I started 6th and finished 6th in this race. I spun under braking into a hairpin turn on lap 3, and then got some suspension damage when I hit a car who spun in front of me on lap 4. I kept running, but my lap times were off by 2 seconds a lap. I could have done really well in this race (even after my lap 3 spin) had my car not gotten damaged.
For the first couple of minutes of this race video, I've included the audio from the spotter that I hear while I'm driving (unfortunately as a consequence of this, you can also hear me breathing on my race radio microphone), and also the virtual mirror at the top of the screen that gives you a very good idea of when people are really right up on you or beside you.
00:14 Green flag - I am not a good starter, I don’t react to the green light fast enough
00:24 After one car completely passes me, the 6 car gets alongside and just by, but I’m not giving up the spot to the 6, we’re going to race around for the full lap
00:30 The car behind the 6 makes a run at me, but I’m not going to back off, and that car will never pass me
00:34 I draw alongside the 6, and now I’m on the inside of the turn coming up
00:54 Someone behind us goes spinning off
00:57 I’m on the outside of the 6 as we go through a hairpin together; the 6 should have been able to get ahead of me here, and the fact that I stay even tells me I’m probably better or faster than the 6
01:05 Now I have the inside of the next turn and the 6 ducks in behind me (which is the right move for the 6)
01:21 The 6 goes for the inside of a left turn, and I concede the turn (it’s only lap 1, no need to argue this to the point that we crash)
01:27 I get behind the 6 -- I’m fairly confident of drafting by the 6 on the upcoming long front straight and taking the position back
01:47 I’m catching the 6 too quickly, I’d rather get a run through drafting on the straight -- now I have to decide whether to try to stay behind the 6 to get the drafting run that’s coming up 3 seconds from now, or keep going and try to drag race down the front straight; I opt for the drag race because I’m worried that letting the engine lose revs here might mean I can’t catch up (this was probably the wrong choice, but you don’t have very long to think about it and decide)
02:03 We go into the high-speed (flat-out, you don’t lift off the throttle) Turn 1 side-by-side, I’m on the outside
02:08 But now I’m ahead and I have the inside for Turn 2 -- the 6 should have tried to late-apex the turn and get a run on me by crossing under, but doesn’t -- in fairness, this is a very long turn and that might be unrealistic, not to mention that entering this turn a little too hot or on a bad line is the most common way to spin off this track
02:32 Someone who spun off is coming back onto the track from the left in the TV view
03:00 The lap we’re in right now (lap 2) is my fastest of the race -- on lap 3, I’m going to spin right here, which will catch me completely by surprise, I’ve never had a problem braking for this right-hand hairpin in practices
03:20 Going down the front straight, I’m thinking that the 6 might draft me and go by
03:34 The 6 did not draft by me, but since I’m running Turn 1 on the inside line, the 6 takes a look outside to see if it can go into Turn 2 on the inside
03:38 But I never back off, I’m clearly ahead, and I can take the racing line into Turn 2 (I don’t leave any room)
04:30 I spin out going into the hairpin turn; I’ve never had any hint of spinning under braking here in all of my practices, so I’m completely shocked that this happens
04:32 And the 6 right behind me also spins trying to run through the inside line
04:35 The 6 gets going right away, the car’s position on the track means it can just take off without being any more in the way than it already is, while I have to wait for everyone to go by, for traffic to clear; the 6 will end up finishing the race ahead of me because of this
05:32 You can see tire smoke in the hairpin turn ahead; this will turn out to be the end of the competitive race for me, but at this point I’m not really paying attention to it because people smoke tires braking for the hairpin all the time (it’s true this one is a little different, because the tire smoke is not in the braking zone, it’s right in the turn, which indicates a likely spin out)
05:36 Ugh, now I see the nose of a car sitting on the inside of the turn, but with the nose pointed to the middle of the track; if that car’s moving forward at all, this is it for me, I have no options
05:37 Somehow that car gets airborne, I guess from another car’s tire; I mostly go under it! But I will soon learn (not right away) that I got some kind of suspension damage from this, and I also got a “car contact” incident against my license
06:08 This is where I spun on the previous lap; no problem this time (or for the rest of the race)
06:35 I should have suspected a problem with my car here, since I don’t seem to be able to get the expected speed from drafting the car ahead of me
06:44 I go off-track to the left! This caught me completely by surprise, this turn is not difficult, normally you don’t even have to worry about car control through here, in fact recall that on lap 2 (at 02:03) I go through here on the outside line without lifting
06:46 I get back on the track without too much trouble, but now I know the car is not right; for the rest of the race, I’m careful to hug the inside curb through this fast Turn 1, and I don’t have any further problems
06:47 The car ahead of me goes off the track; it’s pretty common to see people go off to the outside in Turn 2, but usually not this early in the turn -- that car must have been focused on following the car ahead closely and missed braking
07:55 I’ve been right on the tail of the car ahead, but being patient waiting to pass until now, because I’ve been pretty sure the whole time that I can draft by down the front straight, and I do
08:14 Careful to keep the inside line here, now and for the rest of the race
Now I’m in 6th place, which is where I’ll finish. Almost nothing interesting happens for the rest of the race, except I pass a lapped car at 19:39. I’m running laps in the mid-1:31s, and I should be comfortably running in the 1:29s, so I think I’m losing 2 seconds a lap because of damage to the car. Nevertheless I’m not losing ground to the cars ahead of me, so I wish I’d have been in good shape here, I could have done really well in this race.
Using Lap 10 for a tour of the track:
14:09 Cross the start-finish line to begin lap 10
14:17 Turn 1 you take flat-out, no lifting, usually you can run any line you want, but it’s a little like driving an oval, you just try not to have to turn the wheel at all because that will scrub off speed from the friction of the front tires adjusting the direction of their force
14:22 Turn 2 is deceptive, it gets tighter as it progresses, and it is very easy to run off the track to the outside by attempting to late-brake going into the turn; you “trail brake” through the turn, which means you keep braking gently through the turn and gradually let the brake off over the course of a few seconds; it’s important to be patient about getting back in the throttle -- the number one way that I lose time (in general, in all of my driving) is getting in the throttle too soon at the exit of turns, and having to lift a bit as a result -- once you get in the throttle coming off a turn, you don’t want to back off and you want to get full throttle as quickly as possible
14:36 Turn 3, shouldn’t even count as a turn
14:43 Turn 4, a hairpin; very important to be patient about getting back on the throttle to exit the turn, you don’t want to have to back off once you’re on it
14:49 Turn 5, shouldn’t even count as a turn
14:52 Turn 6, a lot like Turn 2, this is a long 180-degree turn that you have to trail brake all the way through, and be careful not to get on the throttle too soon coming off
14:59 Turn 7, shouldn’t even count as a turn
15:04 Turn 8, blah
15:10 Turn 9, this may be the most interesting turn on the track; in the race I would brake here and downshift and then get back on the throttle right away to crest the hill, but in practices I found I could just lift and not brake at all (in the race I’m more conservative); if you don’t get the perfect line (which I often don’t) it can be hard to keep on the throttle and keep the car to the inside of the turn as you crest the hill
15:16 Turn 10, a hairpin, important to stick to the inside curb and get a great run off this turn, because you’re heading for a very long flat-out stretch through turns 11 and 12, down the long front straight, and all the way through turn 1
15:22 Turn 11, you can take this flat-out in this car, but I often lift a bit because you can spin if you’re not careful (or skilled)
15:29 Turn 12, flat out
15:34 The front straight
15:40 End of the lap, a 1:31, which is as fast as I can go in my damaged car
17:24 You can catch glimpses of a car ahead of me now, but that’s a lapped car, it’s not a position I can pick up
19:39 The lapped car slows way down to let me pass; that car did a good job going way to the right, but slowed down so much that I briefly freaked out when I started running up to it so fast