RD MINI Challenge 2017

Davy Vandevenne · Feb 13, 2017

Race Details:

Date - Friday February 17th 2017
Circuit - Oulton Park Fosters
Server Name - RACEDEPARTMENT.COM MINI
Server Password - See conversation message here
Skin Pack - Download Here
Live Broadcast - Twitch TV

Race Schedule:

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

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: 1x
Mech Failures: Normal
Damage Multiplier: 50%

Entry List

@Paul Joseph | United Kingdom | The Might Forth | 29
@Norman Bruce | United Kingdom | Team Margarita | 49
@PicoBp (Tamas Pazsy) | Hungary | Banzaaaiii TCC | 26
@alexSchmurtz (Alex Schmurtz) | France | SpeedyMite Racing | 96
@Steve Le Gallez | United Kingdom | L G Racing | 19
@Shawn Jacobs | Australia | SpeedyMite Racing | 84
@quicksilver384 | United Kingdom | Roaring Pipes Maniacs | 85
@Franklin Stegink | The Netherlands | Dutch Veteran Racing | 44
@Thomas Hinss | Australia | Copenhagen Apex | 10
@Ingemar Petersson | Sweden | Petersson Racing | 58
@KoshaPashkin (Pavel Koshkin) | Russia | SR Team | 60
@Ross McGregor | United Kingdom | rjmautosport | 32
@Mike McGeer | South Africa | M2Racing | 69
@Dennis Phelan | United States | Team Margarita | 42
@Enzo Fazzi | Italian | Revolution Racing | 33
@PurgerUK (Steve Kenwood) | United Kingdom | Mid Pack Racing | 4
@Rob Milliken | United States | FKR | 56
@Jazz Forsberg | France | STAX Racing | 09
@Mark Breslin | United Kingdom | Mighty Forth | 5
@Geoffrey Fournier | France | rjmautosport | 47
@Leon Charmant | Netherlands | LC Motorsport | 5
@Yapci (Yapci Zamora) | Spain | M Team | 22
@Dexter (Catalin Sasu) | Romania | Celtic | 55
@praxtonio (Sergio Mengual) | Spanish | Golosina Racing | 68
@Davy Vandevenne - Camera's
@Nox (Andrew James) - Commentator 1
@samcar304 (Sam Carmichael) - Commentator 2

Absent:

@Bram (Bram Hengeveld) | The Netherlands | Roaring Pipes Maniacs | 27
@BioForce (Christian Schumann) | Germany | KIB Racing | 66

Removed:

@Jose Vasconcelos | Portugal | Team Old Man | 53 (League suspension following RDGTC incident)
@Devon Peak | United States | Daedalic Works | 24 (Did not show up at round 2)
@Haitham86 (Haitham Abdelkader) | Egypte | Dubai Sim-Racing Team | Default skin (99) (Did not show up at round 2)
@Andrew Waring | Canada | STAX Racing | 06 (Did not show up at round 2)
@DrSayers (Nick Sayers) | United Kingdom | Subito Motorsport | 68 (Did not show up at round 4)

Davy Vandevenne · Feb 13, 2017

RDMC now on LiveRacers

Nox · Feb 13, 2017

Davy Vandevenne said:
RDMC now on LiveRacers

Brilliant!

RustyDriver00 · Feb 15, 2017

I would like to end this league the same way I started the league by saying a big thank you to all the staff and members of RD that put in there time and effort to make this a truely great league!

To Bram, Davy and John for running the league itself and setting up the server, and Davy especially for providing the broadcast and updating the championship results within minutes of each race finishing (truely I think it's awesome, I hate waiting for that to update lol)

To all the commentators over the season
Dan, Sam, Andrew, Jim, Peter and Lorenzo. Great work guys, the broadcasts have been great, and they add so much to the experience, I really appreciate what you do!

And of course to all the drivers, it's been awesome! Good luck to all in the finale, I hope to have some great battles and I look forward to seeing you all on track at oultan and then onto season 11 hopefully later this year.

GLHF!!!

Enzo Fazzi · Feb 15, 2017

So I bought a new T300 wheelbase and send the other one back for repairs, the retailer called earlier today and said they can only send the complete package back to thrustmaster, which means I have no rim to use.
This means I unfortunately have to sign out from this race.

(Also my premium ran out but I was going to renew that anyway)

Leon Charmant · Feb 16, 2017

Leon Charmant said:
Unforeseen circumstances -- My graphics card broke down today, and as a result I've got no choice but to sit out round this round at Brands Hatch, since I can't launch any games

I've recently installed a new Nvidia card, but the screen occasionally turns black at seemingly random intervals. I can't guarantee it won't happen during the race, and will have to sit the final round out. If anyone has had similar experiences, please let me know. Otherwise I'll have to send it back before I can go racing again

Dexter · Feb 16, 2017

I can not race tomorrow... sorry guys

praxtonio · Feb 16, 2017

Due to work circumstances (I just arrived now) this race I will lose it too, I have changed the schedule and I have ****ed the Mini parties.
I'm sorry I missed these last 2 races.

Dennis Phelan · Feb 17, 2017

While usually one of the slowest on the grid I have enjoyed this Mini Challenge. Thanks to Bram, Davy, John Lorenzo, Andrew and anyone else that's had a hand in its implementation and running!

I hope the Team Margarita cars, driven by Norman Bruce and myself have brought a "flavor" to the series. This has been a high point for me, able to run each event and even grab a point, though I don't know how that happened. Cheers to all the drivers as they prepare for the final event and "Congratulations" to Ross McGregor for his convincing overall win as well as Shawn Jacobs and Franklin Stegink for what appears to be their podium finishes!

praxtonio · Feb 17, 2017

praxtonio said:
Due to work circumstances (I just arrived now) this race I will lose it too, I have changed the schedule and I have ****ed the Mini parties.
I'm sorry I missed these last 2 races.

Finally I can participate in the race today, see you in Oulton.

samcar304 · Feb 17, 2017

I took this late last year at an MSV event. I hope none of the Mini's out there tonight end up like this one

Good Luck to all Racing!

Norman Bruce · Feb 17, 2017

samcar304 said:
I took this late last year at an MSV event. I hope none of the Mini's out there tonight end up like this one

Good Luck to all Racing!

Number 49!! same as my race number!

I probably had more damage though.
I was in p17 when the game froze for about 3 or 4 seconds, I ended up hitting a barrier and had a fair bit of damage and a puncture, hope the freeze did not affect those that were behind me.
I was a lap down after that and the others at the back of the field had similar pace to me so I was never going to get a lap back.
I had 2 more off track excursions while trying to catch up, the last one killed my engine.
Not such a good way to finish the season but it was a very good competition to take part in.
Thanks to all at RD for organizing the whole thing and to all the drivers who competed in the races, also thanks to Dennis for having me at Team Margarita, see you all next season!!

KoshaPashkin · Feb 17, 2017

Lost ffb on second lap and for me race was over

Thx for the wonderful league

samcar304 · Feb 17, 2017

Norman Bruce said:
Number 49!! same as my race number! I probably had more damage though.
I was in p17 when the game froze for about 3 or 4 seconds, I ended up hitting a barrier and had a fair bit of damage and a puncture, hope the freeze did not affect those that were behind me.
I was a lap down after that and the others at the back of the field had similar pace to me so I was never going to get a lap back.
I had 2 more off track excursions while trying to catch up, the last one killed my engine.
Not such a good way to finish the season but it was a very good competition to take part in.
Thanks to all at RD for organizing the whole thing and to all the drivers who competed in the races, also thanks to Dennis for having me at Team Margarita, see you all next season!!

Haha, i guess i may have jinxed you with the race number then. Sorry to hear about the problems during the race. A screen freeze once happened to me a few years ago leading an iRacing race and i was not best pleased.

Franklin Stegink · Feb 17, 2017

It was a crazy race today.
Pfffffff what a pressure from behind me with @PicoBp, @Thomas Hinss and @PurgerUK

It was a fair race, but the only point is that i hit @Thomas Hinss and he spun off.
I take a drive through and hope that everything is oke now
Sorry m8

I want to thank @Bram, @Davy Vandevenne and @quicksilver384 for the organisation.
Also thanks to Commentator @Nox and @samcar304

Great season with fairly and good drivers.
Congratz @Ross McGregor with the first place and congratz @Shawn Jacobs with the second place in the championship

Thomas Hinss · Feb 17, 2017

Well that was a frustrating one.

Quali was bad, 10th though I was still getting practice with the car as the 20 or so minutes before that were my first laps around the circuit in the car.

Race had some fun moments, early on was very tight and intense. Apologies again to @PicoBp for the contact through the double right hander as we went side by side, tried to pull it up before it came but I just couldn't get it stopped in time. After the stops I found myself in the top 5 after being a bit savvy with the fuel. Then Mark went off and suddenly I was fighting for a podium. Got past Franklin and was defending when the hit happened. Major damage was the result and dropped to 5th.

Tried to hold onto the position but with the damage having majorly bent my steering and greatly affected my cars straight line speed I couldn't, salvaging a 6th in the end.

Just another hugely frustrating result and ending to this one, seems to be a running theme for me in the last week and a half or so. Sim racing just isn't what it used to be for me, that edge I used to have and passion for it all feels like it's falling away every week. Hopefully it's a temporary thing but I guess only time will tell.

Thanks as always to RD and all the staff for the top notch league and congrats to Ross for the much deserved championship win.

PicoBp · Feb 17, 2017

Thomas Hinss said:
Apologies again to @PicoBp for the contact through the double right hander as we went side by side, tried to pull it up before it came but I just couldn't get it stopped in time.

No worries mate, I can only tell the same as I did during the race: Sh*t happens! Going around you was a bold move, but I didn't want @Franklin Stegink to take advantage of our battle. We tried to go two wide, it didn't work out, that's all.

Ross McGregor · Feb 17, 2017

Firstly, thanks to the guys at RD for a well-run league, with a professional-looking broadcast throughout. Thanks to Bram, Sam, Andrew, Davy, Peter and everyone else that made it a great series to watch. I've never done a proper FWD league before, but this Mini league attracted me as it was using a few of my favourite British tracks, and I hadn't really give AM a proper try-out since buying it.

I've never been much of a qualifier, so it was a surprise to get 5 out of 6 poles, but as you can see tonight I was just off the pace after probably not practising as much as I should've. (certainly not as much as Brands Hatch GP!) Still a bit disappointed not to not even match my best times though. Amazing to see Mark & Shawn with identical times though! In warmup I changed the setup a little but (not normally advisable, but I just didn't have consistency) so I was bit more confident of doing well in the race. Unfortunately though I managed to tap Shawn into a half spin on lap 1 after being caught out a bit on the brakes. Chaos ensued, and I had to lift to let Shawn by without losing a whole load of other spots! Some close nose-to-tail battling followed with a big pack of cars, but eventually myself and Shawn broke free to try and chase Mark down.

After being bumped off the track by Shawn I settled down a bit and got back into a rhythm, saving the tyres and picking out new, more consistent lines to improve my pace a little. Saving the tyres started to pay off later when I eventually caught Shawn & Mark whereupon Shawn waved me through like a gent. (eventually!)

After a couple of laps of awesome side by side action with Mark, I sneaked through, built a small lead and immediately pitted for tyres. Shawn was just behind but I concentrated on keeping my eyes forward and banging in the laptimes to build a lead. The lapped cars were fantastic in this race I must say, so cheers to all the guys that let us through. Definitely enjoyed being on the back foot in qualie and being able to bring it back in the race.

Congrats to @Shawn Jacobs & @Franklin Stegink on 2nd & 3rd place in the championship, and thanks to my team-mate @Geoffrey Fournier for doing well in the two races he turned up for.

I wasn't quite as dominant as people have been saying however, as most races other guys were getting faster race laps. (I only had the 4th fastest lap at Brands for example) However, being consistent definitely pays off in league racing and I think that's what helped me this season. And I even met a team-mate in Shawn, as we aim to race at Le Mans in the RDLMS together!

Cheers all!

alexSchmurtz · Feb 17, 2017

Thanks RD @Davy Vandevenne @Bram @quicksilver384 and all of you guys, it has been a great league! I really enjoyed it!

Congrats @Ross McGregor for the championship, congrats @Shawn Jacobs for being such a strong runner-up and the best teammate there is: it was really nice to be part of the SpeedyMite team, thanks again for inviting me!

I'm finishing the season on a rather high point: I've been battling all race long with @Yapci @Paul Joseph @praxtonio , I simply had to push push push for 80 mn and was sweating but got my first ever top 10 in a league race so really happy with the progresses I made. Thanks for all the help I got to get there! And the chat is always great on TS, lost of good laughs tonight.

See you all for season 11!!