Random Thoughts... (Motorsports Edition)

Evel said:
Karting today was full of bad luck.

Practice went smoothly. Qualifying wasn't very good, 6th out of 9, but nothing bad happened. Then during the first race (Two race format at Mosport), I was doing much better. I was in fifth and bearing down on two cars fighting for third. Then, I heard a loud noise from the left side of the car and got a meatball flag. Turns out the left "panel" had come loose. That meant I couldn't finish the race, and came in 8th (Someone had retired before me).

The next race, I had to start in 8th. Things were fine at first. I moved up to 7th and was about to overtake 6th. However, he proceeded to spin out right into my path. There was no time to react and I ended up flying off the track in a fast corner. The crash was hard, even causing me to jump up and forwards in my seat. Nonetheless, injuries were avoided (Although my arse hurt for some time after). However, the race marshals hadn't seen the crash. All they saw was two cars on the grass, and because the race director had set a "You spin, you're in (Or rather out)" rule, and no one had seen who was at fault, we both got black flagged.
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Sorry for your misfortunes. The kart track looks awesome at Mosport. Is it as nice as it look?
 
Ferrari_Freak said:
Judging by your avatar and sig you race bikes?
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Yep, vintage motorcycle racing, however I race what is considered an almost modern bike, in the youngest bike period of our organisation (a 1988 Yamaha FZR400). Other period go as far as pre-1950.
 
RdKetchup said:
Sorry for your misfortunes. The kart track looks awesome at Mosport. Is it as nice as it look?
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The track really is awesome. Some very epic corners there.

To make up for last time's misfortune, I scored myself my first podium finish at karting today, coming in 3rd place (I've been in 3rd at an "exhibition race", but that's like a dress rehearsal, while I actually scored a medal and championship points for this race) :D I qualified 4th, but the person ahead of me would spin a hell of a lot. Within the 10 minutes or so we spent on the final race, she managed to spin three times. I got away without a single spin, allowing me to get ahead of her and stay there. Because 2nd place was a "non-member" though, I will score championship points for 2nd instead of 3rd.

However, I do have to admit that there were only 5 people, but I did come first among the rookie drivers (2nd and 1st had 5 and 4 years of experience respectively, the rest of the field was on their first year).
 
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Also scored my first podiums yesterday, 2 third place :D

I had qualified 4th for both races on saturday in the heat races, after starting from the back of the grid.

I knew I had a shot at 3rd place in one of the two races, but the other I was way slower than the 3 guys in front of me. But in the final race, one of the 3 fast guys crashed out in the first lap, moving me up to third, and I kept that place until the finish.

First race podium:



Second race podium:





And video from the first race. 2 close calls with one particular opponent...

 
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Arghhh, just learned that if I had filled up the paperwork at the beginning of the weekend, my 2 third places would have given me 125$ from Bridgestones (towards my next tire purchase, not cash).

Gotta make some calls to see if I can still get it.
 
Anyone know where i can get Audi le mans merchandise online ?
 
I have a question. Karting people here will know that in order to induce understeer in a kart, you lean back, and in order to induce oversteer, you lean forward. I get that. BUt then why do they say in F1 that a rearward weight bias is for oversteer and a frontward one for understeer? Makes no sense to me.
 
Because F1 cars have downforce and karts don't, is probably the simplest answer. On a kart you shift your weight back and you take weight off the wheels that do the steering => understeer. On a F1 car, if you shift the weight back, it becomes more like a hammer being thrown in the air when you drive it around a very fast corner.
 
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vikiradTG2007 said:
it becomes more like a hammer being thrown in the air when you drive it around a very fast corner.
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Huh? If you're talking about the fact that the heavy end has more momentum and swings round that should happen regardless of whether it's an F1 car or not, as it has nothing to do with aero...
 
It has more momentum but there's also something about the aerodynamic balance working in conjunction with the weight balance that causes a F1 car to oversteer or understeer. So, to be honest, the answer I gave would be the simplest answer, but it probably goes very far beyond that, into the realm of suspension geometries, wheelbase, ballast placement, chassis design and whatnot.
 
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Sir Stiggington said:
I have a question. Karting people here will know that in order to induce understeer in a kart, you lean back, and in order to induce oversteer, you lean forward. I get that. BUt then why do they say in F1 that a rearward weight bias is for oversteer and a frontward one for understeer? Makes no sense to me.
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In order to induce understeer in a kart all you have to do is drive it. The fused axle will take car of the rest.

So many things are backward in Formula 1 I'm surprised the guy in last doesn't get the trophy.
 
Kenny Br?ck will try to defend his x-games title this year!
 
One of the great Ringmeisters got bitten very hard by the Nordschleife today. Hans-Joachim Stuck crashed today in a VLN race at over 260kph and was knocked out in the incident; he woke up in the medical center with bruised ribs and a heavy concussion.


(Thanks to Steffen Spies on the Midweek Motorsport Listeners' Collective on FB for the link and the translated update)
 
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