kcheeb
Premium
- 4,753
- Alberta
- kcheeb
- kcheeb
7th GTP F1 World Championship (F1 2010 edition) * SEASON FINISHED :'''( *
- Thread starter Shaggy Alonso
- 1,773 comments
- 92,937 views
- 6,779
- United Kingdom
You can pay directly with a card with PayPal so you don't need to add funds. There is two on eBay new at £194.99. I think the best option is this: http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/20-...ing-wheel-199-99-logitech-uk-9-cashbac/934040 if it still works. That works out £182 with cashback and without as £199.99. It is probably the best place to buy a Logitech product from as well. Just fill in the form that you want to trade in a mouse, you should get sent a 20% voucher in your e-mail (If it still works). Then register to this website: http://www.topcashback.co.uk/logitech_uk/ and then click on get cashback now for Logitech UK and go to buy your G27 which will cost you £199.99 and few weeks later you will get £18 back.
- 10,373
- Manchester
- Ardius_
- 1,466
- Canada
- mikethehockeyfan
Just a heads up that I won't be online for the race so no need to wait up for me at 3 👍
Be rejoining you next week, I would've needed to leave this event mid-race to leave the house for a friend's BBQ.
Be rejoining you next week, I would've needed to leave this event mid-race to leave the house for a friend's BBQ.
kcheeb
Premium
- 4,753
- Alberta
- kcheeb
- kcheeb
Can't believe I just totaled my car, right towards the end tooI'll write my race report tomorrow
Thanks guys
Bummer Ali, I think we'd have ended up in a close battle near the end. See you next week.
Must post my apologies to everyone, I feel awful about miscalculating my brake point into turn 1. I 'think' I only bumped dark and I don't think I did any damage, thankfully.
Race report to follow.
- 10,373
- Manchester
- Ardius_
I'm moderately happy with that one. I hadn't practiced a whole lot for this one and felt that the grid was going to be a lot closer anyway, so I wasn't completely confident of a good result. So it was only to my benefit that we had a small grid tonight with several of my nearest rivals not turning up. It made the race much more relaxed for me.
Qualifying went ok, it was more like a practice session for me, getting my eye in for the race. I noticed the weather forecast for the race was heavy rain at 57% and debated looking at a wet setup but decided against it. I felt that tyre choices were more important than the setup and again as my main rivals weren't racing, I decided to go for the safe option.
I think I could have pulled a 1'21 lap but without the practice I probably wasn't going to manage that, so I was happy enough with 5th on the grid with a 1'22.
The race start went ok, this time around I had made sure to double-check my braking points for race starts and added another 50m. So turn 1 was extremely clean for me. kcheeb missed his braking and went flying in - unfortauntely he ended up trying to avoid everyone by going to the right, which missed me but smacked into DarkPSI. Out of this chaos, I didn't really make or gain position, Dark got back up to speed before I got out of the chicane with kcheeb obviously left on grass. So I was still 5th. Somewhere on lap 1 Baumi made a mistake or DarkPSI got past and I ended up following him for 4 or so laps. At one point I got a run past but made a mistake at Ascari, dipping a wheel in the gravel and spinning in front of Baumi. We made contact but fortunately it seems Baumi didn't suffer damage - if he did I apologise.
From then on it was pretty much just driving to the flag. I couldn't keep up with Baumi once he started driving more consistently and making less mistakes. I went to lap 14 or 15 on my worn options as the rain started falling on lap 11. I eventually was running out of too much grip with the options and decided to go onto inters. The track hadn't really got wet enough yet but I still managed decent enough laps anyway, I was hoping the inters would last till the end and that the rain wouldn't get heavy enough for full wets. Sadly by lap 24, the rain was enough for full wets and my inters were getting worn. I decided to make a second pit stop just to be sure and finish the race, so put the full wets on.
During my first stop for inters kcheeb got past me but I think he was still on slicks and I was gaining a lot of time on him. Fortunately he had to make 2 stops too so I rebuilt a huge lead and actually lapped him. So all in all it was a pretty relaxed race, and a nice test of wet conditions and when best to change tyres. Probably if Mutu or PJ were around, I might have gone onto full wets instead of inters or tried to go longer with the slicks. In hinlddsight, I should have started on the Primes but ah well.
Some good points and my stop for full wets was rewarded when Dark crashed out, promoting me on the final lap. Perhaps if I had tried to run the inters to the end I would have also crashed out, perhaps not. But at least I ensured I finished.
Qualified: 5th Started: 5th
Finished: 4th
Average race laptime: 1'25 (Dry) 1'27 (Wet)
Biggest mistake: Spinning at Ascari just after overtaking Baumi
Favourite moment: Wet strategy decisions.
Qualifying went ok, it was more like a practice session for me, getting my eye in for the race. I noticed the weather forecast for the race was heavy rain at 57% and debated looking at a wet setup but decided against it. I felt that tyre choices were more important than the setup and again as my main rivals weren't racing, I decided to go for the safe option.
I think I could have pulled a 1'21 lap but without the practice I probably wasn't going to manage that, so I was happy enough with 5th on the grid with a 1'22.
The race start went ok, this time around I had made sure to double-check my braking points for race starts and added another 50m. So turn 1 was extremely clean for me. kcheeb missed his braking and went flying in - unfortauntely he ended up trying to avoid everyone by going to the right, which missed me but smacked into DarkPSI. Out of this chaos, I didn't really make or gain position, Dark got back up to speed before I got out of the chicane with kcheeb obviously left on grass. So I was still 5th. Somewhere on lap 1 Baumi made a mistake or DarkPSI got past and I ended up following him for 4 or so laps. At one point I got a run past but made a mistake at Ascari, dipping a wheel in the gravel and spinning in front of Baumi. We made contact but fortunately it seems Baumi didn't suffer damage - if he did I apologise.
From then on it was pretty much just driving to the flag. I couldn't keep up with Baumi once he started driving more consistently and making less mistakes. I went to lap 14 or 15 on my worn options as the rain started falling on lap 11. I eventually was running out of too much grip with the options and decided to go onto inters. The track hadn't really got wet enough yet but I still managed decent enough laps anyway, I was hoping the inters would last till the end and that the rain wouldn't get heavy enough for full wets. Sadly by lap 24, the rain was enough for full wets and my inters were getting worn. I decided to make a second pit stop just to be sure and finish the race, so put the full wets on.
During my first stop for inters kcheeb got past me but I think he was still on slicks and I was gaining a lot of time on him. Fortunately he had to make 2 stops too so I rebuilt a huge lead and actually lapped him. So all in all it was a pretty relaxed race, and a nice test of wet conditions and when best to change tyres. Probably if Mutu or PJ were around, I might have gone onto full wets instead of inters or tried to go longer with the slicks. In hinlddsight, I should have started on the Primes but ah well.
Some good points and my stop for full wets was rewarded when Dark crashed out, promoting me on the final lap. Perhaps if I had tried to run the inters to the end I would have also crashed out, perhaps not. But at least I ensured I finished.
Qualified: 5th Started: 5th
Finished: 4th
Average race laptime: 1'25 (Dry) 1'27 (Wet)
Biggest mistake: Spinning at Ascari just after overtaking Baumi
Favourite moment: Wet strategy decisions.
kcheeb
Premium
- 4,753
- Alberta
- kcheeb
- kcheeb
Race Report
Qualifying started the disastrous day for me. Couldn't seem to get in a groove despite making improvements in my times during practice this week. I ended up a full second and a half slower than my pb, which would have still put me in seventh place on the grid. Looking at the times everyone posted in qualifying, I was not hopeful of improving my position.
I finally got a decent start in a race and was close to Ardius and Ali. At this point the furthest thing from the front of my brain was the fact I'd started on primes trying to make it a one stop race if it rained. The combination of being close to Ardius and Ali and running on primes, caused me to totally miss my brake point. I somehow managed to weave through the line of cars, but unfortunately Dark was right in front of me at the chicane, making the turn as it was intended and the path I was on made it near impossible for me to do anything but hit him hard. Watching the video it didn't seem to cause him too much grief. Once again my apologies.
Once I finished cursing my stupidity, it took me a while to calm down. Coming out of Lesmo, I saw Ali recovering from a run in the gravel and managed to slip past him into sixth. Given his qualifying pace, I was sure I'd see him again.
Things went relatively smooth until the rain started to fall around lap 10 or 11. Not having raced much in the wet, I was very unsure of myself and the pace for the next few laps showed. I realized I wasn't losing grip yet and should be able to go a little faster, so I did. Ardius had pitted during this part of the race so I picked up a place as a result. Come lap 17 it was time to get the wets on, problem is you have to tell the pit crew you want wets. When I pitted the boys put options on and I drove down pit lane muttering to myself and giving back the spot to Ardius, which was always going to happen, he was 1.5 to 2 seconds faster than my best laps.
I hoped against hope that the options would work out. Not so much. It felt like driving on ice, then I had to figure out how I'd set up the buttons on my new Fanatec wheel, if you want a laugh, check out my lap 19, sure to amuse :-)
I got the request for wets sorted and now I'm thinking Ali should be along any moment. Sadly he crashed his car around lap 21 and it never materialized. It was raining quite hard at the end of the race, so I concentrated on not getting in anyone's way and not taking myself out.
Qualified seventh, finished sixth, don't feel like I earned it, but I'll take the points. See everyone next week!
Race video
Qualifying : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzRiqDVx2qE
Race 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Z-V0NCtJQ
Race 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zj-jj8spmc
EDIT: Race 2 finally uploaded successfully!
Qualifying started the disastrous day for me. Couldn't seem to get in a groove despite making improvements in my times during practice this week. I ended up a full second and a half slower than my pb, which would have still put me in seventh place on the grid. Looking at the times everyone posted in qualifying, I was not hopeful of improving my position.
I finally got a decent start in a race and was close to Ardius and Ali. At this point the furthest thing from the front of my brain was the fact I'd started on primes trying to make it a one stop race if it rained. The combination of being close to Ardius and Ali and running on primes, caused me to totally miss my brake point. I somehow managed to weave through the line of cars, but unfortunately Dark was right in front of me at the chicane, making the turn as it was intended and the path I was on made it near impossible for me to do anything but hit him hard. Watching the video it didn't seem to cause him too much grief. Once again my apologies.
Once I finished cursing my stupidity, it took me a while to calm down. Coming out of Lesmo, I saw Ali recovering from a run in the gravel and managed to slip past him into sixth. Given his qualifying pace, I was sure I'd see him again.
Things went relatively smooth until the rain started to fall around lap 10 or 11. Not having raced much in the wet, I was very unsure of myself and the pace for the next few laps showed. I realized I wasn't losing grip yet and should be able to go a little faster, so I did. Ardius had pitted during this part of the race so I picked up a place as a result. Come lap 17 it was time to get the wets on, problem is you have to tell the pit crew you want wets. When I pitted the boys put options on and I drove down pit lane muttering to myself and giving back the spot to Ardius, which was always going to happen, he was 1.5 to 2 seconds faster than my best laps.
I hoped against hope that the options would work out. Not so much. It felt like driving on ice, then I had to figure out how I'd set up the buttons on my new Fanatec wheel, if you want a laugh, check out my lap 19, sure to amuse :-)
I got the request for wets sorted and now I'm thinking Ali should be along any moment. Sadly he crashed his car around lap 21 and it never materialized. It was raining quite hard at the end of the race, so I concentrated on not getting in anyone's way and not taking myself out.
Qualified seventh, finished sixth, don't feel like I earned it, but I'll take the points. See everyone next week!
Race video
Qualifying : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzRiqDVx2qE
Race 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Z-V0NCtJQ
Race 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zj-jj8spmc
EDIT: Race 2 finally uploaded successfully!
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- 6,779
- United Kingdom
Out of interest is there much difference between Time Trial mode and actual online qualifying?
- 1,411
- Shaggy_Alonso
Only about 2.5 secs at Monza. Normally it's between 3-4 secs though I believe.
- 6,779
- United Kingdom
I see, I thought it would have been slower as your pole time is not much faster than the Wet time I did in time trial mode (http://i55.tinypic.com/21n093r.jpg). I think I could do a 1:19.6XX if I did my best sectors but I was using assists. I think I would do something in the high 1:20's without assists though due to less experience and skill with everything off. F1 2011 seems to have a lot better physics so I will most likely drive with everything off as it could be an advantage.
- 119
- Ali_T
Well that was my worst race by far but I was expecting it to be after practicing I just couldn't really get any flow and nearly ever lap was missing the braking points. My head really wasn't in it last night but I still decided to press on and take part 👍
I started 6th or 7th I can't really remember my memories shocking haha. But I knew it wouldn't be long before I'd slip into last and my plan was to just get there and take it easy as there was no way I'd be competative with anyone. Funny enough I remember thinking during the race if I don't total my car and finish I'll be pleased as I wanted to finish every race I took part it haha. The only chance I would have of catching up would be when it finally started to rain and rain it did 👍
My final few laps were the most consistent I'd been all race and I was actually catching up with kcheeb so it was looking like we'd have a nice battle then suddenly my car must have got possessed as I came through turn 7 I think which should see you fly through onto the right hand side at high speed, but somehow my car slid in the total opposite direction to the left and into the barrier. I couldn't believe the damage to the car as it wasn't really a nasty shunt but nevertheless my car decided to disintergrate and out of the race I was But nevermind my concentration was so bad if I'd caught up with kcheeb I might have accidently taken us both out so perhaps it was lucky I crashed when I did haha.
Anyway see you all next week 👍
I started 6th or 7th I can't really remember my memories shocking haha. But I knew it wouldn't be long before I'd slip into last and my plan was to just get there and take it easy as there was no way I'd be competative with anyone. Funny enough I remember thinking during the race if I don't total my car and finish I'll be pleased as I wanted to finish every race I took part it haha. The only chance I would have of catching up would be when it finally started to rain and rain it did 👍
My final few laps were the most consistent I'd been all race and I was actually catching up with kcheeb so it was looking like we'd have a nice battle then suddenly my car must have got possessed as I came through turn 7 I think which should see you fly through onto the right hand side at high speed, but somehow my car slid in the total opposite direction to the left and into the barrier. I couldn't believe the damage to the car as it wasn't really a nasty shunt but nevertheless my car decided to disintergrate and out of the race I was
But nevermind my concentration was so bad if I'd caught up with kcheeb I might have accidently taken us both out so perhaps it was lucky I crashed when I did haha.Anyway see you all next week 👍
I've found a nice video to learn why some guys out there are faster than me ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR2EoZqSJh8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR2EoZqSJh8&feature=related
- 10,373
- Manchester
- Ardius_
I will certainly try to, if we keep the same race start times, then definitely.
I can't wait to see what effect the DRS, KERS and Pirellis will have to the game, its going to take some getting used to pressing these extra buttons! Qualifying having to press KERS+DRS is going to be interesting!
I'm also wondering what Codemasters are going to do for the DRS zones that haven't been confirmed yet.
- 1,411
- Shaggy_Alonso
That's Martin Brundle, the best sports commentator ever for my money. Does another good side by side comparison here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5ooAeo0w0A
I doubt i'll have the time to compete in an F1 2011 championship, at least not the first one if someone is holding it. After Abu Dhabi it's a wrap for me with competitive online racing for a while.
I imagine they've already approached Charlie Whiting to ask what the most likely spots are for DRS in the remaining tracks.
That's a shame shaggy,is there anyone here that is willing to keep this league going for f1 2011.im in and I know a few that would like to join for the new season.i know what its like for time issues I've stopped racing before,for this reason but I just can't stay away so I gave in .the missis don't like it but hay.
- 226
Yes, I'd be willing to keep this league going for F1 2011 on our platform, I wouldn't take part as im already signed up to an F1 2011 league [Which is full to the brim already] hosted on our site but i could organise and try my best in updating tables etc
Check link in signature
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- 1,411
- Shaggy_Alonso
GTP 7th F1 World Championship - Round 14 - Italy
Weather - Dry qualifying, raining mid-race onwards.
Qualifying Results:
Pole - Shaggy Alonso (Tyrrell) - 1:19.771 (10 pts)
3rd. - DarkPSI (Benetton) - 1:20.710 (6 pts)
5th. - Ardius (Brawn)- 1:22.447 (4 pts)
7th. - kcheeb (Hesketh)-1:24.949 (2 pts)
Race Results:
1st. Shaggy Alonso (Tyrrell) (25 pts) = 37m29.581s
2nd. Pipeslice (Jordan) (18 pts) + 57.4s (+20 sec pen)
3rd. Baumi27 (Brawn) (15 pts) + 69.3s (+ 10 sec pen)
4th. Ardius (Brawn) (12 pts) + 1 lap
5th. DarkPSI (Benetton) (10 pts) DNF +1 lap
6th. kcheeb (Hesketh) (8 pts) + 2 laps
7th. AliT12 (Brabham) (0 pts) DNF
Qualifying:
So we arrived at the final of the classic events (Monaco, Silverstone, Spa & Monza) and I was hoping to make it 4 out of 4. It's the sort of track where you just have to nail every corner perfectly (there are only 10 proper corners to get right) to do well in qualifying. Although I was happy with my pace in practice, I realised i'd find more consistent pace by trimming my front wing levels and so it proved, maxing out at an eye-popping 233 mph down the pit-straight. For some reason, I wasn't able to get proper acceleration on my first flying run (I believe this to be a glitch in the game that sometimes occurs) so I posted an average 1:21.1 and pulled into the pits hoping that the issue would sort itself out for my next run. Meanwhile Pipeslice set provisional pole with a fast 1:20.2. Thankfully my problem did sort itself out and I posted a 1:19.867 to go fastest on my next run. With just a couple of minutes left I saw that Pipeslice bettered this time with a 1:19.808. I had a 2 lap run left, but screwed up the Roggia chicane on the first run, so it was all on my last lap to try and eke out a tenth (my previous lap had been a good one). I did a PB first sector, still a tenth down on Pipeslice (both him and especially DarkPSI seemed to have a better way through the Rettifilo chicane than me) however I seemed to be faster through the middle sector and was up on Pipeslice exiting Ascari (felt faster through there this lap as well). I knew all I had to do now was keep it together for the Parabolica and I did just about to snatch pole by a mere 3 hundredths. DarkPSI had a very difficult session as he never found the pace that I knew he had from practice and lined up 3rd.
Race:
The forecast for the race was a 57% chance of rain. With this in mind, I would try and go as long as I could on the option tyres (very low wear at Monza) hopefully long enough to make it to the window where wet tyres were needed. As Pipeslice and I were virtually inseparable - qualifying could have gone either way - I knew i'd have a tough job keeping him behind, assuming I could exit the chicane in the lead. I got a good start and picked my braking point at about 160 metres which made me go slightly deep, but I managed to escape any trouble from behind. My first 2 laps were really quite tentative as Monza is such an easy track in which to make a race crippling mistake. When I settled down, Pipeslice and I were matching each other's times - they would yo-yo a couple of times when we took it in turns to have scruffy laps - but I was surprised towards the end of the first stint how I was able to eke out a bit more of a gap on him.
The suggested optimum lap to stop for primes was lap 9. Well that lap came and went and Pipeslice and I were still pressing on, until lap 11 when he pitted for primes. The skies had been getting darker and it was on lap 11 in fact that it started to rain. I pressed on with the plan of waiting for it to rain enough so I could make a seamless transition to wet tyres. However, the next few laps were a bit nailbiting for several reasons;
A - Pipeslice now dropped off my timing screen so I couldn't see what the gap was between us, whether he was catching me up or falling behind I did not now.
B. If indeed he was catching me, and the rain eased off, then he would leapfrog me in the pit stop with me going steadily on my worn option tyres. I had to hope that the rain would come and would come hard so that I would be able to make just the one pit-stop, or else my strategy would have meant an unnecessarily long and wasteful stint on the options.
C. If the rain did come down hard, I didn't want to miss the moment to switch tyres or I could end up in the wall.
Even as the rain came down progressively more, my pace was still pretty solid, just went from low 1:22's to mid-high 1:22's which is as much to do with the simple wear of the tyres as it was the rain (they were now going way beyond what they were meant to) and by lap 17 they reached the cliff so to speak, understeering everywhere and I lost a couple of seconds, I knew the time had come to switch to wet tyres. My pace actually improved on these tyres by a few tenths and I was surprised to see Pipeslice was still not registering on the time gap info so I must have been a fair distance ahead. As it turned out, he said after he pitted for his primes on lap 11 bizarrely I started dropping him by 2 seconds a lap which is very strange. DarkPSI fitted a second set of options on for his first stop, which leap-frogged him ahead of Pipeslice for a while as a result of Pipe's difficult second stint. Under pressure from a resurgent Baumi27 however, Dark made a mistake at the fast Ascari chicane on the final lap and totalled his car. Baumi also made a mistake but salvaged his car gaining the place on Dark, but losing one on Pipeslice who regained 2nd position.
I have to say, Jenson Button's cool head in changable conditions which saved him 2 extra pit-stops back in Shanghai 2010 and just a couple of weeks ago in Hungary was playing through my head. Though he bores me a little and I'd much prefer a 'Hamilton esque victory', this was a JB esque one - staying out of trouble, being consistent, not making hasty decisions and benefiting from some good luck with the timing of the pitstop.
It was an enjoyable and challenging race, where strategy played a much bigger part in the end results than outright speed.
Race Footage
Courtesy of kcheeb:
kcheeb's race:
Monza Qualifying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzRiqDVx2qE
Monza Race Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Z-V0NCtJQk
Monza Race Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zj-jj8spmc
And here are the tables:
The Championship Tables (As of round 14):
Drivers Championship
1st. Shaggy Alonso - 423 pts
2nd. DarkPSI - 330 pts
3rd. Pipeslice - 267 pts
4th. Baumi27 - 229 pts
5th. Mutu20 - 196 pts
6th. Ardius - 86 pts
7th. kcheeb - 69 pts
8th. Tombrooks97 - 68 pts
9th. AliT12 - 50 pts
10th. MikeTheHockeyFan - 44 pts
11th. Upuaut - 36 pts
12th. NumbPhase - 34 pts
13th. pj-gm - 26 pts
14th. DOUQA - 19 pts
15th. Jerry786 - 12 pts
16th. Shark33 - 3 pts
17th. Manios22DC - 2 pts
18th. jordy7777 - 2 pts
Teams Championship
1st. Tyrrell - 619 pts - Shaggy Alonso, Mutu20
2nd. Benetton - 374 pts - DarkPSI, MikeTheHockeyFan
3rd. Jordan - 350 pts - Tombrooks97, Pipeslice, Jerry786, Shark33
4rd. Brawn - 317 pts - Baumi27, Manios22DC, Ardius
5th. Hesketh - 124 pts - kcheeb, NumbPhase, DOUQA, jordy7777
6th. Brabham - 112 pts - Upuaut, AliT12, pj-gm
Weather - Dry qualifying, raining mid-race onwards.
Qualifying Results:
Pole - Shaggy Alonso (Tyrrell) - 1:19.771 (10 pts)
2nd. - Pipeslice (Jordan) - 1:19.808 (8 pts)
3rd. - DarkPSI (Benetton) - 1:20.710 (6 pts)
4th. - Baumi27 (Brawn)- 1:21.698 (5 pts)
5th. - Ardius (Brawn)- 1:22.447 (4 pts)
6th. - AliT12 (Brabham) - 1:22.959 (3 pts)
7th. - kcheeb (Hesketh)-1:24.949 (2 pts)
Race Results:
1st. Shaggy Alonso (Tyrrell) (25 pts) = 37m29.581s
2nd. Pipeslice (Jordan) (18 pts) + 57.4s (+20 sec pen)
3rd. Baumi27 (Brawn) (15 pts) + 69.3s (+ 10 sec pen)
4th. Ardius (Brawn) (12 pts) + 1 lap
5th. DarkPSI (Benetton) (10 pts) DNF +1 lap
6th. kcheeb (Hesketh) (8 pts) + 2 laps
7th. AliT12 (Brabham) (0 pts) DNF
Qualifying:
So we arrived at the final of the classic events (Monaco, Silverstone, Spa & Monza) and I was hoping to make it 4 out of 4. It's the sort of track where you just have to nail every corner perfectly (there are only 10 proper corners to get right) to do well in qualifying. Although I was happy with my pace in practice, I realised i'd find more consistent pace by trimming my front wing levels and so it proved, maxing out at an eye-popping 233 mph down the pit-straight. For some reason, I wasn't able to get proper acceleration on my first flying run (I believe this to be a glitch in the game that sometimes occurs) so I posted an average 1:21.1 and pulled into the pits hoping that the issue would sort itself out for my next run. Meanwhile Pipeslice set provisional pole with a fast 1:20.2. Thankfully my problem did sort itself out and I posted a 1:19.867 to go fastest on my next run. With just a couple of minutes left I saw that Pipeslice bettered this time with a 1:19.808. I had a 2 lap run left, but screwed up the Roggia chicane on the first run, so it was all on my last lap to try and eke out a tenth (my previous lap had been a good one). I did a PB first sector, still a tenth down on Pipeslice (both him and especially DarkPSI seemed to have a better way through the Rettifilo chicane than me) however I seemed to be faster through the middle sector and was up on Pipeslice exiting Ascari (felt faster through there this lap as well). I knew all I had to do now was keep it together for the Parabolica and I did just about to snatch pole by a mere 3 hundredths. DarkPSI had a very difficult session as he never found the pace that I knew he had from practice and lined up 3rd.
Race:
The forecast for the race was a 57% chance of rain. With this in mind, I would try and go as long as I could on the option tyres (very low wear at Monza) hopefully long enough to make it to the window where wet tyres were needed. As Pipeslice and I were virtually inseparable - qualifying could have gone either way - I knew i'd have a tough job keeping him behind, assuming I could exit the chicane in the lead. I got a good start and picked my braking point at about 160 metres which made me go slightly deep, but I managed to escape any trouble from behind. My first 2 laps were really quite tentative as Monza is such an easy track in which to make a race crippling mistake. When I settled down, Pipeslice and I were matching each other's times - they would yo-yo a couple of times when we took it in turns to have scruffy laps - but I was surprised towards the end of the first stint how I was able to eke out a bit more of a gap on him.
The suggested optimum lap to stop for primes was lap 9. Well that lap came and went and Pipeslice and I were still pressing on, until lap 11 when he pitted for primes. The skies had been getting darker and it was on lap 11 in fact that it started to rain. I pressed on with the plan of waiting for it to rain enough so I could make a seamless transition to wet tyres. However, the next few laps were a bit nailbiting for several reasons;
A - Pipeslice now dropped off my timing screen so I couldn't see what the gap was between us, whether he was catching me up or falling behind I did not now.
B. If indeed he was catching me, and the rain eased off, then he would leapfrog me in the pit stop with me going steadily on my worn option tyres. I had to hope that the rain would come and would come hard so that I would be able to make just the one pit-stop, or else my strategy would have meant an unnecessarily long and wasteful stint on the options.
C. If the rain did come down hard, I didn't want to miss the moment to switch tyres or I could end up in the wall.
Even as the rain came down progressively more, my pace was still pretty solid, just went from low 1:22's to mid-high 1:22's which is as much to do with the simple wear of the tyres as it was the rain (they were now going way beyond what they were meant to) and by lap 17 they reached the cliff so to speak, understeering everywhere and I lost a couple of seconds, I knew the time had come to switch to wet tyres. My pace actually improved on these tyres by a few tenths and I was surprised to see Pipeslice was still not registering on the time gap info so I must have been a fair distance ahead. As it turned out, he said after he pitted for his primes on lap 11 bizarrely I started dropping him by 2 seconds a lap which is very strange. DarkPSI fitted a second set of options on for his first stop, which leap-frogged him ahead of Pipeslice for a while as a result of Pipe's difficult second stint. Under pressure from a resurgent Baumi27 however, Dark made a mistake at the fast Ascari chicane on the final lap and totalled his car. Baumi also made a mistake but salvaged his car gaining the place on Dark, but losing one on Pipeslice who regained 2nd position.
I have to say, Jenson Button's cool head in changable conditions which saved him 2 extra pit-stops back in Shanghai 2010 and just a couple of weeks ago in Hungary was playing through my head. Though he bores me a little and I'd much prefer a 'Hamilton esque victory', this was a JB esque one - staying out of trouble, being consistent, not making hasty decisions and benefiting from some good luck with the timing of the pitstop.
It was an enjoyable and challenging race, where strategy played a much bigger part in the end results than outright speed.
Race Footage
Courtesy of kcheeb:
kcheeb's race:
Monza Qualifying: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzRiqDVx2qE
Monza Race Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Z-V0NCtJQk
Monza Race Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zj-jj8spmc
And here are the tables:
The Championship Tables (As of round 14):
Drivers Championship
1st. Shaggy Alonso - 423 pts
2nd. DarkPSI - 330 pts
3rd. Pipeslice - 267 pts
4th. Baumi27 - 229 pts
5th. Mutu20 - 196 pts
6th. Ardius - 86 pts
7th. kcheeb - 69 pts
8th. Tombrooks97 - 68 pts
9th. AliT12 - 50 pts
10th. MikeTheHockeyFan - 44 pts
11th. Upuaut - 36 pts
12th. NumbPhase - 34 pts
13th. pj-gm - 26 pts
14th. DOUQA - 19 pts
15th. Jerry786 - 12 pts
16th. Shark33 - 3 pts
17th. Manios22DC - 2 pts
18th. jordy7777 - 2 pts
Teams Championship
1st. Tyrrell - 619 pts - Shaggy Alonso, Mutu20
2nd. Benetton - 374 pts - DarkPSI, MikeTheHockeyFan
3rd. Jordan - 350 pts - Tombrooks97, Pipeslice, Jerry786, Shark33
4rd. Brawn - 317 pts - Baumi27, Manios22DC, Ardius
5th. Hesketh - 124 pts - kcheeb, NumbPhase, DOUQA, jordy7777
6th. Brabham - 112 pts - Upuaut, AliT12, pj-gm
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Hey guys,
thanks for the race report shaggy, really nice and interesting to read.
Unfortunately I have to cancel my race tomorrow (I will be away with my family), which is a shame, cause the circuit is awesome.
Wish you all a nice race and I'm really looking forward to your race reports.
Best regards
DarkPSI
thanks for the race report shaggy, really nice and interesting to read.
Unfortunately I have to cancel my race tomorrow (I will be away with my family), which is a shame, cause the circuit is awesome.
Wish you all a nice race and I'm really looking forward to your race reports.
Best regards
DarkPSI
- 1,411
- Shaggy_Alonso
