The Caterham Cup - FinishedPS4

[Napalm_LT]

Napalm and Richard I am sure made no mistake here. The replay doesn't show what kind of tyres was fitted but I'm guessing either they were slicks and somehow these two found a way (messing with brake balance and roll bar stiffness?) to make them work in wet conditions, or they were those "comp" tyres (maybe they work as good intermediate tyres ?? )

I had 4 strategies saved - Slicks, Wet (both with no fuel), Slicks+50 L, Wet+50 L.
Pitted on lap 8 when rain had started, changed to Wet tyres and added some fuel. My second pitstop was on lap 23 I think, had fuel for another 2 laps, but tyres were dead. Since track was wet, I used Wet tyres again.
I had a little practice for this race so I decided to not push, drive slower ant try to avoid mistakes and save tyres. And it worked.
I didn't use any assistance, didn't adjusted anything (100 % default settings).

According replay - I think you can believe only your own car replay (I noticed while watching my replay, other cars data ussually shows wrong).

 

[richroo]

No fuel race end ....
didn't check strategy and thought default was active so left to pit crew , thought ok will pit again but didn't get that far

well mario what can i say !

was all good got to pit window game told me scheduled stop ...

 

[IfAndOr]

xeronima and Half_Sourly I'm not sure.

I'm guessing with any created pit strategy that only the fronts were set to be changed leaving the rears on "default by weather". The pit crew didn't over rule the decision.

at least 5 came out of the pits NOT using wet tyres.

As Napalm mentions the game doesn't always update the actual tyre choice on the the cars sometimes so it'll show the wrong sort. During testing my crew appeared to have fitted studded ice tyres once when they were really slicks.

I was using 17, the black and yellow, but am fairly sure that it was white or light blue after that pitstop.

I didn't know "Respray the car" was an option. I'll have to look for that one. It'd be a good ploy to confuse other drivers.


As I said in the chat, I got caught out when the rain began. During all my testing I'd found that there was usually 2 or 3 laps that the track surface remained dry for once the first rain drops appeared. But yesterday it got quite wet pretty much over the course of 1 lap, so staying on slicks proved to be the wrong choice. It's good that even though I know the weather patterns I still don't know how their effects will proceed.

I haven't looked at my 37 minute part replay yet.


@richroo - bugger! I'd have stopped with a can if I'd have known. And for poor raeggee. Hope he can join us again sometime @Hun200kmh

 

[John Wells]

My first pitstop was just as it started raining. My pit strategy was "match weather" or whatever that is called, but I clearly put too much faith in the intelligence of the game, because it fitted another pair of slicks. So next lap I went in again and this time they fitted wets.

That's what happened to me as Half, as well. So going see how it works, properly next time.
Race photos Spa, another great track.

 

[half_sourly]

I'm guessing with any created pit strategy that only the fronts were set to be changed

Don't think so, both because I checked the strategies before the race and because the first two stops changed all 4 tyres. Suspect it had to do with my very late manual override from "default by weather" to "wet", even though it was still raining and the track wet. I will just simplify my strategies and be more directive with them, to avoid future issues.

 

[IfAndOr]

Yeah it'll be good if everyone could get to grips with strategies as we move over onto the BMW championship. Some races could Be Mostly Wet others Be Mainly Warm or they could even Be Mixed Weather. So it's best to Be More Wary.

 

[Pantheons]

By the sound of it, I got away quite lightly. I did have a couple of spin offs, or track exceeded moments, but when the warning came up I slowed down and prayed it was enough to satisfy the penalty marshals, luckily it was.
Don, sorry we had a scrape on qualy, I thought you were letting me past on the straight, but the gap suddenly disappeared when i was along side you (from recollection). After that i backed off and just accepted whatever grid position was fine.
The last 12 minutes were the most fun. I was battling near Joe ( i'm aware he is a bit quicker then me) and knew i probably couldn't overtake him , he dived into the pits for another (3rd) set of tyres. I had to quickly decide, should i follow or risk keeping my 2nd set to the end (bit like the GP). I took a risk and stayed out, think i had 3/4 of front types left. So when Joe came back out i think i had about half a lap or probably less head start, I could see him slowly catching me on the mini map. Trying to be so careful and not lockup or spin the tyres, to make them last. Anyway, went over the line at 00 time i thought, just MADE IT even with almost no tyres left. But no, there was one more lap. Joe over took me easily on the last part of the last lap, but by shear luck i managed to stay within 3 seconds of him over the line and, balancing penalties, just got third by about 1 second. After 118 minutes, i thought wow how close was that.
@Hun200kmh 4 pits stops, and you still came 2nd wow.
I could have easily fallen foul of the pit stop issues, I was winging it. And As i mentioned, i totally forgot to look at the fuel gauge even once.
Such a shame others had issues, if everyone's pit stops went ok theres no way i'd have been third.
Tried to save the replay, not enough space!! so annoying, forgot to delete older replays.

I did try and select ' wet pit strategy' after i called for the pit crew. but trying to select a pit strategy in that ICM? menu and negotiate corners at a reasonable speed, it tough.

 

[Maxmusmonster]

Afternoon everyone my race started last after crashing in qualification then played the long game slow and steady lol. I saw half do a pit stop at just the right time but as he reported wrong tyres fitted. I liked the car and managed at pit strategy at rich said but I selected to add 10 Laps of fuel luckily. Thanks enjoyed the longer race.

 

[Hun200kmh]

@Pantheons the 4th pit stop was avoidable. However ...

1 - I had lost hope of a win, the track was already mostly dry and my wet tyres were becoming too hot to keep any kind of pressure on the leader Napalm, so I had to backoff and coast them to the end, with only a couple of laps left.

2 - So, and with that said, I wasn't sure that I had the fastest lap (only poor laps so far, first stint the car was heavy and after that all I had was wet tyres) so I saw the gap to 3rd (you) and I reckoned I could safely pit and still keep second place, and "go for it" in the last couple of laps. Did a mess of my best attempt (as Napalm saw) but hey, FL (even if nothing spectacular) was mine!

I had 4 strategies saved - Slicks, Wet (both with no fuel), Slicks+50 L, Wet+50 L.
Pitted on lap 8 when rain had started, changed to Wet tyres and added some fuel. My second pitstop was on lap 23 I think, had fuel for another 2 laps, but tyres were dead. Since track was wet, I used Wet tyres again.
I had a little practice for this race so I decided to not push, drive slower ant try to avoid mistakes and save tyres. And it worked.
I didn't use any assistance, didn't adjusted anything (100 % default settings).

According replay - I think you can believe only your own car replay (I noticed while watching my replay, other cars data ussually shows wrong).

@Napalm_LT I don't think you realize how spectacular your account is. I was trying to guess whatever did you do (the comp tyres? brake balance? roll bar stiffness?) to keep the tyres going for a very long stint but it seems you did "nothing" except drive flawlessly

So, you managed to make a set of wet tyres last from lap 8 to lap 23! That's 15 laps and I had never seen anyone making these tyres last more than 10 laps (saw @Saltyjoe90 doing this once, my best was and remains 9 laps).

But it gets better because somehow you managed to make your second set of wet tyres last to the end of the race. Since the race ended with 34 laps completed, your second set of wets lasted again an impressive 12 laps! (and that's even more impressive because in the last 3 or 4 of these laps the track was basically dry already).

Great showing of speed, consistency and tyre managing. Hat's off to you sir! 👍

 

[Saltyjoe90]

my race started last after crashing in qualification then played the long game slow and steady

Same here, I only got in one hot lap, which I binned on the final chicane, ruining my and @Hun200kmh's quali - sorry again Mario, I know you'd have bettered Q5 on that lap because you were very fast in my rear mirror!

Same as Max, decided to take it slow and steady in the race. Thought I would try a 2 or 3 stop strategy by conserving the tyres (assuming others would go faster but need an extra stop) but this was wasted because I had to pit for the wets with plenty left on the dry tyres; sacrificed a lot of pace for no gain.

. After 118 minutes, i thought wow how close was that.

Such a shame others had issues, if everyone's pit stops went ok theres no way i'd have been third.

That last lap was lots of fun, I'm glad we finished so close! It's great having such a long race with a mad dash on the last lap. I would have fared better without that final pit stop, but didn't have enough fuel to finish.

I feel the same about my position, there were lots of fast drivers yesterday and P4 feels hollow without them on the finishing grid. Looking forward to when we've hopefully ironed out these teething problems and the finishing grid reflects the skills on the track, not random luck or frustrating control systems

@Napalm_LT

Great showing of speed, consistency and tyre managing. Hat's off to you sir! 👍

Second that, great job Napalm.

 

[Napalm_LT]

I was trying to guess whatever did you do (the comp tyres? brake balance? roll bar stiffness?) to keep the tyres going for a very long stint

I would be very happy if I had skils to do that . The only one thing I rarely do is brake balance adjusting.

 

[IfAndOr]

For any that's missed it the new championship is now active (just some details to sort out).

CLICK HERE to go to the thread.