VSCC | S4 | R6: Bathurst (Mt. Panorama)

[Steve Le Gallez]

No worries @Thomas Hinss , these things happen mate
Huge thanks to @Chris Stacey & co for an excellent championship

 

[Chris]

Wow, what an incredible race. Taken some time for my nerves to calm down after that one. Absolutely epic race there @David Armstrong. Congratulations on your first win! Thoroughly deserved!

My condolences to those who suffered issues or mistakes on the mountain (you know who you are), I know how heart breaking that can be, I've experienced those shite feelings on three occasions this season, really not fun.

Given the pace that the likes of @Sniper and @David Armstrong had shown in the practice sessions during the week, I was utterly stunned that I managed to get second place behind @Shaun.A. I knew that if I could get a good launch then I'd been on the inside and thus most likely be able to take the lead of the race into T1.

Unlucky for Shaun as he got bogged down and suddenly I was leading my first ever league race totally on merit , I felt a bit like a dog who's been chasing birds all his life only to finally catch one... I didn't really know what to do with myself. So my opening few laps were a bit scruffy and distracted as all I could think about was "Holy sh*t! I'm actually leading this thing!".

Then the safety car got called out and I started to calm down a bit and got in a groove. But I knew that I had to nail the restart on cold-ish tyres, else @Davy Vandevenne and @Matheus Machado would've made quick work of me. Thankfully I got the restart bang on.

When Davy and Matheus pitted I was watching closely their gap to me as I stayed out with like 7 laps of fuel remaining. I wasn't sure how quickly they could catch up, but I figured they pitted so soon after the SC that they must've had some traffic to deal with.

I came in on lap 20 along with David. I really didn't expect your strategy to pay off so handsomely, but as Fred mentioned, your consistency on the worn tyres was incredibly impressive. I was surprised that I wasn't able to catch you in the opening laps of my stint, but rather at the very end. Not sure if your tyres went off the cliff or the traffic played more of a roll. All I know is that finish was the most intense thing I've ever experienced in SimRacing.

I could almost taste my first ever victory, it just 0.6 seconds down the road.

And of course @Chris Stacey deserves a massive thank you. His championship organization sets a standard for all of our leagues and this one was no different, top notch all around!
Can't even count how many times I've looked into the threads you posted to get an idea on how to organize my leagues.

Thank you so much Matheus, you have no idea how much that means to me mate , considering your GT championship has set the bar this year IMO.

It's been a pleasure running this championship, and I think it's been the biggest and best league I've had the chance to run so far in my simracing career, and I hope it has been for you guys too. It wouldn't be possible of course without @Sniper and his incredible services, from servers to live timing, the infrastructure he's able to provide is just awesome, plus he's also a pretty nice guy too


I hope to see you back for Season 5 in 2017 for another epic championship!
Cheers and Merry Christmas to you all

 

[Chris]

Also @Fred Locklear It's been an absolute pleasure being your teammate this season. Genuinely one of the nicest blokes I've met It's been great to see your improvements come along this season. Nothing makes you fast quite like league racing, you'll get there matey

 

[Jamie]

Wow. Looks like I bugged out from a race with everything. Bugger.
Just a brief word of thanks from me to @Chris Stacey . You are a jet mate. There's a whole load of us who enjoy ourselves immensely doing these races, both club and league and we owe it to your dedication and commitment.
Also to my lanky mate @Sniper for the server, tech support and comaradarie along with @Jack in Team Apia. We may not win the driving championship but we must be right up there in the fun stakes
Congrats to podiums, particularly our de facto APIA member @David Armstrong,on a great result.
Looking forward to next season already.

 

[Jeremy Talbot]

Well I just can not believe I actually finished that race let alone come 10th and with minimal damage! Absolutely crazy

I had an abortion of a quali, just couldn't get myself a lap and ended up in the wall with my last try, ending up in 19th.

Race started terribly with me bogging down (sorry @Jack) putting me down to 21st after turn 1. Managed to stay in track and be consistent (what???) up until the safety car by which stage I was 13th. Unfortunately for Sam and Thomas they got the raw end of the deal ahead of me as they got shuffled to the back. Good for me and Matthew however. So I moved to 11th. Managed to hang there until the pitstop. When I pitted I realised I still had 85% on my front left so I didn't change that giving me 8 seconds. Managed to pass @Sniper in the pits doing that but he caught me as I caught Michael Klein and @Nick Milton. Got past Michael alright but Nick was a roadblock! Tony managed to get past us both before I finally got past Nick. Thomas ask caught me up and got past pretty quickly.

From that point I thought that was it. Tobias was 7 seconds behind and not catching me and Thomas and Tony were pulling away up front do I thought I'd try and cruise till the end. Then I realised that @Steve Le Gallez was being caught and then past by the other 2 and that I was catching him too albeit 7 seconds away. Annoyingly I caught him on the last lap and crossed the line 0.5 seconds behind. If I'd pushed earlier there may have been a chance for 9th. But I'm stoked with my result anyway

Massive thank you to @Chris Stacey for the most amazing league. Really well run and I love reading the recaps afterwards Also to Tony for the server etc too

And lastly thanks to my teammates and honorary teammate @Shawn Jacobs, @Oli McGown and @alexSchmurtz . Great setups and great conversation!

 

[Nick Milton]

Well I just can not believe I actually finished that race let alone come 10th and with minimal damage! Absolutely crazy

I had an abortion of a quali, just couldn't get myself a lap and ended up in the wall with my last try, ending up in 19th.

Race started terribly with me bogging down (sorry @Jack) putting me down to 21st after turn 1. Managed to stay in track and be consistent (what???) up until the safety car by which stage I was 13th. Unfortunately for Sam and Thomas they got the raw end of the deal ahead of me as they got shuffled to the back. Good for me and Matthew however. So I moved to 11th. Managed to hang there until the pitstop. When I pitted I realised I still had 85% on my front left so I didn't change that giving me 8 seconds. Managed to pass @Sniper in the pits doing that but he caught me as I caught Michael Klein and @Nick Milton. Got past Michael alright but Nick was a roadblock! Tony managed to get past us both before I finally got past Nick. Thomas ask caught me up and got past pretty quickly.

From that point I thought that was it. Tobias was 7 seconds behind and not catching me and Thomas and Tony were pulling away up front do I thought I'd try and cruise till the end. Then I realised that @Steve Le Gallez was being caught and then past by the other 2 and that I was catching him too albeit 7 seconds away. Annoyingly I caught him on the last lap and crossed the line 0.5 seconds behind. If I'd pushed earlier there may have been a chance for 9th. But I'm stoked with my result anyway

Massive thank you to @Chris Stacey for the most amazing league. Really well run and I love reading the recaps afterwards Also to Tony for the server etc too

And lastly thanks to my teammates and honorary teammate @Shawn Jacobs, @Oli McGown and @alexSchmurtz . Great setups and great conversation!

I was a roadblock on that lap, problem was rear tyres were 74%, and I was going in pit when teammate @Leigh and I made a decision for Leigh to pit first, I then had a struggle to keep clean knowing 5-6 cars were coming, but we were racing, so I decided to hold fast and keep you all behind as long as possible, using boost along straight, I knew I was frustrating you all , but it's Christmas so I though nar what the hell, I knew I was pits next lap,

I expected controversy from that lap. Then pitstop was a cock up, Michael Klein came in behind me, and I thought at time jumped into my pit, so I got wedged between him and pitwall, had to reverse out and move along pits , I THINK I WAS CLEARLY IN MICHAELS BOX, ( so to speak)
But it was red? Confusing. Sorry @michaelKlein.

You made a nice move to take me though Jez

 

[Leigh Nielsen]

It was not pretty but completed my first RD season! Despite a permanent presence in the bottom decile of the field, still had a lot of fun with Nick, Alex and the other guys that inhabit this part of the pack!
Thanks to my always enthusiastic team-mate Nick for the laughs and to Chris for putting on the show.

 

[Jeremy Talbot]

I was a roadblock on that lap, problem was rear tyres were 74%, and I was going in pit when teammate @Leigh and I made a decision for Leigh to pit first, I then had a struggle to keep clean knowing 5-6 cars were coming, but we were racing, so I decided to hold fast and keep you all behind as long as possible, using boost along straight, I knew I was frustrating you all , but it's Christmas so I though nar what the hell, I knew I was pits next lap,

I expected controversy from that lap. Then pitstop was a cock up, Michael Klein came in behind me, and I thought at time jumped into my pit, so I got wedged between him and pitwall, had to reverse out and move along pits , I THINK I WAS CLEARLY IN MICHAELS BOX, ( so to speak)
But it was red? Confusing. Sorry @michaelKlein.

You made a nice move to take me though Jez

No it was all good Nick, you were well within your rights to defend and you did it well! While it was frustrating I had a big smile on my face

That move I did on you I thought was going to end in tears, nearly outbraked myself and thought I'd be running into the side of you

 

[Scrambles]

I was surprised at how quick the lap times were in practice, which knocked my confidence back a bit. Fortunately I ran two great laps in qualifying which was enough to secure 3rd place.

On pole @Shaun.A didn't get off the line well which held me up, and with a less-than-perfect exit out the first corner I was down into 6th by turn 2. I couldn't get into a good rhythm over the first few laps, and lost another position after @Stiggy made a great pass on me, dropping me down to 7th.

Given that I'd dropped 4 positions, still had all 8 boosts, and wasn't happy with my pace, I decided to take a big gamble and not change the tires. I knew this was the faster option, but obviously any safety car period in the second stint would completely destroy that strategy.

Pitted as late as possible, on the same lap as @Chris Stacey, and came out in 1st place. I could see the gap I'd gained wasn't really all that huge, and so the best I was hoping for was maybe the last step on the podium. I deliberately turned off my timing information, put my head down, and concentrated on driving as smoothly as possible.

With about 10 minutes remaining I snuck a glance at the track position bar, and realised much to my amazement that I actually had a small chance of victory. On the second last lap Chris caught me and used his boost down Conrod Straight, but he was only able to get alongside, and with the inside line I broke as late as I dared and somehow managed to keep track position. I was right on the bloody edge with that move

I still had a boost up my sleeve so I knew if I could stay in contact with him over the mountain I had a chance for the win. I expected him to draft past me up the Mountain Straight, so I kept right, forcing him to make an outside pass...which he couldn't quite pull off. Once again I was right on the edge - keeping the car on the inside with those worn tires was not easy.

Nailed the exit of Forrest's Elbow, boosted down the straight, and crossed the line in the lead for my first time ever in a league event. That was some intense racing Chris, great fun mate

I have to give credit to @Matheus Machado for kindly posting his setup. It was fairly similar to the APIA setup I had been using, but it was crucially a bit more stable.

Thanks to Chris for all of your hard work organising this fantastic league. I know it's a lot of work and I hope we all make it worth your while. Cheers to @Sniper for the server and the live timing gismo, and thanks to @Casper and @Jack for helping me out in the last 3 rounds. It's been a pleasure to be part of the Junior APIA Prospect Program.

Have a great Christmas and New Year guys!
Bring on the next league!

 

[Tony]

Well what a season.

The last race didn't go as planned for APIA but we had fun none the less. bad luck to @Casper for the internet crash as the race started and @Jack for someone leaving a wall on the track for you to hit and destroy your engine.
My quali was a disaster thanks to a bug in the game which sometimes does not repair your car when you exit back to pits.
I damaged the car on my first hotlap and when i went back to pits i drove out with the steering still broken so i had to do a manual pitstop to get repaired and had only one outlap and a hotlap left over. i went for a slower lap to get a midpack start rather than last

The race went pretty well with some brilliant and fair battles with @Sam Smith ,@Sean Rogers and @MrRandom287. went from 16th and finished 8th and had 1 boost left thinking i had 1 lap left and was getting ready to retake my position stolen by @Thomas Hinss on the previous lap but alas the race ended all too prematurely
Well done to @David Armstrong for a great win and to @Matheus Machado for a great victory in the championship and to @Stiggy for a well deserved second place.

I was thrilled at finishing 3rd in the championship which was way higher than my expectations.
I would like to sincerely thank my teammates @Casper and @Jack and our junior program driver @David Armstrong for making it a highly enjoyable time even when we had issues and wanted to strangle someone.

@Chris Stacey what a simply sensational job again at running an awesome series and honestly without your efforts most of us guys would be spending quality time with our wives and families so thanks for tearing us away from all that s**t so we can race .
Great job mate it is greatly appreciated by everyone. if you were close to me i would give you a big kiss on the lips. (but i could always arrange some alone time with you and @Kevin Harris if you would prefer that

CYA all on track in 2017 and have a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy new year.

P.S I am on holidays until the 9th of january so i hope we can do some impromptu races during this period

 

[Chris]

if you were close to me i would give you a big kiss on the lips. (but i could always arrange some alone time with you and @Kevin Harris if you would prefer that

If you've got his number that'd be much appreciated. Otherwise I'll simply have to settle for getting close behind him during the club racing and smelling his dirty air... you know... for science.

 

[Nick Milton]

Well what a season.

The last race didn't go as planned for APIA but we had fun none the less. bad luck to @Casper for the internet crash as the race started and @Jack for someone leaving a wall on the track for you to hit and destroy your engine.
My quali was a disaster thanks to a bug in the game which sometimes does not repair your car when you exit back to pits.
I damaged the car on my first hotlap and when i went back to pits i drove out with the steering still broken so i had to do a manual pitstop to get repaired and had only one outlap and a hotlap left over. i went for a slower lap to get a midpack start rather than last

The race went pretty well with some brilliant and fair battles with @Sam Smith ,@Sean Rogers and @MrRandom287. went from 16th and finished 8th and had 1 boost left thinking i had 1 lap left and was getting ready to retake my position stolen by @Thomas Hinss on the previous lap but alas the race ended all too prematurely
Well done to @David Armstrong for a great win and to @Matheus Machado for a great victory in the championship and to @Stiggy for a well deserved second place.

I was thrilled at finishing 3rd in the championship which was way higher than my expectations.
I would like to sincerely thank my teammates @Casper and @Jack and our junior program driver @David Armstrong for making it a highly enjoyable time even when we had issues and wanted to strangle someone.

@Chris Stacey what a simply sensational job again at running an awesome series and honestly without your efforts most of us guys would be spending quality time with our wives and families so thanks for tearing us away from all that s**t so we can race .
Great job mate it is greatly appreciated by everyone. if you were close to me i would give you a big kiss on the lips. (but i could always arrange some alone time with you and @Kevin Harris if you would prefer that

CYA all on track in 2017 and have a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy new year.

P.S I am on holidays until the 9th of january so i hope we can do some impromptu races during this period

Hey Binelli, with your APIA connection, and the fact your old, can you sort a claim out for me, my tv has broken where I accidently spilt rum n coke all over the electrics.its an $9000 led , curved, 80", ( sadly I can't show you receipt, because the people I borrowed it from are still looking for it), and I can't show you the tv, because I threw it out, but it was accident damage covered. So I'll leave that with you ?

 

[Tony]

Hey Binelli, with your APIA connection, and the fact your old, can you sort a claim out for me, my tv has broken where I accidently spilt rum n coke all over the electrics.its an $9000 led , curved, 80", ( sadly I can't show you receipt, because the people I borrowed it from are still looking for it), and I can't show you the tv, because I threw it out, but it was accident damage covered. So I'll leave that with you ?

You are living proof that narcotics can have a pronounced effect later in life

 

[Nick Milton]

You are living proof that narcotics can have a pronounced effect later in life

Great send em up.

 

[Sean]

A BIG thank you to @Chris Stacey for a truly awesome VSCC S4, I thoroughly enjoyed my first league and look forward to many more

Bathurst for me, initially was going well, I qualified reasonably well in 16th, 0.3 off my best time in practice, so not too bad.

Had a good start and a clean 18 laps, where team Rondeau (@Sam Smith) were formation flying for the opening laps and we were looking set for some good points. We were up to 9th and 10th by lap 9 when the safety car came out. A glitch in the game pushed @Sam Smith and @Thomas Hinss back from 10th and 11th during the safety car period back down to 18th and 19th position, behind @Fred Locklear. It seems as though the game counted back to lap 5 where these two were last behind Fred. Odd call as the safety car came out on lap 8 I think.This obviously negatively impacted their race.
After the racing resumed I found myself in an interesting position to overtake the mighty @Sniper on lap 12 along conrod straight, only to be re-taken in his mad lap 13 boost between myself and @MrRandom287 at the same spot. After those two got past, it looked like our seemingly typical race day encounter with @Jeremy Talbot was about to resume. Jeremy was close behind for 4 laps when he pitted on lap 17. It looked like this was now a pit stop race to see who would come out ahead, as my pit stop was coming up in the next few laps. All was undone as I came down Brock's Skyline on lap 18 with a twitch under breaking and into the wall killing the engine. DEATH! So unfortunately our battle was not to be.

Congratulations to @David Armstrong on a well deserved victory at such a tough circuit

 

[Jeremy Talbot]

A BIG thank you to @Chris Stacey for a truly awesome VSCC S4, I thoroughly enjoyed my first league and look forward to many more

Bathurst for me, initially was going well, I qualified reasonably well in 16th, 0.3 off my best time in practice, so not too bad.

Had a good start and a clean 18 laps, where team Rondeau (@Sam Smith) were formation flying for the opening laps and we were looking set for some good points. We were up to 9th and 10th by lap 9 when the safety car came out. A glitch in the game pushed @Sam Smith and @Thomas Hinss back from 10th and 11th during the safety car period back down to 18th and 19th position, behind @Fred Locklear. It seems as though the game counted back to lap 5 where these two were last behind Fred. Odd call as the safety car came out on lap 8 I think.This obviously negatively impacted their race.
After the racing resumed I found myself in an interesting position to overtake the mighty @Sniper on lap 12 along conrod straight, only to be re-taken in his mad lap 13 boost between myself and @MrRandom287 at the same spot. After those two got past, it looked like our seemingly typical race day encounter with @Jeremy Talbot was about to resume. Jeremy was close behind for 4 laps when he pitted on lap 17. It looked like this was now a pit stop race to see who would come out ahead, as my pit stop was coming up in the next few laps. All was undone as I came down Brock's Skyline on lap 18 with a twitch under breaking and into the wall killing the engine. DEATH! So unfortunately our battle was not to be.

Congratulations to @David Armstrong on a well deserved victory at such a tough circuit

Yeah I was really looking to another race long battle too thought I'd try an under cut but realised you'd crashed after a few more laps. Probably a good thing I'd pitted actually as I might have been caught up with your spin

 

[Sean]

Yeah I was really looking to another race long battle too thought I'd try an under cut but realised you'd crashed after a few more laps. Probably a good thing I'd pitted actually as I might have been caught up with your spin

lol, yeah, quite right!

 

[Chris]

@Davy Vandevenne
No POV highlights from this one mate?

 

[Davy Vandevenne]

@Davy Vandevenne
No POV highlights from this one mate?

Yes, a bit later. Tonight for us tomorrow early morning for you guys.

 

[Davy Vandevenne]

@Davy Vandevenne
No POV highlights from this one mate?

Here it is