09-11-2015, 05:25 PM
First of all, the server setup was absolutely flawless, hats off to Paul for setting everything up. 29 drivers and not a single glitch for me!
Q:
Despite practicing comparatively extensive, my personal barrier was around 1:35,8 which I delivered in Q. It was only good for 9th, since about all of the really good drivers attended the race, so I did not get to pick up the crumbs falling from the grown-up's table (as has happened in other events).
Race:
In all the practice in the buildup to the race I was never really comfortable running so close to others at that speed, somehow I always tended to brake a tick too late and running into people. The whole tandem driving reminded me of NASCAR style plate racing a couple years ago, and that always led to expensive metal bending over the course of a race (it still does, actually).
That said, I had a decent start. Approaching T1, I was in a drag race with Rikard (I think), but yielded the position respectfully (remembering that those races can only be lost in the first corner). After that I found myself in a group with Cookie, DeeCee and probably others. I cannot remember clearly since I found it rather nerve-wrecking to not take out anyone accidentally by comitting a tiny error. It came as it had to, on the entry to Lesmo 1 I was behind DeeCee, braked a tad too late, sverved to avoid him, hit the inside grass, the fence, spun and finally smashed into him. So that went well. Totally my fault and I probably cost him a better result in the race (thanks to the wise 10% damage riule we could both continue). So here are my official apologies.
The whole thing did not really improve my confidence, and in the course of the race I was so concentrated not hitting any more cars, that I managed to spin out of Parabolica twice(!) while overtaking slower or lapped cars. At least I succeeded in not being a problem for others. After the uneventful pit stop (early, to not get into pit stop traffic and hitting anyone), I got into some kind of groove, rattled off the laps in the 1:36's and kept the distance to fronat (8s) and back (2s) constant until the finish.
My takeaway: Improve on racing, not only driving fast.
Q:
Despite practicing comparatively extensive, my personal barrier was around 1:35,8 which I delivered in Q. It was only good for 9th, since about all of the really good drivers attended the race, so I did not get to pick up the crumbs falling from the grown-up's table (as has happened in other events).
Race:
In all the practice in the buildup to the race I was never really comfortable running so close to others at that speed, somehow I always tended to brake a tick too late and running into people. The whole tandem driving reminded me of NASCAR style plate racing a couple years ago, and that always led to expensive metal bending over the course of a race (it still does, actually).
That said, I had a decent start. Approaching T1, I was in a drag race with Rikard (I think), but yielded the position respectfully (remembering that those races can only be lost in the first corner). After that I found myself in a group with Cookie, DeeCee and probably others. I cannot remember clearly since I found it rather nerve-wrecking to not take out anyone accidentally by comitting a tiny error. It came as it had to, on the entry to Lesmo 1 I was behind DeeCee, braked a tad too late, sverved to avoid him, hit the inside grass, the fence, spun and finally smashed into him. So that went well. Totally my fault and I probably cost him a better result in the race (thanks to the wise 10% damage riule we could both continue). So here are my official apologies.
The whole thing did not really improve my confidence, and in the course of the race I was so concentrated not hitting any more cars, that I managed to spin out of Parabolica twice(!) while overtaking slower or lapped cars. At least I succeeded in not being a problem for others. After the uneventful pit stop (early, to not get into pit stop traffic and hitting anyone), I got into some kind of groove, rattled off the laps in the 1:36's and kept the distance to fronat (8s) and back (2s) constant until the finish.
My takeaway: Improve on racing, not only driving fast.