F1 2011 XBOX 360 F12011 Mini Series - Spa (Belgium) - 21st of July 2013

[Steve Lambert]

Sign up now to take part in our F12011 mini series. Please sign up only if you know you can make the race. Please note: Licensed members only please. This is a monster of a track so do not miss this one...

Sunday 21st July 2013 - Lobby opens 7:15GMT, race start 7:30pm GMT
SPA – Belgium
Circuit de Spa Francorchamps
Lap Distance: 4.4 miles
Tyre Wear: 2/3
Downforce: 2/3
Break Wear: 1/3
Track Time: 1:55.000
City: Francorchamps
Country: Belgium
Official Name: Circuit de Spa Francorchamps

Race Distance: 100%
Weather: Dynamic
Rules: Full
Cars: Equal
Qualification + Race
Format: XBOX 360
Assists: ABS Banned, Racing Line Banned
Full RD rules apply
AI Legend will be used to fill the grid
Host: Bennyherbs

 

[Steve Lambert]

Steve Lambert / Warleb / HRT (please no power cuts)
Buck Parsons / buckshotbuck / Mercedes

 

[Ben Herbert]

Oh it is Spa

Ben Herbert/bennyherbs/Virgin

 

[Steve Lambert]

Just had 20 minutes practice around here. 1:42 on options no assists about 6 laps of fuel. So going to be interesting with a bit more practice. Need to show the big boys Martin and David what I can do. Here's hoping anyway lols....

 

[David O'Reilly]

See you there.
Steve I know its only a matter of time before I am looking up at you on the podium.
David O'Reilly/FigjamRacer/HRT

note to aspiring legends. Have a wet setup and a changeable setup and get some wet laps in.
We had an awesome 100%^ race here where we has dry, wet, dry, wet. (my first RD win)

Saying that what about a 100%???
Its only 44 laps and high average speed, only if others like the idea. But Spa and Monza are prob the quickest.

 

[Steve Lambert]

See you there.
Steve I know its only a matter of time before I am looking up at you on the podium.
David O'Reilly/FigjamRacer/HRT

note to aspiring legends. Have a wet setup and a changeable setup and get some wet laps in.
We had an awesome 100%^ race here where we has dry, wet, dry, wet. (my first RD win)

Saying that what about a 100%???
Its only 44 laps and high average speed, only if others like the idea. But Spa and Monza are prob the quickest.

100% is fine for me guys. It's a monster of a track and I think it would be cool to do it so I am in.

 

[Ben Herbert]

Yeah 100% is awesome, we had a 100% there not sure long tho.
Had a good battle with Webber I remember.

 

[Mark Torres]

Mark Torres / IxSLAYxSNIPES / Red Bull

Did a practice GP here earlier. Why are my options lasting 13 laps, but my primes only last 15 laps? Is it my setup?

Off topic, anyone interested in doing a co-op season with me? No assists, full realism, long weekend.

 

[Martin Ott]

Mark Torres / IxSLAYxSNIPES / Red Bull

Did a practice GP here earlier. Why are my options lasting 13 laps, but my primes only last 15 laps? Is it my setup?

I Hungary my options last 14 laps, my primes fall off by a second after just 5-7 laps.
Try stretching the options a little and you'll get an interesting strategy.

Martin Ott / ninja9011 / Williams

Hoping for a repeat of Canada.. not my best track.

 

[Martin Ott]

It's one of those track where I need forever to get a working setup.
I'll be getting "you're brakes are too cold, break harder the next couple of corners!" a lot again...
This is what I'm currently using:

Wings: 10/11

Brakes:
- Balace: 49/51
- Pressure: High
- Size: Small

ARBs: 1/6
Ride Height: 1/1
Springs: 4/1

Gears (McLaren Quick Race):
139
171
201
231
264
296
333

Camber: -3.5/-1.5
Toe: 0.09/0.32

Need to have a look at toe settings, and fine tuning the springs.
I'll keep editing this post.

Edit: Changed springs from 3/9 to 1/1, ARBs from 3/9 to 1/6. Still need to test, but the car feels more stable. The rear just doesn't want to do what I want it to.

Edit2: Setup finalized: Springs from 1/1 to 4/1.
Lower front spring will help in qualy. Higher toe might work better, test it yourself.

 

[Mark Torres]

Wings: 10/11

Brakes:
- Balace: 49/51
- Pressure: High
- Size: Small

ARBs: 3/9
Ride Height: 1/1
Springs: 3/9

Gears (McLaren Quick Race):
139
171
201
231
264
296
333

Camber: -3.5/-1.5
Toe: 0.09/0.32

Need to have a look at toe settings, and fine tuning the springs.
I'll keep editing this post.

How do you race with high brake pressure? If it is higher than low pressure for me, it locks up under heavy braking.

Also, how do you know if a wing setting of 10/11 is better than 11/11 or 10/10? That goes for all categories. Are you just consistent enough to be able to tell a discernible difference when you change a setting even a miniscule amount?

 

[Martin Ott]

How do you race with high brake pressure? If it is higher than low pressure for me, it locks up under heavy braking.

Also, how do you know if a wing setting of 10/11 is better than 11/11 or 10/10? That goes for all categories. Are you just consistent enough to be able to tell a discernible difference when you change a setting even a miniscule amount?

I have the problem that I can't run high pressure in 2012. In 2011 I can do it easy with the pad.
It's just practice I guess.

I can feel the differences, even if it is only one click, yes.
Usually 1-2 laps are enough to spot the difference.

 

[Martin Ott]

Setup finalized.

 

[Steve Lambert]

Setup finalized.

Damn you Martin. I will try to have some kind of impact but Carlos will be extremely jealous that I have damned you.

 

[Martin Ott]

Damn you Martin. I will try to have some kind of impact but Carlos will be extremely jealous that I have damned you.

Dunno, I feel faster than before, but this is really not a track I'm good at.
Might turn out like Canada, might not, who knows. At least I got a lot of practice in.

 

[Steve Lambert]

Dunno, I feel faster than before, but this is really not a track I'm good at.
Might turn out like Canada, might not, who knows. At least I got a lot of practice in.

I remember I was leading the old GP2 league when Karl, Chris and the other guys were racing and then crashed out after I got a bit to excited dreaming about my first RD win. I marked clearly on the map below just after turn 9. Easy to do so I hope I can avoid that this time round.

Looking forward to tonight though.

 

[Steve Lambert]

Thanks for the race guys. Got a good start from second and built up a nice lead. Changed to primes after the wet stint and I guess Martin went on options because he was closing the gap a second a lap. Then martin pitted again onto options so I went for primes again knowing I had a clean set of options when I needed them. But coming out on cold primes and then Eau Rouge caught me out. Should have shifted down to 6th but I had twitch at the top and that was it. Would have been an interesting battle with Martin but it never happened. Next time guys...

 

[Martin Ott]

I would've liked to play that out.. but it wasn't to be.
Was planning with 4 stops to your 3. Overtaking would've been hard, though, because I was running into the limiter early.

The second rain would've thrown anything out the window anyway.
It's nice you can stay longer on inters when it drys up and vice versa than in 2012. You can actually see your tyres overheating.. no such thing in 2012.

 

[Ben Herbert]

 

[David O'Reilly]

What a race guys. Drama, strategy, Rubens getting in the way and a desperate throw of the dice with 3 laps to go.

I was wishing Peter Hooper was racing as I figured he would try to push the boundaries anmd do a 2 stop using 2 sets of primes.

Quali: Binned it at Eau Rouge on my first hot lap. so last row of the grid for me. I figured "OK nice challenge and with full race distance more chance to get through". Then I saw Martin had sat out of quali to increase his challenge and start from the back row also.

36% wet was intruiging and I went for my dry setup with (almost) wet brake settings.

Race
It was a wet start on inters. Got an OK start and made a couple of places but Barrichello was very awkward after la Source and impatience cost my front wing. Pitting at the end of a very slow wingless lap 1.. Benny had a similar meeting with Rubens and was back there with me.but (I think) undamaged

Rain ceased and end lap 4 it was pits for dry tyres. My head was hurting as I tried to calculate the implications of choosing options or primes. As I was dead last I figured I needed pace and took options. This was going to be very interesting.

I decided I needed to be patient and play the long game so went mix 1 for sector 2 for the first 22 laps and mix 2 for the rest.
I chased down the pack and the non KERs teams were despatched quickly. Then came some epic fun with AI. hamilton was out opf position too so while I had caught him he was fast. Then his rear wing fell off at T1 and I waited for the off. he went ok for a while but went wide and had an emotional moment at Pouhon and I was through.

I saw Martin Ott setting fastest laps with pace -2 sec from mine. I wondered how long he would need to get the lead.
Durning this phase I had seen 2-3 AI have big offs incl Massa at Les Combes and a Sauber.
I was gradually catching up and at lap 15 I was P15.
Vettel was fast and made life hard. I took him under brakes into Les Combes by cheekily parking it on the apex. he was having none of it and hit my gearbox spinning me off the track. I set out in hot pursuit and a few laps later was on him with DRS into the same corner. Same again!!! this was now getting personal. I was expecting to see him serve a drive through. But as luck would have it he had damaged his wing on my gearbox. he had a big lose (on pouhon again) enough for a yellow flag.

My second stop and more options was at lap 16 or so and soon the engineer announced more rain. It looked like my tyres would make it if only just.
They held and at lap 31 I took inters.
At lap 22 I was still +3 laps fuel so it was time to spend the surplus! So used mix 3 for sectors 3 and 1 and mix 1-2 for sector 2.

Some AI were a bit late to pit for inters and anyone who has been frustrated by AI pace on damp track on options would have loved sector 2 of my outlap on inters as I passed about 5 AI floundering on options with no grip at all.

I was now in P3 with only Mark and Martin ahead. Mark had 31 sec in hand and with a wet track was it do-able?
For about 7 laps I took 2 secs per lap , was a I a wet weather god? but at -17 sec his lead stablised. It seems he had unintentionally left it on mix 1. The engineer predicted drying weather in 10 mins which sounded like lap 40. Could be interesting. It stopped raining at about lap 39-40 but on a damp track the inters were not overheating just yet. Then at the end of lap 41 Mark exited the pits beside me on his brand new options.
The track was not yet totally dry and his cold options looked a handful.

My mind was racing, his options were going to get a lot faster quite soon and my inters by contrast were about to head the other way.
End lap 42 I had a few seconds but Mark was gaining fast.
The inters were holding up ok but this wasn't going to last. One thing was for sure, pitting would hand him P2 so it was time to throw the dice, I stayed out on the inters. Start of lap 44 and Mark was all over me. It was my first time in an on track battle with Mark and I didnt know what to expect. I too a very defensive line and dived for every apex. He was on my gearbox keeping it clean but his opportunity would have to come soon. At Paul Frere (T14) my tyres felt like chewing gum and I slid wide and Mark wqas through. The fight was over, the gamble unsuccessful! but then in his efforts to avoid contact Mark had cut the corner and was penalised 20 sec. I cruised home and crossed the line in P3 but the 20 sec penalty gifted me P2.
Benny meantime had made it back into the points and Steve had sadly overcooked it on his prime outlap.

So guys, another Belgian thriller. Wet, Dry, Wet, Dry.
Crashing in quali and last row start, crashing on opening lap and a superb challenge to be overcome.
So much fun, just glad we did it.
Thanks for organising it Steve.