Welcome to VIRginia International Raceway The "Full Course" is the most common configuration. One of the most notable sections of the course, second only to "Oak Tree" (T11), are the "Climbing Esses" which consist of an initial left up-hill (T7), followed by a right which crests at the apex then dropping slightly into a left (T8) which again crests at the apex dropping slightly, and then up into a final left (T9). The complexity and difficulty of this section is multiplied by the incredible entry speed because of a straight section leading into the Climbing Esses. This is followed by a cresting blind left hand turn (T10), "South Bend", that finishes in a steep downward slope. Another signature section is the "Roller Coaster" (T14) which is a scaled-down mirror image to the famed "Corkscrew" at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. 2019 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama at VIRginia International Raceway
Server is up. Studio 397 did a Porsche GT3 Cup update, so the custom skins aren't there anymore. You will have to re-install them. I also noticed that in race session, if you press the clutch on the starting line, the car rolls forward and then you get a drive-through penalty because you "moved", so keep the brake-pedal on until the green light. The track slopes down on the starting positions.
The track was fun but the creator made the surface from ice. The race was ok for about 15 mins when I made contact with Chris Belfield in T1 and the left of my car insantly went away. Then it was iceskating to the end. (And sometimes the brake was worse than in my old Swift. ) CU Next time.
A quick race recap... Qualified in 5th... My fastest lab was my banker lap... after that left a gap to try a faster run but got stuck again... Then pitted for new tyres... Just before getting a good run out of the last corner I ran wide... Was a close grid with Jens and John... Race had a descent start... Jens ran wide and I could take fourth position.. At the Oak tree I had to avoid John because I expected him to break later. I was able to dive on the inside and pass him... Luckily without damage... Then I started to pull a gap to the guys behind me and basically was driving in nomans land... after a 1/3 of the race I had problems staying focussed which resulted in a spin at the start/finish straight... I managed to continue with some suspension damage in 4th... At some point a saw a car going through the grass I think it was Roman... So I took 3rd position again and pulled again a lap. A few laps before the end my car got loose at the end of the SSs and I had a big 360 and luckily I stopped without hitting anything with the nose in the right direction... In the meantime Jens was closing in and I could just stay ahead at the finish... Glad with 3rd... it was the maximum I could achieve today... S
Sorry Chris, that was me. My brakingpoint is bit later than yours there. I had no idea you would brake early and I couldn't avoid you. Sorry again. I stopped to let you take back your position. I actually shouldn't have raced today as I was feeling a bit dizzy from an upcoming flu. I could only stay focused for a few minutes at the time. Qual was oke, but the rest was bullsh*t. Forgot to brake 2 times and shot of the track. Then the message "30 minutes left" came up, and I was just reading it while in a highspeed corner LOL! Big damage. Then I called it a day.
No worries John, I was off line defending the corner, hence the early braking. Think you were keen to make up places after your off! Had to drive the rest of the race with damaged suspension (steering wheel off centre) and aero damage. As it happens, I don’t think I could have finished much higher even without the incident, although may have been able to nick seventh off Barrett after his off late in the race. Happy with eighth position though.
Still kicking myself for letting the car get away from me in T5-T6 area, blowing a 10 second gap with only minutes to go. I had no practice until this morning. Crammed what should have been some days worth into the space of some hours prior to the race, but come quali time I was feeling good about the pace I was capable of, and I just kept knocking off faster laps while still tweaking my setup...I was happy. Quali was closer than I expected and I felt pressured to keep besting my lap to assure pole. I drove harder than I wanted knowing I'd been practicing a while, was worried about fatigue setting in late in the race, trying to pace myself physically. Race was as expected...Paul was doing a great job matching my pace and for a long time there was nearly no gap between us, even though we were never really fighting. I knew one mistake was more than I'd be able to afford, so I had my head down just trying to be consistent and not burn my tires up. Eventually, pulled a few second lead which later became a near 10 second lead. I felt confident I'd take the win. However, rather suddenly, everything changed. Once I was light on fuel and the tire wear really set in, my car's behaviors changed drastically. It became unpredictable at times, and kept wanting to jump out from under me. More than once I near lost it, and with about 10 minutes to go I was just trying to work through that fatigue that had definitely set in by that point and make sure I didn't throw it all away. With about 5 minutes to go it finally bit me in T5-T6 area. Not really sure exactly what happened, but basically the car just got away from me and I couldn't collect it. Over in the grass sideways, somewhat nudged the wall....stalled the car, then stalled it again as I went to leave the grass in a hurry but realized I was about to pull back onto the track in front of P2, who'd closed that 10 second gap during my excursion. Abrupt end to a race I felt I did really well in. Spent last few minutes of the race cursing myself. Big congrats and much respect to Paul though...great, consistent pace and was there to capitalize on my mistake when it came. Fun race overall, just wish I'd had time to spend in practice last week so I didn't have to cram it all in this morning. Perhaps a few full stint runs would have presented the issue I suffered late with the car's handling and I could have sorted that. Oh well, on to the next one. Thanks for the racing guys...and as always, thanks to our hosts here at SRO!
These Porka Cup races just gets better and better Used my Nords setup with some minor tweaks as the car felt quite good. Jason and Paul was in their own league around 1 second faster qualy time than rest of us. John, Me and Gert-Jan had an diff of 0.003 and 0.005 seconds, close Then at starting line I remember I had calculated the number of laps using a 10 second longer laptime (was a bit confused when total fuel was 14 liters less than last time, but at Nords there could be a long extra lap). With formation lap, rolling start and my normal extra I estimated it to be ok anyway but was fuel saving on formation. I blame that, but the cold brakes was in fact a reality, got a bit wide into the grass at T1 and lost from 4th to 9th. Past Barrett after a lap or two, Filip and John dropped after 12-15 laps. Was stuck behind Lukas bumper for 30 minutes before he did a minor bad exit on the start straight so I could outbrake him rather safe into T1. No easy overtake on VIR... Then I was 9 seconds behind Gert-Jan with 12 laps to go, gained little on him and was over the finish line 0.4 seconds behind. Without my mistake better result might been possible, but 4th is still an result I'm satisfied with
Spent the 1st hour of practicing at this track seeing how many different ways I could fling the car off the track. Almost gave up but eventually I got a setup that had a good level of grip and I could start to chuck around. This car feels more and more like an old school non-aero touring car to me. Knew coming into qualy and the race I had good pace but wasn't expecting 2nd on the grid. Got a good start and for a fair while I managed to keep within a few seconds of Jason. But I wasn't keen on trying to push any harder than I was doing. The track eventually got me as I went off road at the end of the lap and lost a few more seconds. With a good lead on 3rd place I could travel at a comfortable pace. In the last few minutes I came across Jason on the grass and took the lead. With only a couple of laps to go Jason couldn't fight back. So a lucky win for me but I had to be there to pick up the pieces. Overall I was very pleased with my performance here on such a slippery track.
