Valencia Preview

Posted on May 18, 2017 | Leave a comment

The final round of the 2016-17 SBMRL season takes us, once again, to Valencia, Spain.  The street circuit situated around the harbor last hosted a Formula 1 grand prix in 2012, but the SBMRL hasn’t abandoned it yet, finishing up each season there.

Valencia

A lap around the Valencia Street Circuit is nothing like the the long open course of Magny-Cours.  Instead, the circuit opens with the tight right hander of Principal 1, which is immediately followed by Veles e Vents.  There’s little speed to be gained here, which is unfortunate as a bit of speed is exactly what’s needed to transition smoothly into Malvarosa.  There are a few options for managing this section of the track and none of them are particularly appealing.

Malvarosa will slow the field down before spitting them out onto the bridge straight, the longest of the circuit.  The best chance to open things up a bit is then frustrated by the tricky Nazaret corner at the far end.  It’s a corner that really demands some speed both on entry and exit, and that’s not an easy combination to pull off.

The final sector features the long Grao corner and the short Principal 2.  Combined with the pit straight and Principal 1, this part of the track is the only spot to put together a nice rhythm and feel like things are really clicking, but it’ll almost certainly be broken up by people diving for the pits.  There simply aren’t any easy lines around Valencia, and that’s one of the big appeals of the track.  It’s really hard to pull away and stay ahead, so expect a tight race.

Last year’s race saw Nero catch the Stig in the final corner to cement a dramatic win.  The only thing preventing that from pulling him up into 2nd place in the driver standings was Launch finishing in 3rd place.  The race was marked by passing.  The aforementioned pass by Nero was the most notable, but there were also great passes by Captain Slow, who slipstreamed around Danger Wheel on his way across the finish line, and Jaap, who passed three cars in the final sector.  The one team that didn’t have a positive ending was the pair of Mater and Danger Wheel, who were on the receiving end of those passes.

Starting Grid

The cars line up in reverse order of the current driver standings, but with a pair of ties, tie breaker goes to the car that finished further back in France.  That means Nero gets pole position over Captain Slow, and Launch Bornado is forced to line up next to his teammate on the back row of the grid.  This will be Nero’s 6th start from pole this season, as he simply hasn’t been able to dig himself out of the hole of 3 DNF’s in the first 5 races.

  1. Nero (CO)
  2. Captain Slow (SB)
  3. The Stig (SB)
  4. Ice (CO)
  5. Mater (RB)
  6. Danger Wheel (RB)
  7. Jamonito del Verde (ORC)
  8. Jaronimus Maximus (ORC)
  9. Launch Bornado (RM)
  10. Jaap Snellrijder (RM)

Pit selection is reverse order of average starting grid position, which is easy for the first three teams given that they each have a grid row to themselves.  The tie for Scandinavian Blitz and Cobalt is broken by reverse order of team standings, giving the slight edge to the boys in red.

  1. Regency Motors
  2. Osito Racing Company
  3. Red Bull
  4. Scandinavian Blitz
  5. Cobalt

Spanish driver Jamonito del Verde gets the home race bonus for this round of the championship, and given how tight the standings are, it can’t come at a better time.  Incidentally, he is the only driver on the grid to finish ahead of his teammate more often than not but be lower in the standings.  He’s also the only remaining driver on the grid without a victory to his credit.

Final Race Outlook

As previously stated, the standings could scarcely be tighter at the top or the bottom.  Any of the four Regency Motors or Osito Racing Company drivers could come away with the driver’s championship.  Unlike last year when he had locked up the title prior to Valencia, Jaap has just a 2 point lead over Jaronimus and Launch, with Jamonito sitting 9 points back.  Those margins are nothing more than a whisker, and it’s entirely possible we’ll have a tie when all is said and done.

Just a bit off the pace, 13 and 14 points behind Jamonito, are Danger Wheel and Mater, respectively.  Either could insert themselves into the top 4 with a victory and some misfortune for their opponents.  Danger Wheel actually has a mathematical chance at the title, but things would have to align perfectly.

At the bottom of the grid, Nero and Ice find themselves looking for redemption while the Stig and Captain Slow seek respect.  None of them are in the running for anything more than a participation ribbon, but all hope to avoid the ignominy of finishing last.

Regency Motors has a slight edge in the team standings, meaning as long as they can keep up with the green liveried Osito cars, they should be able to bring it home.  Red Bull will hope for more, but a solid middle of the pack finish will lock up the 3rd place that they’ve been sitting in for much of the year.  It’ll take a minor miracle to vault Scandinavian Blitz into 3rd place, everything would have to go right for them with both Cobalt and Red Bull struggling.  Cobalt is slightly better off, but have the advantage that they’re only trying to jump over one team.

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Magny-Cours Recap

Posted on May 2, 2017 | Leave a comment

A beautiful, clear day with highs in the mid-60’s welcomed the SBMRL to hte Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France.  With good weather and a number of high speed straights, the day was set for a thrilling ride.  The cars lined up as follows:

P1 – Captain Slow (Jason)
P2 – Nero (Frank)
P3 – Mater (Ryan)
P4 – The Stig (Jason)
P5 – Ice (Ryan)
P6 – Launch Bornado (Frank)
P7 – Jamonito del Verde (Frank)
P8 – Danger Wheel (Ryan)
P9 – Jaronimus Maximus (Jason)
P10 – Jaap Snellrijder (Frank)

Both the Stig and Launch Bornado managed to time the lights perfectly, getting the jump on Mater and Ice, respectively.  Battles commenced immediately up and down the full length of the field as the cars raced to the first corner.  Captain Slow took the early lead, with the Stig, Launch, and Nero all in hot pursuit.  The Golf straight saw a lot of passing, with the Stig failing to keep up with the front runners and getting caught up by the likes of Jaronimus and Jaap.  Ice and the Red Bull drivers joined Jamonito at the back.

Nero takes to the inside in Adelaide

The second sector first saw the Stig, then Launch, take the lead as the battles at the front continued to go back and forth.  Captain Slow kept up as best possible, but Nero started to fade.  That allowed Jaap and Jaronimus to reel him in.  Jaap then found speed to burn through the straight leading to Imola and was among the front runners in short order.

Launch in the lead

Sector three didn’t see a lot of movement in position other than Jamonito beginning to sneak up on the midfield.  When they came round to the pits, Captain Slow was first across the line, skipping out on a stop due to a clean first lap.  Launch had nursed his tyres well but found an adjustment to his abused gear box was in order.  That gave Jaap the chance to complete lap 1 in second place as he barreled on.  Ice was the third and final driver to skip his pit stop, gaining several places after having fallen all the way to last coming around the final bend.

Ice charges past the pits

The second lap saw Captain Slow leading the pair of yellow Regency Motors cars down the long Golf straight.  Ice’s gambit allowed him to slide into 4th position.  Launch Bornado was the driver who handled the Adelaide corner the smoothest, and he was first in, first out, but without good speed heading into Nurburgring.  That allowed Captain Slow to gain on him.  In contrast, Jaap’s inability to emulate his teammate left him battling with Ice and a charging Jamonito.  The rest of the field followed closely, with the lone exception of Danger Wheel, whose opening of the second lap left a lot to be desired.

The midfield converges after the Golf straight

Skipping back to the midfield runners, who looked to be well behind Captain Slow at this stage, things began to shift over the course of the second sector.  The most obvious and shocking event of the race was seeing standings leader Jaap Snellrijder pull off to the side of the 180 corner after his engine gave out.

Jaap’s engine gives out

What was far less obvious as it was occurring were the rise of Mater and Jamonito.  Jamonito had caught up with Ice and Jaap in the Adelaide corner, and kept up with them both until Jaap’s engine demise.  He was subsequently able to catch Captain Slow in Imola.

Mater, on the other hand, was bottom 3 until an inspired 2nd sector charge.  He found speed aplenty in Imola, reeling in Ice a short while later.  While Launch cruised to his first victory, Captain Slow saw both Jamonito and Mater pass him by around the final bends.

The battle for 2nd comes down to the wire

Nero managed to pip Ice for 5th place as they crossed the line, and the Cobalt teammates finished one after the other for the 4th time this year.  The Stig’s 7th place finish was extremely disappointing after an extremely promising first lap.  Jaronimus finished just ahead of Danger Wheel to round out the field.

Final Results

Driver Start Lap Finish
Launch Bornado (RM) 5 3 1
Jamonito del Verde (ORC) 7 5 2
Mater (RB) 3 10 3
Captain Slow (SB) 1 1 4
Nero (CO) 2 7 5
Ice (CO) 5 6 6
The Stig (SB) 4 4 7
Jaronimus Maximus (ORC) 9 8 8
Danger Wheel (RB) 8 9 9
Jaap Snellrijder (RM) 10 2 10, dnf

There were a lot of interesting things about the race in France, but the first two are obviously the diametrically opposite fates of the Regency Motors drivers.  Launch Bornado finally wins a race in his 16th attempt.  Despite a fair amount of success, he was the only driver from the inaugural season who had yet to tally a win.  That leaves Jamonito as the only active driver without a win.  Jamonito’s 2nd place is the 4th time this year that he’s been the bridesmaid, so he has certainly had his share of success.  Mater rounded out the podium in 3rd place.  After his victory in Austin earlier this season, it marks his second podium of the year and the first time he’s ever finished in 3rd place.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Jaap’s failure to see the checkered flag marks the first time he’s suffered such a fate.  Given that he was as high as 2nd place during the race, that’s a tough pill to swallow.  For race fans, though, it’s a great boon.  The driver standings are now about as tight as they can get heading into the final race of the season.  Jaap holds a 2 point lead over Launch and Jaronimus, who are tied.  Jamonito is within 10 points of the lead trio.

A final note of trivia comes from the fact that for the first time in SBMRL history, the top 5 cars came from 5 different teams.  Jaronimus finishing ahead of Danger Wheel was the only thing preventing the bottom half from being a mirror image of the top.

On the team level, Regency Motors extended their lead over Osito Racing Company but only slightly.  The team title will come down to those two teams, as Red Bull is just a few points too far back to take the crown.  They can, however, steal second place away from Osito if things work out just right.  The bottom two teams scored the exact same number of points as each other.

With Jaap’s win in Sochi, Regency Motors have back-to-back wins for the first time.  The only other team to have accomplished that is Cobalt, who’ve done it twice.  Nero and Ice won at Sebring and Hockenheim last year, then had season-spanning back-to-back victories with Valencia and Spa-Francorchamps.  There was only one race between those pairs of wins, meaning that Nero and Ice won 4 out of 5 in that stretch.

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Magny-Cours Preview

Posted on April 14, 2017 | Leave a comment

The Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours will play host to the penultimate round of the 2016-17 SBMRL season.  The track is a new one for SBMRL drivers, and one that Formula 1 drivers haven’t raced on since 2008.

Originally designed and built in 1960, with several corners named in homage of the tracks that inspired them, the circuit didn’t play host to Formula 1 racing until 1991.  Due to poor attendance and financing issues, Formula 1 left after the 2008 race, and many were not disappointed due to a lack of overtaking.  That’s unlikely to be a problem for SBMRL drivers, who’ve shown a proclivity for the pass.

A lap around Magny-Cours starts on the relatively short pit straight with a short run up from the starting line to Grande Courbe.  This is an easy left hander followed by a short straight, and then the corner on the track that will have everyone drooling.  The Estoril corner is the longest, smoothest corner on the league calendar.  It can easily be taken in 5th gear with little concern for consequences.  The incredibly long Golf straight follows, meaning there’s no need to worry about what’s coming ahead.

That opening combination in the first sector means that it’s entirely possible for cars to spend a good portion of the sector in 6th gear.  Cars near the front of the grid will be at a slight disadvantage if they can’t get off the line quickly and pick up speed.  Those in the middle of the field will have the easiest time shifting up through the gears smoothly as they get under way.  For those who’ve managed to handle it properly, there will be no need to downshift at all in the first sector.

The second sector is where cars will have to slam on the breaks.  The Adelaide corner is a tight one that will have cars downshifting rapidly after the Golf straight.  This is where things might start to look tricky, but Magny-Cours will likely prove to be more forgiving than it initially appears.  The Nurburgring bend won’t slow cars down too much, and the 180 corner after that is tight but manageable.  Hit it right, and cars will be flying off to sector 3 and Imola.

The final sector has the quick combination of Imola and Chateau D’Eau, which will slow the field moderately.  This will be a good spot to pass if cars can maintain speed through it, as the straight before the final Complexe du Lycée can catch cars in between gears.  That last chicane will really slow the field down before heading out on the second lap.

Magny-Cours is a circuit that will test each driver’s ability to get the most of their car, and will also reveal a lot about their tolerance for risk.  There will be ample opportunity to stay in the higher gears, but running at the front will be key to making that tactic work.  If the ideal racing lines get closed off in front, it will be much harder to tolerate the risks of running too fast.

STARTING GRID

Sochi shook up the standings quite a bit and has left everything in turmoil.  That said, with two races left to go, the drivers and teams at the back of the standings are just about out of time if they still hope to catch up.  It’s now or never for them.  Here’s how the grid will shape up on race day:

  1. Captain Slow (SB)
  2. Nero (CO)
  3. Mater (RB)
  4. The Stig (SB)
  5. Ice (CO)
  6. Launch Bornado (RM)
  7. Jamonito del Verde (ORC)
  8. Danger Wheel (RB)
  9. Jaronimus Maximus (ORC)
  10. Jaap Snellrijder (RM)

Mater gets tie breaker preference with the Stig after finishing behind the Stig in Russia.  Likewise, Launch gets preference over Jamonito.

Pit selection is reverse order of average starting grid position, with ties broken in reverse order of team standings.  Osito Racing Company and Regency Motors are tied in terms of average starting position, so Osito gets first pit choice due to being farther down the team standings.

  1. Osito Racing Company
  2. Regency Motors
  3. Red Bull
  4. Cobalt
  5. Scandinavian Blitz

Since this is our first trip to France to race at Magny-Cours, it’s hard to know what to expect out of the teams.  The most similar track we’ve raced at is probably Interlagos, where Osito Racing Company established themselves as serious contenders for both championship titles.  Expect some high speed wheel-to-wheel action and possibly even a blown engine or two.

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