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NASCAR Driver (Pro V)
 
Posts: 7810
Joined: 08 Apr 2002, 9:45 am

Post 15 Oct 2017, 6:40 am

Please post after-action reports here.
Rally Racer (Pro III)
 
Posts: 7
Joined: 02 May 2017, 6:20 pm

Post 15 Oct 2017, 10:46 am

This was a strange track to race on, much different than any I have tried before. The lack of any racing lines and the spacing of the corners made me do a lot more pre-race analysis than normal. The lengthy 3-wide stretches made me think that a race-from-behind strategy might be best, so long as you had a lot of wear to make up ground. However, the 40mph hairpin corner looked like it could be a big bottleneck and cause some cars to lose a turn behind the leaders if boxed out. Also, to try to regain a lost turn would require going 40mph above the posted corner speeds for multiple corners in a row (or go 60 over with a chance roll at least twice).
In the end, I decided to try a race-from-the-front strategy and try to keep at least 1 turn in front of the pack and hope that the cars in back were unable to benefit from too many 180 double slips. I think my car build was successful only because I was able to win pole position. If I had ended up on row 2 or further back, then I would not have been able to clear the hairpin curve in first place and might have been stuck in the pack.
I debated how much to bid for pole, knowing that I had exactly enough wear to finish on turn 45 only if I spent no wear in the pole bid. So, I bid 4.5 using only skill points. I was very lucky that this worked out, since the rest of the pack, I believe, underbid. (All the other races bid 5 or more for pole and I would not have been so lucky in those races.)
So, really, for me it was an all or nothing decision from turn 0. Because of this, the race was not as fun as most others; I prefer where there is a lot of decision making and opportunities for changes in position. I am very happy to have won, but would not want to race this particular track again unless the layout were tweaked a bit.
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Dirt Track Racer (Pro I)
 
Posts: 4
Joined: 16 May 2017, 7:41 pm

Post 16 Oct 2017, 6:11 pm

This race was my first play of CFR and I enjoyed it tremendously. I feel really fortunate to have found Redscape and latch onto a well run race. The pace was fantastic and really kept me involved.

For the race itself, I really tried to squeeze out every ounce of performance that I could find. I also know there were times where I just had to go with the flow. I surprised myself with a few early overtakes but lost those positions just as quickly.

I expected some forced passes to be a more common element of the game. If there were any in our race, I didn't notice them. I hope my experience carries over to the next race and I can capitalize on some learnings. Anticipating drift opportunities more readily would be one area to improve in.

In the end, very enjoyable and looking forward to more!
Truck Series Driver (Pro II)
 
Posts: 1
Joined: 22 Sep 2017, 7:42 pm

Post 18 Oct 2017, 9:09 am

This was also my first race and I'm really happy I got involved with Redscape as well. Major Kudos to Sloterp (Mike) for taking the time to marshal these races and provide great flavor along the way. It's really appreciated the time you take Mike to make this enjoyable for all of us.

I definitely learned a lot through this first race regarding some choices that are available and how better to plan for future turns of the race while anticipating other players moves.. one thing for sure, it's not as easy to predict a move all the time as i though..lol.. i paid the price for that a few times. Good race everyone!
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Rally Racer (Pro III)
 
Posts: 10
Joined: 25 Apr 2017, 6:01 pm

Post 18 Oct 2017, 2:28 pm

This was ALSO my first race. I certainly didn't expect it to go as well as it did for me.

I had been debating making the purchase of CFR for awhile, and I'm glad I got to experience the game here, because I grabbed one of the last remaining retail copies left at any of the LFGS's I know about mid-way through the first lap.

My first dilemna was how to build the car. I guess I was the oddball with a massive 80 MPH acceleration. If I'd known at the time how simply you can hit 80 just with a roll and a skill point or two to make it safe, I might not have chosen it. However, in the end, it did make up for it by allowing me to overtake at the end of the race.

My car was definitely designed as what you would call "race from behind". However, I saw a lot of other cars with the same type of setup and anticipated that bidding would not be so prominent. Throwing in 2.5 let me take 3rd position on the starting grid.

The first two laps would be "learning" laps for me. I was always paranoid about giving up the slip to those behind me, when I shouldn't have been. In one case, I moved to a spot to avoid giving up the slip, but ended up conceding the inside position to do so. That put me behind, inside the congestion and I went from 3rd place to 6th.

Luckily, I made up ground quickly enough, and by the 3rd lap, I was definitely learning more of the in's and out's of the game. One of the key turns was that hairpin - something I had not recognized earlier. Navigating that, or failure to navigate it could make or break your game. I also learned about blocking (sorry Munies!) just before the long straight. I figured Munies would try to follow me through on the slip, so by blocking, I put him in the middle of the corner, and practically a turn behind me due to the relative differences in our accelerations.

I think I've learned enough to be a better driver for the next race, and that is evidenced by how hard a time I am having coming up with a car build for Castellet. Absolutely every characteristic looks essential for the next race!

Looking forward to it over the next few months!

Mr Suitcase.