FIA Race Discussion [Archive]

[stpatty]

Had another go at Manu. Having to use softs would have been more of a challenge for the GT-R. I look forward to reading about @OutlawQuadrnt's win tomorrow morning, that usually happens when I have a disaster in the Gr.4 car.

 

[Ashthebash]

Well, well, well... tonight's Manufacturers was a roller coaster ride in every sense of the word.

Entered the 19:20 slot alongside @SmokeyMR2 and @Ashthebash, where I was promptly ranked as the first seed (don't ask me how!). Compromised my first qualifying laps by following an NSX a little too closely, initially setting a personal best of 1:47.559 with my second. Improved to a 1:46.855 on fresh Softs, which was good enough for me to start 9th, just .993 off pole. Not quite close to the 1:46.517 I set in practice, but the Viper, once again, felt like it had good pace beneath it.

After much deliberation, I opted to go for a two-stop again, this time on a Soft/Soft/Hard tyre strategy. Several test lobbies proved that this could potentially work well, providing that I could keep the tyre wear and fuel consumption in check. That meant a lot of short-shifting and mix adjustments throughout, but a best total time of 32:55.479 - set earlier in the morning - suggested that I wouldn't have to sacrifice too much speed in the long-run.

Not going to lie, the first half of the race was wild. Caught up quickly to a couple of groups fighting for 4th and 7th places, the second between a GT-R and a Frentley Mustangtinental, who loses a lot of speed coming out of the downhill S's. The Toyota who started 4th bins it at the final corner; a couple of attempts to pass the Mustang lead to me being passed by a fast-charging McLaren. A compromised run from the last S-bend leaves me on edge, for I am at the mercy of not one, not two, but four cars trying to slipstream their way past on the start/finish straight. Thankfully, I survive, and catch up to the Mustang's bumper again, eventually passing him with a strong drive up the hill. On Lap 5, I mess up my entry through the final S's, which leads me to believe that my first lot of softs have lost their bite. Rather than risk losing more time - and thus a place to the Lexus - I decided at that moment to pit early for fresh rubber, with precisely 13 laps of fuel remaining.

Returning to the midfield, a battle-scarred Honda is dispatched, then a late lunge on a Citroen brings me right back into the mix for 5th. The black and blue GT-R runs very wide at the second hairpin, as does the Red Bull-liveried Aston (was that you, @Ashthebash?), allowing me to get into another great scrap which brings the Citroen back into play. Following an off for the Jamaican-liveried Scirocco and a good run on the Citroen down the main straight, I am up to 7th, which becomes 5th when both the GT-R and Aston run wide at the second hairpin again. This gave me the opportunity to build a gap of 7.7 seconds between myself and the GT-R by the time of my second stop on Lap 11. The frequent battling meant that I had burnt slightly more fuel than I initially planned, so a splash and dash (about 3-4% extra) was also added just to be safe.

Slotting between the Red Bull Aston and a black TT Cup, I engage in a close and patient battle for 6th, which ends up with me taking the place from the Aston on the fast kink after the last hairpin. A pitstop for the GT-R promotes me up to 5th again; from there, it was a case of getting to the finish without running out of fuel or crashing at the death chicane. Must admit that the pressure began to build up in the final laps when the GT-R made big gains on fresher treads. This was especially apparent through the downhill S's, where I was struggling to get decent lines - and decent speed - on the harder compounds. Yet, despite this deficit, the Viper held on; a last lap with minimal fuel-saving and better lines brought me home in 5th. Some way off challenging Smokey and the McLaren, but good enough for a season-best score of 1,568 points - the highest earned by the Viper experiment so far.

View attachment 858118

Survived the death chicane with only a few scrapes, and, if my KP statistics are anything to go by, came out less than 500 points away from A+ rank again.

Wow!


Don't give up. I've been in similar situations before where chances of a good finish were wiped out by big crashes, penalties or both, and have felt like quitting because of it. Rest assured, these things happen to all of us, even the top split players. The best thing to hope for is for better luck in the next race - you seem to have good qualifying pace within your lobby, that's for sure. 👍

Yep, was me in the Red Bull Aston, god knows what happened around that hairpin (twice!), was just like the front end lost all grip. I wasn't particularly close to the GTR and didn't brake late so was taken by surprise on both occasions to be honest!

 

[VulcanSpirit]

Yep, was me in the Red Bull Aston, god knows what happened around that hairpin (twice!), was just like the front end lost all grip. I wasn't particularly close to the GTR and didn't brake late so was taken by surprise on both occasions to be honest!

Had that happen to me quite often in test lobbies; that hairpin is much more challenging in reverse, I find. Good job on getting 7th, by the way - those midfield battles were intense!

 

[Lost Sheltie]

Things I learned tonight:

1. You need to practice driving 600hp cars in the wet (10 mins before the race isn't enough)
2. Grid starts are a bad idea in the wet
3. Cheaters can prosper

Nations was a bit of a disaster for most people in my race tonight. A guy was wall riding, got pole, then botched the start and caused a big accident at the first corner, didn't get a penalty and drove off to victory as he continued to cheat for the whole race. I had no pace so started 20th and didn't much of this, but with the carnage I managed to work my way up to 11th so was happy enough as my pace improved through the race. I did pit as I didn't trust my skills for driving on very worn tyres.



Manufacturers didn't go much better for me in quali, only managing to get 13th after a poor lap, but my strategy of starting on the hards and doing 5 laps, and then doing 2 sets of softs worked well and I managed to work my way through the field up to 4th. Made a few minor mistakes but was pretty solid.

 

[Ashthebash]

Had that happen to me quite often in test lobbies; that hairpin is much more challenging in reverse, I find. Good job on getting 7th, by the way - those midfield battles were intense!

Tell me about it! I wish I'd saved the replay just for the couple of laps after my last stop (and to show that Scirocco being a menace!) I'll learn the more I do!!

This has been my first concerted effort to do FIA races and I love it, wanted to get over 5k points for this exhibition series and there might be a chance if I can have a couple of solid runs in between now and the end of the races

 

[schnick]

What is the record for lowest number of points available for a top-split race ever?

Won the final Nations slot last night for a total of... 1322 points.

That's just a combination of it's very late for the bulk of the region/smaller player pool/it's only exhibition series

 

[Keith2324]

Is it me, or is the racing getting worse and worse?

 

[Rods]

Over one lap, I hands down agree. Over 6, I can’t see it happening

After 4/5 laps, it drops off a cliff. I might have to go 5S/8H/5S

Here I am, quoting myself... My post here was 100% a prediction of what my race ended up being.

the car was fast over one lap, I took pole on a really strong lobby and was mega happy about it.

I enjoyed my time at the front until two Toyotas took the lead from me on lap 4. I proceeded to pit and pit again, and again.

A 3-stopper (4S-6H-4S-4S) that ended up being the only race ever when the pole sitter finished 9th and was happy about it.

btw: I know most people made tires last longer, I’m just really bad at it with FWD cars.

 

[GT5Apex]

Raging!!!! I was just doing the last manufacturer race and i was in 5th position and i was just about to cross the line to start the final lap and then my damn internet crashes. FS!!!

 

[praiano63]

Even in a nation race top room , people drive like neurotic sociopath. 🤬

 

[Rangeraus]

That's just a combination of it's very late for the bulk of the region/smaller player pool/it's only exhibition series

It was always going to be worth ordinary points, but still I was guessing that it would still be worth 1500-1600 points. Not ideal but I'll know for next time.

I had the luckiest race of my life in Manufacturers slot 2 which more than made up for it.

 

[Trone_Colby]

Congrats to @Pigems for the Nations race. As for me I’m redoing that. T1 was a major problem for me. I fell from 3rd to 14th and other problems happened.

I’m starting from the back.

 

[Pigems]

Congrats to @Pigems for the Nations race. As for me I’m redoing that. T1 was a major problem for me. I fell from 3rd to 14th and other problems happened.

I’m starting from the back.

Thanks man, it was a fun race. I had some T1 problems too, it’s tough with so many cars on the first couple of laps. I spun myself around there on the first lap and dropped back to 19th, it wasn’t easy clawing my way back.

 

[Mistah_MCA]

I started questioning myself the moment I entered the Manufacturer race. What can go wrong?
...
Top split (at least I think it was)? Cool, let's do this.
Qualified 7th? Not bad!
Death chicane? Ate it.
Aston Martin? Understeered and then spun out in it.
Finished in 16th. Four people backed out.

I'm just going to pretend that this race never happened... and never drive this piece of 🤬 again.

 

[Pfei]

Boy the Gr. 4 WRX was just terrible on this power track. Slowbaru indeed @OutlawQuadrnt. I knew it would be tough when I saw my practice times almost two seconds behind my buddies with whom we are usually equals.

Seed 13, qualified next to last. Had a good, solid, quick and clean race. Still not enough for top ten. I will no longer bother with the Gr. 4 WRX on power tracks.

 

[CurbHog]

Good report from tonights Manufacturers Race at Dragon Trail.
This was my first race as an A ranked driver. I had 16 on the Aston's door and I actually managed to qualify in 3rd with 1:48.053 (I did 3 sec better in practice so I was surprised that this gave me 3rd in a A and A+ room)
That was way above my expectation so even before we started I was in a great mode.
My strategy was two stop with no fill. Started on Soft for 6 laps and then another stint on Soft and then racing the Hard tires to the end.
My strategy held and I ended up second
In the race edit you will see that the winner did a one stop and the third did as well, but he went off track at some point so I benefitted from that.
I also had a great lap after the tire change where I advanced 3 positions. A great evening.
Check out the race edit below !

 

[praiano63]

Finally a good nation race. The most important is to have a good qualif to escape turn one . I qualif 2d , and we take some distance of the mess behind , no mistakes all race long , pit lap 8 , back to 5th after some people who don't pit at all. Finish 3rd with 1770 points , happy with this.

 

[schnick]

It was always going to be worth ordinary points, but still I was guessing that it would still be worth 1500-1600 points. Not ideal but I'll know for next time.

I had the luckiest race of my life in Manufacturers slot 2 which more than made up for it.

Wait yeah now I think about it 11:20 pm AEDT is not too late for some people, maybe it's also because of the rain/T1 incidents

 

[Dodge Lamb]

I wasn't in this race, but top split Nations for NA slot 1 was pretty funny. A certain someone wallriding and killing a few along the way, only to say something to the equivalent of "I don't care what you online kids think" LOL

Manufacturers was fun. I got a Viper into P2.

 

[OutlawQuadrnt]

I did Nations Slot 2 and really thought I had a chance to win. Nope. Started 3rd and the dirty air quickly made me lose the draft which I could never get back. Had a real good chance for 2nd but received a baloney 5 second penalty for touching them before they bounced off a wall. Worst of all, I caught back up on the last lap and was .001 short at the line. Decided it wasn't worth risking another go.

Manu Slot 2 was bad because the bus stop curbing chucked my car the wrong way and ruined my one shot qualifier. Got back up to P6 or so which wasn't going to help at all. Therefore, I did the last slot and lo and behold...



Only in NA Slot 3 where I could win top split with the Group 4 GT-R.

 

[gthelmi2398]

I wonder about my result in Manufacturer Series. It was a big amount of luck I think, because I don't like the reverse version of Dragon Trail.

Didn't drove any time the last days on the track, just the first time in my qualifying. After the 11th place with a 1:49,9 it was a acceptable result.
So the race was better with my M/H strategy. The first corner was a pleasure because won the first two places, but six cars behind me under 2 seconds. No place for mistakes. So I used to keep my pace and defend them all the next two laps. I don't know what happened, but they got all a penalty, so no more worries.
Still in P9 I try to attack and close the gap to the 8th. Overtake him, after that he needs a pitstop. The 6th and 7th wear fighting very hard, so I close the gap and I received slipstream on the straight, but they went to the pit this lap. So from 8th to 4th because of my strategy. If feels good.

What I don't understand that people don't use the Hard Tyres and take the 20 seconds penalty.

 

[Mistah_MCA]

I wasn't in this race, but top split Nations for NA slot 1 was pretty funny. A certain someone wallriding and killing a few along the way, only to say something to the equivalent of "I don't care what you online kids think" LOL

Manufacturers was fun. I got a Viper into P2.

First, Hi Lamb.

Second, I was hearing about the wall riding happening in the other regions' races.. noped out of it for that reason.

 

[05XR8]

Watched the replay. It's amazing how I was in 20th for 16 minutes. Pitted twice and had a battle with a Cayman. Switching places until it finally pit around the 18 minute mark.
Moved up to 18th and the cars ahead were coming back to me. After all pit stops were done, the varying strategies came down to a last lap battle, for 8th through 16th, all decided in that final chicane to the finish line

Didn't realize I passed the pole sitter(spinning in the background). Also, I passed that SLS for 11th, but awarded 10th, as a car way ahead got a 20 second penalty!

Really enjoyed the long race. DT Seaside is not much of a DS4 fatigue circuit.

 

[xxPinkyKissxx]

Congratulations on your win in the group 4 NSX!! As someone that's also with Honda this season, this is very good to see.


Very nice top 10 qual. I encourage you to keep going with the series if you can. I too had my doubts about this exhibition season and rage quit during Interlagos after spinning out during qualifying. I certainly have a one way love affair with mid engined Gr3/4 cars. Promised myself that would be the last time I rage quit, no matter what. Sometimes that's much easier said than done. :-) Not happy with BMW?

Wouldn't say i'm unhappy with BMW but won't pick them again. Just wanted to have a season with the Z4 . Now i've calmed down i think last night was just down to poor pit strategy. Stayed on hards too long and had only been practicing in softs so didn't account for the lack of grip. I seem to be better at short races. Haven't finished higher than 10th in this new format and that was surprisingly at Nurburgring!

 

[watto79]

Welcome to the latest instalment of Nations Good Manufacturers Bad

Nations
Did not have high hopes for this race, but had a decent amount of practice and watched the strategy guides so hoped it would pan out okay. Managed to hook up a good flying lap and...... get my second ever FIA pole
Grid start was fine, cover the inside line on the approach to turn one and I was perhaps a little over confident, feeling chuffed with my positioning ..... as I watch my brake marker fly by. Literally into turn 1. Picked up the deserved 1.5s penalty, drop to 3rd and eventually drop to 5th after the penalty is served. At this point everything was fine until on lap 3 a wall rider catches up with me. He damn well near took me out and on a later lap did punt someone else into oblivion.
Duly pitted after lap 8 expecting everyone else to, only to see that I was the only one in the top half of the field to pit. Come out in 10th place and managed to get back up to 6th with my gripper tyres. Interestingly on the approach to finish line Mr Wallrider is coasting down the straight. Somehow they ran out of fuel. I didn't think that was even possible!? More than happy to take 5th from the cheating 🤬

Overall happy with 5th and it keeps up my ultra consistent Nations scoring. Again, it should have been higher but the undoing was all my fault. At least when you balls up from the lead you don't take anyone else out with you

Manufacturers
Only had time for the 10pm slot and being Gr.4 I really thought I had a chance at not terrible points. Unfortunately I get a disconnect before even getting to the lobby, so nil points. Screw staying up until "24:40" for the next race.

Final thought on Wall Riding Cheating Scumbags
In the aftermath of the race I felt pretty disheartened that some people were blatantly cheating and basically getting away with it. It really is a shame that there are people that think this is okay to do. However on reflection I do get that last night "Cheats did prosper", but there is no long term benefit to them from this one race. The one that finished 7th in this race (would have been 4th if they'd not run out of fuel) qualified I think 16th, so were quite far off the pace. If they have to cheat to be competitive, then they won't be competitive when they can't cheat and it seems that this track is a one off where wall riding could really pay off. Hopefully PD see what happened and do something like increase the penalty and/or move the penalty zone out of a braking zone and into an acceleration zone.

 

[GT5Power]

After a 3 race break, I came back for DTS II in the Gr.4 car, which I've come to love over the course of a season and a half. I was surprised by my pace here, so I had good expectations. The only thing I was uncertain about was the split I'd end up in, since my DR had never been higher prior to the race, and judging by the previous Gr.4 race, I was very likely to end up in top split.

Thankfully that wasn't the case, as this race seemed much more popular than the Fuji one. I was placed in second split for the first timeslot with #8 on my car. Qualifying started off well; I was purple on my banker lap up until the last corner, which I made a total mess of and lost 4 tenths I had to put in a good flying lap. Fortunately, the NSX who was on provisional pole was in front of me when I started my flyer and gave me a really nice tow. I posted a qualy lap of 1:45.643, which put my Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes 650S in P3 on the grid. A Jag with a 1:45.396 sat on pole, with a BMW in P2. The NSX qualified 5th but was promoted to 4th after a disconnection. I tried something kind of risky for my first stint and put on soft fronts and hard rears. It satisfied the hard tire requirement and was faster than hards only, but the car was quite a bit harder to drive.

The race started and the Jag on pole immediately ran away on softs. The BMW in front of me was on hards and kind of held me up for the majority of the lap, until he made a slip up coming out of the esses and allowed me to go around the outside on the next corner and take P2. The Jag was already 3.6 seconds up the road at the end of the lap. The BMW went into the pits, obviously getting rid of his hards early and 3-stopping. At that point I had a 5 car train behind me, consisting of a green RC F, a dark blue RC F, two NSXs (driven by a Spaniard and a Hungarian) and a Viper, all on softs, being held up by me on mixed compounds The RC Fs battled throughout lap 2, with the green one being firmly in my slipstream on the S/F straight. I didn't defend into turn 1 to avoid losing time, but that allowed the other Lexus to follow through and force me wide, letting the Spanish NSX overtake me, while the Viper got alongside. That demoted me to P6 as I backed off into the chicane of death. The dark blue Lexus proceeded to shove the NSX into the astroturf at the end of the esses, earning himself a 2 second penalty, and the Viper ran wide into the gravel just two corners later. So after a rollercoaster of a lap I was in P3 again The Jag in first place messed up the chicane of death on lap 4, losing his entire 4 second lead and P1 to the green Lexus. The Hungarian NSX finally overtook me after the chicane on lap 5 and the order stayed like that until I pitted for softs on lap 6, along with the Jag.

I came out in P8, behind an SLS and the BMW who had started in front of me. I made quick work of both of them on lap 7, since they were on worn tires, and hunted down a Vette who had stayed out. Meanwhile, the leading Lexus and the two NSXs pitted, and I was barely able to overtake the Hungarian through T1. The Vette got a poor run out of the chicane on his worn softs, so I passed him to get back into 3rd place. The Jag had undercut the green Lexus and recovered P1. The Lexus was on hards, so I quickly closed the gap to overtake for P2 into the final chicane on lap 9. He then ended his 2 lap stint on hards and put on softs to go to the end. That promoted the other Lexus to P3 and he was closing fast, but I put a second on him when the tire wear really kicked in. The Jag pitted from the lead on lap 11 and put on softs again, so I inherited the lead, and pitted for softs on the next lap with a 1.6 second advantage over P2.

I came out in P4, behind the Jag, Spanish NSX, and green Lexus, 7 seconds from the leader. The NSX driver made his second pitstop at the end of lap 14. Throughout laps 13 and 14, I cut into the 2.5 second deficit to the Lexus. I followed him closely through the chicane of death on lap 15, then sent it up the inside of the next corner to take P2. I thought that that was how we were going to finish, but it turned out that the Jag hadn't used the hards yet! He pitted for the third time at the end of the lap with 6L of fuel in the tank and emerged in P3. With the Lexus' softs dying, I was in the clear, and three laps later I crossed the finish line singing "Smooth Operator" to finally earn my first win in FIA!

2646 points will be hard to top! I also got a huge haul of DR from that race, going from 63830 to 65323. Overall, my evening couldn't have gone better!

 

[C_Raccoon23]

Had a good race in Manufactuerers last night. I qualified 2nd and despite a crash on lap 9, I managed to finish in 4th and jumped up to 3rd since the player ahead didn’t use the mandatory hard tires. I started on soft tires and went with the “Satan” tire strategy. Too bad there isn’t a Gr. 4 Diablo. Maybe then I would’ve won.

 

[SmokeyMR2]

Well, well, well... tonight's Manufacturers was a roller coaster ride in every sense of the word.

Entered the 19:20 slot alongside @SmokeyMR2 and @Ashthebash, where I was promptly ranked as the first seed (don't ask me how!). Compromised my first qualifying laps by following an NSX a little too closely, initially setting a personal best of 1:47.559 with my second. Improved to a 1:46.855 on fresh Softs, which was good enough for me to start 9th, just .993 off pole. Not quite close to the 1:46.517 I set in practice, but the Viper, once again, felt like it had good pace beneath it.

Great write up bud 👍 I was watching the battling going on behind and it looked intense alright.You did a good job to get ahead of them, I tried holding Jev_James in that McLaren but no chance he just had too much pace. Really enjoyed the race but glad to see the back of the death chicane for a while

Welcome to the latest instalment of Nations Good Manufacturers Bad

Final thought on Wall Riding Cheating Scumbags
In the aftermath of the race I felt pretty disheartened that some people were blatantly cheating and basically getting away with it. It really is a shame that there are people that think this is okay to do. However on reflection I do get that last night "Cheats did prosper", but there is no long term benefit to them from this one race. The one that finished 7th in this race (would have been 4th if they'd not run out of fuel) qualified I think 16th, so were quite far off the pace. If they have to cheat to be competitive, then they won't be competitive when they can't cheat and it seems that this track is a one off where wall riding could really pay off. Hopefully PD see what happened and do something like increase the penalty and/or move the penalty zone out of a braking zone and into an acceleration zone.

You set a hell of a lap in qualifying, I thought you were gonna take the win in the nations race. I saw that wall rider and first I just though it was my internet glitching him until I saw him do it 2 laps running. I don't care if he wants to cheat because as you say its only this track and I like to achieve my results on merit, I wouldn't feel any achievement doing what he did. I finished in 4th just ahead of you and laughed my arse off as we passed him just before the line

I was gutted when I saw you pit as I was hoping we could have bump drafted a bit and caught up with the top 3, then watched as you ate chunks out of the gap between us, one more lap you would have had me! Good racing bud, good fun. 👍

 

[pantherjag]

Another day of qualifying poorly but racing well however im giving myself to much to do in the race.

NATIONS

Qualified in 18th with a 2.04.3. Not a great time but not a disaster either however grid was super competitive. Half a second quicker which I could easily do would have put me 10th.

Spent first half of race mired in dirty air and lap times were in the 05s and 06s. Was just a mess really. Pitted lap 7 even though I knew the 1 stop was technically quicker but riskier as I wanted some free track.

Was 18th as excited pits but with clean air I found some rhythm and pace and put in high 03's and low 04s. Over last 5 laps gained 7 places to 11th as people gave up on the non stop and pitted or spun out on worn tyres so I think I got the strategy right as finished ahead of the drivers I was battling with post pit stop and was on the shirt tails of 8th, 9th and 10th at finish.

Not a great result but decided I'd take it and leave.

MANUFACTURERS

Another poor qualifying seen me line up 13th in the Citreon. Started on softs. Good start seen me upto 10th and on lap 7 pitted for hards. 4 laps later pitted again for another set of softs and went to the end with strong pace.

Good racing in this one and good respectful sensible driving from everyone I raced with. Finished 11th but only 5 seconds from 5th so again poor qauli hurt me I reckon.

Definitely got the race pace to compete at my DR(57k) but not the 1 lap pace. Dont know if it's my style or not as just cant seem to extract the maximum grip from the tyres when fresh.

Ah well was good fun so now onto the brands hatch double header

 

[stpatty]

Is something happening at Brands Hatch this weekend? Seems strange for them to have both races there at the same time otherwise.