US Grand Prix

I had a blast while it lasted. Fantastic race. I was just trying to stay error free, which I was. Had a great start, I was kind of surprised, then I took it easy in T1 because I did not want to eff up anyone's championship.
Race was brilliant, except when I pitted, my teammate Bob Fay was there so I had to wait for the crew to finish him up! lol. I guess Ross Brawn is not on our pitwall... Then I was running 6th comfortably ahead of Bob (he must have had damage) when BANG my flipping brakes went. Exactly what I have been reading since forever. I TSed Bob if that meant I was done, and so it was. Pitted just in case, then thought about just waiting in pitlane but engine was overheating. First DNF, in a long, long time. BIG dissapointment. Kind of ridiculous that a driver that has been taking it easy on tires and brakes and everything (I was literally just getting laps done for experience) blows his brakes like a hard fought race at Montreal. Congrats to all-- you are great drivers and a lovely series.

Had a great race myself...

Got past Fisher at turn-1 and was hoping to pull a gap on him. By the end of my first stint (26 laps) I was a whole 6 seconds ahead (Grrr!). Almost spun entering pits, then overshot my stall, all costing me vital seconds. Came out and did what I could to run consistent, but my brain got the best of me as I was number crunching again. By the time Fisher pit from the lead he had 30 seconds over me. He came out *just* as we both entered T1 together. He held a clean line and I couldnt get past. Took till the back straight to set it up and force it (He surely wasn't making it easy. I still had 12 laps or so of fuel so I needed to build a gap of at least 20 seconds. Got 8 seconds of it then nearly hit that pit wall. Had to back out big time and lost a bit more. Finally, my second stop where I took on the remaining fuel I needed (15 gal) and added a little front down force, something I should have done on the first stop. My tires (softs) were shot at this point, but they were going to make the distance. Exit pits 15 seconds down to Fisher with 20 laps to go. I figured I could make half or so of that up on him now that the fronts were sticking again, but I never got the chance. Ker-fluff! Motor went on the back straight.

An amazing race never the less. Fantastic racing David! It takes divebombing to pass with these cars and David knows how to handle someone making a move on him. Thank you David, and I hope I have proven to you by now that I can do that sort of thing without making contact. Simply fantastic :-)

Congrats David for a great win! : )

Just a short note, I'll do a proper race report later...

Tim, you had just lapped me when your motor went KABLOOEE!!!

I could only shake my head, what bad luck, sorry to see you drop out that way. Guess that's a better way than quiting! Lol

I'm real jazzed I finished, a change for me in open wheeled cars. : )

Full report later, now to bed...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Put together another fairly conservative setup because I simply don't want to even have to think for a second about a possible DNF this season. My Q lap went perfectly, and I took pole, but lost P1 at the start when Tim got by down at T1. I had 11 laps more fuel than Tim (pitted on lap 37), so I found myself again trying to just stay close, and we had some excellent, close driving in the early laps of the race. The rest of the race went very smooth, no mistakes, and I got the win. I did have 7.3 gallons of fuel left when I finished the race, but luckily this silly setup error didn't hurt me.

Yes, the short battle after my pit was a lot of fun. :-) I definitely have no worries when you try a pass on me Tim. A good driver knows when to attempt a pass, is able to do it smoothly, and knows how to send a subtle message before they pull the trigger, as opposed to just jumping out from behind the lead car at the very last moment and slashing inside.

Francesco, I saw in another thread that you ran with a 3 duct, so that's what caused your DNF. Should of been at 5 or 6, and with the brake thickness at max.

I think the next race is going to be a tough one. :-o I won't load the wrong tires this time.

Thank you David, I will rectify and try to run the next race without this silly mistake. I really want to try to stick to these cars.
Congratulations on the win.

Practiced plenty for this race as, unlike the Tims & Davids of this world, I have very little raw talent. Try to make up for this lack with dedicated effort.

Quali'd in 3rd (lucky) with a poor time and was slow & too cautious off the line. Dropped a position to Aubrey but felt quicker than he was. I trailed him for about 4 laps while working out where I was going to to take him. The pleasure of this series is that if one is fast enough there is plenty of time to overtake - one never needs to shove & barge... I actually enjoy the hunt of closing someone down - a savouring taste. Perhaps because I'm just a noob with less than a year's racing experience I am so reserved in overtaking. I hope that as I get more competitive I don't fall into a grove of shoving past without much finesse or consideration.

Had an incident which saw me in the sand. So I lost 6 seconds but found myself gaining on Aubrey again. My luck ran out - a backmarker giving way for me touched the grass, spun across the track into me & damaged my suspension. So off to the pits, changed fuel strategy & off again. But I was a second a lap down with the injury. From then onward it all went south for me. But I enjoyed the track & even with the injury had some intresting exchanges. I love this series but just wish for the drivers to treat these cars af if your own life was on the line. Shoving & barging just shows how talentless drivers are... If you are really fast, enjoy the hunt and choose your 'pounce' - much more enjoyable. No hard feelings towards anyone, if Raikennen can take it who am I to complain.

Well done to the top 3 - especially for the consistency of the laptimes of David & Aubrey. Also a huge thanks to Tim for another quality setup. I developed my own and just tried yours out on Saturday. Much better tire temps & wear. I seem to struggle with that a lot on my own setups. Is there a post that deals with tire temps?

Thank you all for this brilliant series - just love the strategies...

I honestly didn't like this track in testing ... bland, no character. Once the race got going and I fell into a rhythm, though, it wasn't that bad.

Got a good start and held my own into the braking zone for Turn 1, where a last-minute dive from someone behind took me by surprise. I lost a couple positions while on the outside, then around Turn 6 got nudged from behind and spun into the gravel. Luckily, I took no damage and ended pointing right back at the track so all I lost was some time ... I could still see the field up in the distance, albeit with me at the rear.

Taking advantage of the others' own spins and misfortunes I was back up to seventh by my first pit stop, then quickly fifth with my next quarry in the telemetry: It was Leon, about 15 seconds ahead of me.

No mistakes, just living in the groove, and I reeled him in after about 30 laps. Rode his tailpipe till we hit the main straight, and pulled out for the pass. But it's damn near impossible to see the kerbing in line with Turn 1 like that, and my braking marker is on the outside wall ... I was too conservative and Leon went back around, forcing me to ride his rear wing for another lap.

Leon pitted our next time around, and I went on to open the gap with some flying laps. That should've been that, but my second pit stop went horrendously.

My fuel estimates were way off. I did do a run in practice so I could make a fuel calculation, but forgot to note my fuel level before ESC'ing! Doh! I made a guess based on my knowledge of these cars at the other tracks, but overestimated something fierce.

So I'm doing fuel calculations on the fly for my second pit stop. I come down pit road well under the limit while I try to make adjustments on my pit screen, and even end up stopping short of my pit stall so I could finish those changes. I probably would've made better time had I just taken all the fuel!

Nonetheless, I come back on track still ahead of Leon ... and proceed to drive right through Turn 1! (I'm telling you, the kerbing just ain't visible tight on the inside like that :-) I putter in the grass till I see Leon go by, then get back on track and chase him down. I make the pass going into Turn 1 the next time around ... I know we touched at the apex, but no one went off track and we continued motoring just like that.

Tim's engine let go a little time later, and I was on the podium. Of all the races to get a podium, I sure as hell wasn't expecting it to be this one. Champagne for everyone!

Congrats to all that finished the Indy GP!

It's been quite a while since I was in an F1 Race. I had my doubts that I could finish without wrecking the car.

If I could only be as good at driving the darn things as I am at getting good starts, I'd be a happy camper.

After weaving through the pack, I found myself in 5th behind Leon (from my 9th starting position). Well, my great starting abilities ended real quick as I proceeded to spin a lap later. Nothing like a few seconds of glory for a speed challenged driver.

On lap 14 I decided to lose it exiting the right hander leading into the back straight. 1st unscheduled pitstop to replace the missing front wing.

Then on lap 20 I got nailed real good from behind by a lapping car and was sent spinning with a right rear puncture. 2nd unscheduled pitstop.

The thing that was most bothersome was how slow my car was on the front straight. I could just barely get 200mph before T1. After watching the replay, the other cars were doing 210-213 or more. Quite a bit to try and make up with my meager driving skills!

Guess my 15/40 wing settings were a bit too much. After some testing a little while ago, I went from a pb 1:16.5xx to 1:14.6xx by lowering the wing settings to 10/25 plus some damper changes to get a little better turn in.

Wish I could have had those settings for the race. Of all the negative remarks on how setups aren't that critical for a really good driver, well, a good setup can really help a speed challenged driver!

Also very disappointed to see such a high number of DNF's.

Cu boyz at the Nuerburg GP.

Dan

Good to have you racing with us Dan.

First; Yes, setups make a huge difference in these cars. They are the exception to the rule that is for sure. Dont let that frustrate you though, and as you see testing can fix a lot of the problems. It just takes time and effort. I usually log at least 10-12 hours of testing before each of these events to develop my setup and strategy. I always feel I need another 10-12 before I am comfortable though.

If it is a setup you need, feel free to contact me at any time and I will send you mine.

DNF's, yes... always a lot on this series. Very hard cars to drive along with very brittle engines and brakes. I like that actually, how difficult it is to manage those variables. As you can see, Im not doing it very well this season, but Im still having a lot of fun.

Hey Todd, must say I really enjoyed attempting to keep you at bay. I thought you exercised much skilful prowess in your overtaking which led to such enjoyment. With your speed it was inevitable that you were going to get past and did so - twice. My previous race I was overtaken by Tim 5 times for position and once later when he lapped me. Though he had damage, he also displayed much skill, nice to watch. I know I don't have the experienced skill to do this as you guys had but I hope to practice till I grasp it. Doing driving course from tomorrow to learn the basics. BEST SERIES....