USA FT: Laguna Seca

Had a top 3 car but not a top 3 brain.

I got a great start which Tristan's first pic shows. I didn't have anything for him or Steve but felt if I settled into a bunch of 35's then I could hold P3.

Made a mistake to let Tom O past. Tom O made a mistake to let me past. Made another mistake to let Tom O past. Then it was Tom's turn but his mistake left him facing the wrong way on the track. I couldn't get stopped and it was hard to see where he was going to end up because of the smoke.

Did the rest of the race with a missing front wing and something in the front askew (toe?). Got punted by someone going into T1. Turning 38's and 39's instead of 35's and 36's meant P9.

Major bummer but it all started with my own head stuck somewhere.

Tristan, thx for posting your setup during practice. Qual'ed good, but I raced crap (operator error).

Made a really clumsy mistake while running 3rd all by myself at the bottom of the corkscrew, then made another one in the final corner of the race while trying to pass 6th place. But all in all it was very fun racing with you all, had some battles and they were all very clean! A great experience for my first race on here, I will be back for many more.

Quali - definitely not my strong spot, but getting 10th out of 20 cars I'll take that.

Got off to a nice start, some bottlenecking in T1 but that was expected, I think we all made it thru.
The group remained fairly tight heading into the second lap and then it happened, the bump from behind and around I went. Really don't know why it happened in T5 a smooth right hander and plenty of room to go wide if necessary, but I guess these cars are larger then they look.
That sent me back to 19th, I thought...ESC now blow off steam!! The steam was blowing out the nose of the Bull, so off I went on a charge! Turned out to be one of the better races for me, had a long dual with Charlie H for a few laps (nice driving Chaz)and then it all came together I found myself back in 7th! I don't think I even blinked. ;>)
I know Dave W and a few other had some "offs" which helped gain a few spots, I'll take them however I can.

Congrats to the podium especially my Teammate Fresco Zargani - glad you decided to race tonight!!

I had a top 3 car as well. I qualied badly, but it was my first time on track ever so I was sorting things out. The race began good but then for some reason a few laps in the car got unusually unsettled at the crest before the corkscrew and just kind of snapped around on me. Surprised the hell out of me, but whatever. I made a great comeback, was battling for 4th after being in 10th, but got tangled with someone trying a little too hard to defend their position. Spun again...ok, that's annoying. Keep going though, DNFs are the worst. The last time I was battling for 6th I think and was just being stupidly impatient. I wasn't paying attention to the guy in fron of me, and I rubbed his back end. I spun, he didn't (thank God, sorry whoever that was) and I wound up facing traffic. David slammed into me, by no fault of his own, and I got some damaged suspension. Sorry about the spin David, it shouldn't have happened. Either way, I drove on to finish 16th after scrounging a few spots from people's mistakes in the last part of the race, and held out for just barely finishing on the lead lap.

I'm not sure why I insist on driving these cars, I really, really don't like them. I'll try to be busy next time they come around. Congrats Tristan, Steve, and Francesco on an especially great run.

Interesting race, lots of "action", fortunately I kept my nose clean but had a couple of issues avoiding contact which cost me.

Closed the gap to 3rd - Francesco, but to make the pass in those last couple of laps would have most likely resulted in contact, but considering how bad my frame rate was I'm happy with 4th.

Not sure what is going on with rFactor and Vista x64, but this race was another slide slow which made driving and braking a disconnected feeling entirely. Then for some reason I lost my downshift sounds -- hey I use those audio queues...considering my 2 fps, it was a miracle I didn't crash or worse yet, crash into someone.

Last night I was running mid to upper 35's, but tonight I could never get into the 35's. Like Tom, my qual session was horrible.

Excellent race, and a podium feels awesome. 2 FT races and two podiums, I should retire now! lol. I qualied fourth, not bad considering prep time was confined to a an hour the night before. I had 20laps of fuel on board at the start, which I think was a TAD too much, so I was slow off the line. I knew however that the track and the cars meant that if I made no mistakes I would finish good. Except for a little wobble at the last turn (barely noticeable)mid-race and going slightly wide (barely noticeable) once on a kerb it was a mistake-free race, which is always my first goal.
Once again, my engine was overheating passionately and I had to take it easy mid-way to the end, which really means my driving must suck since there is little else to do on the car in terms of setup. This meant Rob closed the gap, and two laps from the end I had him on my tail. Since this was not lap one I knew I was going to make my car wide (but always fairly I hope) and I saw in my mirrors that he went a little wide at T3 I think so my last lap was spent in fairly reasonable state of mind-- except my idiot crew chief remininding me "your engine is overheating, whatch your gages". Bastard. I am getting a new crew chief, and a woman at that. Great job to my friend Gregg, great come back.

I was wanting to race CCWS but my ranking won`t allow (big surprise there). Someone said "Just run some FT races and get your ranking up". Now that was some funny shit.That`s all right, a few more races like that and it will cure me of wanting to go near any open wheelers anywhere, ever.

Better result than expected after getting a short bit of practice in the morning with a setup from Brands. Hadn't gone under a mid-35 so I was thinking top 5, maybe.

Remembering that I was struggling with a bad push in the morning, I softened up the front a bit for the race and that helped - as did dropping the tire pressures. Did a 35.1 on my first flyer so I knew it was quicker, but had had to lay back for traffic on the next lap and then got caught out by a spinning car and crashed out of Q. Still ended up 2nd on the grid, which is all I could've hoped for anyway - Tristan was just too quick with a super lap for the track record and pole.

Bogged the heck out of it at the start having had to hold the brake to keep it from rolling backwards on the grid. David flew by into 2nd but left the inside open just enough for some hare-brained moron like me to stuff it in there... ;-) I knew Tristan was going to check out fast if I didn't get there in a hurry, so I had to take a bit of a chance there. Great job by David as we were side by side on cold tires through the first couple of corners.

Once back in 2nd, I just tried to stay with Tristan as best I could. Almost threw it away in the last corner at the end of Lap 1 and lost about a second, then were were about dead even on pace for the next few laps. The setup changes had helped, but I was definitely on the limit trying to close up. We both made some errors on lap 6, but mine were more frequent as I was starting to overdrive the car and losing little chunks of time. Once I did that I could feel the front grip starting to go off a little and the push was back, albeit not as bad as it had been. Was really only annoying in the flatter corners like 3 & 4.

The trainers seem to be more tire sensitive than just about anything other than the TPSCC stock cars. You really have to be neat and precise when you drive them, since they just don't respond well to sliding around at all. With so little power, you just scrub off all your exit speed and then you lose grip which kills your entry - a double whammy. Seeing the gap behind and knowing my only chance of getting Tristan was a very unlikely mistake on his part, I decided to play it safe and conserve 2nd.

Great job by Tristan, was fun trying to hang on for a while! Next time I'm bringing a longer bungee cord... ;-)

>some hare-brained moron

haha... I think those were the exact words I screamed out. J/K :-)

The cross-under was wide open as you understeered past the turn but it was only a matter of time and I had no interest in artificially holding you up. I was more focused on inserting my head into my backside, which I accomplished a few laps later.