2021 FIA Series Race Discussion

[Famine]

Start sixth, finish... first by 0.014s! Actually seemed to be a very clean and fair race, with more intelligence in bump-drafting than I'd expected:



Didn't race Season 2 at all, 100% record for the Exhibition Season

 

[Norrin Radd]

Slot 4 was 1st go and Fugu is a great choice especially if you qualify badly as I went from 9th to 4th and push for the lead, unfortunately the idiots behind don't know what bump drafting is. So instead of 6 fighting for 1st we were 10.....but no surprise down to 6 by the end of the lap. Lost another 1 and I managed to be 1st down the last straight. Then we had the corner and I got punted, somehow managed to get 11th. Have to go again, but honestly if that guys there I'm not even trying to race.

So went again, Q7 up to 3rd, push push push, despair at idiots passing. Start of 2nd 6 again and going into last corner I'm last (of 6) made my move perfectly and won, an idiot in an RX7 might have helped the situation a bit, but mostly my great skill (OK I got lucky).
100 points to start off so can't complain....might beat @OJBrit in one this season?????

 

[Mercia]

First attempt came out for qualy in awkward spot, slowed down too much to let cars pass for the draft, started last, lost the draft in the race and finished last.

Sigh.

I'll take 5th from 8th on the second attempt, much appreciative of the qualifying pack we formed and some close but clean racing at the front coming round the final bend and onto the home straight in the race.

Glad I had a drink for it, onto the next.

 

[Rangeraus]

SSRX is always an interesting variation from the usual FIA races.

For several reasons it should not belong in an official season though

 

[Norrin Radd]

OK USA time and decided to use the oldest car available, no idea if it's a viable option but I always wanted an E type. Boy is this thing easy to flip, this might be fun.....but I doubt it.
Well that was different. Bad quali due to late out and with 2 others of which just me had any idea about bump drafting. So Q7 and slow start, only beating Supras in 3rd pack and struggling to get enough bumping going on. We didn't catch 2nd pack of 4, with 4 in 1st, till last straight and then I took the front and just went for it. Managed to come 6th so not bad with that car and not going again.

 

[OJBrit]

As it is now it's easier to doze off especially running at night 😴

The race was o.k. but the time trial was like the M4 at 2am. ZZZZZ

ts to start off so can't complain....might beat @OJBrit in one this season?????

 

[RACECAR]

I do not understand how you guys can do this race. With how funky the N class balance tends to be, its just seems like its not worth it.

 

[afc5150]

Pretty straightforward slot 1 in North America, A/S lobby, 174 points, door 20

Had a cooperative qualy buddy and lined up 3rd. Made the mistake of trying to form a new line on the backstraight on lap 1 and lost a few positions. We all just rode it out until the end from there. Nothing crazy at the end (at the front) and that was that.

137 points and another 800 DR ~ 34K DR

 

[csmirnoff]

After having to miss the Manufacturers opener at Dragon Trail, a long but very successful Nations round for me at SSRX. Decided to use the VW Golf.

CSA Slot 1, door#12, 233-point lobby. Qualified P12. Many Supras ahead, so I gained a couple of spots, but we lost the slipstream to the lead group. Since it was led by a Supra, we eventually caught it back after 1.5 laps, jumped to P6 in the final straights. 184 points were pretty decent for me, but I felt like I could get 200+ so I decided to go again.

CSA Slot 2, skipped it to watch F1 COTA Qualifying.

CSA Slot 3, door #1, 207-point lobby. Unfortunately, I was the highest ranked driver of a lower rated lobby, so I needed to win to get 200+ points. Qualified P2, but was then twice pushed out of the train in the race, causing me to fall off the top-10. Eventually recovered to P6 at the end, 164 points, not good.

CSA Slot 4, door #17, 274-point lobby. Much better lobby, qualified P8. Luckily, there was no nonsense in this one, everyone mostly in a single train. Gained two spots as the two guys ahead of me took each other out in the banked turn, luckily I had a little bit of space to avoid them. Then gained a further two spots from guys who unsuccessfully tried to create breakaway groups. Up to P4, decided to be conservative and only try something at the very end. Top-3 all went side by side in the final metres, which didn't allow me any way to get passed, but I managed to secure that P4, 1 tenth off the winner and setting the fastest lap of the race.

Really happy with the result, scoring 240 points, which is my new PB in FIA! And to make things even better, this result gained me enough DR points to jump to A+ rank for the first time! DR now at 51.954. So double reason to celebrate!

 

[C_Raccoon23]

NA Slot 1, A/S Lobby, 197 points, Door #1

I had @KosmoKazi in this lobby with me. Ended up qualifying 12th.

Pretty uneventful race. I was in a group of three other cars the whole way. We started to gain on another small group towards the end of the first lap, however we couldn't quite reach them. I did see fighting from the cars ahead as we closed in on the finish line, but it wasn't bad enough for it to benefit me or the others I was with.

A so-so finish, but I'm not bothered. One and done. While I don't mind the Route X races, I still can't get over how dumb it is to make this the opening round of the season. I'm looking forward to the real first race next Saturday.

 

[GTWolverine]

Once again, 3rd time was the charm

SLOT 1:
Qualified 9th, right behind @Jwptexas, who was of course in a Mustang. Unfortunately the Mach 1 didn't accelerate particularly quickly, so I drove around it in my Golf, but the Golf that started directly in front of both of us lost the slipstream to the lead pack. I took over 7th place and led the 2nd pack as we gradually reeled in the lead pack and finally caught the slipstream at the beginning of Lap 2. Since I had quite a bit of momentum, I decided to take a chance and try to overtake the lead pack, but unfortunately no one wanted to go with me, and I eventually got dumped down to 17th. Exiting the final corner, I picked the wrong lane as a lot of cars made contact and slowed each other down, so the best I could manage was 12th.

SLOT 2:
I lost the draft at the beginning of my qualifying lap because the car directly in front of me decided to back off, so I drove around them. I was still in the slipstream of the cars further ahead, but they kept pulling away until they finally broke the slipstream going up the hill. I was eventually caught by 2 other cars and just pushed them around for the rest of the lap, and started 15th.

In the race, I lost the draft to the Megane in 14th by the time we got to the back straight, despite starting RIGHT BEHIND him, and staying right in his slipstream until he pulled away. @Roman_GT23 and another E-Type who'd caught back up after falling back at the start. The 3 of us eventually picked off 2 more stragglers and I decided to push the E-Types to the finish to at least hold on to 15th so I didn't finish worse than I started...

SLOT 3:
After the Megane walked away from me and broke the slipstream like I wasn't even there, I decided to try the Megane this time as well instead of the Golf from the first 2 slots. Also after seeing how quick an E-Type train could be, I decided to stay near @Roman_GT23 this time and try to join his group of E-Types (I think 5 in total). I latched on to the back of the E-Type train and we eventually caught what looked like the entire rest of the field on our qualifying lap. It was tense, but most of us somehow survived the lap. Ultimately I qualified my Megane in P2, with a Jag on pole, @Roman_GT23 behind me in 3rd in his Jag, then 3 more Jags behind him.

Since I didn't want to waste the Megane's acceleration, I immediately jumped to the lead and broke the slipstream, though I knew it obviously wouldn't last. I once again got freight trained and shuffled out of the Top 10. This time I was able to claw back a few spots, largely because I decided to follow the Jags at the front of the pack, rather than the cars directly ahead of me. That allowed me to shuffle a few of them out of draft and put myself back up into p8 or so headed into the final corner. Of course naturally everyone fanned out, and unfortunately all the Jags except the polesitter met their demise. It started when @Roman_GT23 got tagged into a spin near the front of the field. The chain reaction scattered some and bunched other up. The end result was I was stuck in the middle of 2 Jags on my outside, and 2 Megane's that had more speed than me on the inside. The 2 groups converged on me, and the 2 Jags on the outside both got the worst of it. I continued through the final corner in 7th, with everyone trying to get as far to the inside as possible. Even though this strategy never worked before, I decided to once again drive around the pack. They tripped over each other, and I crossed the line in 3rd, behind another Megane in 2nd, with the polesitting Jag actually winning. The result was worth 309 points, which bested my previous best score by over 30 points, and was also my first (and likely only) time I scored over 300 points!

 

[Trone_Colby]

Grocery Gang! Shoutout to @afc5150. Also RIP to those who died.

 

[afc5150]

Nice win, @Trone_Colby ... I'm not as incognito as I think!

 

[D_Dragline]

Dredge’s Alt Adventures: Part 1

My Canadian alter ego ran his first FIA at SSRX. Starting with DR 3000 I knew the lobby would probably have its fair share of lunatics so I opted for the Toyota Crown. It is as heavy as a battleship and will not be moved. Door 19/19 and all D/S except for the single lonely C/S in a 17pt lobby.

Qualifying was an educational experience as I tucked in behind a Skyline and bump drafted for the whole 2 laps while others in the lead group kept moving out of the train and trying to overtake. Having started 5th and 6th on the flying lap we finished 1 and 2. When all was said and done I had grabbed pole by 0.002 seconds. The Skyline was Q4.

Lots of Supras in the field meant that race start saw me clear out to over a second and a half lead by the top of the hill. Watching cars running 6 abreast in the rear view mirror made me wonder whether I would get caught at all for a few minutes. Eventually a small group got their act together and caught up just before turn 1. Halfway through the first turn an RX7 behind me decided to go full sideswipe on a Supra but only ended up getting himself sideways. RIP Mr Mazda.

From there I slotted in behind a WRX and proceeded to push him along and destroy his rear bumper. A train of Vantages kept catching up but would then inexplicably fan out to try and pass and drop back as a result. They must have done it at least 10 times between final turns on laps 1 and 2. Every time one of them would try and push me out from behind the WRX and every time the Crown was immovable. You’d think after a few tries they might have learned, but no.

Into the final turn and the WRX and I are still bumping along and the Vantages go high into the final turn to try and get a run. Thankfully the WRX driver is smart enough to stay low and let me keep pushing him and, as we exit the turn the Vantages are about a length and a half behind us with slightly more momentum. However the same one that has been trying to knock me off my line decides to have one last go at going around me but misjudges the distance and gives me a final push as we approach the line and loses all his momentum. I swing beside the WRX but JUST fail to get the pass done in time. P2 by 0.067s

16 points in the bag a clean race and 297 DR.

 

[Erebus_9]

Dredge’s Alt Adventures: Part 1

My Canadian alter ego ran his first FIA at SSRX. Starting with DR 3000 I knew the lobby would probably have its fair share of lunatics so I opted for the Toyota Crown. It is as heavy as a battleship and will not be moved. Door 19/19 and all D/S except for the single lonely C/S in a 17pt lobby.

Qualifying was an educational experience as I tucked in behind a Skyline and bump drafted for the whole 2 laps while others in the lead group kept moving out of the train and trying to overtake. Having started 5th and 6th on the flying lap we finished 1 and 2. When all was said and done I had grabbed pole by 0.002 seconds. The Skyline was Q4.

Lots of Supras in the field meant that race start saw me clear out to over a second and a half lead by the top of the hill. Watching cars running 6 abreast in the rear view mirror made me wonder whether I would get caught at all for a few minutes. Eventually a small group got their act together and caught up just before turn 1. Halfway through the first turn an RX7 behind me decided to go full sideswipe on a Supra but only ended up getting himself sideways. RIP Mr Mazda.

From there I slotted in behind a WRX and proceeded to push him along and destroy his rear bumper. A train of Vantages kept catching up but would then inexplicably fan out to try and pass and drop back as a result. They must have done it at least 10 times between final turns on laps 1 and 2. Every time one of them would try and push me out from behind the WRX and every time the Crown was immovable. You’d think after a few tries they might have learned, but no.

Into the final turn and the WRX and I are still bumping along and the Vantages go high into the final turn to try and get a run. Thankfully the WRX driver is smart enough to stay low and let me keep pushing him and, as we exit the turn the Vantages are about a length and a half behind us with slightly more momentum. However the same one that has been trying to knock me off my line decides to have one last go at going around me but misjudges the distance and gives me a final push as we approach the line and loses all his momentum. I swing beside the WRX but JUST fail to get the pass done in time. P2 by 0.067s

16 points in the bag a clean race and 297 DR.

Ah, the joys of racing in a D/S lobby where no-one has any idea about strategy.

Also, only 297 DR despite coming second with door 19/19? Going to take a while to increase your alt's DR solely through FIA races at that rate...

 

[D_Dragline]

Ah, the joys of racing in a D/S lobby where no-one has any idea about strategy.

Also, only 297 DR despite coming second with door 19/19? Going to take a while to increase your alt's DR solely through FIA races at that rate...

Especially when I can’t do the mid week races as they fall in work hours…

Edit: It seems I started the race at 2000 DR not 3000, so 1300 per race would be ok. I’m going to target 300 points and 20k DR as my end of season goal.

 

[Hasnain282]

These Route X races usually don't go well for me and that's how it turned out again. I messed up quali and that was that really, was in a 4 car train with @watto79 for P11 and I ended up losing out in that also so a pretty poor round but ah well

 

[watto79]

These Route X races usually don't go well for me and that's how it turned out again. I messed up quali and that was that really, was in a 4 car train with @watto79 for P11 and I ended up losing out in that also so a pretty poor round but ah well
View attachment 1088684View attachment 1088685

Yeah that pretty much sucked. I also messed up quali and started the race with a Supra in front of me. Immediately passed them but by that point the slipstream train was already out of range and that was that.

A shame but it's all part of the SSRX lottery I suppose.

 

[Mercia]

I do not understand how you guys can do this race. With how funky the N class balance tends to be, its just seems like its not worth it.

Interesting take, I've never noticed the balance being an issue, even the turns are too long and spacious to require much effort in keeping the car straight. If people are getting sideways it's typically through getting aggro than it is the car itself.

If you take it properly nothing much happens until the breakaway out of the final turn as everyone dashes for the line.

 

[KosmoKazi]

Nations Cup 2021/22 Exhibition Series
Round 1 - Special Stage Route X / N400

I always enjoy this 'meme' race... it's a nice break from the intensity of the normal races, and it actually requires a good bit of strategy and planning, even if luck can trump it all in some cases. I wish they'd have kept this for the middle of the season, though, when the wildcard nature and mental break would make more sense, and I wish it had been on a weekday when practice time is limited, since you don't need to practice it. Seems like a waste on a Saturday, and as a first round race.

But it is a lot of fun, every time. And this time I was going to make sure I was patient and smart as possible.

Chose the VW, given its acceleration and tank-like nature when nearby people are tapping at their D-pads in the turns and lose it. Put on Wets for the qualifying as I saw some time back that they seemed to be worth a slight bit of time... though it's been hard to prove. Ended up with a pretty good result, even though I had to drop back twice to find a better drafting group on the out lap. Worked a nice gap on the last turn to slingshot to 2nd starting position.

With the good acceleration of the VW and that starting position, was hoping it would be a relatively stress-free race. But couldn't have asked for even this good of a race: the top four, two Meganes and two Golfs... we pulled a >1sec gap on the field before the top of the hill!

The four of us were smart and just drove away from the pack, for all of the first lap. No shenanigans, no selfish moves, just smart racing. Guaranteeing ourselves top-4 finishes in a pretty decent lobby, right from the beginning of the race. I even dropped to the back, and let some space between me and the Renault in front from time to time, to allow for some accordion action to build momentum for the bump drafting, keeping the speed up as high as we could.

We then played out the rest of the game in the end of the final turn, once it was assured that we had the pack covered-- though I made my move too early, it actually paid off because I caught another slingshot draft from inside the turn, and came off the top lane's hill with a huge run, edging out 3rd, and on a run but out of track to win. The run at the end meant I nabbed the fastest lap, too, which speaks to how smart and clean that top four pack drove all race.

Was great to see teammate @C_Raccoon23 in my lobby, but unfortunately I lost his tow on that qualifying out lap, and then we never were in touch during the race.

Great result, points-wise, nice to have a banker in hand to start the year! Now on to the 'real' schedule in this last GTS FIA season!

#5 / Q2 / R2 / 189 FIA points / 1300 DR (and a new all-time high for my main account at almost 43k DR)

(oh, and ran another on my new Alt, at C/S rating... that was... interesting. Mostly just one idiot swerving to block anyone that tried to get past, even on the first leg of the first qualifying lap... ruining several others' qualifying, including mine. Then another similar but not ~quite~ as dirty GTR driver doing some of the same in the race, whom I avoided, until the last push, when I followed him to a 6th place. Nothing spectacular but it was interesting to see a '71 Corvette win that race...)

Cheers to these other guys... nice to share a grid with some smart and clean drivers. Hope to get more of that throughout the rest of the season.

 

[Geauxgreddy]

SSRX - The Race of Luck! Or, is it?
2021 Nations Exhibition Round 1

DR A+ SR S Lobby - Door #9
GTI

DR A SR S Lobby - Various Door #s
Crown Athlete
Meganne
Meganne

Slot 1 - GTI Q4, P2
I got in a good qualifying group, backed off away from the qualy group for the start but not too much. Ran down the gap after the start line and bump drafted the whole way around. We stayed in a beautiful 5 car formation with no one acting a fool. Ran down one group and sucked them up like a vacuum. Ran down group 2 at the end. There was a mass of cars at the line, I took Q4. Race started, I locked in on my draft partner from earlier and wore his rear bumper out. Some got out of line, why, I have no idea, took their spot. Moved up to p2 by the end. Pretty uneventful as it was a 7 car break away. Right before the finish line me and my adopted draft partner moved inside and I almost killed myself on the pit wall. Freaked out and had to push him over a little to keep from meeting Barry R. Ended in p2!! 242 points. Banked it. Apologized to p1 for having to hit him over like that and moved on to my Daily Account for the rest of the evening.

Slot 2 - Crown Athlete Q2, P2
I told @Mistah_MCA that I would rock SSRX in the Crown Athlete. I am guilty of a lot of things, lying is not one of them! So, I strapped on that beautiful big girl 4 door and showed her the love. Got out of the pits for qualifying REAL early and had to wait on a crewe to get funky with. They arrived, a group of four, I made five. We had an RX7 up front, couple Megannes, a GTI, and Sweet Baby Crown Athlete. Where she lacked on raw top speed she made up for it uphill. Seemed to hold good speed there with that big v6 and 7 gears. After the dust settled, Q2!! Only like .006 off of pole. Race starts and holy crap that big girl could geaux!! The Crown ran down the Meganne in front of me like it was standing still. Left the Porsche behind me in the dust. We broke slip well before the hill and had 2.5 seconds on the pack by turn 1. Unfortunately, 2 just can't hold enough speed to keep the pack back, we were caught by the end of lap 1 and I had to work my way into the passing pack. Didn't force it, just slid in where I could. Lack of patience by those in front began to show in Lap 2 turn 1 and I put the crown in p4. It was vette, gti, meganne, crown, meganne on the back straight. The Meganne in front came out of line and I knew it was faster than the vette, so I slid out with it. My draft partner followed and the Crown was in p2 for the final show down. I went inside and had a run on p1 for the win but he swerved wildly to block and nearly killed us both! Took p2, it was a great race except for the very end. Meme complete!

Slot 3 - Meganne Q1, P1
So, I decided to try the other Meta car since it seemed to just have a little more something at the end. Put myself in the front of the qualifying pack to give back to all of those that helped me in the previous two races. I got a good group behind me and they stayed steady on my tail. We caught a group of poor slip streamers and at that point I knew I had a top four qualy. As we passed that group it got awkward behind me and I slipped out front and managed somehow to land on pole from the front of the qualy group. From there I had two draft partners that wanted a podium and stayed with me thick and thin. Book ended it with a victory. Its SO nice when you have people that stick with you.

Slot 4 - Meganne Q1, P1
Last slot I would run, I took the Meganne again because I really liked the little turtle looking car. Seemed to be hard to pass in the turn which is what really matters. Again, came out early to start qualy and had a group of 3 coming in hot from behind, so I eased off to jump in but eased off too much and they left me. Foolish of them because you need a minimum of 4, preferably 5 to qualify well. So, I backed off and waited on another group. This was a weird group to qualy with, a Mustang, a Porsche, a Meganne, a GTI and me! We got in line behind the Mustang and let that big American iron eat. It holds pace pretty well and I could see we were catching the group that left me, so I was feeling pretty good about the lap. Sure enough, we were going 210 on the back straight so I knew we got their slip. We caught them in the last corner and the seas parted for me since no one could hold a line. Went right down the middel, grabbed a last second slip, and qualified in Q1!!! This race proved to be the most difficult. AGAIN, me and p2 broke slip to start, 2 Megannnes. Unfortunately they ran us down in T2 but luckily they bump drafted instead of passing. In t1, the trail group broke out on the low line and I lol'd as I took the optimal mid high line with only 2 bump drafters, they could not get by. So, they fell in line. They pulled out again but my drafting partners held strong and we kept the lead into T2. AGAIN I took the mid high line and they tried unsuccessfully to pass on the low line. THe mustang tried several assaults on the lead but we held firm!! Last turn I took the low line knowing they had to overcome distance AND speed to pass with not enough straight at the end. My draft partner stayed with me and we took p1 and p2!! Best race of the night so I called it! Too much fun. No idea why folks don't like this race. I love it.

So I got super duper Lucky last night! Two seconds and two firsts. Need to geaux buy a lottery ticket.

 

[Geauxgreddy]

Wasn't going to make a video, but it rained today and I was bored. So, I welcome you to SATURDAY NIGHT, IN DEATH VALLEY!!! Hope you enjoy.

 

[Roman_GT23]

SLOT 3:
After the Megane walked away from me and broke the slipstream like I wasn't even there, I decided to try the Megane this time as well instead of the Golf from the first 2 slots. Also after seeing how quick an E-Type train could be, I decided to stay near @Roman_GT23 this time and try to join his group of E-Types (I think 5 in total). I latched on to the back of the E-Type train and we eventually caught what looked like the entire rest of the field on our qualifying lap. It was tense, but most of us somehow survived the lap. Ultimately I qualified my Megane in P2, with a Jag on pole, @Roman_GT23 behind me in 3rd in his Jag, then 3 more Jags behind him.

Since I didn't want to waste the Megane's acceleration, I immediately jumped to the lead and broke the slipstream, though I knew it obviously wouldn't last. I once again got freight trained and shuffled out of the Top 10. This time I was able to claw back a few spots, largely because I decided to follow the Jags at the front of the pack, rather than the cars directly ahead of me. That allowed me to shuffle a few of them out of draft and put myself back up into p8 or so headed into the final corner. Of course naturally everyone fanned out, and unfortunately all the Jags except the polesitter met their demise. It started when @Roman_GT23 got tagged into a spin near the front of the field. The chain reaction scattered some and bunched other up. The end result was I was stuck in the middle of 2 Jags on my outside, and 2 Megane's that had more speed than me on the inside. The 2 groups converged on me, and the 2 Jags on the outside both got the worst of it. I continued through the final corner in 7th, with everyone trying to get as far to the inside as possible. Even though this strategy never worked before, I decided to once again drive around the pack. They tripped over each other, and I crossed the line in 3rd, behind another Megane in 2nd, with the polesitting Jag actually winning. The result was worth 309 points, which bested my previous best score by over 30 points, and was also my first (and likely only) time I scored over 300 points!

About that...............................................


I won't go into the whole night since overall it was a bust but I will elaborate on the 3rd slot which was arguably my best chance at good points. The Jag Drag only worked if you had 3 or more committed to it. Otherwise too risky as a 1 or 2 car effort. Using the 2nd slot as a test to see what friends would be in top split we went with the Jags. We out qualified everyone and clearly the aliens in the room were butt hurt. Knowing the Jags would fall back at the start we didn't panic. There were freaking 5 of us! And as long as we worked together we were good. The aliens in the FF's started to shove their way in to break up the train. Rough but fair so long as no one gets punted. The end is when I'm going to have a few choice words. I was in 3rd behind one of the VQS guys who was not in a Jag and then my friend Applepop who was in a Jag. We timed it to catch VQS off guard and cut him to dry. He pushed me a bit but we went too far. He almost tagged me into the kink that sticks out past the 10,000m board and I wasn't having any of it. I held my ground to avoid the kink and pushed him back. He then went again tagging me into the wall so I shoved them. He then timed it to pit maneuver me into a spin. Behind another alien pinched his way through spinning out two more Jags in the process. So out of 5 Jags only 2 survived. I was about to pin it to unfortunate circumstances until a message popped up in the post game chat from one of the aliens saying

E-Type Die

Now it's confirmed it was intentional. So next time I stumble into them in top split (which I don't know because I'm not fully committed to this exhibition season) and I just happen to nudge them off track and into a spin. I hope they remembered what happened at SSRX because respect was lost, and for most NA aliens now.

 

[SpeedStarGTS]

This was go be either Heave or Hell, with extreme patience quick reaction and lottery luck we got a pretty good result.

 

[PhlebMike]

So, about the manu race.....Anyone seriously thinking about a two stopper? I know what the pit delta is (20.5 seconds, about), but can it be made up with say, 8 laps on softs? I was thinking 1H/9M/8S. I'll just have to try it out in practice....

 

[D_Dragline]

So, about the manu race.....Anyone seriously thinking about a two stopper? I know what the pit delta is (20.5 seconds, about), but can it be made up with say, 8 laps on softs? I was thinking 1H/9M/8S. I'll just have to try it out in practice....

I think even if you could theoretically make up the time you will end up stuck behind one-stoppers on a track where it is hard to get past. That will negate any advantage to having the softer compound. It MIGHT work if you qualified on pole, have a VERY large difference between your soft and hard lap times and started on softs. But this would be a really unusual set of circumstances.

So, in short, no.

I am looking forward to the people who forget to change tyres after qualifying and have to 2 stop by accident. You can bet they will have an air of desperation early on.

 

[Norrin Radd]

So, about the manu race.....Anyone seriously thinking about a two stopper? I know what the pit delta is (20.5 seconds, about), but can it be made up with say, 8 laps on softs? I was thinking 1H/9M/8S. I'll just have to try it out in practice....

I thought it might work too, but a little test in arcade and it's a no go. Having to repass some AIs netted 17 secs behind the one stop and although you could get lucky with traffic I don't see you making 20secs in 8 laps. It's not even 8 laps S Vs H cos your going for at least 12 on the meds anyway so you'd need to be a full 3 secs faster on softs than hards and if your at that level I'd be surprised.

 

[PhlebMike]

I thought it might work too, but a little test in arcade and it's a no go. Having to repass some AIs netted 17 secs behind the one stop and although you could get lucky with traffic I don't see you making 20secs in 8 laps. It's not even 8 laps S Vs H cos your going for at least 12 on the meds anyway so you'd need to be a full 3 secs faster on softs than hards and if your at that level I'd be surprised.

Thanks for the input guys. It was just something I was rolling around. 12 laps on the meds? Will they hold up that long? I went Jag, and it seemed pretty good on tires last week, but.....

 

[Norrin Radd]

Thanks for the input guys. It was just something I was rolling around. 12 laps on the meds? Will they hold up that long? I went Jag, and it seemed pretty good on tires last week, but.....

@Mistah_MCA said some cars would even make 17 in his guide, I was happy with 12 in the Viper and could maybe have pushed a lap or 2 more. I don't think it's worth the risk when times are that close, but for the top guys I understand the margins are smaller.

 

[D_Dragline]

@Mistah_MCA said some cars would even make 17 in his guide, I was happy with 12 in the Viper and could maybe have pushed a lap or 2 more. I don't think it's worth the risk when times are that close, but for the top guys I understand the margins are smaller.

I’m about to jump into my first race but testing the Cayman, which is usually good on tyres, and the crossover for me is about lap 11. I could probably stretch them to 17 laps but the hards aren’t THAT much slower, so it seems pointless.

I expect to pit to give somewhere between 10 and 12 laps on the meds.