League Race #6

Euro Trash Special.

Race on folks. We're back into the New Year points races, and what a way to start.

To recap

Race #1 - Eiffel & TC500 cars. A nearly full field of cars except for George and his absent Internet connection. We saw Baloo join us for a race and Simon joined the league. Lots of overtaking and generally the custom track proved itself yet again. How cool to think we're the only online race in the world that races that track. Probably.
This race also saw the start of the clubman season. Fixed cars racing a shorter race saw M3s Vs. ISFs (if my memory serves). It looked like an easy win for the Lexus, but the M3s had it in the end. Clubman racing proven.

Race #2 - Was Motegi East in the 590s, but a lack of DLC for some moved us to Trial Mountain. The Clubman race was an almost random pick of car, and we ended up with Elises on sports soft, or shopping carts as it felt like. Such a close race in the end with those cars. On the line overtaking thanks to good cornering meant a win for me!
The 590s continue to be excellent race cars. Simon and Luke had their own race as they didn't have the cars for the class, a one time error given they were both lapped!

Race #3 - Le Mans endurance. The first long race of the season. And in some ways not as expected...
Firstly I forgot the clubman race, oops. Secondly I had a kick 3 laps into the 10 lap race, so we did a restart with 6 laps to go. This changed the dynamic of the racing entirely, and the smart racers changed tires too from medium to softs to gain the edge in the race. The even smarter ones fuelled their cars to the end too. Night racing, pits, and a position change thanks to no fuel. Excellent!
Also noteworthy is that this is the first 720p replay we've had. I think we'll all agree it's better to watch the racing in high-def now. I'm just waiting on international recognition of my film talents...

Race #4 - Nurburgring GP/F & GT590s. But before that, Minis Vs. 207 GTis. Off the line we went at what seemed a sedate pace, but the racing was ultra close with many position changes and generally good conduct in cars that only really passed each other if you had the corner perfect.
The 590s were epic of course. I think this is probably one of our more competitive classes, but only just. Luke has another honourable mention here, the conversation went something like this:
Me: "Oi oi, got your car sorted?"
Luke: "Yup, spent some time on here getting it tuned for the race, ready to go."
... enter an Audi R8 road car.
Me: "Errr.... dude. Japanese 2wd Race Car - that's the rules"
Luke: "...."
To be fair, Luke came back with his 70's Calsonic Skyline and damn near won the race. Good effort!

Race #5 - NurBoring as everyone is calling it. Anyway, we didn't do it. But that's fine as I've moved it to the last slot in the season (which was vacant), we're still racing there, and it'll be a crazy length race for sure.

And that's it for the points races, so much other cool racing has been going on as well though. An example would be the hill climb night, which not many of us attended, but ended up being an excellent test and thrash session. Evan I think had all the class wins in that one, proving his smooth calculated style works a treat given the opportunity to shine.

Next race

It's race #6 folks (I'm counting the NerdBirdring OK).

The track
We know it well. Rome Reverse (ignore the little red arrows below).

For this race we're doing 10 laps of this track. No tire wear though (I think our TC500 cars would be all over the place with tire wear).

The cars
Nothing too epic, TC500 cars. Anything you think that'll be fast around here eh.

This combination across 10 laps should be interesting. The two straights really benefit a fast car, but getting the power down through the big corners is a challenge with a car that understeers. Also, a poorly set up car will go ape through the chicanes and tight bends early on in the lap, losing time for the rest of the lap easily.
Simon, not sure if you are racing, but there's a very nice car in your garage to race - no reflection that you're head of HR & Finance or anything you understand....
And, ringer in the mix - we believe that George is back, certainly last week's racing had him online. Welcome back mate, looking forwards to seeing you in 2nd place on the podium eh...

Official Details


Clubman
Host: Andrew (Andyc709292)
Lounge: FCT GT5 Andrew
Date: 10-Jan-2013
Track: Rome Reverse
Start time: 9:00 PM
Laps: 5
Cars: Fixed
Tyres: TBC
Boost: High

Championship
Host: Andrew
Start time: 9:15 PM
Track: Rome Reverse
Laps: 10
Cars: TC500
Tyres: Racing Medium
Boost: Low

Race on!