Nascar CTS League - Race 11 Chicagoland Speedway

Post by **Inspector** » Tue Jan 18, 2005 2:12 am

RedValiant · Post by **RedValiant** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 12:32 pm

Tough track. Maybe some perspective on on-track behaviour is needed....hmmmm

TonyG · Post by **TonyG** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 6:20 pm

Hi Riven, wrong track on server should be chicago

Prometheus · Post by **Prometheus** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:10 am

Interesting track.

Turn 3 into 4 on cold tyres = lots of tears this Wednesday.
Mind you, there can be some nice drifting around the corner

Pit entry off turn 3 at too high a speed = lots of tears this Wednesday.

Spin a couple of times = destroys tyres.

Pace car on start = 60
Pit speed = 45

Nearly Wednesday . . .

TonyG · Post by **TonyG** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:34 am

I reckon it's a pretty good track, drafting is not super critical but does help.
You must practice this track to get the best out of it, but it's pretty wide so avoidance of spinning cars will be easier

Pit exit is fine, just watch the speed, pit entry will be tricky if it is tried from between 3 and 4, I'll be getting on the apron before turn 3 and have the speed down to 110 or so to make the pit safely.

Should be a great race with plenty of passing opportunities, there will be a lot of different lines going into the turns...will be interesting

odonohuesp · Post by **odonohuesp** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 4:25 pm

Practice Race tonite should be a good test

Prometheus · Post by **Prometheus** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 5:20 pm

What time is this please ? Now that I have my life back, I might be able to squeeze in a race tonight

UnbounD · Post by **UnbounD** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 6:20 pm

Ill be there about 8pm for a bit or roundy roundy.

Get NRTV Prom. Then you can look and see whose on

TonyG · Post by **TonyG** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 6:46 pm

The server has gone to Coca Cola land?????????? It was at Chicago this afternoon...strange

AHA Both tracks are loaded they alternate

UnbounD · Post by **UnbounD** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:19 pm

Another fun nights practise.

Especaily those few laps round Coke with TonyG, what a giggle!

TonyG · Post by **TonyG** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:31 am

Yep, good practice on Chicago and the few laps on Coke were great

nice close drafting...but when it was 2 monsters against you, you didn't have a chance

Sulley · Post by **Sulley** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:06 am

TonyG wrote:Yep, good practice on Chicago and the few laps on Coke were great nice close drafting...but when it was 2 monsters against you, you didn't have a chance

Indeedy, enjoyed that double team outside pass

Post by **Inspector** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:43 am

Did 80 odd laps practice last night on the server with a few of the guys. Great to see the newer guys taking advice seriously and getting out and practicing. Skelo and Wraith turned up with Skelo setting some scorching lap times and Wraith lapping consistantly without falling off the track. Big Al and Redvaliant were there learning the track and were still going when I headed off to bed. Eagle, Sulley, UnbounD, Skuzz and a few others turned up and Sulley and I had a great run for 20 odd laps pushing out the laps in an effort to see how the tyres and fuel would last in a race situation.

I did one run fresh out of the pits and managed 32 laps on a tank of fuel, the majority of those laps spent leading Sulley (no draft in front of me) and only my right front hit yellow with about 10 laps of fuel left but it was still fine by time fuel forced me to pit. Any major spins will drastically reduce the lifespan of your tyres, especially if you brake hard during those spins.

Turn one has a large dip in it but it is not as bad as it looks. My approach last night was reasonably tight (I found a wide entry quite loose) and I had nil issues in my laps by lifting off just before the dip (almost on the edge of it) and then found I could drive out of the rest of the corner pretty well under full throttle. Turn three and four are quite decieving and whilst they appear to be full throttle corners, I found once again an early lift off of the throttle reduced tyre wear and allowed me to give it heaps through the apex and back onto the straight (tri-oval).

All in all I think a conservative approach will benifit you in the tyre wear/pit stop stratagy and will also reduce the chances of incidents like we have had on other "technical" tracks. One good thing about this track is the large areas of grass for spinning cars to head for unlike Lowes and Riki where the walls kept you on the track and in the line of fire of all the other cars.

Good luck to everyone tonight and...............

It "IS" Wednesday !!!!!!

Prometheus · Post by **Prometheus** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 10:04 am

What lap times were you hitting ?

Post by **Inspector** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 10:30 am

Prometheus wrote:What lap times were you hitting ?

Through those 32 laps I did 31.4's through to 31.8's. I think that 31.7 or 6's will be very competitive if you can keep them up through out the whole race. I personally don't worry about lap times during the race. I worry about staying on "race pace" which is dictated by the cars around you. The final word is simple really, a lap time 2 or 3 seconds off the leaders pace will still get you a good finish compared to the guy spinning past your door doing 10 or 20 second slower times than you and making 2 more pit stops than you!

There is a really big difference between doing fast laps and driving a fast race. If you drive each lap to set the fastest time you will eventually push too hard and the point 3 of a second you made on all the other laps is gone in a 10 or 20 second spin and 1 extra pit stop. To drive a fast race you only need to be at race pace, and the best way to know what race pace is, is to follow the other cars, let the guy at the front of the draft drive on the limit, all you have to do is stay with him using his draft and you'll cruise home.

I have a patent on this style of driving but you are welcome to borrow it

Prometheus · Post by **Prometheus** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:05 pm

no problemo.

I've just done a race, averaging on my own 31.8's ish, tried something different of trying to eek out the fuel after my last refuel so I didn't need a splash at the end. Ran dry 2 laps to go

!

So I'm sacking my crew cheif - who is blind anyway, judging by the so-called "clear"calls...bah

Oh well, it's all good fun aye.

Post by **Inspector** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:10 pm

[Edit]

Skuzzlebutt · Post by **Skuzzlebutt** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 3:12 pm

I'll be debuting my new frankenstein Sidewinder/DFP steering wheel and pedal set tonight. No more Logitech pedal madness for me

Thanks to an inspired piece of thinking by Unbound during praccy last night I'll have both wheels plugged in at the same time, using the pedals from MS and the wheel from Logitech.

Sulley · Post by **Sulley** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 3:38 pm

Skuzzlebutt wrote:I'll be debuting my new frankenstein Sidewinder/DFP steering wheel and pedal set tonight. No more Logitech pedal madness for me

Thanks to an inspired piece of thinking by Unound during praccy last night I'll have both wheels plugged in at the same time, using the pedals from MS and the wheel from Logitech.

Brill, another great example why you turn up to practice sessions...

Eagle32 · Post by **Eagle32** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 4:10 pm

I was actually thinking of trying that with the pedal on my T2 that still works. Except i was going to put both sets of pedals side byside and use the pedal on the T2 for a clutch. Not specifically in Nascar but in anything it would work with like LFS.

UnbounD · Post by **UnbounD** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 5:08 pm

Im thinking that my sidewinder 2 pro is going to become a shifter and a clutch pedal. I just have to find someone with a cnc machine and some metal to make some top plates for the gear stick etc and I will be into it.

Still have not decided on a design for the pedals tho, must to the wreckers on the weekend and see if I can get the whole pedal assembly out of something, for nothing

That would be a great start.

Im so wanting a proper race seat. (and so not wanting to bother paying for one).

WEDNESDAY
(The worst spelt day of the weak)

mikool · Post by **mikool** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 6:35 pm

I just want to say good luck to the rookie's its down to 2 more wednesday's and the point are interesting.

may the best rookie win tonight whom ever that may be

Skelo · Post by **Skelo** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 7:57 pm

Well, i'm kinda miffed. I won't be on tonight guys due to unforseen circumstances (Flat mate ringing me today ... "Come and pick me up from Wellington Airport @ 1130 tonight") Bit of a bummer as I enjoyed this track.

Nevermind, you guys have a fun night, good luck.

Food for thought.... Seems to be a little "tension" sometimes after the races leading to lots of discussion post race...

..Imagine a race with no accidents.... *snore*

"Oh yea, I was drafting this guy for 76 laps..." Sure carnage is bad but a little "rubbing" is racing

and keeps people fighting and interested.

Enjoy.

Post by **Jetboy** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:56 pm

Well after a few issues last night we thought the connection here was all under control....apparantly not

decided due to the fact that I was apparantly warping in and out to skip the race to prevent any major dings occuring....unfortunately means that I'm out of the race for the rookie points so as you can imagine I'm not overly impressed....missed the first two weeks of the league due to work and managed to fight my way up to within strinking distance of the points lead...only to be denied the chance to race

me = grumpy...well for the next hour or so anyway

looking forward to the replay and Proms movie (ps no hard feelings if anyone accidentally dings Mikool or Typhoon tonight....hehehe

)

Happy · Post by **Happy** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 10:46 pm

you still get points for last place jetho, since you turned up.