Test Race Hungaroring 24th July

[David Turnbull]

we'll just go with what nico has set out on the server instead of any last minute changes, usual presto times, 7pm practise starts uk time 8pm qualifying, there will be no practise starts tonight, strategy according to grid position again or another suggestion?

sorry havent got to this sooner, been suffering with toothache not long back from getting the bad boy taken out hopefully i wont be slabbering too much over myself during the race, my face still is quite numb

 

[Alberto Casado]

My first presto race and I finished... last, but finished! I was kind of expecting to botch it somewhere but I surprised myself holding all the way. I barely had even twitchy moments.

Aside of that, my pit limiter went on (does it always go on? It is actually first race without pit speed rules for me) and I did not have a key binding for it, so I wasted about 10 seconds on each pit.

Strategy was 100, 35, 35 fuel. Started last, but overtook Kennett and Valerio on the start. After a couple of laps they overtook me and started pulling away. I did not expect to catch up any more, but Kennett had a rubber eating setup that allowed me to get near him at the end of first stint. He pitted before me, but then I got my +10 seconds on the next lap, so again was far behind.

Then, by the end of second stint, again caught up with him and overtook in the chicane making that my highlight of the race, and for a while I was not last. But all good things have an end, and yet again another +10 seconds set me back to last. The last stint was much shorter (8 laps?), so I could just hold behind at ~15 s

I toyed with the idea of switching to a one stopper on the fly, but I have not plugged the shifter and my lack of wheel buttons does not allow for much pit strategy editing.

Quite happy for my first race, anyway.

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

A bit troubled race, had all wrong setup.. Went for lower downforce and that was clearly wrong choice. It ate my tires, had to start frantically dialing pit menu and sswitching to two stopper. I had to also calculate new fuel consumption, i have to edit xd.ini to show expected laps/ last lap consumption... So i had to switch from agreed pitstops of one to one that could make me see the finishline. After 75% my setup was undriveable, with 22/27 wings

Made a small calculating error, put 54 liters on lap 15 (i think) and then some laps before the end put 20l. I had plenty when crossing the line but some of that is due to slower pace than expected too, i lost all feeling in the right foot by lap 18, it was sooo undriveable, slipping and sliding all over the place.. Turn 3, that long sweeping downhill to 2nd straight.. had to lift after lap 6 on each stint, lost traction on the rear end.

So i got experience, doesn't help a lot deciding race length. For me, today was still 6 laps too long but it tells you only that i can fail miserably trying to go too fast.

Qualy length: PERFETTO!!

I went out after 1s of green light. Pack was still shuffling on the last corner even when i left plenty of room, at least 400m to next car and i was next to last on track. Did 2 attempts, second one was better and starting third attempt there was 1:50min on the clock. Third attempt on same tire set most likely is not gonna improve anything unless one really failed the first two. What i heard was that two separate attempts was succesful too in that timeframe. Traffic slowed me at least 20s, just about managing tire temps was a challenge. That all left enough margins for both tactics to be used but not enough for to be abused (1hotlap+2 hotlaps+1outlap+1hotlap which is really far away from one attempt solo hotlap we had previously...). Personally, leaving this sofa to start qualy often leads to speeding to direction=toilet and relieving myself ... In this age one does not simply walk to mordor when rushed, if you catch my drift?

Did everyone wait for green light?

 

[Dino Paolini]

Q: Not so great, first lap was ok for a first lap, except last sector; and second lap had a bad 2nd sector already and wasn't good either -> p4

R: I tried 1 stop because I did the opposite last time, even though I knew from practice stints that the end of the stints will be really slow.
Had a good first stint in my opinion with mostly stable times, but my tires went under 50% already on lap 18...
Second stint started the same, but as I saw Reik and Helder already coming out in front after their 2nd stops I was a bit demotvated as I hadn't expected this super fast pitstops for some reason.
Rest of the stint was a bit slower with some more mistakes this time. Tried to defend David a little bit, when he reached me, , but that wasn't gonna work for long obviously ;(

As I did not get held up today neither did I have bigger mistakes, I atleast know what's not going to work on this track (hint: 1 stopper^^).

 

[Valerio Vinassa]

another fun event I had a good pace this evening and with 2pits I found right solution for qualify I used Sean setup thanks mate I did my pb for race always Sean setup with some cilck here and there.Tragedy at start I was sleeping from 8th to 11th so for gain again my position I did some good battle with Alberto and Kennett after this I was behind Bob but always at 1-1,5sec.
but at the end of race I was in front ( pit CHAOS Bob ).
I must say sorry to David when he passed me I thought I leave the inside free (believe right line) for pass but a misunderstood is happen and think one inch for a contact I would be sorry to ruin your race.

Congratulations to Reik Helder David and all finishers

after 2 test 2xtires is nice


Alberto you can set a button for limiter in the game menu of sterring wheel or keyboard

 

[Alberto Casado]

Alberto you can set a button for limiter in the game menu of sterring wheel or keyboard

I know, guess which button I remapped to "pit menu select" just for this race...

 

[David Turnbull]

great race all

qualifying - 3rd

pretty slow lap, waited for my name to drop down the list but it didnt happen so happy with 3rd.

enjoyed the timed session more this time as it at least gave 2 runs at full pace, i liked kennetts suggestion on server too of adding a minute or two here and there for the longer tracks.

race - 3rd

decent start, held my position against dino at the first corner, managed to stay with helder and reik all through the first stint, i messed up my first pit which put me a good bit behind the front 2 but allowed me free track to set about staying 3rd overall, my second pit went alot better and i left the pits 8.5 seconds behind dino on lap 29, i started catching dino at about .7 per lap and then had a small incident with vale which put me back to about 8-9 seconds, i finally managed to catch and pass dino on lap 35/36? and finished the race 6 seconds roughly in front of dino, i was 20 odd seconds behind the leaders though which for the second test race in a row they totally dominated, grats reik and helder

all in some good testing done, if the vote was now id say x2 tyre wear as it opens the possibilities of varying strategies at some track, but if nothing else it makes it more exciting with 2 stop races, more chance for mistakes or differing fuel loads for light and heavy stints, just more involvement on the whole.

cya all at the next practise race which is monza.

p.s no problemo vale all is good

 

[Helder Filipe]

Hungaroring Report

After giving a few laps in the circuit, the first time with F3000, I adapted well to Sean's setup few days ago, but tonight in practice before the Qualify, i put my car heavy on fuel and realize that are a little bit oversteering, and try to do some changes, and i can say i down even more the Splitter and Wings, but can compensate it with some bumps/rebounds/springs and it feels perfect, just try it at the end of the Practice with less fuel and feels good...lets to Qualify, and still without all confidence with setup changes dont push it to the limit i believe, but, 1:29.7** the pole for few tenths from Reik!

Race...Well what can i say about this Race!?
Never seen before a pace so close so similar, with 2 stops my mind was like "full attack" just after green light and i can a impressive pace i believe the problem was that Reik was here and never pulls down, so all the time looking for the limit, and more than that was really infernal, at the end i lost with pit-stops a little bit slower than Reik...arf

Wasn't a spectacular fight to watch in the outside, but i believe both of us was one of the best races close close to the perfection i believe, getting all from the car, a satisfaction for a driver/simracer, that is all about what we are always looking for, the very best, every track!

To finish, is just me that feels a better Reik with F3000, anh!?
Nice pre-season Reik i believe you feels now better with F3000 handling, and find something to be even more competitive...now returning to "old times", now we are the competitives and you the reference ... Well, well, well we will find out very soon!

With all the conviction of a even better disputed Championship!

 

[Reik Major]

I agree Helder. That was one of the best and hardest races I've ever had. You pushed me extremely to my limits. So I have big respect how close you sometimes chased me in my dirty air without getting in trouble.

Qualy (2nd):

Started quickly (without waiting for green - hope it's ok) and immediately put in my best laptime, because for the second run I put myself too much under pressure so I couldn't improve my 1:29:7xx which was only a few hundreds(!) away from Helders pole time.

Race (1st):

2 stops - 66 / 50 / 50 liters (reserve after finishing 40 laps 5,1 liters)

Me and all the surrounding cars had similar good starts and entered T1 very well, so we held our starting positions (Helder 1st, Reik 2nd, David 3rd, ...). Helder immediately seemd to push hard and open a very small gap growing to 1 - 2 seconds. David made pressure on me through the first stint. I also attacked as good as possible and found my rhythm after a few laps.

Not sure if it was the end of lap 13 or 14 but when Helder and David stopped I did one more quick lap due to more starting fuel and pitted then. Stop worked very well and when leaving the pits I saw Helder coming very close to me. By luck I already owned the inside line and was able to defend my position through the next corners. That was really hard.

We had a few 1 stoppers in front at that moment. One of them was Duco (in 3rd I guess). Unfortunately he made a mistake in front of me and Helder. Hope it wasn't because of us. When the 1 stoppers pitted I was back in the lead with Helder chasing me close all the time. I tryed hard to open a small gap before last stop, because I was afraid he could've carried more fuel in first or second stint to make a shorter stop.

Finally, when Helder made his last stop, I made my stop one lap later again to hopefully cover my position. The stop was perfect again and I could hold P1 by 1 or 2 seconds. The last stint was pure pushing again to hold that very small gap to helder. And finally I could win the race with this small gap (~1,5 seconds).

Big Thanks to all I lapped for being very carefull at this small track.

As a conclusion from the last two tests I like to mention again that I have no problem that tyre wear 2x makes the 2 stop strategy the common one in general. I think it adds to the thrill to have more pit stops and variations in fuel loads for the stints and timing of the stops. This could create many cool racing situations even if most drivers aim for two stops. And there might be those forgiving tracks (and weather situations) where a 1 stopper could become the hero and benefit from taking more risk. Don't forget that our fields in the tests were small, so also a bigger grid will influence everything...

 

[Duco Jansen]

I was completely boiled last night.
The weather is so hot over here and the room was like a sauna last night. I knew I was never going to finish the race but at least I tried.

Quali

I did 2 flying laps which were all bad. p6, 0.8s from pole. I really should have been within 0.3s, but nevertheless it's an improvement over last time at Bahrain where the difference was 1.4s. Those last 3 tenths is probably down to tyre pressures (I hope )

Race

I had some wheelspin but didn't seem to start that badly but lost a few places going into turn 1, because I was on the inside. Then I was p8 but was at least 2 seconds a lap faster than the guys in front of me, but couldn't pass. Then, at some point I T-boned I think it was Sean going into the chicane. I was completely caught out by his early braking. When he turned in I had nowhere to go and hit him. My apologies, hope you didn't have that much damage.
My felt felt okay on high fuel and I could brake so much later than everyone in front of me.
At lap 17 my temperature reached a high and I crashed into the wall in that fast left hander where Massa crashed a few years ago. I lost it on the curb, coming out of the corner and went left in the wall.

Just like Bahrain, the tyres didn't feel that bad. The rears were going off slowly. It's probably the fuel difference that makes the 2 stop strategy faster.

 

[Reik Major]

I was completely boiled last night.
The weather is so hot over here and the room was like a sauna last night.

Where are you from? It's hot in Germany, too and going to become even more hot. I think I had ~27°C in the room and was sweating like hell.

 

[Duco Jansen]

From Holland.

The temps outside were fine but upstairs it was very hot. My tv and computer also produce a lot of heat.

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

One thing i noticed; we didn't do starting practices this time due to time limits (i guess). I had no idea how the concertino effect would be so my lightning start of 2 positions jumped was hampered by not really knowing how the grid behaves in turn 1. . . I think i started braking 100m too soon, that's a gross misjudgement, there are safety issues braking too early.

Nice to see how much it affects, us at the back really need those practise starts if you want us to have any kind of safe racing. Usually the back rows take from the line as quickly as can, try to find enough room before braking very early but usually we know where we have to brake so we do it at same place. The lane we choose, we keep that and sometimes we gain or loose when concertino effect makes some lanes crowded and some empty. The competition is "on" from the start just like it should be. So we can race up to +150m brake distance fine, apply long brakes and slot calmly in to place. This all demands predictability, consistency.

Without practice starts mistakes would've happened.. And if we mess up, we mess up the whole event.. Very rarely it happens, i think that is evidence from practice starts doing it's magic

 

[David Turnbull]

how many practise starts do they have in real racing kennett?

last night it was purely because nico wasnt there and to do 3 practise starts wouldve ment everyone voting the sessions through 3 times, then again to start qualifying, that was too much to expect everyone to put up with so we left them out, no biggy though, i dont think there was any incidents at turn 1, maybe now we could scrap the practise starts altogether and treat it like we should by taking it easy into turn 1 because at anytime (even with practise starts) the unexpected could happen.

i think you done the right thing kennett by braking earlier than you would normally, you did it because you obviously anticipated the field bunching up, this is whats supposed to happen, your not supposed to know everything that will happen to a set routine, theres no point racing then,

EDIT: can we actually test this at the next practise race at monza? thinking about this more we could use the time from practise starts to add to the race, roughly 8-10 mins? we should be able to do starts without any or much incidents i mean we've only been driving together 5 years plus if theres no practise starts and were straight into the race after warmup then surely everyone will be extra cautious? another thing is, if we could manage it at turn 1 monza, we should be able to handle it anywhere?

 

[Sean Greenlaw]

Great fun guys grats Reik and podium!

I thought Id go 1 stop to think front people would have went 2, ok start took me a while to get running had some great fun early with Richard doing great defending from me n each time id just get position he would just scrape back passed, inside t1 to outside t2 is hard move to pull off also with Duco right behind. Nps I was fine to Duco I was also braking slight early with Richard close ahead .
Rest of the race I was just driving around kind of slow with a few small mistakes still enjoyable though on my own.

 

[Richard Hill]

I hade great fun it was my best race so far I think I might be getting use to thes cars.

Congratulations to the podium and was great what I saw of reik and helder as they lapped me and sped off

Quali was the first time I improved on my pb from practice in any race with these cars and qualified 7th

The race
My start was brilliant no wheel spin and gained 2 places with Sean right behind me. That's when the highlight of my race started. Sean was very quick and so was duco my mirrors were full of both of them. I knew they would get through but I wasn't going to make it easy for them. I wasn't fully happy with my brakes it's one thing I need to work on. So I feel slightly to blame for Sean and duco's incident. I loved every minute of it very hard and fair. The rest of my race was just pushing as hard as I could as I started to struggle with the tyres bob was catching. I went for a 2stop but my Second one I overshot and lost abit of ground. Was really hot in my room too and was sweating all the way through came out the pits behind bob and was trying to catch him.

Great result for me personally was pushing from lights to flag.

See you all on track soon

 

[Kennett Ylitalo]

They got plenty of footage in real life to know exactly where to brake and how the field progresses thru corners.. I like the practice starts so much as it gives everyone an idea what will happen and possible places where you need take care and solutions to prevent accidents when one does lock brakes at the wrong place.. We know where to expect danger.

Wouldn't change that, it easily one of the strongest features in this league, the one which separates it from all others. I know, it's a bit of a bummer where it resides now, between practice and qualy, not actually very intuitive order but nothing we can do about that..Manual grid is out of question, it'll never work in that time-frame.

If we extend race length, two stopper is the solution for every track. IMHO that 62min and 7 min qualy sounds good combo, it's 1h 10min of driving like a maniac.

EDIT Maybe 2 practice start instead of one, we usually learn everything we need from those and the third is just confirmation. The inlap is crucial too, we get to see who has to brake before the line.

 

[Valerio Vinassa]

2x tire wear
62min and 7 min qualy
2 practice start ( not less is pure fun practice start )

looks interesting next season

PS........i mean we've only been driving together 5 years ...you're right, we should be able but lol David

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

I think we receive double value for our practice starts. Not only do we prepare the grid for this highly challenging and voulnerable part of the race close before the race starts. Possibly more importantly we boost our total experience in race starts.

If we take David as an example, without practice starts, David would have around 100 starts at Presto GP under his belt, which would make him very skilled. However, due to our tradision of 3 practice starts, David have 300-400 starts under his belt, which makes him into an absolute expert.

1st lap incidents are racing league cancer, and I think our practice starts have served us very well. I do think we should continue with this, if not for the benifit of the long running members, than for the new drivers with less 1st lap experience.

 

[David Turnbull]

point taken, lets forget that idea then