Supercar Challenge - Ferrari Challenge Series - 348 Challenge Season
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Event No 3 : May 8th, 2010 - 20:00 GMT - Le Circuit Mont Tremblant - RACE RECAP
I want to thank everybody who participated in the third round of the Ferrari 348 Challenge Series from Mont Tremblant. We had a few new people join us today and a few of the regulars drop out for various reasons, primarily I suppose due to the one time change of this venue to Saturday instead of the regular Sunday. I want to express my appreciation for the nice clean racing and good sportsmanship. As usual, I had a lot of fun putting this event together and having only one track per weekend is a lot less hectic and dramatic from an organization stand point.
QUALIFYING: 2 laps - conditions 50% dry/wet chosen at random
I flipped a coin and tails meant it was wet qualifying for the first time this season. Much like with Montreal, I was able to set a nice clean lap in qualifying that put me up near the front of the pack.
1) - new_soul - UKOG - 1:44.71
2) - vompatti - ILRT - 1:45.17
3) - jjaisli Forza - G25 - 1:45.23
4) - MannyMoenJack1 - Jackrabit Racing - 1:47.14
5) - L449KUX - TheRacingElite - 1.49.54
6) - GTP_Hun - T L Team - 1:49.54
7) - SimcoeAce - Mad Dogs - 1:50.76
8) - tunrupdaheat - ScudEire - 1:53.79
9) - GTP_bullie77 - Lusitania Racing - 2:03.59
10) - Hairy-Dave - Time for Tea - 2:10.72
11) - Mhailwood - Steve Soper - RTD
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RACE 1 (Feature Race): - 20 Laps - Dry
I started the feature race 3rd on the grid. After a slightly dodgy start and some curb hopping, I managed to hold 3rd position, about a second back from Vompatti in 2nd and about half a second in front of Manny in 4th. It took me about 2-3 laps to build myself into a rhythm but from that point on, I felt comfortable and my laps were generally quick and consistent, slowly building in pace. From there until the first half of the race, it was pretty boring for me. At the start of lap 11, I found myself about 5 seconds back from vompatti (and for the last two laps, I had ever so slowly been eating into his lead) and holding station about 5 seconds in front of MHailwood, who by that point had gotten around Manny for 4th. On lap 9 I had set my personal best lap of the race, a 1:40.11 and I felt really in the zone. I began to think if I could hang on and keep pushing, I could possibly hold station and finish the race on the podium.
Sadly for me, it went downhill from there. At the start of lap 11, I ran wide at turn 5, the first left hander, and went bouncing over the curbs, half on, half off the track. I was lucky to escape, loosing only 2 & 1/2 seconds to Vompatti but it allowed MHailwood to close to less than 3 seconds. I pushed hard for the next lap and managed to hold the gap to the car in front and behind, but at the start of lap 12, I put a wheel on the curb on the triple apex right hander and wasn't able to brake in time and went off. I didn't hit anything and was able to ride across the grass and come back on the track, behind Manny. But the damage was done. From that point, I think it just had a traumatic effect on me and it completely shattered my confidence. For the next 5-6 laps, I struggled to find pace and consistency and in the process, I wasn't able to pull a single lap below 1:41 seconds, still slowly closing in on Manny but not being able to quite reel him in.
At the start of lap 16 I made almost exactly the same mistake I had on lap 11, putting a right front wheel over the curb on the triple apex right hander and not being able to brake in time as a result. This time I actually made slight contact with the tire barrier and by the time I was back on track, Manny was more than 8 seconds up the road and GTP_Hun barely 2 seconds behind me. I wanted to kick myself. From half way through the race, I had squandered a podium position and was now being challenged by the 6th place car. From that point, I put my head down, tried hard to focus and pushed. I knew Manny was slowing down and my last two laps were once again in the low 1:40s. But it was too little too late and I crossed the line about 5 seconds behind him with GTP_Hun about 20 odd seconds behind (I'm assuming he made few errors).
All in all, not a bad race and I managed, much to my surprise the 2nd fastest lap of the race. But I simply wasn't consistent enough to keep it together, fatigue, and pressure just getting the best of me.
Feature Race Results:
1) - new_soul - UKOG - 1:39.49 - 26
2) - vompatti - ILRT - 1:40.29 - 20
3) - Mhailwood - Steve Soper - 1:40.26 - 16
4) - MannyMoenjack1 - - Jackrabit Racing - 1:40.53 - 13
5) - jjaisli - Forza G25 - 1:40.11 - 11
6) - GTP_Hun - T & L Team - 1:41.11 - 10
7) - L449KUX - TheRacingElite - 1:41.53 - 9
8) - turnupdaheat - ScudEire - 1:41.56 - 8
9) - SimcoeAce - Mad Dogs - 1:44.41 - 7
10) - GTP_bullie77 - Lusitania Racing - 1:42.94 - 6
11) - Hairy-Dave - Time for Tea - 1:50.33 - 5
Total Race Time: 33 minutes, 36 seconds
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RACE 2 (Sprint Race): 15 Laps - Wet
The start of the (Wet) Sprint Race was a bit chaotic. I had a good start but didn't think I could safely get around Kux for 5th place so I held station. There was a chain reaction in the downhill portion of the long right hander. After reviewing the video, it appears as if turnupdaheat made slight contact into the back of SimcoeAce which pushed him wide, to the right side of the road. He seemed to momentarily lose control and came back on track and hit GTP_bullie77, who left the track to the left. Biggles, then seemed out of control and was coming back to the right. L449KUX took avoiding action to the right, cutting in front of me and I had no choice but to do the same. I hit Kux and bounced over the curbs which launched me back onto the track and It think I made contact with MHailwood who was passing me on the left, although it didn't seem to affect him much. After hitting MHailwood, I was then sent back to the right side of the track, just managing to avoid Kux who was getting back onto the track at that point. In the process, it allowed Manny and new_soul both to get around me and I found myself in 8th with vompatti close behind.
(For the record, no, I wouldn't have remembered this without looking at the video)
Coming into turn 7, it looked like Manny (on the outside) and new_soul (on the inside) touched. Manny went wide and I tried to sneak in up the inside. At that point I saw turnupdaheat on the right side of the track going much slower and I swerved a bit, possibly making contact with Manny who was just on my left rear quarter. So I apologize there if Manny thought I was trying to squeeze him. (It was all a bit chaotic at this moment).
Manny managed to get by late braking into the hairpin and drafted Biggles up the straight. I managed to get by Biggles going into turn 12, just under the bridge. From my view there was no contact but perhaps from his view I tapped him as he seemed to go a bit wide. If so I apologize.
Coming across the start finish line to begin my 2nd lap, I was in 5th place and seconds later saw new_soul off on the grass to the left while Manny and Kux duked it out. Manny pulled ahead and I myself managed to get by Kux after drafting him and out braking up the inside into turn 10.
At the start of Lap 3, I found myself in 3rd, about 3 seconds behind Manny and set about trying to reel him in. At least that was the plan. At one point, seeing that Vompatti had gotten by Kux, I don't know what I was thinking but I meant to look back and switched views by mistake. It really threw me and in the ensuing few seconds, I dropped about a further second behind Manny. And somehow, I just couldn't seem to make headway. I'd gain a few tenths here or there and then lose it again at another part of the track. For the next few laps I just couldn't seem to put down a really good laptime. Not bad, just not great. And in the meantime, I wasn't pulling Manny any close and Vompatti was slowly gaining on me.
At the start of lap six I nearly went off on the right hander and managed to save it without losing too much time. But the fact that Manny was pulling away and Vompatti gaining was aggravating me. On lap 7, I finally started putting it all together and managed to put in a good lap. I had little time to rejoice when I saw new_soul had just passed Vompatti behind me and knew he'd be gunning for me next. None-the-less, I was building a rhythm. At the start of lap 9, I had narrowed the gap to Manny to <2.5 seconds and new_soul wasn't eating into my lead too much. I was beginning to believe I was putting it together when I had a slight bobble going into turn 5. I lost maybe a second but it allowed new_soul a good run on me and he was able to draft me and attempted to outbrake me going into turn 10. My normal line going into that corner is to brake late, turn hard and cut but doing so would have chopped new_soul. So I had to turn a bit wider and braking as late as I did, I simply ran out of road and took to the grass. It was completely my fault but I just wasn't expecting new_soul to pass there and it through me off.
I tried hard to maintain control and get back on track while trying to determine where new_soul was. When I got back on the road I backed off allowing him to take me up the inside and then quickly tried to block vompatti from taking advantage of the situation by turning hard into the apex at turn 12 (under the bridge). The block was short lived. On lap 10, I had a bobble going into turn 7 and it allowed vompatti to sail by on the outside as I tried to maintain control. Somehow, in the last 2 minutes, things had all gone downhill, fast. And it was about to get worse.
I was close enough to vompatti that I had a good draft from him into turn 10 but I wasn't close enough to attempt a pass. But I was braking hard, locked up the brakes, thought for a second I was going to hit him and then lifted to try and avoid him. Needless to say, we all know what happens in this situation.
And so I began the painful trip across the grass once again, almost losing control in the process, but managing to make it back on the road in 5th place, in front of L449KUX in 6th, who was < 1 second behind going into turn 10.
From that point, I was angry at myself, fatigued, making silly mistakes and my confidence was pretty much shot. I could barely make headway on KUX. For 3 laps he trailed me, dangerously close. It was only during the last two laps that I finally started to gain my rhythm back and my last two laps were once again in the 1:44s. But as with the first race, it was too little, too late and I had to settle for double 5th place finishes.
None, the less, I had a good time during both races and enjoyed the action and the battle immensely
Sprint Race Results:
1) - Mhailwood - Steve Soper - 1:44.11 - 12
2) - new_soul - UKOG - 1:43.32 - 11
3) - vompatti - ILRT - 1:44.04 - 8
4) - MannyMoenjack1 - Jackrabit Racing - 1:44.63 - 6
5) - jjaisli - Forza G25 - 1:44.01 - 5
6) - L449KUX - TheRacingElite - 1:45.41 - 4
7) - SimcoeAce - Mad Dogs - 1:48.29 - 3
8) - GTP_bullie77 - Lusitania Racing - 1:47.73 - 2
9) - tunrupdaheat - ScudEire - 1:46.49 - 1
10) - Hairy-Dave - Time for Tea - 1:59.32 - 0
Total Race Time: 26 minutes, 25 seconds
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Final (combined) Results from Round 3:
1) - new_soul - UKOG - 37
2) - Mhailwood - Steve Soper - 28
2) - vompatti - ILRT - 28
4) - MannyMoenjack1 - Jackrabit Racing - 19
5) - jjaisli - Forza G25 - 16
6) - L449KUX - TheRacingElite - 13
7) - GTP_Hun - T L Team - 10
7) - SimcoeAce - Mad Dogs - 10
9) - turnupdaheat - ScudEire - 9
10) - GTP_bullie77 - Lusitania Racing - 8
11) - Hairy-Dave - Time for Teat - 5
As expected, new_soul & MHailwood showed their mettle with both incredible pace and great consistency. Vompatti, a newcomer to this game showed that he has what it takes to get dirty with the big boys, embarrassing the regular season runners in the process. Well done guys! And a special word of mention to Manny, who expressed his dislike of this track and yet managed to put in great lap times, making virtually no serious mistakes in the process and soundly beating me in both races! A word of thanks also to Hairy-Dave, who lacking the practice for this event, made an extraordinary effort to give way to the traffic lapping him. In general, everybody in the lobby deserves praise for running a very fair and 'professional' race.
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Points Standings after 3 rounds:
1) - new_soul - UKOG - 83
2) - mhm66 - Enzo - 71
3) - jjaisli - Forza G25 - 61
3) - Mhailwood - Steve Soper - 61
4) - MannyMoenjack1 - Jackrabit Racing - 59
5) - SimcoeAce - Mad Dogs - 38
6) - GTP_bullie77 - Lusitania Racing - 28
6) - vompatti - ILRT - 28
8) - L449KUX - TheRacingElite - 22
9) - frawe - Frawe - 21
10) - arvore - team tgv - 20
11) - GTP_Hun - T & L Team - 19
12) - drivatar - team forza - 11
13) - turnupdaheat - ScudEire - 9
14) - FINGERSANDTHUMBS - Creative - 7
15) - kemp1010 - MX - 5
16) - Hairy-Dave - Time for Tea - 5
After three rounds, new_soul takes over the lead in the points standings and a hard charging MHailwood is now even with me for 3rd (after missing the 1st round). But that can all change very quickly. Round 4 from VIR is coming up in two weeks. Hope to see you there!
it's like mechanical failures...
and next race is at Virginia, where it's gonna be a real nightmare for me...bad times
I was using the following setup to give me better Wet track performance:
Are you serious!!! And you're a wheel user? How can you drive like this? I tried it and my car was nearly impossible to control. It wants to turn so hard the biggest challenge is just driving straight.
