Forzanightly Vol.7

Apr 12, 2017
13 min read

Welcome to the 7th edition of Forzanightly, the home of all of your Revolution Online Racing related news! We have another bumper issue for you guys as we have had a full racing calendar in the past two weeks so here we go...

Let's begin with the final rounds of the Pre '66 Touring Cars. Where we left you last, it was still all to play for at the top with 4 drivers in contention to win. The final two races were at Circuit Spa-De Francorchamps on the full track layout and to mix things up a bit, the last race was held in the dark! Pole position was claimed by thebeardyguy in his Ford Mustang meaning he took a bonus point, putting him one small step ahead of the other 3 drivers who were battling it out to be the first winner of a championship here at ROR.

Race 1 was a somewhat quiet affair as the nature of the track played into the hands of the Mustang and the Cortina and meant that the racing was spaced out. The start of the race was as we predicted, with the Mustang and Cortinas taking an early lead. Lap 2 saw title contender TidalSwifty 23 make a move around the outside of his top rival Tyronee487163, putting him in a better point scoring position and his hopes of becoming champion one step closer. Tyronee487163 in the Team Beige Cortina didn't take this lightly and made a brave move into Eau Rouge, passing TidalSwifty 23 and making the move stick for second place. The end of lap 2 saw FIA LMC Alflo make an early pit stop, making him a one to watch for the remainder of the race as he charged through the pack. The battle between 2nd and 3rd placed TidalSwifty 23 and Tyronee487163 in the Cortinas continued through the lap until Tyronee487163 made a swift decision to dive into the pits for his mandatory stop. Following him into the pits were GenuineGull095 in the Cortina and DFOLEY64 in the '65 Mini Cooper. From leaving the pits, Tyronee487163 put Pimms UKSF under pressure, making the little Mini run wide and the Cortina gain another position. The valiant Mini tried to fight back, but was no match for the Mighty Beige Machine who kept a hold of 6th position. The end of lap 3 saw the two race leaders take their pit stop and this made way for the Mighty Mini's of BakedBean57 and BoostedPluto. On thebeardyguy's exit of the pits, the Mini's were only just in front and were swiftly caught by the rapid Mustang, seeing him first pass BoostedPluto but be held off by the very wide Britax Mini of BakedBean57 until the end of the lap, where he ducked into the pits for his mandatory stop. There were battles here and there for the remainder of the race but thebeardyguy would be the one to make the most of his starting position on the grid and take the win. FIA LMC Alflo would finish in 2nd and TidalSwifty23 took the 3rd step of the podium. A bonus point for fastest lap also went to thebeardyguy as the combination of clear air and the speed of the Mustang were hard to beat. It would have to be a race 2 disaster for Tyronee487163 not to win the title with his points advantage...

Race 2 was interesting. Not only because of the reverse grid but also because you could hardly see the car in front of you due to it being a nighttime race. The start of the race saw disaster strike for 3 of the 4 title contenders as a collision saw them spin on the start finish straight even before the first corner! The worst affected was the championship leader Tyronee487163 and saw him in a none point scoring position coming out of the first corner. Eau Rouge also spelled disaster as DFOLEY64 collected the rear-end of the ROR first-timer renracing940, leading to a spin for both Mini's and a hit in the rear by BoostedPluto who got tangled up in it all. It's safe to say that the mandatory pit stop would help a lot of drivers out in this race as everyone was able to come back from their racing incidents. End of lap 1 saw championship leader Tyronee487163 head for the pits, putting the Welshman on a salvage mission to rescue the championship after a disastrous start. Lap 3 saw Tyronee487163 make the move on BakedBean57, with the Mini not being able to retaliate. Further down the track saw FIA LMC Alflo prey on the Mustang of thebeardyguy as it wobbled its way through the tight section of the course, although the efforts of the Spaniard were undone as the Mustang powered past on the straight in Lap 4. The fight for 2nd position continued until a small mistake by thebeardyguy gave FIA LMC Alflo the break he needed to pull a gap from the Mustang. Although Lap 5 saw the roles reversed, and the Mustang pulling away to hunt down the Cortina of TidalSwifty 23. The final lap saw the nimble Cortina of Tidal Swifty 23 fend off the power of the Mustang to take the win and the bonus point for fastest lap. Yet the racing wasn't finished there. In the closing stages, new guy on the block renracing940 looked not only to take his first point here at ROR but also challenging Gdad Bilko for 9th place. Even with his efforts he couldn't catch the Mini of the plucky Brit, but it did mean there is the potential for a new rivalry between the two in the future. Overall, the man of the moment was Tyronee487163 taking the Pre '66 title and making him a one to watch for future titles.

So, here are the final championship standings for the Pre '66 Touring Car Championship. 1st place was Tyronee487163 with 177 points, 2nd place was TidalSwifty 23 with 173 points and 3rd place was thebteardgyguy with 163 points. The rest of the results can be found on the website.

Next up was the Revolution Touring Car Championship around Road America. The drivers were hyped after the opening rounds of the BTCC and as we know from previous races, the RTCC would be one you didn't want to miss.

Qualifying saw the Audi of thebeardyguy come out on top with a time of 2:18.093, only 0.5 seconds in front of the Mercedes of ZeroRumble58644 who was due to serve a penalty from a previous racing incident so he was hoping his front row starting position would enable him to gain some space from the rest of the pack in order to still score some points.

Race 1 was action packed from the word go as an unusual mistake from the Mercedes A-Class of TidalSwifty 23 saw him left standing on the grid after stalling his car. This created a road block with cars dodging left and right to try and get past the stranded car without incident. Further up the field, pole sitter thebeardyguy was collected by the charging Chevrolet Cruze of BUCKO VERSUS, seeing the Audi make its way onto the grass. This not only allowed BakedBean57 and BoostedPluto to make up more spots into turn 1, but also let ZeroRumble58644 take the lead into the first corner. The drama didn't stop there as BUCKO VERSUS once again collected the rear end of thebeardyguy which in turn saw his Chevrolet be collected by the Audi of Pimms UKSF, sending Pimms UKSF to the back of the grid. During lap one, a battle ensued between Tyronee487163 and TidalSwifty 23, who was still bruised from his loss of the Pre '66 Championship only 2 days prior. Tyronee487163 still pushing hard in the Team Beige Toyota Avensis saw him make a mistake into the final turn, resulting in a slight excursion onto the grass which let TidalSwifty 23 get away. Tyronee487163 took this opportunity to duck into the pits, being the only one out of the 16 car grid to take this strategy. Further down the field, a technical issue for DEADorGONE resulted in a head on collision with a concrete barrier, putting an end to the Americans race. Lap two spelled disaster for BoostedPluto with engine damage meaning his Audi was passed by Ralflet in the BMW and BakedBean57 in the Toyota. These position changes were short lived as an ambitious move from the eBay liveried BMW sent them both off into the grass allowing half of the field to pass them. Lap 3 saw a mistake from Zx WULLY make him lose two positions and nearly a third as the recovering BMW of Ralflet was hot on his tail. At the end of lap 3, the battle between Ralflet and BakedBean57 even made its way into pit lane and a wheel nut mishap from BakedBean57's crew resulted in him losing a position and putting him on the back foot. Lap 3 also saw a retirement from menes reus due to an unknown engine failure. The laps which followed saw battles throughout the pack with positions being gained and lost. Over the course of the race, thebeardyguy managed to pull out a comfortable lead and go home with the win and the bonus point for fastest lap. Even after thebeardyguy's victory, all eyes were still on 4th and 5th placed BakedBean57 and Ralflet. Ultimately, the straight line speed of the BMW wasn't to be sniffed at and Ralflet pipped BakedBean57 to the post by 0.011 of a second. A notable mention to Gdad Bilko and DFOLEY64 as after changing to the Audi's, they gained some epic racing spirit and provided not only themselves with close racing, but also many others on the track.

Race 2's reverse grid started again with disaster. This time Gdad Bilko had drive issues leaving him stranded in the middle of the track. Drivers behind weren't so lucky this time and saw 3 drivers retire before the first turn due to damage. The drama continued as FeltDeano1971 collected the rear end of Zx WULLY, sending the Audi driver into the cat litter and effectively ending his race. A train formed towards the end of Lap 1 with 3rd through to 7th charging around the final corners of the lap. Lap 2 saw the Toyota of BakedBean57 nerfed out wide by 2 Mercedes drivers, yet the Toyota man applied the Colin McRae motto of "if in doubt, flat out" to return to the race track. A battle for 7th and 8th between menes reus and DFOLEY64 heated up and ending with the two making contact in the final stages of the lap. The laps that followed saw the grid relatively spaced out after pit stops were made. The end of Lap 4 saw the two lead Mercedes take to the pits, and unfortunately for FeltDeano1971, the car was retired in pit lane. In the closing laps, not many positions changed although there was a notable close call between Weblomaniac and BakedBean57 as when the Audi entered the pits, the Toyota had to brake to avoid contact. This race also saw DFOLEY64 take his first point in the RTCC aboard his new Audi S3.

After rounds 7&8 of the RTCC the championship leader is thebeardyguy with 196 points followed by TidalSwifty 23 on 118 points and BakedBean57 on 95 points.

Next was the return of the GMC Pick Up Truck Championship and the final outings for the trucks were at Brands Hatch GP. The championship had already been decided as thebeardyguy had managed to pull out an awesome points lead and no one would be able to beat him. This being so, he still went all out in the final rounds taking the bonus point for pole position with a lap time of 1:41.403.

Amazingly, turn 1 was incident free with all drivers making a clean start. By lap 2, the grid had split off into two groups of 5 and it wouldn't be until this lap that there was any action to be seen with DFOLEY64 making a move on firben at Druids and then losing the position at Graham Hill bend. The lead pack of thebeardyguy, BakedBean57, Tyronee487163, TidalSwifty 23 and BoostedPluto made the laps to come an interesting affair as they fought between themselves for position. Even though thebeardyguy had already won the championship, they weren't giving up on scoring points for the other two places on the championship podium. It was a relatively quiet and incident free race with only pit stops really mixing up the grid. Positions would settle themselves after 9 out of the 10 drivers took their mandatory pit stop, with KLW TopGooner being disqualified from the race due to forgetting to pit. thebeardyguy took home the win, followed by the 2nd placed Tyronee487163 and 3rd placed BakedBean57.

Race 2 was a different race entirely. BoostedPluto made the best start on the grid, gaining three grid positions before turn 1. An incident occurred at Graham Hill Bend when an interesting line from firben resulted in collecting TidalSwifty 23 and sending them both off to do a bit of landscaping. Next up in the gravel was BakedBean57 after a late lunge down the inside from KLW TopGooner resulted in a collision and allowing the following trucks to pass the stranded BakedBean57. This then prompted both TidalSwifty 23 and BakedBean57 to take early pit stops and work together for the rest of the race to recover positions with the odd battle between the rivals. firben and KLW TopGooner had a bit of a moment which gave DFOLEY64 and Gdad Bilko to gain momentum and make it 3 wide into Surtees. The Gdad Bilko and DFOLEY64 relationship reached new heights with the other drivers asking them if they were an old married couple. Later in the race TidalSwifty 23 undid some of his work by dropping a wheel in the gravel on the start finish straight allowing Tyronee487163 and BakedBean57 to capitalise on his mistake. The following lap saw BoostedPluto have a massive moment coming out of Paddock Hill Bend and saw him enter the tyre wall backwards and on two wheels, narrowly avoiding damage and only losing positions to TidalSwifty 23 and BakedBean57. The final round concluded with another dominant weekend for thebeardyguy taking the max 53 points and cementing the fact he is a worthy champion.

The final standing are as follows; thebeardyguy on 291 points, followed by BakedBean57 on 154 points and Tyronee487163 finishing with 124 points.

The final races to cover in this volume of Forzanightly are the Scirocco Cup around Circuit Spa-De Francorchamps full. Qualifying bonus point and pole position for lap 1 was claimed by Ralflet and tonight ROR regulars were joined by Forza Royalty FEUERDOG, the creator of the ForzaTune app which we actually use to build a base tune for our cars.

Turn 1 of lap 1 is always interesting at this circuit and tonight didn't disappoint with a couple of drivers being rear-ended. Thankfully no major incidents occurred as it is a seriously long drive back to the pits if you have a broken car! Eau Rouge was equally as interesting as a combination of cold tyres and ballsy driving resulted in bumper to bumper action. Battles were already starting to unravel up and down the grid but nothing major to report as of yet. Lap two started out with a three-wide battle coming out of turn 1 and leading up to Eau Rouge, with Ralflet coming out on top and seeing FEUERDOG and FIA LMC Alflo on the back foot. A mistake from FeltDeano1971 saw him tag the wall and lose positions to his team mate Pimms UKSF and the nicest man on Xbox firben with a teeth-clenching near miss. Pimms UKSF and firben would battle for laps to come, changing positions between themselves. On lap 3, BakedBean57 would make a move around the outside of menes reus, gaining another position. A few corners later, BakedBean57 passed DFOLEY64 in a text book move on the inside, putting him another step closer to taking the title in these penultimate rounds of the Scirocco Cup. Lap 5 saw FIA LMC Alflo get a run on BakedBean57 coming out of Eau Rouge and make up a position. This was followed by BoostedPluto gaining on BakedBean57 after a questionable gear change from the Brit dropped him back into the clutches of the South African. On the lap that followed, a lunge from BoostedPluto down the inside of BakedBean57 lead to a collision, sending both cars off into a spin. BakedBean57 managed to get away in front of the Red Bull Scirocco of BoostedPluto, giving him a 3rd position finish and just pipping BoostedPluto to a podium finish. Ralflet took home the win and bonus point for fastest lap, followed by FIA LMC Alflo taking the 2nd step of the podium.

Race 2 and the reverse grid struck again with a few of the lead cars breaking early, sending the following cars into a frenzy. BakedBean57 was forced into taking evasive action as the RookieRaceline Scirocco of firben attempted to avoid cars by taking a wider line into the first corner, resulting in the ROR liveried car of BakedBean57 tagging the inside wall. On the entrance to Eau Rouge, Weblomaniac was caught up in an incident where in slowing for other cars, menes reus was tagged by FeltDeano1971 who ricocheted into the middle of the track. This resulted in Weblomaniac being fired furiously into the tire wall and into the air, giving his car nearly fatal damage. In other Eau Rouge news, BakedBean57 made the best pass in ROR history, gaining a massive 9 places in his valiant run into the uphill section. This also paved the way for Ralflet to follow, and he went from 11th to 3rd. The inevitable happened when 5 wide in to the chicane ended in disaster for DEADorGONE and FeltDeano1971, collecting the following car of firben who had no where else to go to avoid the incident but into the wall. The next couple of laps were relatively quiet, again with the odd battle here and there but nothing major. Skipping ahead to around lap 5, a small mistake from menes reus resulted in him losing 4 places to the following pack. It just shows how close the racing in these Scirocco's really are. All was not lost though as he took home his first points from this series with a 9th place finish. In the following lap, a battle developed between FeltDeano1971 and BakedBean57. It all appeared to be too much for FeltDeano1971 as he ducked into the pits at the end of the lap, allowing BakedBean57 who had already pitted earlier on in the race to continue on in some clean air. This clean air was short lived as Ralflet made a move in the chicane which stuck until the very end. Across the grid, there were to be no more position changes and this was how the race ended. Ralflet took the win, with BakedBean57 following closely in 2nd. BoostedPluto took the last step of the podium, with BUCKO VERSUS only just missing out but taking a bonus point for fastest lap meaning himself and BoostedPluto would be tied on points going into the final rounds.

So, after the penultimate rounds, the championship standings are as follows; BakedBean57 is in 1st with 197 points meaning no one will now be able to catch him and cementing his first win before the final rounds would even happen. Next up are BUCKO VERSUS and BoostedPluto, both on 128 points meaning that they would have to go all out in the final races next week to see who would come out on top. A solid points scoring weekend from Ralflet puts him in 4th position on 95 points, also meaning that he could overtake 2nd placed BUCKO VERSUS and BoostedPluto in the final rounds. They will definitely be worth a watch so keep an eye out for our Twitch feed on Sunday the 23rd April.

Okay, that wraps up this volume of Forzanightly. We hope you all got your racing news fix. Until next time...

Keep the wheels turning

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