F1 1995 Suzuka Post Race Data and Discussion

Congratz to Allan for the serie's title and to Frank, where did you get that speed, McCurdy and to Joe for their great results.

Like in the F.Classic, this was a super season.

And like the Classic cars, it took me a few races to figure things out and perform to a good level.

For this race, qualied 5th as I could not get close to the 1:39 I had done on Monday... no worries, on the start, I punched out and got to the first corner in third.
But on exit, Allan wasn't gripping and was slower than I expected so I tapped him a little, now, I had lost grip so Jason took back 3rd.

Couple of laps later, Frank goes bronco bucking on the exit of Degner Curve, #8, I went "No-No don't look brake-brake-turn-turn and I came out of corner nine in third.
In front, Allan and Jason were going at it, Bruno and Joe were doing the same just behind. With not enough practice, I did mess up the hairpin once but got back on the black stuff without loosing too many seconds as Joe was just pulling away from Bruno.

The problem was the pit stop. I hadn't practiced any pit stop. I never even went through the pit entry! To top it, Joe stopped on the same lap so he passed by when I was stationary and I passed him when he was... "comon-comon-comon-comon" and he pulled out a few car lengths behind.. It really was a good race as Joe was a second or two behind and, if on a lap, he would gain half a sec or something, I would pull a few car lengths on the next.

Then, Jason is off !!! In the dirt on the outside of the Dunlop Curve... " WoHh! This is now for second place? " I really put my head down and only looked at my tire wear.

I held up to the 2nd spot with Joe just a few second behind.

Great run every one!


Thank You Joe and Jason for putting all of this up.

Grats on the win, Allan. Pretty sure I had that one locked down, but if one cannot keep it till the end it doesn't really matter.
Had a weird spin at the final chicane, while leading, and while just trying to stay consistent and preserve the gap I'd formed. Not sure what happened. Curbing must have upset the car in a way it hadn't before and a tiny throttle input and off in the sand I went.

Man, are these cars hard to get out of the dirt or what?

Allan went by while I was nursing the car back onto the circuit.  Put about 6-8 seconds on me, but a bit later had a small off somewhere and I closed it somewhat.  Watching the gap as we'd cycle around it was clear he was faster in a few areas, but overall it seemed I had a slightly better pace.  I just kept slowly closing the gap but made a few mistakes as I started pushing a bit too hard.  Decided to pit a lap or two early hoping I'd stay in clean air and close the gap.

That's about the point in the race I'm ashamed of.  Went flying into the pit entrance, then downshifted way too fast and hard, looped it right at the entry line.  Had to back up, get the car turned, then into my pit box.  Lost a bunch of time.
Back out on the track and I just wanted to keep P2.  Wouldn't have been an issue, had the pace, but at that point frustration with myself had kicked in.  Truth was, I was already frustrated...it had nothing to do with racing.  And, I let that enter into my racing.  Didn't take long before I botched it again.....off in the sand where Gilles went by. 

At that point, I was clearly no longer having fun.  I made a really stupid mistake and reentered the circuit too quickly (car just wanted to do circles in the sand) nearly taking Joe out.  He managed to go around me track left, but a realization came at that point that I was not fit (mentally) to be on track any longer, so I quit out to avoid potentially causing an incident with others.  Not proud of that, but that's the truth of it.

I love this track, one of my favorites, especially in cars of this caliber.  Such a great flow to it and very fast paced.  Hard to keep up.

Allan certainly proved he was top dog in this series.  That's pretty much what domination looks like.  Damn good job!
Hopefully you stick with us and if fast paced open wheel stuff is your thing, I think you'll enjoy the next series as well, so stay tuned for announcements on that in the near future.

Thanks to everyone that participated and faithfully showed up for the races.  Without you guys all this is nothing.

I struggled heavily in these cars, but at Suzuka I mostly found out why.  Just wish I'd discovered it earlier on...but, lessons learned and off we go.

Enjoyable, either way, as always.  A pleasure and an honor to share this hobby with this group.