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Post by Michael Drechsler on Apr 19, 2021 21:14:36 GMT
And now you know why I'm very conservative about using that boost button! Driving like a granny has its very own charme. You may pick up a flower bouquet while driving and bring it home.  I Believe that's not just it... This track forces you to shift the gear many times per lap, mainly at downshifting. Every time that I blew the engine were when I downshift. But the turbo pressure for our weak and even unreliable engines we need keep at the low gauge. At Spa the engine ran well without risks. Having blown an engine during the test race and another one in Monaco, I had a closer look at the engine file of the Alfa "power" plant when preparing for Spa, and to my surprise, the average life time of that engine is a mere 80 minutes, +/- the lifetime variance. So it can last the distance, but it can also go boom much earlier. Yesterday, I managed to get 64 laps out of it, but a few days during practice sessions, I had one engine blow after 25 laps. Can't comment on other endurance runs, I usually threw the car into the wall before the engine would expire.
Either way, you gotta be really gentle. To me, I try to avoid the red bar alltogether, take that extra tenth during upshifts, keep the temperature around 105 degrees and go with minimal boost I can currently afford. I drove the first 10 laps with 1.3 bar, the minimum, then went one click up to 1.4, because the oil temp barely hit 100°C. Later, when Luciano increased his boost, I went another click up to 1.5 bar, but as soon as he dropped out, I dialed back again. It was just the last two laps when I saw a chance to catch Jonathan, that I really cranked up the boost to 1.8 bar and actively used the whole rev band. I immediately could shave off two seconds from my previous fastest lap, and I'm certain I could regularly go more than a second faster just by a more aggressive gearing, which would also help my tires get into the window, but I don't think the engine would like that. Fuel use wasn't an issue, I had over 10 litres left. But I agree, I was far more worried about engine life here than I was at Spa, for more gear changes, harder accelerations from low speeds and closer ratios between gears. Closer ratios seem to promote missed upshifts for me. That one blown engine during practice days wasn't a downshift though, my engine popped when lifting the throttle for an upshift. And I already dread the engine management for Detroit... |
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Post by Alberto Ibanez on Apr 20, 2021 7:02:57 GMT
Since you are talking about engine life, it is good to know that the lifetime can actually increase if you stay below a certain temperature and decreases if you go above it. So for example during the pitstop you are actually gaining life and the same goes if you are really gentle on the throttle and boost. Then there is the overrevving thing, where every time you hit the limiter you are eating a full chunk of life from the engine. Downshifting is thus the dangerous situation, but so is careless up shifting without lifting enough.
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Post by Cezariusz Czlapinski on Apr 20, 2021 8:40:12 GMT
As always great racing and excellent broadcast. Thank you very much for all the kind words- I'm getting better already. Hopefully will get used to drive one hand only good enough to compete at upcoming USAC round |
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Post by Jonatan Acerclinth on Apr 20, 2021 10:15:38 GMT
It may have been a mistake partaking in the event, I had a generally dreadful time getting set and the race, despite consisting of a few nice battles, was mostly run on my own which is never fun around Circuit Gilles Villneuve...
Practice:
Knew I was in for a challange when deciding to pick up the Zakspeed, but having driven it and getting it somewhat ok around Imola, thought I'd be able to pull it off.
That was not the case, the car was handling as can be expected with the weight balance of a Porsche road car of the era...
Struggled a lot but then I had the luck of running into Richard C and Anders who were sitting in TeamSpeak watching F1 Qualifying.
They offered to help me out and it turned out I was probably taking the wrong approach to the gearing and I had not quite gotten the balance right with the Anti-Roll Bars.
Accepted those facts, tried to get situated with the updated setup and had some discussions to further improve the car, resulting in a car that was at least drivable but still really tricky in a couple of places around the track.
Race:
Started from near the back of the pack, had just intended to start from the back but my full-tank one lap run in qualifying saw me a few places further up the grid in 24th I think it was.
Had a careful start and got outdragged by a couple of drivers who started behind me, Luciano in the other Zakspeed being one.
Was very careful in the opening laps as the car had proved to be lethal on tires that were not up to proper operating pressures.
About 5 laps in I started to move up a few places and soon caught the train led by Francios in the Arrows. I had, prior to the start, anticipated that I'd spend quite a bit of time looking at the rear wing and gearbox of the Arrows as he'd been so quick down the straights in the warm-up session.
Turned out, I think, that Francios was trying to look after either fuel or the engine as he didn't have near the same kind of top-speed in the race.
Was able to hang with him (sorry for the nudge when you missed a gear heading towards the hairpin mate) and were plotting and working out where I'd be able to pass.
Ended up getting a good run through the chicane before the hairpin at L'Epingle and he took the inside line so I thought "well, I'm allready out here, so let's see how she grips up on the outside line". Amazingly, the car gripped more than I thought, sorry if I squeezed you towards the cerb Francois, and I was able to hang on around the outside and get a better run down to Casino.
I sadly messed up in the final chicane and he came flying past me but he ran a bit deep into Turn 1 and subsequently also ended up a little bit deep at T2, so I did the double switch-back, got up the inside heading towards T3 and was able to take the position once again and could pull away from there.
From then on, for most of the race, I was running on my own trying to look after the gap to Francois and then Kayo. Sadly, with a handful of laps to go, Juha's excitement distracted me, I couldn't hear the engine revs and therefore were unable to modulate the throttle at Casino, the rear kicked out (the engine delivers everything at 10 000 RPM, as if you'd disturbed a Hornet's nest) and I went across the grass on the inside of the final right of the Casino chicane and slammed the outside retaining wall.
Incredibly, the car still was in working order, if very bent and with a rear-left puncture.
Limped back to the pits and spent around three minutes stationary as the crew tried to put the car back into some semblance of straight corners.
They did a decent job at it but sadly I had lost too much time so a top 10 slipped out of my hands.
Happy to have finished at one of my most disliked F1 tracks on the calendar.
Congrats to all finishers and I hope that I didn't cause any major trouble for any lappers who flew past me during the race.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2021 11:12:36 GMT
Nice broadcast. Thanks for the event. Sad to see Team Williams not score any points. Car was best suited for Canada. Other than that - mostly all as expected. Gratz to all finishers + podium. Too bad for my teamie to not do any better. On to the dystopian concrete hell that is Detroit (has anybody found viable breakmarkers yet?  ) I really enjoy this track - driving it for the first time. Very cool. Cu you all in two weeks. Stay healthy! |
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Post by Bruno Pagiola on Apr 20, 2021 12:10:16 GMT
I Believe that's not just it... This track forces you to shift the gear many times per lap, mainly at downshifting. Every time that I blew the engine were when I downshift. But the turbo pressure for our weak and even unreliable engines we need keep at the low gauge. At Spa the engine ran well without risks. Having blown an engine during the test race and another one in Monaco, I had a closer look at the engine file of the Alfa "power" plant when preparing for Spa, and to my surprise, the average life time of that engine is a mere 80 minutes, +/- the lifetime variance. So it can last the distance, but it can also go boom much earlier. Yesterday, I managed to get 64 laps out of it, but a few days during practice sessions, I had one engine blow after 25 laps. Can't comment on other endurance runs, I usually threw the car into the wall before the engine would expire.
Either way, you gotta be really gentle. To me, I try to avoid the red bar alltogether, take that extra tenth during upshifts, keep the temperature around 105 degrees and go with minimal boost I can currently afford. I drove the first 10 laps with 1.3 bar, the minimum, then went one click up to 1.4, because the oil temp barely hit 100°C. Later, when Luciano increased his boost, I went another click up to 1.5 bar, but as soon as he dropped out, I dialed back again. It was just the last two laps when I saw a chance to catch Jonathan, that I really cranked up the boost to 1.8 bar and actively used the whole rev band. I immediately could shave off two seconds from my previous fastest lap, and I'm certain I could regularly go more than a second faster just by a more aggressive gearing, which would also help my tires get into the window, but I don't think the engine would like that. Fuel use wasn't an issue, I had over 10 litres left. But I agree, I was far more worried about engine life here than I was at Spa, for more gear changes, harder accelerations from low speeds and closer ratios between gears. Closer ratios seem to promote missed upshifts for me. That one blown engine during practice days wasn't a downshift though, my engine popped when lifting the throttle for an upshift. And I already dread the engine management for Detroit... I saw this data about the engines... Motori Moderini has just 4300 lifetime seconds with 2500 of variance time, in front 5400 seconds of BMW (Arrows Spec) engines. But MM has 12000 RPM limit without affect the wearing, over than other better engines that have 11500 RPM. In the best situation, my engine last until 1h53 minutes. I believe that I lost my engine in Monaco (when I was in 8th) because I reached this limit, and note Michael that we lost our engines at the same time. I believe that your limit is it too. I'm considering stopping at the pit (turn off the engine, wait one lap to rejoin the race), if I did it in Monaco I kept my position, because Chacon was 3 laps behind. Being Detroit a street circuit (with low speed avg), I Believe that the race will last to close of 2 hours. Our engines will not keep it, doesn't matter we will do.  |
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Post by Richard Wilks on Apr 20, 2021 12:45:07 GMT
Dont go crazy with stuff like that. Those numbers dont tell the full story. Your engine can go in 5 laps, or last forever. The game is not as linear as you guys think. Look at Remmen at Spa, or Anders in the preseason. Look how many times even you guys finished the race with those MM engines. I did a lot of testing, and those numbers provide at best a guide for the game, but there are more variables at play.
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Post by Michael Drechsler on Apr 20, 2021 16:22:12 GMT
Eh, don't tell me that, I rely on numbers!
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) I really enjoy this track - driving it for the first time. Very cool.
