Race Report #1.. F3 Cup Oulton Park
Discussion
here's the first race update of the year from me. I'm looking forward to seeing some from Wessexrfc and Matt/Adam.
round 1 of the F3 Cup took place at Oulton Park over easter weekend. We were blessed with a dry weekend but temps were very low.
Qualifying (P2):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLrnlokqrrM
Being early in the morning and about 4°C meant we had to work hard to get some heat in the tyres. A couple of laps in I had to pull into the pits to get some tape removed from the rad intakes as temps were picking up a bit. I came out the pits into some clear air and managed to get a few quick laps in before a couple of cars were in the tyres at Island. Another car was off at the hairpin and waved yellows were showing so I pulled into the pits halfway through the session. When I got to the pits I was told I was P2 so I parked the car as they weren’t recovering the stranded cars.
Although the yellows were out lap times continued to fall for the cars still on track so I can oly assume the track was speeding up as rubber was laid and temps picked up. Less than 1 tenth split the drivers from me down to P5!!
I was really happy with the laps I put in and I really found another chuck of pace in the fast corners which is where I’m slowest due to my lack of aero experience.
Race 1 (DNF):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTWui4grgf4
A good green flag lap with some heat in the tyres and I was ready for my first ever dry race in an F3 car. I got a lot of wheelspin off the line but it didn’t hurt me too much. I’d never pushed on cold tyres before yet I feel I had a reasonable balance between not falling off the track and pushing on. Unfortunately I began losing fuel pressure as I was on the straight towards knickerbrook and as I can out of the right hander it was apparent I had to pull out of the race. Gutted as I’m sure we would have had a podium with the pace shown in quali and I was pretty clear of P3 in the first half of the lap.
Race 2 (5th):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwrttnwXgeY
With the fuelling problem fixed we went for the start of the second race. Unfortunately the grid for the second race is based on the best lap times posted in race 1… I was at dead last.
Rather than have too many revs and get loads of wheelspin, this race i opted for stalling! Once i got away and avoided the turn 1 incidents and we had a safety car for about 3 laps. I quickly made my way up to 6th place behind Robbie Watts and Mark Harrison. I started to make all sorts of silly errors when i was close to the back of them, i can only put this down to my in-experience in these fast single seaters as this was never an issue in previous race cars. I feel as though once I began focussing on racing I forgot how to push the car. Once I have some more track time in the i’m sure I can improve on this as if I’d driven the way I did in quali I think I’d have progressed further.
I also found I was wimping out in the fast corners when I was close to another car, where i was not confident with the effect it would have on the aero. Oulton does not give you much room for error as I found last year when I put it in the tyres!
I got an opportunity to pass Robbie which i didn't miss out on and some more errors meant i missed out on getting past Mark Harrison as well as having to fight hard to keep Robbie behind me a number of times.
Lots and lots learned and i feel i'll be much stronger when we get to Silverstone. Overall i was very pleased with how we got on, the important thing is i know we have the outright pace, it's now a case of me getting more comfortable in the car in the race environment.
Silverstone will force me to really push my speed in the faster corners which is where all my focus will be in testing.
I’d love to see any of you lot at Silverstone on Sat or Sunday, here’s the schedule for us:
Sat 27th
Quali – 2.00pm
Race 1 – 5.00pm
Sun 28th
Race 2 – 10.15
I’m planning on heading to the race meeting in my Noble for the first time :-)
Cheers
James
round 1 of the F3 Cup took place at Oulton Park over easter weekend. We were blessed with a dry weekend but temps were very low.
Qualifying (P2):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLrnlokqrrM
Being early in the morning and about 4°C meant we had to work hard to get some heat in the tyres. A couple of laps in I had to pull into the pits to get some tape removed from the rad intakes as temps were picking up a bit. I came out the pits into some clear air and managed to get a few quick laps in before a couple of cars were in the tyres at Island. Another car was off at the hairpin and waved yellows were showing so I pulled into the pits halfway through the session. When I got to the pits I was told I was P2 so I parked the car as they weren’t recovering the stranded cars.
Although the yellows were out lap times continued to fall for the cars still on track so I can oly assume the track was speeding up as rubber was laid and temps picked up. Less than 1 tenth split the drivers from me down to P5!!
I was really happy with the laps I put in and I really found another chuck of pace in the fast corners which is where I’m slowest due to my lack of aero experience.
Race 1 (DNF):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTWui4grgf4
A good green flag lap with some heat in the tyres and I was ready for my first ever dry race in an F3 car. I got a lot of wheelspin off the line but it didn’t hurt me too much. I’d never pushed on cold tyres before yet I feel I had a reasonable balance between not falling off the track and pushing on. Unfortunately I began losing fuel pressure as I was on the straight towards knickerbrook and as I can out of the right hander it was apparent I had to pull out of the race. Gutted as I’m sure we would have had a podium with the pace shown in quali and I was pretty clear of P3 in the first half of the lap.
Race 2 (5th):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwrttnwXgeY
With the fuelling problem fixed we went for the start of the second race. Unfortunately the grid for the second race is based on the best lap times posted in race 1… I was at dead last.
Rather than have too many revs and get loads of wheelspin, this race i opted for stalling! Once i got away and avoided the turn 1 incidents and we had a safety car for about 3 laps. I quickly made my way up to 6th place behind Robbie Watts and Mark Harrison. I started to make all sorts of silly errors when i was close to the back of them, i can only put this down to my in-experience in these fast single seaters as this was never an issue in previous race cars. I feel as though once I began focussing on racing I forgot how to push the car. Once I have some more track time in the i’m sure I can improve on this as if I’d driven the way I did in quali I think I’d have progressed further.
I also found I was wimping out in the fast corners when I was close to another car, where i was not confident with the effect it would have on the aero. Oulton does not give you much room for error as I found last year when I put it in the tyres!
I got an opportunity to pass Robbie which i didn't miss out on and some more errors meant i missed out on getting past Mark Harrison as well as having to fight hard to keep Robbie behind me a number of times.
Lots and lots learned and i feel i'll be much stronger when we get to Silverstone. Overall i was very pleased with how we got on, the important thing is i know we have the outright pace, it's now a case of me getting more comfortable in the car in the race environment.
Silverstone will force me to really push my speed in the faster corners which is where all my focus will be in testing.
I’d love to see any of you lot at Silverstone on Sat or Sunday, here’s the schedule for us:
Sat 27th
Quali – 2.00pm
Race 1 – 5.00pm
Sun 28th
Race 2 – 10.15
I’m planning on heading to the race meeting in my Noble for the first time :-)
Cheers
James
Fantastic write up James, great to see others racing. I did a quick time of your qualifying lap and you did about a 1.34ish sec, the best I did was 2.05, pedestrian in comparison!!, that is some pace. The loading under braking you can see in the film is pushing you down into the seat, your going to be a midget by the time you've finish racing!!!Very clean lines and great corner speed. Bol for the season and look forward to reading more 
I have yet to see our race footage and sadly the battery failed after the first stint. But it shows a few battles even with our rear wonky wheel!!!
Next race for us is Donnington Park 17th-18th May. We now have a nice new steering wheel
, a ribbed belt and alloy pulleys and a pit lane limiter. So we shall see how we do this time.......
I have yet to see our race footage and sadly the battery failed after the first stint. But it shows a few battles even with our rear wonky wheel!!!
Next race for us is Donnington Park 17th-18th May. We now have a nice new steering wheel
, a ribbed belt and alloy pulleys and a pit lane limiter. So we shall see how we do this time....... Great report James and may the luck be with you this season as your bloody due some......
You and the car are only going to get better so great things to come.
We started our season at Snett 300 this year middle of last month and I'm at donny this sunday so I'll pull my finger out and get a race report up !!
Good luck for Silvo !!! and good luck to you also paul...... great write up by the way, loved losing the wheel bit...... straight in the deep end bud !!!
Matty.
You and the car are only going to get better so great things to come.
We started our season at Snett 300 this year middle of last month and I'm at donny this sunday so I'll pull my finger out and get a race report up !!
Good luck for Silvo !!! and good luck to you also paul...... great write up by the way, loved losing the wheel bit...... straight in the deep end bud !!!
Matty.
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