Diego Arati

What’s Coming Up? 201902, Munich B (Broadcast Dates 28 and 29 Jul 2018)

Believe it or not, the most interesting part of this week’s episodes comes in the setup one.

Don’t expect to read that sentence too often on these pages.

UFOs. Bigfoot. Having the EXACT SAME, TO THE PIXEL, needle location in different stints yielding two different feedback results.

There are believers, and there are sceptics.

In this weekend’s episode, we offer the most convincing video evidence since that fuzzy, out of focus video of Bigfoot that came to light in the 1970’s.

No, not about the existence of UFOs – about the exact same needle location yielding an Excellent in one stint, and a Great in another one.

But first in the leadup episode, there is good news, bad news and ugly news. We look at all three types.

We think about the question of team orders, their benefits and their drawbacks.

What do we think about Amanda Cavalcanti? What does Sara think about her?

The pedal is dropping on part production. It’s still not fast enough, but we’re getting there. However conditional components cause us some sleepless nights.

We get well and truly done over on the slot 4 sponsorship deal. Hey, what’s new?

On the other hand, Max Porter learns the art of praise which makes a refreshing change from the last couple of years.

Finally, we contemplate the weekend appearances of both Maxes.

Kirkus puts out a tweet and gets a “pretty damn cool” reaction to it as real life collides with gameplay.

In the practice episode we get done over by the weather (again), and discover evidence for the Motorsport Manager equivalent of Bigfoot, as discussed above.

In the race itself, if you’re expecting a repeat of the one-two finish from the last race? It ain’t gonna happen. With our current strategy race 2 is and shall forever be our low water mark of a season.

And to a lesser extent, race 3.

Still, we’re a better team than we have been in the past and we are not devoid of either rabbits, or hats to pull them out of.

How many rabbits? Grab a refreshing beverage of choice, settle back, and yell ‘GO LITTLE MAX!” or “GO SARA!”, according to preference.

Both, if you like.

What’s Coming Up? 201810, Black Sea A Preview (Broadcast Dates 30 Jun and 1 Jul 2018)

The last race of the season, and only 5 points in it. Everything is there to be won, everything is there to be lost. Luck vs skill; which one will get you through and when? We ponder this thought, but find no comfort here.

The pit crew resembles the aftermath of a football brawl. Kirkus takes what he has left, assembles a half-decent collection, and hopes for the best.

Where’s Waldo?

Who?

Exactly.

We take a fresh look at the role of reserve drivers, and how to exploit them for fun and profit.

But then we return to the vexed question of why the factory does not seem to generate as many improvement points / percent as it claims it does, and explore a new theory on the subject.

Unfortunately the mystery continues. We ask the devs to throw us a bone on this, but whether they will…

Freddie finally gets to see his own bed for the first time in 11 months. Whether anyone else is in it when he gets home is a question which is yet to be answered. Probably not because he’s later out blabbing to Luke Finlay-Maxwell.

Gary rolls the dice on upgrading our production parts, then has to cut and run to the carry over parts.

Winston Margate is still hovering around first position in the APS. He’s harder to get rid of than flies at a barbecue. In the WMC, things are looking grim for the Italians. Can they stage a comeback, or will the Germans get their revenge on the rest of the world for their World Cup debacle?

Silvia’s scouting centre continues to yield a bountiful harvest of deadbeats and people who aren’t prepared to talk to us.

Tyres and Black Sea don’t mix. We contemplate a way to work around this.

Ernie Heckelrock attempts to butter Kirkus up to try to help buffer him from being “Blattered”. Unfortunately butter is a little cheap to buy Kirkus.

All this and maybe a little more coming up in the leadup to the final race of virtual 2018 at the Black Sea.

What’s Coming Up? 201808, Tondela C Preview (Broadcast Dates 16 and 17 Jun 2018)

Is Kirkus a genius? More to the point, is Kirkus going to tell the world that he’s a genius? Or would that cause him to look in a mirror and see Gomes’ reflection?

We look into the mysteries of how potential pit crew candidates are selected. We don’t exactly reach a conclusion, but find some things to chew over for the future.

Kirkus faces an ethical dilemma in salary negotiations, and to his surprise finds that he apparently has some. Naturally Max provides vital relationship counselling in his ultra-diplomatic way.

Freddie sees the light at the end of the tunnel as he constructs the last of the production parts for this year, and moves on to the carry over parts. After that he may actually get to see his own bed for the first time in 11 months.

We contemplate the tyre usage at Tondela and find that my report to Kirkus is 10% hope and 90% fantasy on that point.

Sara takes to the road on 2 wheels, and Silvia will settle for as many wheels as she can get to get away from Kirkus’ glare after we find out that the level 2 scouting centre has been a very expensive bust.

Once again we face the thorny question of how far we’re prepared to back ourselves with our sponsor choices. As usual the answer is “Well” and “Maybe” with a layer of “but”.

All that and probably a bit more in the leadup episode to race 8 in Tondela, Portugal.

What’s Coming Up? 201807, Guildford A Preview (Broadcast Dates 09 and 10 Jun 2018)

The Leadup

Sara apparently turned champagne into a deadly weapon, if one is to believe a priggish town council representative. Kirkus deals with the fallout.

We do a post mortem on Munich and contemplate the choice of staying out on the wrong tyres vs coming in for an extra refuelling pit, looking at some data centre numbers from Munich.

Celebration time! Silvia’s level 2 scouting centre arrives. Was it worth the $5 million? We’ll see. Unfortunately her scouting on pit crew, well…

At least we’re not paying the amount for drivers that ONE team is. Which one? Tune in and see!

In the sordid world of motorsport politics, we look at whether suspension systems will be made spec for 2019, leaving only three parts (engine, brakes and gearbox) being able to be developed. Just by coincidence, those are Freddie’s three strong suits. How do you think we’ll vote?

Freddie, Gary and Kirkus hatch a devious plan to get a new part into use early using one of Freddie’s custom components.

We sign on another new sponsor, and yet again get less than we had been. The A sponsors are for the most part out there in 2019.

And at the end of all that we pack our galoshes, raincoats and umbrellas, and board a BA flight to Heathrow.

Before The Lights

Nobody is getting out of here in only 2 pits.

Lightning flashes, thunder roars, and the odds of at least one crash are very short indeed.

At least in the GT series you have a roof, a nice comfy heater and a stereo system to tune into the latest hits.

In an open wheeler, there’s nothing but Nomex and a helmet between you and the delightful English weather.

What’s Coming Up? 201806, Munich A Preview (Broadcast Dates 02 and 03 Jun 2018)

The Leadup

FAKE NEWS! The media start scurrilous rumours about a rift between Martino Pozzi of Silva and Kirkus after race 5 in the Ardennes. While it is true that we will be crushing his team mercilessly under our wheels and turning their dreams of glory to ashes in their mouths, it’s nothing personal. We plan to do that to everyone.

Who pays a quarter of a million for a day spa treatment? Or worse, gets someone else to pay it for them? I’ll give you one guess.

It’s not Freddie, who is so busy churning out parts that he looks like a Meccano factory. And telling Kirkus that he ought to sack the mechanics, which Kirkus responds to in his usual warm and fatherly way. If your father happens to be Don Corleone in a particularly foul mood.

Ebony Tyler seems confused about the number zero, and runs the very real risk of Kirkus making a series of TM1 Nybbles on mathematical theories.

Kirkus reveals that “Yes, Virginia, there really IS a Scuderia Quantistica web site.” (But if you’re here, you already know that.)

We need to look at two sponsor deals and are reminded painfully that more stars do not mean a better sponsor.

Before The Lights

Her lips parted as her breath, slightly heavier than usual, departed her body. Warm, wet breath. Her heart beat slightly, just slightly faster, and she thought that she could feel her own pulse, but perhaps she was just imagining it. She knew that she was being watched, but that no longer bothered her. Let them watch. Let them admire. They were relatively harmless.

“By t’skull of Brian Boru, it’s bloody rainin’ again”, she muttered under her breath as she slammed her visor down. “Every bloody time we come t’Munich in August, it bloody rains!”

She could see Gomes a couple of cars ahead of her and smiled slightly. Gomes, she knew, would be feeling even more apprehensive about the rain than she was, given its potential to wreak havoc on his hairdo.

She thought about her team. There was Kirkus in the pit lane, eyes locked on the telemetry readouts from her and Gomes’ cars. She hoped that he’d keep an eye on the tyre temps this time. Max wasn’t there; he rarely was when they came to Munich. Right now he would be lying next to a wood fire in a traditional Bavarian beer hall, surrounded by empty beer steins and empty plates which once held schnitzels and strudel. He would be upside down and snoring.

Gary was looking around the pit crew, offering a word of encouragement here and there, and kicking Tayaji in the butt every time he sat down.

Rachel chewed nervously on her thumbnail, and kept looking at the pit board. Without a forecasting centre, Kirkus would have to be working out the pits on the fly. She preferred the certainty of a dry race. Actually she’d prefer it if Kirkus would shell out for a forecasting centre. However he explained the financial realities of that at the last staff meeting which, like most staff meetings, were like getting a dressing down from Don Corleone.

Freddie wasn’t here, Sara knew. He was back at the Design Centre in Rome. Sure, she wanted her new suspension, but she felt a twinge of uncertainty about whether a human being was designed to spend 8 months inside a building without ever seeing the sun the way Freddie had. Kirkus had promised to build a level 2 centre next year. She hoped that it at least had a skylight.

Of course, that assumed that any of them were still working at Scuderia Quantistica next year to see it. Their contracts expired at the end of the year and Kirkus had not spoken to any of them about it yet. When they asked Max, he’d just go and get his rubber ball and drop it at their feet for them to throw for him. The huddled conversations in a corner between Kirkus, Max and Silvia probably meant something… but what?

She’d have to survive the race first. “Bloody rain…” she repeated, as the support crews started to move away from the cars.

European Racing Series, 2018 Team Rosters

Having trouble remembering who is in which team as you’re watching the episodes? I’ve prepared this quick reference guide to help you out!

Yes, it might be better in a table, but tables tend to spill over into the right pane so we need to play around with our site style a little more.

Faith Anthony , F, United States, 28 Feb 1982, Octane Racing (Main)
Waldemar Bica Bernardo , M, Brazil, 01 Jan 1997, Scuderia Quantistica (Reserve)
Bruno Cabral , M, Portugal, 27 Sep 1998, Silva Racing (Reserve)
Amanda Cavalcanti , F, Brazil, 16 Sep 1995, Ozu Motor Team (Main)
Nick Chu , M, Thailand, 23 Feb 1998, ZRT Autosport (Main)
Michelle Cooper , F, New Zealand, 19 Oct 1984, Dragon Race Team China (Reserve)
Cristiano De Oeste , M, Argentina, 19 Oct 1995, Vexala Motorsport (Main)
Aurélie Dembélé , F, France, 16 Jun 1983, ZRT Autosport (Reserve)
Claudia Dreyfuss , F, Germany, 18 Jun 1998, Dragon Race Team China (Main)
Adrian Earle , M, UK, 08 Jul 1987, Octane Racing (Reserve)
Mustafa El Sadat , M, Egypt, 18 Aug 1993, Archer BMR (Main)
Jean-Pierre Gérard , M, France, 01 Dec 1991, Firebird MRT (Reserve)
André Gomes , M, Brazil, 28 Feb 1994, Scuderia Quantistica (Main)
Agostino Iannizzi , M, Italy, 01 Jan 1997, Silva Racing (Main)
Hong Liào , M, China, 20 Oct 1998, Dragon Race Team China (Main)
Luigi Marchetta , M, Italy, 22 Apr 1984, Octane Racing (Main)
Eduardo Melo , M, Brazil, 20 Mar 1993, Silva Racing (Main)
Alex Rogers , M, UK, 21 Jan 1982, Archer BMR (Main)
André Sabado , M, Brazil, 23 Apr 1985, Firebird MRT (Main)
Ines Santa Ana , F, Argentina, 29 May 1992, Vexala Motorsport (Main)
Simone Santore , F, Italy, 24 Oct 1991, Vexala Motorsport (Reserve)
Malcolm Sidwell , M, UK, 01 Jan 1998, Firebird MRT (Main)
Niccolo’ Strambi , M, Italy, 15 Jan 1991, Ozu Motor Team (Main)
Sara Thomas , F, Ireland, 03 Sep 1993, Scuderia Quantistica (Main)
Ebony Tyler , F, UK, 06 Oct 1998, Krüger Motorsport (Main)
Sergio Valdés , M, Spain, 04 Mar 1996, ZRT Autosport (Main)
Jaidee Veerapol , F, Thailand, 24 May 1993, Krüger Motorsport (Reserve)
Mami Watanuki , F, Japan, 01 Jan 1996, Ozu Motor Team (Reserve)
Peter Young , M, UK, 14 Jan 1985, Archer BMR (Reserve)
Austin Zarate , M, Indonesia, 28 Jan 1991, Krüger Motorsport (Main)

If you want to search by team instead (much as the boss will not be pleased about Archer appearing at the top):

Mustafa El Sadat , M, Egypt, 18 Aug 1993, Archer BMR (Main)
Alex Rogers , M, UK, 21 Jan 1982, Archer BMR (Main)
Peter Young , M, UK, 14 Jan 1985, Archer BMR (Reserve)
Michelle Cooper , F, New Zealand, 19 Oct 1984, Dragon Race Team China (Reserve)
Claudia Dreyfuss , F, Germany, 18 Jun 1998, Dragon Race Team China (Main)
Hong Liào , M, China, 20 Oct 1998, Dragon Race Team China (Main)
Jean-Pierre Gérard , M, France, 01 Dec 1991, Firebird MRT (Reserve)
André Sabado , M, Brazil, 23 Apr 1985, Firebird MRT (Main)
Malcolm Sidwell , M, UK, 01 Jan 1998, Firebird MRT (Main)
Ebony Tyler , F, UK, 06 Oct 1998, Krüger Motorsport (Main)
Jaidee Veerapol , F, Thailand, 24 May 1993, Krüger Motorsport (Reserve)
Austin Zarate , M, Indonesia, 28 Jan 1991, Krüger Motorsport (Main)
Faith Anthony , F, United States, 28 Feb 1982, Octane Racing (Main)
Adrian Earle , M, UK, 08 Jul 1987, Octane Racing (Reserve)
Luigi Marchetta , M, Italy, 22 Apr 1984, Octane Racing (Main)
Amanda Cavalcanti , F, Brazil, 16 Sep 1995, Ozu Motor Team (Main)
Niccolo’ Strambi , M, Italy, 15 Jan 1991, Ozu Motor Team (Main)
Mami Watanuki , F, Japan, 01 Jan 1996, Ozu Motor Team (Reserve)
Waldemar Bica Bernardo , M, Brazil, 01 Jan 1997, Scuderia Quantistica (Reserve)
André Gomes , M, Brazil, 28 Feb 1994, Scuderia Quantistica (Main)
Sara Thomas , F, Ireland, 03 Sep 1993, Scuderia Quantistica (Main)
Bruno Cabral , M, Portugal, 27 Sep 1998, Silva Racing (Reserve)
Agostino Iannizzi , M, Italy, 01 Jan 1997, Silva Racing (Main)
Eduardo Melo , M, Brazil, 20 Mar 1993, Silva Racing (Main)
Cristiano De Oeste , M, Argentina, 19 Oct 1995, Vexala Motorsport (Main)
Ines Santa Ana , F, Argentina, 29 May 1992, Vexala Motorsport (Main)
Simone Santore , F, Italy, 24 Oct 1991, Vexala Motorsport (Reserve)
Nick Chu , M, Thailand, 23 Feb 1998, ZRT Autosport (Main)
Aurélie Dembélé , F, France, 16 Jun 1983, ZRT Autosport (Reserve)
Sergio Valdés , M, Spain, 04 Mar 1996, ZRT Autosport (Main)

2017 Season, Race 10 (Black Sea A)

Track

26 laps, 2.96 miles (4.76 km), 11 lap stints.

Very Low fuel burn, Very High tyre wear.

Tyres

Softs 8-10 (Excess of 1)
Mediums 12-14 (Excess of 13)
Wet weather 13-15 (Excess of 16).

Critical

Acceleration
High Speed Corners
Top Speed**

Weather

Practice

6°C with rain commencing at around the 9 minutes to go mark.

Race

Started with 7°C and thunderstorms.
Water on track was at around 50% on lap 1 and then shot up to 100% by lap 2.
The rain dropped to 2 bars from around lap 8, and ceased around lap 13.
By lap 11, the temperature rose to 7° for 4 laps and then dropped back by 1 to 6°.

Weight Stripping And Config

!!! To be added.

Pit Plan

There wasn’t one. The forecast was completely wrong as a result of which we had to make it up as we went along, depending on the rain.

Note: In 2016 during the first stint, Faith Anthony hit the cliff number on Softs at about 6.75 laps. Gomes hit it at about 7.5 laps. There would have been hardly any rubber on the track but future pit plans should take this into account.

Gomes

10/17/26 (10/7/9)
10: 19% Wets and 0.23 fuel. FW 70 B 66 E 67 G 62 RW 73 S 65. Balanced mode. Sent out with a fresh set of Wets and 8 laps of fuel to do 7. Entered 4th, exited 9th, 11.047 seconds.
17: 40% Wets and 0.42 fuel. FW 60, B 52, E 57, G 48, RW 56, S 52. Balanced mode, fresh set of Inters and 11 laps to do 9. Entered 5th, exited 14th 14.224, seconds.

Thomas

Plan 8/16/21 (8/8/5)
9/16/26 (9/7/10)
9: 26% Wets and 1.21 fuel. FW 69 B 63 E 73 G 67 RW 82 S 66. Balanced mode. Fresh set of wets, 8 laps of fuel to do 7 (expected time of the rain ceasing).Entered 15th, exited 16th, 10.231 seconds.
16: 42% Wets and 0.37 Fuel. FW 61 B 56 E 64 G55 RW 69 S 61. Balanced mode. Fresh set of inters and 11 laps to do 10. Entered 7th, exited 17th, 14.392 seconds.

Race Report

Target: 7th or above, 600K. (Playsport)

Bonuses

Gomes

10% Performance Medium Tyres
10% Performance Race Trim

Thomas

10% Performance Medium Tyres
10% Performance Race Trim

The Start

Both drivers launched on wets with 11 laps (full tank of fuel) on Attack / High mode.
Gomes launched from 12th (Row 6)
Thomas from 15th (row 8)

All other teams launched using wets.

Lap By Lap

Lap 2: Heavy rain and storms continued. Gomes had dropped to 16th, Thomas to 17th.

Lap 3: Gomes up to 11th (1:25.990), Thomas still 17th (1:26.346). Chu 1st (1:25.523), Cooper 2nd (1:25.714), Dreyfus 3rd (1:25.882). The better drivers had yet to catch up and were mostly in the 1:26’s with a handful of 1:27’s. The best guess is that the weather made overtaking difficult giving those at the front of the grid more of a chance to run their own race.
Most of the other cars were still on attack mode for tyres except for Rogers (12th) and Santa Ana (15th) who were on Neutral. Only a handful of cars (including us) were still on high engine mode with most of the rest having dropped back to Medium, though some cars periodically went to Overtake.

Lap 4: Our tyre temps were around mid line, and the strategy was taken back to Push. Most of the rest of the field were still on Attack except for the two mentioned previously and Watanuki, who joined them on Neutral. Gomes 13th (1:26.992), Thomas 18th (1:27.651 for no obvious reason other than that her tyre strategy was dropped).

Lap 5: Water remained at 100%.Gomes 12th, Thomas 16th.

Lap 7: Many cars had gone to Neutral / Medium, and some to Neutral / Backup. We were the only two still on high. The others were obviously conserving fuel to extend the stint since it was clear that the rain would continue for several laps.

Lap 9: Thomas was called in.

10: Gomes was called in. About half the field had pitted by the end of lap 10 and had decided to go out on wets again. Both cars set to Push / High mode to get the tyre temperatures up.

Lap 11: The last 4 cars to do a first pit came in. (Iannizzi, Zarate, Santa Ana and Rogers.) Gomes 9th, Thomas 10th.

Lap 12: Gomes 5th after picking up places from the last pitters, Thomas 7th. The leaders were Melo, Fox and De Oeste.

Lap 14: The last lap with 100% water on track. Gomes still 5th, Thomas still 7th, same three in front.

Lap 16: Sara was called in. The forecast was for water to be on the track at least out to lap 21, making Inters the best tyre. Chu, Falko and Watanuki had pitted for Inters. The leaders were Fox, Melo and Stone.

Lap 17: Gomes was called in. Both cars were still on Push / High. Gomes 5th (1:23.282), Thomas 17th (1:51.725 pit lap). De Oeste (1:23.779) had overtaken Stone for 3rd.Fox (1st) was doing 1:23.086. The front runners were mostly on attack or push and either Medium or Overtake engine modes, as were the ones at the end. (Dreyfus (13th), Valdes (14th) and Watanuki (20th) were all on backup. The mid field was mostly Neutral / Medium.

Lap 18: The first 12 cars had pitted only once and were out when the water on track had fallen to Inters level. Thomas 13th, Gomes 14th; the first two of the two pit cars. Melo, Fox, De Oeste and Stone were in the pits. These were followed by Marchetta, Antonov, Iannizi, Sabado El Sadat and Zarate.

Lap 19: Fox exited the pits before we could get there and was holding first. De Oeste second, Melo 3rd. Thomas 4th, then Stone, then Gomes. Everyone was out on Inters. Thomas had dropped to 5th by the end of the lap. The last two cars entered the pits, putting everyone on Inters by the end of it. Both cars were still on Push / High with excess fuel.

Lap 21: Thomas had overtaken Melo by the end of the last lap. The first 7 were Fox, De Oeste, Stone, Thomas, Melo, Gomes and Falko.

Lap 22: Melo continued to try to claim 4th back from Thomas. “He’s going after her like Max goes after a piece of roast beef with gravy…” There was less than 0.2 seconds in it. Gomes was 1.8 seconds behind Melo but had a 3.259 second lead over Falko. Near the end of the lap Thomas was sent to Overtake mode. Sara’s parts were FW 50, B 48, E 52, G 39, RW 54 and S 50. She had 52% on her tyres near the end of the lap.

Lap 24: Sara’s excess fuel indicator went off and she was brought back to High mode. Melo had dropped back to Neutral / Medium. Fox was doing 1:19.285, De Oeste 1:19.925, Stone 1:19.712. Thomas was doing 1:19.589 while Melo was on 1:20.681. Gomes was doing 1:20.477. About half of the cars were on high engine mode but the other half were no higher than Medium. The tyre modes were similar. The exception was Chu (16th) who was conserving both fuel and tyres. Toward the end both drivers were taken back to Neutral. Sara was sent to Medium but Gomes stayed on high.

Lap 25: Sara’s tyres were down to 21%, fuel 1.28 laps. Gomes was still at 28% and 2.26.

Lap 26: By less than half way around the lap Thomas was down to 8% and 0.49 laps of fuel. Melo was 0.639 seconds behind. Gomes was at 16% and 1.74 laps. She was at 1% when she crossed the line. Gomes held 6th. Most of the cars had almost no rubber left when they crossed. Amazingly nobody crashed.

Aftermath

The race was completed in 37:11.204.

De Oeste was demoted 4 places after a part was found in breach of the rules. This elevated Thomas to 3rd and Gomes to 5th. Falko came 15th, killing his lead on the drivers’ championship and dropped him to 3rd.

Molly Fox took the championship with 194 points including 42 points from the final race (including a fastest lap bonus), 7 ahead of Bobby Stone Jr, with Falko 25 behind Fox.
Thomas came 6th at 145 points, Gomes 8th at 139 points.
Watanuki (Dragon) took last place with 38 points.

Garuda won the competition with 356 points and accepted promotion to the APS, with Ozu replacing them.
Kruger were 4 points behind at 352 followed by Firebird (286).
We were in 4th at 284, 72 points behind Garuda.
The others were Silva (275), Vexala (218), Octane (178), Archer (150), ZRT (116) and lastly Dragon (115).

In other competitions, Dieter Wexler won the last WMC race of the year giving the WMC to Scuderia Rossini (452 points) ahead of Panther (402) and Steinman (266). Espirit GP finished last and headed back to the APS.
Wexler also won the Drivers’ Championship (238 points) from his teammate Saarinen (214) and Zoe Sharp of Panther (207).

Velan won the final race of the APS. Lundqvist for Velan took the Drivers’ Championship with 65 points from Winston Margate at Team Kirov and E Ribiero (also Velan), both on 53. Margate would move to MacNeil the following year. Strambi for Ozo came last.
Velan took the team championship with 118 ahead of Boa Esperanca on 93 and Team Kirov on 74. Eastwood (ex APS) came 6th. Ozu came last with only 2 points and were relegated to make way for Garuda.

2017 Season, Race 09 (Milan B)

Track

21 laps, 3.73 miles (6 km), 9 lap stints.

Very low fuel burn, Low tyre wear.

Tyres

Softs 10-12 (Excess of 12)
Mediums 14-16 (Excess of 24)
Wet weather 15-17 (Excess of 27).

Critical

Top Speed
Deceleration
High Speed Corners

Weather

Practice

12°C to 14°C, sunny with some cloud.

Race

14°C, sunny with occasional patchy cloud.

Weight Stripping And Config

!!! To be added.

Pit Plan

Gomes

9/17/21 (9/8/4)
9: 12% Softs, 0.63. Balanced. FW 69, B 62, E 53, G 50, RW 66, S 59. Length: 11.114. Fresh softs and 8 laps of fuel to do 8 laps. Exited 10th.
17: 24% Softs, 0.54. Balanced. FW 57, B 43, E 41, G 37, RW 50, S 50. Length: 9.565. Fresh Softs and 6 laps to do 4. Entered 2nd, exited 10th.

Thomas

Plan 8/16/21 (8/8/5)
8: 13% Softs, 0.59. Balanced. FW 70, B 64, E 63, G 57, RW 67, S 60. Length: 11.297. Fresh softs and 8 laps of fuel to do 8 laps.
16: 19% Softs, 0.46. Balanced. FW 55, B 43, E 40, G 43, RW 39, S 44. Length: 10.271. Fresh Softs and 7 laps of fuel to do 5 laps. Exited 7th.

Race Report

Target: 7th or above, 600K. (Playsport)

Practice had been done on Softs.
Gomes Bonuses: 10% Race Trim, 10% Softs.
Thomas Bonuses: 10% Race Trim, 10% Softs.

Thomas started 11th, on row 6.
Gomes started 12th, Row 6.

Both launched on Push.
Both Vexala cars (row 6) and Sabado (Firebird, row 7) launched on Mediums; almost everyone else launched on softs.

Lap 1: Sara dropped to 20th, Gomes to 18th. Almost everyone else was on Attack / Overtake or Attack / High. We went up to Attack as we weren’t getting enough heat into the tyres.

Lap 2: Sara sent to High engine mode. Gomes left on Medium to extend his range. Gomes 16th, Thomas 18th.

Lap 3: Gomes 13th, Thomas 14th. Tyre temps reached nominal and they were brought back to Push.

Lap 5: Thomas 10th, Gomes 13th. Previous lap 1:17.349 and 1:17.948 respectively. Dreyfus, Zarate and Fox were the first 3. Fox’s previous lap was 1:15.878. The front half were mostly 1:16 to 1:17, the back half 1:17 to 1:18. Melo crashed near the end of the lap; yellow flag only, no safety car.

Lap 7: Both tyres nudging the red zone and brought back to Neutral.

Lap 8: Thomas brought back to Neutral to conserve fuel. Ordered to pit.

Lap 9: Gomes 2nd, Thomas 9th. Fox, Gomes and Santa Ana were 1 to 3 and the only ones who had not pitted.

Lap 10: Both cars in a Neutral / medium strategy. Thomas 7th, Gomes 11th.

Lap 12: Both sets of tyres were slightly below the middle and were set to Push. Thomas 8th, Gomes 11th.

Lap 13: Thomas 8th (1:17.377) and Gomes 11th (1:17.883). Zarate 1st (1:16.191, Overtake / Medium). Best lap times 1:16.190 (De Oeste, 4th, Overtake / Low, on Medium tyres), 1:16.226( Stone, 6th, Overtake / Mediums), 1:16.231 (Fox, 5th, Overtake / Medium, Softs) and Falko (1:16.313, 7th, Overtake / Medium on Softs). Zarate, Stone, De Oeste, Antonov, Santa Ana, Sabado, Cooper, Rogers and Watanuki on Mediums, everyone else on Softs.

Lap 15: Thomas 6th, Gomes 9th. Dreyfuss, Sabado and Valdes in the pits, Sabado with mechanical issues. These are the first to do 2 pits.

Lap 16: Sara called in.Iannizzi, Engelhart, Antonov, Cooper and Marchetta pitted on the same lap.

Lap 17: Sara had dropped to 10th. Sent to Push / High. Gomes called in. Rogers also in the pits.

Lap 18: The only ones still to do a 2nd pit were Fox (1st, about 20% on Softs), Santa Ana (about 25% on Mediums), and Watanuki (16th, about 15% on Mediums). Gomes was also sent to Push / High.

Lap 20: We were still running on 2* speed and went to a higher mode late. By this point everyone haddone their second pit and we gained Santa Ana’s spot. Thomas 6th, Gomes 10th. Both sent to Push / Overtake.

Lap 21: Parts were close to failure but both were sent to Attack / Overtake. Thomas had already overtaken Falko to get 5th but Bobby Stone was 5.642 seconds away. Gomes was in 10th, 0.169 behind Antonov. By the end of the lap Gomes managed to push past both Antonov and Dreyfuss to take 8th. Thomas has closed the gap to 4.633 but had no realistic chance of taking 4th from Stone.

Race Completion Time: 27:51.397
Gomes: 7th (After Silva Penalty).
Thomas: 5th.

1 A. Zarate Krüger Motorsport
2 C. De Oeste Firebird MRT
3 M. Fox Krüger Motorsport
4 B. Stone Jr. Garuda Racing
5 S. Thomas Scuderia Quantistica (4.633 behind)
6 F. Engelhart Garuda Racing
7 A. lannizzi Silva Racing
8 A. Gomes Scuderia Quantistica (0.459 behind)
Note: Iannizzi was penalised 2 places which lifted Gomes to 7th, placing both cars above the sponsor objective. Dreyfuss was penalised 4 places which had no effect on us.

Aftermath

Sara went from 9th to 6th (48 points behind championship leader Falko, a gain of 1 point), Gomes went from 10th to 9th.
The team rose from 5th to 4th, overtaking Silva. We were 90 points behind 1st placed Garuda. Kruger and Firebird were 2nd and 3rd. Silva was only 3 points behind.
The race cost us 293K.

Best Laps

Gomes: 1:15.719 (9th fastest, 7th place.)
Thomas: 1:15.049 (3rd fastest, 5th place.)
Fox: 1:14.453 (Fastest, 3rd Place.)

The Race Video

2017 Season, Race 08 (Tondela C)

Track

25 laps, 3.08 miles (4.96km), 10 lap stints.

Medium fuel burn, High tyre wear.

Tyres

Softs 8-10 (Excess of 2)
Mediums 11-13 (Excess of 11)
Wet weather 13 to 15.

Critical

Acceleration
Low Speed Corners
Top Speed **

Weather

Practice

22 degrees and some cloud.

Race

21° to 23°C with occasional patchy cloud.

Weight Stripping And Config

Gomes

Front Wing*: Spec, 150 (84% Reliability)
Engine**: Good, +75 to 250 (75%)
Brakes: Good, +90 to 288 (70%)
Suspension: Good, +90, 260 (70%)
Gearbox: Great, +60 to 268 (80%)
Rear Wing: Spec, 150 (83%)
Effective: 1,366
Practice was done on softs only.
Tyres 21.0psi, Camber -2.8°
Wings 18.0/28.0 (Excellent)
Suspension 50% (Excellent)
Gear Ratio 50% (Excellent)
98% Total
Finished 15th in practice.
10% bonus for Softs, 10% bonus for Race Trim.
We took the 10% bonus for race trim and softs.

Thomas

Front Wing: Spec, 150 (84% Reliability)
Engine**: Good, +75 to 250 (75%)
Brakes: Good, +90 to 290 (70%)
Suspension*: Good, +90 to 282 (70%)
Gearbox: Great, +60 to 286 (80%)
Rear Wing*: Spec, 150 (83%)
Effective: 1,408
Practice was done on softs only.
Tyres 21.0psi, Camber -2.8°
Wings 17.5/27.5 (Great)
Suspension 56% (Excellent)
Gear Ratio 38% (Excellent)
98% Total
Finished 7th in practice.
10% bonus for Softs, 10% bonus for Race Trim.
Both of those were taken.

Pit Plan

Gomes

9/18/25 (9/9/7)
9: 9% and 0.62. Balanced stop. Engine 63%, gearbox 59%. Fresh softs and 10 laps for 9. Came out 10th. Neutral / High.
18: 16% and 0.31. Balanced stop. Engine 42%, gearbox 32%. Fresh softs and 8 laps for 6. Came out 8th. Conserve / High.
20: Unscheduled pit for safety car. Balanced stop, given 7 laps of fuel and fresh softs. Exited 10th, Conserve / Push.
21: Further unscheduled pit stop to repair the gearbox (26%). Came out 19th, Neutral / Medium.

Thomas

Plan 8/17/25 (8/9/8)
8: 8% and 1.63. Balanced stop. Engine 71%, gearbox 72%. Fresh softs and 10 laps for 9. Came out 11th. Neutral / High.
17: 5% and 0.23. Balanced stop. Engine 55%, gearbox 57%. Fresh softs and 10 laps for 8. Came out 13th. Conserve / High.
20: Unscheduled pit stop for safety car. Fresh softs and 8 laps of fuel. Exited 14th, Neutral / Overtake.

Race Report

Target: 7th or above, 600K. (Playsport)

Practice had been done on softs.
Gomes Bonuses: 10% Race Trim, 10% Softs.
Thomas Bonuses: 10% Race Trim, 10% Softs.

Thomas started 10th, on row 5.
Gomes started 15th, Row 8.

The overwhelming majority went out on Softs; the first Medium was Santa Ana (Vexala) on row 5. Most of the back of the grid (except for Falko) went out on Mediums.

Lap 1: Both launched with Push / Medium.
Lap 2: Tyres brought back to Neutral. Thomas 11th, Gomes 15th.
Lap 3: Engines sent to high.
Lap 4: Most cars on Neutral / Medium. Gomes 16th, 1:32.449, Thomas 13th, 1:33.108, Chu leading (1:31.670).
Lap 7: Gomes 8th 1:31.657 (form 6.8, Neutral / High, 33% and 3.37 laps), Thomas 1:33.646 (form 4.4, Neutral / High, 26% and 3.34 laps). Leader Fox (1:29.262, form 6.2, Backup / Overtake). No consistency in other teams’ settings. Rogers and Watanuki first into the pits.
Lap 8: Thomas (10th) called in.
Lap 11: Everyone had pitted once and all but us and Dreyfus were out on Mediums.
Lap 13: Thomas 10th, 54%, 5.34 laps. Gomes 9th, 69% and 6.47 laps.
Lap 14: Fox leading, Attack / Low, 1:30.997. Gomes 8th 1:30.730 (one of the fastest), neutral / high, 59%, 5.42. Thomas 10th 1:31.359, neutral / high, 48% and 4.32.
Lap 16: Thomas 8th, Gomes 7th. Thomas at 17% and sent to Conserve on her tyres, still high on engine. Same with Gomes at 34%.
Lap 17: Pit for Thomas
Lap 18: Pit for Gomes. Gomes 8th, Thomas 13th, Fox, De Oeste, Sabado leading. Gomes +48.2, Thomas +56.2. Fox was the only one still to pit. Tyres evenly split between Medium and Soft.
Lap 19: Thomas pushed up to Overtake, Gomes still on High. Both were still on Conserve.
Lap 20: Thomas set to Neutral. Safety car came out after Antonov crashed. and Gomes was pitted again. Fresh softs and an extra lap of fuel. (This probably wasn’t a good idea in retrospect; certainly if we were doing that we should have fixed the gearbox as well.) Thomas was also pitted.
Lap 22: Safety car goes to garage. Both sent to Push / Overtake.
Lap 24: Both tyres dropped to Neutral.

Race Completion Time: 41:46.247
Gomes: 16th.
Thomas: 7th.
1st: Molly Fox, Krüger Motorsport
2nd: Bobby Stone Jr, Garuda Racing
3rd: Andre Sabado, Firebird MRT

Aftermath

Sara 9th (up from 11th), Gomes 10th (down from 6th). They were equal on 93 points, 49 behind the leader.
The team was in 5th place (unchanged), 186 points, 88 behind Garuda.

Best Laps

Gomes: 1:29.195 (10th fastest, 16th place.)
Thomas: 1:28.750 (7th fastest, 7th place.)
Fox: 1:26.792 (Fastest, 1st Place.)

The Race Video

2017 Season, Race 07 (Guildford A)

Track

23 laps, 3.47 miles (5.58km), 10 lap stints.

Low fuel burn, very high tyre wear.

Tyres

Super Softs 8-10 (Excess of 4)
Softs 12-14 (Excess of 16)
Wet weather 13 to 15.

Critical

Top Speed
Medium Speed Corners
High Speed Corners

Weather

Practice

Oddly for England, there was no sign of rain.

Race

Laps 1 to 3 were clear and 12°, with rain starting from lap 4. The rain increased to saturate the track but began to break around lap 13. The track was dry by lap 17 / lap 18, and there was no further rain.

Weight Stripping And Config

Gomes

Front Wing: Spec, 150 (80% Reliability)
Engine*: Good, +60 to 233 (80%)
Brakes: Good, +90 to 267 (70%)
Suspension*: Stock, 140 (88%)
Gearbox: Great, +90 to 298 (70%)
Rear Wing*: Spec, 150 (80%)
Effective: 1,238
Practice was done on softs only.
Tyres 21.6psi, Camber -2.4°
Wings 16.0/26.5 (Excellent)
Suspension 94% (Excellent)
Gear Ratio 81% (Great)
98% Total
Finished 11th in practice.
10% bonus for Softs, 10% bonus for Race Trim.
We took the 10% bonus for race trim but the risk taker since the weather showed rain, and there would therefore be a need for more pit stops.

Thomas

Front Wing: Spec, 150 (80% Reliability)
Engine*: Good, +60 to 234 (80%)
Brakes: Good, +90 to 285 (70%)
Suspension*: Good, +60 to 223 (73%)
Gearbox: Great, +90 to 303 (70%)
Rear Wing*: Spec, 150 (80%)
Effective: 1,345
Practice was done on softs only.
Tyres 21.6psi, Camber -2.4°
Wings 15.5/25.5 (Excellent)
Suspension 88% (Excellent)
Gear Ratio 69% (Excellent)
99% Total
Finished 12th in practice.
10% bonus for Softs, 10% bonus for Race Trim.
Both of those were taken.

Pit Plan

Formulated “on the fly” given the chane of weather due at lap 4.

Gomes

4: 50% SS and 0.62 laps. Fast strategy. Given fresh Wets and 9 laps of fuel. Engine at 70% but gearbox at only 65%. Obbedio made a mistake on the front jack costing 1.884 seconds.

13: 38% and 0.57 laps. Fast strategy. Given Inters and 6 laps of fuel to do 5 with an expected further pit on lap 18. (A diminishing amount of water on track was expected for that entire time.) Engine 49%, gearbox 51%, brakes 52%, suspension 55%, wings 61%.

17: 67% Inters and 2.33 laps. Fast strategy. He was given a fresh set of Super Softs and 7 laps of fuel to do 6 laps. Engine and gearbox were at 40%, brakes and suspension at 48%, wings around 55%. There was still a very small amount of water on the track but arguably he should have been left out for one more to burn the fuel.

Thomas

5 : 23% SS and 0.49 laps. Given fresh Wets and and 9 laps of fuel. Engine at 70%, gearbox at 69%, brakes at 67%. The others were in the mid to high 70’s.

14: 29% and 0.35 laps. Given 10 laps of fuel to do 9 laps and a fresh set of Softs. There would still be water on the track for a few laps but after that it was going to become sunny and warmer. Engine at 50%, gearbox 54%, brakes 48%, suspension 53%, front wings 68% and rear wings 51%.

Race Report

Target: 10th or above, 400K. (Nippon)

Given that rain was forecast to start from lap 4, Gomes was sent out on Super Softs with 5 laps of fuel to pound it from the outset.

Sara was sent out with 6 laps of fuel and Super Softs. Since smoothness doesn’t matter the intention was to stretch out the time on her first set of tyres.

Both drivers were launched in Attack / High.

Sara was on row 5 (10th) and Gomes was on row 6 (12th). All but a couple of the teams launched on Super Softs, the others on Softs.

Lap 2: Thomas had shot up to 3rd, Gomes to 7th. The cars were pretty evenly split between Overtake and Medium fuel burn with a mixture of driving modes.

Lap 4: Gomes pitted to change tyres. The track looked like it would be saturated by lap 7, so I decided to put him out on Wets despite the fact that 5 and 6 looked like laps best suited to Inters.

Lap 5: 6 cars (including Gomes) had pitted to change to Wets. Thomas called in at 35% tyres and a projected 0.49 laps of fuel. Both drivers were dropped back to Neutral / Medium.

Lap 6: 14 cars had changed to Wets and all of the others were in the pits.

Lap 7: Melo and Iannizzi both picked up drive through penalties. Thomas 1st (1:33.422; out lap) and Gomes 6th (1:26.244, flying). Others all over the place due to pitting for tyre changes.

Lap 9: Engelhart took the lead, doing times of 1:23.808 to Thomas’ (2nd) 1:24.429. Gomes was in 5th at 1:24.366, slightly faster than Marchetta in front and the 4 cars following.

Lap 11: Thomas had dropped to 3rd behind Sabado, and had low tyre temperatures. Gomes was holding 5th but had the same problem. Both were sent to Attack mode.

Lap 13: The rain started to reduce and the track dried marginally. Gomes was called in with 46% and a projected 0.48 laps of fuel.

Lap 14: Sara was called in with wets at 36% and projected fuel 0.29 laps. Gomes set to Push / Medium. About half of the cars were still on wets with the rest pitting for a mixture of Inters, Softs and Super Softs. Thomas was set to Neutral / Medium.

Lap 15: Gomes 1st place, Thomas 6th. Gomes was one of only 6 cars on Inters. The vast majority were on Softs by now. The track was drying out rapidly and would be dry by lap 18.

Lap 17: Gomes was called in at 77% Inters and 2.22 laps of fuel.

Lap 18: Sara (3rd) put to Push / High to warm her tyres and burn her fuel. Gomes (8th) on Neutral / High.

Lap 23: Thomas 3rd, Gomes 8th. Both drivers reporting mechanical issues.

Gomes’ engine 30%, gearbox 29%, brakes and suspension 38%, wings 51 and 42%.

Sara’s engine 33%, gearbox 41%, brakes 38%, suspension 28%, wings 55% and 32%.

Thomas finished 3rd with 28% and 0.58 laps, Gomes 8th with about 35% and 0.46 laps, though he was on overtake for a lot of the last lap.

The winner was Falko (Garuda), Sabado 2nd (Firebird MRT, +7.4 seconds), Thomas 3rd (+10), Stone Jr (Garuda, +11.8), Marchetta (Octane, +20.3), Santa Ana (Vexala, +22.2), Zarate (Kruger, +23.7) and Gomes (+24.2).

Marchetta was demoted 2 places for dodgy parts. That dropped him to 7th but did not change Gomes’ finish.

Rogers also had dodgy parts and dropped from 15th to 17th.

Melo received a drive through penalty.

Aftermath

This represented our first podium position.

Gomes went to 6th and Thomas to 11th in the driver’s championship.

The team retained 5th position.

Best Laps

Gomes 1:16.895.
Thomas: 1:16.397.
Falko (Garuda): 1:15.271.