Rex Mays Classic [Jan 29th]

Server will be reset for qualy and the race in 20 minutes

#56

short race for me. Was leading and had a good pace, but was got caught by traffic. Damaged my front and the crashed out with the damaged car

results and points are up

Yet another nice race with nice cars here at HSO  I didn't know what to expect. But as soon as i downladed the mod and entered the track, it was obvious that these cigars on wheels require a super smooth driving style. Thankfully, it didn't take too long and i was up to speed (also thanks to Bob's setup). I messed up in quali a bit, but P5 was fine.

The race was fun. Ironically, also because of a screwup of mine - i changed my mind regarding number of pit stops (one instead of two), but forgot to put more fuel in. So i had to pit in lap 33 regardless of the tyres (which were fine at that time). To make things worse, i didn't request the stop, so mechanics weren't ready and i had to make one more lap. And i ordered a change of both right tyres, which was a mistake, too    Anyway, the race went on quiet nicely. After my second pit stop, i found myself on P5, some 12 seconds behind 3&4th. I really wanted that podium position and thanks to fresh tyres, i had no issues and could push as hard as i could. In the end, we had a good battle with Steve Parker and as i was the one with better tyres, i took the last podium position in the end.

Grats to David, who was incredibly fast throughout the whole "weekend". And apologies to Jason Fitch for ramming you in lap 34. I went off the pits and completely missed the braking point into 3&4. Sorry, i hope i didn't cause any damage.

That was an interesting race. Had no proper race plan in mind, I just went like hell from the start... until I noticed the tyre wear. Battling with David, Petr and Jan was a lot of fun, I really had to work for this. In the end, David seemed to have better control over tyre wear and overall pace, a well deserved win by him!

Tried Bob's setup and felt nice, but in comparison to everyone else, went nowhere

I still don't see where the differences were.

Getting spun probably kept me from battling for a Top 10, but nowhere near the pace I expected to get into.

Aww...

Sorry to David Jundt a little nudge from me early in the race which spun him around . Towards the end of the race I could see that he was a couple of places behind me so I slowed down to allow him back in front of me.
Congrats to the top 3 finishers.

great race all, really fun racing jacob. did u regain the lead just by undercut / pitting earlier? i thought i might have pushed it too long, but wanted to let the pits clear out a bit.

first half of the race was a blast (well aside from the start, a bit messy), but realized soon some were using up a little too much tire, and tried to play it cool. right about the time jan had his ultimate issue (would have been interesting to see how his wear would have played in, but he was flying), lap 20-25 territory, looked like jacob and petr were starting to slide a bit which allowed me to slip by.

second half i was trying to figure out what strategy petr was on (didnt see the early stop), and chase down jacob without over cooking the tires.

all in all a really fun race, thanks to mr. wilson who provided an excellent setup. love these cars that have more power than grip!

dave

Had a bad start to the series, or so I thought. Wednesday or Thursday night my "Crew Chief" was online with me and told me to quit whining I was running fine, just a little too aggressive. So I calmed down, still have NO clue how you guys were turning 32's.

I had a plan for the race, which was to pit once for tires at halfway, if not after. My plan was fubar'd by my F'Up in Qualifying, spun into 1 on my first timed lap and clouted the wall. Started dead friggin last.

I had some hope to be able to move up a few spots on lap 1, that went out the door when someone screwed up the start, I was on the backstretch when the green flew, I should've been coming out of 4. How the field gets strung out like that in cars with gearing like these is beyond me.

Regardless, I began steadily moving up. I wasn't surprised when I was lapped, I was absolutely floored when Jacob and Petr passed me 3 wide coming out of 4, not because they passed me though. I was full on the throttle and doing at least 110, I heard both of them jump out of the gas and then go by me like they were coming off the line in a pair of Top Fuel'ers. I then began praying they would soon have the tire issues I KNEW they were going to have. To my horror, just about every lap one of them would throw it into one of the turns way too fast and run out to the wall and then just drive away from me further and somehow they managed to stay together during all this.

Then on Lap 34, I passed Petr exiting the pits and going into Turn 3....

Quote :

And apologies to Jason Fitch for ramming you in lap 34. I went off the pits and completely missed the braking point into 3&4. Sorry, i hope i didn't cause any damage

No damage done to me, I figured you had damage as you drove up and over my Left Front though.

Stuck to me plan and was running as high as 3rd at one point when I had to pit around Lap 60something for tires. Was surprised at how far back I fell, but I managed to make up some of the spots. Finished 9th after starting 19th. Had I started where I should've I probably would've been a bit higher up in the end, or maybe not finished at all.

In the end, the race was fun for the most part, I was not happy with some of the things that I saw, especially in Qualifying. We were told 1 out, 2 timed and 1 in lap. I saw at least 2 people post an out lap and 3 timed Flying laps and exit out in turns 1&2 or the backstretch. There were something in the race as well that shouldn't have been possible to even happen and yet I was watching them. I'm not the type to make unfounded accusations of cheating, but something wasn't right about some things. Since it's just an Open race, I'll probably just leave it here. These cars drive a certain way and I saw more than a few that weren't being driven that way. I dunno, could be frustration on my part.

Would LOVE to see some of the fast guys setups though.

pretty sure no one was cheating, how would one cheat anyway? one possible explanation, were some using the fixed tire pressure upgrade?

regardless, setup that i raced with is now up on the website. its mostly bobs setup, wedge to 3 which loosened it up, then back on the weight bias and up on the LR trackbar to tighten it back up (and the trackbar seemed to help turn in).

for qualifying drop fuel to 5gal and move the weight ballast all the way to the rear.

two big things with driving these cars, dont over drive the entry (as soon as it starts to understeer the corner is lost), and one exit should be slow and steady back to the power. this should start as soon as possible, usually on a good lap at the middle of the corner all the way to the wall on the straight, one
constant motion of the throttle.

i usually really like the mods of older cars on bias ply tires, where the car rotates and yaws more before sliding.

dave

I think I saw three people(Yves&Simon, don't remember the third now) with 5 laps in the end and wondered why they didn't press escape earlier

I kept trying to stay low in turns and tight to the inside, but after looking at some people going wide mid-turn, then sharp around the exit I am not sure anymore what's now the fastest way.

I set my brake bias as much backwards as possible and less brake pressure since I kept locking the right front even when slightly tapping the brake.

In the end, I was left "dazzed&confused".


I thought I was kinda smoothish, but it apparently wasn't to be. 32's were out of question though, I still don't understand how I lost so much time with these cigars on wheels

Screenies up.  Suitable for the HSO feebee and other pursuits.

http://historicsimracing.org/en/resultatscourse/1252

Big thanks to Bob Wilson for the setup and advice when we were on the server together during the week, really helped me understand how to get the best out of these cars.

My race was rather uneventful, first stint I was nursing the tyres to make sure I would only need 1 stop, as everyone pitted I stayed out hoping to lead a lap but Petr on his alternate strategy was in front of me so I only managed to get upto 2nd, on lap 60 I pitted as I had a group of fast cars on fresh tyres come up fast and didn't want to get in their way(think the tyres would of lasted to about lap 75-80). 2nd stint I pushed abit harder to try to regain places I'd lost from people pitting earlier and ended up 8th

Overall a very enjoyable race, car was a pleasure to drive with Bobs setup and I kept my own mistakes to a minimum, wouldn't mind doing more races in these cars in the future.

David Jaques wrote:

great race all, really fun racing jacob.  did u regain the lead just by undercut / pitting earlier?  i thought i might have pushed it too long, but wanted to let the pits clear out a bit.

first half of the race was a blast (well aside from the start, a bit messy), but realized soon some were using up a little too much tire, and tried to play it cool.   right about the time jan had his ultimate issue (would have been interesting to see how his wear would have played in, but he was flying), lap 20-25 territory, looked like jacob and petr were starting to slide a bit which allowed me to slip by.

Tyre  wear was okay. I hab 80% left after 15 Laps and should have reached half distance.

The Setup from Bob was very good. I made only changes for quali, but had a bad lap

Bob Wilson wrote:

 I hope it gave some of the younger drivers a taste of what it was like to drive USAC in the 60's.

...1960....the year of my birth !

David Jaques wrote:

great race all, really fun racing jacob.  did u regain the lead just by undercut / pitting earlier?  i thought i might have pushed it too long, but wanted to let the pits clear out a bit.

Probably, I noticed that my lap times were 0,6-0,8 sec slower than what was preferable, so I intended on making an undercut. Maybe I was more aggressive on pit entry and exit, too.

Would to race these cars some more, preferably at a bigger track! Maybe even a 1959 Daytona 100 race?

They drive nicely around Trenton too. Though the lack of specific tires is a big downside, and explains the temperature problems.

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

They drive nicely around Trenton too. Though the lack of specific tires is a big downside, and explains the temperature problems.

Oh that would be great Alberto!!  Why not put Trenton on the Gold Star schedule before the CART 88 season starts.
It would give the guys that couldn't make Milwaukee, like yourself, a chance to race these wonderful old cars.

Regarding the setups for Milwaukee, Thank you all for the acknowledgements.  I have always believed that having good race cars makes for good racing.  It's no fun having 5 or 6 cars crash out of an event because of ill handling cars. I enjoy oval track racing, and the challenge it presents to make a car competitive.  What little I learned from my experience in the 60's and 70's has been able to translate to some of the USAC simulations today at HSO.  About the success had by those who used all or part of my setups, it also speaks well of their ability to develop a strategy, drive the car within the limits, and control their concentration for 100 grueling laps. I had a great time yesterday racing with you guys, and I hope you did to.

The Trenton we have is the wrong layout. Before 69 it was a one mile oval. 

We have plenty of plans and all will be revealed. 

Congratulations to all who participated. My strategy of slow and steady didn't work as well as I had hoped. Mainly I was a bit too slow. But certainly enjoyed myself. A few more weeks and I'd be all set lol

Bob H (the other Bob)

Jason Fitch wrote:

I had some hope to be able to move up a few spots on lap 1, that went out the door when someone screwed up the start, I was on the backstretch when the green flew, I should've been coming out of 4. How the field gets strung out like that in cars with gearing like these is beyond me.

(...)

There were something in the race as well that shouldn't have been possible to even happen and yet I was watching them. I'm not the type to make unfounded accusations of cheating, but something wasn't right about some things.

Hi Jason,

If you were on the inside line of the grid, that was probably may have been my doing. The car in front of me slightly decelerated going on the back-stretch and I lifted to avoid bumping him. I was however already in 2nd gear and it took ages for the car to climb into decent revs again. Should have downshifted. Sorry for that.

As to the events in the race: could be good just to mention them without this having to be seen as "an indictment" of sorts. Could allow some of us, well certainly me at least, to learn from "undeliberate mistakes". After all, this is is an endless learning curve with ups and downs.

Just my 2 cents obviously


Timo