What championship are you doing now?

[rremedio]

I always do the seasons in Non-Championship mode.

[Gabriele]

Im just starting Edgars 1950 season but im a little stuck on what to do about the tracks. In the 1950 season there were 7 rounds (6 taking away the indy 500), but in GP2 there have to be 16 rounds. I'd just like to know what you other guys have done to get a solution out of this.
Thanks

Non-championship mode races, and a good "numbers" file (=excel, but for Mac).

[Gabriele]

I'm not using historically correct BHP values for all teams anymore. Actually I'm using the correct BHP only for the fastest team or car. And other cars are getting lower BGP's accordingly the average gap of both drivers of a certain team. It's quite tricky and needs lots of testing to get the right result. For this reason I have different BHP's for different teams even they are using the same car.

I think that's the right way to do with older (50ies and 60ies) seasons.

Ok, so everyone has its own solution... the important is to have fun!

[Edgars Erix]

Im just starting Edgars 1950 season but im a little stuck on what to do about the tracks. In the 1950 season there were 7 rounds (6 taking away the indy 500), but in GP2 there have to be 16 rounds. I'd just like to know what you other guys have done to get a solution out of this.
Thanks

As simple as that - drive 7 non-championship races

[Buttonfan]

Ok
But how do I then keep track of the points standings ?

[Greyhead]

You could use the print function when you get the race results at the end of each race, and "print to file" each race result. Then you can make your own table up.

[Buttonfan]

I think I'm gonna try using Paddock Champ, however, gprix2.com seems to have closed, and grandprix2.de doesn't have it. Is there a similar utility or is there another place to find Paddock Champ ?
Thanks

[Buttonfan]

Gave up looking, I've decided to do it manually.
Qualifying and race reports coming soon !
I've also decided to have a go at doing every Formula One Championship
Could be interesting.

[Buttonfan]

1950

Round 1 - Silverstone

Qualifying

Well im using Edgars execellent 1950 carset, and have replaced Fagioli's name with my own in the number 3 Alfa Romeo.
Qualifying went well as I took pole position a tenth of a second ahead of Villoresi then Ascari in the Ferrari's.
Both Ferrari's were quicker than I expected them to be and the rest of the Alfa's struggled, with Farina sixth and Fangio tenth.

Race

My race started quite well as I got a decent start and coming out of Copse I was ahead of Ascari, Villoresi and Bonetto in the Maserati. My race quickly turned into a nightmare when going into Maggotts Ascari tried an (IMO) over-optimistic move and pushed me into a spin. I didn't quite see him coming although I expected him to be close as I had been slow out of Copse all weekend. I simply took my normal line and flew around and was lucky to be avoided. Thus, I was dead last. It took me ten laps to make it up to 15th and by lap 30 I was closing on the scrap from 3rd to 9th. Villoresi was now leading as Ascari had been held up during our collision. The Ferrari's were edging out a gap. When I pitted for my only stop on lap 32 out of 70 I had been running second, pitting later than everyone else. However, a slow stop of 14.6 seconds made me rejoin just behind Bira and in 10th. During the next 20 laps there were a flurry of retirements, which included Villoresi, Bonetto, Chiron and Gonzales. This put me into fifth after I passed de Graffenried. After this Fangio, Farina and Bira pitted, just as I passed Parnell. Now I was closing on Ascari, and at the start of lap 53 I was 11 seconds behind with 18 laps left and closing at a rate of between 5 and 8 tenths of a second, when finally my engine blew up, ending my charge. However, even though I was very disappointed after a strong charge through the field I still got a point for fastest lap, and I proved that I had the race winning pace. Ascari eventually held on after crawling to the line, out of fuel, ahead of Parnell, Fangio and Farina.

[Edgars Erix]

Hmmm, it surprises me that Ferraris were the ones to beat.
Were you using the original Silverstone?
I was driving a Maserati that season, and won the British GP. I was not the fastest one, but managed to handle backmarkers much better. On a clean track I was slower, but in traffic I gained around 5 secs per lap.

But prepare yourself for triumph in Monaco. Just be careful with walls and backmarkers and you shall win easily. I lapped the 2nd placed Fangio and then retiren with broken suspenssion, what caused my crash stright into the wall at St.Devote.

[Buttonfan]

Were you using the original Silverstone?

Yes, I used the old Silverstone with 50's graphics.

I was driving a Maserati that season, and won the British GP. I was not the fastest one, but managed to handle backmarkers much better. On a clean track I was slower, but in traffic I gained around 5 secs per lap.

Same for me. The only reason I got pole was because i managed to run in another cars slipstream for most of the Hangar Straight. This also helped in the race. As I fell back i almost need traffic to gain serious time, otherwise it was only a few tenths per lap. Just finished Monaco, was a good race, reports tomorrow.

[Buttonfan]

1950 Season

Round 2 - Monaco

Qualifying

In qualifying I struggled with getting the right set-up as when I put more front wing on than rear wing the car tended to spin through St. Devote and coming out of Rascasse, and was costing me over a second. However, when I put more rear wing on the car wouldn't go round round the corners due to the understeer, so I gradually managed to change my style a bit and reverted to less rear wing. This eventually put me in 6th place, as the car was forever sliding around so I kept having to "feather" the throttle, however, the less rear wing gave me a big advantage on the long straight down to Tabac, so it evened itself out. However, I was 1.5 seconds off the pace of Fangio, so i used the warm-up to make further changes and then I was more satisfied with 3rd place in th morning warm-up.

Race

On race-day I got another good start and leapt from sixth to third and was going around the outside of Villoresi in the Ferrari when he forced me wide and I almost had to come to a complete stop to avoid the barrier. This put me back in 9th. By lap 20 I had got myself into 6th place but was struggling in clear air. However, as the traffic hit i was able to reel in Farina and Parnell. I had chosen a one-stop strategy which meant I was about the 7th fastest driver, so the traffic was a great help. Eventually the pitstops came about and I found myself second to Fangio, who had built up a sizeable lead. on lap 50 I pitted, 6 laps after Fangio. I had closed the gap to Fangio and leap-frogged Ascari and Farina to stay second. But, as I was fuelled to the end I had around 50 laps of fuel, whilst Ascari was pitting again. He quickly caught me, but, as I had used the gear ratios to give more accelaration, every time he was able to out-brake me, I was always able to out-accelarate him. Then, on lap 70, it was almost a repeat of our incident at Silverstone. He out-braked me at Rascasse, But I was able to accelarate faster again, however I came across on him and was pushed into a spin. I accept that I probably didn't give him much room this time. As I recovered, Farina nipped through. This was more of a disaster, because Farina was also fuelled to the flag and able to match my lap times. As the race wore on though, it was clear that everyone was losing fuel much quicker than anticipated, and that we would all need an extra stop. Ascari joined team-mate Villoresi in retirement, both of them with suspension problems, on lap 88. All four Alfa's were left running, with Fangio dominating, and a close scrap for second between me and Farina, with Parnell 10 seconds behind. After we all pitted on laps 92-95, I was unable to pass Farina, despite being always under a second behind. Fangio won easily, with Farina second, myself third and Parnell fourth. There were 7 finishers in a gruelling race. And the 4 Alfa's were at least 6 laps ahead of the next non-Alfa in 5th.

Championship Standings after 2 Rounds

1st Juan-Manuel Fangio - 12

2nd Alberto Ascari - 9

3rd Reg Parnell - 9

4th Guiseppe Farina - 9

5th Lee Harrison (Me !) - 5

6th Prince Bira - 2

7th Louis Chiron - 2


Note : Ascari got a point for fastest lap.
PS : Just like some thoughts on what you think of my reports. I personally enjoy doing them, but would like to hear some feedback. I also think it would be pretty cool if everyone did something like this, as I fel it offers an insight, into other racers styles and how their races/championships are going.

Thanks for reading guys !

[Belatti]

I´m being unfaithful to GP2

I´m in my first complete GP3 1998 original season.
100% race distance, keyboard, ace level. Currently leading in Melbourne with Mika. David and Michael are following more than 25secs below. Only 8 laps to finish the first race!

[Edgars Erix]

1950 Season
PS : Just like some thoughts on what you think of my reports. I personally enjoy doing them, but would like to hear some feedback. I also think it would be pretty cool if everyone did something like this, as I fel it offers an insight, into other racers styles and how their races/championships are going.

Thanks for reading guys !

I like such reports. Also because of my personal experience with those races. Untill this season (1954) I was making race reviews for each race starting from season 1950. During the race I was making a huge number of screenshots, then sorting them and putting together in a Powerpoint presentation, adding race statistics, qualifying results ect, ect. For example, the preview Indy500 season 1952 is 178 slides large (record)! It was really interesting race. Usualy reviews are around 100 slides large with file size from 3 to 8 MB.
The good thing is that its really fun to go through them from time to time. But the bad thing is - the creation of the review is REALLY time consuming. For this reason I have decided to stop making them
If you would like to see them, give me your e-mail and will send you some.

[V12-Power]

I like reading your race (and qualifying) reports! Some years ago I wrote some (shorter) ones, too (still in the old forum). Back there I was driving the 1991 F1 season.

The reports are nice to read, as the style of writing is very good and it's great how exactly you remember. Or do you make notes during the race??

Maybe you could add 2 or 3 pics to the reports, but that's not essential.