Wow. That was an awesome race. Definately one of the best (if not THE best) I ever had in LFS.
Somehow I managed to join the server just before qualy (I thought I had at least 1 hour left) so I asked for a set, drove my first ever laps on this combo... and qualified last, 4 seconds slower then Three Jump. Even after I removed franky's ballast
I wasn't really up to speed.
Well, I thought to myself, just 6 guys in the race and noone is as slow as I am... I just have to make sure I don't flip, blow a tyre or fall asleep to get some points... but that'll be a boring race. Well, as it turned out, I was wrong.
First few laps were indeed not very eventful, managed to gain 2 positions at the start. Three Jump started dissappearing into the distance and I lost time to the ATC guys. I guess Cropsy and Tumz were fighting for a positions, because I gained time on them. At least had a bit of time to search for the right lines.
In lap 7 or 8 Franky made an error in the double right in the last sector allowing me to pass him, but he regained that position quite quickly. After that I followed the two ATC guys for what felt like eternity... must have been 15-20 laps (which would be more then 30 to 40 minutes), all three of us staying within 1 or 2 seconds.
In Lap 31 and 32 dadge and franky pitted while still had 20% of fuel left. Thought if I push hard enough I could gain enough time to leave the pits infront of them... then again, I didn't want to risk blowing a tyre (cause I'm hard on tyres anyways)... even on my inlap I wasn't sure if I should change tyres or not. But then I thought the race was that close and fun so far, wouldn't it be boring to be in 4th position in the last 20 laps with noone around me? So I decided to "change tyres if wear >65%", since I already did 66% of the race and just let LFS decide if I should change tyres. It turned out LFS didn't want me to change tyres.
Oh, and one thing. Normally I do a few test-inlaps after qualy to make sure where to break and where the white line starts / ends (no 20 seconds penalties as of yet
), but since I joined just before qualy began I opted for going to the toilet instead of practicing that... because of that I lost quite some time. Pit entry was meh (braked way too early, even had to accelerate in the pits) and while I could see the pit entry in the laps gone by I wasn't too sure about the pit exit since I was already focusing on braking / turning for T1. So I wasn't quite sure where that damn line was. Lost quite some time on pit exit because I was checking my mirrors for the ATC guys and overshot the corner.
But at least I managed to enter the track infront of them... just. I think dadge got me on that very lap.
And then the real fun began. Franky, Dadge and I were fighting for what was then 3rd (but should be 2nd because Tumz had yet to pit) place.
Especially the last 10 laps or were great. Almost every lap I passed someone or got passed, 2-wides through 3 or 4 consecuitve corners, hard but fair fights, some paint trading, slipstreaming... just great racing.
I lost some time in the double right handers, but I didn't want to stress my tyres that much and I saw some scary moments of ATC guys so I didn't want to push my luck. I also never got T2 quite right, but on the other hand I guess I had at least 10 passes into T1 where I took a slightly tighter line then the ATCs. Anyway.... as I said, those 20 laps or so were huge fun.
In the meantime, Three Jump still was miles ahead and lapping around 1 second faster then me so when I saw that he had a drive through I thought he pitted and since he was bored he got himself a DT just for the laughs... he still would have led i guess. But after about 1 lap I glimpsed at the positions indicator, and to my surprise I was 2nd, not 3rd... indeed, Three Jump was behind us. Wait a second, that means with just a few laps to go, I was battling for the win, right? Boy, those last laps were intense, frustrating, great... just everything. Dadge overtook me while drifting over the curbs (I was really taken aback when I saw you appearing in front of me in full lock... as a matter of fact I was that stunned I rear ended you... my only serious contact in the race I think).
Anyway, I was 0.01 seconds behind dadge when we went on our last lap, and I guess it was pure luck it was me leading when we finished that lap. Could have easily been franky or dadge.
I wouldn't have minded racing for 10 or 20 more laps, it was that much fun. Well, after the race I noticed I was dead tired, I went to bed minutes after the race, I was that exausted... but happy.
