Race2Play 4 Hours at Daytona

well, i've had a tough weekend. 2 DNFs in 3 races, including this one, due to a "Connection Lost"... while in the pits... for the last time... at the 3 hour mark.

and yet, i'm still grinning at how great a time i had today.

on a 3 stop strategy, i double stinted my first set of tires. i had to nurse them pretty good in the second stint, but i learned what i needed to learn to make that decision easier at the third stop.

had several nice battles, but the most memorable was when i came out of the pits at the 2 hour mark on fresh tires, slotting in between Johnny Gutierrez and Cory Linton. and for the next 20 minutes i enjoyed some of the most intense and challenging racing i've had here at R2P, just trying to hold those two off. running two wide thru corners and three wide around the banking, in traffic a lot, both slower and faster, trying to figure out the right line to make that work to my advantage. they were all over me. and near as i can tell, the only (minor) contact we had with anyone was when we went 3 wide into turn 1 not knowing where the others were (oh yeah, and the Fabcar that hit me in the side while trying to dive bomb 4 cars, already in the brake zone, from two lengths back).

in the end, Johnny and Cory both got by me as i knew they would. but my goal was only to make that as difficult as i could, since i was still nursing tires hoping to double stint that set too. by then i also figured they were both going to need a late splash of fuel and i wouldn't.

would have been interesting to see how that strategy played out, but it wasn't to be.

you won't hear me complaining, though, it was a blast!

thanks, Johnny, Cory! and thanks to the lapping drivers who didn't disrupt this grand battle.

'grats to Kevin (still getting used to that) and Tristan.

and also a 'grats to Ken on a nice 2nd!

Not too shabby if I say so myself. Not to brag too much but I would have to say that 8th place is a considerable achievement for what was arguably the weakest car on the track.

Had a few exciting moments during the race including a few with lapping drivers that I thought should have to earn it. The Volvo was brilliant in the infield and held it's on against the field. Unfortunately it just doesn't have the muscle to keep up with the rest and unless I managed to pick up a draft it was useless to try and keep up.

In the end I only had one mistake in four hours and that had no consequences.

I am going to spend the next year figuring out how to drive the rabid weedwacker RX-8.

Congrats to the podiums.

After many many hours and miles of practice... Doing dozens of driver swaps with Neil, it just wasn't meant to be.

I started my first stint in the Team Kamikaze Guinness Volvo S60-R with a little trepidation and a little optimism as well. I had a great time attempting to chase down Barrett, only to see his Aston Martin pull away steadily in the banking. But I would catch him in the infield. Great stuff.

After a few laps, it was becoming clear that my trusty Thrustmaster steering wheel was beginning to show her age. Every once in a while, I would enter a corner, downshift (or at least planned to downshift) into first and suddenly find myself in neutral. Or, even worse, reverse. I sincerely apologize to those that were caught by surprise to see me sitting helpless on or off track due to this issue.

That problem ultimately led to my demise. As I came across the start/finish line and was preparing to head into turn 1, I did my usual routine: Lift, Brake, Downshift. But the car suddenly went from 3rd to 1st, killing the motor. Damn. I have since edited my PLR file to take care of this problem.

Next time.

Congrats to the winners, the podium finishers and all who finished today.

Well for the longest race I have ever done online that was a complete blast!! With a super strong GT field my plan was to just race the track and be consistent but that went out the window quick. Took it easy for the first few laps but just found myself loosing ground so I started upping the pace and of course managed to spin it in the horseshoe dropping to dead last. Put the hammer down for the rest of the race and threw strategy to the wind and ran it like a sprint race. Had a lot of trouble in the bust stop and bumped the walls a few times from brain fade but kept it pretty clean for the most part.

As Barrett said, the 2hr mark with Him, Johnny, and I where fantastic! We where all over each other for a while. The three wide moment in to turn 1 was a little foolish on my part but that gap in the middle was screaming my name. We had a bit of contact but we all made it thank god! I only did the pass attempt cause I trust Johhny and Barrett's driving, it was very intense and cool!
Got a big whack from a DP at one point that sent me in circles when I let up for an incident in the chicane, wasn't impressed but that's how it goes.

Had to do splash and dash at the end and came out 6+ in front of Johnny G but to my dismay I didn't take enough fuel for the last 10 mintues...Noooo!! Pulled in to the pits for a fourth time humming and moaning as Johnny went past along with my top 10 goal.

Other than that flop at the end this race was very very fun. I really like running at night and the traffic just add's to it. Four hours went bye a lot faster than I thought it would but the back and hips sure feel it now!!

Congrats to all finishers, it was a great event!

I was pretty sick for most of this week, but got better yesterday with hopes of making the race without a hitch. Woke up early this morning for the race and felt pretty good, albeit, a bit fatigued and sore.

Tristan and I decided to skip out qualifying and start last to give us an extra challenge during the race, so this extra 10 minutes gave me some time to stretch out for a four hour gauntlet.

For the first hour, the race was quite methodical. Tristan and I worked together at times getting through traffic and made our way to the front. For the pit stop, Tristan came over the radio and told me he was going to try and double stint the tires. This thought hadn't occurred to me but after looking at my tire wear, I was fairly confident I could do the same. That was a bad move...

The second stint pitted me head to head against Joao, who was leading at the time (until Tristan took over). The constant pressure, not only from him, but the tire wear (which exponentially increased during the second stint), fatigued me greatly and made me sick again. I eventually gave up on Joao, knowing I was not in the best of shape to fight him. With the rear tires nearly gone and after a snap spin coming back onto the oval, I had to pit early. The extra time to change tires now gave me an opportunity to run to the bathroom and be sick. Came back to a car that was ready to go and away I went back on track.

Four fresh new tires made me feel better and I started to make up some time. Unfortunately, the spin I had in the previous stint gave me quite a bit of damage, so the car wasn't in its optimal shape. Nonetheless, I was getting back into the 1.49s which helped me reel in Joao little by little. It took another stint to eventually catch up to him and pass him in order to take back 2nd place. From there, I just managed my race and did my best to keep that 2nd spot, having nothing against Tristan who was 3/4ths of a track ahead of me at the time.

All in all, a pretty tough race for me in a number of ways, but weirdly enough, the duration of the event being the least of them. All things considered, I was quite happy with the Camaro here. I had it completely trimmed out and it handled great with a new and untested setup under it. The only time when it handled like crap was when I tried to force a full tank onto older tires, which it wasn't made for. It's heavy and torquey...not a good combo for double stinting...even here.

Tristan had that Wankel screaming today. With its lightweight and exceptional top speed, there was nothing at all I could have done to beat him outright today (even with all his spins early on :P), and because of that, I am pleased with 2nd.

Grats to Tristan and Kevin on the wins. See ya guys in April :)

Well done Ken :).

Not a bad finish, but John and I could have done much better...or should I say I could have done much better. A big shout out to my teammate John Onofrey. He qualified the car, then took it out for the first half of the event. He got as high as P2 in the order. Very smooth, but still quick. As he was driving, I was spotting, and giving reminders as pitstops came up. All was going pretty well. Until I got in the car at halfway. The first thing that caught me out was that it was now nighttime. I hadnt done a single lap in nighttime conditions, and now all my marks were hidden in shadows. And as I'm trying to tip-toe my way around, trying to find my way, I had Mike Virt, who was a lap down but none-the-less still very quick, trying to get himself unlapped. The problem was I'd have the setup to get by him in the infield, but he'd get caught right back up to me going into T1 with his low drag setup, and I'd have to deal wih him while at the same time try to find my marks. Needless to say, I couldnt do both, so I pretty much had to wait for my tires and such to come up and then start to pull away from him. So halfway into my 1st stint, I still hadnt found my marks. I know I caused some hairy fits for some GT cars (sorry Conor especially) until towards the end of the stint I got much better.
Then the 2nd issue occured. I made my 1st stop, but never checked how much fuel was going in the car!!! I ended up with only half a tank, and heard the disappointment in John's voice when I told him over TS. Sorry bud, that was a total rookie mistake. No excuse for that one. Race killer right there.

But it didnt end, as with just a handful of laps left, while trying to get around Conor without balking him, I looped it in the horseshoe. I didnt lose any positions, but it was just more salt in the wounds. The damage was already done. We would have to settle for P4.

Not too bad, but as I said, we could have done better with more preparation. But as John always points out at the end of these things, for 2 guys that work all week and don't have the time to really get ready for one of these enduros, we did pretty damn good.

Phew/wow what a race!!!! I was surprised to see C and T skip Qualifying. I turned a PB flying lap which set me on pole.

The start saw Joao and myself trading 1st place for 20 laps or so. Then Joao got a run onto the back stretch and got up to the side of my weed whacker entering the bus stop. Decision time saw me lay off the gas and try to enter the corner on tip toes. Slight touch and i was off into the green stuff. 4-5 second gap Joao gained was kept that way till 1st pit stop.

The next couple of stints had Cristi and I in an epic battle. Cristi's stang was all over me on the infield and I would gobble him up on the banking. Back and forth we went for many laps. Tristan, Connor and Joao where always 20-40 seconds up and the battling we did set us back more but oh it was great stuff!!!!

With about an hour left I did a quick little light fuel/sticky tire stint to get me to where I could run a full fuel stint to finish the race. I laid down about 6-7 laps in the 49's to put a gap on Cristi heading into the final stint.

Final stint was once again Cristi and I dueling it out. With about 30 min left I heard the wife and kids get home. No matter how many times I have told my 5 year old son not to interrupt daddy when he is in the man cave racing...he still does. Broken concentration saw me visit the grass and wall. Top speed was down about 8 mph which let Cristi walk away from me.

Very happy with my result against a field of extraordinary drivers!!!! Congrats to the podium.

First time in a Fabcar for me. Much better to drive than the GT's in this mod allthough the braking really sucks bigtime. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to fight for a podiumspot but I know how to bring a car home so that was the aim ... finishing these 4 hours. That worked out just fine, not taking into account someone removing my rearwing which fubared the strategy completely. Was fighting with Michael and Tony but they both DNF-ed which made the rest of the race pretty uneventfull. Traffic was fine with all those experienced drivers on track. Have to make an apology to Ken for misjudging him letting me pass at the end of the race. I know you were busy defending 2nd place and I was (sort of) praying our touch didn't made you lose your frontsplitter. Glad to see you were able to keep that 2nd place.

Not sure I will be doing the other races in this series. Will look at it per event. Grats to Kevin on his win and to Tristan and Conor for a great show in the GT's.

I enjoyed it 100% :D

I took the Mustang as I didn't know other cars too well.
To my surprise the car was slow on straights even with the lowest wing. All in all I was a sitting duck on the banking.
I managed to tweak the car in half an hour and get the rear diff to work it's best here.

I put in the longest gearbox so probably that's why I was loosing a lot on the straights. Still to 4th gear, I was accelerating as the other guys.

Top battle with Bryce! I spun once on braking as I was a bit impatient and jumped on the inside but got the door slammed. Managed to close the gap again and we changed paint a few times but all in the spirit of battle. I was a bit sad to see him drop towards the end. I think I might have needed a bit of luck to be in front of him. I was counting on the tires actually, which held very well even on the last laps of the second stints.

I didn't have any strategy and calculated in my head on the fly how should I approach the last stint. I decided to go for a full tank and tires for the last part and got to the finish with 2 L. Not bad :)

I wish I could have the legs to fight to the finish with the podium finishers but this was the best I could get from the car.

I never learn to prep in advance :)) A better strategy, actually any strategy and more than jumping in the car 30 minutes before the start would have done wonders. Still that's me enjoying without effort.