rFactor 2 Round 6 Portland

18 people signed up for the last race.... should be a good one!

 

Unfortunately I scheduled an event with former co-workers and friends " Not a Funeral Reunion " so I will miss the final round. Shame as the last track seems quite fun. Best of luck to everyone that races today and thanks for another entertaining series and look forward to racing with everyone in SRO championships next year!! Oh and Tuesday at Portland!!!

 

Is the server using the current version? It should v1.1. @John vd Geest

Let's get 18 drivers on track tonight!!!

 

rf2 updated today, got some practice, came online , no F feedback, hit F2..nothing, restart game, wont load, rebooted, wont load , verified steam files , 100%, It just sits there on the initial white RF2 load screen...........

 

I had this happen just awhile back and just had to wait it out on that white screen and if finally loaded. No problems since, but sounds like RF2 doing RF2 things. It's a mystery sometimes

 

Thats a pity Scott.
Regarding my race, after my decent quali, I though why not try the oversteery quali setup in the race. First it worked good, but then I made one mistake, then another and another and another ...
Horrific race, but ok, I think it was worth the risk. I maybe need more practice to drive a handful

Thank guys for the competition, was very much fun most of the time. See you soon, wherever that might be.

 

15 or 20 min later it loaded, thanks Karl

 

Heya. Sorry I was a no-show. I tried to withdraw just before the race, but my internet kept dying before I got a chance. It's a shame I had to miss this one. I did a lot of practice, and I really felt that I could have won it. Oh well. Internet will be internet... Or not.

 

Stream VOD

Before the race I rationalised what I needed to do and where I needed to finish. This helped somewhat with the nerves but didn't make it any less stressful. Also worked out what my team mate @Ben Summers needed to move up a place in the championship. I did a little bit of practice and remember where the track went and how much I could push it. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to be a missile on the straights and a snail through the corners or the opposite! I finally decided on a wing setup because I think I could have kept trying and got nowhere. I looked at the live timing after I had done my laps and saw how much time I was losing!! I just needed to survive!!

Qually came and of course I just wanted to put in a banker lap.... then I noticed how close it was at the sharp end and started to push! Learning a bit more about the track on every lap, going over the limit on one occassion which meant invalid for 2 laps. Pole swapped about 4 times as @Philipp Pichler and I traded purple sectors. It all came down the last lap I had and I crossed the line with a PB. I checked the relative to see where everyone else was as I was sure the times would swap again. But no, by the slimmest of margins I had got my first pole position!

Then it dawned on me, I was going to have to lead the field away and on a formation lap!! *breathe* Off the grid we went and I started to warm the tyres, then I got a little self conscious that I could spin it on the formation lap so I toned it down and just trundled to the last corner. Out the last corner with Phil close in behind, was a good test to see how strong the draft was. I took it steady knowing I didn't want to overheat the fronts early on as the car did become a bit "knife edge" on the limit. I had only done 10 or so minute stints so 45 mins would be an adventure.

Phil would get within about 0.4s so I kept an eye on my mirrors but never quite got close enough for a pass. Later on Phil seemed to disappear from my mirrors and was replaced with my championship rival @Kostas Kantzouras. The nervousness started to creep in but I reminded myself on my plan. My team mate was also where he needed to be with an excellent 3rd place on the cards!! I was reminded of Lime Rock where Kostas chased me the entire race distance, dropping back and then charging forward again on the attack. I just tried to stay as consistent as possible. We were gapping the cars behind so I had a safe space to drop into if I was overtaken.

I had plans to let my team mate by to help with his points in the championship, but knew it was a risky strategy. Then Jim, my crew chief, said the words I was dreading, "Summers has retired from the race". I was gutted for Ben as he was having one of this best races of the season only to be let down by internet problems. This meant I just needed to stay ahead of @Edward Jones for the team championship.

As it got closer to the end of the race, I could see Kostas wasn't giving up but from the replay couldn't quite get close enough in the draft. Was I running less wing than everyone else? I had made sure to put some extra on to help with the fast turns. The clock was under 5 mins and the car felt reasonably comfortable so I thought what the hell, maybe I should push and for the last 2 laps I did some qually runs, but safely. I didn't want to lose this with a silly mistake like I had done in the past. The clock went to zero a few seconds before I crossed the line and the relief was immense!!

Thank you to everyone that raced in this series. I had some great races with you all this year, I never expected to bond with this car and the choice of tracks.

Highlights were:

• Holding off a much faster @Toni Talvitie at Sebring by choosing my lines very carefully, I was glad when that race was over!!
• The tense win ahead of a much faster @Kostas Kantzouras at Lime Rock Park
• Putting in the fastest and most on edge lap of my life at Barber Motorsports Park with only one lap left to try in qually. @Matej Dakskobler had me beat in the race if not for that off track moment.
• My many mistakes at Mid Ohio leading to a chase in the closing laps with @Philipp Pichler. I was sad to see Kostas disconnect as it would have made the last round even more tense.
• Pole position and a win to round out the year!!

Thanks to the admins @Ken Jagger and @John vd Geest for organising varied and exciting series to challenge us all and to all others in the background keeping this running.
I have been involved in simracing for over 23 years and at some points become disillusioned with online racing (i'm looking at you iRacing). Thank you for providing a place to live out a virtual racing career

I will see you all next season for more races, hope you all have a good Xmas or however you celebrate this time of year.

Roll on 2024!