Last Week's Off-Track(ish) Action
- Kabort Motorsport
- Dec 19, 2022
- 8 min read
Written On: 20th Dec. 2022
Okay. Life has just gone extremely quickly, and I haven't quite had a chance to catch up to it, so here's what's been happening in the last 9 days.
Monday 12th December, 2022
Monday saw the very last day of my most successful Week 13 to date - and the similarity between the F3 & F4 (IR-04) sold me on racing it for Season 1, 2023.
I ended Week 13 in absolute style by going from 4th to 2nd (First Attempt) and then going from Pole, to 8th back to 2nd place in an INCREDIBLY wild race - and a very memorable one.
Also on the 12th, I joined an iRacing league which raced Global Mazda MX5's after seeing a Facebook post advertising said league.
There was no iRating limit to enter, and the races were at 9pm - which, considering the other leagues I had looked at were at American-favourable times (past midnight), this was incredibly welcoming.
Furthermore, the races were on a Tuesday - meaning I could practice for the league on Monday Night, race in the league on Tuesday, practice for F4 on Tuesday night and then race (F4) on Wednesday - what an incredible start to the week!
I also attended my weekly Universal Credit meeting.
Tuesday 13th December, 2022
Tuesday was league-day - and as briefly as possible:
Race 1: Road Atlanta (Short)
Practice (Mon. Night): 11th/11th (0.25 Behind 10th) - 1:06.314
Practice (Race-Day): 15th/23rd (0.23 Behind 14th) - 1:06.464
Quali: 17th/23rd (0.23 Behind 16th) - 1:06.454
Race 1 (17th --> 17th)
Spun out turn one (braked too late, then went on grass) got collected twice (both left and right) returned to pits.
Forgot to uncheck button "service car" Lost time having new tyres and a full tank of fuel fitted. Finished 17th, One lap down (12th and below were lapped).
19th, 22nd and 23rd retired.
Race 2 (17th --> 23rd)
Braked and shifted down to react to a car spinning ahead, joined car spinning ahead in...spinning.
On Lap 5, shifted down twice, blew the engine up. Came into the pits.
In the pit-lane, didn't realise shifting up (to gear 2) disengaged the pit-speed limiter, got caught speeding in the pit-lane. They also serviced my car...probably needed to.
On serving my penalty, they serviced my car...again. Finished 22nd/23rd (23rd didn't start I don't think)
Race 3 (17th --> DNF)
Had a clean start and somehow started Lap 2 on the lead lap and in 19th (/21st)
By the end of Lap 3, that turned into 17th.
By the end of Lap 5, that was 16th. Neato!
Come Lap 9, I was in the Top 15 - with the help of this sweet move:
On Lap 11, the white flag was shown - the final lap of the race, and I was about to finish 15th - what a finish that would be to a tough da-
Never mind. The #96 pulled back on the race track, and doing 94mph in the seconds leading up to this image - there was nothing I could do - but slam into the back of #96.
It would be another last place finish - valuable points in the championship lost - but there was always next week.
Wednesday 14th December, 2022
As midnight struck, it was once again race-day - a new season - and a new year had begun and I was about to try out a new Formula...
Dad Jokes aside, I didn't - and still don't quite know what to call the series I'm racing in.
Formula 4/F4? Formula D/FD? Formula IR-04? Formula iRacing IR04? FRII4?
Whilst it's not an OFFICIALLY-Licence Formula 4 car, it's a car made by iRacing based on the specifications of Formula 4. But whatever it was, it was race-day and after 10 hours of sleep, it was time to go racing - and the series was at Rudskogen.
I had two things on my side:
1) I wasn't working off a blank canvas - I had driven a Formula 3 around Rudskogen to great success (front row to 3rd)
2) to eliminate the debate of good setup vs good driver - I chose to race in the "fixed" series - equal equipment - it's all down to driver skill.
The race was an absolute belter, me only picking up 2nd place on the very last lap.
as a result of this, I gained +90 iRating and sky-rocketed to 1406 iRating - beating my record for the month, season, year - and my all-time record (1339).
I haven't done an official race since - but I'm worried about losing it all.
Thursday 15th December, 2022
On the 15th, I published my last blog in 5 days and had my first manual driving lesson - and it went surprisingly well - I didn't know WHAT to expect - but it's very comparable to riding a bike - setting off and stopping are the most difficult bits, and once you're moving, it's relatively straight-forward - and I can change gear smoothly - it's just junctions and stopping which is the tricky bit. But I took over a year to pass my automatic driving test - so there's no rush - and I'll master it when I master it and each lesson is a learning opportunity.
Friday 16th December, 2022 - Sunday 18th December, 2022
Friday 16th: Avatar II
Saturday 17th: Winter Nurburgring 24 Hours
Sunday 18th: Feeling shite.
Monday 19th: Driving Lesson
Tuesday 20th: Today & League Racing Day
With the exception of watching Avatar II (The Way Of The Water) on Friday - very little happened as the weekend was dominated by the 2022 Winter Nurburgring 24 Hours.
Firstly, Avatar was absolutely INCREDIBLE - an absolute feat of cinematography and a testament to how far technology and animation has come - to think that this was just 114 Years ago - and where we are now absolutely blows my mind.
I guess, my only gripe would be that I wasn't expecting so much...well, guns and explosions in a movie about a peaceful tribe of Jungle and Ocean people - but you gotta do what you gotta do to defend yourself and your people.
The 2022 Winter Nurburgring 24 Hours
I originally wrote an entire separate blog about this - but due to how it went, I will try to summarise it.
After the Suzuka 10 Hours in early November, motorsport (or road-motorsport) very much shuts down for the winter until January, so to fight the boredom, FBP hosts an unofficial (iRating and safety rating unaffected) Nurburgring 24 Hour event during the winter - like Winter Comicon and the real one.
Unlike the majority of hosted events, (deciding entry on first come, first serve), the grid for this event was decided by fastest Top 15 Team Permit Times per class. (60 entries, 4 classes - GT3, GT4, 911 Cup, TCR)
For a race entry, there was a fair few boxes that needed to be checked:
1) Have 3 or more drivers 2) Have 3 or more drivers complete 4 clean laps of the Nurburgring Nordschliefe (the average of these 4 clean laps is called the "Driver Permit Time")
3) Have these laps be less than 10 seconds in range (between the fastest and slowest times)
4) If you have more than 3 drivers, the average of the three fastest drivers Driver Permit Times counts.
5) To get a Driver Permit Time, you participate in the Permit Sessions which happen x3 times a week (facilitating for the different time-zones, morning, evening and midnight)
given the amount of steps, it ensured only the "best of the best" got through - both the fastest/most skilled and the cleanest (all drivers completing 4 laps cleanly but quickly).
Kabort initially had two entries, but since the second entry couldn't find a third driver, they joined up with the Mercedes myself, Lars and Dominik were running.
There was a massive split in Skill: Lars, Aston and Niels were RAPID - whilst me and Dominik were just in for a good time.
If the entry-list remained "Top 15 Per Class Only", we would not have been able to compete - but due to the lack of TCR entries, the organisers extended the GT3 entry-list out slightly - which made me feel a bit guilty, as we had some rapid guys, but I (and probably Dominik too) was just hitching a ride.
During Week 13 (which ended on 13th December - 5 days before the race) the GT3's got a MAJOR update - to both the new damage model and to the physics of how the cars handled and behaved.
In this update, the Mercedes was ultimately destroyed, corners I could safely take flat were no longer flat.
In less than a week, both Dominik and Niels fired out a setup which MASSIVELY improved the Mercedes and ironed out many - but not all of the creases with the Merc - making it a lot more drivable and reducing a LOT of the understeer - it's quite incredible the power of a setup.
Between publishing a blog a day (or attempting to, Driving Lessons, my weekly race day, Week 13, I simply ran out of time (and patience) to properly drive the new setup in anger. But on the day before, I had a small pocket of time - but was nowhere where I needed to be - and nowhere where my team-mates wanted me to be.
3 days before the race, one of our fastest guys (who helped get us into the race) came down with an illness and pulled out of the race - now it was 2 fast guys and 2 mediocre to novice guys.
Race-day
Time doesn't stop for anyone, and before I knew it, It was 10am on Saturday - and time for the briefing.
Briefing over, it was time for qualifying. Aston qualified an impressive 6th/15th (second Mercedes)
By lap 3, we were in the top 5...but the good fortune would end there.
On Lap 4, the driver ahead would brake earlier than Aston was expecting, and we'd bump into the back of them, us gaining 4th, them falling to 10th.
As a result, we got a drive-through penalty - tough, but how else do you penalise a team for ABC? (Advantage By Contact).
Emerging from the pits from the penalty, we were in 12th - but it didn't stay that way for long - lap by lap we were making positions - by the end of Aston's first stint (a lap later) we were back in 10th.
An hour later, as Aston came into the pits to finish his first stint, we were in 7th...but the race would unravel from here - crashes, incidents, spins - we all had our moments, but by midnight, my pace wasn't impressing anyone - with the next car a lap ahead, and the one behind a lap behind, we called it quits, before we all lost sleep over nothing.
By the end of the race 23/58 teams retired, leaving 35 (just over half) still left in the running, the leader lapping everyone but P2 - winning by over 2 and a half minutes.
It didn't help that I was the one that crashed the car (or was the last to crash the car) but these things happen, and at least we weren't in a good position before the crash.
I will say though, that my first stint wasn't half bad with only a 2x in one hour at the Nurburgring Nordschliefe.
Sunday 18th December, 2022
Sunday was a rough day, waking up at about midday to a very long message, having a stinging headache and then finishing the day with a nosebleed, headache and...well other things that shan't be discussed in a public blog - but my body didn't like me for some reason, so I had a bath and attempted to go to bed/sleep - but I was up all night tossing and turning - and my brain just wouldn't shut off for the night.
Monday 19th December, 2022
On Monday, I had a driving lesson during which I learnt about clutch control and did quite a bit on junctions - although messed up quite near the end by going a direction my driving instructor didn't want me to go - but it's all a part of the learning process.
That night, I practiced for the upcoming league race (Mazdas @ Oulton Park and finished the session 14th/19th (better than last!) followed by Long Beach F4 - all I can say is that this week is going to be action packed, for sure!
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