people want to learn more about how to handle difficult first corners, overtaking and tactical team passes, I could even imagine a full grid reverse. This would be especially nice for people who do end up in a severe collision in a previous heat. There are many different grid reversing options to shuffle the deck, but I don't have a clear optimal grid reversing rule in mind. (redactional edit: this current reverse grid system will stay, this was just an interview question) Completely different topic then. You're one of few, and currently the only, controller driver here. How does this affect you in overtaking and defending? A wait-and-see approach? I don't think that a wheel would make me behave differently in overtaking and defending, apart from the fact that I would need many hours to become comfortable with a wheel. There are a few clear distinctions between wheel and controller. I can easily slam the brake or throttle and I can turn 'the wheel' real quickly which could save me from a spin where a real wheel would not. But then again, a controller doesn't have a clutch which makes downshifting in a corner more dangerous (rear kick). I also feel to miss the clutch at the start. In this series, I revved the 1M to about 4500 rpm and then played with the throttle to get off the line as smoothly as possible, but I usually get overtaken by some drivers. Also, twitchy cars can be difficult to get through corners smoothly. Long straights are therefore moments of relief. Another thing that saves you from spins is a well-suited setup. Would you have gotten the same results with the first, pre-season, version of the setup? Hmm difficult to say. I didn't drive much with pre-season setup and stock setup. The biggest adaptation was to drive with 100% turbo boost instead of 80% which makes quite a difference at the rear end. I just hope you've created the most stable setup possible for each car. I do feel I'm getting too accustomed to driving with ABS on, although I feel that it is necessary now we have races with 18 drivers on the grid. ..and if everyone turned up, there would be even more than 18. Anything in particular you're hoping for for the next series? 24 cosy drivers in a race and close racing. I would like to see certain tracks Mugello, Suzuka, Yas Marina, Spa but I understand that those tracks are quite long which can lead to too much distance between the cars. Maybe they can be raced during one-off endurance races with mandatory pitstops. We will see what happens!
23 December 2016, 0:03
Hi Chris (mad-rooky), congratulations on your first championship title here! Did you expect it? Hi, thank you. To be honest, i have not thought so much about it. But i wanted to battle with the strongest drivers in the field to improve my own skill. I was not expecting something, i just tried it and i think it was better than i would expect. For the championship it was helpful, but that is actually not the important part. What really count is that i had fun and really improved my skill. With two 1M's at the top of the standings and the winning team also in a 1M, the question of course arises: was the 1M the fastest car overall? No! I would say it was the consistency of these two drivers. The pace was a different thing. I remember i had very hard times against Barry, offcorsa, Dimavika and Angeln1ck with the M4 and the C7. Not to forget about edtheshed in his RX-7, he was very fast on some tracks. Also Mr Chip is fast, but he had often bad luck. I´m sure with a bit more luck for them it could look different. And to mention is also jean, very fast, but joined late so there was no chance to show the potential in points. What impress me, if this is correct, DeLof is driving with gamepad. Its amazing how fast and safe he is driving. He made good points for the 1M Team. And there is no doubt that Sven is the strongest driver, so its no wonder that his points helped Dark Wolf a lot. Team Jake with the C7 could lead the team championship. In my opinion the consistency decided the championship. Not to forget that without me as privateer Team Jake would have more points. In Grobnik i had the battle with DIMAVIKA, where he was faster but crashed, and in Sentul i had a very good day and could beat offcorsa. I dont like it, but i had a deciding part in the team championship, so often i took points from the M4 and C7 drivers. And from the 1M other drivers as well! The last time you raced here before this series was in June and only for three races (in a row). Are you planning to stick around this time? It was not planned not to race! I had some private things and also technical issues that took me out. The weird connection thing is only one of it. Strange is since i observe my network it never appeared again... Its the first online racing league i´m in, and i really enjoy the friendly kind of racing here. I´m looking forward for further great races. With not much left to improve on, I guess your only goal could be to have more fun. How do you plan on doing so? There is always something to improve! But it honors me that you say it like that. And you are right, to have more fun is always a good plan. I have no idea to be honest... We will see. |
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