I put some laps and yhink tyre management are going to be the trending topic again, new track for me but it's a great one!
Yeah tyres are rubbish on these cars. The hards and mediums are just the same as the softs in terms of tyre life but they offer no grip. I'm doing 2 laps and the rears are already in the yellow. I can see a 4 stop race here. The winner will be the best at tyre management not the fastest driver. I hate management racing but I guess all forms of modern motorsport does that these days.
The tyre data doesn't show anything which would point to this excessive wear and the grip level numbers show its still good right up to 100% wear, so it's mystifying for sure, although the Heating levels for the 3 compounds look odd compared to other rF cars.
Started 4th and ended 4th, that's all yesterday. I had the bad idea of starting the race in medium/front and hard/rear and it wasn't a great decision. Car was just driveable about 3 laps and then a complete mess, spinning everywhere. Intended to do only a pitstop with the same tyre strategy but after 15 minutes it was like the rear hards had a puncture (wich wasn't the case at all) so decided to change the strategy to put new mediums and do antoher pitstop. Mediums didn't lasted too much and with 15 minutes remaining, running 5th and a lap down on Lozio who was 4th I pitted again this time for new softs. That was the real deal and at least I was able to push for about 10 minutes to my maximum, and eventually catch Fabio with two laps remaining. In a not very smart decision, decided to pass him in the last lap, as he was struggling hardly with his tyres and, at that moment, I was much faster than him. Again not a great idea because when last lap arrived, my tyres suddenly died. When I was more than happy to just finish, in the last corner of the last lap Fabio went wide into the grass, and I just passed him in the straight line by 0,2s! Lesson learned for the next one, hard tyres bye bye!
Qualification Good lap to take pole Race Had a great start and in the first few laps pulled out an 18 second lead almost a pitstop. I was basking in my own glory when the tyres fell of the cliff and in 1 lap I span out 3 times. Just no grip at all. These tyres are the worst I've ever experienced. Only 5 laps and then they just die. I was on Softs so decided I'd put hards on the rears to see if I could eek out a few more laps. Don't think I did but at least this time I didn't stay out for an extra lap. Jim was now in the lead but he pitted on the next lap. 4 laps form the end I had to pit again. Jim stayed out and I came out 9 seconds behind him. Jim continued to stay out and I thought he had played a master stroke. But I caught him on the last lap when his tyres fell off that abyss. It was quite funny watching him get the car to the line. This car is awful and hopefully we'll never see it again after this series. I guess the pitstops due provide some strategy decisions like Jim's decision to stay out which almost worked. Well done all for sticking with this car. The question here is do we ditch this series now and go with something better or continue to struggle with it. I'll stick with it if we decide to continue.
The series will continue as long as it attracts the minimum number of 3 who turn up to race. I'm surprised you asked this now Paul, when last night I offered to reduce the distance to 30m and you said No leave it at 45m.
I'm happy to continue it was just the issues were having with the tyres. I don't think cutting the time to 30 mins would achieve much as the tyres go off so quickly. The cars a bit weird but not too bad. So in short forget I mentioned it. Sorry.
