USA e30: Curitiba

Nice win Coner! Great race. Congrats to Mike & Les on the podiums. Looked like close racing up front. A clean turn 1 lap 1 to boot! That was a fun race. I put in too much wing after qualifying and could never get the times I had in practice. Think I may have been up there in the top 3 or 4, but was stuck by myself most of the race. Final turn I had 7 seconds on 6th place and was watching who was placing where, and then found myself spinning due to lack of concentration! Got back on track and barely got 5th. Close call! This is a really fun series. Driving was better than I've seen in a long time. Can't wait for the next race! Till then...
C-ya
CP

Nice race,my first wtc 87 race.My set-up was not the best but my goal was to finish in the points without running off the track and having penalties.I"ll try to work for a better position the next race//Grat.s Coner!!

Congrats on podiums. It was a fun race. Stupid me was playing around with buttons waiting on everyone to join the grid and put the pit limiter on and didn't realize it. So when the green flag went I was stuck driving 36 or 37 miles an hour. I kept hitting the button for the pit limiter and after 5 times it finally took but by then everyone was a good way away from me. Overall though it was a very fun race.

A humbling race...

Throughout the practice session I focused on preparing a race setup vs going after a fast lap. I've been focusing on stable, easy to drive setups since taking Tim's setup training classes. I must plug those because they really help. In the past, I would create radical, twitchy setups that were very fast, but difficult to control and would often go off track. Now, I have found a way to be quick, but be more controlled and predictable.

I feel I'm quick, but still a mere mortal. Connor on the other hand is an alien. Where does it come from? I was running 24's in practice while he was running 23's. During quali, I nailed a 23.2 and still started 3rd. Humbling...

I got too much wheel spin off the line at the start and I think it was Les who got a great jump. Derek grabbed 1st into T1. I slotted into 4th at T1. I got a great run off the last turn on lap 1 to take 3rd back in T1 on lap 2.

On lap 2 or 3, Derek had a huge sideways moment entering the 2nd to last right hander (high speed left right complex). Conor went off track to the left to avoid Derek who appeared like he would lose it. Amazingly, he held onto it. I was a bit further back and saw it as an opportunity to shoot up the middle and take the lead. I was just a bit too far back as I pulled alongside Derek, but not far up enough to take the lead in the last turn.

The following lap (4?), Derek was slow coming out of the 2nd to last turn and I pounced to grab the inside line. My goal at that point was to get as much of a gap as possible knowing Conor would be coming. Conor didn't waste much time and got 2nd within a couple laps. I could only muster a 2 second gap. After 2 more laps, I burned up the tires and pushed wide into the last turn leaving the door open for Conor. I didn't even fight it. There was no way I could keep up.

By the end of the race, Conor had pulled out a 10 second lead. I had built up 9 seconds back to 3rd so I just cruised the last 5 laps.

Next event, I may have to start to fall back to the dark side with setup prep if I want to keep up with Conor. Fantastic drive Conor.

That was a really fun race. I've been missing out on these cars. It's a relief to come back to the friendly weekday races after dealing with mostly high downforce cars on weekends.

Had a hell of a lap in qualifying, which surprised me quite a lot since it was only the second hot lap. I probably could have brought it down a bit if I hadn't screwed up the 3rd lap.

The very start of the race was lacking, though. I sifted too quickly into 2nd which bogged the engine down. Derek and Mike got around me but I stayed in second after the first corner. I fussed around with Derek a bit but kept my distance since he was all over the place and knew he wouldn't last long in the lead. In the final sweeper, he literally had a half spin and I had to take evasive action in the grass to avoid him. Some way, he was able to save it, but all that brought Mike back into the mix and into the lead. I continued to battle Derek for a few laps until he pushed off too hard in the final sweeper and I was able to get around him with ease.

I set my focus on Mike, who at the time, was about two seconds ahead. I closed up to him within a few laps and overtook him after he pushed the car too hard in the final turn and went into the grass. I didn't really want to see that since I wanted to battle him straight out for the lead. More fun that way :). Nonetheless, after that, I held onto the lead and brought it home safely. Very fun race, especially those first few laps :).

Mike, if you continue to attend Tim's classes, then you're doing the right thing. I've learned from Tim for the past three years and that's where I got my consistency which led to my speed. He teaches you how to setup the car the correct way, not the alien way. Contrary to popular belief, I am not much of an alien. Out of the top 10 here at R2P, I am probably one of the slowest, but because I've learned that consistency is far more important then pure speed in sim racing, I've won my fair share of races. Speed and success comes after you learn how to keep the car on track for an entire race multiple times, not before it.

As for my setup here, it was not even close to being an alien setup. Soft springs with soft ARBs. If you've been around Tim long enough, maybe you've heard that before :). Nothing tricky or alien about that setup. Just enough to enhance comfort and grip. The speed came from the right lines taken on track. Curitba begs you to overdrive it and if you do, you'll have a much slower lap. Taking each corner with ease and the right angle will affect the lap times far more than an alien setup taking advantage of the game's fallacies. No need to go to the "dark side".

Look forward to more races with these cars. Cya at Imola :)

Sorry to anyone that was on the waiting list. I had every intention on running this race, but my enemies at Comcast thought otherwise. My connection went down about 2 hours before the race, so I couldnt even unregister if I wanted to. So much for a fun Tuesday night.