Week 1 - Infineon NASCAR Circuit

Week 1 - Infineon Nascar Track - 08/05/2013

Schedule of Events

• 9:00 PM EST - 7-lap Practice Stint - If you'd like to do this show up promptly, I will be starting it on time for obvious reasons and assume anyone not there prefers not to run some practice laps. This will be a random grid.
  
  
• 9:20 PM EST - 3-lap Qualifying - (2 flying laps) - Please be here 5 minutes in advance if you want to run.  At 9:15 we will assume everybody that wants to run is in the lobby, and wait a few minutes for stragglers but will not be waiting for stragglers at the 9:20 mark or further.  Anyone in after that will go to the back of the grid without a chance at qualifying points.  One point will be awarded to the Top 6 qualifiers.  Note that sandbagging is considered similar to fixing a game and is punishable by series expulsion.
  
  
• 9:30 PM EST - Race 1 - 34 Laps - Pit Window Laps 16 through 18 - Order of Grid is Reverse Qualifying Order
  
  
• Approx. 10:15 PM EST - Race 2 - 11 Laps - Order of Grid is Combined Lobby Points (Qually and Race 1)
  

Good luck Gentlemen.  After the race, you have until the next week's race is begun to post your race photo or short race night summary to gain an extra point in the standings.



Track Notes

Here's a lap of this track with Boris Said driving - note they're only a couple of seconds faster than us which shows you how fast these cars are.

• When coming on to the chute you can run wide - this is routinely done.  Since it is often run this way I will not penalize this unless egregiously done, you sustain much greater chance to hit the wall though, and hurt your car.
  
  
• Entering the Pits - As you cross the yellow line into the pit area,  you must brake in a controlled fashion all the way until the pit entrance.  Anyone seen full throttle into the pits will sustain a minor penalty.
  
  
• Exiting the Pits - Stay along the yellow line to the left until the opening, and stay left as other drivers are to stay right when approaching the pits if another car is exiting.
  

Driver Pre-Race Status
Assumed Available - Notified Absence

RR Chelsea - Maserati Ghibli Cup
Russ Wheeler - Mercedes
RR Stroker Ace - Ford
ox FASTLANE xo - Alfa Romeo
THF dvsSublime - BMW
RR Delzaster - Alfa Romeo
s n g 73 - Ford
Hellisan - BMW
jms493 - Mercedes
Staceunited - BMW
Luongo27 - Mercedes


Bondzai - Mercedes


Driver Post-Race Status
Attended Race - Notified Absence - Did Not Show Did Not Notify

RR Chelsea - Maserati Ghibli Cup
Russ Wheeler - Mercedes
RR Stroker Ace - Ford
ox FASTLANE xo - Alfa Romeo
THF dvsSublime - BMW
RR Delzaster - Alfa Romeo
s n g 73 - Ford
Hellisan - BMW
jms493 - Mercedes
Staceunited - BMW
Luongo27 - Mercedes


Bondzai - Mercedes

Read and understood

Track Notes posted.

Gotta say, you set things up like a pro, Helli. Looks really good.

my car only starts working after lap 4. so if i look slwow in qually, it is because im trying to keep it clean

Well fuck me....my schedule just changed and I won't be home on Monday night. Hopefully this will be the only race I miss.

Bondzai wrote:Well fuck me....my schedule just changed and I won't be home on Monday night.  Hopefully this will be the only race I miss.

Take control of your life Bond! It's all about personal power!



thanks for the heads up.

Hellisan wrote:

Bondzai wrote:Well fuck me....my schedule just changed and I won't be home on Monday night.  Hopefully this will be the only race I miss.

Take control of your life Bond!  It's all about personal power!



thanks for the heads up.

Hahahahahaha

Please note small change to the series:

Since we are not going to be re-ordering our cars on the grid (manually at Motegi speedway) I cannot assess individual grid penalties like I originally put in the rules.  Therefore I have taken out the option of pitting outside the official window and taking a grid penalty (since it's not possible with my settings) but expanded the pit window to 3 laps.

Every week I will post the pit window (it has been updated in the Week 1) and it will be a 3-lap window, not two.  Keep that in mind.

Read and Understood

I will be streaming this on my Twitch Channel.

Read and understood

Running late may not make the race.

5 lap practice race starting now

practice completed - qualifying beginning at 6:20 or so.. Jump in lobby now for qualifying.

Live
http://www.twitch.tv/jms493

Merc by jms493, on Flickr

post-race point

Some quick Pictures....gotta go to bed. Sorry if I missed racers.


Week 1 Infineon (27) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (26) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (24) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (23) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (20) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (19) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (17) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (16) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (11) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (10) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon ( by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (7) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (6) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (4) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (3) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (2) by jms493, on Flickr


Week 1 Infineon (1) by jms493, on Flickr

Infineon

Qually
I was pretty pleased with qually getting third fastest because I knew there were a lot of cars running very close lap times.  I had my best out lap of the week in qually my next 2 weren't too bad but not the best as I was worried knowing 1 mistake could make a big difference to where you were placed so I was very happy to see not my best time possible put me in 3rd spot.

Race 1
Everyone knows the Alfa is incredible off the line thanks to its AWD but also know I am a pretty timid driver when it comes to passing and I like a clean car so my sponsors can be seen by the media, after all that's what they pay for.  That being said I found myself really able to get off to a flyer and passing 4 cars by turn 1 as gaps appeared for me to use.  By the end of lap 2 I was up to 3rd spot which considering even with AWD I started on the 2nd last grid row I felt very happy and the car also felt pretty happy and consistent. From lap 3 I had a pretty clear run but I also knew with the amount of quality drivers on the grid I would at some point become under pressure.  I saw a few drivers pit on the 1st available lap, looked at the map and as I had clear air I decided to make sure I pitted late to maximise that all important clear air.  A few laps after the pit along came Luongo and after a few laps I finally made an error out braking myself for the 1st hairpin and he slid by me demoting me to 4th place.  Towards the end of the race sniper was catching me as I came up on a couple of back markers who very kindly gave me good space and room to get by them and for that I thank you very much guys great awareness.  I was managing the gap I had over sniper and was feeling very happy with life as I know how quick both he and the BMW's are.  On the 33rd laps I came into the right hander before the 1st harpin only to see a load of smoke and a car and the next thing I knew my car was pretty much done from engine right through to suspension.  I finally got the car going again and crawled to the pit looking out for fast traffic behind me.  Driving to the pit cost me 2 places which dropped me back to 6th place and then the pit took forever and I managed to just get out and hold position over Sublime for a 7th place finish.


Race 2
Again I had a really good start off the line and after turn 1 found myself in 2nd place behind the other Alfa.  We ran close for a lap or so then Fastlane made an error and I was able to slip by him into the lead closely followed by sniper.  The rest of the race was spent trying not to make mistakes and drive smart making snipers life as hard as possible however I didn't think id keep him there but was gonna try.  I was slower than him into turn 1 so I was constantly looking in my mirror to try and cover his every move which ment at turn 1 placing my car on the inside.  Then the gutsy little Italian tried a bold and brave move around the outside at turn 1 with a couple of laps to go we rubbed paint a few times as we both tried our best to race hard without wrecking both of us, we came out of turn 1 side by side and went into the next chicane the same way.  This was pretty mad because we both knew only 1 would survive but we tried it anyway lol.  I with the AWD managed to hold the inside line and get decent drive out to hold the lead.  Things got pretty close to the end and I managed to get the win and I think there was only a few feet between us at the line.  It was a fantastic battle that I enjoyed very much my only regret was that we had a few rubs but we both were racing hard and wanted the win.





Race night overview
I had a great night's racing it sucked what happened in race 1 but hey that's racing and at least I was able to salvage some points from race 2 and get my first race win of the season.  The battle with sniper was intense and an immense amount of fun.

post-race point

Driver of the day - Sniper919

Qualifying: 1st (1:19.598)

Race 1: Starting last on the grid, Sniper worked his way through the pack and had a great battle with Sublime that resulted in a tap and losing some time as he had to let a couple additional cars pass before it was safe to get back on the track. So kudos for the patience to do that, and get a P4 out of Race 1 from the back of the grid.

Race 2:  Had a full-on battle with Del for P1 and although he had to settle for a 2nd place, the combination of the first place qually effort, and solid performances in both races while showing some good restraint makes this my drive of the day.  

Good job Snipper, and this qualifies as your post-race report and post-race point.



sniper post-race point

RACE NOTES

PENALTIES - PRELIMINARY

Drivers have till the end of the week (Friday Morning 9 PM EST) to report penalties and incidents. This is list therefore considered incomplete until then. The standings included in this series will be all preliminary numbers until the start of the next race at which point they will be locked in.

Penalties list 1

CHELSEA SELF-REPORTING LAP 1 – 2 EARLY SECOND RACE – PHYSICAL ERROR

HELLISAN SELF-REPORTING RACE 2 - ERROR JUDGEMENT

STROKER ACE SELF-REPORTING RACE - PHYSICAL ERROR

SNG73 – ERROR JUDGEMENT RACE 1

JMS – WENT INTO SUBLIME INTO 1ST CORNER TOP OF THE HILL – CAUSED ACCIDENT – LAP 3 – ERROR IN JUDGEMENT COMING BACK ON TO TRACK TOO QUICKLY

HELLISAN - FAILURE TO GET A CLEAN LAP IN QUALIFYING - (50% OF RACE 1 POINTS ROUNDED UP) - 10 POINTS

STACEUNITED - NO QUALIFYING - (50% OF RACE 1 POINTS ROUNDED UP) - 4 POINTS

Qualifying: The team and I were very happy with a 4th place start for race one against these other fast drivers and quick cars especially on this track.

Race 1: At the beginning all I was thinking about keeping the car clean and looking for clean passes. In the middle of the first lap there were some mechanical failures with the engine then the steering failed causing me to almost crash into someone. After the failure the car started to come to life made up two places pretty quickly. Then I had a tough time getting around RR Chelsea, but had to wait for a mistake until it paid off and was able to pass by. After the pass the track was quite empty for a few laps made my pit stop and the team did a great job on the stop. Then I was able to catch the Merc of RR Russ Wheeler but had another tough time to get around until the last lap where I got lucky and made the pass and claimed a 4th place finish

Race 2: This race started the same as race one had to keep it clean, but after the first couple of corners I made contact with another driver causing some damage. After everyone was separated there was a crash in front of me with two cars was able to get by without getting involved. Although they both got into the accident they were still able to pass me a few laps later. During that time frame the car felt horrible but held 5th tell the end.


post-race point

The Good

Cruised to a first place win in Race 1 after failing to get a clean lap and starting P1.

The Bad

In Race 2, I made an ill-advised pass attempt on FASTLANE that resulted in both of us chucking it into the wall when my brakes simply locked up. I didn't have enough room to make this pass and therefore earned a 2-point penalty.

In this series 1 point will be for a physical error that leads to something more than just a racing rub... 2 points will be for a mistake in judgement... and 3 points will be for something egregious resulting in a destroyed car, or something that has been seen race to race and already warned about.

The Ugly

Failed to get a clean lap in qualifying, thus incurring a 50% penalty in my Race 1 points.


post-race point

RR Chelsea - Has sent me 3 photos to put up... I'll do later this week.

Chelsea post-race point

race one was good time had good battle with stroker  till the end,

race two was not so good...

post-race point