Intro to Elise Challenge (USA)

This was a nice full field, great race. I had my best qualifying position in a big field of cars with 6th on the grid. Lost a few spots on the run to turn 1 but within a lap or 2 was back in 6th after some others spun, I wiggled my way thru all the chaos in the first few turns without hitting any of the spinners (whew). Stayed close to 5th (Gregg?) for a number of laps and then the worst happened. I accidentally dropped to 1st gear in a corner and the rear came around on me and I ended up facing backwards. I waited to let everyone come by before I moved but someone(sorry)ran right into my front end (they did spin me back in the right direction though). Now I was in running in 10th with the laps counting down and a dinged up front end but I seemed to be able to keep the gap from 11th. I would be happy with a top 10 finish after my spin. But again I dropped (wish I could blame the wheel) to first and spun. Ended up bringing it home in 14th. Congrats to Tim on the win and Francesco on his first pole!

That was fun, especially the beginning - cars where suddenly flashing on the screen, somebody did a 360 right in the middle of the front straight just before the first turn, weehaw! Then kept it straight and kept right on going. Around the second part of the first chicane a car just appeared suddenly in the middle of the track, I hit it, T-Boned him hard, and lots of other cars where spread out all over the track. Coming up to the end I was holding 16th place (after qualifying 20th) when I saw a car in my mirror making good time. I tried to hold it off, did so through the last turn. But not wanting to block, but still wanting to hold my position, I moved to the side slightly and he came up beside me, and passed me right at the line! The time difference is something like .04 or around there, half a car length. So close!

Q: Only got one clear lap and I made mistake on it. Still happy with P9 since I had no prep or Elise experience.

R: I went too conservative on setup since I was unsure what I would run into. I should have remembered it was only 10 laps.

Good start, good early rhythm.

I was a little surprised to see an experienced front runner go off and then shoot back onto the track and racing line right in front of me, forcing me to drop two wheels off track.

Made a huge mistake on a downshift that cost me P6, which was all my driver+setup combo had in it. I am pretty bummed to have tossed it like that.

Got a couple back and was fast enough to get a couple more but ran out of laps. Had a great run on Gregg M for the final two turns but when he moved over I nearly punted him and lost momentum. Glad he saved it.

Overall that was a ton of fun and makes me want to do more Elise events. Fun, close racing. Too popular with the fast guys though so I don't see any cherry picking opportunities that Eddie Cheever would be proud of.

Congrats to the podium.

Wow... What a race!

Q: Qualified 15th, about what I expected, not much of a qualifier.

Lap1: The start was real good, w/ only problem coming down into turn 1 was someone sent Gregg in a spin, and yet he some how saved it, hardly losing any time. Second corner, not as well, with cars all over the place. Kept my nose clean, and because of accidents made my way up to 12th, just behind the end of the top 10.

Lap2: Relieved to make it past first lap, I was now set on trying to make my way to the top 10. But someone spun in front of me b/w turn 1 and 2, and ended up sliding into me sending me into the wall. All I could think was, please no flat tire. Let a whole wad of cars by, getting back on the track in 18th, but relieved to find nothing wrong w/ my car.

Middle: Spent a great deal of time working my way through traffic, passing some, and cruising past those who made mistakes. I found I was much faster than most people through turn 3, and that was where I made most of my passes. Eventually found my way to 12th, and was happy.

Final few laps: 10th spun out coming out of a corner, which seemed to cause whoever was 11th to make a mistake just after they passed them, probably by shifting too early coming down into a corner. I took advantage and made my way to 10th, now I was really happy. But creeping into the picture was Larry Anderson, who was definitely faster. He slowly closed the gap, and by the final lap, he was in reaching distant, and I was sweating (I wanted this top 10). Right on my bumper he made several looks, but just didn't get the run he needed. I kept to my line, and focused on trying to hit my marks, rather than block him. On the final turn and straightaway, he got a run and pulled up to my side, but I managed to beat him by .08secs. Thanks Larry for racing clean, you could have easily just knocked me out of the way or tried to out brake me.

Overall fun race, and I look forward to beginning the Elise Challenge.

I qualified terribly, because I switched to meds at the last second after practicing on softs. I've caved to the pressure of wanting to eke out a few more 10ths way too many times, you'd think I'd have learned by now not to make any last-minute changes. And to let a chat conversation about tire compounds make the decision for me? Bad idea!

Anyway, I started off in 22nd. There were a lot of major dust-ups in the 1st lap, but thanks to my cat-like reflexes (and some lucky guesses) I dodged at least 3 cars with barely a scrape. By lap 2 I was in 9th! Holy cow! The problem with that is always the faster cars that spun will show up behind me later, and so it was with Bob Fay and David W, who were closing on me after a couple of laps. I chased David H and Gregg for the next 5 laps, then David spun in the chicane. I squeaked by on the inside, but Bob got gathered up, which bought me a couple of laps to chase after Gregg. Got close, but started fading. I wanted my customary 6th place! Dipped a tire in the sand later which gave Bob and David all the chance they needed, bringing me home in 9th. Fun stuff!

Pretty fun race, well won by Tim. Had some traffic in Q which cost a bit when my soft tires were at optimum, but still ended up 2nd.

Got off the line well (thank you, G25 clutch pedal!) and led into T1. Got a bit loose out of Wurth with my med rears not up to temp yet, letting Tommy get by going into Campsa. Figured I'd stay close and try to re-pass on the front straight, which worked fine until Tommy pulled back in behind and got into me under braking. Not much of a tap, but it put me into the gravel and bent the rear end in a little, but not enough to affect the handling. Just one of those things... ;-)

Got back on behind David in 6th, and spent the rest of the race in chase mode. Finally worked my way back up to 2nd when I repassed Tommy in the same spot as before. Bit of a door rub, but no harm to either this time. By then Tim was up the road and my fronts were getting a bit toasted from working my way around cars off of the ideal line, so that was all I had.

Good to see the nice-sized field, with zero DNFs.

Did I Steve? No bang, no shudder, no wheel jerk here, I just assumed you had outbraked yourself and carried yourself off to the outside.
If I did I'm sorry. I gotta remember the collision boxes in GTR just isn't as good. Seems like JM and I have been nose-to-tail, side-by-side, for the past 1000 kms and I've gotten used to things behaving properly for a while.

Yup, just enough to push me off since I was already at the edge of grip. Wouldn't have taken much of a shove! Put a bit of a dent in the rear bumper too, if you look at the replay (just like the one in Greg's backwards-driving screenie, oddly enough. ;-)).

No biggie, just life in the world of online racing. At least marginal collisions these days are not like in the old Papy days - I might not have landed yet!

Sorry to David Hobbs, I was the one who hit you. I decided to got to the left of the pillar of smoke you created, and just as I get there your front nose edges out into my line. Sorry! I am pretty shocked at my finish. Didn't get into the server until just before qual. While I did get lucky in the race in T1 with everyone crashing each other, I double tapped the downshift paddle a couple of laps later, putting it in 1st gear, and looped it hard losing many positions. I basically just said fuck it and kept my foot to the floor anywhere I could after that. As others had problems I found myself back up through the field. My best moment was passing Gregg Mulgrew on his outside in La Caixa (T10) on the last lap and taking another position. I don't think Gregg thought I could hold onto it. I was either going to make the pass or crash trying. You had to be pretty impressed Gregg, I impressed myself! And CT Racing claimed 3 spots in the top 10. I think the team found a worthy replacement for FBMW! Not you though Gregg (he ran for an opposing team instead of racing for his buds at CT)...traitor! LOL

Bob, you have no reason to be sorry, I left you with no place to go with my car in the middle of the track and traffic coming at me. I actually should be thanking you ;-) for hitting me. Instead of waiting for everyone to come by to turn around you saved me a lot of places by spinning me around in the right direction. I did the same thing as you did, double shifting to 1st and bringing the rear around, but I did it twice. Again, great field and a fun race.