ARUNAM 3h of Spa-Francorchamps

I was bitterly disappointed to have a computerlock-up that put me out of the race about 45 minutes in.

The car was awful in the early going on cold hard tyres due to the elongated pace lap but as I got going and into a rhythm I was able to get some pace up. An attempt at passing Johnny Guitarrez early on failed and cost me another couple of positions. Gradually though I regained this time and pulled in the two Porsches ahead who were having one hell of a fight. They got into each other at La Source after about 35 mins of racing and I made a move down the inside... unfortunately, they didn't see me and I got pitched into a spin and lost lots of time.

I was just starting to pull them back in when the computer crashed entering Blanchemant. What a shame.

All was going just okidoki and I was running in a comfortable 5th spot. Tristan had just lapped me and the next lap he got into trouble with a GT2 ... on top of Eau Rouge. I saw the yellow square telling me something had happend but I was on full speed to the top of the hill. Tristan was standing sideways on the track and I thought I avoided him with only just nicking his front. But one second after I passed the incident the big bang came and my engine was dead. Somehow the impact must have been much bigger than what I saw from my point of view. That view I will upload as a pic. Very very strange indeed and too bad it had to end that way. Curious to hear how Tristan saw this.

C++ error, again....

At least it was fun, from 3th to 7th the battle was intense :D

Tried to make it from the LMS race but switching between the two my internet died. Multiple restarts later to get it working I missed the start by a minute. Gutted.

First, congrats to podiums. Conor, Kieron, and everyone who finished the race. Very happy with second. In my books a 2nd behind Kieron is like a win. :D

That for me felt like the longest race I've ever done. For several reasons, although it all went pear-shaped looong before the race started. You see, my whole strategy revolved around fuel economy. I thought I would catch everyone napping and do a one-stopper. HOW? Well, I thought it was a 2.4 hour race!! So there I was, clever pants, boost on 1, holding up Kieron. I was thoroughly enjoying seeing the man all over those curbs trying to put the pressure on. The fact that his lap times were WELL faster than mine didn't bother me, I was having fun. What a twit! Me, that is. After eventually having let Kieron go (it was the right thing to do), I looked down and realised HANG ON!!!, there's still 2:36 to go. Oh my, so much for conserving gas and pulling a fast one :P

You know what it's like, strategy out the window, brain working overtime trying to re-calculate how much fuel, how many laps, etc etc etc. A complete bugger up. And we (males) are so useless at multi-tasking, it didn't help my laptimes one bit.

THEN, to make matter worse (much worse!), with just less than 1 hour left, I realised I needed to go to the loo. What a twit! Again! So I had no choice, I had to tough it out.
As if it couldn't get worse, Garret started making inroads (more like leaps & bounds), and I started making mistakes. These things happen when your legs are clenched together tighter than a Mastercraft vice!!

About 12 minutes to go and I thought I was gonna die. Or burst. And Garret was 5 seconds behind me!!! Oh boy oh boy.

Unfortunately something happened to Garret, and I had a clear run for second. Hard luck Garret, you woulda had me!! If you had, I woulda parked it RIGHT THERE to go to the bathroom!

And then the final bit of pressure was making sure I don't get lapped by Kieron. Which I managed to achieve.

What a race! I'm finished.

Big thanks to all (ok, nearly all) the drivers being passed, for being alert and awake, and also thanx to the drivers doing the passing. It was awesome! Thanx everyone.

Tough work that was! Glad to walk away still alive, and in 3rd place.

Opted for the 2 stop stratergyyy, which really helped me achieve the podium, imo.

Race was really solid. My pace was nowhere near what I did yesterday, so was unhappy about that. I would go sooo leisurely into Bus Stop it was ridiculous, but oh well.

After I figured Petry was maybe doing 3 stops, I turned the boost way down, and went into auto-pilot mode.

My only mistake was losing the back-end at Bus Stop...and having to yield before getting around again which cost me some time.

Other than that, it was a matter of keeping the concentration and not letting my eyes get all fuzzy.

Congrats are in order to both class winners. Amazing performances.

Well done to everyone. Sorry to any lapped cars that I may have been aggressive with. Hope all is well on that end.

Hi

My race was running so well, until i spun at Eau Rouge (where else?), and my race ended there. A real shame! I´ve liked a lot the Spyker. Very nice car, very stable and predictable.
One question off topic: is there any chance to have more of this 3 Hours races with this mod here at R2P?
Congrats to winners, podiums and to all.

Cheers, Luis.

I've never been this unprepared for a special event (2010 Indy 500 comes close). The only practice I had was for qualifying last week and that was only a few laps in race trim. When I first came onto the server today, there were only a few minutes left until the damn race would start! I had finished the LMS race just minutes before, had lunch, and stretched out a bit before getting ready for the race. Luckily, I had a decent setup from a LMGT race here a few months ago, so the transition wasn't too bad.

Starting 2nd, I knew I didn't really have much in terms of pace against Tristan, especially in the first few laps. He's excellent on cold tires with this mod while I am the complete opposite and usually don't start to show my true pace until 10 minutes into a stint.

Exactly the case in this race. He zoomed out to a sizable lead within a few laps and already I was getting pissed off because my wheel kept losing its center every lap. It had done this exact same thing in the LMS race. It will be fine for a few corners, then it will drift to the right roughly 5 degrees. Then a few corners later (or a few laps), it will correct itself violently! It was never a smooth transition when it did it. I had it correct itself a few times going through Eau Rouge during the race...scared the shit out of me!

Anyway, so I wasn't a happy camper for the entire first stint. Even though towards the end I was keeping a similar pace to Tristan, I had a spin in the bus stop after blowing my brake marker...losing 10 seconds I could have used. To make matters worse, I was getting worse fuel mileage than at the start of the race. I noticed the engine was running a little warm and thought I could opening up the radiator a bit to cool it down and hopefully, get some better fuel mileage. Well, not only did it add a bunch of time to my pit stop, but it did jack shit!

So, I was pretty irate entering the 2nd stint. Tristan was roughly 22 seconds ahead and gaining. Once he entered a bulk of the traffic, though, I brought that lead down into the teens while I had a clear track. Eventually, he got into a wreck in Eau Rouge. That was the worst thing that could happen to him. Not only would he have to drag his beat up car all the way around the track to pit, but also, the accident happened before his pit window, so he would have no choice to but to pit again for fuel.

This was a huge weight off my shoulders. For the rest of the race, I completely focused on fuel mileage and being able to make it all the way with one more stop. I was much slower than I was capable of, but it didn't matter. Tristan was almost a minute and a half behind and with damage, was not as quick as before. The last stint was mentally draining but made it home without any troubles.

Grats to the GT2 winner and to those that finished.

Very sorry to see your race ruined by a wreck, Tristan. You definitely had that win in the bag...I had nothing for you.

Congrats winners!
Well had a great race while it lasted, long battle almost the whole first stint with Mr. Crash. After the pits I was following BF who crashed at the top of the hill, I couldn't avoid and crushed him causing plenty of damage. I got rolling again and got hit by MC, sorry Matt I just tried to go straight, no doubt if I would have tried to get out of your way to one direction or the other it would have ended the same way. So after a long pitstop I did a few more laps but the damage was done and it was no fun driving a slow wobbling car so after crashing in a high speed corner I called it a day.
See you next time,
RA

Titled: killer bush attack.

Had great fun fighting with Brain Fairley for P5 untill lap 49 when I had a real silly DNF. All was going well when I exited Eau Rouge I stayed on the right side just beside the white line. I wasn't off track, but just beside the white line. Now, there is a 2D bush placed beside the track and when I passed it, it was like I hit a stone wall. I spun round 10 times or so. I was sitting there with the steeringwheel in my hands and thought "what the hell ...". The car was a total wreck. I still don't know if I should laugh or cry. Watch the replay of me on lap 49, its a real jawdropper.