12 replies to this topic

[GrandPrixYannick]

Prior to the race, my teammate Michiel and I agreed to swap cars for this race.
Meaning he takes the Ferrari, while I have the Cooper.

After a fair amount of practice and getting the car setup right, and I was pretty happy with the setup going into qualifying.
I went for three flying laps, but unforunately spun on the last two, unabling me to get the best merit out of my lap times.
I would have probably not improved my position, but I think I left about 3 or 4 seconds of potential left to waste.

The start was not one of my best. Tristan went like a rocket behind me and took me into T1.
Michael had warp contact and went wide, so I went passed him, leaving my win/lose marge to 0.
I still wanted to make something out of the start, so after a good exit on the Sudkehre, I went behind him and went for a very cheeky divebomb into the Nordkehre,
and with success! Thus I gained one place at the start.

I managed to keep him reasonably with the front runners in my Cooper and aimed not to lose too much ground.
Even more fortune hit me when Roy apparently spun into the Karussell, so I got his place as well.
Later on at Schwalbenschwanz, Iestyn spun and I merely avoided the Ferrari. Roy, however, was less lucky.
But at the end of lap 1, I was in third.
And let me tell you, I did not expect to get myself in this position at all.

Michiel (who was having the time of his season) and Robert were far away, so I focused on staying ahead of Tristan.
Unfortunately, the Nürburgring was also after me and I bottomed out at Fuchsröre.
My car got the inside line for the curve before the Tree Of Death, hit the enbankment and threw my car into the barrier, severely damaging my suspension.
Trying to recover, I immediately felt the fractured suspension preventing me from doing a burn out and recover myself from the spin.
I had to wait till nearly the whole went past to get my car back into the right direction.

I tried to measure the severity of the damage, hoping I might be able to contest with the backmarkers.
But it became quickly clear there was no chance. At every left turn, the understeer was bad, and the car would snap incredibly easy at every right turn.
There was no way I could keep up. My race, thus, was pretty much over.

Almost any sane driver at this point would get out of the car to avoid making things worse. Except, I was everything but sane.
I decided to keep going forward and get to the finish line, because I wanted to get a few things done:
- in case the car has extreme damage, finishing would mean I have not destroyed one of the team's cars. Save us some money.
- I also get some coins myself for the team and compensate for the damage.
- If lucky, with retirements, I may scramble one or two points.

I toiled for 5-and-three-quarter with a limping leg, and in the end, managed to actually get cross the line.
Throughout the journey, I gradually grew a little more accustomed to the car, and almost gave me the illusion that the car was 'healing'.
Whereas I first struggled to get it under 9 minutes, I became much more doable, with the last lap being around 8:46
As it turned out, the damage calculated only was in the 'Heavy', so the costs are not as bad as I thought it would be.
And with the finish, collected enough for the D1 team to keep a netto score in the positive numbers.
Last but not least, I scrambled one point. Better than zero

I'm dismayed by throwing away what could have been P3 at best, but on the otherside,
a bit proud on managing to carry a very badly driving car to the finish on one of the most difficult tracks out there.

Huge congratulations to my teammate Michiel for absolutely dominating the ring and a well deserved first place!
That has to be a huge relief after several misfortunes this season.
Also congrats to Roebrt and Iestyn on the podium, and all with got to the finish line on this track.

Whew... a lie down and a season break is what I can use after such an intense race.
This was probably one of my most difficult runs I have done yet.
But hey... pulled it off, y'know?

Oh yes! Two more things:

I livestreamed this race on YouTube because... why not.
It's unlisted for now, as I'm going to do some editing, but once it's done processing, I'll throw the video in the topic.

And speaking of, I was asked to dropped my folder because some liked of the graphics. Simply put a mixture of GAMMAWORX and =XK= updates.
And some other stuff, I guess.
I'm making a Dropbox folder now which should be done later this evening/day.
The evil mistress that is the Nürburgring will have an even better disguise for all.

Edited by GrandPrixYannick, 18 May 2019 - 11:55 AM.

[Andrew Hutchinson]

Thanks for offering to post up your Nurb folder Yannick. Looking forward to the live stream.

Andrew

[Robert Fleurke]

In quali ran conservative and built up my pace, but had to settle for a high 7m56 in my third and final timed lap, almost a second off my Pole lap in 2017 with the BT24. It was good enough for the front row until Roy beat it with a late effort. Even so, P3 was OK considering Michiel's reputation here, and Roy having the advantage with the Lotus. Was a great Pole lap by Michiel in the Ferrari! Also a very notable time by Michael, with the Lotus you should easily break the sub8 barrier, if you haven't already

Start was solid, not great, but Michael went alongside. Tried to be as cautious as I could holding the inside tight, but some stupid lag took Michael out. Actually in the race thought he might have been rearended, only noticed it seeing the replay. Sorry anyway Michael, but not much I could do there. It's a shame such a great quali effort ended with misfortune entering the Sudkehre.

Immediately pressurized Roy, but couldn't capitalize even when I was being held up at places. Iestyn and Yannick followed me close as I couldn't/didn't run my own pace. But on Lap 1 at the Karrussel Roy spun to the inside. I had to tip-toe having put my outside wheels over the edge, but held on to my position with Iestyn closing up. From then on could run my own pace. Had already lost more than 9s on Lap 1 to Michiel. Also Lap 2 was a bit shaky, and was 14s down. From then on had a better pace lapping in the 57-58 region, and the gap stayed relatively the same. It was 17s going into the last lap. Ran my best first sector of the race, but some random thought slipped in, and missed the line at Adenauer Forst and had too much speed. Crashed into the mildly soft barriers, that was my luck. Just had missed the Grim Reaper Tree, but went straight. Felt I had some damage, not much, but didn't take any risks and brought the car back to the finish in second. That would always be the maximum.

Michiel's display was extra-ordinary. It rivals with some of the best drives I have seen here. Especially that last racelap was very impressive, considering he had such a big lead. Surely not my best raceform, but I take P2 any day next to such an excellent performance! Hats off Michiel, well deserved victory!

Also good recovery by Iestyn back to the podium. Great job Tris, Dag, Ed, Carlos, Bob and Yannick. Commiserations to the retirements. Roy was very unlucky having to retire being caught up in Iestyn's spin/accident. Michael never seemed to be able to recover having to run with damage from early race arguably. Yannick did something incredible with such bend suspension to finish.

The D1 driver c''ship is shaping up to a great battle up front.

[GrandPrixYannick]

My Nürburgring Folder:
https://www.dropbox...._isKO1TgIa?dl=0

Video:

Edited by GrandPrixYannick, 19 May 2019 - 08:33 AM.

[D_J]

Hats off to Michiel for what argubly might be the best drive Ive seen anyone pull off at "der ring". Insane pace ,a quite extra ordinary drive indeed.

Also grats to Robert and Iestyn for completing the podium.

P5 in the honda is a good result , better than I expected. But its mixed feelings for the team as we lost Michael in T1 and thereby also a possible podium finish for us. Tough break and more bad luck.

The race got pretty lonely pretty quick. I popped the engine a couple of times out of the blue in practice before the race so I didnt fully trust the car and once I saw Mike was out I didnt take any chances and focused only on salvaging P5 and finishing without blowing up. So my race pace was pretty slow all in all. Glad to have survived the ring.

[Michiel Pompert]

What can I say...

The Zandvoort race I felt was a bit of a watershed moment, a real low of lows. After a string of freezes, getting in wrecks and then far too much distractions at Zandvoort around me in the living room from everyone enough was enough. With Yannick we already had agreed before Zandvoort to swap cars for the Nordschleife and was feeling more determined than ever to just leave the ill fortunes and mishaps behind me. There would be no better opportunity than at this track, where at least freezes would not happen and I always do well.

Up till now my overall PB was still the 7:58 in the BRM from 2002, and this of course then had to go. In practice I pushed hard but needed some time to get a good full lap in whilst getting used to the red car's abilities. I don't think I quite fully got them out of the Ferrari to my best ability still at this track (being closer to the WR in the heavy cars), however a 7:53.1 the day before the race and steady laps below 8:00, even with spins etc at times, left me optimistic for the race. People would have to turn up in at least a Ferrari or Lotus to get there too

I think it helps to have spent the day pretty much alone. I first drove 190 km to a family birthday party alone, and then back the same length, coming home an hour before qualifying started. The rest of the family spent the day in Haarlem being tourists, so they would not be home during the race as well. Coming straight into practice turned a 7:54 and felt more and more this had to be my race, after in recent years a freeze at Assen, a crash at Schottenring under pressure from Rob and other opportunities to win a oAo race for first time since winning the 2005 Riverside race in the BRM had come and gone.

Qualifying was a steady build up, the laps got quicker with time although also a bit untidy at first, having to straightline the kinks after Pflanzgarten to keep from possibly crashing, but the last lap was the tidiest and as a result the quickest, fortunately safe for pole but not sure about race pace, I knew Rob can put down a high pace an I have the quickest pace in opening laps usually, so hoped to make it to T1 first as well

My 1st gear was basically as long as 2nd in the BRM, so it was long, and it did bog down a bit, allowing Roy in the Lotus to pull ahead of me towards turn one. I was still on his inside in his blind spot, and he left generous room avoiding a possible clash, whilst I made sure to stay on the left half of the track. It worked out well and I felt a big relief to be leading there. After a bit hairy T3 I got my head down and focussed on pushing, and it helped with Roy and Rob getting smaller in the mirrors rapidly, it was a bit surprising to me, after 1 lap to have almost 10 seconds in hand, but it was to Rob, so I knew it was not done yet.

A good second lap in 7:57.0 saw the gap go up to 14 seconds already, so I started to ease a bit however this made me sloppy once in lap 3 and 4, with a almost half spin in Kleine Karoussel  and a mild tap of the barrier at Schwalbenschwanz on the left side. Still they were sub 8 laps but I knew i had to get quicker to not give Rob hope of putting pressure on me. I pushed harder and was listening after the big Karoussel when Rob would pass by and this seemed to remain stable pretty much, only on pitboard saw it go up to 17 seconds before the last lap when having done a 7:55. Then in last lap I wanted to ensure I got the fastest lap, the car feeling almost like in qualifying but now running a bit higher on it's wheels so safe to push through all the jumps and dips hard. It was a joy to drive that lap, feeling free from all the frustrations and focus troubles, and was not really thinking about having won until coming onto the home stretch. A bit loud shout followed though, it really felt like a weight off the shoulders, in many ways. I hope it leads to some more beautiful moments in the second half of the season, with a bit of luck and coins to have something else but a Cooper to drive

Thanks go to Yannick, for having offered the swap of chassis, and to my family for giving me the space to prepare for this moment. Also to Rob for keeping me honest and alert through the middle part of the race, you did well yourself too

I had not gathered much of what had befallen all of you but having seen it all now, I am amazed with Yannick's drive home in such a bent car for no fewer than 120 km, true grit that! You had such an amazing opening lap too, very well done making the most of what happened around you:)

Also solid finished for the Honda drivers, well done Dag and Ed for getting good results in such a challenging car/track combination. Feeling sorry for Roy having been caught unlucky in Iestyn's spin losing a wheel, who himself soldiered back to a comfortable podium finish. Also Michael deserved better results after what looked like promising pace in the Brabham. Indeed, if you didn't already go below 8 minutes, now is the time to do it!

Enjoy your summer breaks all, and hope everyone is fresh and ready for when it resumes. Will try to attend the summer specials, wanted to get my teeth into the Targa circuit in finished version finally

Edited by Michiel Pompert, 19 May 2019 - 12:45 PM.

[Pepe Higdon]

Michiel Pompert, on 19 May 2019 - 09:29 AM, said:

What can I say...

After yesterday? Not much, I think. I have been playing this game almost from the day it showed up on the shelf of the local computer store, but rarely have I ever seen such a dominating performance. We are in awe of you, that's what we say.  

[bobho-in]

Incident between Roy and Iestyn was one of the strangest I had ever seen.  Iestyn had a slow spin after the 2nd tile banking. Roy had little time to avoid Iestyn and clipped him.
When they came to rest they were both facing in the wrong direction on opposite sided of the track. They could not see each other. At more or less the same time they reved the engine and dropped the clutch to make a quiick spin to turn the car around. They collided in the center of the track.. Iestyn was able to continue but Roy lost a front wheel.

[Donnie Yourth]

Well...  I expect that the Ferrari is a good bit sturdier than the Lotus.  

[MGL66]

In qualifying I set a new Brabham personal best of 8:01.37, good for 4th on the grid. I have not yet completed a sub-8 minute lap at the 'Ring, but I know that I can. I still stand 0.56s shy of 8 minutes in the Lotus. During the break I will apply a few new setup tweaks to the Lotus and try again.

Then in Turn 1 (Südkehre) of the race, everything went FUBAR. I launched well at the flag and closed the gap to Robert in 3rd. I didn't intend to pass Robert into Südkehre, but wanted to leave as small a gap as possible so that Iestyn in 5th didn't have room to try anything. Unfortunately at this moment, the bugaboo of online racing, connection warp, occurred, causing Robert's car to suddenly jump from left to right. His right rear tire tapped my car's nose hard enough to send me off course to the right into the fence, where I came to rest facing backwards and off track right. After waiting for the field to filter through, I rejoined at the back to discover that my right suspension had suffered damage against the fence. The car was reluctant to turn left. In fact the front wheels in general gave little road feel at all, as if they weren't even attached to the car.

I struggled along in this way for 5 full laps, during which I moved up to 8th place , mostly through attrition. My lap times were some 25 seconds slower than they would have been with a healthy car. Unfortunately on lap 6 my efforts fell short. In addition to not turning left very well, the car was launching and landing off center through Nürburgring's many jumps. Upon landing at the Flugplatz jump on lap 6, the car slewed right into the fence, then left into the other fence whereupon it turned upside down, ending my race.


Very disappointed not to have done well here.

Congratulations to Michiel on a stellar performance. Congratulations to the podium and to all finishers. Enjoy the break, everyone.

Michael

Edited by MGL66, 21 May 2019 - 08:38 AM.

[Robert Fleurke]

Tough luck Michael

You deserve the same credits as Yannick, you did well and deserve a lot of respect for that effort. Arguably in your place I would have parked it or wrecked way earlier.

Stupid netcode...

[Bob Simpson]

This is one of my worst circuits. I’m sure everyone can empathize about all the opportunities for errors here, and the concentration needed.

I definitely wanted to finish, and in one piece, so I was conservative in every way.

Despite a couple of offs and a spin, I got minimal damage. The attrition ahead allowed me to move up to 8^th but sympathies go out to those who were eliminated through no fault of their own.

[Michiel Pompert]

Oh dear Michael, if the car snaps like that on landing, for sure it was not a car worth naming one that has any handling at all...and indeed, you came a long way too like Yannick. I hope your efforts even if not resulting in the finish you wanted, it leads to a good lap in the summer that gives you a good hike in ranking and newfound comfort around the circuit once the barrier is broken

Edited by Michiel Pompert, 21 May 2019 - 12:57 PM.