Archive for the ‘Advanced Solstice’ Category

Week 12 – Finishing on a high…

Friday, October 24th, 2008
My Helmet Design Summit Point Raceway

The last race of the Solstice season took us back to Summit Point for the last time, and back to the Jefferson layout. I had been busy most of the week so the only chance I had to race (or at least join a race with more than a couple of racers) was Friday evening.

I joined the 10:30pm race (with 21 other racers) and was gridded on pole. Pole being very important at this circuit as there is really only one serious overtaking place out of the measly seven corners of the layout.

I had an OK start, leading the pack into turn one, but the grid was competitive and we formed a front pack of four cars that were lapping very closely. For whatever reason I simply could not get back to my usual pace, and was generally lapping around four tenths off my anticipated pace. I couldn’t build anything close to a comfortable lead, and the opening laps were intense!

Luckily, the lack of overtaking areas on the circuit meant I only had to defend one corner lap after lap, and this was the form until roughly the halfway point of the race when the second and third place cars had a collision, leaving me to defend the lead with a more comfortable four second gap to the new second place runner.

The race carried on to form, and the remaining battle was between me and my left front tyre, which had taken some punishment and caused me some anguish… luckily it held on!

So the final result was the straight flush – pole converted into a win (sadly no fastest lap, but zero incidents), and a handsome total of 137 points for the week. The result also popped me up a whole two spots in the standings from 9th (where I expected to finish) up to 7th (currently!)

Race Results (iRacing members only!)


iRacing Solstice Week 12 – Summit Point Jefferson from Samiad on Vimeo.

New Solstice Paintscheme Sep 08

59.458 seconds of Summit Point Jefferson

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
My Helmet Design Summit Point Raceway

The Solstice series is concluding at Summit Point Jefferson. I quite like this circuit over a single lap, but racing there is a bit repetitive (the laps turn around too quick!)

This is my qualifying lap for the week, a 59.458 (probably around 5/10ths off the ultimate pace, but good enough for me!)


iRacing Solstice @ Jefferson quali hotlap from Samiad on Vimeo.

New Solstice Paintscheme Sep 08

Week 11 – Close finish at Laguna Seca

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
My Helmet Design Laguna Seca

For the last time this season I returned to Laguna Seca to complete my week 11 race. As previously explained my target was to beat 109 points (my lowest contributing weekly score at present) for the week.

I got into the 22:30 race on Tuesday evening and was gridded second (outside line to turn one). I had a good start and moved over to cover the inside line, but this turned out to be a mistake as the polesitter didn’t have a great getaway and eventually I had to back off the throttle a bit which allowed the third starter to get a better drive around the outside and put me to second.

The close racing at the start damaged my steering geometry ever so slightly, which was hurting my speed on the right handers, but I carried on racing and the top three runners (I was running third) were very closely matched all the way through to lap eight of the allocated eleven.

It was on this lap that I was closer than ever to the second place runner, so much so that I botched my turn in to T3 and put a rear wheel in the dirt, spinning the car…. dejected with the unforced error (and incident shower) I soldiered on, dreaming of missed opportunities and a third place finish.

That was the idea until I came up to begin the final lap….the F3 screen indicated that the second place runner had made a mistake somewhere and his previous lead of ten seconds was coming down significantly! I set about the chase to the end and these are the edited highlights of the race (beginning at lap one).

Race Results (iRacing members only!)


iRacing Advanced Solstice Week 11 Laguna Seca from Samiad on Vimeo.

So an eventful race, second place with 119 points and 6 incident points (little bit peeved at getting 4 incidents for the contact after the line). A result that improves my season score of 999 points to 1009. My lowest contributing week is now 110 points, and it will take a good effort to make an improvement on that in week 12, at Summit Point Jefferson layout….

New Solstice Paintscheme Sep 08