12 PM EDT - Run the 25 minute official practice/qualifying for the one hour race.
12:30 PM EDT - Run the 3 lap qualifying for the sprint race.
12:40 PM EDT - Run the 4 lap sprint race.
12:55 PM EDT - Bio break / Sort the field (per the qualification results) for the main event.
1:00 PM EDT - One hour main event.
Why do this? One reason -- anyone who crashes out 10 minutes into the hour race will not have to sit and wait for the sprint quali and race.
We should be done on time or shortly after.
IMPORTANT! Reboot your router, modem, computer, etc. before joining the server on Sunday. Le Mans is a big track and chews up system memory. The game server itself will be rebooted INCLUDING Teamspeak 15 minutes before 12 PM EDT.
Registered: 09/05/07
Posts: 2311
Loc: Victoria, Australia
Praise be to God!
Sprint Qualifying & Race
I managed to bang out a pretty good lap with a 3:25 flat and grab pole position.
Even though Pumba started last he was able to make his way up to 1st by the exit of the Mulsanne corner, I was right behind him but he misjudged his braking point and hit the brakes early, I had nowhere to go and hit him from behind. I hit the outside wall but was able to keep it straight and just made Indianapolis, slotting in behind Rob. I had lost some top end speed and the steering was a bit wonky, but not too bad.
I drafted Rob on the 2nd lap going down the Mulsanne and was able to get side by side with him and we took the Kink together and also the bump, I was on the inside and managed to out brake him into the corner but he over took me on the short straight. He then made a mistake at Arnage and I retook the lead. Pumba was closing in fast but he made a mistake on the penultimate lap going into the final chicane which handed me an easy and surprising victory.
60 Minute Qualifying & Race
I set my best time with a 3:24.8, completely on the limit, and thought I had a chance at pole position. But then Pumbaa put in a 3:24.2 which dashed all my hopes.
The race start was intense. Both myself and Rob out braked Pumba into the Mulsanne corner and then I tried to box him in behind us so that he couldn't use his superior speed to pass, and it worked. I led the first lap and tried to do the same thing on the 2nd lap but Rob and I weren't close enough and it was time to let Pumba go. I tried to stay on him as I knew the only way to victory was to pressure him into making a mistake, but I ended up pushing too hard and scraping the wall before Indianapolis, but it was no big deal, no speed lost and was about 3 seconds behind him.
I had to start focusing on getting in some clean and fast laps to stay with him, as I no longer had the slipstream to take advantage of. Slowly my times starting come down until I was doing 3.25s every lap until the pit stops - I was in the groove.
I had brought down the gap by 1 second as we both went into the pits. I saw a car exit while I was still refueling (no tyres of course) and thought "Whatt??? How fast does he refuel??" but then when I pulled out of my box I saw him in my mirrors - it was Saghen that had left earlier (paint job looks similar) - and I had come out in the lead!
It was a small lead so I knew I just had to keep the pressure up. I managed to stay on the limit for the next couple of laps and keep him behind me though he had managed to catch me on the pit straight. I stayed right going into the corner but drifted out to the outside line so he had to go right, I stayed left for the corner and managed to prolong the inevitable. He passed me on the Mulsanne straight as I got the draft, it was difficult to stay with that as it was cooking my engine, so I had to moderate it. Coming out of the Mulsanne corner we lapped Doug which almost ended in disaster for Pumba, but he kept it together and I kept the pressure on going into Indianapolis. I stayed on the inside to try and put him off and it worked, he tried to cover me but lost the car and spun, giving me the lead.
There was really no point in passing Pumba at the Mulsanne corner or at Indianapolis, because he would just out drag me to the next corner, but it was just to annoy him enough to hopefully make a mistake, and it paid off today.
The next few laps were crucial, I had a 10 second lead and had great pace, surely it was an easy win from here with only 4 and a half laps to go. But I started tightening up, in one lap I brushed or hit the wall 3 times, losing 5 seconds and 4kph off my top speed in the process. It wasn't looking good and I was very disappointed in myself. Thankfully I managed to pull it together and just hold on until the checkered flag for a very unlikely victory!
It honestly did not feel like it was an hour race, because it was so close the entire time with some great, intense racing! Congratulations to all class winners and podiums!
And thank you Doug for hosting this series, wish it didn't have to end so soon...
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Registered: 10/21/11
Posts: 417
Loc: Poitiers, France
Very cool videos there Ahmad ! Lovely shots from Colonel's one I'd probably often make race vids if I can bring my home PC from parents home to where I live ; I only had 4 days to make vids and as I had this in my heads for several weeks AND a Indy 100 vid to do, no time left ... and free disk space :P Indy 100 vid under edition atm, got the heavy 110GB video files here for editing !
Race report then ...
Just taking the laptop off the wallet at 6 past 5, jumping in the server for immediate qualifying, I couldn't do my best - almost did but I had a spin on last chicane. Got P8 right behind Darren. Sprint quali went much better, with a 3:36.2 - my best so far, 0.2 down Darren's 25-minute-qualifying lap.
Sprint race was ... well a one-lap fury. 3 laps where Darren has his nose stuck on my exhaust. Final lap : he passed me in the Hunaudières, I tried to take it back at Mulsanne on the outside, almost did but almost lost the track throttling with 2 wheels in the grass ! Slipstream helped me, I made the move on the slight right turn before Indianapolis, putting my car right in front of him ! Braking point, and BANG ! we hit. Looong slide in the grass, then small hit with the wall for both of us - but I was facing the track, he wasn't. Backing the first on the track, I nursed it to the finish with ... 6th if I remember well :P
One hour race began well too, same scenario than before but this time Darren got traffic and I managed to put him 4 seconds behind. But with his amazing speed on straight lines, he closed the gap step by step, down to 1.3 seconds entering lap 6, where he pitted. I decided to adapt my strategy and jumped into the pits after a qualifying lap - and realized my fuel setting was on "relative" ... full tank, loss of time in pits and on track as I was heavier than needed. with a 6-seconds gap with Darren, I decided to turn on what I call "epic mode" : braking later and throttling earlier everywhere ! But quite soon Darren had a spin, and slipped behind me. But he went back ... got pass in the Hunaudièred again ... but this time I couldn't make a move and a few minutes later, trying to get back into slipstream, that was my time to lose the car. Just nursed a hurted Lancia back home in the final laps.
All races I had with Darren yesterday and today were epic. We were at 1-1 after Norisring and Hockenheim, we both won one race today - and at the night race we did for fun right after, we had so many spins, we played cats and dogs so much it's impossible to pull out a winner of that. Well, see you around the Green Hell then !
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