rFactor 2 Round 5 Bathurst 2016

Many thanks

 

Haviingg to cut a tree down that hit my house hopefully no damage but not looking good to make race..damn chainsaw keeps dying on me..

 

How am I not surprized?

 

Q on best try was going 8 tenths faster but hit traffic last corner and blew it

R good racing, Jason was leading and was chillin behind him but then after some laps hit wall. Wasnt pushing just following but its one of those
things when you follow someone, you kinda driving his race and not own and just make stupid mistake. Granted i had 8 beers during evening but meh...
Went for a while with damaged car to make sure that when repair and fillit it up, id had enuf fuel.
After 30mins to pits and started pushing. Car was jerking off on right and left turns so pretty handfull but found out was still catching people so after them
pit, prolly had chance of podium.
Eventually ketchup reaction happened and just esced it out. 30mins or lil more left?
Nevertheless I tried as long as I could. Dont drink and drive.

And apologies to Jason, could have had a great race! I know you are fast with porsche from that green hell event you guys had

 

yep, never had a clue. I actually tried TC and found out it was allmost second slower than without

 

This game is sometimes really annoying More than 50-second lead to the next, and suddenly got screen freeze and the next time I saw when I am stuck in the wall. Game over! Will they ever fix this problem?! It's been at least as long as dx11 has been. I have tried many times to fix it, but nothing seems to help. It's been a long time since it last happened to me, but apparently it can still happen.

Please, next time GT3 drivers don't change the line in the straight when the difference is only a few meters and LMP2 car comes from behind 50km / h faster than you. It causes crashes. Stay on your line.

 

Henri, that´s very pity... You have been the fastest driver today, there was not any chance to compete with you. For me you are the winner, but you know - simracing is sometimes unjust (life too, unfortunately, of course)... Thank you to all participants. Very difficult race on very complicated track with multiclass traffic. I chose good tactical variant with first "splash and dash" stint at very beginning of the race - soft tires and 24 liters of fuel. In this qualify mod I used free track in first six laps, in the moment I caught up the main group of GT3 I went to the pit, and after pit stop I continued with classical two stints on Medium tires.

Sorry for my poor English with mistakes, I hope it´s at least a little bit understandable...

 

super race

 

Well done to Radek and Jason on their wins. Good job by both of you.

Pretty pleased with my race and another podium so can’t be unhappy.

Equaled my best time in qualifying so didn’t go for another run.

I tried stints with both softs and mediums in private practice and couldn’t really decide on what was best, the softs were faster but I was getting snap oversteer after about ten laps so opted for the mediums.

First stint went fine, had a nice gap in 3rd, then I saw Radek stop so I knew what he was up to, lol

Then Henri had his problems which promoted me into the lead and I just lapped as cleanly as I could.

After my stop Radek had a ten second lead, managed to make some inroads into that gap but not enough to take the win, however 2nd is still good

On the subject of traffic, I did my very best not to make contact with anyone, a few times taking to the grass on Conrod to avoid a crash.

My only major contact was with the BMW, I got alongside the car, he bounced of a kerb or wall or something and then into me, which spun him round, sorry.

Otherwise my race was pretty clean. This one was always going to be really tough for multi class so happy just to survive it.

Daytona next, from one extreme to another speed wise, should be good fun.

 

Wasn't actually beside me. I WAS trying to stay right, even though there is not really room for 2 cars through there, it was only a couple more corners to the corner off the mountain, and yes I brushed the wall but you came from well behind and kind hammered the left rear from out under me. I really think you would have hit me whether I brushed the wall or not.

Required yet another pit stop to fix missing spoilers, bent wheels/flat tires (whatever was messing up the steering)

 

There was little patience from LMP cars today. The LMPs may have grip anywhere but the BMW GT3 didn't like coming offline much. With narrow spots all over the mountain, it's also easy to catch grass or curbs and the car does not like either on that track.

Since we are simulating racing, wouldn't hurt to simulate judgement based on some liability (not damaging your equipment or other competitors) and mortality (would you do it IRL or would you think twice about injuring or killing yourself and everyone around you?).

Pretty frustrating to start last, on purpose and still get taken out in turn 1. No idea what that person was doing or thinking.

That annoying blue flag when the car is not even overtaking. I let people by and they still manage to hit you on the way by. They get in front aaaaannnnnd turns out they're slower... @@! Orrrrrrr, they bounce off every wall for the next few corners then spin anyway. On 4 different occasions I was hit, two of which I was spun/wrecked by a LMP.

I practiced on the race server last night, ran a full tank of fuel stint running competitive enough laps and didn't touch anything or anyone. Then, there's no excuse... translation; if mid-pack average me can, anyone can. Back it off a couple percent if the car can't be kept on the track and or off other cars. I'll never understand why the brain goes out the window right before the window net goes up.

I'm trying to avoid iracing syndrome.

I understand there are all kinds of variables in this activity. I'm not perfect. I made more than my share of mistakes. I try my darnedest not to collect others in my screw ups. I finished. I always try to finish. My 2 goals every time I grid are be clean and finish. Everything else is secondary. The rewards eventually show up.

And... I'm finished opining.

 

I only decided to sign up for this race earlier in the morning. Initially, told myself I wasn't going to, figuring there'd be chaos. Figured I'd save myself the frustration.
But, nothing else to do today, so I signed up in LMP2 but was red lighted as max number of P2 sign ups had been reached. I waited around few hours, but nothing changed, so I moved over to GT3 and took a spot. (Of course, only moments later, someone unregistered and a driver behind me in waiting took the newly open P2 spot. lol. Figures. Oh well, not much time to practice, decided to stick with the GT3 and focus in)

To say I came into the race blind because I signed up late would not be the truth.
Some months ago, myself and some teammates ran a 12 hour special event at SRC in the same car I drove today (Porsche)
Not even two months ago, I ran this combo (well, was LMP2 and GTE, not GT3, but close) albeit I ran P2 in that race.

So, I pretty much knew what to expect. And, I had setups for both cars at the ready (though, they were both developed on the 2014 Bathurst, not his updated track...so a few things did change. The 2014 is significantly bumpier, and especially the Porsche, suffered on those bumps. Here, that was not the case...I was glad about that)
On the 2014 layout, despite being a fair bit bumpier in all the wrong places, I generally lap at 2:03s-2:04s pace, so I was a bit surprised to be some seconds slower here. Still not sure why. (Grip levels maybe...?...)

Anyways, snagged the GT3 pole in quali, even though I managed to lose nearly a half second in the final corner on my best lap...got greedy

Race started and after a few laps I was getting excited. It seemed Toni was going to be able to keep up, and I thought a good little battle was about to transpire.
However, it was not to be. The loud CRASH BANG sound as I started to descend the mountain told me he wasn't catching back up any time soon. Sounded painful.

From there on, it was an exercise in retaining focus, more than anything else. (That, and remembering P2s were on track, and to keep an eye in the rear view at all times!)
Sometimes, that, for me, is the hardest thing about pulling a gap...keeping focus afterwords. Many a race I've botched because I lost focus after getting away from others. Didn't want to repeat that, so tried to keep my head down and just log laps. And, managed to do that this time around, which I'm happy about.

..........................................................
From my seat, P2 traffic was mostly fine. A few indecisive ones, that seemed not to realize the power of their car (or maybe I didn't present the 'go on by' body language strongly enough) but it was fine. Much preferred over being dive bombed or ran over, so I won't complain. Fully understandable when some slower cars are not always as predictable as they should be when being overlapped by faster classes.

A good event, imo. Looking forward to participating again when I can.
Thanks for the racing, and grats to Radek on P2 win.

 

I think during the race I only had three incidents, two slight nudges and the contact with Joey so considering the type of track and how narrow it is in places, things went ok. Obviously I would prefer zero issues but I did the best I could, and usually stayed behind people until an opportunity to pass cleanly presented itself.

I've tried something for the last few races, where I do a 45 minute race with a 35 car field, a few P2's and the rest GT3's. So I can get used to running in heavy traffic.

It does work well, and it's good practice. However the AI P2's are far more aggressive than me and like you mention above, AI GT3's are always going to be more predictable as they stubbornly stick their lines and make you go the long way round. The "human" element is missing but it's good exercise.

However many thanks to those who eased out of the throttle and let us through over the top of the mountain, great driving and not easy when you are trying to do your own race.

Daytona should be much easier thankfully!

 

The expected: a somewhat confusing race, with several accidents causing damage and sometimes irreparable delays.

The unexpected: my race fell short for my own expectations: 3 accidents, 2 of them causing me a lot of time and almost making me giving up. And 3 stops in Boxes.
It is important to realize that not only in real races, but also in simracing, zigzagging is not allowed to prevent overtaking. This is most likely to cause accidents. Braking a lot earlier in curves might be understandable, but nothing more than that...

the surprise: seeing cars (GT) in the middle of the track, preventing any kind of overtaking on either side!...

Congs to the podiuns

 

Kind of mixed bag for this race, but with such a track that was expected.

Q: I think I did my best lap by hitting a wall. Apologies, that wasn't intended, but I swear I kept the car in track limits

R: Start was hard, everybody was faster than me and after 3 laps I was dead last of the LMP2s. But I already knew that my strategy, and setup, were different. My opponents were all flying away from me in straight lines, but I was back in their butt up the hill and they were flying again in the straight lines and so on, so I kept pushing on and waited for my time.
At circa lap 18 I was back in 2nd position and still there until my pitstop. Back on track 3rd, and again 2nd after Andrew pitted and then I was ahead of him. Strategy had worked. I didn't knew if Radek had to pit again -probably yes considering his post- and the 3rd one was a couple seconds behind me, so I kept pushing on in the hope to pass Radek later on.

Then came the bad things. Circa lap 28 Darrel Kruger lost it up the hill right behind a blind corner and went backward instead of keeping on the brakes. Couldn't avoid him and ended in the kitty litter, or should I say in the wall after the kitty litter. I've lost 2nd place there but still could continue, though the car was more or less three legged as one of the wheels couldn't touch the ground in corners anymore. Hard to handle, believe me. Still I was 3rd, with 4th closing slightly on me.

More drama ? Yes, please! Ten laps or so later Michael Labelle and Darrel Kruger crashed together in the uphill just ahead of a pack and caused a pile up involving 3rd & 4th in LMP2s and 1st in GT3s. Nice shot boys! At that point I think my car was two legged, but still 3rd and I managed to continue that way till the end.

So, mixed feelings. I expected much more after my pitstop, but still very happy to finish and on podium. Apologies for the contacts I made, I try my best to avoid them but with such a track it was sometimes just impossible. Congrats to winners, podiums, and all who finished. See you next one at Daytona for the finale.