rF2-TWFR35 Championship- Round 1 - Croft V1.0

[Bogdan]

You should really test this stuff before entering on a sunday Bogdan
Yes you can re-fuel. it needs to be done prior to the race in garage. its just on-track changes that are not possible.

No worries, Rouke. I'm never going to enter a race without understanding the constraints. Practice for me is tomorrow morning - I was just looking for a quick answer.

[maiph]

Dude, where's my password?

duh, oh yeah found it

[Grant Riddall]

If anyone is wondering or struggeling to enter the server please remember its passworded. Find the password in Race Control- Race Passwords

[Mitch Simon]

Sorry guys, not going to make it today, still at work.

[Grant Riddall]

Qualied good. Got 2nd

Race, well... when the session switched to Race for some reason when everything synchronized you lot were already on formation lap... So started from pit lane. Made my way through the field but had a coming together with Ralph. Im not sure if he noticed i was on the outside but by the time i had 2 wheels on the grass i ran out of room for tarmac and we collided

Got going again only to spin out and wreck the car


Shame about the turnout.. Password seems broke. Would it not be better to see how it goes un passworded?

[Bogdan]

Thanks to Grant, qualifying was the best 20 min of simracing I've had in a long time. I initially posted a 1:05.6x, which at the time was the best laptime I had done up until that point. I knew Grant had more in reserve, but I really thought it was good enough for pole. So confident I was that I got up from my rig to go grab a drink of water. Only to come back, and Grant had provisional pole. There were only 4 min left in the session. Got back in, and pushed hard to post a 1:05.502 which was good enough for pole by a small fraction. It was an awesome session. It also says a lot about rF2 and the rubber buildup and its impact on laptimes.

The race was a matter of limiting the number of mistakes. I was actually able to get a good launch at the start (I never do typically) and held the lead. After that I got into a rhythm and started to build a gap. Ralph and Grant were fighting it out, so that gave me even more breathing room. Ralph was actually doing quite good laptimes and I just didn't know what the pit strategies were going to yield. So I really wanted to build a gap and I ended up pushing for most of the laps. Overall I made one "big" mistake and I lost about 3 seconds right before pit stops. I pitted on lap 29 and came out in front of Ralph by about 30 sec. That was enough for me to pace myself to the end.

I want to say that the driving etiquette in this league is top notch.

I had a wonderful time racing with you all. Thanks go out to Bret and Rouke for making this happen.

See you next week.

B.

[Bret Metcalf]

Congrats to you Bogdan

Only 9 drivers , tbh I expected a minimum of 11....I know Mitch could not make it, dunno about anyone else.


Qualifying was pretty good for me, albeit ended up in 6th spot.

A good clean start and I was soon keeping to my race pace, the only spots I gained was due to peeps either spinning or retiring. I know what happened to Grant but Rouke & Ryan went missing too a few laps into the race. Come half distance Dale was closing me down with Ray lurking just behind him, I pitted lap 26 I think...but...got a drove thru...lol. I thought all was lost and Dale/Ray would be well in front, as it happens they both must have had a problem at some stage because they ended up behind me a few laps later. Towards the end I was lying in 3rd spot, Dale was about 10 seconds behind, I was taking things easy tbh, Ralph was a good 30 odd seconds in front of me so paced myself to the end whilst keeping a close eye on Dale, the gap was about 3.5 seconds come the last couple of laps.

Apart from the dismal turnout, I enjoyed the evenings race.

Regards,
Bret

[maiph]

Made my way through the field but had a coming together with Ralph. Im not sure if he noticed i was on the outside but by the time i had 2 wheels on the grass i ran out of room for tarmac and we collided

No I didn't notice Grant, I could not see you, thinking you had tucked back in after your challenge I took my normal line, which after looking at the replay I see was a mistake. So sorry for that, I was a little race-rusty and could do with better mirrors. Is there a way of turning on the big virtual mirrors which one gets in nose-cam view? It would really help. (I have since checked, there is a line in the player.PLR file "Virtual Rearview In Cockpit="1" // applies to cockpit or TV cockpit") Fortunately it was not a catastrophic clash, we each lost 5 seconds or thereabouts.

Other than that I had a smooth run. A PB in qualifying 1.06.2 but only 5th on the grid. I had been away all week so all my practice was on race-day which did not help. However I know Croft pretty well, it is only 20 miles from where I grew up, I saw James Hunt and Patrick Tambay there in the 1970s, it is a matter of local pride that I do OK.

The opening laps were exciting, following Rouke at about a 1 second gap, feeling able to keep pace until his crash at the esses. Up to 3rd position already and then 2nd as Ryan went off but within a handful of laps Grant was closing fast. This was when we clashed as I defended at Tower Bend, a few laps later he mounted another challenge and made a great pass around the outside of the final hairpin and was gone. But then he spun at Sunny Out and I was back in 2nd for a long lonesome run to the flag, Bogdan a half minute or ahead and pulling away with Bret a similar distance behind. My pit stop was under-rehearsed so lost a few seconds there and was concerned others might be non-stopping so I pushed hard afterwards but it was just a matter of keeping focus on the back-flap from there.

Congratulations to Bogdan for a dominant win.
Pity about the low-showing but pick-up racers can cause havoc.

BOUSCroft.jpg

[Grant Riddall]

Made my way through the field but had a coming together with Ralph. Im not sure if he noticed i was on the outside but by the time i had 2 wheels on the grass i ran out of room for tarmac and we collided

No I didn't notice Grant, I could not see you, thinking you had tucked back in after your challenge I took my normal line, which after looking at the replay I see was a mistake. So sorry for that, I was a little race-rusty and could do with better mirrors. Is there a way of turning on the big virtual mirrors which one gets in nose-cam view? It would really help. (I have since checked, there is a line in the player.PLR file "Virtual Rearview In Cockpit="1" // applies to cockpit or TV cockpit") Fortunately it was not a catastrophic clash, we each lost 5 seconds or thereabouts.]

I don't think it was your fault but more of a ordinary racing incident. We were both a bit rusty i suppose

[Rouke]

Was getting in a pretty bad place when seeing only 9 drivers show up, should have been 13 to 16 looking at interest and new members.
I know from experience such low number means we will be racing with about 6 in a few races and that is just depressing to me.

Consequently I found my focus drop more and more during the course of practise/qualifying/race (shaved 4tenths off pb in quali though!) and that is something you cannot do in rf2. so I got punished with mistakes and off's, which hurt my tires badly, which I kinda forgot about, so it got worse until I was the last driver and still spinning off or making mistakes.
I just resigned from race, sorry guys. i'm usually the last guy to quit, will normally go on no matter what but this time I could not hack it.


As to allowing pickup racers to join (open server) at this point i'm open to anything but just realise you (whoever you are) is likely to suffer from that decision when some tard rear ends you and takes you out simply because he just installed the mod and has no idea. its a big risk and probably not very wise.


Oh and Grant you should have waved a yellow before warmup lap. you've seen this before, rf2 is bugged, I think its no problem if we restart warmup and move to race again so you or anyone else can line up on the grid. next time let us know guys.

[Ryan]

Thanks to everyone for setting this one up. I was hoping to switch to a later work shift yesterday but once I got the text saying I was due there in 30 minutes I had to bail. Good run to Bogdan and Grant for making me feel slow - and Ralph for keeping a strong steady pace. Hoping to make it next week

[DaleB]

Agree with all the comments too, was disappointed at the low turnout, was hoping for more but I do disagree Rouke, I don't think we'll be down to 6 midway through the season, what we have now are the hardcore sim racers and we are hungry to race in a league setting! I was hoping maybe it was a PW issue but I see no other posts about that so that's probably not it either. We'll just have to hope to pick up some more drivers, the Indy cars are also new and maybe that has hurt us too, hopefully after a few weeks some of those drivers will be looking to race in a league and we can grab them. Like Bogdan says, the quality of the drivers is top notch!

My race went pretty well, had a lot of fun pushing Bret, putting a ton of pressure on him. Then I pitted and had some trouble on my out lap and I had to back way off to save the motor as it got very hot just sitting there. This hurt because Bret had pitted earlier then I did and I was able to put down some good laps before I pitted and came out in front of him, but...........saving the motor allowed Bret to catch & pass me. I pushed hard once the engine cooled off and made a mistake allowing Bret some breathing room and he put down some really good laps without any pressure setting himself up well to finish on the podium. Well done Bret, it was a very fun race.

Congrats Bogdan for the win, excellent pace and to Ralph for 2nd and Bret for 3rd!

Can't wait for the next one!!!!

[Ray Riddall]

Hi guys wasn't feeling my us best for this race, was hosting my Grandaughters Birthday party all afternoon so a bit exhausted , anyway tried the password four times until it excepted, was a second off my pb in qualy so started at the back. Start was ok slowly reeled in Dale and Bret but by the time I caught them I had miss judged the fuel and had to pit early , with the same amount of fuel going in I knew I would have to be conservative, this together with an off and damage put pay to the second half of the race for me.

Well done to Bogdan and Ralph , both lapped me

Thanks Ray.

[Rick Stratton]

Sorry I wasn't able to make this one. Still burning the candle at both ends at the office, leaving little to no time for practice. as it turns out, probably best I didn't try joining as my PB laptimes look to be nearly 10 seconds slower than pole, I would have been nothing more than a rolling roadblock at that pace!

[Frank Oreskov]

Hi guys, sorry I've been so quiet but first there was a heatwave, then I got the flu on and on top of that right most of my things are packed away to give room for workers to replace all doors and windows here. Finally the forecast for the weekend has promised a heatwave even bigger than last time. Long story short, I won't be racing anytime soon after all, sorry
Due to the above then my carpainting is also on hold but hopefully I can resume it once the workers have finished and my flu is gone.