USA FT: Mid Ohio

This was an unreal race for me. Having to race with the big boys was intimidating for me, having few events under my belt and seeing the much faster times being put in during practice. It appears that people were having a hard time getting space in qualifying, because I ended up 3rd even though I was probably 6th fastest in practice. So, I started near the front. I forgot we weren't doing formation into rolling start and I started to launch on the last curve of the formation lap and almost REALLY boned the whole thing up for myself and possibly others. Fortunately, I kept it in my pants and we were able to start the race safely.

Right off the bat, I saw Steve get a bad start. I checked my mirror and didn't see anyone taking the middle yet, so I went for it right away. I battled with him for a bit and eventually I was ahead. He put more pressure on me for the next few laps than I've ever felt in a race here before. My heart was thumping and it was on the edge racing the whole way. Finally, going over the left hand crest, we came together going into the curve together. We'd been racing almost side by side for the last half a lap. I got spun around and held my breath. I was SO nearly driven into head on by Vance, but the magician managed to weave around me. I let a couple cars go past and didn't see anymore tags, so I took it off the track and re-entered. I let out a deep breath and eased back into it slowly, just happy to still be running in 5th or so.

The rest of the race was mostly just steady driving. I overtook Vance when he went off and then about halfway in I came around the keyhole and lo' and behold, Tommy and Steve (former 1 & 2) were recovering from apparent contact. I just got my 2nd place back! The gods were smiling on me.

From here on, I charged hard to catch up to Rob who had a very comfortable lead and eventually I pulled him into reach so that I could at least keep near him and use the his air pocket to stay with. We raced nose to tail for several laps to finish the race with I-don't-know-how-many near lead changes along the way. There were several stretches of pure side-by-side racing. I've never been so sucked into the race like I was here.

At one point, I got the inside lead into the dip on Rob at the back of the circuit and knowing that I had the inside line, instead of charging the outside to stay level, he jammed the breaks and totally changed his line to apex early and take the position back from me on the inside and he did it perfectly! As soon as I saw him drop back, I knew what was happening but I was committed to my path, and he earned the position beautifully. I just kept nice and close and on the penultimate lap he went too hard into the carousel and I gained P1 for the last time and drove it home.

While Rob and I were battling hard for first the last 3 or 4 laps, I noticed in my mirrors (bad on me for paying attention) that there was a really heated battle for 2nd going on. I will have to check it out in the replay later.

Best race I've ever been in. Thanks to all.

Good Job Justin, congrats!

Unlike me! Not only did I get a major-league awful start, once underway I made mucho mistakes and ended up getting together with two cars, first Justin in T6 on lap 4 and then TC in the Keyhole on lap 11, one or both of which got me a drivethrough from the steward (my 1st!) which I promptly botched by switching off the limiter a moment too soon, getting me yet another DT. I just hosed this one all around; apologies to both guys I got together with. Sheesh!

Justin - until I watched the replay after the race I didn't even know you'd spun - was amazed to see that since I hadn't had a clue during the race. I was outside and it looked like I had a clear shot into the corner, (see my incar screeny which was right before impact) then suddenly you were there on the inside; we made contact and my car bounced out to the grass, but when I got it collected I saw a car right there and thought it was you so I kept going. Turned out it was Rob!

Chased up to Tommy and we had a nice dice for several laps and it promised to offer some good action for a while; we had plenty of time so it was cool. Unfortunately I missed my braking point getting into the keyhole by just a bit and washed the front out a little. Again it looked clear going in (see in-car screeny from that one just prior to hit), but I didn't manage to keep it tight and we rubbed wheels. Unfortunately TC spun; definitely not my intent as it messed up what promised to be a really fun race for us both.

Nothing to do then but make amends, so I pulled wide and waited for him to resume. That's when Rob and Justin went by us both. I pretty much decided to just drive it in then and had resolved not to pass anyone even if I could as penance for screwing TC up, but then got the DT so that was taken care of for me... ;-)

Watching the replay, I was thinking I may need to think about changing my FOV since I don't have much peripheral vision in car and it makes it tough to get close in corners. I'm running 48 in the PLR file and it comes out like the screenies show; what are you guys using? (edit) At a 16/10 aspect ratio that's about 77 degrees horiz, which is more or less what I've run all the way back to GPL. Hmmm...

Yeah Steve, I was pretty sure you wouldn't be able to see me there, I guess I was just hoping you'd assume I wasn't letting you have me that easily. ;)

My mirrors were empty there as well, I just knew you were there because of the sound. It can be used to judge proximity in those tight spots. As for FOV, I haven't modified mine, so I am using whatever is default.

It was the same when I was making passes in the keyhole. When these cars are side by side, with those little mirrors, you have either use the side look (which I do with my G25 thumb buttons) or just hope.

Default FOV huh? Interesting - just had a play with it and it seems that corresponds to about 77 degrees vertical in the manual display settings. That means 115 horizontal on a 16/10 widescreen monitor, which is a LOT more than I'm seeing. Fired up the replay to compare it and I'd have definitely seen you (TC too, most likely) with that wider FOV. Looks weird though; have to mess with it a bit.

Definitely could use more buttons than the G25 has, since my wheel ones are used for brake bias since I tend to move it around a good bit. Shifter pod is useless to me since it lives on the floor - it won't fit on my goofy desk... ;-)

I posted a couple chunks of video from the race on youtube tonight in my first foray into using fraps. The quality isn't terrific, but they feature some intense racing from the first and last stages of the race. The video of the late-race battle for P1 between Rob and myself is particularly good stuff. The RF television cameras are quite well placed.

http://www.race2play.com/homepage/show_posts/6038

I brain faded early and put the car into the wall. After a pit, it was still scary to drive so I parked it till the last lap to save a DNF and to keep from taking anyone out.

Great job Justin, Rob & Tommy. :)

That wasn't your brain fade Bill, it was mine, when I spun into your path on lap 3.
I'm sure losing your front spoiler greatly contributed to your hitting that wall.
Terribly sorry for ruining your race so early. :(

Apart from that, I had a fun race, was actually almost comfortable in the car.
Had a good battle for 4th with Kevin at the end, but that ended when Chris barged his way through the 2nd to last corner, dropping me to 6th.
I guess some guys aren't too fussy how they pass someone...

Congrats to Justin for the race win and Congrats to Steve for winning the championship. Great job guys!

I never really figured this track out and didn't find a good fast setup either. Seeing the 32's in the Euro race had me making some wild setup changes but nothing seemed to work well -- which usually means my driving just isn't up to par.

Got a so so start, tall 1st gear, but I knew it wasn't gonna be a good start. On the 1st lap I was able to get around Steve but was pretty confident I wouldn't stay in front. 2nd lap Steve got a good draft run on me and we both late braked, couldn't turn in as I saw Steve was there with them locked up so had to go wide with him and couldn't get a good cross over repass.

I was trying to keep up, but it looks like Steve and Justin had some contact which allowed me to get around Justin and back onto Steve (now in 3rd). But I really didn't have Steve, Tommy's and Justin's pace, but I did my best to hang on. Then Steve and Tommy had some contact which gifted 1st spot to me.

Thought I could hang onto 1st, but I made two mistakes with a very pushy car which ultimately allowed Justin to catchup and pass and almost allowed Tommy to past.

I'll take the gifted 2nd, but I just never found a good way around here.

P.S. Great pics Justin.

Kind of a disappointing race for me as it marks my first DNF at R2P.

I was quite happy with the car and a top 5 on the grid. I slottde into 5th early on and was keeping the leaders in sight for a couple of laps.

As I came upon Justin, as seen in the pics, my heart stopped as I managed to squeeze past his stationary car. This promoted me to 4th although it would be short lived. A few laps later I put the left side in the grass and just didn't ease off the throttle enough to keep it pointed straight, spun and damaged my suspension.

I limped back to the pits and hoped the team could fix the damage enough to allow me to continue safely but the car was dog-tracking bad so I pulled off to the grass and watched the race from the motorhome.

Congratulations Justin on a nice win. And may I say that the guys racing here are top notch in terms of gentelmanly racing...hard fought but always fair.