for me it was Tuesday

OFR Season 4 Review

I finished 4th in the final standings, not bad I guess since I missed the start of the season and got disco'ed in Round 2. I got two podiums, 3rd in Norisring and 2nd in Macau, I also got pole position in Macau. My performance improved throughout the season, as I got familiar with the fixed setup, and as the grid thinned out as some drivers abandoned their campaign.

There was no stopping Nicholas Ramacci, he was simply the fastest in these FE cars. I think only Marco Santoni had the speed to keep up with him but he quit midseason as did other drivers. The other drivers who finished ahead of me, Arturo Smaglia and Mark Kyere, were faster than me, but I beat them in some races when the conditions favored me.

Overall, an amusing season, with some wild and wacky races at first when there were plenty of drivers who seemed only casually interested in racing, and then some nice, straightforward, clean racing towards the end when the grid was reduced. It was a lot of fun to see myself racing on Youtube.

But the most important thing to happen this season was my finally getting on Discord. It has opened up a lot of opportunities for racing with various leagues. I didn't know there was a large community of rFactor drivers on here. There will be more races and more chances to win in the coming days.

a notion of truth

Here's the schedule for Virtual Open Wheel Series Season 5. Pretty much a standard F1 season slate, with the addition of TT-Circuit Assen. This is the only track on the schedule where I haven't raced before. Familiarity with the tracks will certainly help my overall performance. And it will be good to return to my "home" track of Interlagos. I haven't raced there in a long time.

And here are the teams and drivers. There are some familiar names on the roster, guys I've raced with before at rFR, SRO, and OFR leagues. Looks to be a fast, experienced grid. Max Reichel is the current series champion.

Preseason testing for VOWS Season 5 has been going well. My best lap is right up there with the fast guys, but it was a lucky lap. I haven't been able to string together my best sector times consistently. I'm starting to get comfortable in the car, and have a good idea which setup values to change to produce the desired effect. 

This week though, I am in Macau for the finale of OFR Season 4. It is my first time to run on the famous Circuito da Guia and wow it is a doozy. Half the track is a flat out blast through wide straights, the other half a twisty rollercoaster through narrow streets. It is a perfect venue for the Formula E street fighter cars.

yoiks and away

(image from Spector Racing)

Gonna drive for Spector Racing in Season 5 of Virtual Open Wheel Series. Juris B will be my teammate; I raced with him in rFR and it was nice of him to recommend me for the other seat. Looks like it will be a big grid so I don't know yet how fast I will be. But I am very happy to be driving a proper F1 car again, after running different cars the past year or so. The VOWS mod is based on the 2011 F1 season, which I have some experience with. I even won a couple of races with an HRT some years ago.

A server has been opened for preseason testing and now it's time to practice and find a good baseline setup for the car. There will be refueling and a mandatory pitstop during the race, which means I have to figure out stuff like tire wear, brake wear, engine temps, fuel consumption, etc. and form a basic strategy as well. The schedule hasn't been released yet, but most of the track suggestions are circuits I am familiar with so that's good for me.