Race Results & Recap
And so, the last of the Old Timer races has come and gone and it's time to put the rubber stamp on this event, and the series in general. Although this event in itself went out with a whimper rather than a bang, some of the racing was truly spectacular (take a look at the battle between Henrik and new_soul in hm66's Vallelunga 1 & 2 videos). Throughout the course of the weekend, I had been having a lot of problems with the PSN network (randomly getting kicked out, being able to connect to the internet but not sign into the PSN, etc). Although there's no way to tell if this was the reason for the extended problems in the lobby, one can only guess. We had so many disconnects and lobby issues in general, that we even switched hosts, and I would like to thank Hun200kmh for generously volunteering to take over the hosting duties.
(Besides, it gave him a chance to promote SSV8:NC 
)
I should take this moment to apologize for my lack of organization compared to past events. Between a problem with my still camera (I had the wrong mode selected and all the pictures of the results screens were blurry). As such I don't have the list of laps times, race length, etc, and as I have not even been able to watch my own videos all the way through, my recap of the event will be brief. Again, my appreciation to Henrik for posting the results above along with confirmation of fastest laps all belonging to new_soul (well done new_soul).
My review will be brief.
Mont Tremblant: I had a decent qualifying for once and started 2nd, next to hm66. I had a decent start and didn't lose or gain position. Henrik seemed to be struggling a bit on his 2nd lap and it allowed me to close up on him on the back straight. It was risky but I made a very late braking pass on him and it stuck. We had a good dice for a few laps but on lap 5 I put a wheel onto the grass on the big sweeping right hander and it simply launched me off the track.
Fortunately, I was able to recover quickly and just managed to join the track in front of new_soul, who I believe went off (?) about a lap later. Another slight mistake from Henrik had me back in the lead again, which I managed to barely hold onto until lap 13 when disaster struck. Under enormous pressure from hm66, who was clearly faster than me at this point, I left my braking just a fraction too late for the left hander leading up to the bridge, carried too much speed and understeered off the track. I thought I would get back on and slot behind Henrik but when I clipped the wall it launched me violently back onto the track and I hit Henrik. At that point, I could see new_soul and Ghost_Yelo coming and I tried hard to get off the track but they were too close and we all made contact (sorry about that). From that point, my pace was slower than new_soul's and about even with Ghost_Yelos and there was no way I could catch them in the 3 laps remaining so I had to settle for 4th. Great racing while it lasted.
Vallelunga: This race was disaster 1 for me. I had a red qualifying lap and started near the back. On lap one around the first big sweeper, people started braking earlier than I anticipated and I was scared I was going to ram the car in front. I locked the brakes and understeered right off the track. From that point on until the end of the race, I made so many mistakes and driving errors, I can't even remember. I know at one point, I had passed Frawe on the infield straight and totally missed my braking point. And I think once I spun over 360* behind Drivatar and had to spend 2-3 laps just catching up to him again. Perhaps the pressure just got to me but then...there was Miami.
Miami: Although another red qualifying had me in the back 1/4 of the field, I had a reasonable start and figured a few people might go off on the entry into the infield complex. I think I was able to make up two positions here and things were going well until the back straight before rejoining the oval. Frawe braked earlier than I anticipated and I hit him from behind. I didn't think the hit was that hard but I knocked him clear off the track. So I immediately left the track myself and waited for him to rejoin, and followed him back onto the course in last (Sorry Frawe). From there, the race is a blur and I'll have to check the videos for more evidence (and blunders).
Spa: I had a great time at Spa. Frawe tried the Schumacher chop on me at the start
but I managed to get away. From there it was a drafting game down the kemmel. From memory, two cars overshot the braking zone and Hun200kmh made a sloppy pass into Les Combs to take the lead.
I was able to stay close behind him for several corners but while looking backwards just after Pouhon, I put a wheel off the track and NEARLY lost it, allowing Turnupdaheat to get by. Two corners later, they both went a bit wide and I was able to take advantage (hopefully not running Derek too wide). From that point on, I was able to maintain the lead for many laps, even holding off a very hard charging pair of Henrik and new_soul, who in fairness, were probably taking more time off each other in their battle. When they finally got passed (lap 10?), I was surprised and impressed that I managed to keep my foot in this battle for nearly two laps. But trying to push, push, push and keep up with these two Aces takes a toll. I had 3 laps all in the 2.26 range which was really my personal limit and when I finally made a small error and lost 0.5, more of those small mistakes followed and soon the gap was >4 seconds and effectively out of reach, unless one of them committed a major error (which they didn't). At one point (lap 13?) I realized that Turnupdaheat had slowly been taking advantage of my exhausted state and was putting down some impressive laps. At one point, I saw he was cutting into my lead at an alarming rate and realized he must have gone off track. With the gap between us then >5 seconds, and the gap to the battle in front >5 seconds, I eased off a bit. And when I tried to push for the last two laps and improve my time, I ended up getting red laps or losing time.
So I had two reasonably good races (although an unforced error at Mont Tremblant cost me dearly) and two awful races to balance it out.
Thanks again for everybody who took part, and especially Henrik for his videos, Mario for hosting, and everybody who entered this event for their patience and more importantly, their good sportsmanship. It's been a pleasure putting this event together and racing against the lot of you. But now it's time for me to take a small break. Depending on how things go, I'll do my best to host the Ferrari Challenge series, starting sometime in April.
I'll post videos as soon as I get a chance.
rSt01NeR
Great battle while it lasted though.
I do not remember the rest of the race very clearly (a few beers along the way didn't help 
and we really talk to much and spend too much time between races 
but the truth is less ... how shall I put it ... flamboyant! 
