NA Spain race, post your comments here...

[Bilbo]

The server replay and results files can be downloaded here:

Qual results: http://nar.kicks-ass.org:8086/narresult ... n_Qual.xml
Race results: http://nar.kicks-ass.org:8086/narresult ... n_Race.xml
Replays: http://nar.kicks-ass.org:8086/narresult ... _Spain.zip (16.2MB, contains race and qual. replays)
Web-stats: Click here for stats!

[Steve]

Spain you mean? hehe Ugh, spun in the 3rd turn, into the wall, lost front wheel, race over, lap 3 I believe, Grrrrrrrrrrr. Hope everyone else has a good one !!

[Bilbo]

Yeah, I meant Spain, sorry...

[Flow]

After <trying> to foul few with my strategy by saying i was on 1 stop, and it was all fine in practie, pfff, impossible, lol ! it was not true. The only way to pace close to leader was to do a 3 stop and hoping mistake in front. 2 stop i was in 22 and 3 stop i was in 21. My start was not that good, i almost lost control, and that made me lost concentration, i notice in my mirror after T1 that few cars were in a crash, that killed completely my little concentration left, 2-3 corners later i spun and stall the car, going backward i was lucky to start back on compression... woufff, want to know if concentration was left? It was now at -1000, lol.

I had an hell of a fight trying to pass Paul we had great battle at some corner, even on straight and little contact that made the fun more trilling. At lap 12, Paul lost his brake point, and i did the inside easily. From there i was just trying to gain or keep distance from leaders... and at 4th, 1 by 1, they fallen out of race, i dont know why, too bad for you Christian, you were in good way. Aaron, this second that you left me neer end, was yours, i was in no way to catch up, you were 40sec in front, pacing faster than me eatch laps. Congratulaion while it lasted, too bad.

Mario, now that you tasted the glory of winning (and finishing a race at NAR) i cant wait for you to stop smoking, maybe that your lack of nicotine will disturb you soo mutch to NDF close to end of race Congratulation Mario for your win! 1st finish, 1st place, nice Combo!

[mario proietti jr]

finally lollll
thkx for the words m8 i appriciated
1- congratulations to all driver who finish the race well done guys
2- damn jimmy and aaron , im in hurry to know what happen u were on a good race m8 sry 4 u and other too
3- congratulation to ME
4- 4 races 4 pole its a record for me i never did so much consecutif pole in my life lolll
5-well for me , i was on 2 stopper but i did 3 one more for fun .In qualy was cool for the first time whit parc ferme i like it
i did pole whit jimmy at .500 behind me nice p2 m8 i had a good start not the best one but good,i was able to keep the p1 till t1 but i brake just a bit later then i use to and jimmy did a super overtake on me and take the lead of the race but not for long a few corner later he spun and i was back in lead whit out never loosing it till the checkered flag .At my second pit i was starting to be a bit nervous when i saw the red car of aaron at 5 sec behind me, i was on my out lap and tire was cold n before i finish my first lap aaron was at 3 sec ,then i start to sweat so i push a bit to match up the pace n open a gap on him and few laps later the spotter told me that aaron was in pit so i cool dounw cuz the gap was bigger atm dont remember how much and then no more aaron ,i was complet alone in my ounw world .So when i saw that i decide to do a third stop for fun I didnt really push on the car i knew i was able to go very faster cuz in test i was able to start a stint in the 1,19 mid. and spain is one of my favorite hehehe i have to say that im very happy whit the win, the team and i desrve it since begenning of the season we work hard to be at top and we knew it was only a matter of time before it pay off .Im still rookie these are my first taste whit out TC n clutch and i have hard time to manage everytin whit out these 2 aids loll im learning !!! im doing too many mistake,i hope i will be better in next race turky ( damn i love it lolll)
well,,, hattrick and i think i laps everybody if i did ( its first time i do that loll )
again congr,, to all driver hope to cu in numbers at turky

[Christian Laforce]

For me my rfactor crash a half of de race. Félicitation mario!!!!

[Paul M]

Finally a podium finish

Qualy was interesting I came out behind Christian which was not planned but I figured it was 6 laps so I could space out a little and get clean air. Unfortunately the gap I thought I had with the driver already on track behind me was not enough; eventually I had too barge my way past Christian at T1 as his pace was slower than mine. Christian I apologize for my behavior. Basically a crappy time for Q but even with my PB lap I would have been in the same position so no big deal.
My race start for once was good, I was on outside and I just stayed in the groove maybe a bit too early on the brakes but as it turned out, a good decision, Steve B. underbraked and blew past me on my front right taking Bilbo with him. I just turned right and found myself in 5th, I was able too keep up with the cars in front and then Flow spun and I got by him. I guess Steve B pitted and came out just behind me but a lap down, he caught me and I let him past I think around lap 4 or 5, unfortunately Flow was driving like Steve B trying to make the race tonight and caught me quickly. So now I have Steve in front and Flow behind and me crapping my pants in the middle. I was determined to not mirror drive and try to keep my 4th as long as possible, I managed to hold him off for a good while but made a mistake and was passed cleanly. From that point on it was like "Where'd he goooooooooooo", way too much pace to catch him. From here on I stayed on my 3 stop strategy and managed to visit the pits 3 additional times for a wing repair and 2 drive thrus for speeding. (6 pits holy s@#t)

I would like to thank all those in front and behind me for dropping out therebye gifting me third and my first podium, I truly am lucky to have finished as high in the order.

[aawil]

Well with 24 hours to think about it I'm still upset but kinda feel at peace with how this all went down. I went through the full range of emotions after my engine blew to pieces. I was like fuck this, I'm done, I quit, the whole lot. Didn't feel much better this morning. But right now I feel more determined than ever, honestly. Well anyway race review, I got a decent start tried to settle in early. Jimmy went off and handed second 2 me but we kept pretty close for a while. I was pushing trying to keep Mario honest, especially given his history in races. I was pushing as hard as I could, even though I knew Mario could go much faster if he needed. I was being a bit rough in downshifts in a few corners. I thought that might be a concern, only one of two seemed like bad overreving. Jimmy had trouble and I think Mario was a little over +20 in front, Flow around -30? behind. I thought about backing off and cruising but just couldn't seem to do it. Then a aggressive downshift popped the engine with around 18 to go. It was pretty devastating. It felt good to be competitive again but was also a cruel twist of fate to have it snatched away. After it happened I remember doing the same thing a year or two ago. Perhaps I should remember that for next year.

[carrera]

Yo people,
Well Aaron if you recall a certain race in MOnaco where I blew my engine leading with only 3 laps to go.I pretty much felt the same way as you but I watched the replay and you were hounding Mario pretty damn good so keep it up m8 and congrats to MArio of course and Paul who got his first podium of the year(claps hands).
carrera

[SteveB]

Hi Guys,

Well.....LMAO......
I had to rush home from a communion (family) and got home in time for the qauly session.(thanks for waiting )

My qualy was just aweful...7th on the grid. I could have done better if I had time for a few laps and of course I loaded the wrong race set.

My start wasn't too bad, I was nervous as hell. I could hear a car near me but couldn't see it (dam mirrors.....THEY SUCK!!!) and I wasn't concentrating on things infront of me.....THEN.....OH SH****T T1.....BRAKE!!!! .......OH NO!!!!!! BANG!!!!! I smaked Bilbo's rear tire pretty hard..SO SORRY BRO
I felt like quitting at that point but thought I should give it a go and see what happens next.
Well....my spin fest got the GREEN LIGHT and away I went.

1 of them I lost my front wing, front tire and major suspension damage and had a 106 second pit stop came out dead last and 6 laps down OMG!!!!!

I kept waiting for Bilbo to catch me so I could let him pass but NEVER MIND.....I spun again so his pass was LEGAL....LOL

BILBO you deserved much more in this race, you were very quick here and I took it away from you and I still feel terrible.
I will try very hard to clean up my act...AGAIN.... hopefully this will be the last lesson learned.

CONGRATS to MARIO.....FINALLY....MANIA!!!!!
and CONGRATS to FLOW and PAUL for his first podium WELL DONE!!!!
and to Bilbo who kept his cool and finished this mess.

C U ALL in ISTANBUL.

[Bilbo]

Hey, no sweat SteveB. That's racing, even though I did not think that when it happened, I had pretty much cooled down by the end of the race. Part of the reason was that the car was a definite bitch to drive for most of the race so I had to concentrate a lot on just driving the car if I wanted to make it to the end and scavenge some points from what I expected would be massive DNFs from the fast turns and close fences. As luck would have it, less than half of the field made it to the end, which was good for me in the circumstances.

Chronologically, my qualifying was quite ordinary, although my 2 stops strategy was not helping me, compared to other drivers going for 3 stops. Anyways, I have long lost the idea that qualification was important to my races. When I'm near the front, I usually do a mistake and screw myself on lap 1 or 2 and when I'm at the back, I can usually climb back to middle-front relatively easily, mostly due to other driver's mistakes.

Well, my race start was just ok, not too bad in comparison with the cars around but nothing to write home about either. As we got near to T1, I had Paul on my left while I was on the inside, so I knew I had to brake a bit more than usual so the car wouldn't drift to the outside (as I would normally do if I were alone) and hit Paul. Well, while I was thinking about being safe to another driver, I got hit hard from behind and was sent spinning up to the tyre wall at the end of the straight. While trying to get out of the sand trap, I saw we were at least 4 cars there and I thought it was all due to the same incident, which got me uncharacteristically angry. Looking at the replay, showed only SteveB and myself in the accident while the others got in the sand by themselves, but I did not know that at the time. Well, the car was not too bad, and hobbits have no problems driving a car with a damaged suspension (I did that often enough in my no aids "career" to finally have developped some ability ), so I decided I would take it easy and make it to the end to get some championship points.

As I got on my way, I was slowly starting to get my concentration back despite the car and actually catched up to Christian, whom I got a nice little fight with for about a lap and half, until I unknowingly hit a stray Super Aguri front wing that was on the racing line (only saw it on the replay as I was fighting Chris at the time) and that pretty much destroyed what was left of my suspension, although I was slow to realize it (not knowing I did hit something). The car would be (relatively) fine until I got to 150-175 km/h, at which time the whole front of the car would appear to get flat on the ground (can you say bigtime sparks?) and I'd be unable to steer. I probably lost over a minute because I did not go to the pits but went for an extra lap before I admitted I wouldn't be able to drive like that and finally pitted (for a surprisingly short 16 seconds pitstop). That was around lap 10. I decided to try to stay on my 2 stops strategy so I took fuel for 29 laps (roughly half of what remained of the race) but, due to parc ferme, I could not take hard tyres and had to stay on softs. Not to worry, I knew from practice that my tyres would start to get into "red wear" after ~24 laps so I was confident I could make it if I only took a bit of care. Other than spinning and lightly hitting a wall on my outlap (slightly damaging my brand new suspension in the process, sheesh), things went relatively well while I tried to not do too many of the usual "Barcelona spins".

As my car was getting lighter, I had another car catch me from behind around lap 32 and got distracted enough looking at my mirrors that I completely missed my braking at the SEAT turn and plowed my car in the tyre barrier, losing the front wing. Well, that meant it was time for my second and hopefully last pitstop, and a nice gamble to put in about 34 laps of fuel while still riding on soft tyres (36 seconds pitstop, go figure). I'm usually easier on my tyres than many drivers and I figured it was time to prove it. At this point, there was no point going for performance and pushing for nothing so I just drove as quick as possible while taking extra care of the tyre, which was made harder due to the heavy fuel load. I was going on my merry way for most of the remains of the race without major problem. At one point, I had Aaron that I knew was getting closer to lap me and, just as I decided to let him pass on the s2 straight (after the climbing fast right), I slowed, slowed, slowed and there was no Aaron around and his dot stopped moving althogether. I was feeling bad that maybe my draft made him miss the turn but it was his engine giving up (talk about bad luck). Later, I had SteveB far in front, with a relatively constant gap, but that gap would sometimes go down in chuncks of 5-10 seconds, so I started getting hope to be able to catch him as my car got lighter and maybe have some sembleance of a race but when I got to him, he was off track and going to the pits, and he stayed there for at least another lap. I was actually happy for once to be multi-lapped at the end because that checkered flag was really a deliverance from one of my most uninteresting races ever, as I was pretty much by myself and fighting a car that sucked due to damage and/or heavy fuel for roughly all the race. I'm still happy to have made it to the end, and 5 points is more than I could have expected after getting out of T1, which is my biggest consolation.

Sorry if this appears like a long description of my race, but it DID feel VERY long and almost boring while it happened. Congrats to all who made it to the end or were doing well until bad luck hit. That was not an easy track.

See you all in Turkey, and don't worry about the hit too much, SteveB!

[Coffeemachine]

i know you shouldn't laugh at other peoples misfortune...but that was just hilarious bilbo :) even worse than my trip!

[Bilbo]

NP Kaffe, it actually makes my day to know that someone read it all!

[aawil]

I think I should say thanks to Bilbo for the setup which I used, I was giving it a good run till the kablamooooooooooo. Not sure there's any consolidation in that though Bilbo.

[Flow]

Put me in also Bilbo, i have to pay back the fact that you read all my +5k post, but your last one count for at least 10 normal post, i must say that i read it in 3 part (was trying to work while reading it )

[mario proietti jr]

nice post m8 damn long ahahaha