Season 8 Race 9 BARCELONA GP Race Report

[Tim McIver]

Disastrous incident to report...

I slept through the race.

I haven’t been able to bring myself to even come to the forums since. I do apologise for missing the event without notice, but believe me when I say no one is more disappointed than me. To miss any race would be a big disappointment but there’s not many races I had been looking forward to more than this one. My whining for rain has been well documented, I was well prepared, and I suspect would have been quite competitive, though we’ll never know.

The alarm seemed to be set right. I still don’t know what happened. There will be more than one alarm set for all future races. I’ll watch the replay of the race and read through all the race reports and hope that we see the rain again!

Congrats to Reik, Anthony and Marko. And thanks to Anthony for the several calls and texts to try and wake me, my phone will also no longer be on silent on race nights.

I look forward to Monaco. I may not sleep before then. Sorry again for the no show.

Tim.

 

[Reik Major]

I'm feeling very sorry for you Tim.

I owe you all a race report. Hope to get it done soon. Just need some more time in one piece to write it well...

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

Here is my last stint where I get the pleasue of passing Andy and Kurt almost at the same time. I put on super softs at the start of the clip

 

[Sean Greenlaw]

Ye sorry you werent there Tim .
Nice passing Nico

 

[Reik Major]

Very nice passes Nico! I've been on softs at this time. The slicks had a good advantage as long as you could hold the racing line. Was tricky but also a pleassure to drive it this way.

PS: Looks like the rainy weather caused you to overlook the long pit exit line(?)...

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

PS: Looks like the rainy weather caused you to overlook the long pit exit line(?)...

I noticed this myself when I made the video. I think the brutal truth is that if we have not mentioned anything about the pit-line before the race, I do not consider it. If someone was to ask me after the race if I crossed it or not I would not know the answer until I checked.

 

[Scott Webber]

Normally when one tends to be in a intense fight for a race, you sometimes completely forget, it happens ... it's called enjoying yourself, no harm done no1 was coming out the pit.

 

[Reik Major]

I noticed this myself when I made the video. I think the brutal truth is that if we have not mentioned anything about the pit-line before the race, I do not consider it. If someone was to ask me after the race if I crossed it or not I would not know the answer until I checked.

No problem and no offence at all! Just wanted to underline that we all are human beings.

Scott is right - no harm done, so everyting's fine. It's just meant as a little reminder by me, that on other occasions leaving the pit lane too early could be a safety issue.

 

[Andy Paries]

Here is my last stint where I get the pleasue of passing Andy and Kurt almost at the same time. I put on super softs at the start of the clip

Nice video mate

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

I know there was no offence intended Reik I think the point I wanted to raise is that I unconsciously regarded crossing the pit exit line as not braking the rules if

a) It is safe to do so
and
b) That we have not agreed that we must honer that line before the race

 

[Vincenzo Cavaliere]

yes Vince is possible have a new helmet but need someone with Nvidia card (more plugin for read dds file) and Photoshop or similar than a good boy that do the work

Valerio, Thanks for your anwers, but I don't know how make this.. is posible download from here some helmet ready and how can I to Change actually?

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

If it's for only your screen, you can change the original helmet. You can find it in for ex ferrari: Steam\steamapps\[user]\race 07\GameData\Teams\MAK_Corp\F107LE\Ferrari\Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro\07005_arai1.dds and 07005_arai2.dds (that's for driver 1, driver 2 has 07006 prefix)

If you want the rest of us to see it, then you need to do a customskin for it. All textures in Race07 are interchangeable and won't affect online functionality, only the names of those textures need be the same, the game won't be checking the actual content.

You need Photoshop and NVidia plugins but you don't need to have NVidia card...

 

[Reik Major]

I know there was no offence intended Reik I think the point I wanted to raise is that I unconsciously regarded crossing the pit exit line as not braking the rules if

a) It is safe to do so
and
b) That we have not agreed that we must honer that line before the race

Don't worry mate. I really don't care about such things. I just liked to banter you...

 

[Reik Major]

First of all big congrats to Anthony for a great 2nd place and to Marko in 3rd ! Of course every finishing driver is a winner in these conditions! Well done everyone!

Qualify (1st):

The actual in game conditions said "wet" and the forecast said "heavy rain". I looked "out of the window" to see my XD overlay showing "W" for wet conditions. (None XD overlay users should know that "W" ranges from light rain intensity where slicks are still ok up to heavy rain where full wets are required. ) So I gambled to take wets, which proved to be the best choice. I just had to make the out lap a little bit slow so the tires wouldn’t overheat in the timed lap.

I tried to take it easy and smooth in the flying lap. Finally I didn’t make big mistakes and was able to drive it on pole.

Race (1st):

I didn’t have many fights on track but nevertheless it was a very exciting race due to changing rain intensity. So I’ll tell the story from a view on the strategy during the race.

From the practice starts it was clear to start the race on intermediates and the forecast said it would continue raining. So I started the race with intermediates and 47 litres fuel scheduling for the following 3 stopper:

Stop 1 (lap 13): intermediates / 45 litres (for 13 laps)
Stop 2 (lap 26): intermediates / 45 litres (for 13 laps)
Stop 3 (lap 39): intermediates / 45 litres (for 13 laps)

Finally the following list is the strategy which developed in the race due to decreasing and increasing rain intensity twice. I don’t remember exactly how much I sometimes altered the fuel manually, because it was hard to calculate and make the changes whilst driving.

Stop 1 (lap 15): intermediates / ~ 40 litres (for ~ 12 laps to stay in sync with 3 stop strategy)
Stop 2 (lap 26): softs / 60 litres (for 17 laps)
Stop 3 (lap 36): intermediates / ~ 30 litres (for at least 16 laps to finish)
Stop 4 (lap 44): softs / no fuel

Stint 1:
I had a good start controlling the wheel spin well. Vincenzo in 2nd and the next following cars did well too, so I stayed in the middle of the track when braking for T1 to defend a little bit. I slightly missed the entry of T1 but Vince coming from the outside was aware of my reduced corner speed and couldn’t benefit because I had the better position for the following left hander. Thanks for not pushing me Vince!

I opened a little gap to Vince, Anthony and Marko and got used to the rainy conditions. I had planed for a 3 stopper, because I didn’t expect the intermediates to last 17 to 18 laps to make a 2 stopper. But I avoided too much sliding, so they lasted longer than the expected 13 laps. I pitted in the end of lap 15 then.

Stint 2:
The conditions had not changed so I left the pits with inters again and a slightly reduced fuel amount. I had lost the lead to Vince because he pitted few laps later. Then I took the lead again after his stop.

Everything went smooth for a few laps but then the rain intensity decreased. It still was a long way to go in this stint but the left side tyres got hotter and hotter. Finally my XD overlay showed “H” for “humid” now and the car was sliding more and more on cooking intermediates, so I had to pit in the end of lap 26.

Stint 3:
I knew it would have been too early to switch back from the 3 stopper to a 2 stopper. So I chose my preset with soft tyres and 60 liters fuel just to go out and “wait” how the weather would develop.

Leaving the pits I had Marko in front now who took the lead by a few seconds when I was stopping. Driving on slicks was a little bit tricky because it was crucial to hit the racing line everywhere otherwise the car would slide much. But on the line the grip was better. So I quickly closed the gap on Marko and pass him after one or two laps.

I quickly opened a gap to Marko but then the rain increased again around lap 31 or so. Now it was really dangerous and challenging on softs but if I wanted to drive until the end with intermediates again I still had to stay out for some laps. Otherwise the last stint would be too long.

My lap times dropped badly so in the end of lap 36 I pitted for my third regular stop to get inters again, only 10 laps after the second regular stop. But all was still in sync with the planed strategy.

Stint 4:
I think I left the pits still being in the lead but Marko wasn’t far away. The fresh inters worked well to increase the gap to Marko but then after only 2 or 3 laps it started drying again. Of course the inters were quickly cooking again and there where still some laps to go.

I was afraid of loosing all so I made a quick extra stop only to take fresh softs in the end of lap 44.

Stint 5:
I exited the pits only a few seconds behind Marko again. Both times when I was behind him in the race I was on slicks and had some grip advantages on the racing line. So after some corners I could again take the lead when he went a little wide.

The last 8 laps on the track were big fun. To stay concentrated I pushed as much as I could and drove the fastest race lap in the third last lap.

Finally I’m very happy about that victory and the changing weather was really challenging.

Big thanks to Nico, RD and all the nice drivers here.

(Sorry for this very late report!)