VWSR S3: Virtual World Series by Renault (F3.5)

[Marco Bijl]

I am there as well.

 

[Andrew Ford]

firstly, thanks to marco and rupe for sorting it.
glad we all raced in the end.

driver of the round is tricky.
dinos pole time was stunning. i cant believed i was well into 1.17s and dino was about 1 second up on such a short track with medium to fast corners

then in the race, he blew everyone away.
however, my vote goes to april. she showed more aggression and will to win this race and kept the tyres in nicely.

race 1 for me was fun. i had the pace but did something unsual - killed the tyres early. my setup was slightly too much balanced towards oversteer and, early on, all the battling killed my tyres. i had to drive for half a race on red tyres . just when i thought i might nick a podium (seemed to be defending ok against april) my tyres hit the wall. she did a lovely pass around turn 2 and that was that. then it was a case of taking 1st or 2nd gear for most corners and trying to get the car home ahead of calum - who closed the gap from 17 seconds to 10 by the end.

race 2, i changed wing from 24 21 to 25 25 and changed front toe and arb.
the results was a tyre saving car but a bit understeery. i hung back but spun out once. this hurt the tyres a bit . then there were a couple of "offs" with racing incidents with calum and nicky. both were very fair and calum let me back in - not sure who's fault it was but calum is a much nicer person than me lol
these offs hurt the tyres and i was too far back to do anything to the front runners.
during these offs, david O did a nice opportunist pass at turn two so i lost some time behind him and then nicky - who just seemed to keep appearing in front of me at any mistake i made.

in the end, nicky made a mistake, and i got through. my tyres were pretty good then and closedthe gap to martin after his mistake (finishing 4 seconds behind him ) and the gap to april and freddy closed from 22 seconds to 15..so a little consolation. without mistakes i could have got in the mix.

highlight..qualifying on the front row again (freddy left at bahrain lol).
i could get used to it up there.

cheers everyone...very fair racing on a very tight circuit!

p.s. apologies for writing like an 8 year old and repeating myself lots e.g. "the tyres" and "killing the tyres" lol but i'm knackered and tend to just type as i think straight after races.

 

[Martin Bulgin]

Eight of us made onto the grid, come on where are all you guys who signed up and dont bother turning up name and shame em

Two great fun races, I started 4th in race 1 and jumped a couple in front of me and was i n 2nd by about turn 3 however I destroyed my left front after about 15 laps and pitted thinking evreyone else would and finished last.

Started race 2 in pole and couldnt believe I led the first 22 laps, I could see Matt and Dino having a battle behind me and knew I stood a chance if Matt could keep Dino behind him, but alas it wasnt to be and Dino got past Matt and then got past me, a couple of laps later Matt made it past me and I had a spin on a kirb and all of a sudden was in 5th, a bit like Williams podium hopes today my chance was gone, ah well onto the next one.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

That was one of the mentallly most stressful races for me. I know the track a bit, but always sucked there in Meganes and I am damn good in the Megane usually.

I had never did a single lap there and just had time for Race 2 luckily I got Matt's setup and had time for 1 timed lap, which felt not great, but I was already in the high 1.20s, so it was not too bad.
The first 5 to 10 Laps were scary. I had a good start, but backed out as I was sorrounded by team mates most of the time and I was just trying to keep it on track.

After some time a few cars cleared and I managed to take back my places from Calum and Andrew both due to them making mistakes under pressure at least I hope they felt pressure

I saw Dino and Matt being held up a lot and I knew I hadn't the pace, but I had my racecraft, so I thought maybe a shot at the podium.
I was following them through as they overtook David, but then they were gone and it was hard to pace myself without any reference cars around and zero experience.

Dino and Matt got caught up again and overtook April and Martin, who I overtook as well as he spun. Then I was chasing April as hard as I could as I had already a lot of tyre wear. I got really close in the last few laps, but did way to many mistakes before.

I will just upload a small video. I had so much luck today. A lot of slides which could have put me easily into a spin. In the replay most of them don't look that scary, but if you are sitting in the car even the small slides are a bit scary in these cars and I had at least one per lap, so I was really exhausted after that

 

[Andrew Ford]

@Frederic Schornstein I felt cool as a cucumber..I just wasn't used to driving THAT slow and got complacent

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

Here my "Scary Highlights". Should be available in 1080p in a few minutes:

 

[Dino Paolini]

Man, what a race 2 that was.

Proves my theory that you just need a server, a couple of drivers who know how to drive fair and that's it.

Thanks all

It's Poznan btw, no r^^

 

[David O'Reilly]

Working Title

“Backmarkers have their goals too”.


Well that was a fantastic night in the FR 3.5 for me.

Race 1

I was lacking a bit in grip and fell away from the field quite quickly. At ½ race distance my tyres were getting bad and I looked at the strategy map and saw that Dino had pulled a massive gap that looked big enough for me to drop into on fresh rubber and maybe fight not to be lapped by anyone else.


Decision made I went for the pits.

1st mistake; hit the pit stop button again instead of pit lane speed limiter. Stop cancelled and 2nd mistake missed my box anyway which was the 1st one. 3rd mistake; Broke the speed limit and got a 10 sec stop go.

Came around and served my stop go

Came around again and FINALLY got my tyres.

To my surprise Mat (edit-Martin)was behind me and I kept him there.
I was just behind Calum and (one other tba) but a lap down.
As my tyres came in I was emboldened to try to un-lap myself. They were in a battle so I waited till one had a 1/2 spin and was through. I thought of Senna and Irvine (Jordan and F1 debut) at Suzuka when Eddie had the gall to unlap himself from Senna who was leading and after some winding up and mischeif making from team mate Gerhard Berger Senna went and punched Eddie Irvine after the race. Once I had thought about it some more I moved over and let him back through.

1st goal achieved. Beat someone home in FR3.5.


Race 2

Based on some info gathered in chat box after race 1 (loose lips sink ships) I upped my aero.

I had a front row start due to the reversed grid.

Mat made a good getaway and I figured “this will be quite quick and painless” and gathered in my elbows into the cockpit for the cars flying by me.

However total immersion ensued and I fought to lap as quick as I ever have here and hold off the attack. Yes it may have held up the bunch of attackers but yes that was my job and my intention to hold them off as long as possible. I guess that's why race 2 is done in reverse grid.

After what felt like 1 minute I saw the “30 min to go” message. I had held P2 for 10 mins.


The cream had risen to the top and so now it was Dino P that I was defending against. I was simply happy to be holding off a driver of this caliber regardless whether it was pace or car placement, I was doing it.

Eventually a mistake came in sector 2 and my speed and position was compromised so I yielded to play the game fair. Dino was through along with I think Matt, Fred carved out some track as well and squeezed by as I resumed the racing line.

My stint in P2 had afforded Mr Bulgin a cushion and the aliens set out to close down that gap.


From there I had some great sport as eventually the rest of the field got by.

Now the goal was to remain unlapped by Dino. I managed to do it.

Bahrain fun race was my first FR3.5 without being lapped but that was just down to Dino having a disconnect.


Performance for me in this mod has been slow in coming but I was buoyed by being able to “mix it a little” with good drivers at last in this race. I will persist and aim to improve.


Thanks all.

Congrats to podium getters and anyone who had a PB.



Goals achieved:

1) Beat someone home in a race

2) Completed a full race without being lapped.

 

[Andrew Ford]

 

[Matt Sentell]

Glad I was able to make both races even if I pretty much missed qualifying. Both races were fun, especially the second one for me as I was up to speed by that point. Lots of heads-up, respectful racing by everyone.

My focus is generally on taking points from Dino, or keeping him from scoring more than me. So in race 2 he made an uncharacteristic mistake and I got past, after which I was focused more on keeping him behind than attacking anyone ahead of me. I know from experience that because of the aero loss in cars like this at Poznan, with all its high speed corners, that you can end up making yourself vulnerable to attack from behind if you go too much on the attack for a place ahead of you.

So I was riding a bit behind Martin as we ran to the end of R2 but still looking to take advantage of any mistakes that might happen. Then I ended up making the mistake instead, getting a bit off line and in the marbles in the fast left-hander, and Dino was through like a shot. After that I just drove the wheels off it to get past Martin but it still wasn't easy with the dirty air.

Toward the end Dino and I battled for the fastest lap bonus points. He was certainly a bit quicker overall but just missed (I believe he said by 7 thousandths) taking it back on the final lap.

No easy passes, really in either race. The field seems to be tightening up in pace which is nice to see.

 

[Martin Bulgin]

To have only eight of us racing it was surprisingly good fun, so often with only that many the field becomes strung out and it can be a bit lonely lap after lap, but it was good close racing, like Matt says the field is closing up a bit.

 

[April Dillon]

It certainly caught me by surprise. I was ready to call the evening a write off, and just show up to do my part in making the numbers. Turns out I grossly underestimated the racing.

I'm also rather astonished with my performance... I feel like I've pulled this out of nowhere. Prior to this, my best race result was at Fuji, when I finished with damage and 61% of the competition behind me. However at Poznan, I managed 71% and 75% in the two races respectively. My first ever podium here, followed immediately by my second!

Really hoping that wasn't just a fluke! It was enormous fun to hold off Frederic, to chase down Andrew, and the challenge of overtaking in R2 which would prove to be so important to the race result. Really hoping I can do it again at Silverstone

Thanks all for a fantastic evening See you next time!

 

[Marco Bijl]

Full results up till Round 5 posted

Hereby the new results. As the standings haven't changed, I will not post them again. They are listed above.
However, the points did change. This is what has been added compared to above (have to do this manual per race):

Round3:
Race 1:
3 points for P1 - Dino Paolini
2 Points for most improved - Simon Christmann

Race 2:
2 Points for most improved - Dino Paolini

The results for round 5:
Race 1:

Race 2:

Which brings us to the standings so far. All points are given, also for round 4 (extra test race +5).

 

[Marco Bijl]

Replay round 5.

Hereby the server replay for round 5.

Race 1

Race 2

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

@Marco Bijl It seems there is a small mistake in the results of the last round. In race 2 result says, that Dino and me both started from P8 and I am pretty sure I would have noticed that
He started P8 and I in P9 as I was only joining for Race 2

 

[Marco Bijl]

hmm.. Thats not ok. Had not seen that. Will correct it tomorrow. Thanks for letting me know!

 

[Marco Bijl]

Not sure why, but it won't let me edit it. It's not a big deal, but I will try to fix it. Just letting you know I did not forget

 

[Marco Bijl]

Server updated to latest build!

Remember to update your install as well! Server is set to Silverstone.

 

[David O'Reilly]

Hi @Marco Bijl
I tried to get on the Silverstone server today.
I have updated the game.
are there any issues?
Is the password the same one?

 

[Marco Bijl]

No, it shouldn't be...

I just joined it to check, and it works fine for me. Nothing changed, except the build that was updated.