SEASON 2 GT1 CHALLENGE ROUND 4 YAS MARINA NIGHT

[kyukyu]

About my race. Not a track I really liked (I generally don't like these modern tracks with 90geg curves and asphalt parking lots on the sides) but the racing was fun nonetheless. Not to mention the many italian flags on the grandstands celebrating my new livery

In Q1 I also made mistakes on each lap but Razor was out if reach anyway, and P3 was fine. I had a very poor start but managed to regain P4 soon, and was chasing Michal. He was very good at corner exit at the hairpins so I couldn't pass him on te straights. In the driven section it was fun to keep close while avoiding contact, and I was looking forward for a good battle. P3 with joker would have been a good result.
Then Razor went wide in a corner and rejoined, Michal hesitated a bit not to hit him and I had room to dive on the inside. Both of them were in my blind spot so I tried to keep on the inside and to brake reasonably, I felt no bump on my wheel but saw Razor airborne and Michal was also involved. Sadly I didn't save the replay of race1. Razor said we were close and there was a "glitch", I would like to have the replay if possible. If it's my fault I'm sorry because it was a good battle all I can say is it was a very sudden situation and I tried my best
At that point I tried to catch up Ratang but he was just too fast and I settled for P2.

Superpole was fought as usual, my lap was not perfect but also not that bad and P2 was good. At the start I passed Razor but saw Ratang come up fast, so I left room inside. He went just slightly wide and when I saw him again (damn blind spots) I was already closing the corner not to go off track and we slightly touched. At this point Razor and the others were just too close and could do nothing to react. Bit unlucky but I think nobody did nothing wrong really. I just hope it won't be 5 in a row next time lol
I pitted immediatly to repair damage, then as the others pitted I was in P6. Peter in P5 lost 10secs in one lap and got close, so I decided to attack but it was difficult because in some sectors he was much faster than me and pulled away. Then on the last lap he went slightly wide at one corner and I could pass quite safely. A nice battle, and at least I didn't cruise alone the whole race!

Looking forward to the next one now... congratulations to Ratang and also to Michal, whom I didn't expect to be so fast with all that ballast. razor too was as fast as usual, what was that track record at lap 10?!?

[edgecrusher]

I had very low wing setting to compensate for weight - I think 2/2 for qual and 2/3 for race. That's why it wasn't easy to catch me otherwise I'd be cannon fodder with these mammoth straights

[Kevin]

RESULTS:

Race 1



Race 2

[kyukyu]

well I had rear wing set to 1 (!!!). I was actually faster than you on the straights but you were always spot-on at corner exit and pulled away. It was fun, who knows how it could have gone

[Kevin]

My race??

Well. when I practiced on Sunday I went really well and the car felt good.
Last night was disaster! Just couldn't find a groove. Braked too late and generally drove badly.
Got hit by RaZoR in the first race and found myself stone last. Tried to come back and on lap 8 the car turned upside down on a flat road? Will post a pic so you can see.
Second race was ok but no speed, so just tried to finish as high up as possible.
Put this one behind me.
Kyalami I like, so let's see.

[Haribo]

Hello all!

Great racing yesterday, lots of action for me. 

Q1 was really fantastic for me, to be able to go into the 1:59s. A bit disappointed not to outqualify Michal as I was constantly 2/3 tenths up in the first sector, only to lose out to him at the end of the lap. But considering he had so much ballast onboard, kudos to him, and he deserves that place. Race start for me was definitely not impressive, and I was over-cautious going into turn 1 in order to avoid incidents. Places were lost but atleast I didn't take anyone out. 

Then what seemed to be customary every race is that I tapped someone, and unfortunately that person was Robbie. The rest of the race went quite good, fighting for podium at one point with Andreas and Robbie. It probably when Andreas and Robbie were battling over P3 that I took out Robbie again. All in all, happy to finish P4.

Superpole was without doubt crappy for me, having my lap invalidated.

Started at the back of the grid and I started slow again because of the graphical lag I get with so many cars on the grid, all with headlights on. I turned into turn 1 and I hit Robbie, who was in the middle of the track, though it wasn't his fault all. Damage to front-end and the car understeered massively all the way through lap 1. I made a strategy mistake by not pitting straight away to fix and change tyres as I met with traffic after my pitstop. Lost a lot of time trying to navigate through traffic, and I went extra slow just to ensure I don't take out anyone else... ...and I did take out Christie. And then towards the end of the race, when I was catching up to Rudolph, I was given a Stop/Go penalty for cutting the track. I went into the pits, but I did not manage to get the settings correctly, and it became a pitstop instead of me serving the Stop/Go. I decided that is it and I didn't want to continue anymore. 

With regards to the collisions I was involved in, I first want to say sorry. It seems like almost every single race I take atleast one person out. What I say next may be offensive to some, but I feel that I'm not completely at fault for the some collisions that I was involved in so far. Many a times when the person infront locks up/runs wide, he leaves a big gap on the inside. As a racing driver, you obviously go for the overtake. But when you are going down the inside, the person who locked up/ran wide decides to turn back in, straight for the apex. It's no rocket science that when two cars are side-by side, both heading for the apex, they are definitely going to touch. So may I put it out now that the next time you are battling for position and you lock up/run wide, you:

1. Stay out of the racing line first.
2. Look around you and see if there is anyone there on the racing line.
3. Go back to racing line.

I'm not saying if you run wide, that's it for you, position lost. You can still fight for it but just don't turn back in on the apex when you have already lost the turn. I had a little battle with Kev when trying to unlap myself. I slipstreamed him down the first straight and he braked late for the next turn. Knowing he's there, I gave him the apex and went on his outside, instead of just taking the whole apex and track for myself, before losing the place to him at the next turn. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if I am given a penalty as I was involved in so many collisions.

Anyway, well done to everyone and see you guys for Kyalami.

[Kevin]

Dont know how this happened....

[Haribo]

Apr 24, 2014 11:49:01 GMT 2 Kevin said:

Dont know how this happened....

Happened to me as well! And Andreas almost hit into the back of me when I did.

[kyukyu]

Happened to me as well in testing. You should always go wide in testing and never in race!
Jokes apart, a bug in the track I suppose, just like the wall Haribo scratched during superpole to have his car fly up and explode LOL

[kyukyu]

Apr 24, 2014 11:39:18 GMT 2 Kevin said:

My race??

Well. when I practiced on Sunday I went really well and the car felt good.
Last night was disaster! Just couldn't find a groove. Braked too late and generally drove badly.

It also happened to me many times testing offline. Then I went online and grip was gone! Now I only test online...

[edgecrusher]

I never test offline (maybe only to find the gear settings) as the grip is different online and with added ballast a lot of things change in regard to car behavior. Now we'll see if I made a correct decision choosing a car when racing with 90kg.

In regard to flying after T3 - if you run wide you fly - that's one of the challenges in this track That's why I found a sweet spot in T3 where I just needed to lift for a brief while and then get on the power again to exit nicely on the kerb not over it.

[yuca]

about the race:

q1:
the qually is for me a warm up, if works good i am happy, i am not a good starter, so i usually dont care how much in front i am at start, but it went ok.

r1:
was tricky, i had not come into a good mood to race, but had some luck when haribo and peter fought i used the opp to take them both




haribo attacked again and retook the lead closing fast on robert.
again i used an error of haribo to gain the position




then i used late braking on robert to get in the inside of a curve and overtaked robert (hope that this move was ok robert).


so we had a pack of five drivers close each other, me, haribo, robert, kevin, peter and michal.

haribo quickly forcing a way path robert closing on me fast.

unfortunatly, haribo did forget that i am an early breaker and hiting me



he did not gain any position as he also get in trouble, trying to evad me.
but we lost our advantage and michal closed and overtook me and peter & kevin closed by.
unfortunatly that hit had led to some suspension failure which made the zonda super stable
i had to use more room for my run (good that there is plenty of room on this track)
haribo catched me soon again and had it easy to go in front.

i  tried to follow haribo but then he flipped nearly and i too. i lost him and then focused to keep a strong peter from overtaking me.



q2: was good for a SP and surely helped me to be in front

r2: was very lonely, after staying out of trouble at start, get 3rd and tried to make no errors.
razor closed fast on me but could not check me before i went to the pits.
after the pits i closed on haribo who chased razor (i think). for my luck, its really hard to overtake haribo (because of his lag) he went to the pits, but at that moment i lost any chance to close on razor (which has no sense to do) and just focused to come home before Peter.

result:
i am happy, with Peter, Kevin (who is realy improving himself) and Haribo in my class i counted for 3rd or 4th.
now ot was 2nd and 1st.

i hope i did not destroyed somebody race, if so accept my apologies.
it was a nice race, espacialy the first, with some tough going but i am taking them as racing accidents.

[Haribo]

Apr 24, 2014 19:26:27 GMT 2 yuca said:

about the race:

haribo attacked again and retook the lead closing fast on robert.
again i used an error of haribo to gain the position

so we had a pack of five drivers close each other, me, haribo, robert, kevin, peter and michal.

haribo quickly forcing a way path robert closing on me fast.

unfortunatly, haribo did forget that i am an early breaker and hiting me

he did not gain any position as he also get in trouble, trying to evad me.
but we lost our advantage and michal closed and overtook me and peter & kevin closed by.
unfortunatly that hit had led to some suspension failure which made the zonda super stable
i had to use more room for my run (good that there is plenty of room on this track)
haribo catched me soon again and had it easy to go in front.

i  tried to follow haribo but then he flipped nearly and i too. i lost him and then focused to keep a strong peter from overtaking me.

Was great fighting with you Andreas! You have really decent pace as I noticed from the previous round @ Zandvoort. You were actually lapping faster than me, but was a tad unfortunate. Will try and catch you up the next round! 

PS: I can't see the pictures.

[yuca]

i have a replay, if wanted i can upload it

Attachments:

[yuca]

i am looking forward to race next week

[Peter McNair]

I discovered my virtual mirror was toggled off with the number 1 key lol

[Kevin]

Apr 24, 2014 21:41:36 GMT 2 Peter McNair said:

I discovered my virtual mirror was toggled off with the number 1 key lol

We learn every day.

[Kevin]

REPLAYS: www.mediafire.com/download/73s23jr97n3f8f3/Replays.rar

[kyukyu]

That's what I mean when i talk anout blind spots. This is just before Razor and Michal got airborne in race 1:

I think I was forward enough to have the right to attempt an overtake, and Razor was ahead of Michal. Actually I could not see neither of them and am sure it was the same for them: we were 3 blind drivers fighting for position. What happened next was that Razor took the apex as if I was not there (because he just didn't see me!) and we touched side to side and he flew away; a moment later, as I was still in the apex, Michal dove in as if I was not there (again, because he just didn't see me), we touched and he flew in the air too.
Funnily enough both were puzzled and had no idea of what had happened (because nobody of us could see any of the other 2) and I too only saw them flying in the mirrors without a precise clue of who was where.
The GPL article I posted above suggests that in those cases one should rely on how the situation had been developing. For example, in this case I knew from before that the other 2 were probably on my outside, while Michal surely knew that at least Razor could be on the inside (because Michal was actually attempting an overtake), and Razor knew that Michal could be outside and I could be inside, because he was very slow after rejoining the track and had surely seen us coming in the mirrors.
So basically if we think that somebody COULD be inside or outside, we should leave room for a car accordingly, even if we are not sure. We don't see the opponent because of the blind spot, but know he could be there and must keep on the "safe side" and leave room.
In this case I braked enough to be sure I could stick to the apex and stay on the inside even at exit, but had no cooperaton but of course I am not perfect either and had my share of accidents in the past because I didn't consider the blind spot issue.
But if one keeps it in mind, it can help avoid accidents...

[kyukyu]

This is the article I mean. Scroll down to the paragraph about blind spots... www.ukgpl.com/rec_dvr_beh/rec_driver_beh.htm

[edgecrusher]

Let me just say that I have a very different opinion of that move. IMHO it was very Maldonadoish (Bahrain 2014). You would've never made the corner with your line parallel to the track on the inside. I was on the outside and was planning the move on the next corner as RaZoR would surely have worse exit than me, as I had the best line. I couldn't see you because I had Eugene's car blocking my view AND I didn't assume anybody would try such a move in this place. It is always the overtaking car responsibility to complete the move safely. Racing doesn't mean you need to jump at every opportunity, however small to pass, racing is about getting to the finish in the best place possible which sometimes mean you need to wait for your turn to overtake.
video of the incident here:

this is how you can overtake safely, but it takes patience and knowledge of your opponent lines:

[kyukyu]

I'm sure I would have made the corner, very slow of course (I almost stopped). Most probably I would have lost both positions again before the next corner.
I attempted the pass because you both had lost considerable speed and it looked feasible at the moment. If you look the video about 0:14 you will see I'm side by side to Razor, so it was not a desperate move from behind, nor did I brake late (actually I braked too early).
But you surely have more experience than me, so if you feel I was too aggressive please report me and I will accept the warning. I can also understand that one should not create too difficult situations on track.

[Kevin]

The matter has now been settled. Let's move on to Kyalami.

[Kevin]

This is 2 frames into the corner. All 3 trying too hard.



A RULING HAS BEEN MADE. LET'S MOVE ON.