RD MINI Challenge 2016

Franklin Stegink · May 15, 2016

About my race.

In the beginning i had big problems with turn one.
The car everytime brakes out on the back.
After more than 1 hour of practise it goes better and better.

At the qualify the aliens @Discovery.Tv and @race_fanatic_ where to fast for me and doing both a great job with place one and two.

Also @Shawn Jacobs and @Craig Patteson where very fast, but i could take place three at the qualify.

Last week i was thinking of my race strategy at the first round of this championship.
That was not good enough and must be better in this one.

I look at the practise of @Discovery.Tv and saw that he takes a lot of corners in the third gear and his tires less spinning than mine.

I took over his driving style and indeed in the race my tires stay for a long time oke.

My strategy was to drive as long as possible in the first stint.
I could drive one lap more than the two leaders in the race.
At my pitstop i change three tires ans leave my rear left tire.

@Discovery.Tv and @race_fanatic_ both only change the front tires.

After my stop i was pushing every lap very hard to close the gap between me and the both drivers in front.

Also some backmarkers in the race driving to long on their line and taking to long before the fast drivers can pass them.
Please next time make a little bit room.

That was the reason that i closing the gap with @race_fanatic_
In the last lap with three corners before the finish i was be able to pass @race_fanatic_ and was very happy with my second place.

I have look at the broadcast and want to say that everybody was driving very well.
Thanks for that.

Also the two new drivers @Michael Morgenthal and @Didi Draxler are great drivers to have in this championship.

At last its a shame that @Folluto and @Adrian Brezeanu not drive.
Everybody takes a lot of time for every driver to make skins, set up championship etc,etc.

Please respect them.

Genci Estebanez · May 15, 2016

Ariciuc Razvan said:
Great race, nice fights in the first laps and a wrong pit strategy didn't help but had one hell of a fight with @Genci Estebanez (great defensive driving)!

Yes. That last laps were indeed an intense and fun ones @Ariciuc Razvan. I knew you had better tires and I wanted to keep that hard earned 17th position after being the last, thanks to a mistake in the beginning laps so I tried to defense it in any turn. One more lap and you had passed me.
I was surprised about how everyone was pushing and contacting in every turn to gain the position at the start of the race. I'm not used to that (on fridays' race I think people are more respectful)hence my mistake. I think I learned the lesson for next races.

Erhan Jajovski · May 15, 2016

I forgot to mention that some of the back markers should really learn how to let faster drivers through safely and quickly. Props to @Ingemar Petersson for letting me on the back straight couple of laps till the end.

Genci Estebanez · May 15, 2016

The faster drivers should remember that sometimes the backmarkers have their own race with someone in front, or in the back. They have to let you the space to overtake but not when you want to. Sometimes you have to wait a little to overtake. A blue flag isn't a 'slow down, right now' mandatory.

Erhan Jajovski · May 15, 2016

Genci Estebanez said:
The faster drivers should remember that sometimes the backmarkers have their own race with someone in front, or in the back. They have to let you the space to overtake but not when you want to. Sometimes you have to wait a little to overtake. A blue flag isn't a 'slow down, right now' mandatory.

I respect that, but to be stuck behind for a lap is unacceptable.

PicoBp · May 15, 2016

Genci Estebanez said:
The faster drivers should remember that sometimes the backmarkers have their own race with someone in front, or in the back. They have to let you the space to overtake but not when you want to. Sometimes you have to wait a little to overtake. A blue flag isn't a 'slow down, right now' mandatory.

Official FIA rules say that "at the earliest opportunity". Lapped traffic should not defend or have to be battled to get passed, and unfortunately this wasn't clear for some. It's not about waiting a few turns to have a safe spot to let go, that's completely fine and appreciated. But with all due respect, a battle for podium takes priority to anything a lap down in every single racing regulation.

praxtonio · May 15, 2016

Once again thank the staff of RD, the commentators of Broadcast for their work, and mates track

.
For me it has been a constant battle with @PicoBp, @michael Morghental and @fran, I tried to keep the tires and almost leaves me well, but at the stop I struggled to get used to the more worn rear tires, but in the end it has been a good hand to hand with @PicoBp, great Race @PicoBp.

PicoBp · May 15, 2016

praxtonio said:
Once again thank the staff of RD, the commentators of Broadcast for their work, and mates track .
For me it has been a constant battle with @PicoBp, @michael Morghental and @fran, I tried to keep the tires and almost leaves me well, but at the stop I struggled to get used to the more worn rear tires, but in the end it has been a good hand to hand with @PicoBp, great Race @PicoBp.

You didn't let me rest for a second, but luckily @Craig Patteson joined our game in the end and gave me some fresh air.

Nice skills there and great battle.

Franklin Stegink · May 16, 2016

We have two places free for new drivers.

@Folluto and @Adrian Brezeanu both withdraw at championship.

Sign in now.

race_fanatic_ · May 17, 2016

Genci Estebanez said:
The faster drivers should remember that sometimes the backmarkers have their own race with someone in front, or in the back. They have to let you the space to overtake but not when you want to. Sometimes you have to wait a little to overtake. A blue flag isn't a 'slow down, right now' mandatory.

I agree with this, no need to start lifting if the backmarker has a nice gap, it's not like any dirty air is a problem in the Mini anyway. I prefer it if the back markers tries to just run as fast as possible and when I've then gotten close they let me by in a nice place. Had for example one in the last race who backed off in the chicane before the straight which is just worst case for all involved.

Ariciuc Razvan · May 18, 2016

I agree, people should still take the racing lines and be predictable when being lapped. Just wait for the safe place to let them pass.

I've been in alot of crashes following pits stops where overlapped drivers just cut the gas in the middle of corners or just after, this is going to result in a crash if more people are behind

Bram Hengeveld · May 18, 2016

Our league rules describe how to handle blue flags.

RustyDriver00 · May 18, 2016

Won't lie, was definitely disappointed when the first lap car we came across went all defense on me to the extent of full blocking me. I can only assume he didn't see the blue flags unfortunately, but yeah bit of a shame. if it does occur again I'll put a report in but for now I'll give benefit of the doubt.

Bram Hengeveld · May 20, 2016

Race Details:

Date - Saturday May 28th 2016
Circuit - Ribeirao Preto 2012
Server Name - RACEDEPARTMENT.COM RDMC
Server Password - See conversation message
Skin Pack - Download here
Live Broadcast - Twitch TV

Race Schedule:

18:00 GMT - Free Practice (30 minutes)
18:30 GMT - Qualification (20 minutes)
18:50 GMT - Warm up (10 minutes)
19:00 GMT - Race (Formation lap + Standing start, 80 minutes)

Server Settings:

Automatic Clutch: Yes
Automatic Gears: Yes
Traction Control: No
Anti-Lock Braking: Yes
Stability Control: No
Spin Recovery: No
Steering Assist: No
Braking Assist: No
Auto Pitstop: No
Flag Rules: Full
Fuel Usage: 2x
Tire Usage: 2x
Mech Failures: Normal
Damage Multiplier: 5%

Entry List:

@Thomas Hinss (Commentator)
@Lorenzo Bonder (Commentator)
@Davy Vandevenne (Streamer)

Bram Hengeveld · May 20, 2016

This one is going to be interesting

Got no hopes on a top 15 finish here so any good result will be a positive surprise

alexSchmurtz · May 20, 2016

So we should be starting practicing Ribeirao Preto seriously if it was not the case already: http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/rdmc-s9-round-3-ribeirao-preto.122047/

But there is also the Mini friday tonight, on the last track of the championship: Bathurts! That should be a good practice too… and there are spots left! http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/mini-friday-bathurst-friday-may-20th-2016.121827

It could Mini every where, almost every day if we want…

I also hope we will get more volunteers, it looks like we have 2 more spots free for the championship!
See you on track guys! And happy Billabong to all! Just be careful in the first corner as usual...

quicksilver384 · May 21, 2016

Im just gonna be happy if i dont roll over the wall again lol

RustyDriver00 · May 24, 2016

Can't wait for this one, hoping for a good result, but who knows around this place, the track itself is brilliant though, very satisfying when you get a good lap in.

Bram Hengeveld · May 24, 2016

quicksilver384 said:
Im just gonna be happy if i dont roll over the wall again lol

Cursed

alexSchmurtz · May 24, 2016

Yep, MINI is great around this track, you can get a nice flow!

I tried again with ais the weekend and was pleasantly surprised! I previously tried a few weeks ago when we did a Mini Friday there and it was a nightmare: ai were rolling on almost every curb, flipping on the roof; impossible to race offline! Now they can keep within the track limits, no more flip over. Looks like the last adjustments that Reiza made to ais are doing wonders!
I even tried a race and it worked like a charm! Tbh, I had disable the full course yellow… I would probably have one (but only one!) because an ai spun and a few others got stuck; pretty normal to me with this narrow street course… So you can practice with ai if you want!