IRL: Mid Ohio

Congrats Conor.

Good race guys. It was a lot of fun watching. Those curbs seem to bite a lot of people.

Yeah the curbs got me a few times.Also if you spin and hit grass 70% was a flipped car in prac for me thats what it was.But good race grats top 3.

Well i qualified ok, as best as i could do with my setup and my driving limits. Something that i will keep in mind for the future is that the fast guys in Conor and AJ, they only made 1 hotlap, is this because they maximize the engine and get everything out of it for 1 hotlap only?

anyway onto the race, i was pretty excited it was a nice start and i kept in line and before long i had a reasonble gap between conor and AJ battle, and also the 4,5,6 battle.

i made the decision to go for 1 stop on hard tires all the way throughout the race

i was looking solid for a podium position and i could tell i think Dan White was fast in P4.

I saw AJ pit and never saw what happened to him in the end

Conor just kept pushing and drove very well

with about 15 or so laps to go i made a spin in the 2nd complex area and managed to keep it off the curbs and got it back going again. unfortunately this is what ultimately made myself get lapped by Conor, as i think i would of stayed on the leading lap.

anyway i enjoyed it, congrats Conor

Those first dozen laps battling with AJ were a blast, really enjoyed it. From the get go, we kept roughly a one second difference between each other and it ballooned a bit to about two seconds after my fronts started to over heat. About 7 laps in, I closed the gap and started applying some pressure. Took a few looks here and there but never made it by him since he positioned himself well on the entries. By lap 11 though, it seemed that his tires were gone and I was right on his rear wing. My car was handling better then and the tires still had lots of grip so I was able to carry a lot more speed through the slower corners. I put this to my advantage and took the lead on the outside going through the 2nd to last corner. From there, I tried my best to stretch the lead so I didn't have to seem him much in my mirrors ;). Unfortunately, he DNFed not too long after our battle and at that time, I had a good sized lead over 2nd so I did my best to keep it on track the rest of the way and brought home the victory in one piece.

@Tom...not sure what AJ did on his qual attempt but I came close to wrecking on my 2nd lap and just aborted it. My first lap was good enough so there was no need to complete the 2nd one. I didn't practice a qual lap at all so I wasn't too prepared for it. But for the setup, I closed the radiator to about 3, brake duct down to 2, put on medium tires, and dropped the fuel level down to 5 gallons. Seemed to do well for at least one lap.

First, congratulations to Conor, and particularly my teammate Scott Berube for a brilliant drive to third: I would have liked to have been on the podium but as chance would have it I left my brain in the loo before the race.
Incredibly difficult cars on a tough track, as a matter of fact probably the hardest car/track combo I've driven in rF ever: as Scott said to me over TS, every single turn was a challange, every single corner you didn't know if it was your last.
I made a last comic standing routine out of qualy by screwing up both the first lap and the second, where I ended up in the kitty litter-- still I was okay with the second row behind The Untouchables (meant in a positive, team-building way). I knew it was going to be a tough race because from testing I had came to the conclusion that even on hards I chewed up rubber like a perverted mouse and-- even worse-- I could hardly put two laps together without spinning. Therefore I decided to start the race and conserve, a strategy I followed for about two laps. Made too many mistakes, missed gear shifts, lost positions left and right: because of the buggered tires I was skidding and twisting more than an inhebriated Torvill and Dean. Sure enough at T1 (voodoo curses and needles being applied on my monitor as we speak on that evil turn) I had a massive 360 and more, lucky not end up on the viscious curbs (they are more like poles I suppose), but VERY lucky not to take out Scott as I was trying figure out my mad North, North West. Sorry mate, hope the wifey will forgive the emergency laundry on shorts. After that I decided (because I am so dumb that even when dead I don't know it's time to lay down), maximum attack, but unlike my friend Hakkinen my maximum attack lasted a lap or two because that old twisted mouse was at it again and my shoes wouldn't have made a San Francisco pauper happy. So I decided to settle in 5th for championship points and conserve: well, I did not really settle, I could not drive any faster without disaster welcoming me with open arms.
On to Birghy, an other great track where I am sure I will deposit crumbs. Better bring my brain this time.

Francesco... Your post race reports are the greatest! Like racing with Dennis Miller! lol I agree with Fran. This race was an absolute test of patience. It was by far the toughest race for me yet on RF. I couldn't find a sliver of grip. Every corner was a test. I spun it once on my own. But ended up doing a 360, and recieved 0 damage. But when getting back on track i too got held up on a curb. But luckily i was able to get it off with minimal time lost. Was pushed off track one other time for position. But didn't lose any more spots other than that one. Really didn't think a podium was possible. But it was a handful just to finish this race. Congrats to all that did finish. I found it to be very difficult. Probably the toughest race i took part in(grip, and handling).
Well done Conor and Tom. You guys were mighty quick. Great job.

I enjoyed the event but it was short lived. Fortunately, I'd read about the tire wear issues and used my HUD display checking the temps. Overcooked the fronts trying to keep my 10th or so position, had some short battles. Was faster than many in back, but could not keep up with top 10 or so. With cooked tires, got loose in back sectn and got stuck high sided on a nasty curb. Fried motor trying to get off.

I may be back, but the 6pm PST start time is tough, miss dinner w/ FAM. Am watching for later start time events, or weekend ones

Cheers

congrats conor and tom and scott!
unfortunately i too was a victim of getting hung up on the curb. i had spun and got off trac and i guess i knocked off the rear wing but i was just limping my way to the pits when it started to spin again and i slowed and ended up strattling the curb. i was going nowhere at that point.
damn mad at myself. i had a solid 3rd place but saw i was catching second and pushed it when i should have been just taking it easy.

Tried to get on the server for over an hour, but I just couldn’t get in. My connection was apparently terrible and missed this race. Put in a lot of laps too. Congrats to everyone that finished. Looks like less then half the field got to see the checkered flag.