Race 2- KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (WITH RESULTS)

SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT

Fastest Qualifier 2012 -Lewis Hamilton 1:36.219

Race Winner 2012 -Fernando Alonso in 2h:44m:51s



Hotlap and Setup from Littlemore:


Ollie Kart's Track Guide:


A lap in a Formula One car

Sepang starts with a long pit straight where the DRS zone exists - it is important to get a good exit out of the last corner to gain as much speed as possible. Turn 1 is a very long, slow corner taken in second gear. You brake incredibly late (around 80m) and lose speed gradually as you file round the corner down to second gear, similar to Shanghai's first turn but slower. Turn 1 leads straight into Turn 2, a tight left hairpin which goes downhill quite significantly. The first two corners are quite bumpy, making it hard to put power onto the track.

Turn 3 is a long flat out right hander which leads into Turn 4 (brake in between 100-150m) - known locally as the Langkawi Curve - a second gear, right-angle right-hander. Turns 5 and 6 make up an incredibly high-speed, long chicane that hurts tyres and puts a lot of stress on drivers due to high G-Force. It is locally known as the Genting Curve. Turns 7 and 8 (the KLIA curve) make up a long, medium-speed, double-apex right hander, and a bump can cause the car to lose balance here.

Turn 9 is a very slow left-hand hairpin (the Berjaya Tioman Corner – brake just before 100m board), similar to turn two but uphill. Turn 10 leads into a challenging, medium-speed right hander at turn 11, requiring braking and turning simultaneously. Turn 12 is a flat-out, bumpy left which immediately leads into the flat right at turn 13, then the challenging 'Sunway Lagoon' curve at turn 14. Similar to turn 11, it requires hard-braking and steering at the same time. It is taken in second gear. The long back straight can be a good place for overtaking as you can brake hard into turn 15, a left-handed, second-geared hairpin but you have to be careful not to get re-overtaken as you come into turn 1 again.

Good practise session with my team mate last night. Not an easy track - quite technical - but getting to know it a bit. Plenty of room for improvement. Luongo, I've managed to knock 3 seconds off my time with a little wing adjustment.

Not an easy track for sure. Especially turn 14 and 11. I'm about 1:40 but not consistently. I lose one second (from Pro AI) in sector 2 and two-three seconds in sector 3. Those two turns alone probably take 2 seconds off my lap time. I'll have to really watch close this weekend to see how the drivers manage.

Setup:
Aerodynamics

Front
Wing Angle: 3 (5 - race)


Rear
Wing Angle: 1

Braking


Balance:
F 48% - R 52%


Pressure:
High


Brake
Size: Standard

Balance


Front
Anti-Roll Bar: 1


Rear
Anti-Roll Bar: 11

Suspension


Front
Ride Height: 1


Rear
Ride Height: 1


Front
Spring Stiffness: 11


Rear
Spring Stiffness: 1

Gearbox


Gear
1: 125 kph

Gear
2: 154 kph

Gear
3: 183 kph

Gear
4: 213 kph

Gear
5: 243 kph

Gear
6: 279 kph

Gear
7: 322 kph

Alignment


Camber
Front: full left


Camber
Rear: full left


Toe
Front: full right


Toe
Rear: full right

Last night I was running 1.42.x consistently, but always losing time on the final sector - but I guess it's a case of keep practising. I'm also going to practise in the wet - something I've not done previously LOL - as I suspect this race will be a wet one.

I have to ask.....Look at time of Race winner. Then the lap of Hamilton for pole.and its 56 laps.....how in the hell?

RR Harry Hogge wrote:I have to ask.....Look at time of Race winner. Then the lap of Hamilton for pole.and its 56 laps.....how in the hell?

LOL I think that should be 2:44:51 - I was a long race because of the rain and number of safety cars deployed - doesn't bode well for our race (RAIN!).

The fastest race lap time was 1:40.722 on lap 53 by Kimi

Owen, re: the third sector. That's where everyone struggles. Turn 11 and 14 are two of the hardest corners in F1. Particularly 14. Everyone struggles in sector three. My lap times are routinely better than the legend AI in the first sector, one second off in the second and 2-3 seconds off in the third. You are not alone. Using the downshift and very light braking, while turning the opposite way you are pointed on an off camber and blind corner isn't easy my friend.

And yes, Harry, Owen is right. Should be 2h.... My bad. Good catch. (Longest race of the year I think).

Best time so far I have been able to get was 1:39.971. That was quick race, McLaren, option tires, qualifying. (They say that's the best way to prep for an on line race if the cars are set to equal performance, as here).

Any other times out there in the same conditions?

I've been practising in my Merc, but will give you suggestion a go and will let you know how I get on.

Lamb for Sunday roast which means wine with my meal so might be messy this evening as I tend to push it too much when I've had a drink lol.

Great race today and great drama between Webber and Vettel. Real class shown by Hamilton and Rosberg though!

1:40's somewhat consistently in quick race with the Lotus. I'm expecting a small time gain with the "equal" performance mode turned on.

Damn, Bronn and October, I have some work to do!

Bronn is full of shit. He was turning laps in the 1:38 range and lower today consistently in our league race. He finished 6th or so amongst the best F1 drivers I have ever seen. They are all like Hellisan and Raceboy. Some maybe better. Mostly Europeans of course. lol.

And that's meant to make me feel better because....??? I've got a whole heap of practising to do, but I realise I'm not as skilled a driver, just know I'm losin c. 2 seconds a lap on sector 3!

Are you practicing in "Quick Race" with the McLaren (the Merc is good, but not as fast and the McLaren most closely resembles what the performance would be on an on-line "equal" setting)? Are you on the softer tires? Are you set up for qualy (e.g. 3 laps of fuel, DRS, KERS, etc. etc.)?

My setup if interested:












Aerodynamics


Front
Wing Angle: 3 (5 - race)


Rear
Wing Angle: 1

Braking


Balance:
F 48% - R 52%


Pressure:
High


Brake
Size: Standard

Balance


Front
Anti-Roll Bar: 1


Rear
Anti-Roll Bar: 11

Suspension


Front
Ride Height: 1


Rear
Ride Height: 1


Front
Spring Stiffness: 11


Rear
Spring Stiffness: 1

Gearbox


Gear
1: 125 kph

Gear
2: 154 kph

Gear
3: 183 kph

Gear
4: 213 kph

Gear
5: 243 kph

Gear
6: 279 kph

Gear
7: 322 kph

Alignment


Camber
Front: full left


Camber
Rear: full left


Toe
Front: full right


Toe
Rear: full right

Going to run the McLaren for a few laps - watched the Hobbit last night instead of gaming.

Those hobbits, they're so low to the ground... They can corner like crazy! Not much for downforce though... They're definitely lacking on high speed corners...

Turn 14 is certainly a difficult turn. I find, for me, it's a little more manageable to slow slightly then turn into the corner and apply brakes only as hard as can be done without locking the front right. Let the car float all the way against the left hand apron(this is risky because if you go on the apron, you're done and in the sand) and just wait there for the late apex on the right. I usually aim to just clip the right hand apron about 8 feet behind the cone on the right(inside apex).

Don't fall into the trap of getting too greedy with this corner. With the long straight following 14 and only a short run between 13 and 14. There is much more time to be found by properly exiting turn 14 onto the straight than there is by trying to plow your car into 14 as fast as you can. Slow down a little, take the turn safely with a good exit speed(something very repeatable), then after you put in 30, 40, 200 laps you will really start to get a feel for exactly how hard you can push the entry speed...

Missed the first race, so I don't know how fast you guys are... Maybe that will help some.....

...After the Hobbit comment, I thought maybe I should put down something productive...

Well, that description helped me a lot.

Personally, through lots of laps, I went from totally being flummoxed by 14 to slowly realizing you grind your way up and brake gently WHILE floating left, steering right and maximizing the apex angle. Not easy at all to do because the corner is blind, for the most part. If you are in cockpit view, this is a bigger problem. To wit:

THanks Bronn / October. I have a tennis match tonight, but will runs some laps later if the match doesn't go full distance and tire me out

Tuesday - Saturday, if I can get on at all, I'm usually on after the wife goes to bed at around 12mid on until about 3am or so. Friday and Saturday, sometimes later.

I guess that's about 5am-8am GMT and 9pm-12mid Bronn time.

Is there a good time for all where maybe we could get together once a week for an hour or so of practice? Nothing serious or official, just trying to get times straightened out, as folks seem to have a lot of good info to share.

I'll be on a fair amount this Easter weekend. Appreciate we don't have a race on but maybe have a practise session on Sunday at normal race time or a little later for those that can make it?

That sounds good to me. I have another race that should conclude about 9:30pm GMT on Sunday. I'll try to be on after that.

Might be out of town this weekend, but if I'm home, I'm racing...

Should be around Sunday at some point

I'll try again about 5:30pm Eastern U.S. time (10:30pm GMT)(2:30pm Pacific) tomorrow (Sunday) for Malaysia practice.