The 'F1 Challenge' Championship- 1999 Season

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 08 Aug 2011, 11:25

The test wasn't going as we were expecting as my race simulation got interrupted with the rain, but it's kinda weird to see the field so spread out.

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 08 Aug 2011, 15:21

Ed Kevin wrote:Another productive test for us. Granted, Giovanni was 15 seconds off my time, but the bulk of my running was in the dry and his was in the wet. Nevertheless, to place in 2nd shows that we have an unquestionably competitive car, and hopefully that can be carried into the other tests and the season ahead.

On another note, I'd just like to let the Tifosi know that I am 100% committed to my new team - I've bought a flat in Maranello, and will be spending huge amounts of time at the factory there. I can already feel the team taking over every aspect of my life; even my new city car to drive to the shops is a Fiat Bravo! I'm now a part of the conglomerate I suppose!

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 08 Aug 2011, 19:11

Phoenix McAllister wrote:I really have to say thanks to BMW. They have gifted both Damon and me shiny new Z8s for our brilliant performances last year!I myself wasn't expecting it, but I'm very happy with both my BMW-powered machines indeed, even though my testing time was disturbed by rain. I can't wait to start the season!

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 09 Aug 2011, 06:58

Daniel Melrose wrote:For sure our dry running pace needs alot of work by my god this car is special in the rain. In all my years as a racing driver I've never had a car as quick or as drivable in the wet as this. Now, we just have to get the guys back at Woking to do rain dances every second week.

Benetton · Post by **Benetton** » 09 Aug 2011, 08:41

Louis Duval wrote:Deeceunt day overall, I think we loouk quite stroong eh... I was testing the cár on a more heavy tank today and it felt quite good so I think we'll have good pace in thé races. Krautmeir had some small neuw paarts in his car and from what I spouke with him he seemed reallyu happyyy too. We alsoo ran some tiimes in the wet conditioon and tested the rain tiré from Michelin and it felt quite good but then it started raining quite lot so we have to stop. Tomorrouw should be interesting, lets just hope its not the same condition.

Malinth · Post by **Malinth** » 09 Aug 2011, 09:46

Scott Menard wrote:Heh, well if anything, Barii was quite simply faster than me today, and well, kudos to him. I think the team have proven to be one of the front-runners thus far, and there's no reason as to why we shouldn't carry this speed over to the season proper. Doug had some mechanical issues with his car, and coupled with the fact he missed out yesterday, and still has a bad case of diarrhea. Taking this into account, our champ did a great job.

Robert Finley wrote:Man, that was real tough. I mean, Dan said the car felt great in the rain, but I just have to say the exact opposite. I was slippin' and slidin' everywhere, and spun quite a few times. I mean, people say that that's my ineptness or somethin', but I was really struggling, it was terrible. And overall, I gotta just say that it's real tough getting used to these F1 machines. They are just lightyears apart from the US. Scott is really doing fantastic.

Ducktanian · Post by **Ducktanian** » 11 Aug 2011, 19:25

I'm just not paying enough attention to this, so I hereby announce my retirement from this series.
I was pretty much stuck at the back anyway, but if you need a back-up driver in case of sudden tennis injuries/not enough drivers don't hesitate to call ;D

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 13 Aug 2011, 00:05

Montmelo, Spain - Public Off-Season Test 1 - Day 4
Conditions: Wet

Code: Select all

1) Jeroen Krautmeir  Prost-Renault  1:25.874
2) Louis Duval  Prost-Renault  1:25.995
3) Scott Menard  Williams-Renault  1:26.283
4) Daniel Melrose  McLaren-Mercedes  1:26.365
5) Phoenix McAllister  Arrows-BMW  1:26.636
6) Ed Kevin  Ferrari  1:27.044
7) Barii Mori  Williams-Renault  1:27.302
8) Hagane Shizuka  Benetton-Honda  1:27.684
9) Daniel Martins  Benetton-Honda  1:27.763
10) Damon Cannon  Arrows-BMW  1:27.782
11) Philippe Nicolas  Jordan-Renault  1:27.850
12) Douglas Mann  Williams-Renault  1:28.008
13) Thomas de Bock  Sauber-Peugeot  1:28.096
14) John Zimmer  Reynard-Toyota  1:28.282
15) Jan de Friis  Arrows-BMW  1:28.357
16) Ron Mignolet  Prost-Renault  1:28.523
17) Ben Fleet  Reynard-Toyota  1:28.557
18) Tristan Jung  Sauber-Peugeot  1:28.730
19) Poppy Whitchapel  Jordan-Renault  1:29.046
20) Rhys Davies  Benetton-Honda  1:29.552
21) Robert Finley  McLaren-Mercedes  1:29.591
22) Jack Christopherson  Sauber-Peugeot  1:29.857
23) Aurelien Moll  Jordan-Renault  1:30.329
24) Pippa Mann  Reynard-Toyota  1:30.584
25) Andreas Jonsson  Stewart-Ford 1:31.376
26) Yahya Albaf  Minardi-Porsche  1:32.358
27) Matej Uram  Minardi-Porsche  1:32.475
28) Constantin Ferdinand Maria  Stewart-Ford  1:33.445
29) Giovanni Roda  Ferrari  1:35.650

Jack O Melley · Post by **Jack O Melley** » 13 Aug 2011, 00:29

Giovanni Roda wrote:Well, it wasn't an easy day for me. In the morning I managed to drive the car only for a dozen of laps and then an oil leak forced me to stop me in. This needed the replacement of the engine, all to be repaired and so... half day of testing in smoke. Then when I went out of boxes weather conditions worsened, and that was it. However Ed is really doing an incredible job among this freakin' sheets of telemetries, engine paper data, tyre compunds... He's assuring us that our F399 is able to be where it had to be, shutting up all that rumours which said that Ferrari was in disarray: on top. Capito...?

*leaves giving an evil look to Gazzetta's journalist*

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 13 Aug 2011, 06:44

I set that lap time in the beginning of the test, then I hit the spun Roda in a blind corner. Seriously, is he driving an F3000 car?

Pointrox · Post by **Pointrox** » 13 Aug 2011, 10:32

Y. Albaf wrote:I'm satisfied with the results. Although I don't have as much single-seater experience as my team-mate, I still managed to be faster than him. Not by much, but faster.
I'm pleased with the way Minardi's developing the car and so far everything's going fine.

And what is Roda doing?

I know you don't care anyway, but that's my 300th post on F1R!
Fanfares!

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 13 Aug 2011, 11:00

Shizuka wrote:I set that lap time in the beginning of the test, then I hit the spun Roda in a blind corner. Seriously, is he driving an F3000 car?

Ed Kevin wrote:No. He's driving a Ferrari.

You don't talk about a Ferrari like that. Particularly one I'm finding as competitive as this one.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 13 Aug 2011, 11:15

I didn't meant to cuss the team, but he's driving the car so slow like it's a F3000 car while it could actually challenge for wins.

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 17 Aug 2011, 04:04

Jerez, Spain - Public Off-Season Test 2 - Day 1
Conditions: Wet then Dry

Code: Select all

1) Louis Duval  Prost-Renault  1:23.555
2) Scott Menard  Williams-Renault  1:23.882
3) Ed Kevin  Ferrari  1:24.171
4) Phoenix McAllister  Arrows-BMW  1:24.435
5) Hagane Shizuka  Benetton-Honda  1:24.635
6) Daniel Melrose  McLaren-Mercedes  1:24.739
7) Robert Finley  McLaren-Mercedes  1:25.127
8) Damon Cannon  Arrows-BMW  1:25.488
9) Jeroen Krautmeir  Prost-Renault  1:25.645
10) Barii Mori  Williams-Renault  1:25.980
11) Douglas Mann  Williams-Renault  1:25.992
12) Daniel Martins  Benetton-Honda  1:26.066
13) Philippe Nicolas  Jordan-Renault  1:26.180
14) Rhys Davies  Benetton-Honda  1:26.481
15) Ben Fleet  Reynard-Toyota  1:26.848
16) John Zimmer  Reynard-Toyota  1:27.311
17) Jan de Friis  Arrows-BMW  1:27.908
18) Thomas de Bock  Sauber-Peugeot  1:27.985
19) Tristan Jung  Sauber-Peugeot  1:28.351
20) Pippa Mann  Reynard-Toyota  1:28.958
21) Yahya Albaf  Minardi-Porsche  1:29.213
22) Poppy Whitchapel  Jordan-Renault  1:30.224
23) Aurelien Moll  Jordan-Renault  1:30.342
24) Jack Christopherson  Sauber-Peugeot  1:30.970
25) Ron Mignolet  Prost-Renault 1:31.068
26) Constantin Ferdinand Maria  Stewart-Ford  1:31.555
27) Matej Uram  Minardi-Porsche  1:31.649
28) Andreas Jonsson  Stewart-Ford  1:31.672
29) Giovanni Roda  Ferrari  1:33.957

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 17 Aug 2011, 06:37

This test was running fine for me. Hopefully we will be fighting for points regularly.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 17 Aug 2011, 06:39

Daniel Melrose wrote:We had alot of new parts on the car and it made it so much better to drive it's amazing. Before today I would have said we would have been lucky to score the occasional points finish. Now I say look out world because the podium has Melrose written all over it.

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 17 Aug 2011, 06:44

Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:We brought a new diffuser here, and it certainly worked perfectly. I was consistently faster than Louis and the others in the wet, but as the track got drier and faster, so did everybody else. I wasn't able to set a time in the fully dry conditions as my engine blew up in the pitlane, but I think we are looking very good for the opener.

Benetton · Post by **Benetton** » 17 Aug 2011, 12:35

Louis Duval wrote:Really good day. The new paerts, especiallyy the diffusér, has proved to be total wins thus far. Our pace was both good in the morning when it was wet and in the afternoon and the dry condition. I'm very pleased to have set the fastest time in this session. Unfortunately my teammate Jeroén couldn't set a proper lap in the dryest of the condition because he had problem with the Peuge... engine. He joked to me after the test that he could have beat my time but I'm not complete sold on that To sum up I think the pace of our car has been so good that in the last two test days we've been the fastest and we could've had a 1-2 today as well. Lets look forward to day 2.

Malinth · Post by **Malinth** » 17 Aug 2011, 12:53

Scott Menard wrote:Well, I wouldn't say the Prosts are out of reach, but they've certainly made some good progress since Barcelona. I'm still confident, though, as we aren't bringing anything major to these 4 days of testing. We're just here to work on our reliability, and just to get in the swing of things. Most of our day was spent practicing pitstops, and admittedly we made a few cockups, but better now than during the season. Barii and Doug were concentrating on long stints, while I just wanted to go as fast as possible. The way things stand now, it's lookin' to be a good contest between Williams and Prost.

Robert Finley wrote:Well that felt pretty good! Maybe it's the track, for some reason I feel really comfortable with Jerez (JEH-REZ), and Dan and I felt pretty comfortable with the car overall. Obviously a lot of people are attributing my time as a matter of being out there during the best of conditions, but I wanna prove that it wasn't a fluke.

Post by **tommykl** » 19 Aug 2011, 12:24

Thomas De Bock wrote:Sadly, it looks like it won't be a very bright season. The test results pretty much indicate that I'll be leading the team, but we would be extremely lucky just to score a handful of points. Should 1999 turn out worse than 1998, I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to leave Sauber.

Post by **Londoner** » 19 Aug 2011, 15:29

Damon Cannon wrote:The car was going a treat in the wet conditions, meaning I was topping the timesheet for a while. Unfortuantly, just as the track was starting to dry, my engine grenaded coming up to the hairpin. Of course, that meant the end of my day. What is slightly worrying is the same thing happened to Jan earlier in the session. Hopefully tomorrow the conditions will be constant for the entire session.

Poppy Whitechapel wrote:What on earth is wrong with this year's car? It's crap, and 'only' being three seconds faster than that idiot Roda is worrying. Sort it out!

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 20 Aug 2011, 22:15

Phoenix McAllister wrote:We're looking well, the car is balanced and the BMW engine is powerful, as always. Damon and Jan had engine troubles but I could rack up some 90-odd laps of trouble-free testing and I'm very satisfied overall. We're looking forward to this season and we expect to be there to challenge for the championship.

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 20 Aug 2011, 23:58

Jerez, Spain - Public Off-Season Test 2 - Day 2
Conditions: Wet

Code: Select all

1) Jeroen Krautmeir  Prost-Renault  1:26.703
2) Daniel Melrose  McLaren-Mercedes  1:27.595
3) Damon Cannon  Arrows-BMW  1:27.616
4) Louis Duval  Prost-Renault  1:27.700
5) Scott Menard  Williams-Renault  1:27.899
6) Phoenix McAllister  Arrows-BMW  1:28.018
7) Ed Kevin  Ferrari  1:28.072
8) Hagane Shizuka  Benetton-Honda  1:28.233
9) Thomas de Bock  Sauber-Peugeot  1:28.271
10) Robert Finley  McLaren-Mercedes  1:28.399
11) Poppy Whitchapel  Jordan-Renault  1:28.503
12) Barii Mori  Williams-Renault  1:28.553
13) Daniel Martins  Benetton-Honda  1:28.577
14) Douglas Mann  Williams-Renault  1:28.702
15) Jan de Friis  Arrows-BMW  1:28.781
16) John Zimmer  Reynard-Toyota  1:28.869
17) Ben Fleet  Reynard-Toyota  1:28.969
18) Pippa Mann  Reynard-Toyota  1:29.074
19) Rhys Davies  Benetton-Honda  1:29.099
20) Tristan Jung  Sauber-Peugeot  1:28.958
21) Yahya Albaf  Minardi-Porsche  1:29.213
22) Giovanni Roda  Ferrari  -:--.---
23) Philippe Nicolas  Jordan-Renault  -:--.---
24) Aurelien Moll  Jordan-Renault  -:--.---
25) Ron Mignolet  Prost-Renault  -:--.---
26) Jack Christopherson  Sauber-Peugeot  -:--.---
27) Andreas Jonsson  Stewart-Ford  -:--.---
28) Constantin Ferdinand Maria  Stewart-Ford  -:--.---
29) Matej Uram  Minardi-Porsche  -:--.---

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 21 Aug 2011, 00:10

Yeah great, Prost, why can't you build a third car that's actually working?

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 21 Aug 2011, 09:12

I saw six cars spinning out in front of me in the final corner, so I decided to slow down as much as possible, and I kept it on the road. Atrocious conditions, but it showed again we're in the competitive midfield.

The Lukas · Post by **The Lukas** » 21 Aug 2011, 09:59

Bratislava Times wrote:Serious accident Mateja Urama
Slovak Minardi driver Matej Uram was taken to hospital in Jerez.as Uram rode his quick lap was driven out of the track by a Ferrari driver Giovanni Roda's then his car at full speed hit the wall and hit his head in Uram wall.To not the first Ferrari driver to whom prank last season they took licenses.

SuperAguri · Post by **SuperAguri** » 21 Aug 2011, 12:25

Constantin Ferdinand Maria wrote: It has been wonderful, I have raced hard and have matched my team mate for speed and even went much faster then him once, I hope that we can continue to increase our pace. The last test session, Stewart just thought the conditions were bad so we stayed in the motorhome, especially after the Ferrari Clown, span off several times and even came back onto the track in front of fast moving traffic. Although I hear that the Minardi driver Matej Uram just has a sprain.

Barii Mori wrote:Me and Douglas were doing mainly wet weather running, so we knew that our times would be slower but we do have a lot of mileage chalked up.

Pointrox · Post by **Pointrox** » 21 Aug 2011, 17:40

To let us drive in such conditions is utter madness! I just hope that Matej is okay - his car was seriously damaged after the crash.
But it was a good test for us if the worst-case scenario occured.

Post by **Londoner** » 21 Aug 2011, 17:48

Damon Cannon wrote:That was just mental. The final corner resembled a scrapheap! Hopefully Uram is alright after he was rammed off the track. If this incident doesn't prove my point about Roda, I'm predicting someone will have a accident akin to Daniel's Monza smash last year. All the Arrows survived though, and we all wracked up a ton of laps, with the BMW engines this time proving their worth in the weather. Jeroen's last minute time was unreal in the conditions!

Poppy Whitechapel wrote:My team mates decided it would be better to park in the final corner multi-storey that had been built up, and piss off to a cafe, than to get some mileage on the 199. I did 79 laps and still couldn't crack the top 10. Pippa Mann has given some good tips on how to manage with crap team mates, considering she somehow survived alongside Roda two years ago

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 21 Aug 2011, 21:34

Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:Ron, from what I hear, Alain didn't send you out because of the conditions. Considering the utter c**p Roda was putting on, I dare say it was a good position. Louis and I nearly got whacked several times. It's an absurd situation.

Regarding that last lap, well, I don't know! I felt the track was getting slightly better, although it was probably very difficult to see that from the naked eye, so I told the crew to put the normal wet tyre on, and well I zoomed off into the distance. It's pretty weird, because it shouldn't have gained me nearly a second, but I'll be happy to take the credit, for, err, driving on the edge.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 21 Aug 2011, 21:39

Poppy Whitechapel wrote:My team mates decided it would be better to park in the final corner multi-storey that had been built up, and piss off to a cafe, than to get some mileage on the 199. I did 79 laps and still couldn't crack the top 10. Pippa Mann has given some good tips on how to manage with crap team mates, considering she somehow survived alongside Roda two years ago

Pippa Mann wrote:Well, me getting that podium, finishing 2nd and just ahead of my brother Douglas who went on to be runner-up in the championship that year (in a Mastercard Lola of all things!), probably helped to put Roda in his place. Or maybe that's what led to all his insecurities and overdriving in the first place? Don't think he appreciated that he was beaten by a girl...

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 21 Aug 2011, 22:03

Ron Mignolet wrote:Yeah silly excuses, it's not the first time this season i'm settled with a crappy car, whilst last year i got a good one... What happenned? Didn't i pay enough money?
I could have defenitely handled this weather, i like these conditions! And i get along very well with Roda actually, i think he's an underraded driver who is victim of conspiracy theories! If i had a team, i'd hire him immediatly!

3 hours later

Ron Mignolet wrote:Sorry i take that back, i'm happy at the prost team. But i still think people are to hard on poor Giovanni.

Malinth · Post by **Malinth** » 22 Aug 2011, 09:16

Scott Menard wrote:Well, I've pointed out many times that I love the rain, and I'm pretty disappointed with today's results. I only did something like 12 laps before I spun and wrote the chassis off. I'm still not entirely sure whether I'll be able to run tomorrow. From what I heard, conditions may be a bit better.

Robert Finley wrote:Well, I'm not really used to the wet, but I found my way surprisingly fast, I guess. Dan is right, the car is fantastic in wet conditions, but I dare say my best time was set when the weather was at its finest.

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 22 Aug 2011, 09:38

Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:Well, admittedly Ron, you have been with the old AP01 for some time now. But I hear that Alain has just received the shipment from Guyancourt with the AP02, just for you! Of course, we're going to have to put it together, and that'll take time, but I'm sure you'll be in the top 10 once you have it at your disposal!

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 23 Aug 2011, 11:04

Jerez, Spain - Public Off-Season Test 2 - Day 3
Conditions: Wet then Dry

Code: Select all

1) Jeroen Krautmeir  Prost-Renault  1:23.199
2) Damon Cannon  Arrows-BMW  1:23.461
3) Barii Mori  Williams-Renault  1:23.508
4) Phoenix McAllister  Arrows-BMW  1:23.646
5) Louis Duval  Prost-Renault  1:24.228
6) Scott Menard  Williams-Renault  1:24.304
7) Hagane Shizuka  Benetton-Honda  1:24.392
8) Ron Mignolet  Prost-Renault  1:24.939
9) Poppy Whitchapel  Jordan-Renault  1:25.129
10) Daniel Melrose  McLaren-Mercedes  1:25.280
11) Pippa Mann  Reynard-Toyota  1:25.495
12) Ed Kevin  Ferrari  1:25.625
13) Robert Finley  McLaren-Mercedes  1:25.667
14) Thomas de Bock  Sauber-Peugeot  1:25.750
15) Douglas Mann  Williams-Renault  1:26.001
16) Jan de Friis  Arrows-BMW  1:26.147
17) Constantin Ferdinand Maria  Stewart-Ford  1:26.256
18) Daniel Martins  Benetton-Honda  1:26.430
19) Ben Fleet  Reynard-Toyota  1:26.452
20) John Zimmer  Reynard-Toyota  1:26.606
21) Yahya Albaf  Minardi-Porsche  1:26.629
22) Rhys Davies  Benetton-Honda  1:26.706
23) Aurelien Moll  Jordan-Renault  1:27.433
24) Tristan Jung  Sauber-Peugeot  1:27.709
25) Andreas Jonsson  Stewart-Ford  1:28.084
26) Jack Christopherson  Sauber-Peugeot  1:28.344
27) Giovanni Roda  Ferrari  1:31.613
28) Philippe Nicolas  Jordan-Renault  -:--.---
29) Matej Uram  Minardi-Porsche  -:--.---

Wookey · Post by **Wookey** » 23 Aug 2011, 11:08

Philippe Nicolas wrote:Arch! MERDE! Stupid Roda takes me out of the day without me even starting! I get to the track from the hotel, and this person go and crash me with his stupid Ferrari. Now my hand is really really hurt, and I must stay in the hospital for maybe a many days.

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 23 Aug 2011, 11:12

Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:Well there isn't really much to say. The car was just fantastic throughout the day, and I think the team as a whole is pretty confident that we will be challenging for the championship once we get to Australia. Ron sat out most of the day as his crew assembled his AP02, and he only had 5 minutes of track time. That being said, he did a fantastic job, even if he managed only 3 laps. Louis was concentrating on heavy-fuel runs, and was experimenting the usage of Michelin's hard compound tyre.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 23 Aug 2011, 11:51

An okay test with all the information we three needed to gather. I wasn't testing in the rain this time.

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 23 Aug 2011, 12:19

Ed Kevin wrote:I've been less concerned with outright performance in the last couple of tests, we've made the most of the wet conditions to get a lot of wet running in, and we've tried some more experimental parts on the car just so we know our car better really. That's the main reason I was back in the midfield in the last test; hopefully I'll have allayed some concerns with that.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 23 Aug 2011, 12:28

Pippa Mann and Ben Fleet wrote:We seemed to have made a breakthrough in the test today, and thus we are still confident of maintaining Reynard's record of winning their first race in each new category they enter, providing we continue this upward trend...