Round 2-3 - Trenton (Apr 10th)

Ludovic Tiengou wrote:

Heat 2: a nightmare. got my tyres caught by the "black hole" in the wall twice. Two spins two crash 4laps lost. Got crashed another time don't know why early in the race. too bad as I've had quite a good start. My homemade set wasn't so bad. Mixed with the one Jason send me (thanks for it   ), the car was able to follow the pace. But, well...the car can, the driver can't   . 1 lap lost then. got taken into the last crash also. Puncture tyres and once again two laps lost. Made another mistake in turn 1 as I remember. Mistakes here we are.

My car was a pittyfull wreck at the end. All four suspensions were bent. Both flanks were yellow. I've also lost both the front (twice for front I think) and rear wing during the race. The engine was near death at the end losing nearly 20 km/h in the straight. the driver was  near extinction himself (not recover from a little food poisoning )? But I managed to get it to the checkered    which is quite an exploit given the circumstances.

Definitely not a great race at all either in H1 or in H2. I'll not remember this one for sure. On a good side I've scored points as it seems in H2. As we said in french "ce qui est pris n'est plus à prendre". That's two checkered out of 3 and two timer for points. Quite more I've excepted in fact.

See you at Indy

As I said in the broadcast, you owe the crew a 5 star meal with drinks! Your tire guy needs new shoes I bet. Very nice finish though, really great to see you gut it out!

Race2: Race 1 for me, at least I got to race this time.
It is difficult starting at the back going into turn 1, time and time again cars going in way too fast. Moved up to 10th place quite quickly, I made a pitstop under yellow at the right time (one lap before Dana). Jumped by Dana at the re-start (that must have been close to going under the white line ) then battling to get back in touch when hit by a lapped car (racing incident) but my car was badly damaged and would not accelerate smoothly so I didn't have much fight left in the car . An enjoyable race and a 5th place finish, I would have taken that at the start.

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to get the track ready.  and to the commentary people    as had to watch race 1.

Congrats Dana.

Nice races for me, I'm not even kidding ^^
Race one was pretty good for me until I managed to screw up the strategy and go pitting in lap 50 ._. Then I only could finish 18th, but meh.. Nice race, had some good fights and I could see Alberto's master spin in lap 88 from near distance
Race 2 however, was way better than expected, for some reason I found myself in 2nd position in a full-course-yellow, so I was a bit suspicious if I didn't do anything wrong but I didn't so that was good
Then, after some laps and during a yellow again, right before the restart I was behind Jan and he just braked and that gave me a stop-n-go penalty... I honestly was upset about that, because it ruined a possible podium place finish for me, but in the end I got to 7th, so I'm not really sad about that ^^

Congratulations to Dana for wins in both races anyway Great driving!

Mike Becnel wrote:

As I said in the broadcast, you owe the crew a 5 star meal with drinks! Your tire guy needs new shoes I bet. Very nice finish though, really great to see you gut it out!

More than that. meal and drink but also a night in a suite (escort included ) and a VIP tour at the most expensive casino at Atlantic City

Thanks for the gut. In fact I've thought about retiring at every crash I've got. But, well, for my personnal pride I just wanted to see a checkered. So I keep the gloves on and fought as long as the car can.


Otherwise I've got a question. Is this Trenton name related to the battle during Indepedance war?

Not sure, our glorious winner Dana lives nearby. Dana do you know?

Ludovic Tiengou wrote:

Otherwise I've got a question. Is this Trenton name related to the battle during Indepedance war?

Yes, the Battle of Trenton was named for Trenton, New Jersey. Which is where this track was located.

sadly it's now a housing development and shopping center.

Yes, same place. It's located a bit south of where Washington crossed the Delaware River in the famous Leutze painting as well.

And, as Jason says, the track has largely been replaced by a housing development, a lake, a UPS warehouse, and a sculpture garden. At least it's better than the department store parking lot built over one of Ontario's old corners.

Results up.  Points to follow...

Gah, here's one unhappy person
Started off in qualifying having the tail gone loose in the last corner, which cost me a couple of tenths.

Race 1 was okay, but not great. The car was a bit tight to begin with, and the combination of being short on ponies and a not so grand gearing didn't help racing, too. The fact we had quite some yellows at rather short intervals at the beginning lead me to the decision to wait with my pitstop until the next yellow. Which never came...

Well, some 20 laps or so from the finish, I finally had to break away, fresh fuel, fresh tires and a bit less pressure in the front. Left the pits and made an involutary hard left turn into the infield. And getting out of that velcro grass cost me dear and two positions I could never make up again. I expect to receive the 'Idiot of the race award'... At least the pressure adjustments just did what it was expected to do.

Then a bit of a computer problem sent me right to the desktop, upon trying to restart rF wouldn't recognize a DX9 device quick reboot, everything was fine again, I came back in time, made some adjustments to my setup I learned from the first heat, I just chickened out making a gearing adjustment. The way I was running, 3rd was a fraction to short and fourth a fraction to long when running on my own. One click shorter, 3 was way to short and 4 would most likely have been to short in traffic, one click longer, 3 was perfect but 4 was to way to long. Drats!

Heat 2 was a bit more disciplined at the beginning, the small setup changes did work, and my starts, oh my... Each time the green came out, it felt like the guys in front of me were pretty much I could make at least a position or two, sometimes a little more every time. My only positive memory of the race. Unfortunately, during the second yellow, I made a mistake, shifted back in the banking and when right into the wall Thankfully just body damage and none to the suspension, but one lap lost in the pits. During the next yellow, I topped up my car and was ready to go all way home, and thanks to some guys dropping out during the course of the race, I moved some positions up. And then, during the second to last restart, I went off like a rocket and went through the field like a hot knife through the butter - then I saw the carnage in the first corner, already went of the throttle, but couldn't avoid raming one other car - another front wing gone My spare part order goes out to AAR later in the evening. Well, this time my suspension took a hit, too. Not too bad, but it made the care more nervous, more oversteering. So on the last restart, I could go in front of Martin, but during the course of the last laps, I lost two positions again, could crawl back into half a second distance or so of Tyler, but that was it. I royally missed my goal of becoming the best non-Offy finisher today.

Otherwise, as long as I could keep up, i had some fun battles (I probably ran to much downforce, too, judging how I much quicker I could go through the turns, especially T1 and had some close close encounters during the course of the race), but being mostly hardly able to keep up in the slipstream was frustrating, let alone seeing people zip by like I was standing. And oh, some of the guys at the back of the field!

Well, wow.....

Heat 1. Started Dead Freaking Last....This was gonna be fun

I managed to pick up a couple of spots at each restart, then when the field settled down and we got the big run in the middle I started moving through the field. Which took longer than I wanted, turns out I was as bad as I thought I was through turns 1 and 2. Which lead to some questionable....Ok, I was driving like an Asshole for part of the first race, I'm sorry. I did a few things that a sane person wouldn't, mostly a couple of 3 wide dive bombs into Turn 1. I'd decided if we had a caution from about Lap 40ish onward would be a good time to stop. About 45ish, I saw Dana head for the Pits so I followed her. I was honestly surprised that more didn't follow. After that I spent the rest of the race chasing Dana, I was settling for a Top 5 when I realized I was in 3rd....then shortly after I realized I was in 2nd. I just tried to not screw up till the end, with about 3 laps left I saw that we were catching a pack of lapped cars and was hoping they might slow Dana enough for me to catch her, no such luck. Overall, was a great run especially to start last and finish 2nd. Was in a Great position for Race 2.


Race 2. I made a "slight" adjustment to my Camber settings. It had the intended effect it made the car better through the corners, but it was still terrible in 1 and 2. It also had the unfortunate effect of making the rear end a bit skittish on the restarts. At the start....I dunno if Dana snookered me or if I just screwed up. Either way when it went green I had lost most of my Boost pressure, so I put my foot to the floor glanced at my mirror, saw a Coyote bearing down on me and just scrunched myself up into a ball and kept saying "Nobody Hit me, please!" I came out of Turn 2 in like 9th or 10th place. Couple restarts later and I was back in 2nd behind Wonder Woman. I decided to just ride it out, try not to over drive it and just hang with her. I had decided to keep the same pit strategy as Race 1 OR pit with Dana. The latter being the most likely course of action. When the caution flew on Lap 30ish, I was wondering, she did a couple of feints but I wasn't falling for it. Few laps later we had another caution, I was expecting us to Pit and we did, this time I was REALLY surprised there weren't more takers, especially after Race 1. When we came out I was in 8th, she was in 7th, but we had a couple lapped cars between us. When it went green I was accelerating and saw a wing come flying back towards me, so I turned down towards the inside to avoid it and remembered I needed to shift and In a panic I didn't lift off the throttle fully before I shifted up into 3rd and she went Kerblammo! I was so pissed at myself that I didn't even see Claudio was under me, sorry I turned into you and that was it, I just let the thing coast to stop on the back stretch. In Hindsight I realized I shouldn't have done that, Apologies for pulling that caution.

During the first race I was chasing down Dana after our stops and we came into a gaggle of cars, I was paying more attention to trying to pass a car and not to where I was, I realized I was at turn 1 as I passed the Start line, I slammed on the brakes and into the back of Dana. I ended up turning under her so I slowed a bit and let her back by in the dog leg. Sorry for that Dana!

Congrats to Dana for smokin the field in both races, and to the rest of the podium finishers. Be glad she's not in Gary B.'s McLaren, as she'd be getting an M16C and one of the Big Offy's at Indy. If that were to happen she'd be unbeatable. Gonna be fun chasing her all season though.

Off to Indy, maybe I can get some of that Home Race Mojo like Dana had.

Well, I'm certainly pleased that I was able to score my first and second HSO wins on the same day and at my home track!

I joined the server feeling very pessimistic about my chances after unwisely making last-minute changes last night to my race setup and the springing and calibration of my brake and throttle pedals. As a result, I had to relearn the feel of the car and didn't really settle in until halfway through the first race.

Q:
I ran wide in T1 on both laps so I was very surprised when that was good enough for P2. From there, I used every available moment of the warmup to get the feel of my brakes but still couldn't get the car to enter T1 like it had been doing all week. A quick calculation on fuel consumption then on to the race, still feeling rattled.

R1:
The first half of the race for me was thoroughly humbling. No confidence into T1, major losses on restarts, and I just couldn't make up in the corners what I lost in the straights. It doesn't look bad in the broadcast but it felt awful. Around lap 40 I came in for tires and fuel and made up a position coming out of pit road. David Jaques took that position back when he walked it right past me into T1 some time later so I was resigned to a second place finish until he mysteriously pitted late in the race. After being handed the lead, I was careful to tiptoe through some dangerous looking traffic while trying not to lose out to Jason Fitch who was on quite a run. Luckily, we ran out of laps just as Jason caught me so I got my win and breathed a sigh of relief.

R2:
I reverted to the setup that worked for me earlier in the week and the car woke right up. Confident into turns, faster all around, very pleasant. I'd learned a lot about timing restarts by the start of the second race so it was fairly easy to get out front and stay there. The biggest problem I had was not rear-ending the safety car as I looked through the standings trying to figure out what the heck happened to all the people that had blown past me in race 1.

Congrats to all finishers in both rounds! Another wonderful day of USAC racing.  

Jason Fitch wrote:

I had decided to keep the same pit strategy as Race 1 OR pit with Dana. The latter being the most likely course of action.

 

Jason Fitch wrote:

During the first race I was chasing down Dana after our stops and we came into a gaggle of cars, I was paying more attention to trying to pass a car and not to where I was, I realized I was at turn 1 as I passed the Start line, I slammed on the brakes and into the back of Dana. I ended up turning under her so I slowed a bit and let her back by in the dog leg. Sorry for that Dana!

I don't think you hit me! I saw you coming in very hot and lifted out of the brake. I went wide in the process but I took no damage and didn't feel anything. Thanks for giving the position back all the same...I just thought it was a madly ambitious move gone wrong!

Points up.

Jason White wrote:

Points up.

Dana has almost lapped the points field I see. Very nice and I expect more of the Dana show.


What is that big ass thing on the rear of your car in your new avatar Jason? Surely that thing CAN'T be legal.

qual: way better than i expected

heat 1: made the critical pitstop just at the right moment on the last caution, but my math is poor while behind the wheel and didnt put in enough!!!! had the pace with a light car and passed dana, and prayed for a caution that never came, so needed to do the splash and dash. got in nice and quick, remembered to uncheck the tires... but not the damage repair! 65sec later, i ruined a possible good result with 2 silly mistakes.

heat 2: crazy turn 1, but made it thru safe, then only a lap or 2 later driven into like i wasnt even there.

i really dont understand this type of driving. in all the series here, we have some of the most competitive and respectful racing, but there are some who dont seem to share the same point of view. we all dedicate a lot of time to prepare and schedule our lives to participate in these races, i just wish everyone would give some respect and room so we can all enjoy RACING.

sorry for the rant,
dave

Mike Becnel wrote:

What is that big ass thing on the rear of your car in your new avatar Jason? Surely that thing CAN'T be legal.

It's a cooling unit. 

Jason White wrote:

Mike Becnel wrote:

What is that big ass thing on the rear of your car in your new avatar Jason? Surely that thing CAN'T be legal.

It's a cooling unit. 

Seems to work on shrinking lap times!

Mike Becnel wrote:

Jason White wrote:

Mike Becnel wrote:

What is that big ass thing on the rear of your car in your new avatar Jason? Surely that thing CAN'T be legal.

It's a cooling unit. 

Seems to work on shrinking lap times!

No comment

Screenies up

http://historicsimracing.org/en/resultatscourse/1203

http://historicsimracing.org/en/resultatscourse/1204

Even theres not much to tell from my behalf, somehow I want to steam off my excitement

First of all, im terrified of this cars, or at least, I was, since very bad experience from last years Indy500 fail
So, I approached with much caution and respect... and found out its not soooo heavy as I remembered..

Anyway, I had a good quali, but I was too carefull in following the car in front of me during the yellows, and the "Driving too slow" message occured too soon, so I was moved to the end of the line. And since there was more than 15 cars behind, they didnt passed me all, and when the race continued I got penalised. In all that mess I didnt realise was it stop&go, or drive through, so I tryed with a drive through and nothing changed, and when reentered the pits to stop, i misscalculated the speed and by the nature downshifted all the way to 1st gear and naturaly, made a barbicue in my rear

Second race I was more carefull with yellows and distance, and avoid all of the problems. I made few mistakes, I enterd the pits during yellow in 25th lap, and took full fuel tank, which slowed me a bit, since I finished with more than 50l of gass, and I opened the grill to "3", and I have a feeling "2" would be quite enough... I had a low top speed at the end of the straight, and was unable to keep the pace with the front..
And then, the last big crash, which was in a way a "Days of thunder" scene, I literarly closed my eyes and prayed, and passed!!!!!!!
So, Im pretty proud of finishing 4th, started 23rd, with a little help from all of you who crashed

Im looking forward for next one. This mod is really awesome, I hope next tracks are going to be fun too.

And thanks a lot for a better car, Finley was fine, but Eagle is just an eagle... F15 (reminds me of my Reynard 98 Strike Eagle

And congratulations to Dana.

Man been a whole year driving these again full throttle in a race
and its again mindblowing and a rushing adrenaline mod
Must say hughes respect for the racers at texas cause those insane speeds requires such high concentration and Dana you realy aweome to show all the guys here you re back end

Last night was great fun and with Jukka and Mike
after a good p5 the 2nd race was even better to finish higher, the car i setup was able to drift around the corners and with full throttle it could pass on outsides aswell
that was exact what i did at the 2nd race at Raul , many times before i took the high but now this time in a spitsecond the car stepped out , to controll i press the clutch and loosen the throttle but this happens in spiltseconds and blew it up so a possible podium gone

a pity the broadcast was not showing the graphics but im not satisfied with it yet so next trenton might look abit different

Seeing as my F178 season has been rather lackluster, I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday's races.  The only admin tech issue was David Sabre's disco, which was indeed regrettable    Also, I was really worried that the grid would be jacked for Heat 2, but it was exactly what it was supposed to be, so I am relieved about that. 

Qualifying -- 

I botched my first qualy lap due to nerves (my leg was shaking), but I rebounded on lap two to post the 8th fastest time. 


Heat 1 --

Pascal Le pihive's difficulty in rolling away from the grid really jacked my concentration, so for the first few laps I was just trying to stay out of trouble.  Ran in the low teens for the first third of the race, but I settled into a nice rhythm once the yellows calmed down.  Then came another yellow (I think caused by Kowalski's accident), and I gambled that this was the time to pit.  The gamble proved right, and several front runners were forced to pit under green because they had stayed out.  By the closing laps I was 3rd with Jukka closing fast.  I did all I could to hold him off, but it was clear his tires were fresher and he was podium bound.  I did almost get my 3rd place back when he was balked by traffic, but he did a masterful job of staying ahead. 4th place after starting 8th. Great race, except for the early yellow silliness, but we sort of expected that.

Heat 2 -- 

Lined up fourth, and was amazed at the way the pack fanned out before turn one.  I think Fitchy was caught napping and dropped back. Under an early yellow, USAC handed me a last line penalty for driving too slow    plus I got a stop-and-go for passing under yellow. On the restart I pulled into pits for the stop-and-go, and the yellow flag came out again!  I could hardly believe my good fortune, because this meant I would not lose a lap to the field.  Spent the next 20 laps or so fighting through the mid pack, but when the next yellow came along, I decided to stay out rather than pit (taking the opposite gamble I did in Heat 1).  As cars went into the pits, I was elevated to 1st and was scored as leader for one lap.  Then I was caught sleeping on the restart and dropped to third.  Next yellow I pitted, which dropped me to 9th, but I figured I could carve my way back to the top three.  The massive accident on lap 79 nearly took me out.  I went to the apron, and miraculously, I was missed by everybody.  With 19 laps to go I was 3rd again, and eventually passed Jacob for 2nd.  By then, Dana was pulling away, and I said to myself, "well, there is no shame in being beaten by the best." Finished three seconds behind her at the checker.  Very encouraged by this result and looking forward to the month of May 

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a pity the broadcast was not showing the graphics but im not satisfied with it yet so next trenton might look abit different

It will look great because the race is in autumn so the colors will be even more natural

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Dana was pulling away, and I said to myself, "well, there is no shame in being beaten by the best." Finished three seconds behind her at the checker

Joe's out of motivation this year You should be preventing her to add so many points so that your team mates can catch up

You tell him Alberto, show him whose boss

Don't worry though, it's a long season, and you are still in a better position than me. All it takes is one DNF and a good top 3 result for you and you will be back in it

Hey, all I know is I'm third in points with 13 races to go    Anything can happen 

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All it takes is one DNF

Dude in this league DNF = Dana Never Fails