GP of Monaco

Double downshifts. One hit me in the first turn of the track and I hammered the wall. Suspension damage. :(

When I Q good, I race bad. This time I screwed up Q, so naturally the race went well.
Excellent racing with Shackleton, Worrell, Christian, among others.

Qualifying was a poor effort from me , i was still half sleep after waking up too late for this race. Luckily got a frontrow position with P2 anyway and managed to take the lead into T1 after good launch.

Nothing much to tell after that , shame that David B had problems in qualifying , he did a nice comeback from the back of the grid into 2nd place and i'm sure we would have had a good battle otherwise.

Had 2 moments when there was a car sideways in track infront of me , but we got through it untouch since i didn't have to push 100% ,so there was time to react and take some evasive manouvers :).

Congrats to David and Mitch for podium finishes , thanks all and cya in next one... ;)

------
Samuel

Well, I got 15 laps in before damaging left front. Having never driven this track before until a week ago Sunday and selecting a dog car, I really had no chance coming into the race. However, I look forward to it again. I actually like the track.

Had some fun w/ the heal and toe champion of the world, Tommy Christian. Jeff blasted on past me - what were you doing back there? Just after Jeff charged past, I stuck the nose into a wall and damaged the left front. I tried to continue but the car was dog walking. Went into the pits just to take a chance on repair but no luck. What do they repair on these cars anyway? Came out and the tire now felt as if it was going down. I wanted to limp it to the end to avoid the DNF but there seemed to be a pretty good race going on and I didnt want to jeopardize anyone else's race. So, found a nice safe spot off the race line and escaped.

Very much looking forward to the O-ring.

Congrats to the winners and finishers.

Sorry for the no-show, chaps. I attempted to join twice last night but got summarily hoofed straight away. :(

So much for thinking I was free and clear and properly config'd to join last night. It was 'same old...same old' yet again with a mismatch on the car.hdv. Grrr...

I've since erased all the files and re-installed. If I'd been a little quicker at it, I might even have made the grid but missed by a few minutes. I'll try some more pickup events soon to see if I have the config nailed before the next R2P event.

I let a good finish get away from me here, I felt my chances were very good for a top 5 finish, I practiced well fully loaded with fuel on long runs and then comes qualy, I jump out as quick as possible, I am following a car and closing in on him way too easily, so i back off, and David is on my gearbox, i let him by only for him to tangle with the car i was trying to avoid, i took on some damage also but not as bad as his, I pitted ASAP. I come back out with 5 minutes to go, take my first lap conservatively for 6th on the grid, then i let it all hang out, next lap is good for 4th, and i wasn't on qualy tires so i thought this was going to be as good as it gets.
The greens go on and i get a very good start, enter turn 1 in P3, follow the boys in front with space and i lock them up going into T4, AARRGGHH, at this point, the car is on a slide for something at an acute angle which will inevitably wreck the car, i let off the brake and point the car square into the tires, Yup, lost the front wing, but its better than the entire car, I opt to pit, come back out somewhere in Italy in P14 with a highway b/t myself and Monaco, I put my head down, start turning a string of 29's, get myself to the next issue, a spun & stalled car in 1, Yikes, I squeeze b/t his car and the wall to get to P8, I lost about 10 seconds here, and here comes Kru on my gearbox, I figured its easier to let him by and be in P8 a lap down than in P8 with him on my GB. I paced him about 2 seconds back for the next 7 laps.

Very disappointed I let one get away :(

Grats to Sam.

Cya next time.

Boy, that was an unpleasant one! Used my little practice time in the evening to work on the F3 for Montreal, so I was back at square one for the 79's again, and it showed. Struggled to get a complete lap in without bouncing off anything in P and Q, but the race started out fair enough without any big problems and was running third behind Mitch early. Was having major problems in all the slowest turns for some reason - my FF would just go completely loose below a certain speed and the car wouldn't turn at all. Nearly walking speed and full lock, and the thing was pushing out into the armco - weird. Dunno if it was something in my caster/camber, in combo with the tire model that got wonky under those circumstances or what. But I'd gain in the faster bits after the tunnel and then lose it all again and then some in the slow bits. Overdrove it to compensate and bounced off the walls a few too many times I guess, because at about 8 laps in my Ligier was nearly undriveable (and it didn't start out so good!). I did have soft tires on, but don't know how long they're good for - what's the correct tire for a no-stop race that length in the 79's?

Anywho, it got to the point that I was a rolling hazard and my laptimes were going north like a rocket, so I parked it before I messed anyone's race up by crashing in front of them. Jeez, 8 laps in that deathtrap was twice the work that both F3 races had been together!

Did notice I was the only Ligier in the field; was that a bad choice for Monaco?

PS - forgot to say, it was nice to see Pat and Aubrey in there, familiar names from back in the good old GPL days. Felt about like it, as much as I was sawing away at the controls... ;-)

Well, my qualifying session was horrible, got caught in a wreck on my hot lap. i would of been a top 3 for sure. instead, i started dead last.

in the race, i got a good start, but pretty much played follow the leader into turn one. exiting turn 1 i got a jump on Mike W. and passed him.

anyway, to cut this short, i went from 14th to second. and they say you can't pass at monaco :P

BTW, i was the only Renault. :P

Sounds like most of you had some serious fun. Sorry I was not able to make it. I was actually looking forward to this race. Oh well, work work work work work work......

It was good to see you join too, Steve B. It's always good to see familiar names from the old days :)

I've got to learn to stop parking my car on the first lap!

Last night, the G25 900° steering lock got me going around those tight last turns. I hadn't completely unwinded the steering wheel before getting back on the gas. No damage, but I sat and watched as the field went by.

And what is up with the starting lights on these tracks? How many tracks are there where you can't see the starting lights from the pole? It's getting old. I had to hit 'U' and look up with my mouse to see the lights. Then between the odd view and having to hit 'U' to restore the view after the green light, I got a lousy start.