Road Race [Race 16 of 20]

Despite the cancellation of Class B, the following races will continue to be run with a 5-point format [5/3/1].

Today's race is a 100 lap time trial on a an open-style track with one 180º turn:

Because I recently spent so much time tuning and troubleshooting the Gulf car, I had to re-adjust my driving style to suit it. My plan was to focus on fewer offs, so I drove all the cars a bit conservatively. I also did not apply my standard banking to the curves, preferring to lay the track totally flat on the rug.


Team Orders:
Shell #8 - Fresh tires, 1/4 Front/Rear Body Float, no Pod Float
Alfa #2 - Fresh tires, 1/2 Body Float Front / 1/4 Body Float Rear, no Pod Float
Gulf #11 - Fresh tires, 1/2 Body Float Front / no Body Float Rear, light Pod Float [middle section loose]

[each car was run as a drone for 2 minutes prior to the race to warm up the tires]


RESULTS [Race 16 of 20]:

Car                     Time          Offs        Points
Alfa #2             5:23.12          0              3                            
Shell #8            5:21.49          0              5                                    
Gulf #11           5:25.52          1              1                      


Split Times:

Car                  [1-25]      [26-50]      [51-75]      [76-100]
Alfa #2           1:21.10     1:20.12      1:20.62       1:21.27                                                                    
Shell #8          1:19.33     1:19.77      1:20.70       1:21.67                                                                    
Gulf #11         1:21.08     1:22.47      1:20.84       1:21.12

[fastest segment times in blue]

Winner winner, chicken dinner.

This was the tightest race in a long time, possibly ever. Considering it was a 4-second split in the field, that's pretty good. The Gulf car did remarkably well, and suffered only one off. That affected the end result, although barely. Had it hung on throughout the race it would have been very close.

The three cars are in a very happy place right now. I plan on leaving them there for the time being, and only tweaking them occasionally. I think I've found the settings I like for my track.

Championship Standings:

Car                Points            Total
Shell #8             5                   62
Alfa #2              3                   66
Gulf #11            1                   45

The Gulf #11 has been mathematically eliminated from winning the championship today, and will now play the role of spoiler for the rest of the season. It seems more than up to the task. It's just unfortunate that it had to go out of contention this early. It'll be a bummer to break the bad news to my wife, but this car needs parts and won't be a real contender until it gets them.

It's still a neck-and-neck race to 1st in the championship, and the Shell #8 continues to prove its worth. There's a nice feeling knowing that whichever car comes in first is totally fine by me. I've had fun trying to tweak the slower cars to beat the fastest one, and the third segment of this race proves that I'm getting somewhere.