rFactor 2 Round 1 Kyalami 1976 - Sun Apr 7, 2024

Totally agree ! I keep repeating it, this takes away a lot of the realism which is already reduced because of the BOP and the cars which are undoubtedly too efficient compared to reality!!

That said, seeing 26 drivers out of 28 registered is rather encouraging and I had a lot of fun in this race (of the same opinion as @Gilles da'Silva ) even if I was hit by @Nick Westy (who also seems to have problems with the blue flag flags) starting quite far away, I was back in 9th place... I found myself almost last... I then had to come back up, I ended up reaching 11th place, which wasn't so bad...
I can't wait for the next one

 

Best to not have loose files at all, just the mas file.

 

Stream VOD

Classic cars? A stacked grid? on a historic course? What could be better!!

I got a good start but we were 4 wide coming up to T1 and I was boxed in with no way to go forwards so I kept to the outside of T1 and hoped to keep mometum. I was following @Robin Taylor's Austin Healey and I seemed to have pace behind him. I could see the other getting away if I couldn't get passed. Coming up to Clubhouse Bend I braked as hard as I could on the inside line of the turn while Robin took the racing line. He didn't seem to be accelerating off the turn so contact was inevitable in this instance. I turned as much as I could left to get away from his door handles and get back on the power.

I was ahead coming up to the esses but Robin was later on the brakes and decided to take the racing line anyway like I wasn't there, my car couldn't vanish! I got leaned on a little until we got up to the final bend where I stayed wide. Robin missed his apex and pushed me further wide coming onto the straight. Now we would see how the horse power of the Healey would match with the Cobra.

@Nick Westy saw an opportunity to get up the inside but Cobra had the legs on the Porsche on the straight. Drafted up to Robin and moved out from behind up to T1. I braked hard into the gap that was left on the inside, even grabbed a bit of kerb to make sure I wasn't going to make contact. This had the knock on effect of pushing me a little wide and we banged doors again. This gave Nick a chance to attack and he got through. I was no away but the group in front had now escaped.

Up to 6th place and lap after lap I tried to gain on the cars in front that were running in a pack and had the luxury of draft. I now had a snake on my tail. I knew @Michał Mazurek was quick and I wouldn't be able to hold him off so I just waited for the inevitable. On lap 7 he got a draft onto the straight and was through. I tried my best to stay with him but he was just too fast in the latter half of the lap and I lost draft and he was away.

Lap 16 and the pitstops started and I was up to 4th. I pitted a lap later as the fuel numbers were saying if I had come into the pits the next lap I would have run out coming into the pit and I didn't want to take that chance. I was cautious coming in and leaving so I probably lost a lot of time. This meant I came out directly behind the car of @Stephen Wenham but thankfully was able to pass later on in the lap.

After the 1st pitstop cycle I was back in 7th place and was alone on track. 25 cars on track and I seemed to be the only one without anyone to play with! Lap 24 I was about to get my wish of spicing up the race, but not in the way I was planning! I saw yellow flags and crew chief was telling me someone had spun. I was tentative coming into T1 because I didn't know what to expect. I then saw a Ferrari laying aross the track, oh crap! There was a gap I could get through and clear and even took some kerb to be sure. But just as I was doing this, the other car thought it was a great idea to accelerate....contact and I was spun around!! Please please please.... if someone of you haven't done so already, get yourself a relative HUD like Tinypedal so you can see every car on track approaching.

The cars were spaced out so I lost just one place now down to 8th. Now the chase was on to catch @Giuseppe Baldoni and get back my 7th place! Lap 28 and the 2nd round of pitstops was happening. I was again in the position of Michal catching me but I knew I was pitting the next lap, I was just hoping I could signal well enough that was coming into the pits so I went to the inside of the track before the last bend and hoped I could get it slowed down. Cars came into the pit behind me, and one was parked in front, hoped it wouldn't be a tight squeeze on exit. As I exited the pit I was now down a lap as the leader passed. I don't think I had gained or lost anything to Giuseppe in the pitstops so the case was still on!!

Lap 37 and I could see the car I was chasing on the same straight, this was not over!! The next lap I thought I was probably going to be in draft range but coming into the esses Giuseppe got a slide on and thankfully I was able to avoid and back into 7th I went!

For the remaining laps I had a good vantage point of the battle of lapped cars ahead of @Paul Upham and @Matias Estrela. Mustang Vs Bizzarini! Fascinating stuff and I was routing for the underdog (sorry Paul!). Unfortunately a couple of laps later Paul seemed to understeer coming out of the Esses and clattered the armco and headed to the nether realm.

In the remaining minutes I had the usual panic of "have I got enough fuel?!", "is this really the last lap?!". Crew chief and rF2 are not always reliable in telling you about when the last lap is.

PHEW! What a lonely race.... I kinda wish the "spice" hadn't happened but did make things a little interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing how the strategy plays out at Oulton Park and what cars may have an advantage on the bumps.

One final note: Now I am not against the assists but it is a shame that some people have auto blip and lift enabled. The beauty of these cars is to use throttle blipping and lifting. I mean what's the point if you are flat shifting and banging down the gears like it's a GT3?

 

I was unfortunate enough that, on the penultimate lap, went in to the grass bank and must have found a trap door into nowhere land and respawned in the pits. The mustang is definitely fast on the straights but is very loose in the corners and feels like its on the edge all the time. It can switch from understeer to oversteer in a fraction of a second. It made for an exiting race because I knew I could pass anyone on the straight but then had to hold on for dear life for rest of the lap. Because of this I passed and was passed more than in any other race I have been in. it was a lot of fun. I would like to apologize to anyone I bumped along the way. The car was so unstable in the corners that I had a very hard time holding any line and ended up in a couple bumps. It's been so long since we have had a mixed field. It makes it so much more fun. I did have an issue with my first pit stop. For some reason it seemed to take over a minute to fill my tank. I also changed tyres and that took for ever. It took so long that I was a lap down to almost everyone. I was passing people in positions ahead of me and my position did not advance. At this point I knew I was in big trouble as everyone had already pitted. My second pitstop was normal and only took 17 sec. I will definitely practice some pitstops before the next race. I am hoping that I can work with the set up some more and get it a little more drivable for the rest of the series.

 

Been there. Done that.

 

First of all, thank you for this series! After doing a few laps with every car, all of them were almost similar to me except one: Speed and Power! I decided to do it and now the only problem was, how do I get it to stop and go around the corner? These weekend races are often difficult for me. This Sunday it was 26°C in Germany and I came home from the barbecue 1 minute before qualifying. Jumped straight in and the first timed lap was good for P1...WOW. Speed and Power wasn't so wrong. At the end of the qualifying I looked around at what the others had grabbed and saw that only my teammate was driving the Mustang. What a coincidence. I hope the Mustang also performs on the other race tracks on the calendar. I should test that first, but that wouldn't be so exciting
I don't know why but I wasn't that disappointed after throwing away 1st place myself with that unnecessary DT. I enjoyed every lap of it and you can't afford to make a mistake when @Johnny Gutierrez is in your mirrors. I just hope I can take part in all the other races in this series. See you guys on the track.

 

I see, the nice wheather made me to go cycling, probably a barbecue is the better preparation.

Not the only thing you should be aware of, he suddenly might also start trying bump drafting