Formula GEARS VI - US Grand Prix East: Watkins Glen

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Formula GEARS returns to the USA this weekend to the historic Watkins Glen International this Sunday, 28th September 2019.

Schedule (all times BST)
18:00 - Practice, 60 minutes
19:00 - Qualifying, 30 minutes under Parc Fermé conditions
19:30 - Wam up, 10 minutes
19:45 - Race, 305 km/57 laps, formation lap followed by standing start

Remember, once you set a timed lap in qualifying, you cannot make any setup changes apart from fuel level. The compound you qualify on will be the compound you start on. We WILL check.

Weather Forecast



IRL

Please post below whether you are planning to race

Signed up
Campbell Wallis
Artur Borowski (50/50)
Will Fry

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Stewarding post to follow

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PS All new (and existing) members are welcome to join Formula GEARS for the last few races if they want. @Westbeef @Shinobi @Isaac Morris

[Westbeef]

PS All new (and existing) members are welcome to join Formula GEARS for the last few races if they want. @Westbeef @Shinobi @Isaac Morris

Unfortunately I am away this weekend, otherwise I would have joined this one . However I will look to join the remaining few.

[artanonim]

Usually been skipping GEARS this season but as I do have some relatively fresh Watkins Glen knowledge from World GT may join this time.

50-50

[TheGwiiBird]

In

[sin_racing]

very very in

[Boovolari]

Any teams got a spare seat for this?

[KJP93]

I'm 100% out

[Shinobi]

PS All new (and existing) members are welcome to join Formula GEARS for the last few races if they want. @Westbeef @Shinobi @Isaac Morris

I'll give it a spin and see how it goes during the week. Feeling a bit more positive atm so it might be worth it for the experience

[craighypheno]

Maybe.

[fjordnet]

Also a maybe depending on how geared my arse is on other stuff.

[Lemm314]

Not prepared at all but screw it, in!

[jims709]

50/50

[ajokay]

In

[MrRandom287]

In

[shaxberd]

#23, #38 (updated from 71) and #71 liveries added to the mod package, as well as enabling pit strategy - Steam should autodownload the update, the server's already running it.

[Shinobi]

Shame I spun out, was feeling good about the track and what I was doing. I need to think very actively about focusing on my race first and letting ppl through second. I was warned someone was gonna lap me, I made the mistake of focusing too much on my mirror and the closing gap and not the track in front of me. I know this was done with the best of intentions and was probably to let me know that in the main straight I should stay clear of the racing line, but I ended loosing focus and spun myself into a wall. This is starting to be a bit of recurring theme for me, but I did let through a bunch of ppl today rather cleanly so I think I'm getting better about that. Shame that the one time I made this mistake today was in the last sector where the walls are really close to the track so I didn't really have a clean way to recover. I also feel I should have stayed put in my car and just warn ppl, as I was parked off the racing line and the car hadn't sustained massive damage, but I tried to rejoin hastily before a couple ppl came around the corner, did it badly and ended up austin powering myself in the middle of the track so I quit to avoid being in the way. So that'd probably be my error numero dos.

I didn't get a ton of practice with the car but I feel my times weren't horrible, despite doing no setup or having someone go over my racing lines and habits in a new type of car. Overall I was genuinely having fun with this track and car, so I'd say it's a positive balance for me. Shame I didn't get more track time and experience around other drivers, that's probably the only negative today. I got a 1:30 lap in qualy which was my best since I started practising, lowering my time about 3 seconds from my previous best, so that was rather good to see. That time was also I think 6 seconds away from pole bearer @Mike Bell, and I was was using Mediums, so not too shabby. I'm happy about the progress I'm making so far.

[camp_bell]

Probably my most embarrassing retirement ever.

Shame the race was a bit of a train wreck before then because the car felt absolutely amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed just hotlapping it, even with some damage.

[shaxberd]

Good to get some racing action in again - qualified far better than expected at P5, then settled in at 6-ish after a rough first lap, thankfully without contacts. Then kissed the wall at the last corner which gave me tyre-eating damage - continued on until I ran out of my mediums, put on hards and repaired 45s of damage, then had a pretty lonely race in P7 trying (and succeeding to make it on that set of tyres).

Thanks for racing, everyone!

[artanonim]

After a series of some strong results regression to the average had to catch me, hadn't it.

What a fucking comedy of errors that race was. Had an excellent getaway from P4 that I had to back out of immediately to not hit the cars in front (thanks, tight grid), and by the the time lap one ended I was down 4 places. Then I fixated myself on avoiding somebody crashing out, forgot about other people around and just smashed into Alex like a bellend - apologies for that.

Then I tried to play a hero and perform a 55-lap stint on hards. Hadn't realised that I pitted too early to get enough fuel in the tank to finish this way before lap 40-ish, after nursing them like little kittens for 30-odd laps. Had to stop for a splash anyway which made the entire strategy completely worthless and naive.

Also spun like three times. Lost a rear wing as well that took a minute to replace.

This drive didn't deserve that point I got.

edit: got confused as to who have I actually taken out there, updated

[ajokay]

Was looking forward to that. Decent position in a tight midfield, but towards the end of lap 2 or 3, I was trying to avoid a spinning @Boovolari and was collected by @artanonim and UDaoF'd.

[jims709]

Qualifying:
6th
Not the best qualifying and I knew I still had a bit of pace in the car but it wasn't terrible. When my game crashed and I reconnected it unbound my throttle so I had to start from the pitlane.

Race:
2nd
Race pace was very good on the track and that combined with managing to avoid all the incidents allowed me to run well on a mostly clear track and make good inroads with a slight offset strategy.

[TheGwiiBird]

Q: 11th I think, could have been better, but for only my second Gears race I’d take it.

R: fortunate to benefit from (and somehow missed) the carnage involving Art, Alex etc early on. Race pace wasn’t terrible and was starting to get a rhythm, then I had to overtake someone - lap 10, lapping Art into the bus stop, passed him before entry, overspeed caught me out and as I got back on the power the rear came around and I hit the barrier like a twat, DNFing in the process.

Consistency has always been my weakness in sim racing, so going from binning it every lap/every other lap like I was in Road America, to actually managing 10-12 laps at a time, can only be happy with that.

[craighypheno]

God this track was sex. Decided last-minute to race, glad I did.

Strategy: One stop - H - H

Quali: Did alright considering I was locked into the hardest compound, but my early speed dropped off through the session. P10.

Race: Few scruffy moments, including three spins at the exit of the bus stop, but otherwise a fairly uneventful race. Ended up in a strategy duel with @Chris Williamson and I tried to press right until the end, but narrowly missed out. Regardless, P Craig, but upside-down.