Starting early... because I'm not sure to make it tonight.
I've had a lot of practice with a half-wrecked car these days :norty: and can say it will not be an easy race.
Watch out for the left front damper, it mysteriously collapses after merely brushing the walls - destroying the setup in the process.
I want to thank Slider46 for the excellent fights last night, this may to my surprise turn into a nice combo.
R3s overheated or R4s unheatable? Let's find out tonight!
well another thursday and another chance to compete in our hr race :yahoo:
not really found my feet with this combo yet. have spent what time i have raced, tweeking sets trying to find one that doesn't eat tyres!!!
So have finally settled on a set modded from Race S, it seems to keep the tyres cooler but the trade off is a slightly slower lap time.
its going to be fun :flirty:
Not sure I can make it tonight either (actually this afternoon for me) :sad: Just really sorry I haven't been able to be on with y'all much of late - just lots going on.
My oldest son (17 going on 30) had surgery on his hand. He's a pitcher on his high school team. Sprained his thumb in practice ..... but X-rays showed a 2 year old fracture in his hand (from a skateboard fall). For those interested, it's a scaffoid non-union .... and a bitch to fix. 3 hour surgery with a bone graft from his elbow and 2 pins. He'll be in a full arm cast for 2 months and then a hand/forearm cast for 3+ months!! Dopped up on oxycontin for the week....but doing well now. Poor kid's going to be in a cast rest of school year and the whole summer.
Now about the race! ......
Delankster - we had a good race or two early in the week, and watching the replay I noticed that your tire heat was much better than mine over 6 laps. Actually mine was so bad that I blew both front tires braking for the U in the last sector of lap 6 in a good race against Jamin..... I passed Jamin as he was puttering due to overheated clutch. I was grinning as I started braking but the grin quickly faded as the tires blew and Jamin puttered on by for the win :roflmao:
But here's the point - I haven't changed my set, but I just did 47 laps (1 hr 20 min) before the tires blew........ what changed was my driving style. I no longer lock up on the hard braking downhills and I brake early ( I mean early early) so that the tires aren't getting so much lateral force thru the turns (and I think my lap times have improved for it).
Laps 1-10 : mostly mid to upper 1:42s
Laps 11-20 : Mostly low 1:42s (4 1:42.0s in a row) And tires pretty much past getting red
Laps 21-30 : getting into 1:41s (4 1:41.5s) Now more worried that tires are too cold!!
Laps 31-47 : pitted on lap 32 (56 min) and then mostly 1:41s. Fastest lap was 1:41.1 on lap 44. Lap 47 had my best T1 but tires blew braking for the hairpin.
So if you can get past 10-15 laps, the tires will hold up pretty good.
Don't lock up and brake early for a smooth entry, and don't "push" thru the turns.......piece of cake.
Lots o'luck all - should be a real challenge!! Not much chance I'll be there - doctor's appt at 7 pm (UK time)
Have come to the same conclusion but with my lap times 3secs slower :sad:
Basket for collecting low hanging fruit at the ready :)
Good luck at the quacks.
Hehe - well I spent a bunch of time driving the UFR on other tracks this week - as training.....and am finally coming to grips with it :norty: (Check out the UFR ranks) I sometimes find I get better progress if I try a variety of tracks to get the "feel".... Squirrelly jumping bean it is !! :dribble:
A humorous note ... don't know whence yer affection for ducks ... but my bro was a roadie for a R&R band all through the 70's (traveled Maine to Florida). Some college friends of ours - called themselves the Road Ducks :flirty:
Mighty fine race, well done to all cos I expected a bit more carnage than there was :)
Started off on the first stint and made an error to let Cueball thru about lap 3, we then spent the next ten laps nose to tail battling for position. Great driving mate :thumb:
Stopped at half way but made the mistake of changing tyres (on top of the other mistake of running my R4 set instead of the R3) and I think that time cost me dear come the final positions.
Second set of tyres were much better and I was consistantly 1sec a lap faster. Tut tut, I'll have to have a word with Evostar about their QA :rolleyes:
Gratz to Venca, very nicely done squire!
Whats next?
Lucky race for me!
I had built a set of my own (soft and slow, with R3s at the front - no silly overcritical damping) and it proved good for tyre heat (peak reached around 15-20 minutes of the race, 115°C right front).
Qualified 5th, terrible start (outside T1, not a good idea) - after a few laps I was midfield with 5s gap ahead and a few cars on the bumper :)
I increased the pace as the tyres got better, and caught up with Djamin, Cueball and Rooster tied in a lovely fight around the 1/2 hour.
I exited pits just behind Cueball, fought hard and got him after a few laps attempts (hairpin before the straight) - not easy to pass on this track...
I caught Jamin and finally overtook him as well and then had a look at my tyres... thin thread and 18 minutes to go, 3rd place! Panic time!
Instead of trying to pull away I stayed there and defended as much as I could, taking turns as slowly as possible / no spinning tyres.
Jamin finally pitted (tyres? or not pitted before?) but I could see 2 orange dots closing on me at light speed. I was 2nd at this time (Eisbear rolled it), with Venca out of reach...
I decided to go for it with the thinning / fast cooling tyres and concentrated on defending + tyres saving. I was running 1:43s while Sean and Rooster were closing fast in 1:41.5s!
I though Sean had me in the last straight (good draft and faster hairpin exit), but I kept the 2nd place for a few 1/100th :woot2: First long race podium ever!
Congrats all, very clean race - and that was not easy...
Venca was driving on another planet again it seems - well done!
i do beleive its the mrt @ fern bay green :yahoo:
well mixed bag for me... quali started and i was clearly off the pace. just couldn't get below 145's and was well down in 11th...
after several laps trying i decided to pit and grab a new set of boots. it was then i realised i was using the default set :doh:
so with 15 mins gone i only had 5 mins to get out and register a decent lap.
managed a pb so was quiet happy but it was only quick enough to move me up 2 places to 9th :sideways:
race started and managed to pull a few place and close onto the back of sean in 6th
started to line up a move when i got hit with the dreaded Disco !!!
was able to watch some good close racing, so wasn't to bad
well done to venca, mille and seany :thumbsup2:
dMr 123 not bad at all
Congrats Venca :yahoo: bad luck Delankster and Crazyr1 due to connection problems.
After a week of ironing out clutch and tyre problems I had a setup I was fairly happy with even if I couldn't get to grips with some of the slower corners, I qualified 8th I think and after a few laps I was chasing Mille with Slider behind me. I realised I couldn't attempt to try and catch Mille without burning up my tyres and Slider was slowly dropping further back so started to pace against tyre heat and wear to hopefully catch some later on when their tyres went off or waited in the pits for some new ones, this didn't happen :( I pitted five mins from the end and came home fifth.
I'm surprised I finished at all, I was expecting bumper cars on the first few laps and to bash into a barrier or two but everyone behaved themselves.
Was an enjoyable race. Almost rolled it at one point but saved it, just about. Last few laps of the race where the most fun, reeling in Mille and try to get away from Rooster. Almost caught Mille on the last section of the last lap for 2nd place, but his defending was second to none. Excellent race.
Congrats Venca and Mille :cheers: