rFactor 2 Round 3 Belgium 66 F1

Went into qualifying and couldn't set a lap so I started at the back. Had to avoid a few incidents I was really fortunate that a few drivers in front crashed out but I'm happy to finally get my first SRO win

 

M: "Ted if we're 1-2 I'd really like to get my first SRO win"
T: "I'm for sure not going to do that on purpose, we're teammates but come on"
T: Destroys wall out of International Chicane
M: "Well you didn't have to do it like that

 

A great Win, Mac. Congratulations!
That's a way to start.

 

Yeah, I was thinking that, after the first F3 race, you should slow down and let her win... But it didn't seem like happening until I almost went over the wheel you left in the middle of the road . I prefer leaving hay bales, Ted.

 

Oh, I went directly over that xD

 

I actually feel really bad about that, I'm glad you didn't collect them and have any damage from them. I don't like when it happens to me so I wouldn't want it to happen to you.

This car is so wild to drive, though, the attrition in that race was insane.

 

I think we fully agree on that, Ted. No one crashes against walls or hay bales intentionally and the last thing you want is that, in addition to spoiling your race, that event ends or affects someone else's race. I would have never suggested someone would do that on purpose.

 

I don't think anybody ever did. I was just frustrated at the detritus getting dragged on the track in the F2 cars. I wasn't trying to insinuate you did it on purpose.

 

Much of the same here...

 

1st of all congrats to Mac for her maiden victory... Great way to redeem yourself from last race... als congrats to Jos and Neil.

I have mixed feelings of today... After preparing online and offline the car felt completely different than driving before... No I idea how that happens or anyone else had a similar experience... Qualification was quite good after making some quick adjustments to make driving a bit possible. I had no rear grip for some reason... Taking it easy after the start I followed Ted (or at least tried to). I could not follow him because I had no confidence in the car behaviour... At some point a flock of hail bails crossed the road at the radilllon and could not or did not slow down enough to avoid them and crashed the car and I think I blocked the road. Then in a panic i tried to turn it around to get going again... The suspension was badly damaged and I took a 70s pit stop to get things fixed.... I did not change tyres to save some time...

Continued in 7th and quickly passed Ed... Then I saw that Ted had left the race and I continued in 5th... In the penultimate lap I caught up to Johnny who was doing some lawn mowing... The last lap I started in 4th and on the Camel straight I was so encridibly stupid to look away from the screen to look at the standings on my Ipad for a moment... When I looked on my screen again I was on a collision course with a haybail and I got stuck on the guard rail... so Ed and Johnny after repairs could pass me again...

Ended up in 6th at the end... It is Spa... you win some you lose some... CU next time.

 

You both (P2 and P1 respectively in qualy) didn't qualify badly even if you weren't as fast as you can be and you both again, together with Mac, were the fastest driver on track today so don't you dare say you were slow in the race , even if you weren't as fast as you can be.

Come on! Let's be a bit more realistic.

You are both quite right though in the crashing bit

 

Don't bully me, please, I'm just a poor boy.

 

Even if i was still fast, I was wrestling the car all the way round the track and it completely responded differently then before... I do not understand why and that is a annoying...

 

Maddie was complaining about the same problem - and I had TONS of issues with consistency myself; the F1 cars around here are diabolic, man.

 

I just tried my setup offline with green track, medium track, 18C temperatures and it behaves completely different then before. I find it really strange... Can it be a rF2 issue with server.. On the practise server I had no issues at all... @Ken Jagger do you have an explanation why cars the response can be so much different? I would like to understand, otherwise what is the use in putting a lot of effort in setting up the car...

 

Yeah, what Ken said, plus the difference between off-line and on-line has always been there in every SIM i've tried. It's a latency thing i think, and why i almost never practice off-line anymore.

As for my race... I spent way too much practice time, again, trying to find the ever-elusive force feedback comfort. But i know that, without that, the race is doomed.

Just pulled aside at the start letting the couple people who were behind me on the grid go by because i knew i just wanted to focus on doing safe laps for a while. Following my teammate Ed seemed a wise strategy until i screwed up Eau Rouge and bent my car a bit. Seemed OK to continue, but as the race wore on, the cockeyed steering wheel and unsymmetrical turn-in response eventually made the rear quite unstable. Then i managed to "bin it" as the Crew Chief says, before he berates me on my inadequate performance.

Grats to Mac for the win.

And grats to Ed for the podium, just wishing i'd managed to follow him to 4th.

 

Congrats to Ed... I thought that Neil was in 3rd... What happened to Neil?

 

Well... my target for this race was to survive.... and I did that..... BUT!

In the hour leading up to the race I was doing long full runs working on not crashing or going off. Seemed to work well and I was going to be at least top 10, several seconds behind the leading pack. At the end of practice I took most of my fuel out to see what happened and I destroyed my practice time!!

I put low fuel in for qually (still too much) and got a banker lap in. Then I held my breath and tried to push, leaving it all out on circuit and I ended up about 3rd I think which I was surprised at! Calls from the top guys on the grid asking for race fuel (did you really not get your calculator out!?!). I asked my crew chief throughout practice and qually..... FORESHADOWING!

"THE NEW UI IS BAD, CAN'T GET INTO THE RACE". That big race button at the bottom right which you used to enter every other session.... that might have been your clue?

We started the race and the grid was tight and I was on the right. Big gap next to me until about 2 seconds to green when a car popped in there which was VERY distracting! Would be helpful if cars could be on the grid a bit earlier but hey.

I got a good start and made sure the car didn't snake around, stayed in line down the right hand side making sure I didn't cut into the pitlane. I was extra cautious and kept on the right through Eau Rouge. Lead group got away at the top of the hill and I was out of the draft, I was unlikely to catch them anyway with my laptime deficit. The car felt weird and nervous, I was extremely tentative in the first couple of laps. Mindset had firmly switched from qually mode to survival.

@Mac Shepherd caught up to me like I was standing still and was passed within a couple of laps of ducking around my mirrors like a hyperactive poodle. Mirrors are weird in this car... a little stretched and zoomed in, making it very hard to judge car distance. Had to pay close attention to spotter! Lost momentum by going off at my worst corner which was the second slower right, coming off the grass just before hitting the marshal post, @Johnny Gutierrez was on the hunt.

Tried to keep things together and stay consistent, I was being drafted and ended up being caught side by side up to the Masta kink, hate people passing there as it normally goes very wrong for a car on the inside line with an awkward corner trajectory. @Johnny Gutierrez went HELLA defensive out of Masta kink along the straight (to the right), then came over to my line on the left which I didn't really appreciate, but anyway.

Several laps chasing trying to find out what would be a good place to pass if I could just get some draft. My chance came when they made a mistake with @Gert-Jan van Osch's seemingly wounded car was trying to make it back to the pits. They went wide at my bogey corner and I was able to get passed on the left up to the next turn, nearly touching the grass and ending up on the bank!

At 30 mins mark I checked fuel usage and my crew chief told me I had the EXACT amount of fuel left to finish the race... I didn't trust him and tried to fuel save a little. Managed to save a couple of litres in the next laps. I preloaded my pit menu with a splash and dash just in case. This lead @Johnny Gutierrez to close up on me in draft which I was trying so hard to avoid. Entering my bogey corner with them close behind..... got through unscathed by all I could see was a car dropping back... the pressure was off a bit and I tried to fuel save some more.

It become apparent that we were going to go a lap longer and I needed to pit (I was sure the crew chief was going to say when the white flag was, but I heard nothing!!). I entered the pits on what would have been the penultimate lap (unfortunately too fast... we still have a pit limit in 1966?!) where was the pit crew I had requested?! The marker didn't appear so I trundled down the hill with less than a lap of fuel in the tank. I saw the gap growing behind so I spent the lap gunning it down the straights and holding the clutch to coast through some of the corners. I had almost a minute in hand to the car behind so I had a chance. Not only did I need to fuel up I would need to stop for 10 seconds too. 3 litres..... 2 litres..... car behind was closing that minute down.... nearly there..... 1 litre..... coasting out the hairpin and rolling down the hill. I could now see my pitcrew down the end, but the chequered was out!! (Thanks for the warning crew chief, NOT!). So I crossed the line in 3rd.... but the game would have added my 10 second stop and go to my time and put me 4th in the end.... last of the lead lap finishers I think!!

I would HOPE that the rubber stayed through practice, through to qually and the race. I normally set practice to be "user: autosave" then qually and race to "naturally progressing". It would be nice to patch out the speed limit considering these cars have no limiter, plus we could possibly use a wider line coming into eau rouge. I have been bitten before by "speeding in the pitlane" when I cut it too much. Would be nice if members could wait until EVERYONE was finished racing before they started having a little chat. I thought we weren't allowed to chat in the race?

ONTO THE F3s!

 

You are absolutely right to call me out on this, Neil. It was silly of me in several accounts. 1st, I had already done the calculation but misplaced it somewhere. Additionally, I didn't remember at the time that I had seen Ted's post with the exact calculation for the race... I suppose I was just a little bit apprehensive with the daunting task of surviving ahead and wanted to confirm every choice I had...

That's awful, Neil. So close. My apologies again for starting to chat before the race was finished. It won't happen again... But relieve to hear your account that my untimely chatting wasn't the reason for you dropping out of the podium.