Gran Premio de Espana

I'm still numb. Where the fuck did Allen come from?? GREAT RACE GEORGE!!

GREAT RACE TOO BOB !!! I enjoyed our battles tonight a lot. I guess you and Allen both were on meds. Cos in the beginning of a stint you both were faster but my hards stayed better throughout the stint.

I watched the replay and saw some amazing stuff. First Tim loses his wing in T1 and later on both wings after the last turn. After that he did a great impression of the lawnmowerman. :-). I saw Stanislav suddenly go straight and off in T3. Then he bounched back from the barrier onto the track and digging in to the tarmac. :-) And last but not least ... did you had a fuelshortage David? Getting to your pitcrew seemed to have taken ages on your last stop. :-)

Thanks guys for another great race. The wrists hurt like hell (pls don't laugh) but I'm already looking forward to the next one.

A good start got me even-stevens with Stanislav into T1 braking... little did I know, Timmybean had a huge run up behind me. After the hit (which didn't destabilise me in the least for whatever reason) I could feel the ass end hanging way out on the run up the hill through turn 3. Quickly scanned thru to the vehicle status monitor, and yup, my rear wing was yellow. I did the best I could in the opening stint, but my rear tires were rapidly overheating, and I could not hold onto the front spot for very long. Both Stan and David got by and pulled a big gap on me.

I should say, on lap 4, David and I went thru turns 1 and 2 side by side, but I moved over to the outside a few feet too much in preparation for turn 3, and nudged David aside... I'm sorry.

At the first stop (of 3), I got the damage repaired, and lowered my front wing by 1. This evened back out the aero, and kept my rear tire temps in check. I plugged away as fast as I dared, and actually caught up both Stan and David. I had a clencher moment when braking at the end of the backstraight, as my closing rate on David was far too quick... I began spinning myself out to the inside to avoid hitting him, but I think he noticed what was going on, and so David moved outside a few extra feet through that slow slow left hander. Thanks man!!

David and I had a wonderful battle for the better part of half a lap after this, and I managed to pull away after David had a hot western exit out of turn 5 while following close behind. His save from spinning out gave me a bit of breathing space, and again I could plug away as fast as I could.

Stints 3 and 4 were very nice, the car was actually superbly comfortable. I must thank Bob Fay for some advice he gave on differential setup... I am certainly no master of setups with these machines! After David had some troubles, I got a lap up on him and started conserving my brakes until the finish. I saw temps ruitinely exceed 2,000 degrees F* in the front, so I backed way off, anticipating a disc failure (though I did not find out the final thickness remaining, post-race).

I've never worked so hard for a win... Fantastic race. Thank you everyone, this was incredible fun. See you soon... at FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUJI

When all's said and done, well, I've been better.

Ran in fourth position for most of the first stint, pulling a gap to boot. Was feeling good, hitting all my marks.

Came off the first of three planned stops in seventh with the next couple of cars right ahead. Caught Richard Johnstone on the backstretch and was thinking ahead to the frontstretch already when I drove right into the back of him, taking off both our wings. Sorry Richard. I haven't done something that simple stupid in a long time.

I limped around for my second stop in two laps and waited through the repairs.

Had some nice dicing with Barry Hedrick at different points in the mid-portion. Then as the race came down to the wire I was pushing hard to get a move on Bob Fay ... too hard: Got squirrelly in the process and fell a few seconds back, giving up any last shot at him as the checkers flew.

If only I could've had a do-over on Lap 17 :-)

I finally managed to be just 2 laps down this race...actually picked up my first point in 2 seasons. I was almost just 1 lap down, but Tristan passed me about 4 laps from the end.

I picked up a punt from Gord on the first lap...my first time being punted. But, the only damage was my rear wing and oddly it didn't really effect the car that much other than just slightly less downforce...about the same as when I'm being drafted, so I just forced myself to drive like there's someone always on my tail. And, for the first stint that was literally true with Francesco following me for at least 10 laps. I kept expecting him to pass me, but he was always trying to take me on the inside and I kept closing that off before he could pull alongside. I finally made a mistake and had to catch my rear from snaking out and he flew past me. Some awesome racing with you Francesco...I hope you enjoyed it as well!

Interesting note...usually when I had damage I would immediately pit because I couldn't control a car that had any damage at all, but this time I decided to stay out...my 1 pit strategy would be useless if I pitted right away. And, the strategy paid off. It seemed like 1/2 the field pitted around lap 17/18...it automatically moved me from 10th to 6th. It actually gave me a chance to race with drivers that I normally would get a blue flag and have to slow down like Allen Cotton and Todd...this time I only gave them 1/2 a car width, but didn't back down. I'm hoping they knew I was on the lead lap with them, otherwise they would be fuming because I didn't slow down and let them pass. Of course they did get by me...but at least they had to work for it this time.

One situation I do want to bring up is when I have a blue flag showing and the driver behind me pulls along side I slow down and let them pass. David did that in this race at the beginning of the main straight, I slowed down and he moved back into the line in front of me, but then he slowed down...probably turned up his boost to get around me, but then turned it down on the straight...I had Allen Cotton on my tail and was not about to let David slow me down, so I passed him back. It all turned out well...I wasn't racing David, but I would like to point out that if you are lapping a car then you might want to put some distance between yourself and the lapped car especially on a straight at a track with high downforce because all you will do is pull the lapped car up to you and force them to either slow down (allowing someone they "are" racing to pass them) or worst not realize they are going faster than usual and not brake earlier then run into you.

There seemed to be more problems this race than perhaps any other F1 race I've been in. I'm sure we will all be happier when next season comes around and there's an amateur event for this series. I'll definitely go with the amateur event because this race was so much more enjoyable than most of my others because I actually had more door-to-door racing where I didn't get so many blue flags and have to slow down...racing is so much more fun than being in the way.

Yeah George, meds here and almost cost me a finish. The 1st stint was awful and by L10 (of 17 in stint 1) I was struggling to turn the car in, George was catching me hand over fist and Bob was doing the same in the other direction. Going into sect 3 on my pit in lap the front left punctured followed very quickly by the rear left but fortunately I didnt have far to go. I could'nt understand what went wrong as in all my online sessions the meds lasted and only cost me a couple of secs a lap towards the end of a stint. Entering the pits I debated changing strategy but decided to stick it out for 1 more stint, second stint was good and I steadily hauled George back, at the rate I was going I figured I'd be on his tail early in my last stint if I kept control of my pace and didnt let the tyres over-heat. Some well placed back markers allowed me to pass George fairly easily and was very surprised to find I was only 6 secs behind Bob and again closing rapidly, glancing at my display I suddenly realised this was for a podium slot and almost blew it there and then in trying to hard and killing my tyres, dont know what Bobs set up was but I found myself easily grabbing a half sec on each of the straights and not losing anything on the turns. Again it seemed a well placed back marker gave me a good run to pass Bob and 3rd place was mine. Very happy with result as it seems like a long time since I had a podium in Rfactor, see you all for the next 1.

What a horrible result after alot of practice :(

I had a good run in quali, getting 7th with a 1m18.xx was suprising, although i would have loved a 17, all of a sudden on race day the car felt slower...

The start was nice, bob had a slow start and i managed to get up alongside into T1, seen a car flying off on the left and backed off slightly...

A few corners later, Nick P put a huge move on me, well done .. Then it was Allen C's turn, was a bit of a battle at one point, he braked late, i switched inside, but had the outside for the next turn ..turn5... Then approaching 6 the left right chicane corner thing, Allen hit the brakes, and when i did i was caught in the slipstream and just wasnt braking fast enough, decided to bail out and save allen the tears, i started crying though, i was in the wall, nose gone and wheels bent.
Got to pits and sorted that out, but now had lost full wheel lock, and tyre wear in the front was appauling.. Had full rears still when the fronts were completely done.

On my next stop tried to put some more front wing on, but this only made me spin out on the fast corners .. on lap 33 the second in a row i spun out and hit the wall again, thought it was better to call it a day :(

Priceless. I am ever so slowly getting the hang of these cars, working on my setup (wish I had more hours in the week but that's rl). I am still off-- my benchmark is Bob Fay (my teammate) and when push comes to shove he is still a sec faster over me, I think. I love racing, because it's so unpredictable. I had driven through the last turn in Barcelona a hundred times, never a mistake. Race starts, lap one, exit of last turn and all on my own...TOO much throttle and bang, right into the wall destroying everything. I had to lose a lap, limp back to the pits (I was surprised the car was still moving frankly) and the car was so damaged it took me a minute or two to figure out at what angle to keep the wheel when I was trying to go straight. When I left the pits I gave 110% (with crooked wheel) and never stopped pushing. It's hard getting out on lap 2 and being already a lap down and having a big L emblezoned on your forehead, but I thought I would get depressed about it AFTER the race. In the meantime push push push-- crooked wheel and all. I had some good battles with Steve (Steve, you were actually a lap ahead of me), Heinz, and Gordon. Before my second (scheduled ) pitstop I got a flippin' flat tire AGAIN on the last turn, went wide, had to limp back AGAIN to the pits. I hadn't had a flat in a while, this ticked me off but while the mechanics were polishing my "L" on the forehead I put this behind me as well and came out pushing again. Undoubtedly one of my best races on line. I know I only have a 10th to show for it, and that mistake on lap one (thank goodness I did not hurt anyone else) was pathetic, but for me yesterday in Barcelona was what online racing is all about. Congrats to my teammate for his 5th, and Tristan for his win. One day Bob, we'll be on the same lap :)

I knew I was a bit slow at this track compared with others. However, I also knew that with no bail out tarmac once off road and walls close in many places that there would be a high attrition rate here. I decided to take it steady and see if I could end up in the tail-end points.

By lap 5 I'd made 6 places and when people started pitting for 3 stoppers compared to my 2, I was actually pretty happy with where I was.

Well...sometimes you find trouble and sometimes trouble finds you. No worries Todd, I know from my own experience that things can go very wrong in the fraction of a second it takes to think about something else.

Car was not too bad after the mechanics had glued various bits back on, the only problem was that it wasn't right under braking and an extra 6/7 laps to get back to the 2-stop window was pushing wear a bit. I caught up to Kevin at about 1s per lap but with no braking confidence couldn't get past until he made a mistake, then had the same story with Steve.

Was pretty exciting having that close race for 3/4/5/6 come flying through while I was still fighting Steve looking for 7th, hopefully I didn't hold anyone up much there.

I hope that huge move was a good one Heinz, because it will be my last for some time....
Great start again, 12th to 6th first lap then shot myself in the foot and damaged lap 6.

Even though I have practiced more for this than anything else, I feel like I have shot to the back of the pack, as proved by my results, and being 4-5-6 seconds a lap off the quick guys, without being able to do anything about it is annoying to say the least.

I am never going to be the quickest in anything particularly, but seem to have completely lost the ability with these cars.

So I am definately taking a break from F1, got other things I can race on a Sunday, and hope to be refreshed later.