I just got pole by 0.08s from [SR]Tongey. I kept first position until the 2nd lap when Tongey nipped past me. I was then just following behind him until about lap 7 when we had a little battle, Tongey coming out in first. I dropped back a bit and then proceeded to post the fastest lap of the race, 53.29s. I was closing in on Tongey but a yellow flag message came up, distracting me and making me half-spin. This allowed MHR > tot to get ahead of me and that's where I finished, 3rd. I was disappointed because I know I could have won it if I hadn't made the mistake but that's racing.
Now race 2... I had an excellent start, moving up to 3rd from 8th by about half way round lap 1. The excitement was short lived however as I went to hot into the chicane and found myself sliding across the grass on my roof.
Yeah, sucky sprint race for me too. Just the same as last round's sprint race, I just got pushed off track and barged out of the way. Its all well and good for the people (some I think take advantage) who finish in bottom positions in race 1, then just somehow be amazing in the sprint race and pull away from the field - but for the people mid-field at the start of the sprint race its like driving into a dark tunnel with no lights and people trying to kill you on either side!
for me too... Dr Duck spun exactly infront of me... Because of this barrier the first corner was horrible at start... there was no where to go when he spun
Sorry to Kaw for the last lap incident, but now i've seen it again it's clear it was accidental (i would never take anyone out on purpose) You and Dru had some contact which pushed you out a bit as i was trying to go outside you, and i made contact with your rear.
Anyhow..i expect you to make a complaint and I'll accept any punishment if that's what's decided. No problem. Sorry it happened.
in general a good set of races for me, i still cant quite believe im in division 1 when i am over a second a lap slower than the entire rest of the field, but hey ho there we go! I was a bit unlucky on lap 1 of the feature race as i had two accidents right infront of me that i had to brake for which allowed all those who didnt brake for the accidents to go past.
In the sprint i was compromised twice by people going off and rejoining at a slower pace right infront of me, allowing more people to pass again, then i 'almost' rolled it and was instantly in last place again. No room for errors in div 1!
First race was ok besides an incident with Chris which caused hay to be shot in my face, but i could proceed. Did some fighting with Paul, but we lost too much time on mcintire so after 5 laps I decided to back off. After a couple of laps paul got to mcintire, overtook him, and mcintire made a mistake after that so that was 1 more position for me. I tried to get to paul again, but failed in the end, then decided to just cruise the last few laps.
Race 2 was bah, yuck eewl. I apologize to moose and dynofiend for the too aggressive racing i did while overtaking and defending, so im sorry for that.
Ahh, cool....the way you spoke about being 'wrecked' after the race i had the feeling you thought it was deliberate/crappy driving.
I certainly felt it was an accident.
Cheers
The last corner was a mess, but like KAw said a racing accident, Kaw lost a heck of a speed thorgh the chicane and i went to the inside and hoped that the tyre would stick, they did - just about and as we striaghtened out, we scrubbed speed a bit which was enuff to make us slow so that you nudged the back of Kaw, unfortunately as it was a bend the physics means someone will nearly always spin out which is a shame.
BTW the lap 25 incident, i was thinking what on earth Moose was doing, thinking can this guy not tell i'm by him and hes turned into me, however, when i saw the replay i see your car spun as your back wheel went on the grass so i must take back the things i was saying in my head
i found that a car broadside was enough to slow me down, however fight back from 13th to 8th was very very enjoyable with a new PB of 53 dead on the way through the pack
I was actually 4th fastest on track in race 1 behind mercury and fusion. Which brought a smile to my face. I think I was 10th after that and fought back to 7th... just one of those things really.
Pretty sure i responded to your complaint/'whine' about the sprint race from the last round. Its always going to be like that, trust me if you think its bad from your end try dealing with it when half the grid infront of you is like this, not just 3-4.
Too little too late, but i think we need a WTCC/BTCC style reverse grid, WTCC reverse only the first 8 drivers, everyone outside that stay in finishing order. BTCC spin a 'wheel of fortune' style board and that has a number between 6 and 10, whichever it lands on is the number of cars reversed. The winner of race 2 spins the wheel after that race.
now obviously spinning a wheel cant be done and other methods arent really sensible, but the concept of reversing some not all isnt a bad idea.
Reversing a grid of 20+ people in season 2 would just be chaos.
Flipping the top 8 or 10 would mean that the racing would be considerably cleaner, currently its just a case of whoever is the luckiest and manages to come through the chaos with the least amount of problems. Theres just not enough laps to come through the field without taking the odd sensible gamble and occasionally making moves you'd usually hold back on.
Maybe its been the tracks we've been to, neither help or encourage overtaking, at least Aston Cadet has a few places to make a move which arent lethal.
I know what you mean about people finishing near the bottom then disappearing in the sprint race, was just talking to Viper about this earlier. Using Kaw as a perfect example, he's scored a total of 64pts in the feature races and 67pts in the sprint races.
Round 1 - 6th & 2nd (40 + 32)
Round 2 - 10th & 1st (24 + 35)
There will be no changes to the format of the racing in this season, i see it as being very successful.
People have to realise that the racing is tight, and your example about Kaw i beleive is way off base , so thank your lucky stars that the reverse grid is only half points..
Now everyone quit with the little tinkering and lets get racing
Actually your assumption is off base, im neither suggesting the format should be changed now (hence 'too little too late' comment) or that Kaw is doing anything intentional, but its not tight racing is madness. People are given 15min to qualify, 40min worth of racing, and then we move to another track and get 3 laps to familiarise ourselves. The problem comes when you've got slower drivers from the last round, havent put in decent practice and arent exactly predictable at the best of times doing crazy sh*t infront of you and you have to react to that responsibly as to not cause an incident with the people around you.
Im pretty sure if you asked the opinions of the people taking part there thoughts on the sprint race they'd have the same opinion, its all rather chaotic and the key eliment is luck ahead of skill/ability. The feature race both times has been enjoyable i've found, i lost 3 places due to a bail that went astray and found itself in the racing line of the first chicane and had to fight my way through fast cars to get some places back, that was tight racing and very enjoyable. The sprint races have been a frustration of being slowed down and having to avoid getting caught up in other peoples mess. It just seems a frustraiting way to end a good nights bit of racing.
You know i've already asked for so many changes to be made to the series so close to it starting, so im not sure why you assumed i ment it should be done mid-way through, im simply suggesting this might be worth looking into for next season particularly with your intention of having 24+ drivers on the track, as if things are a nightmare as they are right now double the cars on the track and just think what would happen then!
Take a look at the replays from the front-runners perspective and watch what they have to drive through, theres people on there you wonder if they know what your doing, if your not sure they know what they're doing how the hell do you race side by side with them? Having to watch for their 'racing lines' and brake points and stuff so you dont get blamed for causing an accident... its just damn frustrating.
The sprint race rewards luck not driver ability, i dont recall any other real life race series having something similar which rewards the 'slow' and punishes the 'fast' and im thinking i know a bloody good reason why thats the case!
As for Kaw, purely a handy example of someone thats benefitting from bad results in race 1 where they're fast and consistant enough to do well, but still the truely fast people cant get up there because of everything inbetween holding them back. If someone was capable of winning a race then they'd be up there in the first race, reversing things is basically saying 'your slow, you know it we know, so we'll stick you at the front, make it so all the faster people are trying to get past you cos... well, boy your slow, now while your driving your slow ass car round the track in your slow ass way you've got equally slow people around you and the faster people thinking they need to pass you quick or be passed themselves by those quicker still behind them. now we know your slow and not the best driver, so you deal with whats infront of you as well as keep your eye on whats going on behind and to the side of you, and we'll call that close racing and have some fun hokay?'
Close racing is what we have in the feature race, its people of the same pace and ability driving side by side with one another, reversing that is basically using the back end as obsticals, the track becomes an assualt course that feels like its supposed to have some sort of novelty value to it. Im sure at least half the grid in Div1 would rather race toe-to-toe with people cleanly than play russion roulette.
I think 3 laps are enough to get the rhythm back, and apperantly mercury drivers also load up another instance of lfs and train there. Seeing as that gives an advantage over other people its a weird argument.
It's like Ferrari asking the fia to ban private tracks for teams.
All fast drivers hate reverse grids, in real life or in lfs so there's no need to ask for driver opinions as we can guess them already.
Imo a good racing driver can adopt to any situation well, and doesn't take unnecessary high risks. We even lowered the points for the reverse grid race so the risk/benefit ratio changes.
So I'd suggest that the fast drivers actually think about "Do i really need the extra points if I overtake that guy compared to the people close to me in the point standings?"
I know that drivers did ask that in the v8 supercars last year to minimize risk in reverse grid races, so maybe it's time drivers here did that too.
To all that mishmash I can say; a good racing driver can pass anyone. Reverse grid races were thought of because it makes things more exciting because otherwise there would be no action at all in the second race. There was already no action in the top 5 in the first race, everyone just increased their gaps just like in the first round.
As a final thing I wanna say that the fun factor was definitely gone in this round and im hugely disappointed by that. I hope it will be back in the next round cause I'd rather join division 2 right now.
I'm sorry Paul but i have to disagree with lots of what you say..
Yes so the format is different perhaps to what people have done before, but thats the point of it, we don't want to run the same old stuf which others have done, and the format that we have adopted has been there since the very first day.
I don't like sterile racing, i don't like it where you have a league of 20 but you lay everything out so easily for the top 3 drivers that all they have to do is turn up to win a championship.. whats the point in that
This League is about Fun and randomness is included by that. So what if the quick guys have to come up from the back, prove your worth and do it.. anyway i thought you and Viper had excellent races , pecker obviously had an issue near the start that rolled his car, but correct me if i'm wrong but surrounding him at the time was 3 other Mercury team mates, so whats the difference to whether it was at the back or at the front? the potential was still there to happen?
i really also think that your taking this from the point that 'the Mercury drivers' don't like the reverse grid, afterall i don't hear NOBODY else complaining from the first two rounds apart from Mercury
The same happens in Division 2, but not a peep from anyone. Last week was great in Division 2, no moaning everybody happy racing and enjoying themselves, pleased that they are in a fun league setup.
So why is that not happening in Div 1? I can not answer that - can you
Well actually i also don't really here it from Div 1, all i hear is complains form Mercury racers about this and that, also its not about anything really that big, but after 4 weeks constant little bits here and there it's really starting to get to me i'm afraid.
Also no one likes having to play russian roulette, however i don't appreciate that i had to play "russian roulette'' with one of your team,
Lap 5 main striaght, what the hell sort of manouver was that?
I had lots of close racing this evening in Divion 1, with close batles with Kaw,Qastomeg, Moose,Dynofiend,etc etc and did not get any of this from them, but nothing 'deliberate', just racing accidents, and everyone involved sees this, the only one that was not was that deliberate move to spin me off the track by one of your Team Mates.
I suggest that driving standards are lookd at within your team before trying to say that others in division one are not 'upto your standards'/
Actually i'm glad that a ruling does not have to be made on that manouver becuase he withdrew himself from the league.
I wish the moaning and attitude displayed in these forums regarding the format for this series would stop.
It is dragging this series down, please can we all stop with the suggestions of what should be done to the series, afterall it was you that said we should stick to the format that we have decided, and sticking we are 90% of us are happy.
By all means keep those suggestions and mention them at the end of the league, not throwing them up all the time, cause all that they are doing is showing that you are not happy with the format, its off putting for racers involved, looks bad for people looking in and, its off putting as admins too as we have to constantly defend what we are doing by running this league.
As a general shout out (not directed at you Paul ) If people really aren't happy then leave the league, this league is about fun close racing, not about politics and disputes over rules/formats /standards of driving etc etc this will allow people who are happy with the league to stay and enjoy it and not be spoilt by others.
If people still think they are in the wrong division then let us know it's not too late to change division, unfirtunately i suspect it will be people wanting to transfer to Division 2 rather than the other way
I hope all this stuff settles now and we can just concentrate on the rest of the season....
