Phosphenes

 

At last, we have the season schedule for Racin Nexus F1 2004 Series. 12 races total, on pretty much standard F1 tracks. Season opener is at India, a Tilke-drome that I don't have much experience with. The wet-dry race in Nurburgring and the night race in Singapore will be the toughest rounds. Should do well at Red Bull Ring and Barcelona, I have done a lot of racing and testing there. Looking forward to my favorites; Suzuka, Spa, and of course, Interlagos. 

I think I did well in the preseason tests. Looks like I'm in the midfield in terms of overall pace, but my car setup seems more stable and less prone to error than the fast guys. We'll see where we really are when the full grid shows up. I should be at the fringes of the top ten and podium finishes are not impossible. Attendance usually tapers off as the season goes forward, so I think 5th place in the overall standings by season's end is a reasonable target.

zeptoseconds

 

Can't seem to figure out them grooved tires. They gain and lose temperature so quickly and with such a wide range; they just don't hold their temperature at all. Worse, my pedals have started to flicker a bit more and the paddles are acting up again. It's become that much harder to put in consistent laptimes. 

Would my performance improve with a new or better controller set? Certainly, but I am not blaming the equipment. Just have to apply myself and attain a higher level. I have been here before when my G25 started dying after a few years of constant use. Looks like this G29's death spiral has begun. I have fiddled around with the deadzone and sensitivity settings but it is not enough. 

Still no info about this F1 series' calendar. I've just been practicing everyday, but still not able to put in long stints because of the aforementioned problems. I know that if I just put in the reps I can have a decent season. I'm not so far behind the fast guys in terms of lap time. 

I just find this car so hard to drive fast consistently. You have to be on a razor's edge to hit the fast lap. You lose a lot of time when you drive inside the limit, and the car will just snap and bite you if you go over. It is not unpredictable, but the window of max performance is just so narrow, and with the damage at 80% a small mistake can lead to dire consequences.

And so, once again, like so many times before, my optimism has waned. I'll just have to see how I'll do when the first test races are held. There hasn't been much talk about the mod in the Discord channels. I guess not much drivers are excited about this difficult car. It's a compromise, I guess. If the car was easy to drive you would get a big grid of not-so-serious drivers and a series of wacky races. With a difficult car, it is a smaller grid but with proper racing.

the fine-structure constant