League Race #8 - Season Final

Wait what? Already....!

That's right it's the season finale. A week early.

I'll say again - this is a week early - the 12th of July.

The reason for this is that Evan's about to become a Dad again, and bub is due on the 15th, so we're hedging our bets and bringing the race in a week early.

The race:

This is it. 15 laps of Spa Francorchamps (day) with tyre wear in 650Open racers.

Expect this to be one epic race, if only the adventure that we're going to have trying to find the pit lane (it's long). The general agreement is that the enduro racing is fun, and as this is the last race of the season we'll be doubling the points (as we did last year).

The track:

You know it.

Here's some old data that I've pulled form here...

• Fastest race lap: 1:51.095 (A.Prost, Williams, 1993)
• Fastest Qualifying Lap: 1:47.571 (A.Prost, Williams, 1993)

As the field crosses the start/finish line, the drivers brake hard before changing down to first for the tight La Source hairpin. The track is doubly wide on the exit, so expect to see a wide variety of lines in an attempt to gain extra speed on an opponent before the run in to the fearsome Eau Rouge.

Driving steeply down hill, past the old pit lane that is currently used for support races, the track twists left, hard right and uphill, then left again. Eau Rouge is the key for the entire lap. If taken fast enough, the opportunity exists to out-drag an opponent along the Kemmel straight into the Les Combes chicane.

A tight hairpin, Malmedy and nearly flat left hander, Rivage, lead the drivers into the fast Pouhon double apex left hander. A brief straight, and the drivers follow the road right into the fast Les Fagnes chicane. No time to relax, as there is only another short straight before the next corner, the tough right hand Stavelot. The third gear corner leads onto the main straight, so drivers slide their car wide in a desperate attempt to get their speed up.

The straight is, in fact, a series of left hand, flat-out kinks - the toughest being the particularly tight Blanchimont. A pair of fast chicanes - the Bus stop sequence - slow the cars down slightly before they return to the pit straight and start another lap of this most challenging of circuits.

And a tidy lap in a Murcielago R-GT:

The cars.

Well you know by now what a 650Open is. If only it was one of these as well:

But anyway. So what setup? Not sure. Whilst a fast low drag car will be quick on the top straight, I reckon that a good handling car is going to have some success here. Not least as we'll have boost on low again, and of course with tyre wear on a car slipping all over the track is going to really pay for it in the tyres. Your call!

Official race details:

Host: Andrew

Date: 12-July-2012

Start time: 9:00 PM

Race starts: 9:15 PM

Lounge: FCT GT5 Andrew

Track: Spa Francorchamps

Laps: 15 (One race)

Cars: 650Open

Tyres: Open - Tyre wear on

Boost: Low (like Monza was).

Note: Double points on a double points race!

Points:

It's a single race night, which means there are double points for a single race (as we do). It's the last race of the season, so we're doubling the points (as we did last season).

What does this mean? Well, you have to be there or be dropping places is the main issue...

But here's an example:

4 racers - so total points for a win is 4 points x 2 for double header race, x2 for season finale - giving the points spread: 16, 12, 8, 4 respectively.

If we have all 7 racers: 28, 24, 20 will be top three places. Nice.

Better is that this isn't match fixing - Chris's batting average has him in second place consistently, which would mean a well deserved season win even if I were to pull out a win here.