SIP 2018 Final Thoughts

[kidvoltage]

The final lineup...

Racing Bandit - Mercedes
D&D Motors - Vanwall
Downundathunda - Gordini
CAT Racing - Lancia-Ferrari
Slothead Racing - Bugatti
DMS Racing - Alfa
T-County Lug Nuts - Lotus
Oregon Donors - Maserati

I'm going to try and get the race in either Friday or Saturday. In the meantime let the boasting and roasting begin. Will it be the big, German Mercedes out front? The mighty Italian Alfa Romeo? Perhaps a surprise from the French? - and that would be a surprise. Maybe the Great British? Can Colin keep a car together to the finish? And what about the Finnish team? I knew I should have added a rally car...

This and other stories in due time.

[TuscoTodd]

The Ohio boys are looking forward to turning laps in the light weight, inline 4 powered Lotus! Not being accustom to running something with as tall and skinny of tires as the Lotus - they feel wheel time is going to be key to turning consistent laps and are hoping weather cooperates to allow for plenty of testing! :D

[dw5555]

The Vanwall has a few teething issues. I think a lot of it is attributed the that wonderful Lucas electrical system. :think: The mechanics have a few days to sort it out though. The girls driving impressions? :o Simone likes it but Carli... :naughty: I think I know who the main driver is gonna be. We'll see as the week progresses.
Have a personal vendetta against the Mercedes. That was supposed to be our ride for this race but I'm sure some palms were greased by the Bandit Team to insure that lovely German engineering didn't make it into the D&D Motors stable. :angry-tappingfoot:

Boss Dave

[vonsirius]

We´re quite happy whith the Lancia-Ferrari testing at Penguin point.
It will be difficult but here at CAT racing we´re full of confidence for a podium place...

...If not so gentlemen other team´s members don´t throw oil on the track!

[slothead]

Slothead Racing is pumped about competing in the Bugatti at Penquin Point!



Don't worry guys, there will still be two places on the podium, to our left and right, for you to try for.

[Pepsi62]

all of our testing down under has been completed with the flying French rocket and we are confident that we have the right car setup to be out the front of pack on this highly technical circuit
The team have really had a boost after last weekends performances from our fellow Aussie's, Daniel Ricciardo at Monaco and Will Power at Indianapolis

Look Out here we come :auto-driving:

[Racing Bandit]

[kidvoltage]

Dang, the smack be flowin'.

[kidvoltage]

Race day has dawned!

Despite a few setbacks that were mostly due to prepping a few LARGE Digital Racing Solutions orders, today will be the day. Teams are in the pits making last minute preparations. The German team was most curious to see the Italian team polishing their cars.

Overheard: "Why do you polish the cars, does it make them go faster"? "Well, yes, of course". At this point the Germans marched off muttering among themselves. No word yet on if they've pulled out some car polish.

And, in some rather exciting news, there was a large hoo-haa at the front gate when the Finnish team finally showed up sporting a wonderful 1000 Lakes rally car with full rally light bar, and all-wheel drive. The fight started simply enough when the Fins were told that this was a race for F1 cars, not a rally and they wouldn't be allowed to run. When the fight finally calmed down - basically everyone got tired - an agreement was reached where the Fins could run an individual 5 lap sprint as a demonstration for the fans. That is currently underway and from the sound of it, the fans are loving it. Rally men don't always follow the course well and these gents are no exception. Whoa! There they go. Upside down again. Some fans run out of the stands and roll the car back upright and off they go again. Watch out folks, these guys are wild!

More as it develops...

[kidvoltage]

And there you have it. I'll have pictures and more to report when I have some time.

[kidvoltage]

[vonsirius]

Cool pics!!! :music-rockout:

[kidvoltage]

So, here's how I ran the race.

Since a few of the cars were of different qualities I ran a qualifying session and then used a little bit of math to determine a handicap rating for each car with the exception of the fastest car. That was the target time in effect. The Q-session was run on the center lane. All cars do well there but not all do as well on the other two lanes. Each car received two minutes run time on each of the three lanes. My wife, Victoria, helped with scoring duties, running the PC and chasing down the errant Alfa now and then.

I thought the big cars would dominate - Alfa and Mercedes - but they did not. The Maserati with narrow tires was much better than I expected and the Cartrix cars were wonderful through the turns though just a tad slow down the main straight. The Vanwall was clearly the fastest in a straight line but had a little trouble in the corners. But only the Alfa proved difficult with a random deslot or two, the others had no issues. Victoria commented at one point that it looked like I was having fun. I was! Normally when we have proxies to run I have one car entered so I get to do some qualifying and then turn the racing over to the buddies. This was a lot better. And I found the handicap system interesting and reasonable.

Thank you. On to the next round.

[TuscoTodd]

The inline 4 and skinny tires were a notable departure for the boys from Ohio - but the balance of the Lotus kept them in check and after finding the rhythm - the team was really surprised just how quick this vintage open wheeler was!

[vonsirius]