11 March 2018, 23:27(This post was last modified: 11 March 2018, 23:41 by S4b1n.)
Some pretty good racing tonight, even though my results would again, disagree. Started 5th in H1, but I don't remember how I managed to drop to 10th, finishing 8th in the end. Started on pole in H2, then I saw a purple Dimavika going 110% and overtaking me. One lap later, Sven also did, and I bounced off a kerb and took us both out. Then I resumed from 12th. Had some good racing with Forest Red in H1 & H2, though, given the circumstances of making a few mistakes. Thanks for letting me by once in each heat and sorry for losing it in H2 and ending up behind you again. Hope I didn't put pressure on you while chasing, I didn't intend to. Solid racing, also! You are rarely making any mistakes and that's good consistency I think.
H3 - i started 10th I think. Had in front again, Forest Red, Mr Chip, Zombie, Offcorsa, Soul, as far as I remember. Most of the race I was chasing, so I managed to get past Zombie after he made a slight mistake, after that it was Mr Chip somewhere along the pits (I still have to check the replay of that), then I was chasing Offcorsa for quite some time. From time to time there was also Zombie behind me pushing I'm not sure who else was there during the battles, but I know that we were about 5 cars within only 2-3 seconds for many laps in a row. Those were some tense laps, and filled with action, and I don't remember everything that happened. Last thing I know is I managed to get on the outside of Offcorsa in 2nd to last corner of the heat in order to try to get the inside into next corner. Almost a flawless move, if we hadn't touched. I think both of us were greedy and didn't want to concede any space going into the next corner, which resulted in the contact.
PS: sorry for the touch after the overtake Zombie, but i ran out of kerb after entering the straight and was gonna hit the grass if i hadn't moved towards right. Seems the 911s are very wide, so there was little space between us.
PS2: MrChip, it was funny when i noticed I had some extra speed carried through last corner before the straight, and noticed you were not gonna leave any space on your right - that moment i clenched my butt, grabbed my wheel really hard and said - screw it, I'm going over the kerbs. 2 jumps later I managed to get side by side
Enjoyable despite a less than stellar qualifying for me. Turned out to be a full second faster in the race, and I don't think I hit any corner completely right during qualifying. Too cosy to practice, I guess
First heat was pretty straightforward, as after a few laps I was too slow still to keep up with the top boys, but too far ahead to get into serious trouble with the semi pro squadron.
Second heat was marked by getting tapped by S4b1n on a risky overtake. Did leave enough space, but he got launched off a kerb and I lost all hope of a good result. In the end still finished fifth, pretty much all that was in it.
Third heat was about getting a good start and putting the pressure on. Zombie played it safe and I got my hands on first position already after five corners. The battle between edtheshed, MinDer and Dima got me pressing my rear view buttons all the time. In lap six I went into "just drive it home" mode. Nearly made a mistake that would've cost me the race, but from there on steady with a four second gap on Ed.
Not that many battles, but this track isn't bad to drive without cars around you constantly. Maybe even better
Props Offcorsa for another solid result despite all the setbacks! Gerald, you can do better
12 March 2018, 11:57(This post was last modified: 12 March 2018, 12:04 by NRTH.)
Had a very enjoyable evening. Lot's of action especcialy in the first heat.
Was trying to record it to show how a race can be at the back of the grid and also trying to show what you see with VR. Didn't worked out, so I recorded my Replay with VR to show what the action is at the back. This time the info of crewchief is missing cause that's not recorded in a replay.
Qualified 7th. Like sven, my laps were consistently 1 second faster in the heats, should've practiced!
Heat 1: Lap 1 following behind Chip. Porsche in front of him got a slide on mid corner slowing chip down. I couldn't slow down enough and went into the back of chip, then Sabin went into the back of me. Apologies chip. But managed to fight back to 9th from last place, so not all bad.
Heat 2: Good battles. Managed to get up into 3rd from starting 9th, taking advantage of others mistakes, but ran wide on the second 90 right losing a few positions. Finished 6th.
Heat 3: Awesome battle with Dima and Minder, all 3 of us trading positions! Then Dima ran wide at the fast left hander, with Minder following him wide, giving me a good gap back to him. Brought home 2nd.
I also really really liked this track, despite being hard to find the braking points. Still miss a few;-). Also what ed said...has a nice flow to it. Please keep it for one of the next seasons.
Qualified 2nd and finished first race 2nd. Got overtaken by Dima but he ran wide in lap 6 or 7 so I could take my place back. No chance then in fighting Minder. He was already 3 seconds away.
Heat 2. Got a decent start and went from 7 to 5 after a couple of corners. On the first long straight I got a complete pc freeze. I hope I did not cause any accidents. But hey at least this time my network was stable...
Heat 3: Starting from last position. Got a good start again but was going in the same direction as Nowai, so I had to break a little and could not use my extra speed here. I was able to get outside on the first corner but was pushed off of the track inside the sand. I rewatched it and it was just bad luck. NRTH touched Nowai who then touched me. I was struggling a little then and it took me a couple of laps till I got NRTH, Nowai and Gerald. At this point of time I was like 7 seconds behind the big pack. On the last 2 laps I was able to come a little closer and after a very hard fight with Mr. Chip I got another place. Offcorsa going off track in the last corner of the race granted me the 10th place I guess it was.
so overall very disappointing for the team. I cannot attend the last race because I am on travel as well as S4B1n. ...everyone is now counting on you Forest:-).
I'm also big fan of the track! Qualy time was slower than i ran it in practice, but I felt I had all the corners sussed out and could tweak a few lines to get better.
Race 1 was fun, started in 3rd but lost a spot during the first lap. I clinched that back as Dima hit the curb off the last corner of the last lap, and i just beat him to the line. Race 2 & 3 were both a bit of a blur of swearing and "what am i doing!" mutterings. Both races were frustrating. Mainly because in each, I had a chance of being in the top 3 and my driving let me down. I kept running wide at the fast, uphill left turn and became increasingly nervous going into it, I made a few more mistakes at different spots and in both races tumbled down the order. An overall 4th position for the evening is more than I expected.
I managed to put the 3 wide cosy training session from a few weeks back to good use. I think it was after sven passed me in race 3, I messed up the following corner and was passed by a bunch of other cars, in pairs and either side of me. I was clenching but it was fun!
I really like that track, last part's very enjoyable and racing through the forest was great!
I still had some difficulties with the fast blind left turn as the first heat was about to start;
thanks to the extra time of qual, I was able to understand how to take it the good way and surprisingly I gained the pole.
Heat 1 was pretty clear with Barry and Dimavika fighting for second place let me enough gap to keep the lead.
Starting second heat in the pack, I've almost been "sandwiched" in the first long turn, had to lift off gas pedal, nobody behind, then the first corner went OK. Then I caught back Offcorsa, went off in that L turn in last lap but managed to keep second palce.
Third heat was the most intense, epic battle with Dima and Ed keeping pressure on every braking moments until I followed too wide Dima, letting wide open the track for Ed. Still had good moments until the end, that was a very good night of racing.
I like this track, I think the Fulvia fits very well here: for the first time I was happy to not deal with RWD tailspin
The reactions of the Lancia helped a lot to learn the track, the car telling me clearly what I can't do.
I feel I learned from BH how to improve corners' entries, I hope it's true and havn't been a pain in the a$$ at every braking points
Really enjoyable night's racing for me even though mixed results, with a 12th, 4th and 9th.
Realised that at the end of race 3, I thanked/congratulated S4b1n instead of Barry! Still, had some great close racing all night with a few including S4b1n