V8 Supercars - Event 12 - Surfers Paradise (9/25/13)

[helios16v]

No worries Jimmy. The one time we forget to coordinate our stops prior to the race..... haha. Besides, I missed my planned stop by a lap anyways. If I had stopped when I had planned to, I would've been gone before you got there.

[helios16v]

Hmmm, the points are going to be interesting going into the final 2 rounds.

[K Juliot]

Congrats to Boza on the win and what a shame for Nick sounds like it was a great battle up front.

I was struggling here and in Qualy couldn't get close to my PB. My race for the most part was just maintaining and trying to keep it clean which I managed to do other then I minor wall scrape in the first half.

I wasn't sure about my pit stratergy and just went with the flow of the race, when I seen guys coming in on lap 11 I started thinking but decided to go with the half way point because it looked like I was fine on tires but ended up going in on lap 15 due to fuel. When I came in I was 5th and thought this will work out at the end of the race because of the 2 stopper guys plus I added a little extra fuel to make sur I made it.

Coming out in 10th with no one around I knew I had to pound out a bunch of clean good laps. Well that worked untill a lap or two later I came upon a car that was crawling through the first chicane, I slammed on the brakes and slide right up to his bumper as he decided to stop next to the wall at the exit side. there I was stuck not moving, he didn't go I had to put it into reverse and then go around. Lost a bunch of time and a position to Moore in that deal. Later Culbert charging back up was on my tail when I hit the wall exiting the last corner which caused huge damage to the front, steering was cocked to the right and car was slower, John got around me.

Very dissapointing finish for me. Not a huge fan of street courses at all so oh boy that there is more to finish out the season.

[Deleted]

Congrats to Armando on your win! What and awesome vid Nick - thanks for posting it.

I pb'd in practice (i dunno know a 12.1 or 13.1) whatever anyway was stoked since I whine all week about being slow then come race night - I pull one off LOL. But not in qually, that was way off. Oh well, that practice lap got me excited for the race. Then I knew I had 14 laps of fuel to burn, saw the low fuel light come on at 10 then realized - I didn't catch the fact the email said 31 laps and here I thought the race was going to be 42. So know it goes down hill - quickly. Up to that point had one hell of race with Jason. Was airborne at one point. Just forgot to nudge right to see the back straight chicane breaking point.... till it was too late - sorry man. And Chris witnessed my second head scrape against the wall. Jeez - I had made my way up to 4th or 5th I think then made stop 2 - she quit running and I ended up hitting nearly every key on keyboard trying to remember ignition and starter (E and W) got it started and but lost a bunch of time. Wound up 10th, last on the lead lap so I'll take it considering my mess ups

Oh yeah - felt like a yo-yo with Jason, he consistently pulled out of the last turn better than me every lap yet I would always catch up at the lefty after the back straight chicane's. back and forth, back and forth.. and speaking of that turn - one hell of pass Boza. everyone else that tried that never could carry the momentum on exit to make the pass stick. I still don't know how you did i but job well done !

[boza]

Thanks guys!! Nice video Nick!! Too bad it ended the way it did With my tires gone and coming up on Sweeney at the 1st chicane I figured I better brake early so I don't plow into him, unfortunately doing that sent you into the tires. From the start of the race it was very eventful for me, Jeff made a good pass on me going into the 1st chicane on the 1st lap and I just settled in behind him waiting for an oppertunity to make a move. Was able to get around Jeff on lap 5 and then my screen minimized(luckily I didnt hit anybody) and I thought my race fooked after that, but I found myself in 7th and kept plowing away. Had good race going with Hawks for a while and we were making up ground on Chris and Jeff until we came up on traffic which slowed Jason and I took advantage of that and was able to get around him. Around lap 12 I decided I'll do a one stop stratergy and pitted on lap 17. The last 8 laps were intense, had Nick on my arse putting on some serious pressure. Nick, thank you, that was alot of fun and stressful racing with you the last couple of laps. My only goal for this race was to finish ahead of Dale and put some points between us, mission accomplished.

[F1Fan07]

Sept 26, 2013 8:10:07 GMT -8 P Sweeney said:

I didn't catch the fact the email said 31 laps and here I thought the race was going to be 42.

That may have been my fault. I switched the track on the server after Bathurst without altering the race lap count. Always go by the forums say and not the server because I can be pretty scattered most weeknights and forget things like that. Hawks or I will check the server approaching race day and set it correctly.

[F1Fan07]

Sept 26, 2013 8:28:09 GMT -8 boza said:

My only goal for this race was to finish ahead of Dale and put some points between us, mission accomplished.

I was a little sad to not be there with you but I was happy to hear someone else was harassing you and your worn tires! I'll see you at Philip Island, man. I hate street circuits... fast and flowing tracks are where I'm comfortable.

[Jeff H.]

Congrats Boza!!

As for me, I hated this track from the first lap I turned on it. I did less than half of the practice I normally do for a V8 race so I was going to be happy with a top 10. I had a decent pace going but opted for a two-stopper which did not work out well. Ended up 5th or 6th so not too bad I guess. Now we get to go to Phillip Island which, until Surfers, was my most hated track.

[Deleted]

I love this track.

I hate that GODDAMN TIRE.

I knew I had nothing for Nick on pace, but like Boza I think, I was fixing to run a single stop.  Judging by my CONSISTENCY, I think I might have managed to battle with the two of them by the end as a result.

Jeff was clearly quick but was struggling for consistency, and in the opening stint I was all over him, thought maybe I could get by and at least keep Nick in sight.

And then the goddamn tire.  The thing about that first chicane is that it's relatively easy to hit smoothly, if you stay right on that dark rubber racing line and brake early.  The problem is, when you're following another driver closely, YOU CAN'T SEE THE GODDAMN CHICANE.  So you have to get into the racing line and HOPE you brake and turn at the right place.  And I made ONE mistake the entire race, and it was to just BARELY clip that damn tire stack, and it threw me for a complete 360 in front of the entire field.

So after falling from 3rd to about 10th I tried to spin it around with a donut, but with so little room I just spun my nose into the opposing wall. ... Waited for another 5-6 cars to pass me, backed it up and kept moving.

So there went the podium, all I could hope is that Jeff had some trouble and I could leapfrog him with the pit strategy.  I didn't, and finished two spots behind him (I wouldn't be shocked if we're damn-near tied for points now), but I suppose coming from almost last to finish 7th at a track you can't pass at isn't so bad.  I went 16 laps on my first set of tires.

Oh well.  Had a fun battle with KJ at least, for 7th, with about 10 to go. Onto the island!

[Deleted]

Sept 25, 2013 20:35:07 GMT -8 totalo said:

Well I accomplished my mission , survive. Brushed a few walls but that was expected, just didn't want to get myself turned around in the middle of the track or cause a pileup. That was definitely some great racing. Battling with Tony made quite a few laps go by, great racing buddy.

great race last night and yeah great battle!!! i think we could have done that all race lol!!! the cars were just that close. top ten finish i'll take that any day...
but one side note the race wasn't long enough for me and there wasn't any strategies. so kinda bummed about that... Congrats Boza!!! that looked like an awsome Win!!! i wish i had set up your car for that one lol!!!

[totalo]

I wish I didn't mess up the fuel strategy cause I think we could have went the whole race battling.

[F1Fan07]

Points. Things are getting crazy at the top. Jeff, man... you better pull your socks up and deal with this newcomer.

Looks like Armando has 3rd pretty well locked up.



PDF larger version

[Seahawks1Fan]

Like many of you, this was my first go at this track. I still think it's one of the toughest street courses we've raced at. At first, I figured at least half of us would wreck out, but I must say that the level of driving here continues to impress me.

I qualified 8th. Was hoping for a better start on the grid, but clearly we have some sandbaggers around here.

Was able to get into the top 5 mix pretty quickly and found myself in many good battles. Sweeney had great pace and as he said I would pull away just slightly off the last corner, then he'd be back up on my bumper half way through the lap. No worries on the close call Pat. I was impressed not only that you saved it, but didn't lose any ground in the process.

Chris was mad fast at this track. I was able to get by him about halfway through when he bicycled through the back chicane (mmm...CURBS). He was right on my bumper when we pit (both of us on a 1 stop strategy). He got tied up in the pits which allowed me to pull about a 5-6 sec gap on him. I needed every last second of that believe me. I maintained the gap pretty well, but with 4-5 to go he started dropping it little by little. My tires really fell off with about 2 to go and he was only about 1.5 - 2 seconds back at that point. Final lap I hung on for dear life as my car struggled to turn due to my right front was shot. Nudged him by only about .3 sec and held on for my first podium since COTA. Felt a little vindication since my disco at Sandown ended a podium shot. That bummed me out since podiums are hard to come by for me these days. My motto is sometimes it's just better to be lucky than good.

Great racing by everyone. Only had 1 incident with lapped traffic, which is pretty darn good for a track like this.

Congrats to Boza on the win. You and Nick were clearly the class of the field. Great job and awesome battle for the win.

Here is my onboard condensed down. Sorry for the poor angle. My options for camera placement are pretty limited since I'm still in the living room. Also want to apologize for forcing you all to hear my wife late in the race. She decided to have a conversation on the speakerphone right next to me. Tried to mute sooner but couldn't take my hands off the wheel.

Someday I'll have a man cave again....someday.

[F1Fan07]

Fun with numbers:

[totalo]

Kinda surprised Bathurst turnout was as low as it was. Thought for sure that was going to be 30 cars plus