Driver Journal - #12 Rum Bum Racing Porsche

Good right up man, looking forward to next week's

Good stuff helli!

The following info is provided by the Forza 4 official website:
Racing and danger once went hand-in-hand, and tragedy was thought of as par for the course. Thankfully, attitudes began to change, and it was realized that racing could be exciting and also safe. When car performance simply outstripped the ability to race safely on Nürburgring’s Nordschliefe circuit, track owners constructed a new course called “GP-Strecke,” or “Grand Prix Course.” The inaugural race was an exhibition event, with superstar racers including Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, and Ayrton Senna competing against each other in identically-prepared Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16s (Senna ended up winning, by the way). While no course could approximate Nordschleife’s challenges without the danger, the GP course stands on its own as a fast course that provides incredible racing thrills, particularly with the 2002 revisions that increased overtaking opportunities. At the new Haug-Hook, a sharp right-hander which replaces a chicane, enterprising racers can find a perfect place to pass a competitor. At virtually every corner there is a technical challenge that must be overcome to utilize the track to its utmost; for example, the Mercedes-Arena turn’s long and complex curvature makes it difficult to find the ideal line. At the Warsteiner Bend, a perfect exit is required to gain every shred of speed for the fastest part of the course, the straight leading up to the flat-out ADVAN Arch bend. With exciting elevation changes and a layout that requires finesse and bravery to master, Nürburgring GP is truly one of the great circuits of the world.


Practice and Tuning Notes

This is one of my favorite tracks. I've always thought it was one of the best tracks out there and glad when it was included in Forza. Our lap times started in the 1:59 range and we worked our way to a best of 1:57.3xx in practice, with an official best in the 1:57.6xx range (official meaning clean lap in free run).

That isn't to say it's been easy, coming up with a tune that's going to compete with what others are putting out there is not easy, and I wouldn't want it any way. Of particular interest has been the gearing, which I'm still trying to get right. I have changed it so many times it's not funny. Going into the race, I feel l have a car with great turn-in but that also is pretty good on bumps and curbs. Looking forward to the race.

Race Results (50 Laps, order of qualifying)

Race starts and I'm on the outside in row 1. I figured well as soon as Raceboy gets 1st nailed down he's gone so might as well do something interesting but hoping I wouldn't wreck nobody. got a GREAT jump off the line pulling even with the pole position car and took a wide line off the first corner coming around to the inside part of the track and we were 3 wide at that point. Managed to stay inside and took the lead.

Raceboy was all over my 6 for the next few laps although my slightly better top end was making it tough on him. He clearly was faster, but I'd get a 50-100 foot edge due to speed and there was simply no passing line. I think it would have been ever so slightly tougher if I actually knew some lines. On the 4th or 5th lap or so I made an error and went wide coming out of the Mercedes section and let him by. Spent the rest of the race (45 laps) hot lapping but not before I learned some good new lines following Raceboy for awhile there. If I had known those with my speed advantage um that would have been a very tough pass as he would have done well just to catch up to me in the tougher bits of the track then watch the car drive away again. I have been in this position before with a faster lap time but slower car and it's not fun. Eventually I just settled in and finished approximately equidistant between Raceboy ahead of me, and Luongo behind me.

The real race was between Luongo/Sniper/Rowdy for the majority of the race. Del and Vdub were able to sneak ahead of Rowdy after a race mishap slowed him down otherwise those would have been the 2-3-4 and they were seemingly never more than a couple hundred feet apart for the race.

Order of finish
Raceboy77-1:57.419
Helli- 1:58.149
Luongo-1:58.221
Sniper919 - 1:58.452
Vdub-1:58.673
DelZaster- 1:58.771
Rowdy-1:58.923
WCR Hazardous-1:59.613
Sublime-1:59.634

In lieu of an interesting race story here are some pics.


The cars early on


We were never going to get away, of course....


The mistake that commenced the hot lapping.

reserved road atlanta

those laps following you were quite fun, i was just keeping pressure on hoping you'd slip up and when you did i took advantage of it :p. awesome write-ups by the way.

raceboy77 wrote:those laps following you were quite fun, i was just keeping pressure on hoping you'd slip up and when you did i took advantage of it :p. awesome write-ups by the way.

Yeah my goal was to make it interesting by trying to take the early lead and managed to do that, too bad I couldn't challenge you to make a tougher pass. I know you would have figured it out at some point,

The following info is provided by the Forza 4 official website:
Georgia’s Road Atlanta course, owned by local automaker and racing team Panoz Motorsports, is most famous as home to the crowning race of the ALMS season, Petit Le Mans. The 1,000 mile endurance race was one of the original events in the ALMS season, and the winner of the race in each class automatically qualifies for the 24 Hour of Le Mans race the following year. Some may remember Road Atlanta as the scene of two of the most spectacular crashes in history, when a Porsche 911 GT1 did a complete backflip in 1998, followed in 2000 by a BMW V12 LMR—less a fault of the track and more an issue with insufficient aerodynamic development on the cars. Constructed in 1969 out of a farmer’s field in an area better known for oval-track racing, Road Atlanta has attracted some of the best North American race series to roar around a road course, including Can-Am, Trans Am, Formula 5000, and AMA motorcycle racing. Revived from a period of disuse in the mid-1990s by Don Panoz, changes included the addition of a chicane (Turns 10a and 10b) to bring the track up to international race standards—but on the long straight leading up to that chicane, the best LMP1 cars, properly tuned, can exceed 200 mph. The track’s elevation changes and a wide variety of corner types make it the perfect venue to test the extreme performance of the latest ALMS and LMS racers, or to simply give your favorite A Class car a workout.


Practice and Tuning Notes

Getting into the tracks that I have a lot of familiarity with now and that is normally good, although Road Atlanta has been a fickle lover over the years lol. I didn't really do much with my Nurb. GP tune other than turn the downforce all the way up. Road Atlanta is one of the tracks I had actually run this car on the night that I turned the game on for the first time in over a year / year and a half recently and at that point I was basically embarrassing myself, none of the fine movement had come back into my hands and I was all over the place.

My best time on the track before the race was in the low 1:21 and I hoped to run consistent 1:21's in the race.

Race 1 Results 12 Laps, order of qualifying)

Last week I was able to get a great jump off the line and eventually take an early lead. Naturally I imagined I might be able to do that again but got a bad jump this time, and Raceboy took the line into the first turn and I tucked in to chase. Most drivers are going to take some time to get their best laps going and that was luckily the case here as I followed him (not always driving that great myself) until at the end of the 2nd lap he lost traction off a curb and spun. I was stunned, and almost didn't take the next corner right as I was warning the guys of him being on the left side. Video of first 2 laps below:



Great job by Raceboy not to sustain much damage if any there and he ended up driving the fastest lap. Sniper gave me a helluva run after this sometimes pulling to less than 200 feet down the straight but eventually I put together a couple of good laps and got the distance I needed to secure the win.

Best laps
Raceboy77-1:20.6xx
Helli- 1:20.9xx


Race 2 Results (24 Laps, reverse order of points)

Got the win - technically - But it was because of 3 lagouts, I probably would have finished 3rd to 4th not really sure. Not gonna say too much about it but needless to say it's difficult when this happens, I mean it looks like Zilla (who I was really looking forward to going up against) couldn't hack his DNF and has not shown up since. I guess that separates the men from the boys and I like how Raceboy has handled this. It just sucks all around, it's one thing when it's one guy but when 3 lag out it just doesn't seem fair with the points hit you take.

Had a close moment with Sniper where we almost collided, it was a miscommunciation. I was waiting till the last second to call my line because i didn't want to broadcast my intentions (easy blocking point). He didn't know I had a run and planned to pit. By the time I called "on your right" he was already moving over to pit and we collided but managed to maintain control. I took the lead with the move somehow but lost composure. It wasn't till later I managed to get by on the subsequent pit window.

What a video. That was an intense spin. Good avoidance. Also I like how the cone gets taken out on lap one in that left hander and then the marshals act quickly because it is back on lap two.

Nice write up, don't know how you and sniper didn't kill each other . Lagging out definitely sucked, kind of wish it happened in race one when i was running at the back not race two running 2nd grr. Looking forward to next weeks race.

i was so sideways there was no saving it so i threw it into the grass so i didn't catch anyone up, actually backed up into the wall so no one went a little wide into me lol. awesome write up as always, thanks for the mentions and i'll see you next monday, hopefully behind me as we cross the finish line on the final lap this time though :p.

I have to say you had rough night last week raceboy and it's great to see your attitude as there are a few quick drivers I have seen in my time that when they have a bad night they run as I am sure we have all seen at some point good on you sir this is exactly the attitude we like to see here at RR and I am sure we all wish you more luck in this weeks race mate. However im hoping god will tune both my car and me and you all finish behind me LOL.

p.s. great write up yet again Mr Hellisan sir. I know race 2 wasn't how you would want to get a win but congrats on a very successful race night buddy.

Another great write-up Hellisan.

maybe i should try your tune

raceboy77 wrote:maybe i should try your tune

haha I'm sure you've got it covered mate