Round 2: Suzuka International Racing Course - Grand Prix (July 1)

[TRG]

Race Time of day: 2021-07-03 17:11 1x
Race Length: 19 laps
Max Incidents: Drive through at 10x, DSQ at 15x
Max Fuel: 50%
Start: Standing
Fast Repair: 0

 

[Gunner]

I will be missing this race unfortunately as I will be out of town. Great car and track combo I hate to miss it.

I also want to note that the pitstop at Long Beach felt pretty late in the race. We will change the max fuel limit to 45% for this race, and see how that feels. As always, your feedback is important on which way you guys prefer it.

 

[TRG]

@F3 Amateur Series 2021/S3

 

[Threefiver]

I personally liked the fuel setting because being able to go later in the race really gives options for strategy in traffic and so forth. However, I am good with whatever you guys decide.

 

[Seca]

I personally liked the fuel setting because being able to go later in the race really gives options for strategy in traffic and so forth. However, I am good with whatever you guys decide.

This.

 

[TRG]

Don't want a two stop?

 

[Gunner]

Don't want a two stop?

5% fuel limit, we will pit every 3 laps

 

[TRG]

Realistically - will a 5% reduction change things a ton?

 

[Wingnut]

As long as it forces a pit stop does it really matter? I don’t think anyone could have possibly saved enough fuel to avoid pitting. I think this track is an anomaly as there is very little full throttle on it compared to some of the other tracks. And as someone else said it gives you some strategy for when you make your stop.

 

[Threefiver]

VHR practice session for the coming race is going again tonight from 8-11pm EST

password remains the same: PRLS321

 

[Threefiver]

I set the practice last night to 45% fuel which was 5.4 gallons and could get 10 laps...it's a 19 lap race so it will be a small window for pit stops it seems and pit road could get pretty crowded.

 

[TRG]

Sounds good Dave, we will keep it to 50%. Based on your data, there might be merit to bumping it to 55%...

Thanks for the info.

 

[Gunner]

Thanks for the feedback guys, and for that info Dave. Tyler is right, we need to keep it at 50%. I underestimated how much less fuel was burned on a track like Long Beach. Its almost like an organizer should run test fuel runs on all the tracks for the season instead of just picking Imola for fuel testing and going from there .

mclachlanol we miss you. Our leadership is in shambles! I sense mutiny in the winds, and I plan on cracking like a glass hammer in that situation.

In all seriousness, I see the value in having a large pit window. What caused me to jump the gun here was I felt if you ran as long as you could, taking tires was a bit pointless with that few laps left. I like to keep that strategy in play as much as possible, but you could always pit a bit earlier in the window to gain the time back with the fresh tires. As long as there is no danger of going full distance, we should be ok.

 

[Wingnut]

Sounds good Dave, we will keep it to 50%. Based on your data, there might be merit to bumping it to 55%...

Thanks for the info.

IMO you should just leave it at 50%. That covers all the tracks. Long Beach is probably the easiest on fuel and Suzuka will probably use the most for what we have for this season. 50% will easily get you to 11 laps on a 19 lap race and may get to 12 laps if easy on fuel. That is a decent sized pit window for a couple strategies.

 

[TRG]

We will leave it at 50%. My comment was specific to this track only.

That said, this car/track combo is fantastic. I used to hate the sound of the F3, but I just got a new set of higher quality headphones, and with a psuedo-7.1 surround effect... Wow. Coming from cheap earbuds, the difference is surreal.

 

[Threefiver]

I am not trying to get anything changed and am quite happy to race under whatever rules are in place...even 5% ...this is a great car and fun to drive just about anywhere...it even made me halfway like the new Silverstone layout.

Some food for thought though.....

Back before I had my medical issues I used to run in a private league that raced the FW31 (still one of the bestest/funnest damn cars in here, IMHO) and Clayton had it set at I believe 60%. It introduced an interesting aspect to things because some guys would start light to be faster and get a lead and try to maximize their in/out laps on the pit stop. Other guys would go max fuel and as deep into the race as they could. I wasn't awesome so usually carried enough to go to halfway +/_ a couple laps so if i was in traffic I could pit out of it or if the aliens were arriving I could pit to get out of the way.

It does bring tires into play though, as Gunner mentioned. Granted this was all back before this NTM and it's improvements. The guys starting heavy to run late into the race had to take care of their tires but also had to decide if they could make it to the end. I remember several guys wrecking out with only a few to go because the tires were just gone. That may well not be the case anymore though.

I've never been one for strategy because I'm not good enough to be thinking about stuff while I'm driving (love Crewchief) so as I said, I am merely throwing this out there because of past experiences and some guys in this league are certainly good enough to take advantage of something like this and it did make things interesting on occasion.

 

[Marco]

I am not trying to get anything changed and am quite happy to race under whatever rules are in place...even 5% ...this is a great car and fun to drive just about anywhere...it even made me halfway like the new Silverstone layout.

Some food for thought though.....

Back before I had my medical issues I used to run in a private league that raced the FW31 (still one of the bestest/funnest damn cars in here, IMHO) and Clayton had it set at I believe 60%. It introduced an interesting aspect to things because some guys would start light to be faster and get a lead and try to maximize their in/out laps on the pit stop. Other guys would go max fuel and as deep into the race as they could. I wasn't awesome so usually carried enough to go to halfway +/_ a couple laps so if i was in traffic I could pit out of it or if the aliens were arriving I could pit to get out of the way.

It does bring tires into play though, as Gunner mentioned. Granted this was all back before this NTM and it's improvements. The guys starting heavy to run late into the race had to take care of their tires but also had to decide if they could make it to the end. I remember several guys wrecking out with only a few to go because the tires were just gone. That may well not be the case anymore though.

I've never been one for strategy because I'm not good enough to be thinking about stuff while I'm driving (love Crewchief) so as I said, I am merely throwing this out there because of past experiences and some guys in this league are certainly good enough to take advantage of something like this and it did make things interesting on occasion.

very well said, I agree with the above ideas. What ever gives the most options for different pit stop strategies I think is the way to go. Allows for some sneaky pit shenanigans. Just my $0.02

Good luck tonight gents!

 

[Threefiver]

Apologies to whomever I obliterated at the end of qualifying....was looking down at the timer, looked up and there you were.

 

[tegatai]

Great win MichaelWest4731 Rule Britannia (I am a Brit living in the USA) That was an exciting race to watch. The commentary team at GSRC do a great job.

 

[Eduardo L]

Fun race last night between the 5th through 10th spots - plenty of clean passes between us all. I especially enjoyed racing with Shawn Duhamel , crich88848 , and MattMiles44. Great racing with you all!