Pre-season: Zolder #2

I can't believe how my car just lurched sideways all of a sudden at the start. Haven't experienced anything like that since the demo. Apologies to Thomas.

I'll have to try to figure out what caused that. Probably a combination of experimenting with less preload and a very short 1st gear. And maybe, just maybe, a lack of talent.

I didn't get to Qual so it was going to be an interesting run from the very back of the grid! I guess I half expected I would encounter trouble getting along with some tail end cars at some early stage of the race.

I got a typical good traction start and rocketted ahead for a run up the middle of the field. Blending back in the speed for Turn 1 was going to be fun, but I wasn't worried about it.
But some chaos further up the grid caused Dan to need to evade it, and thus he clipped me, who then clipped Brian and I spun off to hit nose and then rear into the left wall. BAH.
Damaged front wing and right rear suspension.
Even if I was 100% ok the whole race was going to be a battle to get back towards the front, but now it was almost hopeless. But I decided to do a few laps to see what the car was like, because if it was reasonably driveable I could still possibly outlast a lot of people and gain positions that way. Not much fun that way though!

The car drove quite well as it turned out. I couldn't corner quite as fast, and the rear hated full load on corner exits and it would 'wind up' and buck a bit, but it was still reasonably fast overall. About 0.7s a lap slower, but at least still fun to race it.

So off I went to see what it could end up at.
Once I got to 4th that was about the limit of what my lap times could match cars ahead, so that was as far as it was going to be - unless someone else ahead was nice enough to crash out! lol
But none of them would... bah!

I can't say I like the Williams. It is just far too 'easy' and grippy versus the mid to lower end cars which are a good challenge. And it was the first time I had used one in a race because of that.

really sorry, especially to Bas.
My head was elsewhere...thus i was a dumb wrecker
I had a decent pace but when you think about something else 100% is not easy to sim drive, was a tough week and Sunday.

hope to see you all again.

Well,yet another DNF for me. It seems like I had the pace to finish up at the front end of the pack (1.23.8 in race trim and lower) ,but it was not to be :-(

One thing I'd like to stress is this:

Be careful when racing in these cars. They can't handle the same amount of wheel banging as a GT car or similar. I hate aggressive drivers. Take it easy.

Grats to finishers :-)

These fun run races are a good example of what to expect when you have a mixed group of drivers (skill) driving extremely delicate cars at a 100% damage level.
Please, I'm not suggesting that be changed, only bringing up a fact related to the quality of the competition. It's just too much to ask of us lower skilled drivers to think we can do a whole race without some small contact that will end our race.
All of the finishers (except me of course) are extremely skilled drivers (boy, these German boyz are something!LoL).
That does make the case (if there ever are enough participants) for a 2 division class system with some aids for us noobs to at least get a 50% finishers result.
I race with an Aussie group that has just such a system. It works great with much better racing for each division and a lot more cars finishing the races.
Again, this is not a suggestion to change anything here, just bringing it up to make people aware for possibly some future series taking these facts into consideration.
As for my race, I had a ball. It wasn't easy for this noob to make it too the end, but you can see by my lap times how out of place I was within this super fast field of aliens.

Great series Christian, can hardly wait for the next one! : )

Dan

Yes, but you finished Dan! A good 6th!
So everyone needs to think more about their abilities, and the dangers in these cars (easy to break etc), and drive according to that.
Strategy to suit what you know you can do. That would help a lot more drivers finish, and thus more fun and results to appreciate. As per your result Dan.

The cars are too 'breakable' in many ways, so hopefully we will see the damage % lowered to also help more cars finish. Without wheels ripping off as easy as daisy petals!

: )

First off - I know what you mean Dan, and I would agree, but for the fact that I am a driver who will always be at the back - I will never be at the front (except maybe in a fun race with prototypes or similar, and aids on) due to my health problems, and yet I have already competed in a half-season of GP79's with the same settings as here at R2P and I don't remember a single DNF. Okay - one race I was 3 or 4 laps behind the leaders - but I had fun, and in another (O-ring in a Brabham), I even got in the top ten.

Anyway - to the post-race stuff.

I was very pleased with my set-up in the Williams, its a very good car for me to use, and though I used quali for final tinkering with the set-up, I still knocked 3 secs off my PB.

So I was very unhappy when the text that came up saying that someone had pulled out distracted me on a bend, and I slid off the outside into retirement on lap 2. That after being so careful to take it easy on lap 1 and let everyone get away so I could do my own thang.

It made me wonder what the point was in the "no text messages whatsoever during race" rule, when these 3 or 4 liners pop up out of nowhere. Can't thay be disabled?

Anyway, the first race ended with me sliding off the track for reasons unknown to me after half a lap.

Doesn't matter - I just voted this mod as the best of the year in the rFC mod of the year poll - it's great! : )

I'm currently evaluating a lower amount of damage. 50% seems more acceptable, the wheels and wings can still come off ,but it takes a little bit more effort.
Now don't get me wrong: I don't want this to seem like an invitation for rough driving. It's not. Just want more people to be able to finish and have fun.