RDRC S5 Round 5 - South Swedish Rally (18th - 21st May)

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Did the OC1 session just change from 11h30 server time to 12h30 server time ? I found it more convenient at 11h30 rather than one hour later.
Hum. From the first post:

Note: Times Have changed to accommodate Daylight Savings, If there is an issue, please make a note of it and we will change accordingly.

Should be the same as in the rally club.
10:30 GMT = 12:30 server time
 
Ha! You are right, I didn't pay sufficient attention. Last rally had OC1 at 09:30 GMT (11:30 server time) so that's why I was confused today. I might not be able to compete in this session.


edit: but I checked yesterday in the software and this very session was scheduled for 11:30 server time today, adding even more to my confusion
 
Maybe my worst rally since Mont Blanc 2011, filled with mistakes everywhere and a retirement, I braked especially hard at the end of sipirkakim not to have problems and hit a bloody tree after the flying finish, what a stupid mistake! that killed the engine and had to retire for the next stage. Lost all motivation after that and had a very hard time on stage 13 and nearly rolled it in the power stage so I'll be surprised if I manage so salvage a point from it, I imagine the max I can finish after this is maybe top 10 or similar so not so bad at the moment after all.

thankyou very much to the organizers and good luck to the guys left to run :thumbsup: take a lot of care on Rally poland stage at night!
 
PRE-RACE

- How do you see the first contact with gravel this season?

I don't think I'm prepared enough to be competitive here. I'm not happy with the car in this surface yet, it's a bit nervous... I will enter the rally thinking about making km, get some experience and improve the car for the Summer Series.

- so, you won't try to push here?

No, I'll probably drive a gear shorter than I could really do. Still, I think there's a big difference between day 1 and 2, at least for me day 1 is easier, I know the stages and will probably attack there, then day 2 will be complicated, and I'll take a conservative approach.

RACE Day 1

-Stage 1: DNF

-Stage 2: Good. I pushed here, everything went well.

-Stage 3: :) A bit surprised with myself. From my eyes I went really fast with no mistakes. Too bad there is no other RDRC2 in this group to compare, but at least it felt good.

-Stage 4: I've sent the conservative strategy to hell after those two stages! :sneaky: Couple of mistakes, but I don't think I broke anything and I didn't lose time because of them. Fun.

-Stage 5: Not the most complicated stage, but I wanted to make sure I finished it, probably lost some time. Car was a understeery in those tight corners and the rear wasn't helping me much.

-Stage 6: I hope spectators liked the stage. Not much to say other than thar, I'm not the biggest fan.

-Stage 7: Clean and felt fast. Gotta love rallying when you get that.:cool:

-Stage 8: Other than going a bit long in a right cross and hitting a tree a bit, it was good.

Overall:

- What was the problem this time on the first stage?

:coffee: Well, it was stupid. Me and my codriver took the old notebook with the preliminary notes, instead of the final version. One corner he said 'Right 4', when it should have been '3'. Went wide, crashed with a small stick but still was enough to kill the car...

- But the rest of the day, it looks like you were feeling better.

Yeah, if it wasn't for that incident, rally is going great. I'm pushing where I know I can push, and I'm driving conservative when I have to do it. I recovered the positions with the production cars, which was my goal after the crash, and car feels better with the new tweakings, but probably will have to improve a lot for the Summer Series

- How do you feel about tomorrow?

As I said yesterday, tomorrow will be much more complicated. I don't know any place where I feel confident enough to attack, so I'll have to play it safe, make more km on gravel and improve the car.

RACE Day 2

-Stage 9: Not the best pace probably, but good to finish and keep trying things

-Stage 10: Everything OK

-Stage 11: Here comes Alvarez in his Skoda to the control sto... :O_o: WOW WAIT... :confused: he... he just rolled... when the stage was over... INCREDIBLE! WTH? Some spectators hurrying to put the car back on track...

Now the car is back on its four. Engine works, let's see if we can talk to him. Alberto!, What...?

:mad: MOST STUPID THING IN MY ENTIRE LIVE, I TELL YOU. (Hits steering wheel in rage)
Don't know. Stage was fine, driving safely, and now I crossed the line and... Pretty stupid, I don't know WTH happened, I just hope the car is fine for the final stages.

-Stage 12: Alvarez with the Skoda S2000 should be the next one to arrive to your position, but he had troubles in the previous stage.

Yes, he's here, I hear it. Coming to the control stop, he's gonna break... Oh, God! he goes straight... he couldn't stop the car in time, the car has just stopped a few meters away from my position! Almost hit me and some stewards!
Co-driver opened his door and is running with the roadbook to be checked. He gave it to the stewards, Dani? What's the problem?

Brakes! Our brakes are done.

That was the words of Dani Cué, who's running back to the Skoda. Break problems for them, almost caused an accident here!

-Stage 13: DNF

Overall:

- We've heard you had troubles with your brakes, what happened this time?

:coffee: I had a stupid accident once Mineshaft was over and the brakes didn't work any more. As it sounds. We could make Autiovaara in 4th gear, but on Poland I ended crashing hard in the last part. Hate this stage, couldn't finish it any time.
I think I can have everything repaired back for tomorrow's one and only stage, see if I can test a bit more. Power Stage but I don't think I have a chance to get any extra point, so just, feel the car and finish with a good feeling for the second part of the championship if possible.

RACE Day 3

-Stage 14: DNF

POST-RACE

This wasn't like previous rallys. Even if the car wasn't as great as it can be, I think I drove with good head this time, knowing where to attack and where to slow down. But the mistake at Mineshaft... :redface:

Anyway, good notes for the Summer Series taken, now wait to see how it compares with the rest of the RDRC2 class. And next, the Barum rally will be on tarmac and Skoda's home, hopefully it will be another story and I can complete a good rally again after Montecarlo, so long ago!

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Crashing once the stage was over, that's a new a good one!

But rally was fun until that point, thanks to the organizers (although I prefer when stages are repeated, just my 2 cents) and best of luck for the rest of the drivers! :thumbsup:
 
But rally was fun until that point, thanks to the organizers (although I prefer when stages are repeated, just my 2 cents) and best of luck for the rest of the drivers! :thumbsup:

Ye, we try to use both kinds of rallies. Some like different stages, some like the repeats :) At least I feel that it's a good way to make "all" happy by changing around a bit :)
 
Pre-Rally
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Due to a busy week I haven't had as much time practicing as I would like. However, I did manage to create a set-up that feels very comfortable for me. And after driving in the Group B rally club event I'm feeling very comfortable driving the DS3 RRC again. I feel like I learnt a lot about footwork from that event, and will be sure to apply it here. In terms of goals, I just want to drive clean and see where it takes me. I know I don't have the pace to match Emil, so I need to keep on scoring consistent points and aim for second in the championship. Being clean and improving my pace is my goal for all the rallies, and so it shall be here too.

I don't think the power stage is a realistic prospect for me, I absolutely cannot drive well on that stage, and pushing would risk a retirement for me.

A podium finish would be quite nice, but first I must complete the rally cleanly, which is my goal today.




Post-Stages
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SS1
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Not happy at all, hit a tree on a 3-Right, going too fast. Damaged my radiator. Lost time on the long straight, as I didn't want to hit the rev limiter and risk engine damage. Thankfully there's a short stage next and then service, hopefully I can survive.

SS2
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Not too bad considering I was shifting early to avoid engine overheating. OK time, pretty happy I survived.

SS3
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Again, not too bad. I started off pretty tentatively, especially around the bridges, but picked up some confidence by the mid-point, and was happy with my pace in the latter half of the stage. I did have a pretty hard landing off a crest near the end, but I think I got away without damaging the suspension.

SS4
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Felt really comfortable on this stage. Really enjoyable to drive, so I'm very happy. In hindsight, I should have gone for a longer gear ratio, I think.

SS5
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Again, A really comfortable feeling in the car, I was maybe a bit trigger happy with the brakes, but I had a lot of fun on the stage, and I think my pace was OK.

SS6
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Went fine, I don't particularly like the stage, but no problems.

SS7
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Went for a longer gear ratio on this one. I didn't feel particularly comfortable, and nearly lost the rear-end twice, but managed to save both of them (only just).

SS8
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Disaster, my first retirement of the season. In the beginning I missed a pacenote and went flying straight ahead on a 3-right. Then later I again misheard a 2-right, slammed on the brakes, but too late and hit a tree. The oil pressure light went on, and about 1km later I had to pull over, the engine was gone. Really disappointing, and the time penalty is quite large for this stage as well, so there goes all hope of a good result.

SS9
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Decided to push and see how my pace compares going flat out. Made a mistake and went down a hillside, had to CFH.

SS10
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Pretty good pace, a few small mistakes, but OK.

SS11
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Spun. Then rolled. Lost the brakes. Decided to tactically retire to have a repaired car for Autiovaara and Poland R.

SS12
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This rally just isn't going my way. Rolled and smashed into a tree, killing the engine.

SS13
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Sloppy. Messy. Not good. Drove very slowly into spectators in the first hairpin. Hopefully I can salvage a few

points in the power stage, no reason not to push, nothing to lose.

SS14
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Another retirement. Hit a rock. I don't regret pushing though.




Post-Rally
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My worst performance yet. Very disappointing. It all unravelled after my first retirement as well, I may have been able to salvage a few points, but I was definitely driving on tilt, and threw it all away.
Before the crash though, I was very happy with my driving. Was comfortable in my car, and having a lot of fun. So at least that's one good take away.
My apologies to Corey, and I wish him luck.
Congrats to all finishers, and a big thank you to the organizers.
 
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Post-Rally
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My worst performance yet. Very disappointing. It all unravelled after my first retirement as well, I may have been able to salvage a few points, but I was definitely driving on tilt, and threw it all away.
Before the crash though, I was very happy with my driving. Was comfortable in my car, and having a lot of fun. So at least that's one good take away.
My apologies to Corey, and I wish him luck.
Congrats to all finishers, and a big thank you to the organizers.

No apology necessary. I just finished practicing a few stages and was all over the place. Some good sections and some very big crashes. I hope I can get them out of the way before I run tomorrow.
 
That was an interesting rally, it seemed easier than the previous events, perhaps because there were more services or the stages were shorter, or maybe because the car feels better on gravel. Anyway like always my aim was to drive smooth & clean and the pace will come eventually.

SS1 - I practiced this stage yesterday a few times, so was cautious as the bumpy surface tends to throw you into trouble if you push too hard, ok stage no problems.
SS2 - Pretty easy stage, ran it plenty of times testing different cars, so no problems.
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SS3 - I had some luck here as early on I slid into the low stone wall head on, but no engine damage thankfully, maybe just some wheel damage. Pretty good stage otherwise I had fun.
SS4 - My fave English stage, I love the constant left-right combo corners and the N4 Subaru eats those corners up no problems.
SS5 - I went off slowly at the first tight right-hander, then prob pushed too hard trying to recover time and was driving messy for awhile, so backed off and started to drive better, no big dramas in the end.
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SS6 - Fun short stage, no problems
SS7 - Good stage, a few hairy moments flying over crests towards trees, otherwise no problems again.
SS8 - Mucked up near the start and decided to go off & collect some firewood. The wheels felt a little loose after that and I struggled with some of the bumps but got there in the end.

Halfway through and I'm very happy with my progress so far, no CFH or DNF. But I knew the first half would be easier than the second half of the rally, so didn't want to relax too much already.

SS9 - I'm glad I practiced this stage earlier as it's very easy to get wide out of a corner here. I had to jam the brakes a few times to avoid doom, Probably could've been more aggressive with cutting a corner but I was wary of hidden dangers.
SS10 - What a slippery stage! Took me by surprise and ended up going wide several times, didn't feel comfortable at all, so glad it was just a short one.
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SS11 - For some reason I can never get to grips with this stage and felt pretty slow, was careful with the car though and kept it clean.
SS12 - The only major blip on my rally happened here when I slowly slid into some spectators after a crest. I would've thought any normal person would get out of the way, but no they preferred to get slowly crashed into! I guess they recovered quickly as they kindly helped me back onto the road :)
SS13 - This one was quite frightening in the dark, came close to crashing a few times, glad that was over.
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SS14 - To push or not to push? That is the question! I decided to push :) Crest, flying, ditch, tree, crash, feck! Engine was still going so made it to the end, but hopefully didn't spoil my overall results too much.

Thanks to all the organisers, felt like a rally of 2 halves for me, gradually becoming more challenging, which I liked and it kept you focused. Hopefully it'll be my best result too with only one CFH. Good luck everyone else.
 
!@@#$#@#$ damn time zones, i was in a hurry to be ready to drive at 11:30 local time here in Holland. Then it said RS center 1.7 was needed, aaaaah, download update 3, install, time was 11:40 at that moment. Then i was ready, i figured out that the sessions starts at 12:30 local time...

dohhhhhh
homer-doh-squaregreen.jpg
 
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