All good Joe. You missed a cracker. I didn't have a second of peace for the whole 27 laps. Best race in ages, and I finished 4th - felt like a podium given the cars. WD Ads, Emmo and Musta for dealing with the Alien menace. Will get results up tomorrow. Thanks for attending lads!
Thank you Anon, that was fabulous. It was great to race in a car where the slightest tap didn't send you careening off the track like a certain Citroen.
Results: Ads 1:50.189 (Pole) Emmo 1:50.353 Mustafur 1:50.529 Anon 1:50.481 tb 1:50.477 leeboy 1:50.084* Close 1:50.377 BJ 1:50.186 Less than 5 tenths separating the FL's!! Thanks again for the participation lads, Tiny Stick and Iron Van have chalked up another win!! Now what to do with all these left over alien testicles??
I suggest we race them some more, that was so much fun and lifted my mood greatly after my poor result at Laguna. I had concerns after I had managed 47.4 practicing privately on mediums to find that we had switched to hards and being told they added four to five seconds (that would put me around 51 to 52) and Anon was saying 1:50s being the expected bench mark. You can imagine my horror when I went to BJs room while waiting for Anon to set up and setting high 51s after a few laps and to see BJ's best at just over 50, I was sure I was on for a flogging. I assumed Bj had been given comfort softs or a supercharger to compensate for him being a Div 3 guy and was flabbergasted to find he was in the same car as me and nearly 2 seconds faster, WTF. I felt like being somewhere else all of a sudden. I eventually worked my time down in qually to 1:50.513 to start third behind Ad2 on 1:50.370 (Well Done) and Closey. The race got off quite gently with Ad2, Close and I holding our positions and a battle developing around BJ for 4th. The three amigos built a bit of a gap back to fourth as they squabbled and after I few laps I relieved Close of 2nd place. I set about trying to bridge the couple of second gap Ad2 had built up while I struggled with Closey and was inching closer when BJ arrived to have his turn at 2nd. It took a while but eventually I managed to clear free of BJ and set off again after AD2 who had extended the gap a little more. Just as I was starting to make inroads Anon arrived for his turn at 2nd. We fought tooth and nail for a number of laps and our squabbling allowed T_B to get in the act and then Mustafer arrived as well. By about lap 15 I was relegated to 5th and wondering what the f$#k had happened. At this stage Ad2 was cruising along merrily in front oblivious to the mayhem going on behind. T_B was second with Anon glued to his bumper and Mustafur and I spaced out a few car lengths apart behind. The T_B and Anon battle allowed Mustafur to close on them and I was slowly creeping up on him. We all converged at one point and an attempt by T_B, Mus and Anon to power onto the back straight three wide resulted in T_B and Mustafur doing some lawn mowing as we entered the straight and Anon getting baulked a little. Mustafur came back on track as I was moving past Anon on his left and we ran three abreast into the tight hairpin at the end of the back straight with no casualties. Over the last 5 laps or so I managed to muscle my way back to second and then had a fraught two final laps as Mustafur threw everything at me. He nearly had me on the last lap as we entered the 2nd last right hander near the pit entrance when he poked his nose up the inside and pushed me a little wide onto the grass, I'm not sure if he slowed to redress or lost momentum due to the contact but I managed to squeak across the line just 3 tenths ahead and our torrid battle had brought us back to within 4 seconds of Ad2. Congratulations to Ad2, really good win and thanks to all the competitors for great clean racing. I was very glad to get the 2nd place eventually but for most of the race I was aching to get at Ad2 who was tantalisingly just up the road a bit but each time I started to close on him I had another challenger for my 2nd place. In all, six different drivers had a go at running second, only Ad2 (who probably didn't want a turn anyway) and Leeboy (I'm sure he would have wanted a turn) missed out. I want to place my vote for the Avanzato to be the S14 car.
Yeah on the 2nd last corner when i hit you Ibacked off as i didnt want to push you off track as it was basically a shove pass. This was fun, it takes laps of good momentum to catch up to people though and is much harder then you think to be at the absolute limit, the slightest mistake costs you big.
That's the challenge of low power cars, keeping the momentum. I lost count of the number of up and unders, Kobyashi apex block overtakes and nose to tail driving I saw and tried. Will sit back with a beer and watch the replay later.
If Close had won this race I would have protested, I noticed after we moved to Fuji his little Avanzato clocked about 280 K on the straight, clearly there's something fishy about the tune on that car. I know he clocked that speed because I was chasing him down the straight in my Citroen. I'm on to you Closey, I want the screw in ears to check that car.
Good race guys think i might have to lean on you guys a little but more in corners and master the shove pass lol think me & Mustafur got together at about lap 14/15/16 not shore i did about 3--360s & ended up in pit lain so though might as well change treys put me about 55s behind pack so head down bum up for rest of race.great racing with you guys Cheers BJ
Yeah Leeboy, so much for your complaints about turn-in?!?! Will have to move you into the Move for the next race!!
It was really weird, it seemed to me like I had more grip on some laps...but it still felt like it wouldn't turn in, especially on the left at the bottom of the hill! Great fun racing though, look forward to the next one!
I remember one move well, I went in wide trying the up an under on T_B around the loop and as I went to cross across the back of T_B for the inside power out I suddenly found you inside, where did you come from I thought, great move BTW, I would have been proud of it. That started my slide back to 5th with that lost move followed by a run wide through 3, 4 and 5 trying to stay ahead of Mus who had stuck his little nose inside through 3. The secret was to plan ahead and try to ensure you didn't get baulked and keep that little throttle down as much as you could. Obviously having a blue car was important as well, Aye Ad2.
move had pretty good low down power and it really helped being able to just stick it in 3rd on the tight corners and get a good power out.
On the replay I noticed BJ get good smoke from his front wheels through the 2nd last right hander, power or understeer BJ?
Code: IRON VAN 4 _ Autumn Ring 27 Laps ..Posn..Driver.........Race Time....F/Lap ..01....ad2mny.........50.25.718....1:50.189 3rd ..02....emmo46............-3.629....1:50.353 4th ..03....Mustafur..........-3.919....1:50.529 8th ..04....Anon666...........-6.359....1:50.481 7th ..05....T_BWilliams.......-6.401....1:50.477 6th ..06....Leeboy...........-11.260....1:50.084 1st ** ..07....S_Close..........-20.522....1:50.377 5th ..08....bjh1012..........-38.095....1:50.186 2nd [b/code]
