Silver Bullet Memorial Racing League

Nurburgring Preview

Posted on February 16, 2017 | Leave a comment

Last season, the SBMRL race in Germany at Hockenheim, but this year the event moves from there to the Nurburgring.

Originally built in the 1920’s the Nurburgring is best known for the Nordschleife, which orginally was over 28 km long. It has since been shortened significantly, but still proved too dangerous for the fastest cars in motorsport. Formula 1 grand prix racing ended on that course in the 1970’s after Nikki Lauda nearly lost his life there. Instead, the GP-Strecke was built and designed with modern F1 in mind, and that is the course that we will race.

The run up from the pit straight isn’t particularly long before heading into the slow right-left combination of the Castrol S. Cars toward the back of the grid will be at a severe disadvantage heading into this corner as the temptation to catch up with the front runners early on will likely lead to some hard braking on approach. Those at the front will hope to gain an early lead and avoid the mess behind them.

A short straight leads into the second corner, a short left hander, which is then followed very quickly by another sharp right, the Ford Kurve. There is then a moderate straight followed by the Dunlop hairpin. This second sector will have some of the better opportunities for overtaking so getting the right line through this area will be key. The kink on the way to the RTL Kurve can almost be ignored, but only if in the right gear and without traffic in the way.

Sector three starts just after the Bit Kurve and opens with the longest straight on the course followed by the tricky Veedol S and Coca-Cola Kurve. High speeds into this last series of corners will certainly make coming out of them at pace even more challenging.

Overall, the Nurburgring will be quite a different experience than Interlagos was. There aren’t any particularly long straights which will allow drivers to open it up. Instead, the course will require technical agility in managing the ebb and flow of corner and straight combinations. Whether or not this means the field will stay tightly compressed or spread out remains to be seen. While it appears that passing opportunities will be hard to come by, there are some key spots where a mistake will likely mean losing several positions.

Starting Grid

The top 6 positions on the grid remain unchanged from Brazil in large part due to the bottom three drivers in the standings all failing to complete the race. The bottom four see the Osito Racing Company and Regency Motors drivers swap slots. In practice, this probably won’t mean much since they’ll still be in the same row. Launch Bornado and Jamonito del Verde are the only two current drivers never to have won a race, and will start alongside each other.

Nero (CO)
The Stig (SB)
Captain Slow (SB)
Ice (CO)
Mater (RB)
Danger Wheel (RB)
Launch Bornado (RM)
Jamonito del Verde (ORC)
Jaap Snellrijder (RM)
Jaronimus Maximus (ORC)

As there is no race in Finland, The Stig opted for Germany as his home race this year, so he’ll have a slight advantage in addition to starting on the front row.

Osito Racing Company taking over the top slot of the team standings means they get first choice of pits. Scandinavian Blitz and Cobalt are no longer tied in the standings, which breaks the tie for average start position between the two teams.

Osito Racing Company
Regency Motors
Red Bull
Cobalt
Scandinavian Blitz

Nurburgring should favor those at the front of the grid, so this will be a good opportunity for Scandinavian Blitz and Cobalt to try to crawl back into the hunt. Red Bull have been consistently the 3rd best team, but Regency Motors and Osito will be charging hard from the back of the grid.

Brazil Recap

Posted on February 11, 2017 | Leave a comment

The January leg of the season took us to Brazil and Interlagos, a new track that the SBMRL hadn’t yet raced on, but one that promised some of the fastest racing to date. With everyone eager to put the pedal to the floor, here’s how the grid lined up:

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

The race got off to a flying start for both the Stig and Mater, each of whom timed the lights perfectly. The Stig took advantage of Nero’s inability to get his engine up to speed and was the first into the Senna ‘S’. Captain Slow and Ice followed closely. Behind them, those who started at the back of the grid used the long run up to turn one to get up to a higher entry speed. That had almost the entirety of the rest of the field piling into the bend. Danger Wheel bumped a bit with Nero, as Jaap played things safely, watching from the rear.

The long first straight

The long straight between turns 1 and 2 meant high speeds. Ice and Captain Slow found their lines, leaving the Stig trailing. Jaronimus strained his engine but didn’t lose position as a result. The two leader’s suffered similar engine trouble on the approach to turn 3, Ferradura. Launch Bornado and Mater both were perfect in this section, joining the leaders at the front. In contrast, while Jaap was able to do some catching up through here, Jamonito found himself struggling to keep up.

Throughout the second sector, there was a lot of shifting in the relative positions. Captain Slow who had been leading found himself falling back to 4th place, behind the Cobalt drivers and Mater. The Stig went from hanging with the top three to running in 9th.

Jockeying at the end of lap 1

As the cars hit the final corner and plowed onto the long pit straight, Nero led Ice and Captain Slow by less than a car length. Mater’s approach to that final corner left him wanting, allowing Jaap to pass him by. Launch and the Stig bumped in their efforts to pass the suddenly slow Red Bull car, leaving the Stig with minor body damage, and Jaronimus was hot on their heels.

The three front runners dove for the pits and were soon followed by Jaap, Jaronimus, and the Stig. Launch took a temporary race lead by skipping the pits entirely, but he couldn’t find the proper approach into turn one at that speed. Mater was caught up by the two backmarkers, Danger Wheel and Jamonito.

Tightly packed in the Senna ‘S’

The entire field was tightly packed going into the second lap, but it was Nero who got the advantage. He carried speed from the Senna “S” onto the long straight to turn 2, but his tyres paid the price. As he was pulling away, the Scandinavian Blitz cars battled with Ice and Regency Motors while the cars from the other two teams did their best to keep up.

Nero’s engine suffered a hit into the third turn, forcing him to lose some speed there. Behind him, the Stig couldn’t quite find his line in Turn 2 and had to slow as well. In contrast, the yellow liveries of Jaap and Launch were smooth through the bend, with Ice just ahead of them. The big move, however, was from Jamonito and Jaronimus. Not only did they hit the second corner just right, but they sped past everyone and right on by in Ferradura. This put them in spitting distance of Nero.

Osito on the move

As the leaders charged forward, the first casualty of the race was Captain Slow. On his efforts to get past Red Bull and keep up with the middle pack, he hit debris left on the track earlier in the race. He lost a wheel and was forced to retire.

Danger Wheel and Mater pushed on and soon found themselves caught up with Jaap and the Stig. At this point, Launch and Ice had pulled slightly ahead of that group and were doing their darnedest to keep up with Jamonito and Jaronimus. Instead, it would be the boys in green that made the next move. With Nero nursing home some badly worn tyres, they managed to catch him in the final corner and then pass him on the pit straight.

Nero is caught!

Jaronimus charged home with his teammate close behind him. Nero, on the other hand, was suddenly finding himself having to watch out for Launch in his mirrors. Fighting to avoid losing out on a podium after having been so far ahead earlier in the lap, his Cobalt engine gave out and he was forced to pull off the track with the finish line in sight. Launch cruised home uncontested.

The Stig crashes out

That left the other five cars still on the track all with a shot at 4th place. Ice took the last corner first, but was slow through it. Jaap found himself in a similar place. Mater had speed and carried it through onto the straight. The Stig attempted to do the same, but was unfortunately blocked off by the rest of the traffic already in the corner. He carried a bit too much speed through the corner and clipped the back of Mater, sending him off the track. Danger Wheel was close behind and narrowly missed crashing into him.

From there, it was simply a drag race to the finish. Danger Wheel had the speed to scoot past his teammate, while Ice wasn’t quite up to the task of keeping pace. With poor judgement through the final corner slowing him down, Jaap was the last to cross the line, but at least he could be thankful that he crossed it.

Final Results

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

Jaronimus’ victory is his second in the past three races and puts him solidly in front of Jaap at the top of the driver’s standings. Jamonito’s runner up finish has him up to 3rd place and marks the third time in the last four races that he’s stood on the second podium step. Launch rounds out the podium for the second time in three races as well.

At the other end of the grid, Jaap had his worst finish ever, after suffering a miserable second lap. However, that isn’t nearly as troubling as the trio of Nero, the Stig, and Captain Slow. All three failed to complete the race for the second consecutive race.

Also of note for this race was the amount of passing that took place. Mater, who finished in 5th place, actually held every position, 1 to 10, at some point. Launch and the Stig were nearly as diverse. Both drivers held all positions except 10th. Seven different drivers all held the lead, even if only briefly, and that includes all three of the cars that didn’t finish.

At the team level, Osito Racing Company recorded the SBMRL’s second 1-2 finish to take back the team standings lead. Cobalt is the only other team to have taken the top two steps, accomplishing that at Sebring last year. Unfortunately, their struggles this year leave them with about half the points of ORC, and Scandinavian Blitz is even further behind.

RaceGallery

: Speed down the Reta Oposta straight

: Tightly packed in the Senna ‘S’

: Osito on the move

: The Stig crashes out

: Lots of debris left on track from collisions and engines

Brazil Preview

Posted on January 7, 2017 | Leave a comment

The Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, commonly known as Interlagos, will be our host for the 5th SBMRL race this season. The track was built in Sao Paolo and inaugurated in May of 1940, with the first Formula 1 Championshiop Grand Prix being held in 1973 and won by local Emerson Fittipaldi. Sao Paolo is also the birthplace of Ayrton Senna and current driver Felipe Massa.

The purpose built Brazillian circuit will be a sharp departure from our most recent outing in Monaco. In contrast to the cramped city streets and sharp turns, Interlagos features long, wide straights and big, sweeping curves.

The starting grid is set back from the first corner, the Senna ‘S’, which means that there will be plenty of time for cars to get up to speed before they have to slam on the brakes for the left handed entry into the ‘S’. Getting the correct entry to this corner is significant as coming out of it is an extremely long sweeping curve and straight. Cars will be tempted into 6th gear here. The risk of coming up short on the Descida do Lago corner at the end of it will come into play, but it’s also easy to overshoot.

The run up to Ferradura, the third corner, is about half the distance of the previous straight but still not short. In comparison, it’s nearly as long as Monaco’s tunnel straight. A mistake here, though, isn’t quite as costly as at the previous bend. The remainder of the second sector is the more technical infield section of the track, with tight corners and extremely short straights between them. It’s here that the field will look a lot more compressed than may actually be the case, particularly by the second lap.

The third sector is simply the final Juncao corner followed by the sweeping bends that lead back to the pit straight. There’s no need for caution here and it’ll be full throttle the rest of the way. Expect some particularly tight finishes for any cars that come drag racing at the end.

Overall, Interlagos is an extremely fast, yet unforgiving track. There are few opportunities to catch up once falling behind other than hoping for a rival’s mistake. Any driver who finds themselves shifting below 4th gear in the wrong spot will be at a disadvantage, and even that isn’t fast enough in many places. Expect a lot of tyre wear and gear box abuse. While unlikely, a clean first lap will put a car in superb position for lap 2, as those in the pits will be watching the others fly by.