rF2 Caterham Roadsport 165 @ Dijon 79 - Fri 1st October

[Magnus Dahlgren]

Sign me up aswell!

 

[Gary Lennon]

I'll ave' a bash plz.

 

[Dariusz Swiderski]

HATE my internet provider.......

 

[Ross McGregor]

Hit the immovable tyre bails on the outside of turn 4, DNF. Had just climbed up to 2nd behind Michael as well! I'll be back for race 2.
On a side-note, i witnessed a couple of really bad manouevres, something i will definitely be mentioning to the admin.

 

[Chris Butcher]

Not very happy with that at all. Race 1 was overtaking for the league and then the driver I was overtaking got bumped past me by a bumpdrafter. Race 2, did 100m, tried to avoid a spinning car, hit barrier, engine dead. I sincerely hope the league isnt like this

 

[Magnus Dahlgren]

In R1 I got a good start, managed to avoid the misfortune of others and climbed from 12th to 2nd only to be caught by faster drivers. Ended the race in 4th after a spin/collision on the last lap.

R2, this time I had a better starting piont however my race was the shortest of my career when I wasnt given enough room on the left side of the track making me spin out on the gravel into the whole pack! Luckily from what I saw many got away cleanly except for Chris, Im so sorry but I got punted and couldnt control the car!

 

[Michael Herrmann]

race1*
was a awsome race even i messed up a bit in lap 2 turne1 sorry guys could stay in lead and made up a gab of 5 secs as i saw gary was on 2nd as i messed up his race in turne 2 a bit i decided to short shift and let him regain his lead
2 laps befor the finish he let me past again so drove it home

race2* had a good start and was going to slot in behind gary as i was betwine stuard and someone the outside guy decided to divebomb into the middle lane and pushed me into Stuard at the exit of turne 1 2 ppl came together i tryed to get a free line outside of them
but one of the cars came to the outside and crashed me into the barriers, my car lost 10 kmh topspeed on this 2 crashes and i was death last
still i drove like the devil was behind me and could slowly catch up as hans missjudged his gab to tim and collected him on the startfinish line
unfortunate tim then played snooker and came across the track with me nowhere to go i sayed hallo to my engien cuz it was suddenly sitting on my passenger seat race over

awsome night there guys cant wait for next weeks league start

*on subject bumbdraft* Gary Nigel and i Bumbdraft since the cats found there beginning here and there was never a problem with it as the cars are just made to draft cuz of the lag of power they have
in race one i tryed to get a run on Dariusz as he defendet well in Garys slipstream and was going for the lead
i slotted in behind Gary and made up a train with him so we keeped 1 and 2 even this event is not team based Gary and i know each other verry well and work together

 

[Eddie Hallgren]

Sorry Chris for the incident in the start, i didnt give Magnus enough room too pass me and he spun in too you. Totaly my fault sorry again

 

[Chris Butcher]

*on subject bumbdraft* Gary Nigel and i Bumbdraft since the cats found there beginning here and there was never a problem with it as the cars are just made to draft cuz of the lag of power they have

They may be made to draft, but not bumpraft. I don't have a problem with bumping to catch people, but bumping someone who is about to lose a position isn't fair. I should've been in the lead into T1. Instead, I was third because of your cheating. The next lap, you cause a crash and just drive on. Not very sportsmanlike.

 

[Dariusz Swiderski]

in race one i tryed to get a run on Dariusz as he defendet well in Garys slipstream and .....

It wasn't me Michael as i got disco and didnt do R.1.

 

[Dariusz Swiderski]

They may be made to draft, but not bumpraft. I don't have a problem with bumping to catch people, but bumping someone who is about to lose a position isn't fair. I should've been in the lead into T1. Instead, I was third because of your cheating.

I can not agree on that Chris. There is nothing in the rules about it, if isn't forbidden then is allowed. And if that was you getting it i bet you wouldn't be complaining. I bumpdrafted Nigel, Ross, Stuart and Gary in R.2 and the only concern i had for myself, if that benefited me i would do it to my grandmother

 

[Chris Butcher]

I can not agree on that Chris. There is nothing in the rules about it, if isn't forbidden then is allowed. And if that was you getting it i bet you wouldn't be complaining. I bumpdrafted Nigel, Ross, Stuart and Gary in R.2 and the only concern i had for myself, if that benefited me i would do it to my grandmother

I would never bumpdraft myself, I don't see it as sportsman like behaviour

 

[Ross McGregor]

Race 1: not much to say, started 5th and got a poor start meaning i lost a few positions on lap one. Gradually fought back over the next few laps, and thanks to some spinners and a couple of passes, i found myself in 2nd just behind Michael. This lasted about 3 corners however, as i misjudged my downshift at t4 and walloped the tyres on the outside. Dead car, race over.

Race 2: 2nd last on the grid but with a new setup courtesy of Michael, just tried to be conservative and 'slow-in, fast-out' as often as possible. This proved to be a good mantra for the beginning of the race as i avoided the usual lap one skirmishes and was able to latch onto the leaders. Caught Nigel & Dariusz scrapping away for 2nd (?) and when Nige dropped back out of the tow, myself and Dariusz worked together to catch Gary out in front. When we did eventually catch Lenno, it started the best 15 or so minutes of racing i've ever experienced on RD, as the 3 of us duked it out for P1, never separated by less than 0.5s for the duration, without any contact or risky manouevres. Starting the last lap, i dived out the slipstream to take the lead at T1, and held it coming out the last turn, thinking that i was sure to be passed by Gary & Dariusz before the line, but i just held on by 0.015s from Gary, all three of us separated by less than a tenth of a second! Really fantastic race, and getting a first Cat win is a bonus too. Cheers guys!
Thanks to Thommo for the admin duties, and also to Michael for race 2!

 

[Dariusz Swiderski]

I would never bumpdraft myself, I don't see it as sportsman like behaviour

I can understand your point of view if that happened just before the finish and you lost a place or two but not during the race as you would benefited from the draft you would get after the pass. Anyway i think all of us need to get clarification from the organizers on this matter before the league starts, STUART??

 

[Chris Butcher]

I can understand your point of view if that happened just before the finish and you lost a place or two but not during the race as you would benefited from the draft you would get after the pass. Anyway i think all of us need to get clarification from the organizers on this matter before the league starts, STUART??

Stuart said it's impossible to enforce, I was speaking to him on TS about it. Michael couldv'e chosen me to bump but didn't. In club events where there are no teams there's no place for it, because if not everyone is bumped then it gives an unfair advantage to a certain few.

 

[Gary Lennon]

I very much enjoyed both races,and very glad to be back in the picture with the 165's,after a little T1 disaster i had a lot of fun with a recovery surge which largely involved tussles with Chris and Magnus,eventually grafted my way clear of them and Hermy felt the need to wait and let me pass,on the last lap i didnt feel right and gave him the very deserved win .

Race 2 was another action-fest,i made for the tight as possible line on the inside of T1,couldnt have got tighter...came out relatively unscathed and in to the race,very nice stuff going on and then i remember Thommo literally blasting past about 3 of us and ended up so clear in the lead after T1,pushed mad and got on his case and hussled a pass,for a lap or so i thought i was safe and clear but then noticed Ross and Swidey working it hard and trashing my gap with the power of co-oop draft work,so only a matter of a couple of laps and were involved in a huge 3 way fight for the win,one of the best and closes and cleanest in Cat night history actually,a real case of "Pick a Winner",i had no idea who would be taking that one about 3 laps from the end really,i thought it was rather fitting we all crossed the line about a wheel trims width apart over the line .
Special thanks Hermy for a setup close to genius!.

Many Thanks Stu & RD

 

[Dariusz Swiderski]

Stuart said it's impossible to enforce, I was speaking to him on TS about it. Michael couldv'e chosen me to bump but didn't. In club events where there are no teams there's no place for it, because if not everyone is bumped then it gives an unfair advantage to a certain few.

I think if the rule was made against bumpdrafting it wouldn't be too hard to enforce as anyone concerned can check the replay and report any irregularities to Stuart ( i know i would ) like with any other offence. And why it would be allowed/acceptable in league but not in club races? Not everyone will be driving with a team mate at hand to help and even those who will may not be running together on track to take any advantage of it. In that situation bumpdrafting somebody else would be considered ok? How is that different to club races?

I,m fine with either allowed or not just need to know beforehand so not to be accused afterwards of having unfair advantage.

 

[Chris Butcher]

I wasn't trying to say it should be allowed in league events. I meant it is more understandable. I would also like some clarification

 

[Stuart Thomson]

I wasn't trying to say it should be allowed in league events. I meant it is more understandable. I would also like some clarification

OK-

Bump drafting for top speed reasons is allowed in League events because:

a) I don't think it can be prevented, and the Cats have such a pull that you can end up bumping if you don't pull out soon enough, and too soon means you lose the tow. When does a close draft become a bump draft, especially if you don't feel the contact.
b) The League is a team event, so team work is the name of the game

Using a bump to close gaps in Club events is also OK, IMO.

---BUT---

What I do object to however is bumpdrafting to take position, going past other drivers.

In addition to your one Chris, Paul Wright let Michael past during quali as he thought Michael had caught his (Paul's) draft and didn't want to compromise both Michael and himself, but when he went to take his position behind Michael, Gary was there and Paul got bumped out of the way. Paul was on his fast lap, and got severely compromised because of that effectively double length car.

So, in summary - Bumping to close gaps, or indeed to pull away, is fine, but bumpdrafting to take position is not allowed - Club or League.

I hope that is clear and definitive enough for everyone.

 

[Chris Butcher]

Thanks Stu