ARCA Mountain 100

Well, after 6 years of trying here at Race2Play, I finally scored a track record! For the record, that wasn't a lap in qual trim, either. I nabbed it right in the last 3rd of the event, with new tires and low fuel. And on one of the most difficult tracks in the ARCA sim. I had a shitty race, but this track record more than makes up for it!

Grats Andy. Well earned victory over a stout charge by Luis.

Great track to highlight the tire model in this awesome sim.

Hang in there Mario. It wasn't you, these cars take a bit more effort to keep them going straight compared to TPSCC and VHR. And one thing I have learned after many seasons driving these things is that you can't force these cars to do ANYTHING. There's no quick and easy way to get it other than practice.

I did a great race! my mistake was stay so long on the track, I lost the position to Andy after my pit and I never was able to take his place back... this track is very difficult to overtake and very easy to you make a mistake.

but it was fun! running very close all day!

congrats Andy!!

I was the lap record holder at this track from Qualifying the last time we raced here. But wasn't expecting the same this time. Pre race practice saw guys running very quick laps, and I was concetrating on getting a race set up to go long. And to that end I made changes which enhanced acceleration out of corners whilst not overheating the tyres.

But come Qualifying, it was indeed Pole position - pushed very hard by Luis Almeida who went out late in the session. A tenth off last years Pole, but Bob would surpass that record anyway come a race late stint run on fresh rubber!

So, knowing I had Pole was the first part of the plan in place. The next was to keep a steady rhythm of low 17 second laps - didn't want to go quicker as, for me, that was a surefire way of the Hoosier's going away in terms of performance. But also I didn't want to brake hard - that in turn heats up the front tyres and creates more wear. so I was quite gentle on the brakes, almost rolling it into the corners - but very tight to ensure no inside gap would provide an opportunity for a pass.

I knew this would likely stack the guys up behind me in the early stages of a stint, but had faith in them being able to drive to the car ahead.

Little did I count on Luis Almeida being on my tail for a lot of the time, at different points of the race!!! That made it hard, sweaty stuff from my side, but also immense fun coping with the pressure too:).

100 miles equated to 225 laps, and pre race calculations showed no need to fuel - or maybe just a splash if it went all green.

3 cautions in the race today, on a very tough 0.4 mile short track. Mario Slezacek had two self spins around laps 24 and 50 (meaning he had to park it - but good to see him back). Of note was the pitstop under the first caution where me and Luis were very close exiting pitlane, burning our tyres up to fight for the lead advantager at the restart - I nearly overcooked it and oversteered to the left - just correcting it in time before hitting the inside wall - Luis nearly collecting the outside wall!!

I kept the lead far easier at the 2nd caution stop.

Last caution came out on lap 63 when Luis got into my rear ever so slightly under braking and as I seemed to have the slowest spin ever, I went almost all the way around one turn section creating a perfect tyre mark - finally spinning facing the opposite way on turn exit. No damage, and everyone avoided me. Doing a three point turn to rejoin, everyone pitted under caution again, and the race restarted on lap 69.

As it turned out we therefore had 156 laps of green flag running ahead of us. I restarted in 5th, and the top 4 just left me. It's really difficult to put your head into gear and say to yourself, "you must keep a rhythm, tyre conservation, low 17's" when the gaps are opening up. I noticed Tom Malanga in 6th was also slowly catching me (he'd pitted late and was around 4 seconds back from me last time I remember checking).

But as the laps went by, there reached the point where the guys ahead who had been doing 16's started to have tyre issues. As the gap from me in 5th to Bob Fay/Luis Almeida reached a peak of around 8 seconds (very nearly half a lap), that gap started to remain the same and then come back to me.

Lap 95 (26 laps on my new 'scuff' tyres) I took P4 from Rich Baker.

Lap 105 (36 laps since last pitstop) I took P3 from Aaron Jackson.

Lap 126 (57 laps since pitstop) I took P2 from Bob Fay.

Luis was in the lead still by around 5 to 6 seconds at this stage, but slowly this gap deteriorated. Other guys pitted, but me and Luis stayed out and the gap came down to 2 seconds.

I felt I could go further with ease, in fact probably until the end (confirmed when I did pit that the right rear was the worst for tyre wear, still yellow and over half it's wear left), but as we were about to reach the 100 laps on the same tyres, I decided now was the time to pit and try and jump Luis on fresher rubber.

Lap 165 (96 laps since last stop) I pit without announcing my intention (no traffic around me) - giving me at least 1 lap for Luis to go on old tyres.

Exiting pitlane, I see Luis has pitted too - lap 167. So I have 2 laps to push, not easy on a set of cool 'scuffs'. I was slightly slower (c. 0.7 seconds) on pit entry than Luis, but pitstop and outlap I was 2 seconds quicker. Plus the time I gained on the laps where he was on old tyres, as I came around the turn where pit exit is, my momentum takes me past him as he rejoins right behind me.

This was key for any chance of victory. 58 laps to go, if Luis had come out in front I really do think he would have just driven away from me. I could have pushed more but he was too quick on th einitial period of a stint from what I'd seen earlier.

And so, from lap 169 to lap 212 (43 laps) he was on my tail all the time - if I made one error he was going to be there to take advantage of it. I kept my steady pace, low 17's, good acceleration out of turns (my set up tweaks worked really nicely for this), hugging that turn entry line.

We had one slight contact again, but this time I managed to save it with a bit of lock, but this was tough racing going on out there. Passing those on older tyres wasn't a problem, but as we got further into the stint, some guys pitted again and when they caught us I knew this could be Luis' opportunity.

And so it proved on lap 203. 22 to go, Bob Fay had fresh rubber on and was flying. He passed Luis, but his pass on me took a straight and two turns and Luis jumped at the chance - his nose got inside my rear wheel - very close, but my acceleration was the key to ensure I kept ahead into the next turn. Close call, and still the pressure was applied!

Then we reached lap 212 - 13 to go. I lapped Tom Malanga and as Luis went by him a slight gap opened up. My drop off in times in this last stint was minimal, and over those last 13 laps slowly but surely the gap opened up - to 1 second, then to 2. The heavy use of brakes and power on to try and pass/hassle me lap after lap must have taken it's toll, and I assume his tyres must have lost their grip.

At the finish line I was 3 seconds ahead, a big relief to race to the chequered flag without a car on my tail!!!

Great race again guys on a VERY difficult track. My 'scuffs' worked a treat all night (having replaced my 'stickers' at the first stop and not going back to them again). Never got any chance to check the scenery out with all the action, tactics, and tyre management to look after.

Looking forward to Talladega next weekend, for a completely different type of racing. Hope we can get more ot join us.

It was for the first time I had two selfspins in single race. I didn't learn from the first one unfortunatelly and made another stupid mistake.

I noticed this race in the morning only. I made some practice with default setup and it looked fine.
I had good pace but as Bob says - more practice needed.
Grats Bob on track record and Andy on win.
Cya

Back in action for some short track racing. I wasn't sure what to expect. After seeing last races lap times. Of course I was informed there where night time laps.

I really just wanted to finish this race with a healthy car. Start of the race when smooth with a few nice cautions to mess things up with. I avoided both Mario's spin and Andy's. For a moment there I thought I was going to get caught up in it but I made it thru safely.

I mostly worked on pacing myself and try to save the tires which was very hard to do. I do know that scuffs were the way to go here. They handled so much better at the end of a run compared to Slicks which overheated so easily.

I hardly payed attention to what position I was in because I didn't want to take my eyes away and hit something, which is very easy to do in this sim, and especially at the track like this.

Towards the end of the race, I found my self just ahead of bob, with the laps coming to an end, the car just got extremely loose under braking. Entirely because I should have kept the scuffs on but I figured with only a handful of laps to go I could push harder on slickers. It ended up being the other way around.

I found that out getting completely loose and backing it into the wall on the final corner and final lap of the race.
I definitely learned some new things about short track racing and will hopefully pay off at the next short track event.

Everyone was awesome in the race. No issues what so ever. What a really good bunch of drivers to run with. I which the field was double the size though. I think some people just don't want to get there hands dirty with this sim and I'll admit it.

I was frustrated before the start of this race, but after seeing how this race could have easily been won by anyone of us seeing after 225 laps we all where within 2 laps of each other on a 17 second a lap track? It all came down to who stayed on there game and Andy did it again, even with his spin.

And how about Tom with his 3rd place after getting a black flag and who wasnt even going to race to begin with? Who'd you pay off anyway? :D

I did have a brain far moment though. Coming into the pit I hit Luis's car coming to a stop in my pit stall. I didn't get any damage but If I did hurt your car any Luis I'm sorry.

Made a pad change just before the race after qualifying and I should have practiced coming into the pits after during warm up and I didn't. Old GTR 2 habit I need to brake.

2 more things that hit me as I read other peoples' postrace report. For one, I never even thought to try scuffs. And I'm the one who will try all different shit when I pit. I just stayed with the slicks because that's what I practiced with. For me, slicks were fine, until I wanted to rip off a few sub 17 second laps in a row .Doing that after my last stop saw my tires go off in about 8 laps. It got me a track record, but there were still 20 laps to go in the race!

The other thing that hit me was Aaron mentioning brake pad compound. I knew from the last race here that the brakes heat up to beyond acceptable working condition just as much as the tires did. I had the hardest compound available, the largest brake rotors available, and the brake ducts to max to try and keep the brakes in the car. It is so totally amazing to me that something like brake pad compound can actually even be part of the setup of a sim-car, but also how pronounced something as small as pad compound affects the entire setup of the car in this sim. You just gotta love that shit!

Brakes were definitely important here. Indeed, it's one of the many tweaks I did on last years race set up - going harder from 1/2 to 2/3 - but also coasting in to turns with only slight brake pressure for the majority of the time - remember, braking hard = more heat in front tyres = more wear. Sure, you go slower not using them as hard....INITIALLY...but then you end up faster in the end on the long runs.

I noticed in replay whilst looking for screenshots (likes please, spent hours on 'em!!!) that hardly ever did my rear brake discs glow orange, whereas a lot (if not all) of the other drivers had them lit up all round the car like a Christmas tree:).

There are so many parameters to think of both before and during the race, to enable you to give a top end performance. I've said this before, but it literally took me 3 years to get a grasp of this aspect in this sim (and now I've won 4 races in the last 11 events). You might have the greatest set up in the world, but you've also got to think about how you end up driving it.

This is what makes it SO enjoyable.