Split 1 - R2: Brno - 30th July 2018 (1 Viewer)

[Col_McCoy]

Interesting tyre pressures @Battenberg, did everybody do so much pressure difference?

I'm very sorry for missing the race guys, watched the replay for race 1 already, still have to do race 2, but it looked like a lot of work and still amazing fun. Unfortunately, due lack of practise and my gf having a fever I could just not find the time

 

[King-Kodiak]

Any feedback from the stream at all? I had so much fun commentating this race, thank you to @AndrexUK for trying to keep me on the straight and narrow

 

[Taorminator]

Not the greatest round for me but still had a lot of fun
I was terrible in quali it looks like I didn't use the tires properly at all, not sure if my setup was slow but I felt confident with it.

Race 1 : finished P9, good result overall as I had some good overtakes and a good battle with @UnstopaPaul . Not many mistakes, I just couldn't get @CatchAGlimpse in time before the end. It seems I managed the tires better during the race and I was happy with my pace.

Race 2 : finished P11 which is good damage control considering how bad it went for me I had a "meh" start but was still fighting in the midfield. I took the opportunity to overtake @Cluck in the back straight as he did a mistake exiting the previous corner and was in his slipstream. As I was close behind him maximizing the tow, there was suddenly a big difference in speed that I didn't expect and had to avoid contact. My inputs were too quick and I lost the car in the straight with an entire field of furious drivers coming at me. Luckily no one hit me but @drukqs had contact with the barrier because of it (sorry mate...).
After I recovered I really gave all I had and climbed back to P10. Another battle with @UnstopaPaul started and this time I wasn't very smart... I stayed in his spray before T1 and missed my braking reference and had contact with his rear. Fortunately he didn't have damage and wasn't unsettled by the touch. Less fortunately my car had suspension and aero damage but was still driveable so I pitted for repairs. I then put the slicks on as soon as the racing line got dryer which appeared to be the good call. Climbed back to P11 in the last lap.

It was quite a frustrating race as I felt like I threw it down the drain twice and could have had a better result but at least it wasn't boring See ya at Laguna Seca!

 

[Cluck]

Race 2 : I took the opportunity to overtake @Cluck in the back straight as he did a mistake exiting the previous corner and was in his slipstream. As I was close behind him maximizing the tow, there was suddenly a big difference in speed that I didn't expect and had to avoid contact.

Ah, I wondered what happened to you - I didn't feel any contact as it happens and certainly didn't have any rear wing damage from it. I had run wide at the exit and eased off the throttle as, in my rear mirror, it appeared you were to my right so I felt it was safe to ease off a bit and give you an easier pass. I think you chose that exact moment to then move across to try and take advantage of a tow from me! Just sheer bad luck and sorry it caused you a problem .

 

[Taorminator]

Ah, I wondered what happened to you - I didn't feel any contact as it happens and certainly didn't have any rear wing damage from it. I had run wide at the exit and eased off the throttle as, in my rear mirror, it appeared you were to my right so I felt it was safe to ease off a bit and give you an easier pass. I think you chose that exact moment to then move across to try and take advantage of a tow from me! Just sheer bad luck and sorry it caused you a problem .

There wasn't any contact at all I just lost the car on my own as I tried to avoid you Now I understand why there was such a sudden speed difference I crapped my pants was surprized and steered too suddenly. From my pov the lift was not necessary as I already had a better exit and would have been past you at the end of the straight anyway. No hard feelings at all mate it happens sometimes Thank you for having taken the time to explain

 

[UnstopaPaul]

I had some good overtakes and a good battle with @UnstopaPaul

@Taorminator We had two very good battles this time round. Enjoyable, but even in the 2nd race it always felt like it was a matter of time until you passed me. Nerve wracking but good fun

 

[Taorminator]

@Taorminator We had two very good battles this time round. Enjoyable, but even in the 2nd race it always felt like it was a matter of time until you passed me. Nerve wracking but good fun

Yeah it was great fun for me as well! it's a shame I screwed in the second race that battle would have been interesting You did good on the nerves mate, in race 1 I really tried to force you into a mistake but you kept it cool! Did you run low aero? Because I couldn't get past you in the straights even with a good exit, slipstream, DRS, will power, and spitting gas on my engine (mad max reference)

 

[Puffpirat]

Any feedback from the stream at all? I had so much fun commentating this race, thank you to @AndrexUK for trying to keep me on the straight and narrow

Watched the full 2h yesterday great work again! Even my wife that doesn’t care much about racing said that was very professional

 

[UnstopaPaul]

Yeah it was great fun for me as well! it's a shame I screwed in the second race that battle would have been interesting You did good on the nerves mate, in race 1 I really tried to force you into a mistake but you kept it cool! Did you run low aero? Because I couldn't get past you in the straights even with a good exit, slipstream, DRS, will power, and spitting gas on my engine (mad max reference)

weirdly no - it was 20/18. I think the rain and spray really messes with the perfect exits for the following car...

 

[King-Kodiak]

Watched the full 2h yesterday great work again! Even my wife that doesn’t care much about racing said that was very professional

Thank you, and mrs Puff, kindly

 

[Taorminator]

weirdly no - it was 20/18. I think the rain and spray really messes with the perfect exits for the following car...

I was on 20/20 maybe that's why

 

[UnstopaPaul]

Ok, so I've been lax in getting my summary for this race out.

Let's get the interesting bit out of the way first.

That Sprint Race Qualification...
I came second on the grid for the Sprint Race, and I genuinely should have been first, if I'd not messed up my second hotlap by about 600ms. This obviously (rightly) stunned @King-Kodiak , it was very pleasing to hear the cries of excitement. I'm perfectly happy to take some credit in preparing well for a race, but can't really claim to have had a leap in skill, and sadly I'm not (yet) the "wet weather meister" that Kodiak proclaimed.

The answer is actually really simple and the reason I was so critical of the tyres. I was also stunned to see that no one else had picked up on it. The tyres themselves actually entirely break down on grip after somewhere like 40-50C. If all you have ever done is drive a normal outlap and then a hotlap, or only practiced full races, then you have never actually experienced the tyre grip. To gain my excellent time I simply coasted round track at 100kph on the outlap, allowing the tyres to stay under 35C for the start of hotlap. After that I was basically driving a better car than everyone else for that lap, the tyres are at least worth 800ms that way, probably more for a good driver. As pleasing to me is actually that, even taking off that extra time, my qualification would have been quite good. Sadly I will probably never again have the opportunity to be over 500ms ahead of Puffy/Alex etc, so I slightly blew that (and the extra point for pole).

I Only Need to Improve 2 Things: Reliability...
Seriously, first 5 lap f**k ups have been my speciality this season. Starting 2nd in race one I never expected to stay there, and 4th after a few laps was fine by me. I was holding up people behind well enough that I hoped to retain a top 7/8 position by the end. I'll admit to being slightly distracted when @t0daY pointed out my light was not on (honestly I didn't see the need for the first race, but it had been made clear, so fine). While this might have contributed, really in general its under any pressure at all that I seem to make silly mistakes. This time it was overshooting a braking point while checking behind for @t0daY . I realised almost immediately, so stopped myself going into the barriers, but shed about 4 places, with a 2 more going as I had to let the rear tyres cool back down after the slide. On the positive side, though I should have had an excellent finish, I did have a good finish. 10th is still hitting higher than I was originally hoping this season, so job fairly well done, but significant improvements required when I have people around me.

...and Pace
If the first race was about poor reliability and fast (qualifying) pace, then the feature race was a reversal. With the heavier rain, the tyres were more consistent, therefore nursing them did not yield any better results. My qualification was a respectable and more predictable 13th.

The main positive to take from this race was that I had no incidents

(despite @Taorminator apparently colliding with me I never tool any aero damage and I can't remember any off-tracks, though I may have had at least one rather hard braking moment. This was particularly pleasing, it's one of my main goals this season, but it comes at the cost of pace somewhat. I seemed to spend the whole race passing stationary cars, but being passed by anyone on track. For the second race in a row I don't believe I have passed anyone for position. I must say it was a great battle with @Taorminator , sadly ruined by an apparent incident (while I neither felt nor took damage from), we duelled in both races, though he had me for pace in both. I also battled with @CatchAGlimpse, again it felt inevitable, though I have to say his pass was excellent, if also slightly risky that we might both go off. I had not expected to need to block there. I nearly lined up properly to take advantage of his compromised line, but was a little timid in getting the power down, so I was unable to close him out in the final left hander like I probably should have.

The slight frustration at the end was the ease with which I let @t0daY through. I would have conceded position if I thought I was at risk of crashing off by defending, but really I never got the chance. He caught and passed me while I was still thinking about which corner was the likely passing point. Looking at the lap times I was insanely down. 1:47s were not good even for me, I would have hoped to be at 1:45s and lower. I think I can say that I don't switch well between 2 very different conditions and I'm generally hyper cautious in the last quarter of the race. Obviously the best racers can commit to pushing their cars much closer to the limits all the way, and that's something I need to work on, but possibly in a ranked race. Final finish 9th place was great, but with 2 laps to go it had been 7th... what could have been again.

Roll on Laguna Seca

 

[kobusnell]

Gutted. But not really.

Man, what an evening. Went into the race with a cold (it's winter in South Africa, I'll let you know) and feeling tired, but I wasn't going to miss another race.

Let me start by saying @King-Kodiak and @AndrexUK, great stream. There is something about hearing your own name that's still very new but exciting to me! Thanks for the odd compliment, as well as the sympathy.

Sprint race, first lap, after some close wheel to wheel racing, I was part of an accident which resulted in suspension damage and a minute(ish) pitstop. From there I just wanted to see whether I had the pace, and unfortunately it seemed I had. Of course, it's way different setting lap times in clear air, but at least the leaders didn't catch me. Oh what might have been.

Feature race. I was happy with qualifying, although I was able to set a 1:46.5 in practice. Couldn't get it done on the day, but 4th?! Oh man, what's going on!? Needless to say I was extremely happy with the lap (but not a fast starter, at all, as was said on the stream...)
Sync issue at the first corner made @Alex Salmon nick me on my side, sending me into @Elodyr, for whom I apologised, and ending up with rear wing damage. Couldn't understand why it felt like I was driving on ice, set the rear anti-roll bar to 0, and still couldn't keep it on the road. After 2 spins, it was time. Had to pit early again. Argh. I worked on a style that would allow me to do 23 laps on the wets if possible. Oh well. Finished in 11?th I think.

Prior to the race I was preparing myself to finish last. I really thought "didn't they make a mistake putting me in split 1?". But I'm happy with the result. 10th, even after I had my moments, satisfied with that. Really really satisfied.

I do not expect to be quick in the dry at the next race. But I'll try, I'll give it my all.

 

[UnstopaPaul]

Any feedback from the stream at all? I had so much fun commentating this race, thank you to @AndrexUK for trying to keep me on the straight and narrow

Wonderful exciting commentary as ever. The combo with @AndrexUK works really well, but @AndrexUK really needs a better mic, preferably with pop-shield. It's quite distracting when there is constant breathing into a mic, and in general the voice is more tinny and lacking mid/base. This is nothing against the commentary - its great, but I think the next level of professionalism is 2 well balanced/mixed mics with less of the heavy breathing.

 

[King-Kodiak]

Wonderful exciting commentary as ever. The combo with @AndrexUK works really well, but @AndrexUK really needs a better mic, preferably with pop-shield. It's quite distracting when there is constant breathing into a mic, and in general the voice is more tinny and lacking mid/base. This is nothing against the commentary - its great, but I think the next level of professionalism is 2 well balanced/mixed mics with less of the heavy breathing.

That's partly my lacking a decent sound card, as through other streamers, Andrex sounds very different. One day I will get that sorted too

 

[Diluvian]

@King-Kodiak he doesn't mean your sound quality at all. I think you're currently the benchmark

 

[King-Kodiak]

@King-Kodiak he doesn't mean your sound quality at all. I think you're currently the benchmark

Thank you kindly

What I meant was that Andrex's audio quality on the stream is exactly how I hear it, which is of course governed by my PC sound capability. When I heard Andrex through a different streamers hardware, I.E much better rig then mine, Andrex sounded very different on stream.

 

[Diluvian]

Maybe you put additional gain to him cause he is distortioning quite heavy.

 

[UnstopaPaul]

Thank you kindly

What I meant was that Andrex's audio quality on the stream is exactly how I hear it, which is of course governed by my PC sound capability. When I heard Andrex through a different streamers hardware, I.E much better rig then mine, Andrex sounded very different on stream.

I would have thought it more likely then that it was related to the communication software, rather than your hardware. However I would say that @AndrexUK mic has always sounded less bass-y to me. I'm guessing @King-Kodiak that you have a pretty decent mic setup, and maybe its the difference that's so jarring

 

[AndrexUK]

Yeah, really don't understand, but for many years (like about 10), over multiple PC builds / Mic's, ppl always say I sound not as clear as everyone else, or at least have to alter my volume in comms software different to anyone else...It's always baffled me to be honest :S