Grand Prix of China

My race was over after 1/3 of lap 1. Oleg made a move that really wasn't on on the inside and spun me around. Then Chris took off my front wing. Not your fault Chris, I was parked in an awefull position. Crawled back to the pits for a 45 sec repair and by the time I left the pitlane again I was already one lap behind. Drove my ass off to make up some positions but it wasn't meant to be.

Grats to Conor and VWI. Looking forward to the next season.

Didn't have any time to practise at all this week, so I pulled out at the last moment :(

Congrats on taking the title Conor and Vindexworks for the constructors.

Started ninth, and by the end of the second lap was running second, having driven through various incidents on the way.

Settled in to a nice run with my usual number of half lock ups and spins, had a battle to keep Jon Weal off which he eventually won, dunno which two wheels were inside the final corner but hey, :-] you had me anyway!

Hoped for a podium but needed a crash up front and not to be, however probably my second best F1 finish and a good way to sign off Team Shark.

Look forward to next season.

Sorry George did not expect you to be there in the middle of the track! No where to go-Bad luck for both of us/more for you unfortunately.

My race other than the first lap contact with the front of George's car went great/qualified 12th and finished 6th. Cant ask for more than that.

Great season!!

Strange race.

Qual went ok with 2nd on the grid. I reckoned on David, Tim and Connor to be running 2 stops each so I decided to go with a 3 stopper and try to mix things up a little.

As it turned out, on the first lap, I made the stupidest mistake of my sim racing career when I locked up under braking for the hairpin and punted David into a spin. Bollocks! Sorry David.

Fell back down the order after taking my drive through and amidst a daze of embarrassment I debated carrying on. In the end I decided to continue and I started pulling back positions. After a while I found myself in 4th chasing Nick. I caught him and tried to make a pass and in the process I ran waaaaaay wide through the final corner. I kept on pushing because if anything, the superwide line I had taken had slowed me down. I was lucky not to have crashed of course... but at that moment I was pushing so hard I just went for it! Unfortunately Nick spun exiting T2 on the next lap and we were unable to continue our ferocious battle.

After that I just tried to settle down. Turned the boost to 1, started short shifitng and braking early for corners. I just wanted to finish. I don't think I deserved the podium after my antics during the race. But the finish was a welcome result.

I'm looking forward to season 10, although I can't say that I'm looking forward to the first round. This is without a doubt, a godawful track.

5.5 sec off the pace
Very frustrating.

Edit: actually embarrassing!

I have not been looking forward to this race for the past week so took little time to practice. I used last season's setup which did OK but I know I was not going to be challenging for the win. I just needed a good top-4 or so to maintain my 2nd place int he points and hand off the championship spot-light to the young driver in the team.

Qual was OK. Nothing spectacular on my part. My car was so weighed down with fuel (enough for 23 laps) that I did not even expect to be on the 2nd row. Pleased with a 3rd place start right behind Fisher.

Start of the race was nice and smooth. I just planned to cruise all day and not really get into any "races". As luck would have it the lead would be handed to be in just a few corners (gasp!) and then the next lap Conor would 'relieve my pressure' and let me drive off with a 12 second lead over the field. Dang it... now I had to race like a leader!

First stint went smoothly with my just trying to set a pace that I really was not prepared for. Conor worked my lead down to 7 seconds or so by our first stops. He stoppped and I still had 3 laps of fuel so was going out there for some hot-laps to build a bigger gap for after the stops. Didnt last long though as lapped traffic was approaching so I ducked in for a standard stop... well, minus me imitating Hamilton entering the pits. At least out track doesnt have the sand trap there so I was able to keep going :-)

2nd Stint I went with a light fuel stint, in hopes of at least maintaining that 7 seconds which actually evolved to 12 seconds by the final stop came upon us.

Last pit stop and everything was looking OK. 12 seconds up on Conor and I felt I had the pace to hold him off. Man was I wrong! Within just a few laps he was on my tail, which led to one of our most epic (from my view) battles since an old ZR race back in '06. As it turns out, Conor was really just haunting me and was planning to make the pass in the final laps. I felt he could have passed me any time he wanted so was boosting up everywhere.

2 laps to go and Conor spins behind me in T2. I was having to go so slowly around the corners that he probably had to check up big time to avoid spinning me out... and ended up spinning himself. That gave me a 3 second buffer but the laps in concentration blew that entire lap. By the final lap he was already 1.8 seconds close. I was able to keep him at bay on the final lap with more boost, and as I exited the final corner with 1 full second to my name I knew I had the race won...

... until only 100 feet or so from the S/F line where my engine expired and Conor zipped past to win the race my a scant 1.2 seconds. I screamed, and screamed, and screamed... just unable to believe how that all panned out. I'd be upset if it were not so stinking cool!

Very cool to take VWI to our 6th championship and give VWI 1st and 2nd positions in the points battle.

My mind is still blown, even after thinking about it for a few hours. No way in hell I should have won that race after my mistake. I've never seen something like that in any circumstance, ever! Crazy...

Anyway, I had the same mindset as Tim going into this race. Just wasn't looking forward to running this inept track and was wanting to get it over with since I had a decent lead in the championship and only needed a 4th place finish to guarantee it. And the car felt like crap leading up to the race so I wasn't exactly comfortable in any form. But I managed to find a decent setup right before official practice which allowed me to compete with relative speed.

After qualifying 4th (best starting position this year), I managed to jump up to 2nd after Jon and David had their ordeal, which left me chasing Tim...for about a lap. Coming out of T2 on L2, I spun it on cold tires and left me facing the track backwards, right in the middle of the road. Poor David had really no place to go as I tried my best to manuver out of the way and unfortunately, he clipped me and ended up in the wall...getting the worst part of the deal. So I spun myself back around and got going again, but in 6th place. Took me a few laps, but I finally got back up into 2nd with Tim 12 seconds ahead. Spent the rest of the stint trying to play catch up but only shaved off a couple of seconds.

Going into the pits for the first stop, I went in too hot and looped it around, going off into the access road. Could have easily lost everything I was after in that one mistake but luckily enough, I kept it off the wall. Came out behind Tim the same distance as before so I didn't really lose too much. Stint # 2 turned out to be a crappy stint but I learned a lot from it. The damn car handled like crap and I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't turn properly through the slow corners. So I started whining about it on teamspeak and Tim mentioned about overheating the tires. "DUH!", I thought. I looked over to see my temps and they were in the 230s on the fronts. Yikes! So I had no choice but to back it down and consequentially, I lost a few seconds to Tim but towards the end of the 2nd stint, I started making up some time due to the cooler front tires. Right then and there, I realized that this track could be be won if I actually drove less aggressive through the corners, thus, allowing the car to rotate itself without using the throttle to turn. I've always had this ingrained in my brain with the sports cars but always tried to push it with the F1 cars.

3rd stint came along and I started flying. I never did anything to the car but it felt so different and I think it was because I allowed the car to do its own thing through the turns. Whatever it may be, I closed up so fast onto Tim, who was about 10 seconds ahead at the start of the stint, I began to wonder if he was trying to play something. I closed up to his rear with ample laps left in the race so no move was really urgent at this time.

The final 10 laps was like a race between the master and the apprentice. I've learned a lot about sim racing from him over the past three or so years and knew what kinds of tricks he would play on me to defend his position. So I didn't force my way through. Instead, I tried to play mind games on him, trying to force him into a mistake. I would veer in and out of the draft, trying to keep his eyes on the mirrors rather than the road. Staying out of the draft also put myself in an odd position that he may not have been able to see where I was and also kept my revs low. I would also put myself in an odd line, which would force himself into an odd line as well, going into a particular corner. I would then draft up right onto his rear wing and then immediately back off...all tricks just trying to make him guess and keep his attention off the road. He came close to fucking himself a couple of times, but wouldn't budge from 1st

So that lead me to make the costly mistake. With two laps to go, I started getting a little more aggressive with him. I was probably running 75% of what I was capable of running so I could have easily made a pass laps earlier. But I just had to wait to the last minute...Well, going into T2 with two laps to go, I tapped him in the rear which torqued me around and left me breathing tire smoke as I watched him zoom away. I was throwing every 4 letter word I could think of at the monitor as I knew I choked...AGAIN! But I dialed back in and tried my best to catch back up to him. Wasn't close enough for a pass and coming out of the final turn of the final lap, I knew I had lost the win because of my stupid mistake. And then...all of a sudden...KABLAMMMOOOOOOO!! I see a huge puff of white smoke from Tim's car just a few yards from the start/finish line. Everything happened so fast that I didn't realize I won until I reached turn 1. I couldn't believe I just saw Tim, with the win solidly in his grasp, lose it with a engine grenading with just a few feet left to go. Wow...I absolutely stole that win away and I can't really accept it with complete confidence. Just an insane outcome that will probably never happen again for a long time. Absolutely crazy that the very last seconds of season 9 had to end like that...Very sorry about your crappy luck there. That was swift kick in the balls for sure.

Tim...hell of a race and season, nonetheless. Really enjoyed racing with you and for VWI. I am not sure I want to compete in another season of F1 but my mind can be changed. If that's the case, then I would certainly take up another chance to go for the team championship again...

Great season guys! Cya around...

Great job Vindex!! Conor great drive for the win. I think i saw you spin early in the race. If so thats quite a comeback! Well done. Tim very sorry to see that win slip away like that. I was halfway around the track when it happened. Didn't see it but heard it over TS. Sounded like someone killed your dog or something. All i heard was a couple nice screams and then a "I'll be right back!" In a rather stern tone. Still till i heard what happened, thought your dog was murdered or you shit yourself holding off Conor!! lol

This was my first F1 race in months. I really missed it. But once involved i realized how much work it is to stay competitive. Found out that i was going to have a nice battle with Chris and a few others. Found myself running in fourth or fifth after a few guys had issues and ran off track. For a few laps Chris and i just kept swapping positions due to me running a low DF setup, and he running a much higher and stable DF setup. You can see that which set had its downfalls and where they would pop up. I'd fly by on the faster parts and he would just rip by me on the quicker corners. Finally i saw an opportunity to maybe get a nice run on him. Tailed him going into a twisty section, was just too close and lost some DF on the wings and looped it. Had major front end damage the rest of the race due to it. But fought on and finished. Out of the points but glad to finish after taking 2 seasons off pretty much. Also forgot how nasty the front runners are here. Just great amount of skill and it's fun to be a part of it. Just ran the wrong setup. Recieved one from Bobby which handled very well. Just a lil less wing and gear than needed in hindsight. Thanks to him for a great handling setup. Just my mistake for not making the adj. i really needed. Hopefully now in the post summer season i can make a few more of these.

Sorry, George, i didn't see the replay, but if you said it was my fault - so it was, sorry again. For long period it's the first time when somebody suffered from me, usually it's quite the contrary.
My biggest mistake was using soft tires - i planned 3 stops, but tires died too early, so i made 5 or 6 pitstops, lost wings, damaged suspension etc.
But my brakes were absolutely fine this time. he-he.