I got given a Michael Schumacher book for Christmas and part of it is dedicated to his second place in the 1994 Spanish Grand Prix. For those who don't know the significance of this race, Schumacher's hydraulics went about a third of the way through the race and he finished in 2nd place stuck in 5th gear. This, in itself, is quite an achievement (especially considering he made a pitstop stuck in 5th!), but the more impressive thing is his speed whilst stuck in 5th. His fastest race lap (with a full 'box) was a 1:25.155 and his fastest race lap stuck in 5th was a 1:26.171.

So, as a little challenge, I propose we have people a standard set stuck in one gear in the BF1 around a track similar to Barcelona (Blackwood sticks out to me as about the closest, but I'm open to suggestions).

Any takers?

why not Senna Challenge... lost all gears.. only 6th left at interlagos, and he won

Sounds fun! Plus, everyone can do it, since being stuck in fifth means the BF1 is pretty tame.

Quote from amp88 :

to me as about the closest, but I'm open to suggestions).

Any takers?

I'll have a go, i think we would need a default setup to use tho, just an average bl1setup i guess
In those days there were 6 gears in an f1 car not 7 so i suggest we use the 6th gear of the bf1

Wow was that in Spain, for some reason i always thought it was Spa.

Anyway, i'm not sure if Blackwood would be the closest match to Barcelona, it was a very different track back then compared to today. It was a very fast flowing track with no hairpins or even a tight corner come to think of it. Maybe Aston Historic is closer, at a push maybe Westhill.

Another thing to bare in mind is Schuey had a dozen burly mechanics on hand to push him out the box, not sure how you'd manage a clean start in LFS ?

It'd be quite an interesting little exercise to see how the LFS mechanicals would cope. Unfortunately i've not driven the BF1 since the day it was released so i'm not really bothered in taking part, but i'll come and spectate, or watch the replay perhaps

Who cares about what the track looks/feels like, what laptime in the BF1 is around 1:25 seconds? then there is your answer to what combo it should be, it's probobly gonna be on Aston tho, cos of how many combo's aston DOES have.


Mazz (Burly mechanics) : Just use someone as a pace-bump-car to get you up to speed!

Quote from chanoman315 :

why not Senna Challenge... lost all gears.. only 6th left at interlagos, and he won

Could do this, but I don't know if the BF1 has enough torque to pull in top gear (2.4 litre V8 versus the 3.5 litre V12 Senna had in 1991).

The 1994 and 2007 Catalunya tracks aren't too far apart. In 1994 there was a tyre chicane installed at Campsa, the entry to the hairpin at the end of the back straight was slightly more open and there was no chicane at the end of the lap but apart from that they're the same. No-one pushed Schumacher out of his pit, although a lot of people think they did.

Quote from amp88 :

No-one pushed Schumacher out of his pit, although a lot of people think they did.

Hey what the hell do i know ?, i thought it was Spa

Quote from Mazz4200 :

Hey what the hell do i know ?, i thought it was Spa

Don't worry, you're in good company. Even his engineer Pat Symonds (that smoking guy who's now at Renault) thought the mechanics pushed him too. I'm uploading a clip to Youtube, should be done soon...

edit: Here's the clip.

Quote from Mazz4200 :

Hey what the hell do i know ?, i thought it was Spa

LOL most people seem to think it was Silverstone anyway.... so you're TWICE as wrong

As for the video, he seemed to dip the clutch first, then it sounded like it went half on the clutch and some on the throttle to get more speed... Amazing stuff.. 5th gear... jesus god!

Proof that schumacher is a true alien.

I can't imagine how the BF1 would start in fifth, it must be really really slow...

Quote from BlueFlame :

LOL most people seem to think it was Silverstone anyway.... so you're TWICE as wrong

Since when have i been the voice for "most people" ?. God help you all if that's the case

Quote from Mazz4200 :

Since when have i been the voice for "most people" ?. God help you all if that's the case

Erm, I have taken note of many people over the years, INCLUDING Schumacher fans from all over the world, say that it was Silverstone and that Johnny Herbert took the win, so don't give me this crap, Just cos i have eyes and a memory, and i am not still smoking canabis at 26....

Quote from chanoman315 :

why not Senna Challenge... lost all gears.. only 6th left at interlagos, and he won

Schumacher did 45 laps in 5th . Cant find how many laps Senna did in 6th but from the articles i read it was around 20 or so.

Quote from Grand Prix Century by Christopher Hilton :

On lap 24 of 65 his gearbox stuck in 5th. Schumacher..... coaxed his cars to second place, including a pit stop which should not have been possible. It required a tremendous shove by the mechanics to get the car up to enough speed so that he could ease away in 5th without stalling. Schumacher's performance was so astonishing that some journalists refused to believe it and Ford (benneton's engine supplier) had to show them the telemetry. 'The Zetec-R in Schumacher's car was required to pull from a minumum of 5,200 revs and up to it's maximum of 14,500 revs for long periods on the straights. [here's the amazing bit] Scumacher's best lap stuck in 5th gear was 1.26.17. Only 3 better laps were recorded in the entire race, one of which was Schumacher's own pb, 1.25.15 (lap 18), with all gears operative

Now I think that Schumacher is a whiny bastard, but that performance at the Spanish GP, 1994, was astonishing (as was his engine!)

The funniest thing about that race was the guy who wrote in to Autosport saying he didn't believe it, and if it was true he'd eat a nomex balaclava. Benetton wrote back and said sure, we'll see you at Silverstone with the telemetry and a balaclava...

I don't think what happened next was reported

Quote from J@tko :

Now I think that Schumacher is a whiny bastard, but that performance at the Spanish GP, 1994, was astonishing (as was his engine!)

but watch the video Amp88 posted, the mechanics didn't push him!

I nearly did about a 1:12.x but I crashed with my mouse.

Quote from BlueFlame :

LOL most people seem to think it was Silverstone anyway.... so you're TWICE as wrong

I don't get what you are saying but I just checked F1 decade vids and it's definitely Catalunya 1994. Herbert won in Silverstone in 1995 in a Benetton car when Hill took MS out...

Quote from J@tko :

Now I think that Schumacher is a whiny bastard, but that performance at the Spanish GP, 1994, was astonishing (as was his engine!)

Yeah like when has MS whined!?

Wow. I just got a LOT more impressed with Schuey.

I did a 1:06.29 at blackwood

is this just hotlapping or can we arrange a full race this way?

i'm assuming 5th gear on default RACE_S setup for now. did we decide on a track yet?

/me votes Aston Historic on a server with default set with bridgestone tyres

Quote from PLAYLIFE :

Yeah like when has MS whined!?

I didn't mean whiny - I was reading about Alonso ATT!

I mean cheating or unsportsmanlike.

Want me to go through these?
Jerez '97
Adelaide '95
Monaco '05 and '06 e.t.c