Front Office Racing: Racing To Glory!

[SirFozzie]

SnDvls, AlanT, and myself have formed a team called "Front Office Racing" in a BatRacer ChampCar League. this is a psuedo ongoing league, "Pacific Challenge Racing", in it's 5th season most of the same teams play from year to year, and the winning team gets to select the setup for ALL the teams. That's right, we're all using the same setup, kinda like a team based version of A1GP. So it's up to us to get the right setup, race well, and hopefully get a bit of luck, and win the whole thing.

Several other FOFCers are in here, so we may not reveal ALL our secrets, but all the FOFCers in the league are welcome to chime in

[vex]

Scribble Racing will dominate

[SirFozzie]

The first race is in Australia at Surfers Paradise Race Track. Not great qualifying.

Alan T qualifies in 9th
SnDvls Qualifies in 15th
I Qualify in 18th

Lap One Is... Well... Insane.

[Lap 1 of 65
Anderson (P1) made an exceptionally bad start.
Campbell (P4) made an exceptionally bad start.
Strawhorne (P2) is concerned with the gearbox. Moments later Strawhorne is out of the race!
The start is especially messy!
TOTAL MAYHEM!
Morphet (P2) out-brakes Anderson into Ampol hairpin!
EASYPASS: Cius (P5) was so much quicker than Campbell it made things easier.
EASYPASS: Campbell (P5) is powerless to stop Dixon from overtaking.
Cowie (P7) and Campbell battle it out into Conrod Corner. Cowie wins the duel and gains the place!
EASYPASS: Tee (P8) takes Campbell.
EASYPASS: There is nothing Campbell (P8) can do to stop Wood from overtaking.
Feeney (P11) sells Campbell a dummy and is able to pass!
EASYPASS: Campbell (P11) submits to Samuels's faster car.
EASYPASS: Campbell (P12) struggled to defend against the faster Harvey.
Breedlove (P14) forces past Campbell!
Alatorre Lopez (P15) sells Campbell a dummy and is able to pass!
Sherwood (P18) overtakes Yellope!
Cius (P4) forces past Garner!
Garner has collided with Dixon whilst trying to defend P4! Dixon appears to have a problem and will pit next lap to fix it. Garner appears to have a problem and will pit next lap to fix it.
Tee (P7) forces past Cowie!
Samuels (P11) sells Feeney a dummy and is able to pass!
There is a collision as Harvey attempts to pass Feeney for P11! Harvey has lost time and possibly track position. Feeney appears to have a problem and will pit next lap to fix it.
The safety car is deployed.
Battles
Schindler (P16) considers passing Campbell.
Brown (P20) harasses Gougeon.
Anderson (P2) blocks Garner.
Anderson (P2) fends off an opportunistic move from Cius.
Cowie (P7) and Wood are fighting for position.
Filarski (P9) considers passing Wood.
Filarski (P9) and Feeney are fighting to be first into the first chicane.
Garner (P5) fends off an opportunistic move from Tee.
Alatorre Lopez (P13) harasses Breedlove.
Campbell (P14) considers passing Alatorre Lopez.
Schindler (P15) harasses Campbell.
Schindler (P16) and Yellope are fighting for position.
Sherwood (P15) considers passing Campbell.

So that's one car (2nd place qualifier) OUT before the race really begins, 3 people who will be pitting on Lap 1, and yeah.. total mayhem.

Dixon's steering had a problem, so not only is he forced to pit early, but he's going to be lapping slower. Yeah.. he's not having a fun race.

[SirFozzie]

There's two more collisions in the next three laps.. apparently the folks of PRC5 are conducting a demo derby. No further folks out though.

[SirFozzie]

LAP 11:

Tee moves up to 2nd (and has the fastest lap so far)
SnDvls (Breedlove) up to 9th (six spots)
and I'm in 15th.

[SirFozzie]

Lap 13: Alan tries to take the lead, and gets the door shut on him..

Morphet has collided with Tee whilst trying to defend P1! Tee has lost time and possibly track position. Morphet seems fine on the circuit.

Alan falls back to seventh

[SirFozzie]

Lap 19:

Breedlove, who has used the pitstops and a couple moves to move up the 2nd, tries to take the lead..

Breedlove (P2) out-brakes Cowie into Higman Chicane!

And Succeeds!

[SirFozzie]

Very next lap:

Cowie (P2) is concerned with the oil pressure. Moments later Cowie appears to have a problem and will pit next lap to fix it.
Cowie (P2) makes a driver error at Conrod Corner. Cowie is out of the race!

Must have leaked some oil.. the safety car comes out and myself and Breed love will both pit under caution

[SirFozzie]

12 of the 19 cars left in the race pit under yellow.. here's what the FOR Standings look like as we prepare for the green.

AlanT 3rd
SnDvls 4th
Me 16th :P

[SirFozzie]

Lap 26:

Good News..

Tee (P3) sells Morphet a dummy and is able to pass! AlanT moves up to 2nd

and Bad News

Yellope (P16) makes a driver error at View Avenue. Yellope appears to be lapping slower.

At this point, it'll take a major miracle for me to earn the team any points.

[SirFozzie]

Lap 31:

AlanT pits under green flag conditions and drops to 16th.

[SirFozzie]

Lap 36:

Breedlove takes the lead temporarily when the leaders pit.

Lap 42:

Breedlove takes his final pitstop and drops back to 8th.. but I think most of the cars in front of him have one more stop to make.

Lap 43:

3 cars in front of Breedlove pit, and late in the lap, a driver error means the safety car is out again... talk about bad timing.

[SirFozzie]

Lap 44:

11 of the top 12 cars pit under yellow. This give Breedlove, who was the only one to have pitted earlier, the lead, but it means that they'll be right on Breedlove's tail when the green flag drops.

[SirFozzie]

Lap 47:

We go green, and immediately there's a collision as Dixon (who's on his 2nd or third collision this race!) knocks out Wood. Note to self: Stay away from Dixon, he drives like a muppet. (and I should know!)

[SirFozzie]

Lap 49:

Tee moves up to 8th with a slingshot pass.

Lap 51:

Tee moves up again, following Alatorre Lopez in passing the FrogMan, Steve Gougeon. He's now in 7th.

Lap 57:

Gougeon is feeling Froggy after being run into by Samuels. Both are fine, although Samuels is lapping slower, and Gougeon was knocked back five positions by the incident.

Breedlove (SnDvls) is 4.56 seconds up on 2nd place.. looking good..

[SirFozzie]

Lap 60:
Dixon (P11) makes a driver error at the final hairpin. Dixon is out of the race!

And all the insurance companies (and other drivers) breathe a sigh of relief.

[SirFozzie]

Lap 61:
Tee passes Alatorre Lopez, who may have damaged something last lap, to move up the sixth. The lead for Breedlove is six seconds.. the champagne is starting to chill...

[SirFozzie]

Lap 63:
Tee (P6) makes a driver error at View Avenue. Tee has lost time and possibly track position.

Argh! Would've been nice to have two cars in the points, he's now in 11th.

[SirFozzie]

Lap 67:

Samuels crashes the final lap, but it's no matter, as SnDvls takes first place by 8.2 seconds!

Alan Tee finishes 10th, and I finish 12th.

Only 13 of 22 cars finish the race.


Alan gets 3 championship points for 10th, I get 1 point for 12th, and SnDvls leads everyone with 21 points!

[SirFozzie]

We're the only team to have all three cars in the points, and lead the team championship race.. onwards we go..

[FrogMan]

that friggin moron Samuels was running kamikaze. First ran into me then killed his car a bit later on... It was a crazy race...

FM

[Alan T]

With the bad qualifying position (which I blame entirely on how the series started, but won't get into that here), I decided this race would be a good one to try out a more agressive strategy. I decided being in the middle of the pack, I had nothing to lose by being more gutsy.

I pushed my poor car alot, and drove a lighter car than most of the others on the track. I was able to catch up and pass almost everyone on the track during the course of the race. Unfortunatly my recklessness got the better of me and I made two distinct mistakes that hurt me. In the end, I ended up a little worse off than I would have just plaing a normal race. So we'll table the agressive setup next time.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Alan T

With the bad qualifying position (which I blame entirely on how the series started, but won't get into that here), I decided this race would be a good one to try out a more agressive strategy. I decided being in the middle of the pack, I had nothing to lose by being more gutsy.

The way private series can be started and the qualifying for the first race happens without any notice WHATSOEVER really sucks. One minute the series is marked as WAITING and the next boom, qualifying has happened. Same thing happened in the V8 series I'm racing with Emiliano. Luckily we had both ran our practice laps and our setup was not all bad, but my quali strategy was not set and I ended up burning one set of slick tire that I might need for the long Adelaide race. Oh well...

FM

[SnDvls]

Way to go team....This one is all on Alan & SirFozzie. They got the ultimate set up before I ran my warmup laps and that allowed me to have such a good race.

This was my first win or place ever so I'm a little stoked...heck a lot stoked.

[SirFozzie]

We're all ready for this qualifying, all of us have a 100% locked down setup.. so it should be interesting. We're on an oval course, so 20 second laps are normal here.

[SirFozzie]

Qualification has finished.. FOR Results:

Alan Tee will start the race in 3rd .017 seconds beind pole position
I will start fifth
Travis Breedlove will start in 12th.

[FrogMan]

apparently, "I made a mistake." thus I will start from the 17th spot, bleh...

FM

[SnDvls]

Hopefully I can battle in this one to a finish in the points and not be stuck in the back of the pack as I am now.

[SirFozzie]

Don't over aggresive it, SnDvls.. remember, the top 12 all get points.. so any spots you move up are gravy.

[SnDvls]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Don't over aggresive it, SnDvls.. remember, the top 12 all get points.. so any spots you move up are gravy.

Oh trust me I'm not very agressive at all in these. I noticed from the begining that if you can finish you are probally helping your team just by picking up some points even if it's only 1 it's better than zero. I just don't want to be viewed as the "weak noob link" in this so I'm trying to pick up stuff as we go, hopefully my 1st place finish gives me a little slack.

[SirFozzie]

Well, Race two was a gallon of suck, the only bright spot is.. hmm.. gotta come up with a brightspot.. that muppet Dixon crashing out in Lap 10, I guess.

[FrogMan]

Meanwhile, Team Neglect Racing had a good showing, putting three cars in the points and moving up to 2nd in the teams points standings...

FM

[vex]

I finished the race. I'm happy.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

So that's one car (2nd place qualifier) OUT before the race really begins, 3 people who will be pitting on Lap 1, and yeah.. total mayhem.

That's nothing. A serious total mayhem will take out on the order of five competitors in the opening series of crashes.

[vex]

Very nice

17 2	Travis Breedlove Front Office Racing		Lola Honda Goodyear	+2.050 1:04.643
	18 2	Alan Tee Front Office Racing		Lola Honda Goodyear	+2.696 1:05.289
	19 2	David Yellope Front Office Racing		Lola Honda Goodyear	+2.930 1:05.523