rFactor 2 Round 6 Zwartkops Raceway - Sat Dec 9, 2023

Looking forward to it!

 

breaks my heart to say it..
but.. ill probably miss this race, its hurts as ive actually been there(now live 1000km away)
the 1980s layout thru the Drive in was epic.

 

1 million percent agree

 

Is the race definitely on the 9th of December?
On Rf2.events it's saying the 16th of December...

 

https://i.imgur.com/qD8xoW5.png

9th for me here?

 

OK, 9th it is then!

 

Is that screenshot from GridFinder ?

 

Its rF2.EVENTS (UNOFFICIAL)
Not sure where I found it - Google it!
It's quite a handy thing, it links to track and car downloads, and league discords.
Although evidently not always the correct dates.

 

Not gridfinder Karl.
Google rF2.EVENTS
Its actually quite useful!

 

Stream VOD

Never give up... that's my motto!

I did the calculations before the race of the championship predictions. @Kiril Kirilov was out of reach because there wasn't enough drivers in the last round for him to finish behind to let us catch up, so I set my sights on 2nd place.

As usual I struggled to find consistancy with this car. Tried setups from before then went back to default and it made no difference, I was just driving it wrong! A stab in the dark I just whacked a load of wing on and hoped for the best. I pushed in qually.... A LOT! Saw the gap to first though, wow. Managed to scrape by with 2nd on the grid, on the inside which was scary.

We settled on the grid and I found I rolled a little so I had to do that awkward holding the brake and clutch at the same time. The horns sounded, then green light, totally took me by surprise and @Robin Taylor shot through in front of me into T1. The calculations in my head were that I needed to be 2 positions ahead of @John vd Geest to grab 2nd in the championship and to see him right behind I had my doubts.

So away we went, 3 of us nose to tail... soon to be 4 when @Nick Westy joined the party. Hadn't been that close to a car before here so wasn't sure how much that would affect my car. Seemingly quite a lot, the understeer around the vital fast corners was quite nasty. Kiril was away while I tried to figure out where to pass Robin. With just under 28 mins to go I got close to Robin in T1 and pulled out, he went defensive so I swapped sides to the outside. I couldn't use my momentum because he covered the inside so I hoped to stay wide and hope to cut back underneath. One slight problem with that plan, I left the door wide open for John to come through.... DAMN! We went side by side along the straight but there was no way I could hold it around the outside through the fast right handers. My heart sank thinking that P2 in the champ was out of reach now!!

John was ducking and diving behind Robin to find a way passed and I just had to follow and wait for a gap. My opportunity came when John seemed to either touch the dirt on the last turn or step on the loud pedal too much and span up the tyres killing his momentum on the straight. Held my breath and took the outside line around T1 hoping I didn't touch the dirt and I was through!! PHEW! Now to try and put Robin between John and I. @Nick Westy was now on the back of us to make it a 4 way battle. I hoped Nick could possibly slow John down or even pass to make my job a little easier.

Slowly but surely Robin and I would pull away and I tried to put him off every opportunity I got. Staying close around the fast turns to get a run was so difficult, I had no pace advantage. I knew where I wanted to pass, I just needed to get a good exit onto the back straight to make it work, T2 was my nemisis though! with just over 13 mins to go Robin dipped a wheel on the dirt on the exit of T1 but I just wasn't close enough to capitalise. Then Jim, my crew chief, says "Keep an eye on your oil temperature, it's creeping up". "Oh shit", I thought.... did I leave my qually setup on?! Have I screwed myself out of this P2 in the championship? I think I remember clicking on 10 percent of radiator tape for qually. Could it be the hot weather/climate of South Africa? Maybe because I was sat behind Robin? I panicked and started to look at my stream trackside cam to see if I could see smoke. This track was so intense it was hard to look away at anything for more than a second.

So I short shifted.... ducked out of Robin's draft but that oil temp was not budging! I dropped back a little to see if that would help. In my mind, P2 in the championship was lost. I might not even finish the race and John was still ahead of Nick. I only know this from watching my replay but from just over 8 mins to go, sure enough the white smoke started to pour out my car. Because the mirrors on this car don't look behind, I had no idea!! I kept looking at that oil temperature and thinking, I might lose this!!

7 mins to go and there is now a car between John and I.... P2 in the champ is looking better!! Short shifting, trying not to redline and coasting a little into the turns. I was still keeping up with Robin somehow. "Your water and your oil are both looking pretty hot right now", Jim says. 3 mins to go, "one final push", I said... not knowing that I was bellowing smoke. He was getting slower and slower on the exit of T1 but there was no way to get the momentum into T2 because of his defensive line. It was the last lap and I was still thinking how is the battle behind going to shake out. Then going through the final turns I see John and Nick swap places.... had I just lost the chance at P2 after all this?!

DRAMA!!!! Crossed the line and my heart sank!! I knew I couldn't finish equal to John in the points because I would lose on countback. It's only when I exported my results that I finally saw I had secured 2nd. I forgot the podium places were 3 points between instead of 2. PHEW!!! What a finale!!!!

Never give up.

Thank you to everyone that stuck around for this series. I would have loved if we had kept the numbers from round 1. More drivers means more battles all the way through the field plus more chance there is someone on your pace.

Congrats to @Kiril Kirilov for taking the championship, unstoppable this series!

Thanks to @Rob Milliken for broadcasting and making us feel like real race drivers, and to @John vd Geest for organising.

See you for the next series!!