CART @ Michigan Post Race Data and Discussion

Sorry to everyone about the race restart. There was a huge wreck before we made even one lap and Charlie didn't make the grid so I decided to restart the race. We will occasionally restart a race for the above reasons but we do have a one restart rule. If something happens after one race restart there will not be another.
Oval races are something we have not done with this sim so it is a learning experience. I will be considering turning off the full course yellows for the final race in this series. Please hang in there everyone.

An interesting and frustrating race. I didn't spend a lot of time setting up my car but the speed differential between the front runners and my car was amazing. I had no wing on, speedway chassis, gear ratio was where I thought it should be and cars were passing me like I was standing still. I couldn't even pick up a tow on anybody except for Brette for some reason I was able to tuck in behind and get dragged along for a long while. i also thought this was a 1 hour race, I should be reading the pre race discussion more closely!

Jut curious why we are having these longer breaks between races, 2 weeks till the next race. I suddenly have a lot of free time and am itching to go racing on line since it looks like our real racing will be put on hold.

Pete

All chassis are the same. It's a league edition.

Hi guys, I wanted to comment a little on my career, which was spectacular thanks to the set that Tony gave me and to which I made some improvements to my liking, which resulted in having an incredible car, which allowed me to classify in second place and then be able to run. the entire race thoroughly and have it very well balanced, the truth is that I did not know what happened in the second start but I had a stop and go which took me a long time but I could go back and discount second which put me in the race again and I got to fight the end of the race but there came the problem I got the fuel strategy wrong and with one lap left I ran out of gas, with that bitter taste of not knowing what would happen if Jason, Deuce and I ended up fighting the race who would win aajajajjaja, well it was a tough but exciting and fun race at the same time I hope I can stay up there for the next races and fight in the championship, I congratulate
He says he made a race and Jason is always there, and all of us who participated in this race will see you next time. sds.

I had a great shot at doing really well and screwed it up. Exciting and Exasperating! A very BITTERSWEET racing experience.

THE SWEET:
The joy of a very quick car that ran on rails. It was so stable I could have driven it with my left hand using a suicide knob (you youngsters can look it up). During the race there was nary a wiggle, slide, or a wheel put wrong. Mr. Lebeuf provided the setup help – thanks much Tom.

Qualifying in P6 next to my neighbor Mr. Boynton (P5). Tony and I met many years ago racing at CMS. It turns out that he lives about a half hour away and we had both been at the ’56 Sebring race as kids. He took pictures of drivers in the pits with his Brownie and my dad took 8mm movies of the race. We traded copies. Now I have a couple snapshots of Fangio and he has some video of Fangio’s red #17 Ferrari 860 that won. How cool is that….

Running 3rd about 5 seconds behind Tony in P1 and Mr. Whited in P2 until the first pit stop and cheering for Tony. While it lasted we made two over-70 dudes in the top three.

Getting the pit crew to NOT fix the damage after failing at that a few races ago.

The drivers I caught up to that moved to a higher line making the pass easy. Great job by all.


THE BITTER:
Making a stupid mistake that ended my race and wasted an excellent opportunity for a good finish.

Getting hit before the first pit stop and pushed into the wall by a car trying to unlap itself. My perfect car was made a little slower.

Making a mistake during the second stint on the lap 84 re-start that resulted in a penalty. I was fourth in line and in P-4. Got a jump on the car ahead and started to pass on his left just when he drifted that way. I jerked further left but had to put 4 wheels on the apron to ensure a clean pass. I’m assuming the Stop & Go penalty was for four wheels over the line and not for passing the car ahead before S/F.

Completely screwing up the S&G a couple laps later and getting a DQ.



CONGRATS TO ALL DRIVERS TAKING THE GREEN FLAG.

I have to echo Aaron's grats to DooseKoop! Well run race. Just goes to show good strategy and some experience can pay off. Hope to see more of that concentrated effort digging deep after a long drought. Also very nice drives by Jason, Tony, Martin, and Jerry. I thought we might have some attrition. But didn't expect so much. That will likely improve at the next oval race with what we are learning from this one. I hope so anyway.

Thanks to Tony I gained some extra speed in the last day or so with set help. With some minor adjustments for my tastes, I was able to qualify mid pack. Nothing to get excited about. But I was hoping for some good race dynamics as it unfolded. I downloaded the data above to inspect my lap times. That data doesn't show MIS. Perhaps because Joe suffered an early out. Either way, I can tell my car was not as fast as a the night before and I made a few mistakes.

First off, I accidentally tapped Gilles early during a pace run early on and got visable damage to my front wing in the damage monitor. But the car drove fine in clean air and was manageable near others. Sorry for the tap Gilles. But I probably should have had that fixed at the first stop. I think it was holding back my top speed a smidgen lap after lap. The fix time would have been worth it. That is probably why Pete was able to stay in my draft for a few laps before I could pull away.
Second, I wish I could have had more practice in a draft with my final set. I'm sure some others feel the same. Was probably a little conservative due to the front damage while drafting others. Third, I could not hear the spotter calling out yellow flag limitations for pitting. I was in a key spot just before my second planned pit when a yellow came out and pitting under yellow would have saved me a lot of time. Jason did what I should have done and suffered no such penalty. Won't let that happen again.

The good: I was able to bring it in to the pits each time without wrecking or wasting too much time on the apron. And was able to keep the revs where I wanted them without burning up the engine. That would have been harder in a more constant tow. All in all, an interesting race for different reasons than most. Especially those last few laps with several of us racing to the flag.

Thanks to all that made the grid and hope to see you in the future!