1976 F1 Season - Round 10 Germany 24hr Nurburgring REPORTS

[Ricknau]

Whaaaa!! Disconnected from P4 on about lap 7! I'm using VR and could hear lots of thunder even with earphones on. But I have a new internet connection using 4G lte cell tower and it holds up great even in heavy rain. (Unlike my old DSL which was super crappy in rain or lightning.) But then the power to my house "blinked" and that was all she wrote. Disappointing thing is, I have an UPS powering almost all my PC stuff. And one thing I forgot to put on the UPS is my new 4G modem! Arrrgh! What a dummy!

Anyway, I hope Cookie was able to hold his podium finish cause I have little to contribute in points this week. And I was having such a good race!....

Edit: Because I got booted I have no replay. Can I download it from somewhere?

[bullwinkle]

Was a very tough race for an old man but I made it on lead lap. Qual 12 finish 10 not bad for me. Thought I was going to get to race with Ron but Last cpl laps made too many mistakes had to limp home. Ed super fast. Good race all. Sorry If I messed anybody up. Ricknau I don't think he did.

[Daniel Tani]

VERY DEEP APOLOGIES to JP and Dan! I couldn't be more apologetic and embarrassed for my ridiculous boneheaded head up the *rse antics! ( not sure of the rules regarding bad language, even if it's regarding me ). VERY, VERY SORRY for compromising your races.

[Bruce]

Well done, another old man also finished but was 2 laps down. Fuelled for pit stop at lap 6 but span near start and did a little damage, but still quite drivable. Stopped Lap 5, got damaged repaired. Managed a few other off road trips including losing nose, so had to stop again more than once.

[myself9]

Another lucky race for me.

I practiced a bit this week, but couldn't come up with a setup to save my life. Teamie Dan sent me one yesterday, and I didn't have a chance to try it out until practice today. My first laps with the new setup were slower, but I went with it since he'd put more time into fiddling with it than I did.

Managed to beat my previous best time by about 3 seconds by the time practice ended, so I was on the right track.

Qualied 8th or so, which was better than I expected since everyone seems to be an alien on this course.

Spent the first few laps just easing in and staying out of trouble. Smacked a wall on lap 3 or so which gave me some moderate aero damage. My tires were so flat spotted I could barely hold on to the wheel.

On lap 4 or 5 I came up on JP, which was a huge surprise since he's waaaaay faster than me. I'm guessing he had damage as we traded places back and forth for quite a while, with Daniel and Bryan not far behind.

Lap 6 JP hit a wall about 1/4 way into the lap in front of me. I backed off to avoid contact, hoping I could overtake soon after. Spent the remainder of the lap following cautiously behind trying to avoid contact. No way around on this narrow track. Probably lost about 5 seconds or so.

Pitted at the end of the lap and came out about 4 seconds ahead of JP and Antti. I was losing loads of time in the GP section, but was holding my own on the Nords. John was about 20 seconds ahead, so I set my sights on catching up with him before the finish.

Finally caught John on lap 11 with Antti right on my ass. John spun, I slammed on my brakes to avoid him and Antti flew past us both and into 3rd place. I passed Antti on the long straight, but my tires were cooked and I made a mistake on the last turn and he retook 3rd at the start/finish line with one lap remaining.

The final lap, my fastest lap of the day, I pushed way harder than my tires could stand. I drove the car like a rally car. All or nothing. Down by as much as 3 seconds on Antti, I pushed until I was about 1.4 seconds down hoping I could get in his draft and pass him on the long straight for the final podium spot. I put a tire in the grass just after the "mini carousel" and all hope was lost.

Finished 4th.

It was truly a blast battling with Antti, JP and John!

Thanks, SR4L crew, for keeping it interesting

[gorgias1976]

VERY DEEP APOLOGIES to JP and Dan! I couldn't be more apologetic and embarrassed for my ridiculous boneheaded head up the *rse antics! ( not sure of the rules regarding bad language, even if it's regarding me ). VERY, VERY SORRY for compromising your races.

What happened?
Bryan made things pretty clear about offensive language and in race chatting here -> http://www.simracers4life.com/forum/inde...mind.2285/

[LIST="1"]
[*]Chat during a race. 3 Place penalty applies. None negotiable.
[*]Abuse in any form will result in suspension from all future League events.
[/LIST]
- (this includes offensive language)


I see Bryan was on the race, so let's wait for his judgment.

[Fergy]

First of all well done to all finishers. Only 4 DNF"s for the race with [USER=230]@Ricknau[/USER] losing connection, bad luck Rick you were flying. It says a lot about the standard you guys set and is pretty impressive. [USER=581]@Bruce[/USER] in 14th, fantastic effort. [USER=582]@Edvvc[/USER] what an extraordinary Qualifying lap and win, well done. [USER=692]@Antti Hyytiainen[/USER] so good to see you on track and I hope you become regular, congrats on your podium finish. It's great to have you and [USER=696]@Tygernoot[/USER] here and brings SR4L great experience here in many ways.

It didn't take Gorka very long to agree on 12 laps and full race distance here, it's the only time you will see it this season so no more surprises but this track is the ultimate test and worthy of the challenge set.

All in all another great turn out with several unavailable this round. We still managed 19 on the grid, our first race this season below 20 drivers. Impressive either way give the fact we are 10 rounds in to the season.

Looking forward to Round 11.

Fergy.

P.s. my race went like this... Alarm went off at 5.45am. I stumbled into the cockpit. Stuffed up Qualifying. Had fun racing, some good battles early. 19th to 8th and happy to finish. Late to work... worth it

[J-P SImard]

Congratulations to Ed and David, you are in a class apart today, the "specialist" class of the ring.

On my side learning this track has been one of the hardest things I've done since I started racing online, and what about the race, the hardest part of my career. I mostly spent the week learning the track, the setup was not suitable, I had to finish the race.

Daniel actually hit me twice in the first round, it's okay it's the race and it can happen. The second shot really affected the balance of the car which had really become unstable and I was now last. The fast passages were now really tricky, I had to lift the foot because the car had become over-turned. This is not the day I was expecting.

The ascent was really not easy and I hit the wall really hard at one point of the race. My car was very damaged and my steering wheel was crooked, but I had to finish the race. I could not fight with the guys that I had to let go in front of my stop, the rest of the race was really difficult. Finally finishing 6th and picking up important points satisfies me, but I must admit that I am happy that this race is over, I hate this circuit.

Congratulations to all those who have finished.

[Edvvc]

The Nordschleife. What a track. Driving it is unlike anything else. It washes over me and each corner presents itself and some subconscious process takes over. There are some corners that I think of in advance, like the flugplatz-schwedenkreuz-aremberg section, and Pflanzgarten II (the drop where [USER=581]@Bruce[/USER] didn't want to lift) but for the most part the length means you don't have the opportunity to overthink.

Given the admins had extended the length of this race I did a bit of preparation (afternoon nap and a bit of calf stretching) and it paid off. The race was uneventful in terms of position changes, but [USER=10]@DJCruicky[/USER] was on my tail for the whole race and kept the pressure up relentlessly. He had a higher top speed by about 5kph so I knew I was vulnerable in the long straight (Döttinger Höhe) and he was quicker than me between Hohe Acht and Brünnchen, but in Schwalbenschwanz and Galgenkopf my car seemed to find loads of grip and I got a great exit onto the straight so he never got the tow. We both pitted after six laps and I think the pit gods were kind to me with a 21second stop which opened a bit of a gap, but [USER=10]@DJCruicky[/USER] had reeled me in pretty much by the time we reached the old track. It was fascinating how the different cars and different driving styles seemed to predictably be faster and slower in certain sections. I'm definitely favoring right foot braking now with the brakes on minimum sensitivity, and manual shifting with the right hand.

The memory of driving this circuit in the Porsche 917 championship is still strong, and it was quite an eye opener how fast Lee Russell managed to go. That car had almost no downforce but these F1 cars certainly do, and that helps keep things under control, if you can manage the huge compressions and low polar moment. It's been a while since I've driven the Brabham or McLaren but I get a sense the March turns in better but is less stable.

[USER=471]@J-P SImard[/USER] , don't hate this circuit, just drive it more when not under pressure. I spent about a year or so driving it most evenings in Assetto Corsa, just turning up on the Bandito server in a Lotus Exige or Corvette ZR1 and having fun and it became quite an addiction. There's also the imminent release of the laser-scanned studio-397 version.

Very pleased with the result but catching [USER=471]@J-P SImard[/USER] in the championship is not really going to happen.

[Antti Hyytiainen]

First of all, congrats to [USER=582]@Edvvc[/USER] for the win. Blinding pace! And [USER=10]@DJCruicky[/USER] not far behind - at Nords a winning margin of 4 tenths is.. not a lot.

I thought I'd settle in for a cautious, uneventful race, just trying to finish and score some points for the team. Turned out to be a pretty wild ride in the end, and I should say this was some of the most fun I've had while Sim Racing for quite awhile.

-----
Starting from 4th, I managed to take a poor getaway off the line and was heading into T1 at around 8th place. Decided to take it easy and braked early, while there was a clash in front and suddenly came out of T2 in 4th place again, with Tobias ahead and John close behind. Tobias kissed a wall when we dived in towards the Nords, promoting me up to third.

It was soon clear that John was faster on the straights (there weren't many who were slower), and I bid my time around the corners until he made an easy overtake on the Döttinger Höhe. Settled into a rhythm behind him, trying to keep the March in one piece and on the black stuff. At around lap 4 the gap started to get smaller and by lap 6 he was right in front of me again.

He had a slight braking hiccup after Adenauer, which allowed me to sneak past. Overjoyed by this development I pushed on - but too much. Half a lap later I clipped a kerb, which threw the car into an armco, which threw it back on track. John had no room to go evasive, and there was contact (sorry for the clumsiness). I don't know how badly his car was damaged, but mine wasn't in a good way at all.

While limping back to pits with wonky steering, I saw Rick closing in and decided to give him room due to the damage... but he seemed to be zigzagging on the straight too! And naturally dived in to the pits in front of me - #duh. Was hoping for the mechanics to pull out a miracle out of somewhere and set the stop for full repairs. And they fixed the steering! Crew, beers for all tonight!

Funnily enough, while I was waiting for the men with spanners to finish their job, some dude parked right in front of me. Someone who was having a 'Super Terrific Happy Fun Time'..... Shannon! Oot ma way!
Reversed for a second and of course that's when he dropped the clutch. But so did JP, who was in the pits at the same time. It was a proper drag race out towards T1:



Shannon got past JP and I too, but only momentarily. He had the inside line and was braver under braking. For the next half a lap I watched JP try every trick in the book to unsettle Shannon, but to no avail. Ultimately Shannon pulled away and I got closer to JP towards the end of lap 8. Surprisingly he wasn't pulling away on straights like everyone else, so I got the run on him on Döttinger and made the pass.

He made a couple of attempts on the GP loop the following lap, and I just about barely got away with them both, setting the sights on Shannon who was a couple of seconds ahead. Daniel was ahead of Shannon in 4th, but had an off-track moment and the three of us got past him on lap 9.

Caught up with Shannon on lap 10 and did my best to stay with him on the twistier bits, knowing he would pull away on the longer straightaways. This worked so well that I got a great tow from him on the Döttinger straight and was able to keep up. Overcooked it once when I misjudged his braking point into the final turn, but by blind luck escaped the thing with a harmless 360 and was still in the game.

Got within a couple of seconds of him on lap 11, but little did I know that John was also close ahead and we were both catching him. This only came apparent when his orange car showed up towards the end of the lap, followed by a sight of a pink car behind him going left and right looking for a chance to overtake.

Then, out of the blue, they both went right - and the track went left. I went left too and suddenly noticed I was third. This was short lived however, as Shannon came screaming past on the following straight.
But his joy was short lived too, as he had a minor traction hiccup in the final turn and I got past him again.

The last lap was crazy with worn, flat spotted tires, and I had to make sure to have enough clearance before the final straight. Was close to throwing it all away once or twice, but eventually managed to hold up the gap at a couple of seconds before the final blast towards the finish line.
-----

Still learning how to set these cars up, but that's a minor dilemma when the racing is this much fun. On that note, hopefully LRT will be at full strength next round - I know teammate [USER=696]@Tygernoot[/USER] is eagerly waiting to have a go again after his great result at Brands. Big thanks to the organizers, really looking forward to Austria.

[Keeper]

This track has been the bane of my sim-racing existence. It is what kept me from having a negative GPL rank, being something like +14 here, giving me a rank of +6 overall. But I managed a decent lap in qualifying, good only for 7th though.

The incident at the start was right in front of me and I lost few positions avoiding it. Ended up behind Antti and Cookie. I was a little quicker but not enough to get past. At one point Cookie hit a curb and I had to jink to the right to avoid hitting him, which put me into a wall and made the car rather unstable. A few minor incidents followed, then finally a big smacker early on lap 3 took off the front wing. Dropped back to about 12th limping it to the pits. Packed it full of fuel to do the remaining nine laps without a stop. Oddly, that area with the red-and-white wall seemed to grab the car and throw it off the road on the first outlap, smacking the wall again. This left the car unstable again, but I persevered. Probably should have pitted as my lap times were 10-20 seconds off what they should have been.

Caught up to Tim as he left the pits on about lap 6, and had my one overtake of the race. Then I spun and gave it back. Then he spun and gave it back. Lonely race after that, pulling away from those behind while losing ground to those ahead.

[lamer of fortune]

Hi all a late report from me here.
I anjoyed every minute of training non this challenging track and found a steup I liked. Very please with PB and P6 in Q. I even got a good start and entered into the ring at p3 which I tried too hard to defend then as i made a stupid mistake and bent my steering. Thought about doig an extra stop but then drove on an even regained 2 positions after 3 laps. Eventually the inevitable happenned and I hit the wall loosing a wheel. Game over. Watched Ed and DJ for a while and then joined the family. Congrats to all survivors.