SR4L Fun Race League Watkins Glen Race Reports.

[Fergy]

Again a great night's racing. I'm looking forward to reading some race reports and watching some highlight videos here.

Well done to all members, great turn out.

[gorgias1976]

Well, things were quite good to me.

Qualy
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As rubber built up times improved and I was able to do my best lap at the end, getting myself in the 55s for my first time. Marcel W was unstoppable at sector three and I knew that my aim was to be second what I was able to do.

Race1
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Almost stalled at start, but apparently others driver where also in trouble so I was able to get first through the first corner. First 5 laps, before my pistop was a race checking Marcel W in my mirrors and thinking when he was about to attack (considering his fast times here). Apparently he kept behind me around the second gap (I didn't know if he was struggling or just waitting there for the momento to come). I went for my pitstop, it took 47 seconds. Afer my pitstop I was in a bit of no man's land for a couple of laps. Later Marcel W went to the pits and he came 4.x seconds behind me. As it was four laps to go I thought I just had to make no mistakes to make it to the end first.
Two laps to go Marcel W dissapeared from my HUD and David Coyne appeared second some more seconds later, so I felt quite relieved and made it first.

Race 2.
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This time I started quite good, revs up and clutch at the right moment kept for a good start and making it clean through turn one. Wim was second and I was able to start pulling away some distance. At the end of lap four I took my pitstop, also for 47 seconds. After pitting and waiting for things to settle down I found myself still on the lead with ten seconds to Wim, so I just kept it clean and brought another victory back home. I was so cheerful I couldn't believe it, things won't be that easy the next races, for sure.

Race 3
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Starting last I was cautious and was able to scape the carnage. At the exit of the first curve I had gain many positions and I was thinking another victory could be posible. But, as we say here "I was selling the bear's skin before hunting it" and at turn two I stupidly lost my rear and enter sideways the right kerb of the chicane, wich made me fly rolling through the air and landing at the other side of the fence.
Then with a damaged car I run for two minutes looking for a way out of there. I suddenly appeared in the pits, lap not counting, and team not wanting to work at my car. So I had to leave the pits with a severe damaged car and do the full lap. At this moment I was already two laps down. Went to repair and pit which took 117 seconds. I went out there to see if others damaged their cars and I could make it to tenth and get a point, which of course didn't happen.

[Lecram]

Qualify went great. From then everything went worse.

Bad start race 1, crash with Neela who couldnt help it, dnf.
Race 2 from the back of the grid. Overtaking the whole race which was fun and it brought me 3rd.
Race 3 I was in the middle of the havoc but didn't sustain damage, which I did after I hit the right kerb at chicane a bit while chasing Wim, flew, managed to get four wheels on the ground again but crashed into the guardrail. Heavy damage and I thought of retiring but I just could *not* accept that so I hauled the wreck to the pit where they repaired for 100 secs. I was let by a couple of times and I overtook some the following laps and finished 7th. Those might be very important championship points...

[Fergy]

Entertaining night,

Qualifying I surprised myself putting myself 3rd on the grid with a PB in the dying minutes.

Race 1, A fantastic chase in pursuit of Marcel and Gorka and was holding 3rd well from DJ when I found my team mate stranded on T11 and facing me, needless to say we kissed, that's love. Managed to bring home a 5th.

Race 2 Not a bad start and got into a good position behind Marcel W but unfortunately came into the pits at the same time as him to find he was taking my pit box. I made the bad decisions to do another lap with only 6 laps of fuel onboard, strange what you do under pressure... in hindsight I should have just sat behind him and waited the 47 seconds. Managed a 7th.

Race 3 Maybe my best result yet. Started 12th and had some luck that the start with the dynamic duo playing twister. I had good race pace and managed a well earned second with DJ hot on my heels.

Big thanks to all members for making it a another great event. See you all in sunny Kyalmi.

[vittorio]

A short race report, cause i always want to write alot more but then don't have the time to write and as a result write nothing.

Short Brianza Race report and thoughts:

At brianza i did well at practice and qualifying, but i knew that fastlaps are not that important for the race and my strategy was to not risk too much and do constant laps.
Race 1: did very well but risking too much at lap 11 - wrecked my car!
Race 2: did very well but risking too much at lap 11 - wrecked my car!
Race 3 was a disaster for me in lap 1 - couldn't do much
-> so at the end of the raceday nikos did exactly what i wanted to do, and I failed!

Watkins Glen Race report:

I wanted to add more realism and got my sequential and H-shifter on friday. Had my urban racingfriends at my flat on saturday (with some beer involved again). Had a huge hangover at sunday (hi craven ) and almost decided to not do the race (new to H-shifter, hangover and less practice @ watkins glen)

Practice & Qualifying:
Had a hard time to beat Neela's laptime (i always knew that my catholic socialization was wrong and Judith Butler is right)
Race 1: Made a mistake in lap 1 and broke suspension! - finished 11th
Race 2: Made a mistake in lap 1 and broke suspension! When i got to pit i had to wait that Giorgio finished pitting cause we shared same pit? - finished 10th
Race 3: Made a mistake in lap 1 and broke suspension! Luckily i was not involved at the collision at the start and got 4th place at the end!

So, why did i always broke my car at the first lap !? It could have been alot easier with working suspension! But at the end im happy with the results, deecee did well too and DaVit is now 2 points ahead to the Billy Cart Bangers

[Craven Morespeed]

Some great racing. I managed to do a few laps and tried to stay clean but may have bumped a couple of you ( sorry). First race I've been in for years and you guys really are fun to race with and fast. I'm learning to move over . I finished my cockpit ( after the race) and now have a dedicated section of my man cave for driving. I'm still way behind you guys, but getting back at it has been great for my brain chemistry. I need to remember to map my controls on the G 27 better. I had no idea what lap I was on etc. That's my bad. I would love to give a detailed account but was concentrating so much I remember little lol.
CM


I do however have a video on one of my sites of my new closet cockpit. That's correct, my closet has a section I put an older 32" monitor in and setup my wheel and seat. It's not the best video and I wreck, but kinda cool.....My son is filming and talking about it and the super bowl was on lol.


http://crazyfreds.net/race/

[gastel]

It was a good feeling again to race on a track with so many other people after not having touched my wheel for more than a year or two.
Defenitely I was not fast enough but more than that it was the lack of recent race-experience wich was my biggest problem in these races.
Although I tried to avoid trouble that could affect other peoples race I could not prevent myself from taking J. Rodriguez out of the race in the 2nd run.
Just a moment of distraction caused me to enter the chicane completely wrong and from then on my reaction was too slow to make the best out of it. So while I was praying not to start flying I went straight through, the cutting way but then I touched Jesus' car who was already on my rioght side, bringing him out of balance and into a spin. My apologies for causing this crash.
In the last race I went flying myself. Coming out of the pit after first letting through two other cars I completely kept to the right to let also Nikos pass before the chicane but it all ended in two car's flying over the fence. The video looks very strange there so maybe some laggy thing?
Anyway I really enjoyed racing again and I hope that I will be faster and more comfortable next race.

[deecee52]

Qually

I managed to get out first so I had a clear track but I wasted the opportunity by over driving the car , ended up 7th


Race 1

Got a good start but got squeezed so I had to back out of it , that was fortunate for me as holes started to appear in front of me when others had a problem , my pitstop was scheduled for lap 4 as I wanted to be in when the pitlane was clear and it should have put me back on a clear track , this it duly did and I drove to a 2nd place , this was by luck more than skill as DJC who was in front unluckily collected someone and gifted me the place .

Race 2

Got a terrible start car bogged down and I lost loads of places , slowly got some places back and pitted again on lap 4 and found Jesus in my pitbox ,didn’t know what to do so I went past him and reversed slowly , that cost me loads of time , as I was going down the pitlane swearing loudly I went too fast and incurred a drive through , that will teach me to concentrate and stop whingeing. After that no drama’s and drove home a surprising 5th

Race 3

Got a good start , went to go around car in front but was squeezed against the wall and had to hit the brakes , someone hit me but I was still pointing the right way so off I went , car was damaged on the back end it kept wanting to wander , decided it could last until scheduled stop, made a couple of places then Bryan caught me but I think he was wondering if I was looking for somewhere nice to crash so he didn’t try the pass until I had pitted. I was in the pits for 6 months (149 sec really) and managed to scrape home 10th

That was a very entertaining and fun event , great turn out of classy drivers , SR4L is going from strength to strength . well done and thanx to Paul and Bryan .


Team DaVit is on the move

[gorgias1976]

Here's a quick video of race 3 start until I got a 9.99 point twisting summersault jump at the chicane.

[youtube]nXBdIuYgA7Y[/youtube]

[Fergy]

Just wet myself laughing Nice Vid G.

[Craven Morespeed]

Here's a quick video of race 3 start until I got a 9.99 point twisting summersault jump at the chicane.

[youtube]nXBdIuYgA7Y[/youtube]

I think I was behind you and your car flipped over me....Funniest thing I've seen in a while. Sorry for your misfortune though.

[1959nikos]

Entertaining night, I found my team mate stranded on T11 and facing me, needless to say we kissed, that's love.

Yukk!! You didnt even shave!!

Took me two days to bring this report, I wrote it at office, but I still cant access site from there.

Quali

A very difficult track this was for me (arent they all), too many changes of forces meant I could in no way drive with the same settings as all suggested, only way for me to get a clean lap was to resort to old, trusted 65/35 brake bias, that way I got a 2:04 and I was content, there was no way I could find the extra 2sec needed to get near Neela who had an amazing progress at only her 2nd race here.

Race 1

I tried my best (thats what I thought I was doing), was all over the place, in the middle of race couldnt avoid a nasty exit that costed me an extra 115sec pitstop, so no wonder I was last.

Race 2

By now I figured out I must take a different approach here, so I decided to stay back, minimise my mistakes and watch the others doing theirs.
All went well and by middle of race I was behind a slipping and sliding Vittorio who, even with a bent car he was still getting away.
I entered pits to find Vittorio there and then suddenly I grasped the situation. He was 9th, I was 10th,but he obviously was in for a long pitstop, if I could get away sooner, I maybe had a chance of stealing 9th place!
So I did, I went away with a good difference, but it was obvious that if I raced with a relaxed pace, he would soon catch on, as his lap times were 3sec less than me all race (what a progress for you Vittorio in last races, very difficult for me to follow).
So, I clenched teeth, pushed on as hard as I could, made no mistakes and I had a very satisfying points position

Race 3

As tactics of race 2 paid off, the plan was the same but with a big difference. I found myself in middle of grid, and when car in front stalled, I managed to avoid hitting it braking hard, only to have a shower of cars on me, under me, everywhere.
Miraculously I didnt have serious damage, I even passed Gorka (I was in track while he was out of it lol, I saw him trying to find a place to get in again) and at middle of race I entered pits at a cool 10th place and Cor was there and looked like race 2 all over again.
I didnt want to get into dog fights with Cor, I would wait for his mistake, so I let him pass first out of pits and followed him closely.
Then, disaster came.
As we went into T2 flat out, he suddenly slowed down, there was no way I could avoid him, I didnt have time even to swerve, I slammed hard on him and we both flew over the rails (Im very sorry for this Cor).
I waited for him to get back in track, but he quited, somehow I managed to limp back in pits, had a fantastic 180sec(!) pitstop, so I managed to get the finishing point for Billys Cart Bangers.

all in all a very interesting race, Wim in love with his G27, wanting to go to bed with it (did you score Wim?), new people around, getting along nicely with our bunch, I see above that you joined after all Craven, hope you enjoyed it, whas that Thomas?

[Craven Morespeed]

Hello. Yes I'm Thomas aka Craven Morespeed.

[1959nikos]

[vittorio]

Very interesting race report Nikos! I too can't use the fast setups other use and only change gears and bias to 61/39. It took the whole F3 season for me to find out on the last race that 65/35 has too much understeer and there is a point (62/38 for F3) where I can blip the brake a bit and get the car into drift (which gives me more freedom in corners, e.g. when entering the corner too fast and do something about it)

And i wondered at the end of race 2 what is going on now that i can't gain a single second, afaik i lost some time ..

I watched the replay of my "overtake" in the middle of race 2, and this is so funny! I was on the inside of the corner with one tyre in the grass, and you were on the outside with one tyre on the grass to let as much room as possible too. Like the equal poles of a magnet.

[B1K3R]

Unfortunately I was sick in bed for 5 days! Seems like it was fun See you in next race.

[1959nikos]

Unfortunately I was sick in bed for 5 days! Seems like it was fun See you in next race.

You were missed Stefan, just get well

[1959nikos]

I watched the replay of my "overtake" in the middle of race 2, and this is so funny! I was on the inside of the corner with one tyre in the grass, and you were on the outside with one tyre on the grass to let as much room as possible too. Like the equal poles of a magnet.

Next time we do that, I bet Gorka/Marcel/DJ will fly and pass both of us in the middle lol

[gorgias1976]

Unfortunately I was sick in bed for 5 days! Seems like it was fun See you in next race.

It's been a shame you were sick, you were in such a good shape in Brianza with the Lola.

[Fergy]

Watkins Glen Race 2 result for Paul C has been amended. The League site showed an error but the reply shows he finished in 15th place three laps down after a crash. I edit the xml accordingly and he and Team GPR receives 2 points for finishing the race.

It's important to finish the last lap if your in the pits under repair when the race finishes.