RD MINI Challenge 2012

[Morten Wernersen]

Lazy as always, I only did about 10 laps earlier in the day to get a feel for the car and the track, so when I smacked my little mini in 5th place in qually I was very pleased

Race1: got a good start and kept my place, after a couple of laps I was battling with Nik Hughes, and when I tried to turn in at the end of the curved back straight, the car wouldent turn and I had to take it over the grass, luckily I had somewhat control of the car so I managed to get the car back on the track with out to much trouble, but I lost 2 places, so now I was 7th, I then managed to get back to 5th again, but Nik in 4th was doing the same pace as me so I couldent catch him, I then got promoted to 4th when Lee Ross went off, and I cept my 4th to the end, very pleased with that

Race2: Got an ok start but I dident gain much, Dan, who was starting behind me, flew past and I tried to hug on to him but he was gone as fast as he passed me, so I had to find my own way back up the field, I managed to get back into top ten, and towards the end I was part of a 4 way battle for 5th place witch I lost and had to settle for 8th, witch actually wassent that bad.

So after 5th in qually, 4th in race 1 and 8th in race 2, I would say it was quite a good evening of racing
cya next time
M.W.

 

[Nuno Pinheiro]

Just got home from work about 10 min ago i hope you guys had a good time racing without me

 

[Kevin Cordice]

saw your pose Mike i'm cool it's Karma for ya

Sorry Dave Begley for the second race incident in turn one lap one, after watching the replay I didn't know that i was so close to your rear fender and which I was the person to cause your lose of control defiantly thought it was someone who had hit you front directly behind, but looking at it it looks strange assuming it was lag or my graphic rendering issue. Again I'm sorry for the crash

Sorry to all other competitors if I ruin you race

Edit: you know what pi$$$ me off the the follow racers who can't say sorry I made a mistake, you know who you are

 

[Marco Bijl]

About the incident I was involved in, I made a movie.

Incident 1, race 1 Kevin and I toughted. I might have went to the right why Kevin spun into me.

Incident 2, race 2 again as you can see on the onboard camera, I have my steering wheel straight and a little bit steering to the left at the end of the pitlane, before contact.

At 00:22 I was steering away from contact, as you can see there was the end of the pitlane so I gave room.

I'm here to race for fun/fight, not to crash. If you think I was wrong, I will take full responsibility and will accept consequences may there be a penalty.

(donno why but the audio is crap in this video)

Please report incidents, and do not post them here ok . Don't want a messy discussion in a thread.
I removed the video.

@Marco Bijl I am very sorry for nudging you off in Race 2 turn 1. I just watched the replay and I was nudged by one of the Nordschleife cars just before I hit the brakes and I went very deep into the corner. I thought I was about to end up fluking a hero move past you and Dan through no intention, but as I hit the kerb it bounced me across into you. I am very sorry if this hurt your race.

Report to follow after I enjoy the rest of the replay!

No problem Jimi. I made to many mistakes anyway, so if you would have not hit me, I probably would have messed up a corner later or so .

So, my own report.
Had a 2 weeks from hell again. No time at all to do anything, and the few laps I did on the track (which I did not knew yet), I drove on the cicane version. Should be reading a bit more I think .
Q:
Qualy went Ok. Was quicker then my Pb, so no complaints here. Somehow, me and Remco (who was sitting next to me in the room), sticked together like glue . Each time I checked the times during practice and qualy, he was in front of my by some thousends of a second. All in all it went ok.

R1.
Had a great start again. Passed some before the first corners. Offcourse, I messed up really quick, and got off track. As it was in the really early stage of the race, there was no way I could get back on the track without slamming someone off, so decided to wait in the grass till the whole field had passed . Started to fight back again from 32nd position. Had some fun on the way, and ended 21st or something like that.

R2.
Started from 14th I believe. Made an early mistake again. Not sure what happend behind me, and if I was to blaim for it though. Must watch replay for that. I had to go off my line to avoid a hit in front of me, got onto the drity part, and simply lost control. After that, I got a little tap, so went off yet again. Same situation so could not rejoin, so again started from the back. I managed to keep it together, and just went driving. Ended on 13th place.

All in all I had a fun race. I do know I need to start working on my self discipline. During practice i managed to get lap after lap on a really consistent pace. Somehow, during the race, adrenaline kicks in or something, and I can't seem to do the same consistent racing. Also when I am driving towards someone, and am almost there, I seem to make a mistake over and over again. Simply my own fault, so I need to work on that a bit.

{edit}
Just watched a bit of replay, and it seems I have to say sorry to Mr. Jebson and Mr Andersson.... Race 2 I hit both, and I believe I took Mr Andersson out . Stupid mistake from my side, could not make it with the brakes. Sorry. File a report if I indeed destroyed a race please....

 

[Dan Allinson]

Broadcast is up guys.

http://racemedia.org/video/RDMCC-%7C-Round-3/6220c5bc2e383080304bba036c2440cd

 

[Jimi Hughes]

@Mark Gormley the silent killer strikes again

 

[Dan Allinson]

JImi if you have steam add me mate danallinson

 

[James Kirk]

Some good results for people yesterday but lets try an make an extra push for cleanliness at Londrina! See you lot in two weeks!

 

[Jimi Hughes]

JImi if you have steam add me mate danallinson

Will do when I fire up 'the beast' later on.

 

[Dave Begley]

@James Kirk just watched the broadcast and big to you and Liam. Another very exciting race to watch. Couple of names wrong though but i think it was all the excitment.

Who is Degley and does Mark Gormley have a brother called Dave, and if so should he lose points for letting his brother use his account

Cant wait for Londrina to be over just to watch the broadcast. You and Liam blend really well and make watching the race almost as much fun as being in it.

 

[Michael Braeutigam]

nothing against Dinca, but he signed up later than me and did his 2nd event already... hope to be driving in these great races one day as well!

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I did sent you and the other driver a pm but didnt hear anything back Michael. Please drop me a note.

 

[Dan Allinson]

@James Kirk just watched the broadcast and big to you and Liam. Another very exciting race to watch. Couple of names wrong though but i think it was all the excitment.

Who is Degley and does Mark Gormley have a brother called Dave, and if so should he lose points for letting his brother use his account

Cant wait for Londrina to be over just to watch the broadcast. You and Liam blend really well and make watching the race almost as much fun as being in it.

Ill 2nd that and some great camera work from Bram again. There's rumours amongst the pit lane that Jimi Hughes is working the camera's at the next round.

 

[Dave Begley]

Ill 2nd that and some great camera work from Bram again. There's rumours amongst the pit lane that Jimi Hughes is working the camera's at the next round.

I think Dave Gormley or Lucas Degley should do camera work

 

[James Kirk]

@James Kirk just watched the broadcast and big to you and Liam. Another very exciting race to watch. Couple of names wrong though but i think it was all the excitment.

Who is Degley and does Mark Gormley have a brother called Dave, and if so should he lose points for letting his brother use his account

Cant wait for Londrina to be over just to watch the broadcast. You and Liam blend really well and make watching the race almost as much fun as being in it.

If you want us to get names right make the field bloody smaller I'm so humbled by all these comments though and JUST SAYING we did get those names right in mid-broadcast

 

[Jordi Casademunt]

Oh, I have a complaint too. You insinuated that I lack consistency.

I dare to disagree. I consistently go off-track in every race.

 

[Dave Simmons]

I checked the replay.. i crashed all by myself. Seriously Smashed the car too, so i did a good job.

 

[Jimi Hughes]

If you want us to get names right make the field bloody smaller I'm so humbled by all these comments though and JUST SAYING we did get those names right in mid-broadcast

I cannot add much to what has already been said, but great work once again with the broadcast, another professional job by Bram, Liam and yourself. Thoroughly enjoyed watching it all back, thanks for your hard work and I hope you enjoyed the all of the thrills and spills! Can't wait for the next one now, @Dan Allinson bring it on!!!

 

[Mark Gormley]

Just finished watching the broadcast, once again a stellar job by @James Kirk, Liam and Bram. I have to say I'm very entertained when there's an incident and James' pleasant, professional English accent goes out the window in a howling "Oh noooo!".

Shan’t comment on the race one incident, but will share my take on the driving standards discussion in general. I'm probably in the same situation as most when I say I'm not racing for championship positions or prizes, of which there are none, but for the fun of competing. I rush home the 80 miles from university to take part, and manage an hour’s practice before the event, so if someone ends my race they’ve essentially just wasted my free time (I could be in the bar, after all).

I couldn’t agree with @Dan Allinson more on his ‘racing room’ comment from the interview. Mirror, signal, manoeuvre is the most fundamental driving concept; I’d hate to imagine what some people are like on the motorway with their lane changing habits. If, even after practice, you’re having trouble driving a small hatchback around a course which has, essentially, only 4 corners, perhaps you should rethink your competing in a league.

On that note, I have to extend an apology to @Scott Webber and @Neil Harvey for making a bad situation worse in Race 2, after they had a tap I then followed Scott into the situation and the momentum carried them both onto the grass. Thanks to Scott for his understanding.

And on a lighter note, a big thanks to @Jimi Hughes for the driving masterclass during race 2, including a smile-inducing move around the outside of the first two turns. We traded places a few times, though I should say mine were all slipstream induced, with Jimi losing the place not due to my racing prowess, but basic fluid mechanics. Splendidly driven, sir, it was nice to have finally had the pleasure.

Oh and congratulations to Dan for his first win of the season, and Nik on his first podium.

‘til Londrina.

 

[Andreas Pfannschmidt]

It's a MINI Weekend. First the great online-races at friday night and yesterday i had a fast tour on the fantastic roads of the german Black Forest with a few other Minimaniacs. Back again it's time for my race report.

After last two good results in Curitiba i was 11th in the overall standings. I thought there may be a small chance to climb up to the overall top-ten, so this was my new target for this championship. Therefore i need constant finishes - something i suspectet to be very difficult in Portland. The fast left-right combination before the last corner made me worry because it's so easy to loose the rear-axle there and end up with a destroyed car. I must confess that I was reeeally nervous beforce this event, especially before the start.

I had a good getaway from the 11th place on the grid and soon found myself in a duel with encouraged driving Tamas Foth. Sometimes it was so close that we have adjusted our rear-mirrors (see screenshot). After some great laps i finally managed to get away from him and i slowly closed up to my teammate Eric, fighting with Mark Gormley. As Eric made his mistake, causing an accident, i was right behind him. Together we caught Dave Stephenson and finished 5th and 6th. Once again i tried hard, but didn't manage to win our team-internal battle.

​

In the second race i had to start from the 30th position with the top-drivers right behind me. In the first laps we somehow merged in a Team Hughes / MINI Team Nordschleife fighting through the traffic. Sadly Eric had some bad luck as he lost the connection to this group, after a chain-reaction in turn1. I lost my place against both Hughes Brothers but managed to fight back against Nik some laps later. I even closed up to Jimi again, who was in an intensive fight with Mark Gormley again. But after i had overstressed my tyres a bit i could not follow them for long. In the last laps i even had to fight to hold my position against Nik, who now had his comeback in my rear-mirrors. Somehow i managed to keep him behind me, maybe because he also was under pressure by his followers.

​

​

Anyway, that was great racing and i'm more than pleased with my first Top5 result and that this now was my fourth race in a row without any unlucky situation. Maybe some day also you commentators of the (beside of that) fantastic broadcast will notice, that I'm not that over-aggressive driver you have branded me after Interlagos. I will try to confirm that in Londrina once again and I'm really looking forward for this.


Once again I want to thank for the organization and all participants for this great racing.