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Invitation
A letter arrives in the post; yep, a snailmail. Ive been invited to a race meet at Motegi Super Speedway.
Challenge
Race against F1 cars in a gruelling 127 lap race.
Prize money 100,000 credits for 1st place.
Field
5x F1 on R3 tyres
1 Sauber Mercedes C9 on R1s, no tuning, no oil change, stock parts.
Problem
I have no car and my F1 car is being overhauled at the moment.
Preparation
The sun is shining so I drop the roof on my SLK and drive over to pay my trusty MB dealer a visit.
Lo and behold, he happens to have a Sauber C9 gathering dust somewhere in the rear of the garage. He says it's mine. I'd totally forgotten about this car, never drove it. I tell him about the challenge and he likes it so much he throws in 3 spare sets of R1 tyres.
The first set I had to pay for myself.
As the race is very soon the dealer has no time left to tune, change oil or even wash the car. No test driving either.
I turn up at the track dump the 3 spare sets in the pitbox and decide to make it even a more interesting challenge. I want the 200 A spec points as well.
A couple of builders are doing some major repairs on 1 of the buildings. I walk over and manage to secure a couple of cement bags, 180 units worth. These are distributed evenly to not upset the current balance of the car. Theres no time to qualify either.
Race
Its a rolling start, the lights turn green and off we go. At the second turn Im already lagging by 5 seconds. No wonder, theyre have a PWR of 0.608 against my 1.141 and theyre on R3s. Previous experience with F1s is that these guys pit often and always fill up to the brim.
Lap 11 is nearly finished and yep, there they all go visit the pits. My chance to make up for lost ground. Lap 12 starts and Im barely in the lead by 1 second. Im lapping at roughly 28-30 seconds.
My R1s are fine. Very soon the F1s overtake me and I manage to draft the buggers for approximately 1.5 laps. Then they break free and Im left on my own. I steadily lose ground by 1-2 seconds per lap. Im not to worried as I hope to keep my
and catch them upon their next pitstop.
Lap 22 arrives and, oh boy,
some of the AI keep on going, the others visit the pits. Shoot, how am I supposed to keep track of who is where. No point in asking my manager as the radio in the Sauber is broken.
I keep on pushing and manage to keep the car running till I am forced to get petrol at the end of lap 36 and a new set of R1s.
The tyres are a deep deep deep red. I slow down ( a tad too late) to not miss the entrance of pitlane.
Disaster
The leading F1s crash in to my rear as I make my turn in to pitlane. I spin out horribly. Thanks to German engineering the car doesnt break down though. I drive against the traffic flow and manage to limp in to pitlane. Surely Ill get disqualified for that manouvre. The marshals however wave me on. They must think its weird that a Sauber is taking on F1 cars, to be honest so do I.
Ive lost precious seconds due to the crash
and will need to make up for it one way or another.
New set of R1s fitted and topped up to 71 units, and off I go to start lap 37 with a 21 second deficit.
To make up for lost time I come up with the following. Draft the F1s if theyre around and dont let them draft me. Problem though is that theyre not around much so chances to draft them are few and far between. The last tactic has more success. As soon as the little blighters are 3 seconds or so behind me I stay on the inside of the two straights and theyll have to punch their own hole in the air. Wow, this turns out to be good because I manage to keep them of my back for 6-8 laps. Thats a huge bonus and I get to do it twice in this race.
On lap 59 I need to pit again (4 units left) fill up to 71 units and R1 tyres. This time no F1s near me so turning in to pitlane goes smoothly. The F1s still have a weird pit strategy, some pit on laps 11, 22, 33 etc but two F1s pit 1 to 2 laps later. Anyway we keep swapping places and either Im leading by 1 - 20 seconds or I see my times dropping to 20-25 seconds stuck in 6th place. The F1s keep swapping places so fast its impossible to keep track whose in first place.
If I can keep it up I should be able to keep on going till lap 92 and go in for my final set of tyres and top up fuel. That leaves me with 35 laps to finish the race. A 4 pit strategy will see me lose this race. 3 pitstops should see me win as I expect that on laps 122-124 the F1s will pit again allowing me to take regain the lead and, God willing, keep them behind me till the end of lap 127.
Dont break out the champagne yet I keep telling myself. Keep your and you may make it.
Sure enough at the end of lap 92 I make it to pitlane with a small lead of just 3 seconds. By the time I exit fully fueled and new R1s Im in 6th place again.
By lap 115 I regain the lead again due to F1s pitting in laps 111-114.
Im going to lose
Lap 125, leading by 2.3 seconds .. lap 126, leading by 0.623 seconds.
AAAARRGGGHHH, Ive been racing for 1.04.xx.xxx and Im going to lose this race.
A quick prayer helps. The soon to be No 1 pits for tyres and fuel. Phew, my tires will last 1 more lap and I win the race by 15 seconds margin.
Break out the champers
Stats
Total race time: 1.04.34.186
Best lap: 28.160
Prize: 100,000 credits
Even better prize: 200 A spec points.
Tyres on lap 127: bright red
Pitstops: 3 on laps 36, 59 and 92
Remaining fuel: fumes
2nd place car ± 15.xxx seconds behind.
Race report: > 4 hours
Hope you enjoyed, leave a comment
AMG.
A letter arrives in the post; yep, a snailmail. Ive been invited to a race meet at Motegi Super Speedway.
Challenge
Race against F1 cars in a gruelling 127 lap race.
Prize money 100,000 credits for 1st place.
Field
5x F1 on R3 tyres
1 Sauber Mercedes C9 on R1s, no tuning, no oil change, stock parts.
Problem
I have no car and my F1 car is being overhauled at the moment.
Preparation
The sun is shining so I drop the roof on my SLK and drive over to pay my trusty MB dealer a visit.
Lo and behold, he happens to have a Sauber C9 gathering dust somewhere in the rear of the garage. He says it's mine. I'd totally forgotten about this car, never drove it. I tell him about the challenge and he likes it so much he throws in 3 spare sets of R1 tyres.
The first set I had to pay for myself.
As the race is very soon the dealer has no time left to tune, change oil or even wash the car. No test driving either.
I turn up at the track dump the 3 spare sets in the pitbox and decide to make it even a more interesting challenge. I want the 200 A spec points as well.
A couple of builders are doing some major repairs on 1 of the buildings. I walk over and manage to secure a couple of cement bags, 180 units worth. These are distributed evenly to not upset the current balance of the car. Theres no time to qualify either.
Race
Its a rolling start, the lights turn green and off we go. At the second turn Im already lagging by 5 seconds. No wonder, theyre have a PWR of 0.608 against my 1.141 and theyre on R3s. Previous experience with F1s is that these guys pit often and always fill up to the brim.
Lap 11 is nearly finished and yep, there they all go visit the pits. My chance to make up for lost ground. Lap 12 starts and Im barely in the lead by 1 second. Im lapping at roughly 28-30 seconds.
My R1s are fine. Very soon the F1s overtake me and I manage to draft the buggers for approximately 1.5 laps. Then they break free and Im left on my own. I steadily lose ground by 1-2 seconds per lap. Im not to worried as I hope to keep my
and catch them upon their next pitstop.Lap 22 arrives and, oh boy,
some of the AI keep on going, the others visit the pits. Shoot, how am I supposed to keep track of who is where. No point in asking my manager as the radio in the Sauber is broken.I keep on pushing and manage to keep the car running till I am forced to get petrol at the end of lap 36 and a new set of R1s.
The tyres are a deep deep deep red. I slow down ( a tad too late) to not miss the entrance of pitlane.
Disaster
The leading F1s crash in to my rear as I make my turn in to pitlane. I spin out horribly. Thanks to German engineering the car doesnt break down though. I drive against the traffic flow and manage to limp in to pitlane. Surely Ill get disqualified for that manouvre. The marshals however wave me on. They must think its weird that a Sauber is taking on F1 cars, to be honest so do I.
Ive lost precious seconds due to the crash
and will need to make up for it one way or another.New set of R1s fitted and topped up to 71 units, and off I go to start lap 37 with a 21 second deficit.
To make up for lost time I come up with the following. Draft the F1s if theyre around and dont let them draft me. Problem though is that theyre not around much so chances to draft them are few and far between. The last tactic has more success. As soon as the little blighters are 3 seconds or so behind me I stay on the inside of the two straights and theyll have to punch their own hole in the air. Wow, this turns out to be good because I manage to keep them of my back for 6-8 laps. Thats a huge bonus and I get to do it twice in this race.
On lap 59 I need to pit again (4 units left) fill up to 71 units and R1 tyres. This time no F1s near me so turning in to pitlane goes smoothly. The F1s still have a weird pit strategy, some pit on laps 11, 22, 33 etc but two F1s pit 1 to 2 laps later. Anyway we keep swapping places and either Im leading by 1 - 20 seconds or I see my times dropping to 20-25 seconds stuck in 6th place. The F1s keep swapping places so fast its impossible to keep track whose in first place.
If I can keep it up I should be able to keep on going till lap 92 and go in for my final set of tyres and top up fuel. That leaves me with 35 laps to finish the race. A 4 pit strategy will see me lose this race. 3 pitstops should see me win as I expect that on laps 122-124 the F1s will pit again allowing me to take regain the lead and, God willing, keep them behind me till the end of lap 127.
Dont break out the champagne yet I keep telling myself. Keep your
and you may make it.
Sure enough at the end of lap 92 I make it to pitlane with a small lead of just 3 seconds. By the time I exit fully fueled and new R1s Im in 6th place again.
By lap 115 I regain the lead again due to F1s pitting in laps 111-114.
Im going to lose
Lap 125, leading by 2.3 seconds .. lap 126, leading by 0.623 seconds.
AAAARRGGGHHH, Ive been racing for 1.04.xx.xxx and Im going to lose this race.A quick prayer helps. The soon to be No 1 pits for tyres and fuel. Phew, my tires will last 1 more lap and I win the race by 15 seconds margin.
Break out the champers
Stats
Total race time: 1.04.34.186
Best lap: 28.160
Prize: 100,000 credits
Even better prize: 200 A spec points.
Tyres on lap 127: bright red
Pitstops: 3 on laps 36, 59 and 92
Remaining fuel: fumes
2nd place car ± 15.xxx seconds behind.
Race report: > 4 hours
Hope you enjoyed, leave a comment
AMG.
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