NURBURGRING 24H 2024 Summary
Team Name: 4XRacing Orange
Team Number: #405
Team Members:
Charles A.
Jason I.
Mikey A.
Donald P.
Qualifying Full Summary
Qualifying was not going to be as important as the race since this was 24 hours so anything could happen. But unfortunately it gave us a bad start. Charles A., the fastest man on the team by time, was not available when qualifying started, as Mikey and Jason both slightly panicked, Jason decides to take the wheel to do qualifying, ending the team up in starting grid in P39 out of 53 drivers, but this can be great or horrible.
(The Grid Position From 36-42)
Great Start from Jason
As the race began to start, the team already gets 2 positions just before and literally after green, one parked his car on the rolling start (on the nordschleife pit entrance (closed down)) and one entered a pit most likely due to fuel miscalculation. But then they lose 1 position from the ferrari overtaking. Just a couple minutes into the race, at the turn Hocheichen, a yellow car spins out to the left, collecting the car before it and almost collecting the team, but thankfully Jason was far enough to avoid this, and got 2 free positions, unfortunately that resulted him with 4x car contact and slight damage to the right. After some time at Ex-Mühle, someone spun to the left just after the hairpin, giving one more position to the team. On the long straights, Jason lost 2 positions ending the team back to P38, a great start with close calls.
(Lap 1, Hocheichen Turn Close Call)
The Team's First Major Incident
Fast Forward to Lap 26, It's Charles' 3rd till last lap until Mikey's stint when suddenly, between corner Brünnchen and Eiskurve, gets massive understeer, crashing into the left barrier, giving the team it's first meatball flag, which ended up ruining the intended pit cycle, but this crash might have changed the race definitely. The meatball flag has resulted in a forceful early pit, when the team pitted, the repair had a total time of 8 minutes and 5 seconds (6 minutes and 55 seconds for required + 1 minute and 55 seconds for optional repair that all team members have agree to do)
(Between corner Brünnchen and Eiskurve, Charles' Crash)
(Pit Stall Black Box Showing Required + Optional Repairs After Major Incident)
Darkness Arrives, So Does Crashes
After Mikey's stint, it was back to Jason to take the wheel, but this time, sunset was already up to a finish and darkness was arriving. Nothing has happened to Jason's stint, so it was up to Donald to take the scariest time for nurburgring, midnight. At lap 56, Donald crashed after making a mistake at the Karussel.
(Karussel Crash, Lap 52, From Donald)
GOOD MORNING, GREEN HELL! (Not so much tho)
Skipping to Lap 110, Mikey is BACK AND HE FRESH FROM BED, nothing has happened (well that I know of cuz i am too lazy to write the entire 24h race), BUT WHAT DID HAPPEN is that the team has now overtaken 32 drivers total at that time, bringing them to P7, based on that knowledge, lotta people crashed.
BUT something did happen, something that we wouldn't expect; on lap 138, a backmarked car close to Eschbach spun out, but rejoined in a horrible way, making the battle against P3 destroyed with loss and ending the car with it's another meatball.
(Lap 138, Horrible Rejoiner results in Charles crashing into the left barrier, forcing another meatball.)
Bad Timing, Big Scare
This is the worst thing to happen to the team, on lap 152, just as Charles entered pits to do a driver swap, a sudden and scary moment happened to Mikey, an unexpecting internet crash that temporarily got him out of iracing replay, destroyed his discord VC with no access to talk with Charles, and the PC starting to act weird the more the race goes, thankfully, Mikey connects just in time in iRacing to do a successful driver-swap, but now that he doesn't have any communication with his team, sets in immediate panic, as he tries to resolve this while driving the final stage of the race.
Mikey thankfully kept the car in a consistent matter despite in a panic and troubles with internet, with no crashes throughout the whole stint, they were P6 at the start of Mikey's stint, and at one point throughout the race, 2 cars crashed heavily, giving the team an extra 2 positions, and 1 car (unknown incident) giving us a total of 3 positions bringing the team to P3.
No Splash and Dash needed as the crash that happened from Lap 26 (YUP, THAT'S RIGHT), and the position of P1, it was not needed to do one more quick stop, giving Mikey his fresh air for his final lap. Now 3 laps before the final lap, Mikey connects the Discord VC on his phone to be able to talk to Charles and Jason just to be ensured.
Post-Race Result
The race is now finished, the checkered flag is waved after 24 hours of Nurburgring, and after all that hell, the team was able to be consistant enough to go from P39 up to P3, resulting in a total of 36 positions gained, as a celebration, Mikey decides to do donuts for the first time ever in iRacing. This was also his first iRacing Special Event race, so it is a unique thing to see a debuter getting a podium.
Congratulations to the team, Charles with his fast drive (some crashes but they weren't very brutal), Donald with his braveness to drive in the dark, Jason for doing a good start and keeping it consistant, and Mikey for his damn lucky charm and also his consistency (also the only driver to not crash into a wall unlike the rest).