[Wally]

RACE RESULTS AND CHARTS

SEASON STANDINGS

SEASON STATS

No penalties - very clean race starts.

Round Points
Guybrush Threepwood   75
Matthew111   69
StanDaam   62
Grat   58
Wally   58
Jeremy   55
Freezer   51
Bafs17   51
Joe   50
Phil.8   46
Rob   45
Bacchulum   43
Chap111   37
Benana   36
Simone   31
Phil   10

Congratulations to Guybrush on the clean sweep: the round win, and both race wins.

Season Podium
1. Guybrush Threepwood, 283 pts
2. Matthew111, 276pts
3. Stan Daam, 252pts

Struggle Street Racing Crew maintain their lead over DA Racing.

[grat]

I'll hold my race report hostage until you release the replay of race 1 l;)

[Wally]

I'll hold my race report hostage until you release the replay of race 1 l;)

Here you go: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6bnfwcjq7r03k51/lotus_evora_gtc%40mugello_20150908204037.zip?dl=0

[grat]

Thank you so much! I will definitely write a detailed report

[Freezer]

Well I took into account the discussion of the last week re driving style etc and set my car with low aero and focused on hitting brake markers and lines.  With that I qualified 6th and after a good jump and the first few corners found myself in 4th.  Matthew and Grat were about 200m in front for the rest of the race and I could keep with but not catch them.  Kept it clean and came home 4th.

R2 qualified 10th as I was now carrying some reasonable ballast.  Went for hards in the first stint looking to squeeze 9 laps out of the tank which I did and pitted.  And here is where I went wrong.  I incorrectly read that the race was 15 laps so fueled for 6 more on mediums but as the race ticked down I saw fuel was an issue and at the time couldn't understand why.  Anyhow, quick stop for 20 odd litres, dropped one spot and I was back out.
Then with two corners to run I slipped of the edge and dropped another spot to come home 10th.
All up a pretty quiet race as I was mostly on my own but was happy with the improved consistency and speed.

[Wally]

Results in first post...

[Wally]

And congratulations to Freezer on his 100th Tuesday night AC race (race 2)!

[Freezer]

And congratulations to Freezer on his 100th Tuesday night AC race (race 2)!

Woo hoo to me...! 

[Joe]

Race 1 qualified near the back, then spun off on lap 1 on the second uphill right hander leaving me right at the back. Pushed hard for about 5 laps and caught up with the pack of Chap, Wally and a couple of others only to spin on the last corner. Rob then got past me who I previously overtook when he was warped into, but I got past him again a lap or so later.

Race 2 needed to take it a bit easier after the race 1 spins. Qualified 8th, and lost a position or two at the start then sat behind Freezer for 9 laps.

All up a pretty quiet race as I was mostly on my own but was happy with the improved consistency and speed.

Maybe he didn't look in his mirrors but at times I got pretty close to him but never enough to get past, then I'd drop back a little and repeat  We pitted together after lap 9, came out with him just ahead again. After Grat's incident he was behind me and with the bit of pressure and checking my mirrors Freezer pulled away. Didn't want to make it easy for Grat to pass but he was clearly braking so much later than me that after several laps of him hounding me I considered letting him past, but then he backed off a little. After that I started to close the gap a bit to Freezer again only to see him pit again in front of me, so I ended up 6th. I think that's my best finish position to date with a qualifying session. I did get 3rd in the previous season but that was due to starting on pole after a reverse grid.

I actually saw my teammate cross the line in front on me which is a rarity! Go goats!

[Bruce]

And congratulations to Freezer on his 100th Tuesday night AC race (race 2)!

Well done Freezer!

[Simone]

Don`t know ,kind of disappointing last night race,i had played around with with the car set and finally the car was turning in to corners nicely,it had stopped locking the tyres under braking and i even went into the 50s no problem.Qual comes,load the set and the car was completely different,2 sec off pace,and visibly understeering,,,,i was stunned.
Does the track grip or something changes through the racing nights,i feel i am not in charge!!  hahaaa
Anyhow,,,have a winfield    see you next week,,,,strange sim at times though

[Wally]

In practice, the car wasn't feeling good. I lost it off the track on quite a few occasions, mostly losing the rear. I tried to soften the rear a bit, didn't seem to help much.

In Race 1, Phil.8 bogged down badly on the line in front of me and I drove around him. Half way through the first lap, I was trying to keep it tight to the right of the track at the left/right esses at the top of the hill, because I knew Simone was on my left,
but I put a wheel on the grass and it made me wobble a bit in front of him, and he couldn't avoid a contact. It sent me sliding,
and Phil.8 who had nowhere to go T boned me. So that was off to a shaky start, but I had fun in a pack with Jeremy, Benana, Chap, Phil.8, Bacchulum... Chap was warping a little, so I was glad to make it past him. In the closing stages when I was chasing Jeremy, I hit him and sent us both off, with me redressing, which cost us both a spot to Benana. He was braking surprisingly early which caught me out. It was only afterwards I realised he was on softs which had gone off on the last lap and was struggling to make the corners.

Race 2 was off to a better start, with a bit of a chase of Phil.8 until I passed him. It was all fairly uneventful, chasing Grat, until we pitted on lap 8. I came out of the pits side by side with Grat, and because I wasn't sure at what stage we'd become unghosted again, I drove out to the left of the pit exit, over the stripy kerb, to rejoin the track to avoid a collision with Grat. It seems the marshals turned a blind eye to that one

I was a little surprised when I came out from my pit stop to find myself in 3rd, close behind Matthew. I chased him for several laps, but had to keep my distance when he started warping, at one point disappearing and reappearing behind me. Because I had to pull back a little, it made me vulnerable to Jeremy, who was chasing hard. Jeremy and I had a good race for a few laps, with the slipstream giving us both close passing opportunities, but eventually Jeremy got a pass that stuck and took 3rd from me. Along the way, Stan and Grat had little nibbles at my rear bumper, but they were too far back to really make a pass stick and came off second best from the impacts. I was just holding my racing line, a car length in front. Courtesy of Jeremy receiving a 10 second penalty for repeated cutting, I got my first podium for the season, which was quite a surprise, really.

Ironically, Guybrush was that far out in front in race 2 that he got the "Loneliest" award, despite carrying 75 kg. What the hell??? In hindsight, the ballast weight was not enough to really bring the leaders back to the pack, although for many of us, there were lots of lap times in the 52's.

[Wally]

Does the track grip or something changes through the racing nights,i feel i am not in charge!!  hahaaa

Each session starts with the same grip, and slowly rubbers up, but tonight, every session started from 95% so wouldn't have felt that remarkably different. The weather stays the same throughout prac/qual/race (although it could be different for the next race).

Who knows, maybe you grained your front tyres with a lockup? Many variables come into play, and adaptability is the name of the game.

[grat]

(in honour---and memory---of my teammate Rolz, most of the report is written in the first plural person.)

Lots of excitement at DA Racing this week for the second Italian round of the season. We knew we had to show our fans we had not given up our chance at a season podium after last week poor performance in Germany. Our sensations were good, on a track that historically suited us well (no idea why---as mentioned in the pre-race chat).

We expected a tough race, and so decided to sacrifice a bit of top speed for consistency. As usual, our quali1 was a bit disappointing, but managed to start just behind Struggle Street's duo.

RACE1: At the start, we took advantage of the in-house battle between Jeremy and Matthew (Jeremy: I know your wheel was off, but I like to think you were defending your position from Matthew ) but with Matthew getting a bit wide mid-corner at San Donato, we had to settle for 3rd. I spent the first 2 laps trying to keep at a reasonable distance from Matthew, who was pushing hard on his softs, sliding a bit wide here and there. I was a bit faster in the mid part of the track, but did not want to slow us down with a battle, as with my high-downforce I did not want Freezer behind to get close. The last 6 laps were simply fantastic. At the end of lap 3 I decided to attack in the only place it looked possible: I was exiting faster than Matthew from Correntaio (big 180° right-hander) and could brake later at the last corner. So I did, and passed him, but we touched a little and I was not sure if my move was clean, so when he followed me on the straight with his higher speed, I did not feel like defending the inside as I originally planned (I could brake very late at San Donato, so that was the idea) and he passed me again. The battle went on for the next 5 laps, with Matthew getting a bit of an advantage on the start/finish straight at each lap (around .6 of a sec) and me chasing him very close throughout the rest of the lap, trying to force a mistake. As his tyres were getting worse lap by lap, I could get closer and closer, but I was never able to put myself clearly side-by-side to him. What a race! My hands were still shaking at the end, and so I clicked "return" instead of "save replay". Thank you, Wally.

RACE2: qualify for race 2 was tougher than expected. We timed the last lap perfectly with the flag, but San Donato was a disaster. The only way to get a decent position was then to be ridiculously aggressive throughout the rest of the lap. Incredibly, the idea of taking both Arrabbiata 1 and 2 flat out worked! So we managed a decent 5th place.

At the start, Phil Raikkonened, but Stan Daam catapulted from behind, so I was still 5th, behind Jeremy and Stan. I knew the race was long, so again I settled for as much pressure on Stan as I could, without attacking, and waiting for others' mistakes. Stan and Jeremy batteld for the first 3 corners in lap 7, and I managed to sneak pass Jeremy (4th). Then on lap 8 it was Stan's turn to go wide at Correntaio, and both Wally and I could go through. I was 3rd, and it felt pretty good. Unfortunately I had a crappy reaction when released from the crew and Wally could pass me in the pit lane. When we rejoined the track, with Stan behind, Jeremy was arriving at San Donato. I went to brake as late as I could and took the entire corner on a big slide, but incredibly I could pull it off. Pheww... Next lap, Jeremy attacks me again on the straight. This time I take the inside line and I can outbrake him safely and keep my position with a nice puff of tyres smoke.

My group was fast, and we closed down on Matthew pretty fast, but he was warping a bit, which forced a battle between me and Wally. I managed to pass him at Correntaio on lap 11, but he could retake the position on the start/finish straight (beautiful move from him: he knows I can brake late at San Donato, and so moves to cover the inside as soon as he can move ahead of me on the straight. Great job). I then tried to force him into a mistake at Scarperia (right hander after Arrabbiata 2) but he resisted well the first time while... well, had to brake late, put my front right on the kerb while still braking, and... yes, I admit it: I spun.

Rejoined track behind Joe, but my top speed was no match for him. I tried a few times to get him on some other parts of the track, but I soon realized it would have ended exactly like it ended with Wally. Well: they were two amazing races in one night already, so I thought I could settle for that amount of fun and back it off a little.

All in all: best race night for me since I have started. It really made me happy!

[Wally]

*applauds* Great writeup, Grat.