Intro to S4 GP'79

Well im glad i didnt waste any time practicing for that...
Someone decided it was smart to fly into a corner with wrecked cars....

That was a quick one. I actually spent a few hours practicing for this one and was pretty happy with my race pace. Qualifying was a mess. Tried to leave a gap but kept getting tangled with slower cars and never got a clean lap in.

Started 17th, got to 13th off the start but on the backside, the 12th place car in front of me spun and I lost it trying to avoid him, then got collected by the cars coming through since they had nowhere to go.

Very disappointing. Again.

well, i qualifyied second with what i thought was a sub per lap. i grabed the lead at the start and held it till my car decided it was time to crash out. i dunno why it spun, but with a track so poorly modeled, it could of been anything. the ivisable wall took my front wheel off, and that was it.

I am seriously pissed off right now. Didn't do that much practice, but managed to get a low 36 off in qualifying to get the Tyrrell into 4th(!). Then I got a great start and got into 2nd(!!) before deciding not to contest the issue with Sam, and settled back into a comfortable 3rd. Then on the back straight, I got 1fps. WHAT THE F**K?! Tried to coast back to the pits in a slideshow, but managed to hit a wall pretty hard, which mucked up the suspension. Got the damage that COULD be fixed done, and decided to keep going and see where I ended up. Got 1fps AGAIN and stuffed it into the wall even harder this time, ending my race. What a waste of time.

That was one of the shortest races I`ve had in awhile.I was one of the cars that had nowhere to go.I just feel bad for my sponsors. They gave me a pretty good car. Oh well, we`ll put the pieces back together and go after it again next week.

Got my activation code early this afternoon and immediately put my name back on the signup list. At first I was 31st in a 28-car field so didn't hold much hope for actually getting to race, but did a few laps so I'd be ready just in case and sure enough, about 9:45 I saw that I had made it. Thanks to the people who withdrew when they found that they couldn't make the race.
Aliens set an amazing pace which I couldn't even approach but did a PB of 37-flat, good for 11th place on the grid. Got off to a good start and managed to make it through the chaos of the 1st-lap chicane and tried to settle into a nice race spce. Still messed up a couple times but fortunately no damage resulted.
About mid-race, Francesco Z. came into sight. I knew he had to be damaged or I wouldn't even be in the same area code as him but made up just a little ground each lap. Finally I got right on his tail but couldn't quite get by. Lap after lap, we went around in formation -- I'd gain a little on him in the tight stuff, he'd pull away on the straights. Finally on about lap 18 or so, I managed to get by on the inside for 5th place. Started to pull away a bit when, going down the front straight, I saw a yellow. Braked early for the chicane and tried to be extra careful, but there was a car sideways right in the middle of it. Tried to dodge just a little bit and sure enough, lost it. Francesco zipped by and the chase started again.
Did my best laps of the race right at the end including a race fast lap of 37.4. Again, I got right on his tail but the Renault and it's very skillful driver was just a little too much for me and I ended up losing 5th place by about 3/10ths of a second. What a great race!
So the new computer seems to work great -- I was able to turn the details way up -- and this track isn't nearly so ugly with things dialed up -- and had solid framerates even on the startline.
Already looking forward to the next race. Still say this is by far rF's best mod...

Seems the Lotus is not as bad as I thought. Couldn't do much in qualifying. Only got 10th place. But I was able to push consistently in the race.

The green lights came on awfully quickly and seemed to catch a few off guard. I slithered around a slow car and got up to 7th before the first corner. Then a Brabham came up behind me in T1 and decided it was mating season and tried to mount my lovely lady in green. But she would not be had that easily, and she stayed faithful to me for the rest of the race. I came up on some Ligiers that got together in the final corner, and I wound up giving the wall a pretty good smack. Thought my wheels were out of alignment, but maybe it was just the crown of the road fooling me. Alex made a nice pass into the chicane. Steve tried the same, but he had to cut, and he dutifully let me by before the next corner. The rest of the race was just dodging spun and wrecked cars. But a pretty good race all around.

First, congrats to the top three, and everyone who finished--hard to do in these things.

So, I qualified with a 1:38 something, which was 2 seconds slower than my practice time earlier today. But that was fine.

The race starts, everyone gets up to speed, and very courteously gets through the T1 complex without incident (or non that I saw anyway). That alone is a testament to the overall skill and patience of the drivers here.

I managed to clear that little mess halfway through lap one, and then settled in for the long haul.

I had some fun chasing Francesco Zargani (I believe--have to look at the replay again) for the next few laps until I had a slight off at T1--lost a couple spots there but no biggie. I spent a few more laps running down Jack Riley until he passed Jeff Stibling.

Almost the entire rest of my race was spent hunting Jeff--mate, that was some great driving, especially when we were doing the side by side stuff. Thank you for a great race!

Eventually I found myself up in 7th with only a few laps to go. The last lap starts and I see 5th and 6th really close together in the timing display, so I was hoping they'd get aggressive and I might pick up another spot or two. As it happens, Karma didn't appreciate my negative thoughts and saw fit to have me drive up the hillside and into the woods with one turn to go on the final lap :)

...I was checking my timing display at the time to see if the other two had gone off yet or not :) Yes Karma, I learned my lesson :p

Still, I had a great time. This was my first real race with these things, and to make it 26.5 laps using H-Shifter and heel/toeing (G25 controller and all aids turned off) I couldn't be happier.

Thanks for a good time all--can't wait for the next one....

O What a race, Thought I could pull a low 1:37 in qual but on my warmup lap a guy infront of me slowed up big time in a blind corner while I was going full bore. So Instead of wrecking him I hit ESC, so I was rendered to 22nd. Had a good start moved up to 14th then on lap 6 got sideways and hit the imaginary wall and ended my race, Another 79 track that is porly modled.

What a race! Qualied 3rd, which I was decently happy with although I screwed up two out of my three laps. At the start, despite all precautions I overheated and got off poorly (I have to check the replay, but I went almost to the back of the field while I coasted up the hill trying not to blow it all up). Then, in the Most-Hated-Chicane-Of-My-Life I tried to stay out of trouble but became the turkey in a Ligier sandwich (I know a Ligier, not sure the second car): I got banged pretty good and immediately noticed that beside a smoking rear, I had a bent steering or suspension...my wheel was completely off-center and she felt like impossible to drive. This led me to screw up at Bosch, I think I scraped the barrier and left more bits of yellow around...I tried to keep up with Steve for a few laps but it was very hard so I decided to settle and try to keep consistent. In my practice runs I had had poor results with my tires over laung hauls but I figured with my car the way it was, I probably would not last the distance! Well, fairly early on the race I saw Paul coming up on me and we had a super, super battle all race long: absolutely a delight. Exhausting, but a delight! And a gentleman, by the way. He would be right on my tail underbreaking for that infamous T1, lap after lap, I was at my worst from the exit of Bosch through the two left handers after Bosch. Sure enough that's where he got me, when I went wide, and I thought I'd just try to stay with him as much as possible. He had his trouble at T1 under yellow, and got by him again, and I had a few laps with a few seconds buffer, which he quickly made up. Soon enough my mirror was all blue again! I knew I had very few laps left, and I knew he would probably get me after Bosch again. We touched on the last lap, a racing incident really, and by the time the sweat cleared from my face I saw the checkered flag and was 5th. But the 5th place was really as much Paul's as mine. I already signed up for the Glen, I am completely hooked on this mod but especially I think this is really a great, great, group of people. Thank you all for making this Thursday a great racing night. And please, if I don't see that chicane for a few months, I will probably gain a few years in my life-expectancy!