Suzuka post Race

[rickrey]

Just did not have it tonight. I was kinda blocked when I was running towards the front with another car. I got antsy and spun it, which started the cascade of errors glad we have a throw away Congrats to the winners in class

[blackcat77]

Tried to join about 6:15 but still no server so went in and had dinner. Came back in and just checked to see if the server was up -- more out of curiosity than really wanting to race. It was and with 17 drivers so tried to get on and sure enough I did, right at the start of warmup.

Starting from the back made for a rough evening but more troubles were of my own making than from the starting spot. Still having problems with losing the rear end randomly -- it will be fine for many laps an then on one, the car will just abruptly spin with no warning and no hope of catching it once it's gone.

Moved up 7 spots over the race, which isn't bad I guess. Congrats to Greg on his second in class. Hopefully next race I'll make it for quals.

[greds04]

Race wasn't that bad overall, had a fairly good spot on the grid, made a good launch off the line, good enough to slip past Scott for a few seconds and then, I got a slight tap that didn't damage the car, but enough to send me into the gravel, and I was down to 12th from 5th or 6th.

I quickly made my way past a couple of cars and was chasing down Rick in 9th, I think he had a slight off or something happened as I passed him on the beginning of the back straight, then I made my stop for fuel, and gambled a set of new rear tires, it gave me some space from Rick, and I was on the heels of Scott L, I think his tires got cooked, as I made a pass that seemed to stick and two laps earlier, he was getting away, I'm happy with my third in class, the race was tricky, and if I had an extra lap I might have caught Greg but my front tires were pretty much done.

Well done the rest of the field, it was a clean from what I saw, and track is difficult to pass on as well.

[JABowders]

Red Weasel Racing had a mixed bag of effects during the event.

Both cars were set up identically by the Car Chief Mister Jerry Rigg, and for the most part ran just about even, unfortunately Miss Susan had some issues with her special awareness or maybe her concentration and found that the curbs just drew were drawing her to them, this caused several unfortunate blunt force trauma aerodynamic reconfigurations to the number 93 machine. The Head Weasel only suffers two moments of indignity the first when all that positions gained in the opening lap were lost when he spun coming out of the hairpin putting him in the way back pack. Matter of fact he was so far in the way back the way back group was half a lap in front of him. The second moment of surprise and emotional eruption was when following Capt’ Dale into T1 early braking from the Capt’ sent me into a thither as I stood full upright on my binders trying my very best to run him over sending me into the kitty litter and an epic Baja leg to work myself out of the gavel. Once back on course I was able to ignite the giant slingshot Acme booster rockets and close the gap coming out of the finial turn we both went low and I gave the Capt’ a soft love tap (not intentionally, I had a run and was shooting for the hole) and ended up having to go the long way around as we crossed the Start/Finish line.

I was having a great three way battle with Tom and Paul for a large chunk of the race and was able to take advantage of the nimble Weasel Porsche’s response and with a little luck I would regain the spots I lost in my lap one spin and work my way up to P10 prior to my halfway pit stop. Not wanting to take the chance of over using my tires, I replaced them as well as my 13 seconds of fuel and back on track but with added time of tires I was facing a mid race deficit I would eventually only run down to about twelve seconds as I set my sights on Ricky and drove like the wind to catch him.

Miss Susan was still having troubles keeping the number 93 Impacted Porsche between the painted lines and started to opt for the barrier walls. But just as she was settling in for her finial run for the checkers the server dropped her, must be that DCON (Disconnect) Weasel command from the electronic dodecahedral dice of chance that ended her race.

A couple more incidents that happened directly in front of the number 92 of the Head Weasel kept me on my toes, a botched finial turn/chicane incident brought me to a stop for several seconds as I waited for the track to clear, then later a few cars skating off in different directions in the twisty bit kept my attention close at hand.

Always driving the car as if the back end is going to snap loose at any moment helps keep it on the paved ribbon of asphalt and keeps you off the wall. Easy in and roll on the throttle as I exit, keeps me on track and out of trouble.

Now if I can just finish lap one without being relegated to the last car and having to drive up from the rear, I should have a much better result.

Great racin’ everyone and see you next time.

James
Head Weasel

[RobGuru]

Man what a fun track and race!

I had very little time to practice, so I was forced to run my setup from the previous race. I literally only raised the ride height a quarter inch to be more curb compliant, and changed the ratio for 1st and 2nd gears.

The setup mercifully worked and I was able to post a respectable time in the Q session. Good for P4 on the grid.

The race start was nominal, although I lost the drag race to Brent into T1, so I dropped to P5. I reclaimed P4 a lap later when Brent slid off in T1, then just worked to settle in to a good race pace behind Mark, Sandy, and Terry. They all gradually edged away a couple tenths a lap or so.

My race strategy was to go as long as I could before my pit stop. I thought that strategy was working when I saw several guys pit at the mid-race point or shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, I had a couple self spins caused by getting the car unbalanced on the curbing. The car didn't take a lot of damage, but my mistakes ended up costing me cumulatively 35 seconds of track time.

The late pit stop was nominal, although it dropped me (expectedly) from P2 to P4 in the standings. I ended up in P3 when Mark had some problems over the past couple laps (I wouldn't have gotten him otherwise).

So, another fun race and I'm happy with another podium. The LMP1 chase is going to be fantastic with Mark, Terry, Sandy, Brent, and me duking it out for what I'm sure will be the entire season!

Cyall next round!!
Rob

[scottr]

The green machine was running good at Suzuka. I prepared by running a race with the ai. This mod has fantastic ai and even set at 96% they were faster than me. Great for practice though.

In the race I got in a really good Q lap but my start was not so good. I may have to turn effects down as the smoke is blinding. Made me swerve a bit and I lost a couple of places. I think Greds and Greg got by. It got crowded at the first turn and Greds gave the spot back. I turned the boost up and took off after Greg. Catching is not passing on this track and it took a drag race down the back stright and inside position on the kink to get me past. Scotti and Rick were right behind and I concentrated on consistant laps. I had to change tires so my pit was over 30 seconds. I came back out in 7th. Once again I am chasing Greg with BCurtis right on me He got by on the back stright and overtook Greg as well which allowed me to get close. It seemed that Greg let me go as we came by the pits. If so thanks. That let me catch B_Curtis as he caught the Captn. A little spin in the hairpin and I got up to 5th place overall and a class win for Quixotic Racing. Don Quixote would be proud. See you all at LongBeach.

[BCurtis]

Better race for me speed-wise anyway. STill too many mistakes, including one on lap 2 that set me back but am happy with my pace and hope improve at Long Beach.

[Greg 'GP' Haley]

congrats scottr on the p2 victory--i saw you coming and knew that would be the safest place to let you by without losing a ton of time or crashing. holding up a p2 train and mirror driving almost cost me early on--screwed up entry into the chicane and went off. after my early spin put me back, stayed out late and decided to gamble on my used softs and go fuel only.
it worked, but almost had a couple moments when getting lapped by p1s--you know who you are
just kidding, it's tough to pass at suzuka, period..
cya at long beach,
greg

[Ced Collins]

Still trying to come to grips with the R8. Miscalculated on fuel and nursed it to the pits only to "as Paul stated" have it do a loop d loop on me at pit in. I backed it in to pit road only to run out of gas trying to turn around and get to my pit that was about 75 feet away...Uugggg.

I watched that battle of Tom, Paul and James and that was some good racing.