Shinya Michimi Racing (Sebring Race)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kamuifanboy
  • 149 comments
  • 25,222 views
haitch40
Congratulations on the second place.

(Read twitter.)
Click to expand...

aarror
Congrats on P2, way to go!
Click to expand...

Thanks guys!

Really good weekend all around. Top 3 in all of the practice sessions. P5 in Qualifying Session 1. Set the tire pressures a bit too low in the front and was really struggling with front grip for the first Qualifying Session. Raised the front tire pressures for Qualifying 2 and set pole by nearly 3 tenths of a second. Rain came for Round 3. Got a good start and moved up to 4th from 5th. Driver in front of me made a mistake and drove off the track so I then moved up to 3rd. Around the mid way point, I made the same mistake that the driver in front a few laps before did and had an off that moved me back to 4th position. I tried to overtake for 3rd but, didn't quite have enough to overtake and had to settle for 4th in Round 3. Started Pole in Round 4 with half the track dry and half the track wet. I gambled with tire pressures hoping that everyone else would overheat and I would go on to a huge win. Unfortunately it was the wrong move and lost the lead on the first corner. The driver in first got a 7 second gap before the track completely dried. I was only able to match his pace after that and unfortunately could not convert my pole to a win.

Can't complain with a 4th and 2nd though, as it now moves me to 4th in the Championship and only 7 points behind the joint leaders.
 
How did the test in Shanghai go?

And congratulations on another podium.
 
Hey guys! Thought it was time for this thread to get a proper revival. I know it's been about a half year since I have posted but, I will do my best to try and catch you up as much as possible. :) Sorry in advance for the large photo/post size as well!

- So, we left off with the FCJ 3 race 3rd weekend at Fuji Speedway I believe;

Quali: P3
Round 5: P3
Round 6: P13
Round 7: P11

Round 5 had a Three Wide overtake on the final lap to move from P5 to P3 with a half a lap to go. Round 6 had a jump start penalty. Round 7 had a penalty for overtaking below the white line.

Photos:
​

- FCJ 2 Race 4th weekend at Fuji Speedway;

Round 6 Quali: P2
Round 7 Quali: Pole
Round 6: P2

Round 6 was a flag to flag P2 experience. Round 7 had a drying track with Rain Tires. Struggled to find grip and had a few spins to fall back to P13.

Photos

​

- MRF Challenge 2013-14 Round 1 Race 1-2 at Buddh International Circuit in Dehli;

Quali: P8
Race 1: P8
Race 2: P6

Race 1 had a bad start and fell to P14. A few three wide overtakes later, I was back to P8 when a driver from behind missed his braking point and rear ended my car. Had a spin and was back to P10 with a damaged rear diffuser. Was able to fight back to P8 by the end of the race. Race 2 was a pretty straight forward 2 clean overtakes and then settled in on P6.

Photos



​

- FCJ 3 race final weekend at Suzuka International Circuit;

Round 10 Quali: P9
Round 11 Quali: P10
Round 10: P9
Round 11: P7
Round 12: P12

Series Final Rank P7 with 26 points

It was quite apparent in Friday practice that the machine I was given for the final round was off the pace from the other cars and struggles like changed balance, 5 KG difference left to right balance after every session, and a slightly slower Engine hindered the entire weekend.

Photos


​


- 2 day Italian Formula 3 Spec Test with EuroNova Racing at Vallelunga;

Test went really well. It was my first time in a car faster than a Formula Renault and I was able to get to Race Pace after around 9 laps in the car. According to the engineer, I was able to really good Race Pace and a blistering Qualifying lap with new tires despite having no experience in the car. He was also very impressed with the level of depth in the feedback of the balance of the car that I was able to communicate back to him. Team owner and Ex Formula 1 Drivers Taki Inoue and Vincenzo Sospiri both asking me to come back for a test in the higher Horsepower Auto GP World Series Machine.

Photos

​

2nd day New Tire Session.
​


- MRF Challenge 2013/14 Round 2 Race 3-5 at Bahrain International Circuit;

Race 3 Quali: P4
Race 5 Quali: P4
Race 3: P6
Race 4: P4
Race 5: P5

Not really much to report. The top 3 had a massive 1 second gap over myself and another driver in lap time. Then we had 2 seconds gap to the cars behind. Races were quite spread out and not much action.

Photos


​

Practice Session 1 Hot Lap
​


- 1 Day Auto GP World Series Test with EuroNova Racing at Adria International Circuit;

Again, was able to adapt to the car really quickly. After around 15 laps, I was already running Race Pace after learning how to drive a car with 550HP, Larger Car, and Larger Tires. New Tire sessions also saw the lap times drop to being really close to the lap record set in slightly more favourable conditions. Again, the Engineer (Different Engineer to F3 Test) was very impressed with my speed and was impressed with my feedback to him. Suggestion to race with the Team for the 2014 Auto GP World Series Season.

Photos


​

First new tire session. Was able to go 4 tenths quicker with the second set of tires but no more GoPro Battery :(
​


- MRF Challenge 2013/14 Round 3 Race 6-9 at Bahrain National Circuit;

Race 6 Quali; P4
Race 8 Quali; P5
Race 6: P6
Race 7: P2
Race 8: P6
Race 9: P2

Best weekend yet in the MRF Challenge which was a massive confidence boost because of the quality of European Drivers in the top 5. Sitting P5 in points breathing down the neck of P4. And if one of the top 3 have a bad final round, I could have a shot at one of the money paying Top 3 positions.

Photos

​

That's about all that has happened up until this point! Just having negotiations with certain teams for next season at the moment! Unfortunately, that section has to be kept a bit hush hush.
 
So you went looking for a F3 drive and got offered a test in something better and they were also impressed. Good job. 👍
 
I've been following you via your Facebook page for awhile now, but I'm glad you updated some stuff on here. Congrats! One thing I'd like to see mentioned if you're comfortable with sharing is your fitness routine, many drivers stress how important it is but I've barely heard or seen anyone ever talk about and what they do..
 
Really impressed with your progress, Shinya and I think that you're doing absolutely fantastically so far!
 
Mac K
I've been following you via your Facebook page for awhile now, but I'm glad you updated some stuff on here. Congrats! One thing I'd like to see mentioned if you're comfortable with sharing is your fitness routine, many drivers stress how important it is but I've barely heard or seen anyone ever talk about and what they do..
Click to expand...

This!!! :) 👍


I know that touring car/rally drivers don't face the same G-forces, but I'm still interested in preparing myself... Who better to learn from than one of the fastest guys here? :) :bowdown:
 
Mac K
I've been following you via your Facebook page for awhile now, but I'm glad you updated some stuff on here. Congrats! One thing I'd like to see mentioned if you're comfortable with sharing is your fitness routine, many drivers stress how important it is but I've barely heard or seen anyone ever talk about and what they do..
Click to expand...
ITCC_Andrew
This!!! :) 👍


I know that touring car/rally drivers don't face the same G-forces, but I'm still interested in preparing myself... Who better to learn from than one of the fastest guys here? :) :bowdown:
Click to expand...

Right, sorry about the delay! Didn't realize that I had been unwatching this thread for some reason. I'm not much of a workout guru so, I may not be able to explain this in the best way possible but, I'll give it my best shot!

I currently am on a 4 day a week around 2.5 hour to 3 hour program. I am on a lower formula tuned version of Kazuki Nakajima's current workout routine. My connection with Toyota was a great way for me to be able to work out with him!

  • Stretching (15min)
    • Basic stretch routine for any athlete
  • Non machine strength training (45min)
    • Walk, Jog, Walk, Jog
    • Hopping (Both Legs)
    • Walk
    • Hopping (Single Leg)
    • Walk
    • Hopping (Opposite Single Leg)
    • Walk
    • Crawl on ground like a bear
    • Walk
    • Hop on ground like a kangaroo/rabbit
    • Walk
    • Crawl on ground face up (Forwards and backwards)
    • Walk
    • Stair Climbing
    • Walk
    • Ladder Climbing
    • Walk
  • Machine Strength Training (30-45min)
    • Do all machines available with 3 sets of 15 reps
  • Bike Machine (30min)
    • Speed changes every minute to get your heart used to sudden changes in heart rate
  • Treadmill (30min)
    • Fast jog for a total of 27 minutes to try and adjust your heart to help keep it steady
  • Stretching (10min)
Hopefully that makes sense! I tried to the best of my ability to explain it. Twice a month we will also have days where we play a game of Basketball or Football (Soccer). This training program is honestly too much for even Formula 3 level of racing but, it is very good to make you extremely mentally strong. Being mentally strong is probably more important than being physically strong while at the wheel of a race car.
 
Wow, skipping the F3 car and going straight to the quick stuff? Awesome, best of luck to you. Those are two awesome tracks!
 
spooble
Awesome! Does the Auto GP series get any streaming coverage? It'd be cool to root you on. :)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about streaming coverage but, they are shown on Eurosport and are uploaded to YouTube at some point after the weekend.
 
Well, just not meant to be today I guess. Should have had a debut Podium but, my drive shaft broke before Lesmo 1 and I was unable to continue. Shame because I was in 4th at the time, and was just behind P3, whom which I was 8 tenths a lap quicker than. Was able to get fastest lap in my debut, which is impressive enough. The race coverage should be interesting because I made a 3 wide overtake into Turn 1 on the second lap.

Just need to focus on tomorrow, as I think with a good race strategy, top 3 is definitely possible.
 
P6 for yesterday. Should have had another podium but, my pit lane speed limiter was not working and lost 4 or 5 seconds in my pit stop because of it, which would have put me 4th, behind P3. Nearly set the fastest lap but, was beat by a driver that had a good toe.

Was a good debut weekend for sure but, really should have had two podiums, which would have been an eye opening debut weekend.

Some pictures from this weekend










 
So in summary, a great weekend plauged by mechanical issues? Eh, could have been worse. Hopefully things keep getting better from here. 👍
 
@Kamuifanboy The Auto GP cars are as I understand the Lola chassis originally used in the first couple seasons of A1GP. Now if that is the case, do you know the chassis of your car? Reason I ask is because several years ago I saw A1GP cars in a street demonstration - i'm wondering if your chassis might be one of the one's I saw....
 

Latest Posts

Back