Grand Prix of Miami

John & Bob... It will be it fixed shortly

Real shame about the turn out, this track actually produced some brilliant racing. I've been mega busy this week with assignments so I came cold to the car/track combo a couple of hours before the race. Fortunately, it's a short track and I was able to learn the combo adequately.

QUAL:

Managed to bag 2nd on the grid. I thought the grid would be a little closer than it was though and was surprised to be that high.

RACE:

I started slowly and took a little while to get into a rhythm. I got into a scrap with John in the first dozen or so laps which ended after I made a move on him into the hair pin. I wound up on the outside after trying to out brake him and he squeezed me off the road on the exit.

I fell back in line and simply couldn't keep up the pace. It became abundantly clear that I had gone badly wrong in the setup somewhere because I was getting turned into mince meat in that last corner. I guess the other guys were taking it flat because I was having to lift quite a bit through there.

I kept making lots of little mistakes and eventually I was caught and passed by Paulo and Bob. The fighting I had with those two through the race was absolutely incredible. I have to apologise to Paulo, going into T1 at one point I caught him a lot quicker than I expected and punted him into a spin. This spun us both round. I slowed up to let him back through and Bob snuck through at the same time.

After re-catching and passing Paulo I eventually re-caught Bob. I passed him at least half a dozen times at the hair pin and ever single time the git just drove straight round the outside of me in the final corner LOL. I'm sure he was laughing his ass off every time too ;-p

During the last part of the race I made a complete cock up of T1 and did a cartwheel after hitting that ramp in the grass... some how the engine was still going and I got back on the track about 8 seconds behind Paulo and John - now dri ving the CT car - John van der Geest was long gone by this point.

After catching and passing Paulo I caught John O. I guess he was in his crazy fuel saving phase (kudos, that was amazing) because he put up no fight and I passed him easily. There was a funny moment though when I clipped his rear through the infield and we both spun out it looked as though Paulo did exactly the same thing in my mirror. The three of us got going again in the same order though so no hard feelings I hope. One thing I will say, is that although my car was shit through the last corner it was apparently a monster on the brakes because I was braking much later than everyone else and that's what kept catching me out today.

I made a last minute splash and dash with about 5 laps to go and didn't take tyres. Paulo did the same on the next lap and somehow got out before me! I had almost given up but when Paulo spun in the hairpin I got through and onto the podium.

Overall, pretty pleased to scrape the extra points but I did a good job of trying to make a mess of it. I should really have kept within a few seconds of John van der Geest but I kept making stupid errors all the way through.

Hopefully once my exams are out of the way I'll get a bit more practice in for the next one and put in more of a representative performance.

When we got to the final hairpin on the formationlap, I forgot I could already speed up coming out of it. I was 5 meters to late there. So I thought "O shit, Im in trouble now". But I was very much supprised that Kevin didn't slipstream me on the banking. So I was like, oke, lucky me, he took a wrong line. But on the second lap I saw that his gearing was wrong for that section. Then I understood why he couldn't get closer.

Im always slow picking up my rhythm at the start, so on the infield Kevin caugth up again. On lap 4 he made his move at the final hairpin, coming from a bit back under braking. I didn't think he'd risk it, as I thought he wasn't close enough. He flew by me as I was already commited turning in the car. I was like "wow, thats brave". But he overshot the apex and I couldn't stop the car from making a side to side contact. It was minor and he was right back on my tail.

So now I was like, oke, Kevin is pressing me hard for the lead and he's very strong under braking. I must get some distance between us on the infield. Driving "save" is over now. I went into qual mode and the gap got a bit bigger every lap as I got my rhythm going. Without the little mistakes we would indeed have been locked together most of the race Kevin, as you could match my pace on a clean lap.

Eventualy I had a big lead but was very worried that all of the fabcars could stay out 3 to 4 laps longer then I could. That could have been a problem by the end of the race. So I started pussing to get as big as a lead I could only to find Felipe in my pitbox on one of my last stops. Luckely he was only there for 11 sec. or so, or I would have lost the race to Bob who was only 20 sec. behind me at the flag.

Was fun. See you guys next time.

Grats to John and Conor for their respective wins.

John Onofrey and I both had some great drives, sharing the CT Racing Fabcar. I wasnt going to be able to stay for the whole event, so I went ahead and qual'd the car, and took the car for it's 1st couple of stints. Some close, hard racing between the Fabcars in P2 thru P4. Watching the replay, that really seemed to be the only real battle on the track for most of the event. Yes Kevin, too much gear there on the oval. I was able to fend Kevin off nicely. He'd be breathing down my neck around the infield, and then I'd just drive away from him on the oval. We were using our setup from Daytona, so it was already setup for the oval section. I was able to keep full throttle thru the oval section (John O was too after a bit of coaching him on corner entry on a flat oval) and we just pulled away from everyone there. In the end though, it came down to fuel, and John was in full conserve mode for the last 10 laps or so, bringing it home i P2. We had nothing for Van der Geest, so snagging the next best finish after such hard, fun racing was fantastic.

Grats to all the finishers. After this event,
CT Racing is well in the lead of the Fabcar team championship, as well as John in 2nd place in the drivers' championship. Good work JO!

Be more careful next time!! You just ruined our races Kevin. That is a shame

Common Paulo, I know of late you have had some bad results that were not a result of your driving, but leave the negative stuff for me to post, your to nice a guy, as is Kevin, who I am sure was just racing as hard as always, with no intent to cause any harm to others.

Sorry I did not make the event, I had little seat time in practice for this one, and the length of the event was conflicting with another event I had entered. Congrats to the podiums.

Jan I know I am agressive on words sometimes but when you are rammed out of the races in last 6 races in R2P because some guys who cant break in the brake zones and used your car "like a brake" you have the rights to be angry!!!! Don't you think mate!?!?
I am sure Kevin didn't have intension to ruin our races! I know! He waited for me so that was fair enough for me! And it's all ok! I forgive it! It's racing! But last 2 weeks here had been a mess for me! I dont remember when I ruined someones race, but mine there is always someone to ruin it! Still looking forward to race with you guys!! 100 %
And other thing that is making me crazy now, it's the GUEST racing Pro events!! I only become a member of R2P to make the Pro events, but now everyone can do it!!!! So I am paying for what??????
HAVE I REASONS TO BE MAD OR NOT?????????????

You're not powerless, Paulo. File a protest if you've been wronged on track. You will probably not win your argument 100% of the time (and don't expect to) but in many cases, each offender is documented. We are having a huge influx of new members into the community the past month or so which has scrambled the quality of racing a bit, especially during the weekdays. It's natural for that to happen because of the learning curve with the community and racing backgrounds. R2P goes through this cycle all the time whenever we have a surge of new drivers. Whenever we have a lull period, the quality of racing is quite top notch. That's just the way it has always been.

In terms of the pro series, guests are invited to fill the field. It's not like all are accepted. A certain few who have been known to cause trouble will likely never participate in a PRO race, but those that do not cause trouble here are usually free to join. The biggest difference here is how the cash prizes are handed out. Guest members are virtually invisible in that regard. They will never receive a share of the purse, no matter how far up the points standings they finish.

Please keep the post-race discussion on the topic of this specific event. If you have questions on other topics such as the simulation or the series please post in the forum that is appropriate for your question.

Absolutely agree with Paulo. It's so frustrating to have a run of incidents when you get hit like a sitting duck.

In this particular race I just kept getting caught out whilst in Fabcar traffic because for whatever reason my braking distances were much shorter than everyone elses. It wasn't so much I used him as a brake, I was going to make the corner he was just much slower. Doesn't excuse hitting him of course which is why I made a point of waiting until he had rejoined the track and allowed him and Bob through.