Category Archives: Race Previews

Road America Preview

Posted on September 18, 2018 | Leave a comment

The 2018-19 SBMRL season opens with a first time visit to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin and Road America.  The league will race in the United State three times this season, including the first two races.

Road America

Racing at Elkhart Lake began in 1950 on county highways around the village.  Not long after that, an accident at Watkins Glen resulted in a ban of racing on public roads.  In 1955, the course that is now known as Road America began construction as a private track, holding the first races of significance the following year.  The track still has its original configuration.

The pit straight is one of three long straights on the circuit, and cars will have plenty of time to get up to speed before the first turn, a sharp right hander.  A moderately short straight leads into turn 2, which is similar and just slightly sharper.  By this point, the field will have had two opportunities to really get in each other’s way, and the long straight down to the third corner will mean that those who get through cleanly will start to pull away.

The second sector features several corners in quick succession that will slow the field down a bit.  Some of these corners are among the trickier ones on the course, but they are unlikely to compress the field too much.  The final corner of this sector, Carousel, leads into the long back section featuring the Kink, which can be taken all out.

The Kink means that it isn’t a true straight, but for all intents and purposes, it will be raced like one.  The final three corners of the circuit are seemingly designed to slow down the field before spitting them back out onto the pit straight.  Unfortunately, that’s where drivers will want as much speed as they can get.  Whether they’re cutting to their pits or barreling on ahead, they’ll want all the speed their cars can give them.  A clean first lap will almost certainly give drivers an advantage.

As this is the SBMRL’s first visit to Road America, the way the teams approach the track is open to speculation.  However, it does have a number of similarities to Sebring, which Cobalt dominated a few years ago.  Interlagos is another similar track that could be referenced for possible outcomes.

It won’t be surprising to see a couple of drivers hit the corners just right and pull away from the rest of the field.  This isn’t a track that is likely to keep the field compressed for long.  That said, the long straights should give some opportunities for those who’ve fallen behind to catch up.

STARTING GRID

With no season standings to go off of, the starting grid will be determined prior to the start of the race.

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Barcelona Preview

Posted on May 26, 2018 | Leave a comment

After a long season, the 2017-18 SBMRL season will wrap up the calendar with a trip to Spain for Barcelona’s Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.  Built in 1991 and hosting Grand Prix’s as early as that year, the track has become the offseason winter testing track for Formula 1.

Barcelona

Barcelona is a track that features a little bit of everything, and the pit straight is extremely long.  The start-finish line is set well back from the first corner, meaning that cars will have plenty of time to get up to speed before they hit it.  The first corner, Elf, is a right-left combination that wouldn’t pose too much trouble if the field came at it slower and gave each other some space.  That’s unlikely to occur, and coming out of it with speed will be key to getting out front early.

The Renault bend can be taken at full throttle into Repsol, which will only cause trouble for those completely out of whack.  The combination of Seat, Wurth, and Campsa are spaced apart in such a way as to catch drivers between gears, unable to develop a strong rhythm.

That will lead into the third sector, which is the tightest of the three.  La Caixa is preceded by a moderately long straight.  Getting it right is key to the flow through here.  The third sector can be run pretty easily in clear conditions, but if the field gets bunch here, someone may get blocked off the racing line and suffer as a result.  Drivers will be particularly keen to have a clean first lap and a strong push onto the long pit straight so they can be prepared for lap 2.

Starting Grid

Captain Slow will lead the grid for the 5th time this season, with Stevie alongside.  The rest of the field gets shuffled a bit until you reach the Stig at the back.

  1. Captain Slow (SB)
  2. Stevie Wondertyres (SR)
  3. Sheila Dinkum (RM)
  4. Bubba McQueen (FR)
  5. Jaap Snellrijder (RM)
  6. Launch Bornado (FR)
  7. Whiplash (SR)
  8. The Stig (SB)

Pit selection also gets mixed up after Shanghai’s results:

  1. Force Ravenswood
  2. Scandinavian Blitz
  3. Regency Motors
  4. Sprite Racing

The Stig and Jaap will each get the advantage of Barcelona as their home race.

Championship outlook

The Stig’s podium in Shanghai has left him 12 points ahead of Whiplash in the driver standings.  He can guarantee himself the title with another podium finish in Spain.  At this point, only Whiplash or Launch Bornado have the points to overtake him, and Launch will need to win the race and hope the Stig finishes near the bottom.  Captain Slow sits 7 points behind Stevie.  The two will be fighting to avoid the ignominy of finishing last.

The team standings have never been tighter and it’s entirely possible that whoever wins the race will win the title for their team as well.  Force Ravenswood is 7 points up on Scandinavian Blitz, so they have the lead at the moment.  However, Regency Motors and Sprite Racing are just 2 and 3 points further adrift.  With just 12 points separating all four teams, both cars will be key to bringing home the championship.

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Shanghai Preview

Posted on April 12, 2018 | Leave a comment

For the 8th round of the 2017-18 SBMRL season, the league’s first visit to China is in the cards.  Engineers first broke ground on Shanghai International Circuit in 2003 and the track was already hosting Formula 1 the following year.  It has played host to the Chinese Grand Prix every year since.

The layout of the track was inspired by the Chinese character shang, which means above or ascend.  The start-finish sits just past the midpoint of the lengthy pit straight, meaning that cars will have plenty of time to gather speed before the first corner.  However, the first corner is a long, double apex bend that first goes right and then left.  The entire field will be bunched up pretty tightly through here on the first lap.  Transition from the first to second sectors occurs on the dogleg straight leading into Turn 2.

Turn 2 is another slow corner, sharply routing the field back towards the paddock and it’s likely to be a trouble spot for a number of drivers.  The rest of the second sector is the most forgiving part of the course.  A flowing left leads into Turn 3, which is followed by Turn 4.  There will be enough time to gather speed for the tricky third sector.

The third sector is the most stark.  It opens with Turn 5, which is a mirror image of Turn 1.  The trick here will be carrying enough speed out of the corner to make the best use of the long back straight that follows it.  At nearly double the length of the pit straight it’s one of the highlights of the track.  At the far end is a tight hairpin that will see drivers slamming on the brakes.  The circuit then closes out with one last quick left that leads back on to the pit straight.  Just enough to possibly throw someone off their rhythm as they look to gear up for the next lap.

Expect Shanghai to be incredibly difficult on the first go round, with lots of chances to make a mess of it.  That said, the circuit is undoubtedly charming and a joy to drive.

Starting Grid

The front and back row remain the same from Australia, but the middle two rows got shuffled around a bit.

  1. Captain Slow (SB)
  2. Stevie Wondertyres (SR)
  3. Whiplash (SR)
  4. Bubba McQueen (FR)
  5. Sheila Dinkum (RM)
  6. Jaap Snellrijder (RM)
  7. Launch Bornado (FR)
  8. The Stig (SB)

As always, pit selection is in order of team standings, which simply results in this:

  1. Regency Motors
  2. Force Ravenswood
  3. Scandinavian Blitz
  4. Sprite Racing

No driver has Shanghai as their home race.

Championship outlook

With only 10 points separating first and second in the driver standings, there is still a lot of room for change at the top.  Whiplash, who’s back in 6th place, is only 21 points out of first place.  Should he win in China, he can move up as high as 2nd place if everyone else falls in line.  Heck, from a pure mathematical standpoint, only Captain Slow has been eliminated from the championship.

The Stig, who currently sits at the top, has both the least and most amount of work to do.  The two previous SBMRL champions have him squarely in their sights, and a trio of rookies are wishin striking distance as well.  The Stig needs the fewest points to lock up the title, but he’ll have to do it from the farthest back.

From a team standpoint, it’s clearly going to go down to the wire.  Regency Motors and Force Ravenswood are only a point apart, and Scandinavian Blitz is close enough to catch them both.  They’ll need less Melbourne and more Monaco to pull that off, though.

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