FTT0107

[Mark L. Rivers]

But... as you know... I didn't want to focus on your mistakes, only highlighting that you could easily fight for the win (and close the fight for the title...) without that unlucky section... 

[Duplode]

Worry not, Mark: there was no hint of irony in my last comment, really not So, let's see what happened back in September...

And I'm also waiting to see your replay to analyze our races, section by section. 

Well, we're two then! One interesting point was that, regardless of who would win, I didn't expect such a small gap, for there are quite a few places where you could win or lose nearly a second by slight details. That probably means there were a lot of overtakings in our race... I only wonder who'll publish the analysis first 

Why do you often write the same thoughts I did?    Effectively I think that there were a lot of surpasses between us.

It turned out the two of us were... completely wrong! Dividing our laps into five sectors, so as to have the directly linked tricks combined, we see that I had a slight advantage at the first intermediate. Then came the first great divide on the track, the wide 90 deg. blind turn... Mark chose a relatively conservative line, cutting hard through the inside of the corner combo and landing just on the grass to the right of the road on the other side of the hill. I performed the blind jump by a wider trajectory, trying to make the most of the "fake grass" on the hill slopes and then land on the road ahead with a controlled slide. Doing so placed me about 50mph faster going into the cork, an advantage which converted to -1.15s on the whole second sector, and -1.35 overall. Mark would then take off four tenths of that gap gradually through the third sector, thanks mainly to an impeccable and very direct cut through the ramp/hill/chicane/cork combo, which placed him about 5mph (really, 5mph!!) faster than me on the exit of said cork.

Our entrances to the fourth section were somewhat different: both of us had enough speed to land directly atop the hill from the loopcut; however while Mark hit powergear as he landed from the loopcut, I had already hit the loop on PG thanks to a magic carpet... that might have had some influence on our lines through the following combo: while Mark braked very hard to second gear and inserted the car normally into the tunnel, I opted to feather the throttle on landing in order to leave PG and have slightly more control and then went for a more aggressive line towards the roof of the tunnel, as if trying to recover the lost tenths. In the end, both choices were nearly equivalent, Mark's being 0.05s faster in the section.

And then, the final sector... from the moment I finished the track design to my very last shot, I never was sure about what would be the best choice there. Ultimately, making use of the inclined road pieces to land directly on the fast chicane leading to the final straight was the fastest route but, as Mark put it before, it was a lottery. The safer route of following the track and then performing a hard turn in 3rd gear just before the roundabout overpass required clinical precision as well, but at least was more reproducible. Mark went for the latter and did it perfectly; I decided for the former and messed it up... and so I lost more than 1s in the final thirteen seconds, and the race as well. Slight details, slight details... It should be mentioned as well that Krys and AbuRaf were having an exceedingly close battle until midway through the fourth sector - Krys had his race compromised from them on by missing the raceline in a few critical points towards the finish line.

Code Select Expand


Mark Duplode AbuRaf Krys
Sect. Acc Gap Sect. Acc. Gap Sect. Acc. Gap Sect. Acc. Gap
Start 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Int. 1 21,65 21,65 0,2 21,45 21,45 0 22,1 22,1 0,65 22,1 22,1 0,65
Int. 2 19,25 40,9 1,35 18,1 39,55 0 24,95 47,05 7,5 23,4 45,5 5,95
Int. 3 20,95 61,85 0,95 21,35 60,9 0 24,1 71,15 10,25 25,85 71,35 10,45
Int. 4 13,55 75,4 0,9 13,6 74,5 0 17,7 88,85 14,35 23 94,35 19,85
Finish 18,2 93,6 0 19,25 93,75 0,15 21,65 110,5 16,9 29,05 123,4 29,8



[Mark L. Rivers]

I had thought that you sure had made a better line approaching the first hill. But I never thought that, different from we said, you kept that vantage until the last fast chicane...    And you, due to a shorter jump on the last bridge (having a lower speed approaching it) had a further rebound before the downhill, almost succeeding to rescue your gap: if the Finish was 5 seconds later, maybe you would have won...  It has been really a tight battle with line very different fron the start to the end: great race for both! 

[Krys TOFF]

Interesting to see Duplode and Mark duel, good 1st half for Duplode and good 2nd one for Mark. And a sharp finish, nice.

[Mark L. Rivers]

Interesting to see Duplode and Mark duel, good 1st half for Duplode and good 2nd one for Mark. And a sharp finish, nice.

This is one of the marvelous things in NORH races: dont' worry if you first 20 seconds of races are not so perfect, still push, risking a bit more you had thought, and maybe you will get a winning time... 
This is what can't see in RH races...