GTP WRS-Online : Special X - (Al)berto's Monza Adventure - Dec 2

[WRP001]

That's fine Wes. T-L just joined in the nick of time and we are full now.

 

[OZ]

Hey guys, sorry about this,but i messed up my driver change.
I accidently hit the button two early, then when i did a lap and went back to the pits I forgot to hit pause, so I had to go back again. I am going to check to make sure I did at least 5 min.

 

[Speedy6543]

This race was just pure awesomeness!

Great first couple of laps there with Mark and Jon. Had a wobble when the Zonda class came by and lost their draft.
As of then it was just trying to nail every lap as good as I could to try and make up for the lost time.

Came out of the pits for the last time on lap 58 right behind Jon and the battle for second was on. Tried my best to shake you but it certainly wasn't easy Jon. Even with you on halfway worn tyres and me on a fresh set. Some passing Zonda traffic helped me out there I think.

Also, the car losing power, starting slowly about halfway, needed a different drivingstyle which I seemed to have found with about 10-15 laps to go.

Let's just do this again next Sunday.

 

[AspecBob]

Great racing everyone!

I don't have much to report. I will first apologize to Kevin for that incident at the exit of Ascari on the first flying lap of the race. And you thought you were safe because you were starting at the back...

I came ill-prepared strategy-wise (as usual). I told myself I would improvise, do some computations on the fly... turns out my garage was the second one from the pit entrance, so I had no time whatsoever to compute anything

Almost forgot to pit once, as I was watching that battle between Speedy and Jon from my first row seat and was just captivated by it!

I'll do some driver change simulation checks right away. I'll start with n0iZe, StraffeStef and EDK.

 

[Speedy6543]

If anybody wants to have a look at the Livestream again, it's here and it's 'saved forever'.

 

[PASM]

If anybody wants to have a look at the Livestream again, it's here and it's 'saved forever'.

Watch Watch Watching

👍 Christophe

EDIT: It's a shame the video lacks a bit of framerate and has an irritating rumble to the audio

 

[Hydro]

Driver change verifications:
GTP_Litchi 👍
GTP_WRP001 👍



Just quote this message and add whomever's stop you've verified.

 

[mcfizzle]

I won't be able to check replays four another four hours or so. My stop was around 1 hour 23 minutes on the timer.

 

[AspecBob]

Driver change verifications:
GTP_Litchi 👍
GTP_WRP001 👍
GTP_EDK 👍
GTP_StraffeStef 👍
GTP_n0iZe 👍


Just quote this message and add whomever's stop you've verified.

 

[WRP001]

Here are the preliminary results. Need # of laps and driver change verification before this becomes official. Off to watch some football and fried.

Congratz Mohit and T-L.

Really glad everyone got to run the full event with no DC's, that's pretty remarkable! 👍

 

[Hydro]

The no DC's is a miracle in my book!
My braking into the second chicane... not so much Minor taps to Tim, Gooners and Litchi. Nothing big and no time was lost, but not something I'm normally guilty of :for-shame:
And of course a full on missed brake point sideswipe of Speedy in turn 1 - again nothing serious, but I'm sure it gave Speedy quite a shock

I was looking at a small group of Ferrari's early in the race and decided to pit ahead of schedule to avoid them but forgot that the car can make 15+ laps and it wound up costing me an extra pitstop - ironically, when I left the pit for my first stop I accidentally shifted to 1st and spun in the exit of turn 1 negating any time saved by avoiding the Ferrari's in the first place

Congrats to Mohit and Mark for the wins 👍 Great racing guys!

Edit: Nice job dodging my spin in Ascari Bernie 👍

 

[Litchi]

Driver change verifications:
GTP_Litchi 👍
GTP_WRP001 👍
GTP_EDK 👍
GTP_StraffeStef 👍
GTP_n0iZe 👍
GTP_gooners_17 👍


Just quote this message and add whomever's stop you've verified.

 

[OZ]

Driver change verifications:
GTP_Litchi 👍
GTP_WRP001 👍
GTP_EDK 👍
GTP_StraffeStef 👍
GTP_n0iZe 👍
GTP_gooners_17 👍
GTP_mcfizzle:tup:
GTP_Allibubba99:tup:
GTP_Racingworld:tup:
GTP_otxjto 👍

Just quote this message and add whomever's stop you've verified.

 

[Hydro]

I updated the list in your post Joe.
Between your stops, and re-tries at pitting I lost track of the 5 minute count, but I think you've punished yourself more than enough

 

[OZ]

Thanks Mark.👍 I was having a great time till then, took me about 15 laps to quit swearing at myself.
But I did check to make sure I was covered.
At the end of lap 34, I pitted and only stayed in for 3'00 (when I hit the controller). Then on lap 35, I went back in the pit and thought I hit start but didn't, so on lap 36, I pitted again and stayed in another 3'00 (because I wasn't sure how long I needed).

On a better note, I want to thank everyone involved in putting these races together, there great! Cant wait till the next one!

 

[AspecBob]

^True! The WRS-OE team is a finely tuned machine 👍

 

[Hydro]

That's some severe honesty there Joe 👍
If Anyone ever claims GTP_ drivers to be dishonest in any way I'm directing them straight to you for some 'straightening out'

 

[Allibubba99]

I was wondering what happened to you Joe. We were having such a great battle!!! I had three offs during the race but during 2 of them I could not get my transmission out of reverse. I was devastated, the offs would only have cost me a fraction of the time had I been able to go forward! I believe I could have stayed on the lead lap! I don't know if I hit my clutch (Logitech G27) by mistake or what? Anyone have this happen to them before?

This was so much fun! Creating it was half the fun but watching all of you have a great time was even more pleasing to me! It was worth the effort! Thank you again to the 3D3/WRS crew for helping put this together. Congratulations to both sets of podium winners and to everyone that participated. I look forward to another brain storming session and hope that I can come up with another idea for a fun weekend of racing!

Sorry I have not helped out with the pitstop checks, I was busy collecting over 50 photos that will be coming to your computer screen soon!

Thanks again everyone!

Al

P.S. Sorry for a few bumps out there, passing other cars is new to me!!!!!

 

[Mamba]

Looks like you guys had a good race there, sorry couldn't join in but midnight to 2:30 am on Sunday just couldn't work for me especially with work the next day. I'll try and do more weekly races as I def need to harden the nerves a bit

 

[Speedy6543]

EDIT: It's a shame the video lacks a bit of framerate and has an irritating rumble to the audio

Yes, I know. That's all because I'm a non-paying user.
I'm thinking to maybe go Premium just to notice the differences using the end of year action which will give me a couple months of premium.

 

[snowgt]

Great race everyone! Was involved with the leading 3 guys in GT class early on, but had trouble finding any sort of rhythm in the draft, so I held back a little to find it. By then, those three were gone though. Noize and I swapped positions back and forth once, and then, that was the last I saw of my direct opponents. I had decided to do a 2-stopper - apparently exactly the same strategy as JTV, 1st stop minute 46, then leaving the 2nd one as late as possible. Came in at 1 hour 29, and 1 minute for refuelling and 5 minutes for driver change later I was already on my last stint (49 minutes). I thought I might maybe be seeing Speedy again later on as he was on one stop more (I think), but that wasn't to be as I was just a little too slow.

I must say, I have a new-found respect for multi-class racers, as all the challenges that come with it sort of present themselves during such a race.

I began looking out to where the leading Zondas were very early, and kept checking the course-map and the time differences to be prepared, only to be surprised at how fast the first one actually appeared suddenly, and seemingly, out of nowhere. Mohit passed me late before Ascari and pulled to the driving line, so I thought "brake early", which I did, only to discover that the Zondas apparently are slower in the braking zone than the Ferraris, a fact that I didn't know about, because I had missed all support races due to time constraints. I still made the corner, but touched Mohit slightly - his rear was wobbling through the first part of Ascari because of it and I literally wanted to keep it straight with my hands so he wouldn't go off. Luckily he managed to continue unscathed and to win it in the end. Made a mark to myself to brake even earlier behind Zondas, and that worked until the end of the race.

Other classic encounters in such a race were a) a Zonda passing me just before the second chicane, only for me to discover on turning in that there had been a second Zonda on its tail (I couldn't see it on the course-map, because they were too close and I was busy trying to stay away from the first Zonda), and b) lapping another Ferrari in the run-down to Parabolica and just at the very moment I'm pulling out, Tim's Zonda was trying to lap me, which resulted in a slight nudge, but luckily noone went off. I was simply too concentrated on the car ahead to notice his Zonda approaching fast.

Again, great race everyone, congrats to the podiums, and that we had 16 drivers finishing the race after two and a half hours is amazing!

 

[PASM]

Yes, I know. That's all because I'm a non-paying user.
I'm thinking to maybe go Premium just to notice the differences using the end of year action which will give me a couple months of premium.

I watched the first 30 minutes of your race. I'm impressed! Very nice battle with Mark and Jon 👍 Very close each time on the brakes and good overtaking. Were you bumping Mark to keep you both clear of Jon on one or two laps? After 30 minutes (around the time the first Paganis came round) the framerate dropped to about 10 fps with random hickups of about 0,5-1 second, so I stopped watching. I dont want you to feel pressured into upgrading to premium though! The fact that we can even watch your races live and rewatch it is awesome

Congrats to all the finishers and especially the guys on the podiums. Great to see 16 cars making it to the finish without connection troubles 👍

 

[Speedy6543]

I watched the first 30 minutes of your race. I'm impressed! Very nice battle with Mark and Jon 👍 Very close each time on the brakes and good overtaking.

Thanks!

Were you bumping Mark to keep you both clear of Jon on one or two laps?

It came to mind. But the draft was just too strong.

After 30 minutes (around the time the first Paganis came round) the framerate dropped to about 10 fps with random hickups of about 0,5-1 second, so I stopped watching. I dont want you to feel pressured into upgrading to premium though! The fact that we can even watch your races live and rewatch it is awesome

I was already thinking about trying it out. Current actions are 14,95 USD for 3 months premium. Just to see the difference.

 

[WRP001]

...and b) lapping another Ferrari in the run-down to Parabolica and just at the very moment I'm pulling out, Tim's Zonda was trying to lap me, which resulted in a slight nudge, but luckily noone went off. I was simply too concentrated on the car ahead to notice his Zonda approaching fast.

Yes, that was a scary moment and I was glad neither you or the guy you were passing (n0ize) went off because of the contact. You were drafting another Ferrari coming out of Ascari and I was drafting you. I went to make the pass and just as I got to your bumper you made the pass and I went wider, but there was just no track left and I caught grass on the right, but brought it back on track where some contact was made. Once on tarmac I was fairly safe on the inside, but I watched my mirror as both of you went wide, but to my relief you both kept it on the tarmac through parabolica. That was a close one and I think just bad timing all around. Do you remember about what lap that took place? I'd like to go have a look at it again.

There was a time where I was lapping Frank in his Zonda, but he was tangling with a Ferrari car and I came up on them very fast, unexpectedly fast and dove to the inside going into chicane 2... ended up completely overshooting it to avoid a mess and parked for a couple secs and let both the Ferrari and Zonda by before I resumed.

My biggest incident of course was my pathetic punt of Litchi while he was in the lead and I was second. Sent him into the sand trap at Ascari and it took him a while to recover... maybe 15 seconds lost by him. I waited and even when he released I still had crud on my tires and almost lost it twice trying to get up to speed and I ended up 20+ seconds behind gooners. That incident cost me a chance at the win... who knows how it would have played out otherwise, but it would have been more interesting in those final laps.

I was really glad to see Litchi fight back to the lead at the end... after my punt I was cheering for him to win and sorry when he ran out of fuel on the final turn of the final lap. Both gooners and I ended up with quite a bit of fuel left (probably 10-12+ seconds worth) and Litchi's fuel strategy almost got him the win, but he was probably 1-2L short. I saw him slow the last 1.5 laps significantly (didn't realize he was saving fuel) and my gap was going down very quickly, but needed a few more laps with my fresh tires to cut into gooners lead once he passed Litchi.

At the start of the race I was content just staying in 3rd. Took a few laps to lose Scott and my goal was just to stay in touch with Litchi and gooners. I wasn't in any rush to pass or mix it up with them as they were driving very hard. I was saving my stuff and barely using my tires and staying about 1.5-2.0 seconds behind. I planned on short pitting them anyway so why pass. Well, then they really started battling and one would fight the other through every chicane and I was gaining time. Gooners overshot the first chicane and had to wait for Litchi to pass and I really had no choice but to brake myself or follow Litchi and I wasn't about to stop so I got between them. Honestly, the last place I wanted to be. But I figured at that point it would work in my favor if I could get to lap 13 and be with them or at that point given there battle in front of them and thus short pitting them would be that much easier. A couple laps later I was between them going into Ascari and watching my mirror to see where exactly gooners was when I missed my "draft-adjusted" brake point into ascari... I think I ended up breaking just before my normal brake point, which wasn't nearly enough and immediately knew there was going to be trouble... I tried to hold it to the right, knowing I was sand bound and hoping Litchi would dive into the turn in time, but I caught him almost broad side with a thud and pushed him into the kitty litter letting gooners escape without a scratch. Sorry again Litchi.

After that incident I ran a very clean race and knocked off time constantly through the race and ran low 39 to high 38 before the power level started to drop... although it was hard to tell at times how I was doing given the differing pit strategies and pit pauses. I was in the lead at times, but never in a position to try and extend my stints because of fuel.

I still don't understand how we did 83 laps in Frank's test race last Friday and only 80 laps in this race. That threw off my calculations. I'm guessing it was due to more traffic and a much longer formation lap?

If you guys want to send me a PM with the # of pit stops you made I'll update the database. Stewards, you can enter directly in the document.

 

[snowgt]

Yes, that was a scary moment and I was glad neither you or the guy you were passing (n0ize) went off because of the contact. You were drafting another Ferrari coming out of Ascari and I was drafting you. I went to make the pass and just as I got to your bumper you made the pass and I went wider, but there was just no track left and I caught grass on the right, but brought it back on track where some contact was made. Once on tarmac I was fairly safe on the inside, but I watched my mirror as both of you went wide, but to my relief you both kept it on the tarmac through parabolica. That was a close one and I think just bad timing all around. Do you remember about what lap that took place? I'd like to go have a look at it again.

I think it actually was Stef I was lapping.

My laps or your laps? Quite a difference there...

To be honest, I have no clue either way, I only looked at the race clock. It must have been rather close to the end though, maybe 15 minutes before checkered flag...?

 

[Litchi]

Well, this race was certainly the most intense in my GT5 life...
I'm not used to write very long race report. This is especially due to my native language, which isn't english... But for this one, i'll give it a try (with my poor vocabulary, sorry in advance)

So the race started as i planned, i mean a battle with Mohit instantly from the start line. Oh god i love that! We both quickly managed to create a little gap with Tim. But I know Tim consistent and focused so at this time, i knew it was the time to stop battling with Mohit and start to push hard for 4-5 laps and hope for a mistake from him. But i failed to do. I pushed hard, yea, but he managed to follow me very well 👍 . So we still battling and it was to the Tim's advantage who managed to close the gap and take the 2nd place, just behind me. Dunno what happened in his mind (maybe the stress to be 2nd) but he missed his braking point at Ascari and pushed me off in the sand, giving to Mohit a chance for the win. I don't blame you at all Tim, we are racers, not robots. Everyone can make a mistake, so no worry mate. Plus you waited for me but you shouldn't. Indeed, you were also in the sand, like me, which was already your "penalty", so no need to wait more than you should. In real life, guys will not wait for you like that if you're pushed off man...

Well I lost 15 secs here so it was the time for me to push hard until the finish line now. I did. I was on a 4 pits strategy* (every 25-30mn) and i was scared to see Mohit doing exactly the same (scared cause this strategy was the best one imo). At this time, i knew that the only way to catch him was to run very consistent and fast laps and doing good in traffic. By the way, i think i afraid some guys in Ferraris when I overtaken them, sorry for that guys.

I chosen to do my driver change at 1h25 around, time for me to smoke a cig and drink a Coca Cola . I was 20 secs behind Mohit after the driver change if I remember correctly and i managed to catch a bit, lap after lap, taking the traffic in my favor.

1h58 - Last pit now. For information I had the last box in the pits. Means that my car stop directly in the box when enter in the pit lane and the tire / fuel options screen come after this. That penalized me a lot i think 'cause i had not all my time for choose appropriate fuel liters, i had to do like if i was blind very quick and click of for let the little bobs start the job.

Was surprised to see that my gap with Mohit was only 6 secs now. At this time, i knew i could win the race, so i pushed harder. I quickly closed the gap and we started to battling again. See 2 Zondas batting like that in the traffic was awesome, really awesome. But Mohit made a mistake at this time so i had the win in my hands...until...the last lap. I unfortunately was out of fuel in the last corner.


Drive the Zonda was really a great challenge for me. But i like challenges. I spent a long time to tune my car accordingly to my driving style. I was surprised to keep the pace and manage my tires like i did.

This event was really AWESOME. Thanks to all 3D3 organizers!

*For your database, me and Mohit done 4 pits.

 

[WRP001]

Well, this race was certainly the most intense in my GT5 life...
I'm not used to write very long race report. This is especially due to my native language, which isn't english... But for this one, i'll give it a try (with my poor vocabulary, sorry in advance)

So the race started as i planned, i mean a battle with Mohit instantly from the start line. Oh god i love that! We both quickly managed to create a little gap with Tim. But I know Tim consistent and focused so at this time, i knew it was the time to stop battling with Mohit and start to push hard for 4-5 laps and hope for a mistake from him. But i failed to do. I pushed hard, yea, but he managed to follow me very well 👍 . So we still battling and it was to the Tim's advantage who managed to close the gap and take the 2nd place, just behind me. Dunno what happened in his mind (maybe the stress to be 2nd) but he missed his braking point at Ascari and pushed me off in the sand, giving to Mohit a chance for the win. I don't blame you at all Tim, we are racers, not robots. Everyone can make a mistake, so no worry mate. Plus you waited for me but you shouldn't. Indeed, you were also in the sand, like me, which was already your "penalty", so no need to wait more than you should. In real life, guys will not wait for you like that if you're pushed off man...

Well I lost 15 secs here so it was the time for me to push hard until the finish line now. I did. I was on a 4 pits strategy* (every 25-30mn) and i was scared to see Mohit doing exactly the same (scared cause this strategy was the best one imo). At this time, i knew that the only way to catch him was to run very consistent and fast laps and doing good in traffic. By the way, i think i afraid some guys in Ferraris when I overtaken them, sorry for that guys.

I chosen to do my driver change at 1h25 around, time for me to smoke a cig and drink a Coca Cola . I was 20 secs behind Mohit after the driver change if I remember correctly and i managed to catch a bit, lap after lap, taking the traffic in my favor.

1h58 - Last pit now. For information I had the last box in the pits. Means that my car stop directly in the box when enter in the pit lane and the tire / fuel options screen come after this. That penalized me a lot i think 'cause i had not all my time for choose appropriate fuel liters, i had to do like if i was blind very quick and click of for let the little bobs start the job.

Was surprised to see that my gap with Mohit was only 6 secs now. At this time, i knew i could win the race, so i pushed harder. I quickly closed the gap and we started to battling again. See 2 Zondas batting like that in the traffic was awesome, really awesome. But Mohit made a mistake at this time so i had the win in my hands...until...the last lap. I unfortunately was out of fuel in the last corner.


Drive the Zonda was really a great challenge for me. But i like challenges. I spent a long time to tune my car accordingly to my driving style. I was surprised to keep the pace and manage my tires like i did.

This event was really AWESOME. Thanks to all 3D3 organizers!

*For your database, me and Mohit done 4 pits.

Litchi, we require that the driver who initiates the contact wait *no matter what*. From the OLR:

If there’s contact between drivers that results in the guilty driver making up places on the innocent driver, the guilty driver should immediately allow the innocent driver to pass freely to re-establish their position. This rule should be observed, even if it means the guilty driver has to allow drivers not involved in the incident to pass while waiting for the driver they contacted.

I'm not sure what series do that have heavy damage where the guy initiating contact gets away with less damage and the impacted driver has to pits. We haven't run heavy damage (and we don't plan to) so we just have to wait for recovery and then proceed after giving back the position.

In 96 races I've run in this series this is only the 2nd time I remember having to wait for another driver because of contact initiated by me. Pekka and I came together once at Daytona Road Course and I waited for him... he ended up winning that event BTW and I thought you were going to win also. There have obviously been taps and bumps, I'm definitely not a robot, but usually I error on the side of caution rather than drive too close... this was just pure judgement error and getting caught looking in my mirror.

I'm not sure 4 pits was faster than 5 pits. It was very close according to my calculations with 5 pits and the shorter stints meaning you could usually take on Ferrari drivers with better tires and get by them quicker. But the timing of reaching the Ferrari drivers was the biggest factor... Get them coming out of parabolica and they actually gain you time. Reach them exiting the 2nd chicane and you can lose 1 second in a single sector. Get behind two running side by side and you could lose 3 seconds in one lap. A bit of a crap shoot. The other advantage of short planned stints is you can extend any one of those stints to avoid traffic and make up for it easily. I could run anywhere from 13-17 laps so I could manage traffic... I stayed out an extra lap a couple times with free track in front of me. I also dove in one a lap early because I was coming up on a slower Zonda driver and I knew the next lap was going to be impacted by at least 2-3 secs. If you are pushing the limits with 4 pits you don't always have that same flexibility.

Also, remember with one extra stop I got 15L additional free fuel = 9 seconds. So I only had to make up about ~21 seconds in the 80 laps and I could run on lighter fuel for most of my stints and mostly on good tires. If you take off our incident early and take off gooners spin at the end I think we were pretty close to dead even in terms of time.

Let's just do it again to find out.

 

[jtv90069]

Firstly Congrats to Mohit and Mark for the wins, and to everyone else for completing the race 👍

My race started amazingly well, I passed Noize and Snowcrash in the first 3 laps to take 3rd, and quickly caught the draft of Speedy & T-L. Content to stay where I was for a while, conserve tyres & fuel and watch the show I stayed close but didn't get involved.
By lap 8 I felt I could push things along a bit, so I sat right on Speedy's tail down the main straight and we both went past T-L, got a great run out of Ascari and got alongside Speedy, went side by side through parabolica then drag raced down the straight with the inside line into the chicane. However Chris outbraked me and kept the lead for a little while longer the next lap I drafted him down the straight and made the pass to take the lead

Trying to push hard while 2 cars are on your bumper and having the Zondas start coming through made things very interesting and I was sliding around a bit which didn't help the lap times at all . After Speedy's error I calmed down a bit increased my speed a little(less sliding) and was passed by T-L. Once again I decided to just sit where I was and take it easy until Mark pitted.

43 minutes in I pitted from the lead and dropped back to 3rd as expected, took some time to get my new tyre rhythm and start doing consistent mid 1'47's again. I caught then passed Speedy shortly before he went in for his 2nd stop and then was all alone and miles in front for about 20 minutes.

1hr 28 minutes in I pitted and was all ready for my 5 minute break but I forgot to press start and was spat back out on track much too soon, so back in I went the next lap for my driver change.

Back in 3rd by a large margin when I re-entered the track, did ok laps as I was trying to adjust my braking for less power & speed. With half an hour to go I just passed Chris into the 1st chicane as he left the pit, I tried as best I could to firstly keep him behind then to stay in touch but to no avail, eventually losing his draft then finding the sand.

A simple cruise to the finish and 3rd place from there.

Great event Al, thoroughly enjoyed it all 👍

 

[jtv90069]

Remaining Driver Change Check
GTP_ASpecBob 👍
GTP_SnowCrash 👍
GTP_Speedy6543 👍
GTP_T-L 👍
GTP_Hydro 👍

Thanks for the check Tim 👍

 

[WRP001]

Driver Change Check:

GTP_JTV 👍

I also watched and filled in the remaining number of pits stops:

Let me know if I made any mistakes.