2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

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OJBrit
I'm feeling quietly confident. (So no doubt that'll be snuffed out come race time.)
I threw the car around (literally) for a few laps yesterday and she feels good. (My weakness is usually turn 1 but that seems o.k.) I am the closest I've been to @crusselz on a standard track. My issue will be the end of the race. Will the marginal tyre wear impact the back of the car in turn 2 where I throw in with a lift. :nervous:

@MCL1974 I doubt he's returning soon. Though mentioning him got me a like. :sly:
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Yeah, I can't seem to extract any time in the rx-v. All the best to those running, if possible I'll give it a try, but not the highest expectations.
 
What a pointlessly tedious combo that was. Finished 17th in front of the Beetle that qualified behind me and a Jag that spun twice. I kept it clean and consistent for 28 super-boring laps and get 85 points for my trouble.

And, spoiler alert, the Vantage is a dog in this track. I jumped into a time trial immediately afterwards to compare and after 2 laps in the Jag I was already 0.4s quicker. If anyone wants to inflict suffering on themselves, I can highly recommend trying to navigate the Group 3 Vantage around this track for 28 laps. It’s a special kind of torture.

I’m looking forward to seeing how @Tidgney goes with it.
 
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So. That was interesting. Got in with door 10. Had @Erebus_9 in there along with some other known faces. Wrecked my first qually lap, bounced the wall on the second, but still aet an ok time. Started p18 of 20.

Turn 1 I take it cautious, the guy behind sends a missile up the inside, but only light contact so ok. From there it really kicks off. The first probably 3 laps were a door banging mess. I ended up getting so fed up I ended up bouncing a guy slightly wide after he had done me and some others earlier. End up driving to p13 with some good passes and a few people making mistakes or getting into wrecks.

Settle in there but the 10pm start and my 5am wake up this morning start catching up to me. By lap 16 my eyes are glazing over and I'm having to look around and wiggle my head on the straight to stay alert enough. Exiting the hairpin on lap 20 I let my rear wheels nip the curb and slide right into the barrier. Could have been ok, but I was turned to far and had to use reverse. down to p19. My focus was broken and gone. Had a chance for p18 on the last corner as a driver wrecked, but catching it he swerved down in to me (completely not on purpose as he was still trying to catch it) and he got the turbo boost and I keep my spot.

Drove 19.5 very very good laps. Had 6 laps faster than my qualifying time. But a mistake and it all goes away. Too tired for another one. Best of luck all. And be brave, but not too brave on those corners.
 
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Started P10, finished P10.

Got hit going into Turn 4 on the 6th lap by an impatient WRX driver which cost me a lot of time and dropped me out of the slipstream battle that was going on for 3rd through 11th.

Got back up to 10th 3 laps latter when same WRX driver either spun himself or got turned at Turn 6, drive past him as he was recovering only for him to quit moments later.

Sadly however losing the slip stream (especially in a car like the Lancer) is a death sentence for gaining positions on this track.

One and done banking 96 points, as although I'm sure I could get a better result (if I can avoid trouble) after 25 laps this track starts to make me dizzy with all the left hand corners.
 
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That will do for a one and done!

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Not a great deal to talk about for this one. Stuck it on pole and managed to break the tow on lap 1. Just ensured I was mistake free and pulled out a comfortable gap to bring it home for the win!
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Was in with @RX8 Racer again and it appears he was sadly taken out early in the race. He was holding fastest lap for a little while too later in the race

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I may have to give this one a miss. I'm keen to race it because I've not driven this circuit much and it's always nice to try something new, but family life isn't quite conducive to the timings for this... :(

Am I right that from next round it's on Saturdays? Or still another Wednesday round left?

EDIT: I am wrong - one more round of Wednesday races, at Dragon Trails in the Gr.4...
 
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D_Dragline
And, spoiler alert, the Vantage is a dog in this track. I jumped into a time trial immediately afterwards to compare and after 2 laps in the Jag I was already 0.4s quicker. If anyone wants to inflict suffering on themselves, I can highly recommend trying to navigate the Group 3 Vantage around this track for 28 laps. It’s a special kind of torture.

I’m looking forward to seeing how @Tidgney goes with it.
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He didn't do the last round, even though the RBR would have played to the Aston's strengths. Maybe he's given up and more focused towards ACC.
 
Well, I had a much better Race 2 after the utter carnage of Race 1….

One thing to note for qualifying is that trying a Monza 2019 strat isn’t terribly effective, since Sector 3 is where the slipstream is most effective. Instead, try positioning yourself far enough behind a slower car such that you start the lap out of their slipstream, but get into slipstream range by the end of Sector 2. All the benefits of downforce in Sectors 1 and 2, and all of the slipstream without dirty air for Sector 3.
 
Well wasn't expecting much and was still disappointed. That was a pointless race, I nearly quit due to boredom and I was racing people most of the time. 1st lapped everyone up to 9th and was 35 secs in front of 2nd. I went from 18th to 11th and overall it was clean enough with the usual race A type barging rather than race B type dirty driving. It was basically a long race A in faster than normal cars and I was bored out of my head. It's the first time I've ever thought a race was too long.
 
VulcanSpirit
A very good reason why for the most part, I've switched to doing slow and gentle out laps recently. Helps me look after the tyres better and get cleaner air for the laps that count.
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The problem is that a tow in qualifying here is worth about 0.3 seconds per lap in a 66 second lap. In top split that can be the difference between P5 and P15 on the grid. And there is no strategy in this race.

Unless you are just about the fastest person in region who can nail the perfect qualifying lap without tow, then you will need a slipstream because you can guarantee that most of the grid will be buying themselves that advantage
 
Rangeraus
The problem is that a tow in qualifying here is worth about 0.3 seconds per lap in a 66 second lap. In top split that can be the difference between P5 and P15 on the grid. And there is no strategy in this race.

Unless you are just about the fastest person in region who can nail the perfect qualifying lap without tow, then you will need a slipstream because you can guarantee that most of the grid will be buying themselves that advantage
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How many people in that mass of carnage got that extra 0.3s though? I do understand the problem, but I now nearly always qualify on my own safe in the knowledge I won't be at the front but won't be at the back either. The risk/reward doesn't seem worth it.

Admittedly I'm nowhere near being a top split player. It's just watching that I cannot see the advantage!
 
Rangeraus
The problem is that a tow in qualifying here is worth about 0.3 seconds per lap in a 66 second lap. In top split that can be the difference between P5 and P15 on the grid. And there is no strategy in this race.

Unless you are just about the fastest person in region who can nail the perfect qualifying lap without tow, then you will need a slipstream because you can guarantee that most of the grid will be buying themselves that advantage
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I think most of the grid will try to buy that advantage, and most of them will trip up over each other trying to get it. Saw ERM_Nick and Quinten trying for a 1:05 last night and while they got it, it wasn't easy for them to come by. Just had a quick look at the qualy times in the most recent Asia/Oceania top split an hour or so ago, can't tell me that these all benefitted from being in a slipstream. I'd argue none of them did laps that were quicker than they can manage in clean air

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Ashthebash
I think most of the grid will try to buy that advantage, and most of them will trip up over each other trying to get it. Saw ERM_Nick and Quinten trying for a 1:05 last night and while they got it, it wasn't easy for them to come by. Just had a quick look at the qualy times in the most recent Asia/Oceania top split an hour or so ago, can't tell me that these all benefitted from being in a slipstream. I'd argue none of them did laps that were quicker than they can manage in clean air

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I think for most non-aliens it's going to be more important to nail the first few infield turns and carry that speed by hitting your marks. I don't want the distraction or risk of someone in front of me, I'm going to wait for a clearing to qualify.
 
Well that was an experience. Qualified 9th with the AMG GT3 with a 1:08.007. First 1/2 of the race went well as I made up positions and was sitting in 5th. Second half however was stressful. People behind were way to aggressive and desperate to make overtakes, as a result I eventually finished 13th after a good little battle on the last couple of laps with a Spaniard in a 911. 82 points overall, one and done for me.

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Good result I guess but feel really disappointed. I would go again as I believe I could do much better but I can’t sit through 30 mins of that combo again! 😴:lol:

Terrible qualifying, had to abort first lap after losing the rear on the grass. Second lap played it safe to get a time on the board and then final flying lap, screwed up sector 2 and failed to improve my time. Started 12th with a poor 1:07.8 🙁

Race was going well, passed 3 cars early on to settle in 9th. It then took a dark turn when a GTR made a mistake up ahead. I went past and then on the second to last turn he purposely forced me onto the grass which really pee’d me off. I fell back to 10th and lost the slip. Next lap the GTR driver decided to plough into 2 cars in front at the first hairpin. Looked totally deliberate again. I ended up getting by them and broke the slip. I had 5 seconds to make up on an Aston in front in 6th. Went to work and closed that gap putting in consistent quick laps. Flew past the Aston on the straight expecting to then chase down the Ferrari in 4th, however, turns out the Aston wanted to play rough constantly bumped my rear at almost every corner forcing me wide each time. Just couldn’t shake him off. Final lap, I was ahead and yep, pushed me wide onto the grass to take 6th back. Left me pretty annoyed at the end to be honest. He left lobby instantly so had no chance to call him out.

Oh well. Had 3rd fastest lap and that was with no slip :lol: Gained 700DR too so pleased with that:)

edit: forgot to add that this was the first time I’ve properly experienced everyone parked up on their qualifying outlap waiting for someone to make the first move to take their draft. I personally thought it was ridiculous so just went. Laughed at everyone suddenly flooring it to get behind me. I had to abort the lap too so haha 😂
 
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I had a nice race after a terrible and lucky qualifying all at the same time.

I was overtaken and pushed and lost it at the first hairpin after my outlap and thought: that's it. I'm last. But then I was "fortunate enough" that Q2 had to pass me and I could follow him in slip for one lap. Thankfully he carried on for another lap and thanks to him I started in P3 (with him in P4).

With cold tyres I started conservatively and was passed by P4 - a Porsche. I noticed P2, in a Beetle drove awfully defensive and that the car had no straight line speed compared to the Jaaag and no racecraft compared to the Porsche. So despite his defensive driving he was overtaken pretty soon via cutback by both me and the Porsche.

So now I’m driving P2 and we had lost a lot of time fighting over nothing, which meant P1 in the McLaren was long gone by now. From here on 'till the end I slowly extended the gap and finished in P2 for a first ever three digit score! 101 points in the bag!

One and done since podium was my goal for this race.

Oh... sadly, instead of congratulating us the Beetle that started in 2nd called ALL players that past him (he went from 2nd to 6th) dirty drivers after the race and then left the room obviously. Don't you hate that when that happens… joker.
 
Seth_Logan
I had a nice race after a terrible and lucky qualifying all at the same time.

I was overtaken and pushed and lost it at the first hairpin after my outlap and thought: that's it. I'm last. But then I was "fortunate enough" that Q2 had to pass me and I could follow him in slip for one lap. Thankfully he carried on for another lap and thanks to him I started in P3 (with him in P4).

With cold tyres I started conservatively and was passed by P4 - a Porsche. I noticed P2, in a Beetle drove awfully defensive and that the car had no straight line speed compared to the Jaaag and no racecraft compared to the Porsche. So despite his defensive driving he was overtaken pretty soon via cutback by both me and the Porsche.

So now I’m driving P2 and we had lost a lot of time fighting over nothing, which meant P1 in the McLaren was long gone by now. From here on 'till the end I slowly extended the gap and finished in P2 for a first ever three digit score! 101 points in the bag!

One and done since podium was my goal for this race.

Oh... sadly, instead of congratulating us the Beetle that started in 2nd called ALL players that past him (he went from 2nd to 6th) dirty drivers after the race and then left the room obviously. Don't you hate that when that happens… joker.
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Well done 👏
 
Seth_Logan
Put the chat on Hasnain, when streaming. So I can say hi!

Nevwr mind... it is on...
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Apologies I normally don't use my mic at this time as I get a lot of background noise as the PS4 isn't in my own room

In terms of my race I managed to pull out a quali lap which was enough for P5 and for most of my race I was going in and out of the slipstream of the 3 guys ahead and the only action for me was on the last lap where we went 3 wide into T1 and I managed to gain 1 position to take P4

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