Steam Community :: Group :: The Official Team Smile Group

ABOUT The Official Team Smile Group

Welcome to the official group for Team Smile, racing in the conline.cc WTCC 2011 championship. It consists of Eric Stranne (drives Team Smile Alfa Romeo 156 2007) and Michael "Mike" Bell (drives Team Smile SEAT Leon 2007).

VIEW ALL

POPULAR DISCUSSIONS

VIEW ALL (3)

RECENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Macau Race 1&2 Race Report

25 July, 2011 - Eric Stranne | 0 Comments

Qualifying: I got a time of 2.29.7 which I was happy with, giving me a 9th position on the grid. Could've gotten a few more tenths with some slipstreaming down the main straights, but was pleased.

Race 1: Even though I was 10th when the green light went (due to a misunderstading), I got a good start and was past both HuggormSWE and Porkhammer, and managed to get up to Jamie and mmc1, but backed off because i didn't want to cause a demolition derby. Because I lifted off, and Dariusz was really close, he did not have time to slow down and hit me, making me drift through the fast righthander. I accedentally hit Dariusz in the braking zone for turn 1 (sorry again), and was hit from behind my HuggormSWE who didn't have time to slow down. I was punted into the red and white stiped thing on the outside, and Jonas, Sebi2a, Alex and Huggorm got past me bringing me down to 14th behind Jonas, until the pileup at the hairpin at the end of the track, allowing me to get past Jonas and ended up right up Seb's exhaust pipes. I tried slipstreaming around, but was blocked a few times. Meh, whatever. I got past the next lap, by slipstreaming around him. Thanks for letting me go there Seb
After a mistake by Alex in the final corner, I was going to try and trick him to the outside, then throw myself to the inside in the last second. I was a bit too late, and hit him, hurting my mometum, and allowing Seb to catch up. I figured it was no idea to fight back, so I let him overtake me into turn 3.
Alex was doing what he could to keep Seb behind him, hurting both of their momentum, so I had no trouble blasting past both between turns 1 and 2. I was now 10th. But Seb was right under my wing, but after some "mild" body contact between Seb and Alex, I managed to pull away for a bit.
After Dariusz missed braking into the hairpin, I just snuck past, but he blocked Seb and Alex from getting past, giving me some breathing space in 9th.
When Huggorm spun in turn 3, I rammed Porkhammer and messed up my suspension. but because I was in 8th, I would'nt give up, especially because Porkhammer had his hands full with oversteer. We quickly caught a very slow Zeynel. I tried some bumpdrafting on Porkhammer to catch back up with Zeynel during the fast part, because his car was very slow going straight, but mine wasn't. But Zeynel lagged out going into the final corner. From there, I didn't want to overtake Porkhammer, to risk spinning him out and costing me places. Finished 7th, which i was pleased with.

Race 2: Standing starts, me and fwd never quite mix well, and because I was surrounded my BMW's, I was down to 4th going into turn 1, and was passed cleanly by beany on the outside (!) in turn 1. Was now 5th. When Lasse (I think) left the server, my PC froze for a second, costing me a second and allowing Felix to get past at the last lefthander of the track, with a pink Honda with Rene driving right behind me.
I was able to keep up with JP Czarny, but that meant that Rene could close the gap behind me. JP messed up turn 5 (the lefthander), and I could slip past on the inside, with Rene following right behind me. We caught Porkhammer after a while, forming a little train. I had the straightline speed that the other two didn't have, but they were better under braking. Rene caught us both in turn 3, and tried to outbrake us both, but braked too late and went straight. Once again, it was just me and Porkhammer, with him being in front, but he also missed going into turn 5 (think he doubleshifted), and I snuck past on the inside like I did with JP. So half my race was my myself, picking up 5th, but Rene had narrowed down a 8 second disadvantage to a 1 second disadvantage, prooving his speed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Was overall happy with the way the races turned out. I was expecting a demolition derby, which I couldn't see.

Brands Hacth Race 1&2 Race report

25 July, 2011 - Eric Stranne | 0 Comments

Qualifying: Got a disappointing 11th on the grid (10th after Zeynel left) with a high 1:35. The most annoying thing is that in warmup, I did ONE lap where I was 4 tenths faster than my qualifying lap. That pissed me off

Race 1: Got a good start, overtaking both mmc1 and Jonas on the outside, although Jonas got me back before entering Druids. Ninth entering Graham Hill Bend after a questionable overtake at Druids, with Ethan right behind me. I could see that either Jonas was stressed or his car understeered in some corners, because sometimes he was out in the dirt with a wheel or so, so I decided just to wait for a mistake on his part to get into 8th and pole for race 2. If he didn't make a mistake, I was pretty certain that someone else would spin. I also took a crosscountry route after Dingle Dell corner, but I did not lose any positions.
Following contact on lap 6 (I think) between Sebi2a and Geoffrey at Hawthorns Bend, I was able to sneak by both of them, giving me 7th. But, typical me, I outbraked myself at Stirlings Bend (due to a contact glitch in the pedals or something) and went into the sand, allowing Sebi2a, Geoffrey and Ethan to slip past. I was then back down to 10th.
Once again, at Druids, there was contact between Ethan and Geoffrey. I overtook Ethan in the braking zone into Graham Hill Bend, but I had higher corner speed than Geoffrey, so I hit him. Sorry for that, allowing Ehtan and mmc1 to go around both of us. I think Geoffreys rear bumper had quite a lot of orange paint on it after, because I guess I had a better handling car, so I hit him a few times (sorry for that too). When mmc1 spun after Druids, I was up to 9th, where Iw as hoping that Ethan and Geoffrey would run each other off the road, but this was not to happen. After accidentally shifting into 3rd instead of 5th on the Cooper Straight, I did everything I could to overtake Ethan for 8th, but you had a very wide car, and it wasn't easy, but still moderatly fair. I finished 9th, just on Ethans rear bumper, 0.076 seconds after, with a best laptime of 1:35.000.

Race 2. Standing start. Fwd. Not bound to go very well for me. Porkhammer (thanks to RWD) was able to speed past at start, but I was still able to get past Rene into Paddock Hill Bend. Following contact between Sebi2a, Ethan and Geoffrey at Druids, I was able to get into 6th by the Cooper Straight, which I was pleased with, following newcomer Vasily, who did a great job on his first race weekend.
After a mistake by Jonas at Stirlings Bend, I was almost able to get past him, but he put a massive block on both me and Vasily at Clearways. I still got past Vasily, hoping up into 5th, but after a mistake on my part at Paddock Hill Bend on lap 2, where I went wide into the gravel, Vasily got past me again, and after that he just pulled away. Once again, Porkhammer was behind me, but I was surprised that I was pulling away from him
I could see the pack consisting of Dariusz, Jonas, Sebi2a and Vasily (3 BMW's and one SEAT) and I decided just to keep going on a good pace and only take a chance if there was a spin up ahead, which sortof came on lap 8 after Dingle Dell, where Jonas half spun into the inside wall, but he gathered it up nicely, despite heavy contact, and as a result, started dropping off the pace.
When I caught him a lap later, I got more speed coming off Clark Curve, and managed to get up beside him going into Paddock. But I didn't want to make contact, so I started braking earlier than usual, but Jonas still turned down on me (that's my side of the story) and went very wide at Paddock into the gravel. This got me up to 5th, which I was very happy with.
When Dariusz spun after Dingle Dell, I just managed to zoom past both him and Vasily, into 3rd. I've had these close calls too much now, and that really got me worried that one time, I'm not going to be quite as fortunate. I finished 3rd, with a best lap time of 1:35.239.