The car was less driveable. Not sure why, but there are several possible reasons.

1. The different tyres meant that I had to overdrive to set decent (ish) laptimes.
2. The different tyres, with a stiffer shoulder, made the car react in a different way.
3. The setup wasn't bang on - wings, dampers, camber, spring rates, ride heights...
4. I was totally new to the circuit, and didn't get the best out of it.
5. I wasn't driving as well that weekend.
6. The bumpier surface meant the car moved around a lot more

I don't really know. If we go there again I've got a few changes to the car to try, and I'd already have an idea of the circuit before we arrived. I'm sure I could find time with a bit more practice at the circuit!

As for the throttle spiking, I think that's just electrical noise around 100% (so 100% seems to range from 96% to 103% in the worst cases. However, I keep checking the actual throttle travel, and 100% pedal always equals 100% butterfly travel. Because we don't run an alternator, and because the TPS is shared with the ECU and the datalogger, using the ECU's reference 5V voltage, the voltage 'seen' by the logger might not always be comparible to its 5V reference... Does that make sense?

We might be changing to fuel injection for next year, so it might be more possible to fit two TPSs, one for the ECU and one for the logger.

Niels - all I'm saying is that I still haven't driven anything in rFactor that feels like a real car to me, but I have in nKP and LFS. All are flawed, but not equally flawed in the same places.

A few weeks ago we had the last meeting of the season. On the Saturday I was using Silverstone tyres, and had to drive closer to "Beyond The Limit" than I've ever had to before to get a decent time (2nd on the grid, and slower than I was in April). The car was nervous and unpredictable, and not at all fun to drive. Lost a place at the start as the tyres don't provide any grip for about 10 laps (not good when the races tend to only last for 15 laps!). Then I spun when the championship leader waved me passed as his engine blew, dropped to 5th, and fought back to get 3rd (2nd in class) by the end.

Not a happy bunny.

After the race I asked the championship leader, who was going home, if I could borrow his Avons. He agreed! Overnight we reverted the car back to the Avon setup.

Sunday - Pole and lights to flag victory. Only blemish was the gear level coming loose with two laps to go, leaving me stuck in 4th. However, I still managed to win by 30 seconds. The guy who was second in the championship (and the quickest in the class usually) couldn't get close enough to pass, and ended up breaking down. This left Neil, who lent me his tyres, as the championship winner, Jeremy 2nd and me in 3rd.

Avon tyres are lovely

Now the season is over. The car is already in hundreds of bits. We are fitting fuel injection, and have a fancy ECU planned with traction control and launch control Hopefully we'll have the engine flow tested and on the dyno before Christmas, and can then spend a couple of months losing some weight (from the car and from me), improving the "not as good as they could be" bits, and generally finding tenths here and there.

Videos on Vimeo - http://vimeo.com/album/81276

First race of the season will probably be early in April. And we'll be on the grid - hopefully on pole - unless the money dries up. But we've made several sponsorship deals (with more on the cards) that should ease the pain of finding money and delaying the bill payments.

Edit: Picture added

Not a bad result at all. Does that mean you'll be using Avons all of next season then?
I still can't access the root directory of the Dallara398 site though. The gallery page is fine, but get a 403 anywhere else. Get it sorted

Works fine for me here. He probably just blocked all Scottish IPs

So Tristan, apparently in the tyre market you get what you pay for. Do you plan on reverting back to Avons permanently now, or is the cost simply too prohibitive?

Great stuff Tristan, well done in the second race! And good job for 3rd overall in the championship with your first season in the new car! Next year should be great.

We all have to use Silverstone Tyres in the MR2s, they seem to grip well but don't last anywhere near as long as the Toyo 888s did.

so youre going for an electronic nanny next year?

Why the **** are you putting TC on the car. Thought you would have been one of the last people to do that. I see it as a sign of weakness!

Ahem... winking smiley.

Quote from Minimaxman :

Great stuff Tristan, well done in the second race! And good job for 3rd overall in the championship with your first season in the new car! Next year should be great.

We all have to use Silverstone Tyres in the MR2s, they seem to grip well but don't last anywhere near as long as the Toyo 888s did.

Fingers crossed (they are nearly always crossed!). I know I'm fast enough, and I know the car is fast enough. Just got to actually do it!

With the slicks - which nobody other than me and a Malaysian F3000 championship actually seem to use - they would last for ages I think, but are just horrid to drive on. For the price I'd much rather have them last half as long for the same feel as the Avons... But I'm not a tyre engineer!

Quote from Shotglass :

so youre going for an electronic nanny next year?

Quote from sil3ntwar :

Why the **** are you putting TC on the car. Thought you would have been one of the last people to do that. I see it as a sign of weakness!

Quote from samjh :

Ahem... winking smiley.

Well spotted samjh! I thought that would get a few comments. Yes, the ECU has the facility for launch control and traction control, and will accept a steering wheel mounted knob for both to control launch RPM and max wheelslip %. But it also needs more sensors, that cost money. And I'm not a fan, at all, of traction control.

I might consider launch control though, at it's most basic level. Rather than sitting on the rev limiter at 7400rpm on the startline, I can press a button on the steering wheel and the rev limiter changes to, say, 5500rpm. But one the lights go out it would still be down to skill (read: luck) to modulate the throttle and clutch.

So no, it's highly unlikely we'll actually have TC enabled. But like the B194, it can be our Option 13


And in reply to the others, yes, we'll be on Avons next year. Anyone want to donate money to "Tristan's Avon Tyre Fund"?

Well done Tristan!

I've also been looking at the Monoposto Racing Club website, those prices given for the racing are not thàt expensive indeed (for motorsport racing). I wonder if there's something like MRC in Belgium...

Sorry for off topic slightly Tristan, but is there a girl called Kat Impey that races in your series? I know her vaguely.

Yes.

I rate her as one of the best three drivers in Monoposto (argubly equal to or better than Chris Woodhouse and Jeremy Timms, although obviously a dominant car would make the comparisons useless - although I don't think her car is dominant - she REALLY knows how to drive and has stunning car control!).

She (and/or her dad) have bought a Dallara F304 for next year, but they hadn't decided whether to play with it in Mono (against me - that would be awesome) or BRSCC F3.

If you know her, and if you speak to her, pursuade her to race it in Mono against me. I'll be sad otherwise.

Well seeing as BRSCC F3 has a grid of about 6 cars (welll last time I was out at Anglesey that was the case), Mono would probrably be the safer bet.

Anywayy, nice work at Silverstone.

I have a funny feeling that she'll do a round or two with the BRSCC, to experience the car at low ride heights in full F3 spec, and then come back to Mono, which is cheaper and should have more competition. But a few people in both series are considering what to do, and it could be that I'm the only Dallara in Mono

Well done Tristan.

Solid perfomance. Enjoyed watching the vids over the season.

Also, great pic!

Quote from tristancliffe :

the ECU has the facility for launch control and traction control, and will accept a steering wheel mounted knob

i presume youre refering to yourself?

Quote from tristancliffe :

I rate her as one of the best three drivers in Monoposto

not bad for someone whos obviously colourblind... i mean a girl

I just watched "Monoposto at Croft, September 2009 (Race 2)", loved the "i'll get you next time, Gadget!" style fist pumping after the contact, and the virtual execution at the finish!

Quote from GFresh :

I just watched "Monoposto at Croft, September 2009 (Race 2)", loved the "i'll get you next time, Gadget!" style fist pumping after the contact, and the virtual execution at the finish!

Emotions do funny things. I try to drive without them when possible, but I was a little bit cross at being used as a brake. Within seconds of getting out of the car we'd talked it over and become friends again - the fact his car was more damaged than ours certainly helped me relax

2010 Calender Published!!!!!


1 28/03/2010 Brands Hatch

2 08/05/2010 Thruxton

3/4 22/05/2010 Anglesey

5/6 12/06/2010 Snetterton

7/8 29/08/2010 Mallory Park

9 11/09/2010 Oulton Park International

10/11 25/09/2010 Croft

NC 02/10/2010 Silverstone GP

12/13 16/10/2010 Silverstone National


It's awesome. Particularly looking forward to Silverstone GP - Maggots, Becketts, Chapel at 2.5G... And we get to play at Brands, Anglesey, Oulton, Snetterton, which are pretty damn good circuits in my book. Croft should be better on decent tyres. Silverstone again (Copse ), Mallory... And Thruxton - which is bloody fast!

I can't wait.

Quote from tristancliffe :

Anglesey.

Don't they use that track in 5th Gear? Perhaps I will be able to pop along and watch you at Thruxton, not been there in a long time.

if i remember i might actually get to watch at anglesey (bit bloody embarassing really, only live 11 miles from it and haven't been there since it's remodeling )

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

Don't they use that track in 5th Gear?

Yep and they bum off the 'radar complex'

The tracks changed a bit since 5th gear used to frequent there.

Quote from 5haz :

The tracks changed a bit since 5th gear used to frequent there.

I hope it's better than it used to be, it used to be like the route to my local Sainsbury's from the motorway exit.