Monday, January 25, 2016

Over-Under Race [Race 15 of 20]

The second race of the day is a 100 lap Class A race around a kinked figure-8:

Long straightaway and elevation changes make this one tricky.

RESULTS [Race 15 of 20]:

Car                       Time             Offs            Points
Gulf #11             6:03.26             3                   1                                
Alfa #2               5:23.54             1                   5                                
Shell #8              5:46.34             3                   3                                        

Split Times:
Car                      [1-25]      [26-50]      [51-75]      [76-100]
Gulf #11            1:37.27     1:19.02      1:23.79      1:43.17
Alfa #2              1:21.52     1:19.60      1:22.25      1:20.15                                                          
Shell #8             1:22.83     1:37.20      1:21.47      1:24.82

[Best segment time in blue]
                                                                  
None of the cars handled very well on this track. The Fords especially struggled in the big loop, as there was a slight outward camber to it [by design] as it came down from the overpass. Every Ford crash happened there, with the Gulf car having two crashes right toward the end of the race. Funny part is, it set the fastest lap.
Even the Alfa struggled, frequently getting sideways throughout the race. Its crash happened coming off the front straight into the R-L switchback. Otherwise it handled the loop remarkably well, and surely had the advantage of acceleration in the long straightaway.

Championship Standings [Race 15 of 20]:

Car                         Points         Total
Alfa #2                       5                63
Shell #8                      3                57
Gulf #11                     1                44

I'm afraid it's over for the Gulf Ford #11. I'm not sure if he's mathematically out, but he's damn close. 19 points [not given the amount the Alfa could get] is pretty much insurmountable at this juncture.
Hang on, I just did the math in my head: If the Gulf car wins all the remaining races, that's 25 points, giving him a total of 69 points. The Alfa would have to come in 3rd every race for the Gulf car to win, yet that would mean the Shell car coming in 2nd every race, and ending with a best finish of 75 points.
All that needs to happen is the Alfa to score better than 3rd in any race from here on out and the Gulf car is out. It already won't win, and best it can hope for is 2nd place.

Here's my theory on why the cars struggled on this track:
The first 12 races or so were run on basically the same configuration; a road course favoring the outside lane. As more races happened, the cars laid down rubber, creating a rubber racing surface, giving them more grip. Then I switched to the inside lane and started running races. They were slippery at first, but showed early signs of laying rubber on the track.
This layout has a figure 8, so it uses both inside and outside lanes. I've done much more driving on the inside lane than the outside, as I've probably doubled or maybe tripled my distance covered since switching [even if there are less races]. The inside lane has more grip than the outside, and since the loop is an outside lane, that was the problem. Had I switched and ran on the outside, it would have been a bit slicker overall, but there probably wouldn't have been as many offs.

Under the right light, the rubber racing line is starting to show up on the track pieces. Pretty cool.

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