V8 Supercars - Event 11 - Detroit (5/28/14)

[smokey]

fark slept In

[helios16v]

Good fun hustling around another street course. I was able to get settled in fairly quick and was able to keep it clean (for the most part). Another couple top 5s. I'll take em. I don't know that I'll be able to hang close enough to Jeff though at Bathurst to hang on to 3rd. We shall see.

Highlight of the night was definitely the side by side run w/ Dale from the turn onto St. Antoine St all the way up Woodbridge before I finally got ahead into the braking zone after the second LH kink. Awesome stuff.

[neverender158]

I had a terrible time on softs. For me the car handled better and I was actually faster on inters. I really did enjoy this track, and I am not a big fan of street circuits (the walls really scare me). I pitted 1 lap to early in the second race and ended up with a blown front tire. I forgot to turn off damage and a tire change turned into an 81 second full repair and that moved me to 9th instead of finishing 7th. My own fault.

I am excited about Bathurst.

[Deleted]

Detroit is one of my favorite street courses so I spent some time offline working on a decent setup.  Qualifying rolled around and I did a rare "personal best in qualifying" since I usually get the heebie-jeebies when the clock starts for that session.  I was really surprised not to see Tigeraid hit the 1:53's as his car looked a lot smoother than mine.  Starting position is more key here than at Monaco.

Then for some reason before the race I had a brain fart and upped my grille tape to 40% (same brain fart during qualifying where it was 15%), thinking that was the opening size, not the amount of tape.  The excessive amount of rum I drank on Saturday night might have deleted those brain cells.  

Anyway, for race 1, the only reason I won that was because of the starting position and Tigeraid being way too nice.  Once my car started overheating, I watched my engine life decline 10% every lap.  Then I started short shifting and not using engine rev's for braking, and that helped a little bit.  That also meant driving extremely defensively. If the race was two laps longer though, the engine would have blown up before the tires went away...I think that's what Tigeraid was waiting for.  Probably one of the worst ways I've ever won a race with rFactor.  

Race 2, got a good start again and simply rolled out of the corners.  Tigeraid was on my tail again (ha ha) but must have been wearing tires out trying to get around.  Once he pitted on lap 7 or so, I cruised.  I'm not sure when, but I lost my nose on the lap that I was pitting, and spun twice.  Backed out of it, only to get passed by Hawks and Hooper, who were also going into the pits.  Hooper slowed down way early and I passed him RIGHT before the line for pit entry speed...that was pure luck.  

Then Hawks got out of the pits two seconds ahead.  Closing down the gap while tires were still good was my goal, and a lap or two from the end we were side-by-side through the first few corners when he got on the straight a little slower than I did.  I haven't watched the replay yet but I will tonight, because that was some serious shiznit.  Rather than wreck it, I just backed off and hoped for a mistake from Hawks that never came, happy to collect 2nd place points after making two big mistakes mid-race.  That was a lot of fun.  Family garbage pulled me away from the post-race comments that are always fun to listen to on teamspeak.

 

[Seahawks1Fan]

While I continue to be bummed out by the lack of participation (only 11 cars last night), I have been looking forward to this one all season as Detroit is a hella fun track.

Race 1 I got a decent start, but Cameron and John had much better pace than I. I was able to keep them in my sights for awhile, but I hit the wall with my left front with a couple laps to go, then just tried to limp it home and hang onto 3rd.

Race 2 I also got an ok start, but had no idea how quickly the softs would last. As Cameron and John pulled away significantly, I tried to take it easy the first stint, with Jeff, Chris and Dale right behind me. Once I got to lap 9 or so, I still had pretty decent tire life left, I pushed it a little harder and was able to increase the gap to 2 or 3 seconds on Jeff.

I had seen John pit on lap 7 and also got a drive through penalty, so my hopes improved for a 2nd place finish. I decided to pit at the end of lap 10. A few corners before, Cameron was sideways in the track and somehow I found myself in the lead. As Cameron mentioned, I came out a couple seconds in front of him. Again, knowing that he is much faster than I, I tried to push the pace a bit to attempt to stay in front, knowing that my tires would fall off pretty quick. With 2 to go and Cameron less than half a second behind, I got a poor exit out of the last chicane and he got a great run on me. I went to defensive mode and protected the inside into turn 1. Because my tires were falling off quickly, I power slid to the outside and Cameron made a great move underneath. His car slid up a bit and I was against the outside wall and our mirrors touched. I kept my foot in it knowing if he got by, it was game over. I managed to keep my nose ahead by just a hair into turn 2, but I was again on the inside and the car pushed wide and I almost nailed the tire barrier. Cameron came underneath again as we entered turn 3. My nose was slightly ahead again and tried to give room while staying aggressive and made the right turn praying he would give just a bit, otherwise we would both wreck. He did and I was able to hold him off the next lap and a half and get the W. After my computer lock up in race 2 at Oran Park cost me a victory, I got lucky this time and got that one back.
Aggressive yet clean racing, which is what I really enjoy about this series.

Thanks again to those that made it. Hoping we can get a few more drivers out there for our season finale at Bathurst in 2 weeks.

[F1Fan07]

[Seahawks1Fan]

May 29, 2014 21:26:51 GMT -8 F1Fan07 said:

Depressing stat.

[helios16v]

Days are getting longer, and the weather is getting nicer. Happens every year. Might be worth considering having the next season wrap up about the end of April.

[F1Fan07]

Numbers are down at efnet too, I think. Perhaps it's a summer thing.