It was indeed a great race.
It’s just a shame that FXR is completely uncompetitive.
We tried our best, we followed a strategy with minimum pit stops, had no disconnects and during the last 5 hours we pushed it really hard even if this is not shown buy lap times cause of minor engine damage that cost us some acceleration and ~2km/h less top speed.
All in all we did our best and still where helplessly slow
Great experience after all though
As for the accident you are referring to Ray, between you and my teammate Andy.
It’s ok you are already forgiven.
In GT1 we lost around seven laps in the space of just thirty minutes with a series of 5 disconnects, followed by another in the final hour of the race, losing us two of the places we'd worked so hard to recover. It's really a shame for Heikki, Teemu and Marc because they did so well to drive the entire race with just the three of them, with myself unable to remain connected to the server for more than a couple of minutes. Marc had gone skiing in the week leading up to the race, not arriving home until around 2330 UTC on Saturday, over 10 hours into the race, so I think that makes the performance of the three of them - with Heikki and Teemu having to cover for him - even more impressive.
Our GT2 car had a comparitively trouble-free race, finishing third, with their only disconnection coming around 30 minutes before the end of the race. The strategy didn't prove to be the best though, and F1RST and Infinity were much too quick for us in this race.
So while we can be pleased to have done as well as we could in GT2, I feel one of the top three positions was certainly within reach in GT1 so it's certainly a shame to have yet another long race ruined for us by internet problems.
Congrats to Mercury, #low (bad luck, but you're leading the championship now ), 3id for their first MoE podium, F1RST for their awesome GT2 display, and Infinity as well for another second place in GT2.
Edit: Who else has totally screwed their body-clock? I woke up at 0100 local time today! -.-
Well at least you have some power to put down with that 4WD :P
In GT2 its pretty useless… we just had more experience with the FXR as a team and I considered the front diff as an advantage in order to avoid individual locked wheels during braking. (good if you want to preserve your tires.) That’s why we picked it. But apart from that, FXR is generally slower in both straights and turns so yeah this is really not working at all for us…
Anyway just like in south city, 4WD plays some role when you have to put the power down in slow turns so yeah in blackwood we are not going to be that slow.
On the other hand, BL is a lot tighter and shorter... so God (any God) help us from furious GT1 cars and F1RST
I have :P I should be sleeping right now and be awaken in about 2 hours (07:00 local time.)
Instead I am awake since 23:30 local time and right now is 5:40 in the morning...
I managed 1:30am here (10hrs sleep) but then my body clock is pretty late even for an American timezone (im about -9), so im used to being completely out of sync with the rest of the country, but I *HATE* mornings, they're soooooo dull, so its going to be depressing all week till i've got myself back to going to bed at 7am
Was an amazing race, last year we (and im using 'we' as mercury, as an ex-teammember/leader) were a lap ahead, not entirely sure if that was before pitting, or entirely on merit, after about 4-6hrs iirc. This time round, the gap was never significant between the lead cars, and when you consider that quite often you have the race winner lap the 2nd place team in a 6hr race... to continue to be at the same pace throughout the entire 24hr race... its amazing. On top of that, it wasnt just 2 cars on the lead lap, but 3 of them (4th only getting lapped in the last few minutes as bawbag was as ruthless and relentless as ever!)
Have to say, while #low probably were well aware, the commentry team didnt really check some of their comments and whether they were accurate, because throughout the race around the half-way mark, Mercury had been leading almost all of the first half, then everyones cars doing a vanishing act during Jonesy's stints (twice!) saw #low take the lead which they maintained for the 2nd half, and even with both teams needing to repair damage after mistakes, it was still even, however the commentry always refered to #low as being in 2nd purely because Mercury needed to stop for fuel, as #low had done 1 more. That was always going to be the case, as the strategy was different. So whenever #low pitted, and Mercury had a few (8-12) laps before they needed to, they were on level terms, and more often than not leading the race at those points. Im sure #low were aware, because they'll have been following things like that. So i thought it was unfair (technically, it was inaccurate) that Merc were considered leading, but not on merit, but purely cos they hadnt stopped.
Would have been amazing had the race not ended as it did, both teams knew how things were going to get closer because of the way the strategies come closer, both drivers were putting in amazing laps and i guess the pressure on both was crazy. I dunno if Bawbags pressure was so much that it led to too late braking, or if there was a mistake or something, but what a finish that would have been. I find it hard to believe it wouldnt have come down to the final chicane because while Bawbag probably would have caught Zock, passing would have been entirely different.
Beforehand, i'd have said if any of the top teams could have gone the race without a disconnect, they'd win it, no question about it. But 2 going the distance... crazy.
Im bias, obviously, but the standings are far closer & better for everyone with Merc finishing ahead of #low, they'd have been quite a bit ahead of everyone, now the top 2 are seperated by a few points, the rest are still very much in it, and the double points have made the standings very interesting for the rest of the season.
As for f1rst GT1 and their bad luck, they shouldnt be too critical about it, the same mis-fortune fell upon Merc and they finished 6th but in the end it made them more determined and it didnt stop them going on to take the title. Its just an inconsiderate blip at the worst round to have one, neither did badly because of their performance, just bad luck, and just as last year merc's bad luck made things closer, the same has happened again. Last year Merc were in positions to win each round (pit error costing rnd2, discos & pop-ups at rnd4) whether on merit or through others mistakes, and f1rst seem to be on a similar path where provided it all comes to plan its their race/season to lose. Their overall performance was probably the strongest of all the teams and I still think they're going to be the team to beat.
Race is finished and we are still in the part to congratulate the winners again. So, gratulations to the true and deserved winners of mercury, espacially to ray who nearly drove as much laps as johannes did - and as we know, thats normally an unreachable mark grats to low as well, stunning performance to do this race with just 3 racers and so unfortunate to loose a certain victory due to a puncture while braking into the pitlane. grats too to my3id, good performance to a third place, what we tried to avoid, but weren´t able to last but not least grats to the winners of the gt2 class. at least there first racing have had a kinda problem-free race.
so, after all we are a bit disappointed with the 4th place. without our disconnect in the night we would have been able to compete for the victory as well, same for my3id and first.
But the last 15 minutes when i noticed that ray was driving behind me made me remember why i still race lfs. just 45 minutes earlier I was laying sleeping on my desk when hendrik told me to drive that deformed car to the finish line. thank you for that, although my car was too bent to be fast enough
a pity that we have chosen our typical way to practice ("well, race is tomorrow, isnt it? still a lot time") for an event
Managed to wake up at 8.00am on the day of the race, which started at 4.00pm for us, big mistake . So, that already makes 8hrs awake. I was up through all the 24hrs of the race, if we except one time I've closed my eyes sitting in my chair with my headphones on (I was on ventrilo, managing my team). I thought I was dreaming my teammates that were wondering where am I, but it was actually their voices over headphones... I did not respond to driver questions...
After the race I was so excited that I just could not sleep, went to take a hot bath later, and went to sleep at around 10.00pm at the day of race finish.
So that makes it... 8+24+6=38hrs without sleep... I've slept for 9hrs after and here I am at work...
congrats to mercury...
The reason for the drive through was a flat tyre (puncture) while breaking to the pit stop...
But Rays performance was very impressive... didn't think he could drive 4 hours without doing a little fault... but he did...
During these 24 hours, there come up a lot of ifs (as like as if we didn't had a puncture 3 hours before race end, which cost 10 seconds, 2 drive throughs or the crash in the chicane where the conquest gt2 damages our car), but I think it's right that mercury won the race...
Instead of winning the race, we're now first in the ranking
Well, first things first: my grateful thanks to all who made this race possible: Admins, racers, commentators, all the MOE organization staff, THANKS A LOT.
Our team was, once again very unlucky with several ISP problems causing four or five disconnections from the server. In the night shift we were able to perform some good, consistent stints and therefore could recover some places, in fact if it was not cause of the last disconnections we should have ended ahead of teams which never disconnected, all this connections problems leaves us a bitter taste about the race (only on the result’s side of it ) .
Congratulations to Mercury for the victory, Low for the excellent fight and second place and 3id for their third place in the podium, as well an special mention for the crushing GT2 victory to FIRST.
Thanks again and see you all back in Blackwod!.
If I had had a possibility to change my mind a few days before the race, I wouldn't have been on the track. The whole idea just seemed to have no point... especially after n1 lost Silvo due to an injury. The track was the worst possible for me, couldn't find the pace, nor the reliability, had tons of other stuff to do...
Anyway, I'm happy I managed to do this 24h. I always wondered what it's like, and this was way better I even imagined. I enjoyed all those 8 stints I did, learned those couple of crappy corners I never figured out during the practice and had great fun.
Congrats to Merc and #low for the stunning fight. Those top2 guys seem to have no nerves at all, flawless work from both. I strongly believe Scheuerle's flat tyre had some defect in manufacture or such... I knew that Merc had a strong team as a whole, but I was surprised about the pace of Rose and Gunzelmann. Those guys have improved a lot and made the big fight possible. Inferno's pace was a surprise too, very well done guys.
I believe the 7th spot was the maximum for n1 this time. Even a race without disconnects woudn't have brought us ahead Inferno. With a bit of conn problems we just had a more entertaining fight for our 7th. A solid job from our team too, driving and organisation-wise. A big thank you to everyone else involved as well. Gotta check the stream when I get my body clock sorted
Same here, sorry me the delay in this congrats lines
Im very happy I was able to take part in this 24hs, anyway, sadly I wasnt able to do anything else than 2 short stints due to some stuff and tasks I couldn't get rid of, but the experience its great, the teamwork involved, the partnership and all that stuff makes for the best race a LFS driver could take part in.
Cheers!!
Speaking about my team, I dont care of any particular result. Sure, without some disconnections we could have finished a bit higher... but what really matters for me is that Im proud to be part of this group, I may not be the fastest guy around, but Im truly the most thankfull one for being taken into account to hit the track with the team and specially our league colours
Tks all again!!
Interesting to get a direct perspective in those videos from you guys, nice to watch.
Jack did fully accept the blame for that incident though, in his interview which can be found (among our other interviews during the race) here: http://www.my3id.com/gaming/videos
No worries, we sorted it out during the race already In that moment I was just a little pissed cause I had already passed Jay and even if we were slower, passing us is sth. else
@ Jack, sorry, I thought I was more "enthusiastic" when u hit me, but it appears I was rather more having those feelings inside than letting them out. I was wondering as well as I saw the vid the first time xD
. So, that already makes 8hrs awake. I was up through all the 24hrs of the race, if we except one time I've closed my eyes sitting in my chair with my headphones on (I was on ventrilo, managing my team). I thought I was dreaming my teammates that were wondering where am I, but it was actually their voices over headphones... I did not respond to driver questions... 
.