F1 2012 Grand Prix of Europe

Valencia Street Circuit: The eighth race of the season took place at the Valencia, Spain asphalt track that hosted the European Grand Prix from 2008-2012 (the last such event on the schedule until 2016). The track was designed to meet the same safety standards as a permanent track, and features many overtaking opportunities due to its minimum 14m width. The race is scheduled for 14 laps on the 5.42km circuit resulting in a total distance of 75.9km and 350 turns.

F1 2012 Grand Prix Du Canada

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve: The seventh race of the season took place at the Montreal, Quebec race track which is uniquely situated on a man-made island on the St. Lawrence River which was originally constructed for the 1967 exposition. The race is scheduled for 18 laps on the 4.36km circuit making a total distance of 78.5km and 252 turns.

F1 2012 Grand Prix De Monaco

Circuit De Monaco: The sixth race of the Formula One season took place at the Monte Carlo and La Condamine districts street circuit under pleasant conditions with a three day forecast of partial sunshine, clouds, and again partial sunshine for the practice, qualifying and race segments. The race is scheduled for 20 laps on the 3.3km circuit making a total distance of 66.8km and 380 turns. My objectives for the weekend are to qualify 12th and to finish the race in 9th place or better.

Monaco is a track which highlights drivers’ skills more than any other on the schedule. Car performance therefore has less of an impact upon the final result than under normal circumstances. The circuit requires a car to be setup for maximum downforce and braking, and calls for a large degree of technically ability (if not bravery) on the part of the driver. The qualifying position is of utmost importance as it is extremely difficult if not virtually impossible to overtake another car on the narrow course.

F1 2012 Gran Premio De España Santander

Circuit de Catalunya: The fifth race of the Formula One season took place at the Montmeló, Barcelona race track under wet weather conditions with a three day forecast of rain, clouds, and rain for the practice, qualifying and race segments. The race was scheduled for 17 laps on the 4.65km circuit making a total distance of 79.1km and 272 turns. My objectives for the weekend are to qualify and finish the race 4th or better.

Catalunya is a high speed track that is hard on tires and physically demanding to drive. Cars are prone to understeer and require a perfect setup in order to achieve a quick lap. The progression from turns 11 through 15 and ultimately exiting 16 (New Holland) onto the front stretch (where the DRS zone starts) is one of the most challenging sequences in all of racing to maintain top speed through, which is critical when running down into the prime overtaking spot on the entire circuit at turn one (Elf).

F1 2012 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix

Bahrain International Circuit: The fourth race of the Formula One season took place at the Sakhir race track under relatively clear weather conditions with a three day forecast of partial sun, clouds, and partial sun for the practice, qualifying and race segments. The race is scheduled for 14 laps on the 5.4km circuit making a total distance of 75.7km and 210 turns. My objectives for the weekend are to qualify 4th or better and to win the race.

Bahrain is a demanding and technical track with a diverse range of racing lines, offering several overtaking opportunities for the drivers. There is a particularly nasty series of corners at turns nine and ten where an elevation causes the car to unload if braking at the wrong point. The circuit was designed by German engineer Hermann Tilke and features several long straights which allows for a top speed of 314kph (195 mph).

F1 2012 UBS Chinese Grand Prix

Shanghai International Circuit: The third race of the Formula One season took place at the Jiading District race track under mixed weather conditions with a three day forecast of partial sun/heavy rain/partial sun for the practice, qualifying and race segments. The race is scheduled for 14 laps on the 5.5km circuit making a total race distance of 76.3km and 224 turns. My objectives for the weekend are to qualify 8th or better and finish the race in at least 6th place.

Shanghai’s difficult corners and long straights mean that a car must be perfectly balanced in order to achieve a fast lap time. Even with such a set-up, cars are prone to understeer heavily; this can cause the front tires to become worn at an increased rate. The circuit was designed by German engineer Hermann Tilke and features his trademark signature: a long back straight followed by a hairpin turn. This area can allow current F1 cars to surpass 300 km/h.

F1 2012 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix

Sepang International Circuit: The second race of the Formula One season took place at Kuala Lumpur under mixed weather conditions with a three day weather forecast of clouds/partial sun/rain for the practice, qualifying and race segments. The race is scheduled for 14 laps on the 5.5km circuit making a total race distance of 77.6km and 210 turns. My objectives for the weekend are to qualify 10th or better and finish the race 7th or better.

Sepang is located near Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia and is considered one of the most unusual tracks on the F1 circuit, featuring long wide straights and sweeping corners. The pit straight is where the DRS zone is located and leads to a very long and slow corner, similar in nature to the first turn at the Shanghai course. Sepang is an extremely technical track in which cars generally oversteer which can cause problems with finding an optimal setup.

F1 2012 Qantas Australian Grand Prix

Melbourne, Australia: The first race of the Formula One season kicked off on March 16 under beautiful sunny conditions with a three day weather forecast of 27/26/28 degrees Celsius. The track is 5.3km long and the race is scheduled for 15 laps. My objectives for the weekend are to qualify 14th or better and finish the race 11th or better, and the Team Mate Challenge is active during the race weekend.

Albert Park is a street circuit located outside of Melbourne and has been a fixture on the F1 schedule since 1996. Consistent corner placement makes the track fast and easy to drive, however the flat terrain in some areas and few true straights make overtaking opportunities limited putting a heightened importance on qualifying and pit sequencing.

F1 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix

São Paulo, Brazil: Race 6 of my current Season Challenge mode took place at Autódromo José Carlos Pace (Interlagos for us old timers) under absolutely abysmal racing conditions with a constant downpour throughout the entire weekend. With some of my recent rant posts (Black Shark 2, Future Soldier) I decided to post something about one of my favorite games for a bit of a change up. This game from Codemasters Birmingham is both accessible and challenging at the same time.

Racing games in general have been a bit of a struggle for me to post about, with previous efforts in Race07 as well as this game not really coming off as decent blog material. However I decided to make a go of it for this single race as a bit of a higher level AAR light of sorts. The setting is the sixth race of a condensed 10 race season, and my current rival is Fernando Alonso. Having beaten him once already, a second win today would guarantee me a contract offer from Scuderia Ferrari.

NASCAR 2003 Daytona 500 Test Session

I am trying to slowly wean myself off of my custom built Windows XP gaming rig by moving those titles that I still want to play onto my Windows 7 system. It is a slow and painful process as the XP machine was the first computer I built with my own hands from scratch back in April 2007. The rig booted right up after installation of the operating system and I ran it without a reinstall for over four years.

NASCAR Racing 2003 Season is the last great NASCAR racing simulator made. Period.  It is such the Holy Grail of stock car simulations that copies still go on eBay for well over $200, and that is long after the Papyrus/Sierra multiplayer racing lobbies were closed down. It has been previously covered here on this blog when I was running a championship exactly two years ago this month.

F1 Season Challenge

I started a Career Season Challenge effort today in F1 2012 (albeit on easy mode as I am a 45-year old gamer using a Logitech Dual Action controller to race with). I picked my favorite team, Scuderia Ferrari (the game made Fernando Alonso my team mate).

For the season challenge aspect (since this is my first time out), I selected Charles Pic (no pun intended) as my rival, and him being at the bottom of the list with the Marussia team, beating him was little effort. Winning the race at Monza however was quite satisfying.

Ring Knutstorp

Kågeröd, Sweden: Round two of the nine event Swedish Touring Car Championship got underway with the Hartmann Honda Racing Accord R qualifying in fifth position on the grid with a time of 01:07.234.

The first race was an enjoyable event with some close racing through the initial sequence of turns, resulting in the Work Zone Honda leaping into first place on lap two and never relinquishing it. The 110lb penalty ballast for winning the first round did not seem to affect me too much as I finished the first race with a time of 0:05:43.316 and 10 Championship Points.

FDM Jyllands-Ringen

Resenbro, Denmark: Round one of the nine event Swedish Touring Car Championship got underway with the Hartmann Honda Racing Accord R qualifying in fourth position on the grid with a time of 01:18.481. This being the first event of the Championship, all racers were on relatively equal footing in terms of car weight as there was no penalty ballast assigned to any driver.

The first race featured some tight moments on the opening lap as I was able to put the Work Zone Honda into P1 with a sprint down the front stretch after out braking P3 & P2 in turns 11 and 16 respectively. After that it was clear sailing to the finish for the victory with a time of 0:06:34.240 and 10 Championship Points.

Monza Test Day

Monza, Italy: Today was a shakeout test day at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza track using a Gen 5 Chevrolet Camaro from the Race07 expansion pack STCC II. Monza has always been one of my favorite circuits for any series (realistic or not) because there are several challenging chicanes and long stretches that toss the driver back and forth from action to boredom.

In a full length race the track demands maximum concentration from the racer: Any lapse in focus can result in the vehicle sitting in a pile of gravel while their dreams of trophy and drink flash by as they become the back marker and but a distant memory. Several times I have taken the lead in a variety of series with three or more laps to go and began pulling away just to have those long stretches lull me into a sense of comfort...only to my untimely demise.

Martinsville Speedway

Ridgeway, Virginia: The Goody’s Pain Relief 500 was run at Martinsville Speedway in Henry County, Virginia. The 0.526 mile oval is paved with a mix of asphalt and concrete, and is banked 12° in the turns and is relatively flat on the straights.

My version of this event based on a 25% race length and a 4X pit stop frequency is a 125 lap race with a full fuel load providing an estimated 47 laps under green flag conditions. This would result in approximately 2.65 pit stops during the event, more with the inevitable yellow flags.

Bristol Motor Speedway

Bristol, Tennessee: The Food City 500 was run at Bristol Motor Speedway in Sullivan County, Tennessee. The 0.533 oval is paved with concrete and is banked at 26°-30° in the turns and 6°-10° in the straights. Although I would largely solve my controller issues from the race before, the result was the same.

My version of this event based on a 25% race length and a 4X pit stop frequency is a 125 lap race with a full fuel load providing an estimated 47 laps under green flag conditions (yeah, right). This would result in approximately 2.65 pit stops during the event.

Atlanta Motor Speedway

Hampton, Georgia: The Kobalt Tools 500 was run at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Henry County, Georgia. The 1.54 mile quad-oval is paved with asphalt and is banked at 24° in the turns and 5° in the straights. This would be a horrible track for me to begin to experience controller issues on.

My version of this event based on a 25% race length and a 4X pit stop frequency is an 82 lap race with a full fuel load providing an estimated 17 laps under green flag conditions. This would result in approximately 4.82 pit stops during the event.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada: The Shelby 427 was run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Clark County, Nevada. The 1.5 mile tri-oval superspeedway is paved with asphalt, has four turns banked at 20 degrees (however this change occurred in 2007, and I believe the game is modeled at the then 12 degrees).

My version of this event based on a 25% race length and a 4X pit stop frequency is a 67 lap race with a full fuel load providing an estimated 17 laps under green flag racing conditions. This would result in approximately 3.94 pit stops during the event.

California

Fontana, California: The Auto Club 500 was run at the 2 mile D-shaped oval which is paved with asphalt, has four turns banked at 14 degrees, a front stretch banked at 11 degrees and a back stretch that is relatively flat at 3 degrees. The circuit is smooth and wide and a pleasure to race on if you have a setup that will allow you to move between multiple racing lines.

My version of this event based on a 25% race length and a 4X pit stop frequency is a 63 lap race with a full fuel load providing an estimated 13 laps under green flag racing conditions. This would result in an approximately 4.85 pit stops during the event.

Daytona

Daytona, Florida: On 12/6 I had started a new NASCAR Racing 2003 Season Championship using The BullRing 2011 Sprint Cup modification at 95% AI strength and Adaptive Speed Control (ASC) set. I finished second in that race having been passed by Bill Elliot in the trial oval when I thought I had the race won.

During the event I had some concerns about how ASC was working. There were some times where I would pass whole lines of cars without the draft (a bad sign at a restrictor plate track) just to be passed by them later, in what seemed as if the game was adjusting to my driving ability.