A beam of light with you

 

It's been a few hours since the completion of RSRA Le Mans 4 Hours, said to be the biggest rFactor event of the year. Even after a short nap, I'm still feeling the muscle soreness. I started 25th of 28 cars, and by checkered flag was up to 9th overall and 3rd place in GT1 class. 

However, I'm still waiting for the official results, as the race was ruined by some sort of griefer attack. Seemed like spectators began flooding the server or something, inducing lag warps and game freezes that subsequently caused crashes and incidents. One car was supposedly even taken over by AI, something about a glitch in the driver swapping feature of rFactor. I think the raid started about halfway through the race and just escalated from there.

There were problems getting the race started, too. The stewards wanted to do a parade lap for Murray Walker and Sabine Schmitz, motorsport luminaries who had passed way recently, but there was a lack of preparation for this activity and you know how some racing drivers just want to get on with it.

When it finally got underway though, it was a blast. I was able to practice a bit and setup the Lambo to my liking and was putting in the lap times I had projected. Even if the cars in my class were pulling ahead, I knew I had the pitstop strategy to keep up with them overall. I was managing the traffic well and avoided any incidents. It got dark before the first hour was over but I managed to more or less keep my pace in the changing conditions. Through the night, I gained positions as cars ahead dropped out for various reasons, and by dawn was looking at a possible top ten finish. 

And then the troll assault came to a head and we had to return to the pits and wait as the stewards tried to figure things out. It was decided to just finish the final 20 minutes with a flat out sprint, but I just took it easy to the end. It was a photo finish and I think the gap between 1st and 2nd place was just .088 seconds.

I wonder why anyone would disrupt and destroy an online simulation race, or any sporting event for that matter. Maybe it is something personal with the one of the organizers or the drivers. Maybe they are just psycho or aggro. Anyway, I hope this doesn't discourage the alliance or its admins. I am an rFactor refugee and I need events like this.

For the moment, it's back to F1 with Racin Nexus league. After a week of driving a GT endurance car, that F1 2004 car now feels so violent at speed. It's like there is no weight at all and I am just gonna fly off the apex. I got a few hours to prepare for the next race at Spa and it will be brutal.

pity stop

RSRA Le Mans 4 Hours - Qualifying Day

A terrible session for me. I lost my nerve and couldn't hit my fast lap. I had two big crashes but it wasn't shown in the broadcast. After that it was just cowardly driving well inside the limit. The result; 26th out of 29 runners, and my laptime was even slower than Marco Capacci's who was driving a GT2 car. 

Now there's just a week left to practice. The plan is still the same, find the safe balance, even if it is slower than most, survive the night, and finish the race. Maybe I should just skip the F1 Race at Spa over at Racin Nexus. Otherwise it will be a back-to-back race weekend for me, with Le Mans on Saturday, and F1 at Spa on Sunday.

Lag Rider : Ereyesterday

pics by mohini 

bill in the flanks

Another endurance race at Le Mans! Yes nice! This event is hosted by rFactor Sim Racing Alliance and will use the Enduracers mod. My entry has been approved and I am gonna run a Murcielago R-GT in the GT1 class. I was thinking of joining the LMP1 category and trying for the overall win, but I just couldn't resist driving the Lambo. Anyway, I don't think I would have been a frontrunner whatever category I chose to participate in. I just want to survive the night and finish the race.

pics from Pascal Mikula

Meanwhile, we are now halfway through the Racin Nexus F1 2004 season and I am currently at 5th place in the standings. I could have been as high as 2nd, but my internet connection conked out for a week and I missed Round 5, and I disco'ed on the last lap and lost a podium finish in Round 6. But even if I could have been in 2nd place in the standings, I am nowhere near the fast guys. In fact, I haven't finished a race in the lead lap at all in this series. 

As it is, my motivation for this series has waned, and with the big race at Le Mans coming up my interest has shifted. But I will keep on fighting and we will see where we end up at season's end. I'm still confident I can move up the standings, and I can still try to get better in terms of lap times and close the gap to the fast guys.