And as Ben Edwards would say: "And away we go!"The first thing I want to take car of, is the money. I need a cash flow in order to being able to steal parts from other teams at least. Our tight finances make it impossible to develop parts on our own, and they take too damn long. So I authorize all sorts of marketing, and allocate 100% of my time to $$ sponsor "Sasol". That should give me a 10-race contract, and thus a steady income.
Then I look after my staff, and my god! They all have just a half star skill, so in other words: They Suck! Still, I hire 10 excellent assistants for each department, because for example, you need to have at least 10 mechanics in your pit crew. The next look goes to my drivers, and while they have...urm...reasonable skills, they all cost money! The problem is, breaking a contract mid-season also costs money. I mean, there are some pay drivers like Schiattarella, Barbazza or Deletraz, which I may put into consideration for the next season. But when I think about having to pay 800.000 $ (!) to 38-year-old Bruno Giacomelli, this makes me wanna do a Günter Schmid. But split into 16 races, the salary isn't that much. It's just that Giacomelli doesn't give me a bang for my buck.
Now before we can do any testing, we'll have to arrange tire, spare parts, fuel and security contracts. For each area we have a choice of five companies. They distinguish themselves in quality and price. And here comes the 64.000 $ question: Why should I pay 10.000 $ for *****-tires, when I can have ****1/2-tires for 8.000 $. As tires for 7.000 $ have just ***, I'll go with the 8.000 $ ones. The same goes with the spare parts for 2.500 $. Fuel is a bit different, as each manufacturer "recommends" an engine for his product. My Life F35 W12 engine just happens to be recommended by a ***-brand, which costs 7.000 $ per race. I think that's alright, and I'll choose the fuel by Shell (And aspire to advertise for Sasol...). As for security, you always should take the *****-security, as they can help later with breaking into teams. They are definitely worth the expenses.
Before we go out testing, I'll have to check the cars first. And in their current specification, they weight 680 KG! Not only are they slow as mule, they are also overweight. But here's my approach: I'll always fit the lightest parts first, then I gradually build in the better parts, so I can have a good mix between light parts, and the one that are heavier, but better. Our cars weight 649 KG now, which is fine. But, now let's go testing at our home track in Monza:
At first I'll let all drivers run installation laps. 2x10 laps should be enough. Why 2x10? Because drivers tend to be pretty slow on their first run, and it also gives you the chance to make necessary adjustments on the car setup. So you can set some good benchmark times, which let you judge better which parts to use, and which not. Speaking of first runs, they are all horrendous: Brabham scores only a 2:01.539, Giacomelli manages to make at least a 1:57.534, but Scapini also stays over 2 Minutes. But all drivers wanted the brake balance to move forward, so maybe that'll...I hope.
The second run is a bit better, but you know what they say about a shot in your head and a shot in your foot. Brabham manages to set a 1:52, Giacomelli a 1:50 and Scapini a 1:53. But they are all satisfied with the setup, which allows us to move on. Now I'll check the suggestions our drivers make about how to improve the chassis. The drivers want me to "improve" the rear wing, front wing and side pods, as well as doing something about EMS and Transmissions. Well, let's take a look at what we've got: For now I'm going to keep the single wings, and just put on better side pods. That puts our cars at 650 KG, which should be my limit. And look: Giacomelli even manages to set a 1:49.6 time. Woohoo! And the lap times improve even further, when I decide to build a better transmission. Giacomelli scores a 1:49.1, while Brabham and Scapini also score better times:
But enough with testing for now. It's pretty expensive, but it is definitely important, in order to test new parts. Anyway, let's do some racing, or rather "trying not to qualify at all":
And here are the race results:
Sounds like there is a looooooooooooooooot of work to do...
But since I have only five engineers left, this might take a little while.
