Previews – Scuderia Quantistica

What’s Coming Up? 201904, Tondela B (Broadcast Dates 11, 12 and 18, 19 Aug 2018)

There will be only one episode this weekend, I’m afraid. The leadup episode will be going out when the race episode normally would have.

For once The TM1 Channel needs to do something related to the actual “TM1” thing. I’ll be giving a talk at a user conference next week and need time to prepare. I’m therefore going to be splitting Tondela over Two! Big! Weekends! This weekend will be the leadup, and next weekend will be the practice and race.

And let’s be brutally honest; after the way the planets aligned for Little Max last weekend, and knowing that they won’t for either driver at Tondela… I’m not in a rush to get there!

Race 5, on the other hand… well then.

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.