NSR F1 – Race 4 – Results
November 13th
The fourth round of the NSR F1 series was held this past Saturday the 13th of November.
Conditions in the club room were perfect with low humidity and temperatures in the mid-seventies. Just like the real F1 cars, these cars hook up much better and times are quicker when running in these conditions.
There were eight racers present with the car line up very similar to the last round. Unfortunately, there were no Ferrari’s on the grid as the Brabham’s seemed to have replaced them. Let’s hope we get a chance to see the Ferrari’s on the track again in the future.
The pre-race warm-up looked good as many of the competitors were putting down times in the low 3.7’s with a couple hitting the high 3.6’s. Those are some super fast times. It was great seeing so many of the members finding the right set up’s and driving style for these super quick cars.
The first heat would have the series leader and fast lap holder Marty with his Brabham running in the green lane against Mark and Steve. The heat did not go well for the series leader as his car appeared to be more challenging to drive than it had been in the previous three rounds. The end result was a heat with only 76 laps. He did manage to put down a quick lap of 3.647. Not the quickest and probably not quick enough to give Marty the one extra fast lap point he will more than likely need. It would be difficult for Marty to win this race running only 76 laps. Most of the quick competitors were running anywhere between 78-80 laps per heat so it looks like Marty was already down by 2 laps to his competitors. The others would have to have a similar fate for a 76 lap heat to win the race. But this was only the first heat and everyone else had yet to run.
The second heat was better with the car running a more realistic 79 laps but David, second place in the series, had a solid heat with 78 laps – a one lap advantage over Marty.
The first person to finish the three rounds was Mark with a total of 218 laps while David put in another strong heat with 78 laps. David’s two heat total was 156 compared to Marty’s 155.
The fourth heat had David and Ary, the third place in the overall standings, running against each other. This was one of those great heats where great competitors push each other to race faster.
At the end of the heat, David had run 78 laps for a total of 234 laps. Ary had also run 78 laps and had two more heats to complete. No one was able to eclipse Marty’s fast lap – at this point.
In the fifth heat, Ary managed to up the pace running 79 laps for a two heat total of 157 laps. John finished his third heat with a total of 218 laps.
Ary had one more heat to set a total that would beat David and put the total out of reach for Marty while Russell was trying to add to his lap total to keep him in front of John and Steve.
At the end of the sixth heat, Ary had run 79 laps for a three heat total of 236 laps. His lap total was good but he was unable to beat the fast lap time.
His total of 236 laps was two laps ahead of David and meant Marty would have to run 81 laps. Not impossible but very very difficult.
In the seventh heat, Randy ran 70 laps for a total of 203 for his three heat run. It was a great race between Russell and Steve with both cars running side by side for much of the heat. These two competitors were separated by one lap going into the final heat of the race.
The final heat would see if Marty could run 81 laps to take the race win while Steve and Russell would race for what appears to be fourth place. Everyone in this heat had something to race hard for. These meaningful heats are the ones everyone wants to watch. No room for errors from anyone.
At the start of the heat, Marty realized that his controller settings were all off. They were set for his Group C car and not his F1 car. That helped explain why the car was so difficult to handle in the first heat – too much brake and a higher sensitivity setting. The settings were changed at the start of the heat. It will be interesting to see what impact these new settings have on Marty’s performance.
The heat started with all the cars running close as they were all pushing hard and were respectful of each other at the same time. Marty’s car was back running at its fast pace. It looks like the changes to the controller settings had made a big difference. At the halfway point Marty had run 39.5 laps which was not going to be enough for a win. He needed to push harder. It was at the 2:34 mark that he had de-sloted along with both of the other cars. The track timer had stopped so there was still a slim chance he could make up the difference. At the four-minute mark, he had run 63.75 laps. At this pace, he would finish with 79.7 laps – not enough to take the win. It was all academic because with 0:33 seconds to go Marty had another de-slot and one more with 0:18 seconds left in the heat. Marty finished the heat with 78 laps or a three heat total of 233. Russell and Steve had a great battle with Russell coming out in front with 76 laps to Steve’s 74. Russell finished the three heats with a total of 224 laps to Steve’s 223.
Steve’s car lost its wing at the 2:54 mark of the race and as much as the wing is cosmetic it can have an impact on the balance of the car, especially these cars at these speeds, as well as the visual look and perceived handling. This was the difference for Steve in the final heat.
At the end of the day it was Ary (Aryton Senna) in 1st place with 236 laps, David (generic driver) in 2nd place with 234 laps, Marty (Riccardo Patrese) in 3rd with 233 laps, Russell (Nigel Mansel) in 4th with 224 laps, Steve (The Stig) in 5th with 223 laps, John (Nelson Piquet) in 6th with 218.48 laps, Mark (Insert Driver Name Here), in 7th with 218.23 laps and Randy (The Stig II) in 8th with 203 laps.
Round 4 Results
The overall standings are as follows:
With two rounds to go the series points standings are very close. Ary will be out for the remaining two races while Marc and Steve have already missed one round each. The other competitors will have to drop one race of the six for their final points totals. With that in mind, the series points totals are much closer than they look right now. The final two rounds of the series will be key in critical in the final points standings.
I can’t wait for the next round of the series that will take place on December 4th at 1:30pm.