rF2 - 1992 - @ Sao Paulo - Wed 25th Feb

[Stefan Woudenberg]

It had been a while since I raced an openwheeler.... I did had some practise and thought the setup I created was okay... it was stable... not the fastest... As I had no idea if it was good looking at lap times I had stopped developing it...as I said... it was stable...

I came on the server and every one was doing 1:14's and 1:15's... I had to push to the limit to reach a 1:16. No time to do something with the setup, so I sticked with it.
When I arrived at the grid as first I decided to turn the engine off.... Uhhh.... you don't have a start engine... ESC -> start from the pit...
Without TC and ABS I had flatspots in no time as I had to push hard to get to the back of the field... I could pass 2 peeps, but reaching the next car was impossible as they all drove almost 2 seconds per lap quicker than I could with my slow...but stable setup...
I had a spin and couldn't stop the car in time... Freddy collected me... sorry about that mate.... As I was bored without any cars around me to battle with I decided to wait 2 laps for Jim and have fun, it was close to the finish. I waited a bit too long to let the leader thru.. Jim decided not to do that and finished just in fron of me.

Anyway, besides the slow... but stable setup... I had great fun! Thanx guys!

 

[Andrew Ford]

Don't worry stefan, you have the pace and I'm sure your setup hindered you. See you at the next one

 

[David O'Reilly]

@Andreas Oehrlich
super race report sir.

I felt I had a nice setup but saw that some drivers were using a bit less wing so I dropped the wing a little to be less vulnerable on the pit straight. It was no faster over a lap but easier to defend.
Quali was ok and P5.
Got a nice start somehow and was P3 into T1.
@Wojciech Lukaszek came back at me hard through T2 and though he clearly left some space I hadnt seen him so didnt hug the kerb quite enough and had a slight side by side touch and a fairly harmless off at exit of T2.
I was still ahead of @Nicolas Delamare but he was showing good pace and attacking hard. It may have had something to do with his "agressive" fuel strategy. He made a very nice clean pass into T1 leaving me P5 and from there pulled a steady gap. He was last seen saying to his pit crew "what do you mean you cant fuel the car.
A few laps later Andrew Ford was on my gearbox and there he stayed for about 30 laps.
I couldnt pull a gap and by focussing on a nice line through T2 and good entry onto the pit straight I was able to keep a tiny gap.

I thought I would try to break the stalemeate and have some different scenery by pitting a litle early (lap 17). I needed to get this stop spot on or he would be through after the stops. The outlap was nothing special , just safe, but tyres were in by lap 19 and I saw Andrews name leaving the pits and it was a race as he rejoined the track. I was only just ahead but with warm tyres I could be that little more agressive into T4. So we were back where we started.

My line into T1 was not very defensive to allow speed exiting T2.
We had 2 contacts into T1 which required reversing back onto the track but both times Andrew kindly waited for me to retake position.

So it ended P4 and + 50 sec. Without the 2 spins I dare say +30 sec would have been about the result and still P4. So I was happy enough with pace. Had a tough competitive race. 36 laps with a lot of pressure and no unforced errors, it was good stuff.
The car was quite fantastic.
I had 3 litres of fuel left (from 94). I prefer when I have 1 litre left!

As Andreas said wow that was so immersive, the car felt real, the race felt real.

The V1,70 had all the sights and sounds but the handling of this V1.81 in a race was that bit more progressive and generates more feel. I twice had little moments exiting T10 (the1st gear right end S2) but they were recoverable.

Shout out to @Jim Brailsford who is showing some really good improvement in pace with a 1:19. and good judgement on blue flags-No panicking. Keep working on it Jim.
and to @Frederic Schornstein who drove at his high standard.

This car is so good I spoke to @Gijs van Elderen and @Daiman Patel a few weeks back and suggested that since Freddy has a good GT Endurance program planned that in the off weeks we should consider making this car the club open wheeler staple on the Friday or Saturdays that are not taken with the GTs.
So keep an eye out for more club events and maybe tell others how much fun it was.

Thanks all.

 

[Nicolas Delamare]

Nicolas I dont think you can refuel at all with this car!

Indeed I can't set any refueling, I haven't seen that at the right time.considering I ran with only 45L for the laps I did, my pace wasn't really good, I was on the limit everywhere, so not really comfortable...but a good bunch of laps it's clear !

Next time I'll be more care of that setting.

 

[jimortality]

@Stefan Woudenberg Sorry If I misunderstood you last night buddy, I thought you were just waiting for me lol.

@David O'Reilly Cheers David and I tried 20 laps later with your setup and got it down to a 1.18.5.

I felt good coming into this race, I knew I would be last in qualifying but my main aim at the moment in these club races is to finish and get more consistent. Both were achieved last night.

I was also late in getting to the race and my Chief engineer @David O'Reilly had already done the testing so I started a few laps in practice but couldn't find any rhythm at all. Had I left it too late? should I pull out? NO was the answer, just finish and get lap time in. So onto the start and I followed what @Stefan Woudenberg did and turned off my engine (Maybe this was a ploy to get me to start from the pit lane so he could gain an advantage lolololol) but it back fired as I pressed escape to return to monitor and it kept me on the grid with my engine still running Phew!!! that was close and nice try @Stefan Woudenberg (Only joking mate) the buzz I get when all the cars start revving is why I'm here, you just don't get that same feeling with AI imo. I'd settled on the default setup as I explained earlier, just not enough time for me to test the setup. Finish and consistency I kept telling myself that's all you need to do Jim! After the first few laps I was in familiar territory at the back alone, lost, scared (Hang on, I've been watching too much tv lol) I was hitting 1.20 or there abouts, could I get below without doing anything silly yes I could and laps 12 or 16 I think and it was there, down into the 1.19 and every lap before and after 1.21 or 1.20. To me this was consistent keeping it to within 1 or 2 secs per lap. Remember what David said "Pit about half way and you'll be ok" so I pitted on lap 17 and by this time I'd only been lapped once so it's going well Jimbo keep going. Then the dreaded concentration bug started! spin off on lap 18 when tyres were still cold and bad bad flatspotting so I had to pit straight away and didn't slow down in time so ended with a stop/go penalty. Concentration was the issue for me now and my lap times were starting to suffer and having been lapped for a second time, thoughts about retiring were starting to come through but I had to finish whatever happened. I was able to let faster guys through without any problems apart from one and I started to slow on the racing line, WTF are you doing Jim I said to myself as I was slowing down but thankfully the guy behind was experienced enough to get by. So the race finished with me 3 or 4 laps down but that's not a problem as I'd made the full 45 minutes, got under 1.20 and not been too much of a hindrance. I would estimate 75% consistency as well so all in all a good night for me. Now to my biggest RF2 test to date with the 2hr Nordschleife Race on Saturday. Some of the fastest guys in the world are racing but will they be as tolerant? I think it's a good test for you quick guys to have a back marker like me as it gives you experience in lapping slower drivers lol. Anyway I will try and finish the race and keep the lapping down to a minimum. Thanks to all for your help as usual and @Frederic Schornstein seriously no pit stop!!!!!!!!!! that's outrageous lololol. Well done mate. Again to people unsure about these club races, get involved! I'm your example, slow as mud but it really really doesn't matter.

Cheers

Jim

 

[Stefan Woudenberg]

@Stefan Woudenberg Sorry If I misunderstood you last night buddy, I thought you were just waiting for me lol.

 

[panande]

Ahh damnit. We had a test in school today and as I had to learn for it I totally forgot this race. This is the second time, I hope this doesnt happen again