Quote from Stang70Fastback :

No - actually - that's why it's white. If it were any other color, it would absorb more light, which means that over the course of the race, the total weight of his helmet would increase, leading to slower lap times.

Sorry for the interruption, but the light is composed by photons. My recommendation is that you should check again how much is the photon mass... On the other hand the energy gained thanks to the "light absorption" would mean extra mass (or weight) assuming tristan's head and helmet had quantic behaviour...

Although it's true that the race results proved something! At least he's nearest to the speed of light than us. By the way congrats to tristan!

Quote from sam93 :

Far enough, of course the helmet doesn't make you quicker but it makes the overall image look better. I know the helmet colour/design isn't important but it is nice to have a nice helmet. Pitty you don't live in Plymouth as my uncle knows a few very good helmet painters, he's had two painted for him what matches the colours of his GSXR 600 and GSXR 1000. There are a lot of nice helmet designs out there, one of my mates has one what his bro gave him what has a angel one side and a devil on the other but cost him £400.
I thought you had a LCD in your cockpit what actually told you your laptimes but obviously not, how much do they cost about £300?

A full digidash is quite a bit more. This 'dash' is more intended as a lightweight timing module that just so happens to be able to vaguely show other things. My car has conventional dials with needles etc - I prefer them.

Talking about your dash I noticed from your on board videos you seemed to completely ignore you LEDs that were madly blinking away at you, maybe they need to be set differently?

Quote from ajp71 :

Talking about your dash I noticed from your on board videos you seemed to completely ignore you LEDs that were madly blinking away at you, maybe they need to be set differently?

He wasn't ignoring them all the time

It brought a smile to my face reading the write up and watching the video's of the day. Great stuff good luck with the rest of the season.

Would love to see more onboard stuff throughout the season also

I don't ignore them! I try and shift by them! But once I'm in top gear they continue to flash at me, and as the car is geared to pull higher revs in top gear than we shift at it flashes a lot at the end of the straight.

The only ways to stop it are
Compromise gearing
Compromise gear change rpm (and hence the shiftlight setting)
Buy a clever shift light that knows what gear I'm in

I don't find it distracting though.

hey tristan just reading bout you thinking of only haveing a solid colour helmet, why not have a cape painted or stickered on lol

LOL! I have no desire to remind people about that, or to have to explain why I'd have a cape on my helmet, so I'll pass ta!

lol, now to hack into his website(reynard one) and plaster that pic he has as his avatar and the one of him in the outfite all over it, any takers

lol only jking

Grats Tristan, nothing more satisfying than winning from the back. Good job

ive just had an idea, people could design you a helmet for lfs as a file you view it and use it and see if you like it, could be good fun

then if you like one of them enough and it is not too expencive to have done have it done, lol

Quote from tristancliffe :

Which reminds me - Andrew is busy for the Spa weekend, meaning not only will I be short of a pit hand, but also of an official photographer. I could be pursuaded to take someone local (either to me or to Spa), as long as they are handy with a spanner (by handy I meant totally and utterly competent in a professional type of way) and cam wield a camera... Submissions on a postcard to...

Heh. I have lenses to cover all the necessary situations, and batteries and CF cards to last all weekend. Unfortunately my hands-on mechanical skills and experience are best described as "basic", and that would be being polite. Not that my bank balance could withstand it either.

Great photos. Checked the website as well, good stuff.

From what I understood you use "old" F-3 cars and engine is the same to everyone? Congrats on the win

Most cars are F3, but there are also Formula Ireland, Formula Renaults and Formula Vauxhall Lotuses, ranging from 1984 to 2001, so quite a big mix really.

Engines are free, as long as they are standard production engines from a car that was produced in numbers not less than 1000, with an iron block and non-variable cam timing. Most people seem to run noisy, gutless Vauxhall engines out of Astra GTEs, but we use a Toyota engine from a Celica/MR2, which is more powerful and quieter. The difference is only worth ~1mph or so on the straights though.

Also, despite them being standard (i.e. not tuned, other than fitting carbs which gives a bit more power) people seem to think revving them to 7k or 7.5k rpm is a good thing, even though the power is all over by then.

formula ireland were the cockpit is always blue, lol

no offence meant to the irish

I'll paint your helmet. I do have some experience - I wrote "KEVIN" in permanent marker on a plastic police motorcycle helmet when I was a small child, and I did a great job except for getting the N the wrong way around.

I'll also come and be your race mechanic at Spa if you like. I have a pair of overalls that I haven't washed for ten years, I smoke, I swear quite a lot and I am also completely untrustworthy. Thus fulfilling all essential car mechanic criteria.

In return, you can send me that TrackIR you said you were going to send me a couple of years ago.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

....---...

kev, you're thinking makes me speechless.

BTW, Tristian, if I motivate you enough for you to win, and you end up on the podium with the champange, will that count for the bottle of champagne I owe you?

kev youre on a roll tonight... whatever you did to get in this state of mind keep doing it

Quote from Theafro :

He locked up even more "impressively" the next lap!

Here's some more of the action.

Who are those guys on the 2nd pic?

lol not all mechanics are untrustworthy i am a mechanic (well a trainee), and am looking to go into motorsport engineering, which funnly enough was what my tutr did at a low level for a team in the ascar truck series thing a couple of years ago lol

Nice 1 m8. You need to get a simpson helmet and some white racing over hauls. Then only take them off at home.

I reckon he should keep the helmet white, the stig gets a way with it. Just wear white overals, white helmet with a pearlescent visor and all would be good the only bad thing is though you wouldn't talk or would that be a good thing?
I think he should put those stick on ears and tails you get for helmets just for a laugh and get a decal of a cape on both sides of the car.

TBH I actually like the Helmet (although looking like a cheap Stig-ripoff would look shite), and this is "anti-rice" Tristan. Spend the £300 on a turbo or something :P

Quote from Jakg :

TBH I actually like the Helmet (although looking like a cheap Stig-ripoff would look shite)

True, I still reckon he should get the stick on ears and tail for a laugh.

Quote from Jakg :

TBH I actually like the Helmet (although looking like a cheap Stig-ripoff would look shite), and this is "anti-rice" Tristan. Spend the £300 on a turbo or something :P

Just phone Toyota up and see if they've got any of their special air restrictors lying about.

Sod painting a helmet, spend the money on the car so you can feel the joy of winning more races! I would take that feeling over a fancy helmet design any day. Some people design their helmets before they even get near a car, assuming they will be the next Schumacher or Senna, but they forget that a fancy helmet design is one of the least important things.

In a way the helmet makes you stand out more, in the videos I have watched its always simple to spot your car even around the many other red cars, because yours has more white than the others.