Round 4 - Indianapolis (May 22nd)

Points are up. Screenies to follow.

Thank you Ben!

Well done Peter, Dana, Ray and all the other finishers

Don't know quite how I feel about my race part of me is really happy but abit of me is frustrated at what could of been. If anyone had said to me before we started this month of May that I'd get pole (my first on HSO), lead some laps (my first on HSO), set fastest lap (my first on HSO) and finish in the top 5 (my first on HSO) I'd of been delighted but I think without the couple of issues I had during the race I might of been able to challenge Peter for the win.

At the start was able to build abit of a gap while everyone behind was fighting for position, then about 25 laps in as I came up to lap 2 cars one of them started disappearing then reappearing, one of the times it reappeared it was on my right front then disappeared and reappeared behind me but left me with damaged suspension and my right front tyre temp rocketed so had to pit as I was worried it might be punctured. Car was abit off for rest of race especially in traffic and on low fuel.

From then on I was just taking it easy to try to finish on the podium until on my penultimate pitstop I had an issue where my stop appeared to be going normally but as I was leaving pitlane I realized my fuel was still on 7L (it was set to give me a full tank!) I checked the tyres and they hadn't been changed either, so did a careful lap back round to the pits (made it just as it went to 0L), spent the last section of the race just pushing hard, I also changed the radiator settings to 3 (from 4) on last stop, had a nice battle with Richard C for a few laps around our last stops and set the fastest lap just before the end.


Thanks to all the admin and organizers I have really enjoyed this whole event its been great

Screenies are up!  

http://historicsimracing.org/en/resultatscourse/1205

Congratulations to Peter!   

Grats to all participants, the finishers and the podium.
Europe keeps the trophy for a 2nd year.
Thank all for no rush to the first turn, and didn't make a big crash. It was really nice to see the field start without problem.

Congrats Peter for the win and Richard for 5th place with the smaller engine

Too bad my money was one Ray

I broke the race after 10 laps, had a crash, and not fast enough in the car.
I would not ruin the rest of you

Whoah!! What to say. I failed to accomplish my goal, which was to win this race

But I did some other goals!!!

First of all big thanks to organisation, Jason, Ben, Alberto, Richard, David, Mike, all involved (did I miss someone? I sure did...).

I couldnt fall asleep few hours after the race, my brain was still in left turns apexes... oh boy, what a trip!

Im still terrified of this cars, every time I start to drive, no metter how many laps, I know there is allways something this beast has to suprise me!! And that makes my mission even harder!

So, first, I made a lousy qualification, just 18th, I was way too conservative, I was too affraid Ill make a mistake and not qualify..

My final goal - the win, went to dust in very first lap, when I kissed the wall and bent my suspension.. the rest of the race was saving what it can be saved. I think I did not overtake anybode except mr. Lee, and maybe mr. Wilks for few times, and that was when they were full and me empty...

I could have won maybe another place or two, but I made a huge mistake in fuel calculation, not taking in mind Im going to be few laps bahind the leaders. If I was smarter, maybe I could spare one pit entry... next time will see...

All in all, pretty lonely race, with just few scary moments, icluding kissing the conrete wall, some of excitement before last pit stop with calculation... but really great experience. I dare to say I understend this cars a bit better.

Thank you all for great fun.

Today i watched the replay and now i can tell what a great race it was despite the bad ending
and try to express why i was pulling myself out of the high banking to avoid contact.
now the tence is more calm

i got it 150 laps far  with a & fukking rumble pad with NO mistakes or whatsover
funny some chaps  were out with no less then 50 who moaning in training about my so called excessive driving, in training i explore the boundries and find out  the feel of driving in a pack
I started very gentle  , to let the tires warm up for attacking after a some 15 laps
awesome racing with Gerards , Peter just splendid
my car was setup for 4th gear under 8500rpm so drafting would be np to harm the engine
however i  figger the eagles from jukka and Ricard were so good balanced and had good topspeed
no change to catch those , chapoo guys!
slowly got in the top 10 with a 9th place in the pocket 50 laps before the end
well we all know what then happend but before that i could be out long ago in simular way

Never complain , reason: dont waist my energy   you cant fix things already been done
but now i do for any reason

2 hairy moments that could have havoc and by quick reaction it went by luck ok

crash of jason fitch round lap 100 wings engine gone
enough time to press esc  after 6 cars! just lucky nobody hit him including myself

2 raymon riddal, driving wide in turn 4 then slow down like a 2cv in the middle to pit!
again by my quick reaction i could avoid but it could end up in a 4 car crash! ask Richard Coxon!

The last thing about mike and me , cause we already settle it in pm about my INTENTION,
I simply lost it at lap 4
but the car was still repairable and lots of space in between, if it was in ealy race i would have pressed the esc key immediatly!
the first you want then is get the hell out of there to go inside, ( sitting duck )
alberto is tellling in the rulles , when a accident is happening go HIGH
step of the throttle look were the car is going and make a decision at latest moment ( basic )
the sadest thing  Mike was going low, NO its not his fault and no im not a stupid cunt
we both had the intention to avoid  but it went badly wrong. and these things can happen in racing

IF it happens 100 yards further it was just a spin and i could enter the pits but if is useless
my only big mistake was to press the wrong &^%$ key!

then the esc rule

if you guys dont want havoc or no accidents, angry people  at all like this why don't we have to press the esc button just before hitting the wall??? but thats doesnt make any sence does it?
this will happen in racing real and sim

last month i had lots of complains about the driving but it realy matters in the race itself
check it out and judge but lately im comming to a point that i will stop any activity (my girl would love that ) cause some are not aware that this work of passion is demanding and willing to do good , its very easy to shout to people behind youre save desk not knowing him/her in person or know the intention

at last : i have great respect for the organisation how well this is orginised this can't be say enough times!
and should be do alot more often here!

piece guys

Everybody who is forced to quit the race after a shunt is understandbly pissed off, but counting to ten and trying to settle things per PM is the best course of action.

If you settled it with Mike there is no need for the rest of the world to know your version. Telling us it has been settled would suffice.

Let's move on.

Wow, what an amazing event.  Truly the highs and lows of motorsports in one long exciting and agonizing afternoon.  Thanks to Alberto, Jason, Richard and all the HSOers who made it possible.

Unlike Raul I was totally beat after the race, had a quick supper and went straight to bed.

First, thanks to Alberto for the posted Eagle/Offy Qual setup that I also used in slightly modified form for the race.  It was quite solid all through a 34 lap fuel run albeit at the sacrifice of some top speed.

Second, I made the perfect qualifying run.  I wanted to start in the first three rows or the last as I wanted to miss the early and inevitable NASCAR style mid pack mayhem. Mission accomplished – I qualifying 32nd!  

Third, I let the pack pull away at race start as I began plotting how I would wind through the early multi-car carnage. Carnage, what carnage?: it didn’t happen that I could see (kudos racers) so I began pushing up my speed and making a pass or two.  At this point (and at race start) I was hoping for a top 10 finish.

Fourth, lap 24 I was exiting T3 when my screen froze for a second (seemed a lot longer than that) and when I came back I was heading directly at the exit wall of T4.  Warp? I turned left but hit the wall hard causing damage to my front, right and rear.  My steering wheel wobbled as I made it all the way around to the pits.  I was stunned and sad thinking my race was over before the first fuel stop.  The crew worked a miracle in the 70 or 80 second stop and I was back in the race with the car running true but about a second slower per lap. I can live with that.  It’s a long race of attrition and I planned to be there at the end.

Fifth, I just pounded out the laps with one eye forward and two in the mirrors.  I was passed a lot but had an occasional joust with others who were as slow or slower than me.

Sixth, my only close call was on lap 136 when I got a run on someone down the back straight and planned a Lewis Hamilton style inside pass entering T3.  He evidently didn’t see me, or couldn’t believe my injured car could do it, so he made his normal turn in pushing me onto the apron.  I had anticipated it - no contact, no harm, no foul - but it did increase my blood flow for a few minutes.

Seventh, a couple laps later on lap 138 I pitted and received a short fuel as others have mentioned.  I came around again and the crew short fueled again and only then I noticed the problem.  I adjusted to 75 gallons but sadly it required a third stop to make it happen for me.  I must have missed the memo on this glitch. I was now hopelessly laps behind all those still running and some who were not.  But I was determined to finish the race even if I finished out of the points.

Eighth, I’m running out the clock trying to stay alert and off the wall, keeping track via XD HUD of what my final lap would be  –  lap 190.  With another pitstop I was good on fuel, gained a few places as other fell by the wayside, got lapped a couple more times and crossed the bricks at speed, checkered flying, exhausted and delighted like a crazed and bloodied surviving gladiator. Strange, after all I’d been though coming home under power, in sixteenth place, felt like a mega win.


Thanks to all for the amazing race day.

Jason White wrote:

Thank you Ben!  

Great film!

Oh and just to respond on some quotes made by co-commentators Jason & Mike:
@Jason I did not mind at all you unlapping yourself, like you said in the commentary I just came out of the pits and was sliding all over the place while you were light and nimble, I knew you would do it with your speed so I made some room  

@Mike at our 2nd pitstop we had a slight coming together, I damaged my front wing a little because I saw you too late...my mistake but I was worried it would have cost you a 2 minute pitstop for damage repair haha. After a few laps I was scrolling through the live timing and saw you were fighting the same pack of cars as before your 2nd stop about 25 seconds behind me so that was a big relieve for me

Really enjoyable race for me last night, I've learnt a lot over the last couple of weeks and would like to thank my team mate Jason for all his setup advice. I went for a more conservative approach with only 4 stops, which meant I couldn't run third gear as much as I wanted. This seemed to be working half way through with me taken the lead for 10 laps or so, but Peter and Dana's speed slowly overhauled that. So third in my second oval race really pleased with that.

Thanks to HSO for all their hard work.

@ALL NON REGULARS IN THIS CHAMPIONSHIP:

THERE ARE ANOTHER TWO 500 MILE RACES at Pocono and Ontario this year, with three wide start and all the hype around them as Indy, and also many good cars available as single entries, so we hope to see you take part at them.

And if you enjoyed this and feel like wanting to race it more regularly, there are still some free cars in the series, so you can enter them, even if they are slow. There are other slow cars so you always will have someone to bang wheels with.

In any case,

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

@ALL NON REGULARS IN THIS CHAMPIONSHIP:

THERE ARE ANOTHER TWO 500 MILE RACES at Pocono and Ontario this year, with three wide start and all the hype around them as Indy, and also many good cars available as single entries, so we hope to see you take part at them.

And if you enjoyed this and feel like wanting to race it more regularly, there are still some free cars in the series, so you can enter them, even if they are slow. There are other slow cars so you always will have someone to bang wheels with.

In any case,

Is the blacj 73 free ?

List of season cars:

http://historicsimracing.123.st/t3113-1973-usac-national-championship-entry-list

The black car appears only at some races and is not a season regular.

I would add that all three available cars have cleared the waiting lists, so they are available to anyone who wants them.

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

List of season cars:

http://historicsimracing.123.st/t3113-1973-usac-national-championship-entry-list

The black car appears only at some races and is not a season regular.

Shame, i loke it and 73 is my birdth year

Michal Janak wrote:

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

List of season cars:

http://historicsimracing.123.st/t3113-1973-usac-national-championship-entry-list

The black car appears only at some races and is not a season regular.

Shame, i loke it and 73 is my birdth year

The same car will be available at Pocono and Ontario.

The admins are pleased to announce the following post-race awards:






Jigger Award Recipient  |    Juha Bos

The Jigger Award is given to the driver who experiences the hardest luck during the Month of May.  Juha arrived late on the scene and put in a fantastic effort to get the John Martin McLaren up to speed.  He was slated to start in the middle of Row 9, but connection issues prevented him from joining the grid.  







Rookie of the Year  |    Michael Drechsler

Michael was the highest-placed rookie in this year's 500 (a rookie defined as not having any HSO starts prior to 2016).  Michael is new to oval racing, like many others here. But he has proved to be a fast study, finishing 7th at Texas World Speedway.  At Indianapolis, he acknowledged the disadvantage the Foyt engine had, but he soldiered on.  He outlasted many other competitors with superior equipment, and that bodes well for his future in this series, and with HSO in general.

how competitive is the #94 Finley 73-Offy FI in comparsion for example Eagle 72-Offy GY ?

The Finley is a very slow car, but there are other slow ones. It is OK to learn your way around the tracks, and at short ones like Milwaukee (next race in june) it can work well.

Alberto Ibañez wrote:

The Finley is a very slow car, but there are other slow ones. It is OK to learn your way around the tracks, and at short ones like Milwaukee (next race in june) it can work well.

so which one of the free cars you can advice me ?

Michal Janak wrote:

so which one of the free cars you can advice me ?

IMO, the best car of the three available ones is #59. But that's just my opinion.

Michal Janak wrote:

how competitive is the #94 Finley 73-Offy FI  in comparsion for example Eagle 72-Offy GY ?

It's like compairing a donkey to a race horse. The Finley is a below average car...but it has the power of an Offy engine.
From my pre season test the Eagle 70-Offy is the best left. A bit tricky on brakes and not really easy to cope in small oval. But it's doing quite fine in rapid ones.



Oh and I forget to said an big THANKS to all those who works to prepare and organize that event. You've all done a great great job there for sure