Project CARS 2 Thunder Down Under (1 Viewer)

[UnstopaPaul]

Well, wow, what a race. If you couldn't make it, sorry, but what a combo!

Qualifying went really well - getting a 2:00.3xx was only a fraction of my best ever lap and getting me to 2nd row on the grid. This was pretty important, because I had a strategy to play out.I was uncertain if I was unique in going for soft tyres over the hards (turns out not entirely), but it was quickly obvious that Among the top 4 starters I was the crazy one. Dropping to 4th after the first corner, I was still pretty happy, but by the end of T2 I knew I'd made the right choice, passing @Taorminator based on pure grip and watching @ProjectPD and @fab. ICEMAN sliding around in front of me.

Still I nearly binned the car around Reid(?) as I followed @fab. ICEMAN 's line into the edge of the wall , but settled into my stride quickly after. Again I get taught that I shouldn't follow good drivers, as @ProjectPD slapped the wall at T2 with me doing a gentler version of the same. I think he might have got some damage there as I caught quickly at Conrod. The pressure continued but with the damage I caught and did a highly inadvisable pass at the Chase on lap 3. Fortunately without contact, though PD overshot (or I pushed him too wide)and had to go straight through.

With the soft tyres I wen't about hunting down @fab. ICEMAN , who'd gained quite a lead in the meantime (10s?) With the faster car I was eating into it at 2 seconds a lap and caught quickly.I got over-eager and inexperience showed as I "faked" a pass into Murray's and got too deep, over braked then got the foot down too soon, spinning the car on the grid and smashing the nose up a little. Overall I probably lost about 10 seconds on the spin. I Carried on for a 2 laps with reduced top speed, and took my first of two stops two laps early, to get the aero repaired for another 5 seconds.

Coming out back into traffic in 7th the new soft tyres made mincemeat of those running on the edge of old hards. It was an easy enough climb back towards the front and a lot of fun getting to pass other cars for a change. @Taorminator, @Battenberg and I nearly came a cropper in the dipper but all ended in a friendly tap and no harm, no foul.

Back in 4th and chasing down @ProjectPD again. Apparently I start calling you "puffy" on stream...I guess my brain was full of driving. Sorry about that. @ProjectPD and @Corentin_Bergès were going at it hammer and tongs when I snuck up on them. PD was trying to make a move on Corentin and I guess saw me late, blocked early after murrays and put himself out of position for the mountain straight. I think he was still carrying damage though, as I got a pass away without the need to slipstream. That put me right up behind @Corentin_Bergès as he'd been slowed by defending. Another pass on Conrod, where it became clear that @Corentin_Bergès too had damage. It seems like hards were not the right choice.

Back in P2 at lap 21 and with most still needing to take their scheduled pit I had clear space and put in the laps in peace. The tyres in my second stint were made to do a lot of work, and they were starting to suffer as I had to self-penalise a few times as I missed the S at the Skyline. As @fab. ICEMAN went into pit I had the joy of several laps as race leader, but my earlier spin contributed to me coming out behind, not in front of him after my second stop. With the gap at 33 seconds and 14 laps to go it was a hard ask. I think the softs were worth 2 seconds per lap when I was doing good laps, but that would at best gain me 28 seconds, even assuming that fab would not work some magic with the hards.

There was a small glimmer of hope near the end when I suddenly gained 5 seconds and it seemed that he had taken damage. The gap dropped to only around 10 seconds, but I was out of time. Crossing the line in P2 felt really good, as I had been on a forward charge the entire time. I still have to think about what could have been if I'd not thrown about 15 seconds with a silly pass attempt early on. Still, I was a minute ahead of third, so mustn't grumble

Summary: Podium feels awesome, particularly when there are such great established racers on the track. This car and track combo are top notch and I cannot recommend enough using VR plus a proper sequential shifter to get the full experience of it.

My PoV

 

[fab. ICEMAN]

Awesome race! As expected it was thrilling and exhausting from lap 1 till very end. Great drive by @UnstopaPaul, seeing how you make progress is astonishing! There wasn't much missing to win that race and you would have absolutely deserved it.

When Paul did his last pit I thought the gap might not be enough for me. So I stepped up my pace but a few mistakes and big screen freeze () made it very exciting till the end

 

[Dama_The_Crow]

I love Bathurst, but unfortunately didn't have time to do practice with this car, and guided with common sense (40 celsius temp, race duration) , I put hard slicks in race setup and softs in qually. In qually I was very good, 5th at the end, but when race started, with hard tyres, I was like on ice skates. Almost every corner I had oversteer..... But I was good enough for myself until lap 16 and "the dipper" where I spinned and stuck in tight track with nose uphill.

Here is my POV:

 

[drukqs]

that's what happened to me...should never go for the hard tyres on the race. the car was on ice was no fun

 

[Raigore]

Did anyone else try hard tyres in the front and soft in the rear? The car felt so much better in my opinion, so much more traction out of the slow corners and really stable overall. Sady when I adjusted the fuel for the pitstop it also changed the strategy so I got hards all around, which was undrivable with how I set up the car and you cant change different tyres for front/rear via the ICM. So I had to retire after my pitstop, just wasnt safe.

 

[Dama_The_Crow]

I'll just ask before next race, here in forum, what tyres to use

 

[UnstopaPaul]

I'll just ask before next race, here in forum, what tyres to use

and you might get lucky...or people might want to hang on to their learning from multiple hours of testing . More importantly, one persons "this is perfect" is anothers "unmanageable." I know from experience now that I look after softs better than some other faster drivers, who put more heat through the tyres. It might be that you'd love softs for 5 laps and then be worse off than the hards. I believe there is nothing to replace time on track to understand the upcoming race.

 

[Taorminator]

Wow guys what a race! really one of the most enjoyable this year! I also learned a lot of things for next events. This track is just so good, passing a few centimeter from the walls in VR. It's really a track you learn to respect and once you tame it that's when you re getting fast. But try to abuse it and your race is over! This is one of those track along with nordshleife that I never bothered to master because it felt "too difficult to me". This is one of my favorite now !

It could have been a whole different race to me. As I didn't know the track I spent my whole practice in TT trying to get up to speed, which was very wrong. My concerns was that I was so much off pace when I should have focused on trying different strategies. On papers, softs were a no go, the track was something like 40°C. All of my practice, setup were based on hards. Then the day of the race I was told I should use softs for quali and my surprise was that I was actually on a low 2:00! I didn't have any idea how long they would last in the race so I preferred to stick with the hards.

I qualified something like P3 or P4 on softs. I wasn't confident at all with the hards during the first stint, but I kept up with the front runners for some time. I battled with @Corentin_Bergès and @Battenberg but after a muscular pass in T2 by @Battenberg I was squeezed on the wall and got some aero damage. After that the car felt worse and suffered top speed deficit. After this I tried to hold @ProjectPD but we were side by side in the Chase and I dipped a wheel in the grass, I finished in the sand trap and lost many positions. I had nothing to lose so I changed my strategy and put softs on. It was the best call possible as I could push with 100% confidence for the rest of the race. I charged to 5th and catched @ProjectPD and @Battenberg who were battling. Unfortunately I was caught by surprise when @ProjectPD hit the wall at the dipper and my evasive maneuver spinned me around. I finished the race in P6 after an epic battle with @Corentin_Bergès. The result is great given how the first half of the race went but I can't help thinking I had the potential for a podium as I catched P4 and P3 and was on better tyres. Could only blame my mistakes.

Fortunately no kangaroo was harmed during the race

 

[Michael]

Just a late heads-up why I left the race at the beginning of the qualy:
My wife was bringing our daughter to bed, when our session started, but the little cutie decided to stand up several times, cry, rumble around in her room, the full program of drama. I then decided to give a helping hand to my wife with the little imp. Took us till 9:30pm to get her sleeping. In the night she spent another 2 hours between mummy and daddy, talking, singing, crying... well, kids are a blessing...but not always

 

[Dama_The_Crow]

Just a late heads-up why I left the race at the beginning of the qualy:
My wife was bringing our daughter to bed, when our session started, but the little cutie decided to stand up several times, cry, rumble around in her room, the full program of drama. I then decided to give a helping hand to my wife with the little imp. Took us till 9:30pm to get her sleeping. In the night she spent another 2 hours between mummy and daddy, talking, singing, crying... well, kids are a blessing...but not always

"Story of my driving" also

 

[Tom]

Here's my video, better late than never. One of my hardest stints ever, nursing old soft tyres around here with @ProjectPD and @Feanor chasing hard is not exactly relaxing! Thanks for the race everyone.



16:45 - Qualy hot lap, good for 6th.
24:40 - Race start. Down to 7th.
26:33 - Up to 6th.
30:58 - Up to 5th.
33:03 - Squeaky bum moment, up to 4th, then 5th, then another squeaky bum moment, then 4th again.
35:10 - Battle for 3rd.
39:25 - Finally up to 3rd.
39:48 - "Don't Bin it"... Critical mistake in softening front ARB, for some reason I thought it would be better in clean air. T2 proved otherwise. Down to P12.
46:18 - Up to P11.
49:40 - Squeaky Bum 3. Up to P10.
49:50 - Up to P9.
...Up to P7 (Pitstops)
54:28 - Mistake in final turn, down to P8.
56:44 - Up to P6 (overtake and pitstops)
57:54 - Up to P5.
...Up to P3 (Pitstops)
1:09:05 - Pitstop, fuel only. Double stinting the softs was very very borderline! Down to P9. Rest of the race was spent nursing the tyres in left handers. Start of gap battle to Project PD in 4th behind - he was quicker in the bends, I was quicker on the straights. Nerve wracking!
...Up to P3 (Pitstops)
1:32:48 - P4 only a second behind now! 1:42:40 - Really struggling with tyres now, nearly into the wall. Holding on to P3 for dear life.
1:47:13 - A brief moment of relief, interrupted by Feanor closing in rapidly.
1:52:30 - Not enough grip to defend, down to P4. Cruise home to finish.

 

[Feanor]

My favorite moment...
At 1:48:18
Battenberg asks CrewChief
BB: "What was P4s last lap"?
CC: "2:03.39"
BB: ... "f**k"
Pause... BB thinks: (Maybe CC is wrong!)
BB: "What was Feanors last lap"? thinks: (Please be something different... anything!)
CC: "2:03.39"
BB: Silence...

Behind him:
Me: RAAAAHaveToGain2SecondsALap!GRRRRR

That last stint was so much fun.