|
Post by Joe Miller on Oct 7, 2020 2:14:02 GMT
|
|
|
Post by bullet66 (Ryan Soucy) on Oct 7, 2020 19:26:43 GMT
I knew it would be a race of attrition, but I am still surprised that my mistake didn't cost me the race.
For the record, last weekend I raced Formula Vees in real life and at no time then, even during a rolling start mid-pack in a field of 22 cars, did I feel the sort of heart-pounding anxiety that I felt in the laps after my pit stop last night. I had gotten around Joe (shocking in itself) and got a little buffer going into the pitstops. After my stop, I didn't look at the timing screen at all, I just put the hammer down and tried to be smooth. I had to tell myself to calm down and breathe I was so worked up. I didn't see Joe in the rearview so I thought I was doing okay. After about 4 laps I had my only big error and spun at Blanchimont. Fortunately the guardrail held me in and I only lost about 10 secs. I was expecting to see Joe and Jason stream by but when I looked at the order I saw that they must have had their own issues and I was 30 secs up on Jason still, Joe was out. At that point, I could breathe again and stroked it home.
Despite a couple dodgy timing loops, this is an awesome track. And the mod fits it perfect. When I wasn't crashing into people's houses and parked cars, I was in bliss. After the race, I took the AMS Formula Legends car to Spa. It felt faster but actually posted the same lap time as in the race in the GT40. The GT40 was a lot more lively. I think Reiza needs to get GT Speedster to update all their AMS2 content. Theose cars lack character, big time.
|
|
|
Post by Aaron Page on Oct 8, 2020 0:58:42 GMT
First off, congrats to Ryan on the win, and to the half of the field who actually finished the race!
Me, I was way off on speed, and so figured I'd keep it on the track, and see what transpired. Green light, and I got a good start, but approaching T1 the hole I thought was there disappeared, so I scrubbed off some speed which allowed me to only nudge Bob, who was ahead of me. After less than half a lap I passed Brette, who had a minor off, and while I was looking for him in my mirror I neglected to hit my braking mark -- by a LOT -- resulting in a major crash that took off both front tires, etc. I can't remember the last time I crashed on lap one on my own, and apparently neither could my crew chief ("Aw, Aaron, we can't do anything with that"). I'm glad I never loaded in the racier version of Crew Chief. That's how I earned my DNF.
Gilles got his DNF by trying to get his ride pointed in the right direction after a wreck nearby a few laps later, Bob was involved in a great battle when he got a disconnect or the sim crashed on him, Joe got his when the back end slipped out causing him to shoot across the track and into the trees. Martin recovered nicely from his penalty, and I enjoyed watching the various battles. But as far as actually enjoying driving this track -- nope! The bumpy second sector was killing me via the FFB, for instance. But if one has to race this track, it was the perfect mod in which to do it :-)
|
|
|
Post by svt4cam on Oct 8, 2020 4:58:41 GMT
Congrats to Ryan. Somehow Bob and I always seem to find each other at some point or another, usually it's late in the race where he chases me down on worn tires and forces a mistake. This time it was early on and we had a grand time until I looked in my mirror an he vaporized. The rest of the race was survival. Martin was working off his deficit and picking me up at pit time and with all my laps I never figured where pit in was, resulting in 3 drive thrus and 2 physical pit stops. Last place guaranteed but finished fifth with all wheels on the car.
|
|
|
Post by Bob Williams on Oct 9, 2020 2:02:37 GMT
Congrats to Ryan. Somehow Bob and I always seem to find each other at some point or another, usually it's late in the race where he chases me down on worn tires and forces a mistake. This time it was early on and we had a grand time until I looked in my mirror an he vaporized. The rest of the race was survival. Martin was working off his deficit and picking me up at pit time and with all my laps I never figured where pit in was, resulting in 3 drive thrus and 2 physical pit stops. Last place guaranteed but finished fifth with all wheels on the car. So true, I have come to expect that we'll find each other during the race! For me, a very disappointing end to what was shaping up to be a promising drive. Not sure how it happened, but somehow I lost connection with the server. All the other cars just blinked out of existence, but no warnings or crashes or other messages... just absence of opposition. Oh well, I think of these things like having a freak gearbox failure, or electrical issue that suddenly ends your race in a real car. Looking forward to shaking it off and coming back strong for the next round!
|
|
|
Post by Brette Brooks on Oct 12, 2020 21:21:13 GMT
A big congrats to Ryan for a well deserved win at this bumpy long and mostly fast historical version of Spa! It must have taken a lot to keep up such pace without damaging the car enough to take yourself out of the running.
As for myself, well just finishing in one piece felt like a win. At least against this track, which I thought was the biggest challenge. I had two things that separated me from others, earlier than I would have liked. The first was an almost comical close call with left side fence, poles and pub exiting the Masta Kink on Lap 1. I cannot believe that I survived that - threading the gap between the first pole and the fence and then drifting just right enough to miss the second pole and the north side of the Pub stoop. I had no idea that experience would effect Arron or anyone else's concentration enough to cause an accident. But for me it was like a hail-mary experience suggesting to be a little more careful in the transition sections if you want to survive. The second was partially overlapping the pit lane section and having a drive through penalty to serve on the next lap. Lucky for me, I was able to do that drive through without issue and carry on.
Racing this track was not a first experience for me. I first drove it around 2000 using Grand Prix Legends in a fairly competitive online league, after just discovering the fun of sim racing in a fairly realistic sim. That version of Spa67 was not different in layout. But it was more generous in width, smoothness (including the verges) and some of the corner radii(especially the Blanchimont kink section). These cars didn't seem to have much grip. But once you got use to them you could slide them around as needed while driving with the throttle as much as the steering wheel. I distinctly remember using the inside crown of the road to maintain pace through Burnenville and threading the needle through the Masta kink at over 160 mph. Those cars were lighter, more agile and could reach up to 196 mph on the Masta Straight (204mph in a draft). Our lap times were under 3:30 with that combination. My best was around 3:17 and change in the Westlake Eagle the second time we raced there. Good sim racing memories and education.
Grats to all that gave it a go in this combination and survived!
|
|