arturmarques.com iLog Welcome Guest | Login or Register

I spent 90 minutes trying to complete one lap at Machwerk 1967, driving Alain Prost’s 1985 F1 Mclaren Tag Porsche, for rFactor, with a Logitech G25 steering wheel, but I didn’t succeed…

Machwerk’s twisty bumpy road surface, half regular asphalt, half granite cubes, with two railroad crossings (!), isn’t F1 friendly at all - more for rally cars –, but the 1000 horse power 1985 Mclaren Porsche, makes it extra hard, with a delicate response at low revs and a power explosion from them on.

I always drive with no aids, except for minimal traction control, so there is plenty of wheel spinning opportunities, which easily throw the car’s tail away. Regarding the turbo powered F1s from the 1980s, drivers described their handling as “point and shoot”…

A fast lap around Machwerk should take 6 minutes. All it takes is a proper setup. Will I ever do it?

These days I rarely sim race or play computer games at all… when I do it, I do it with FSONE 2006, a free mod for rFactor.

It is simply wonderful! I just love it! For those who can understand the physical side of sim racing, just try the Limerock track. This is a relatively short circuit, where the A.I. cars lap below 00:37 seconds. There are two types of tarmac and a famous up/downhill section that can make the car jump, if you approach the preceding corner with a knife stabbing the throttle foot to the pedal, and lots of fingers crossed…
Racing the computer here is fast and very furious. In order to keep pace with 100% strong adversaries, one needs to be in great shape.

Here are some screenshots:

Above, me driving (flying?) the 2006’s Renault F1, at Limerock, USA.

Above, a section from one track where real F1s will never race: Mount Panorama, Australia, where top speeds exceed 300 kph…

I was amazed to watch Travis Pastrana win over Colin Mcrae, at 2006’s X-Games rally car event!
Colin was lapping much faster than Travis, but he rolled the car on the final jump. Still, he managed to finish the course less than 1 second slower than Travis – the dude, mostly known for his circus performances, on motorbikes…

You can read about it, in great detail, on Colin’s official blog (posted on 2006–08–07).

Here is a short video of the big moment, as broadcasted via Eurosport:

arturmarques_dot_com_x2006_mcrae_rolls_pastrana_wins.avi [2192 KB].

I watched yet another awful Formula 1 race, this time at Silverstone.
There were no overtaking maneuvers! Because of this, from my point of view, there was no real race. Instead, there was a slow, boring, parade of déjá vu cars.

I remember the Turbo days and the way Mansell’s Williams Honda S’sssed the fastest Silverstone corners, with such dare, that one could almost hear the car crying. I remember the nearly palpable road rage between Prost and Senna. I am not old enough, but in the late 1960s, there were circuits where cars could fly, on the wrong hands! These memories cast huge shadows on current F1 races and racers. I am sorry Alonso, but each win you achieve is shallower than Schumacher’s; and each win Schumacher ever achieved is worth less than one Senna’s… and Senna’s are worth less than Prost’s… and so on, until the late 1960s.

From the 1960s until the present, it all got so much biased towards “safety”, that you can find urban drivers taking more chances than any modern F1 driver, on the streets of Lisbon or Rome, when returning home, after work. The sad truth is that modern F1 drivers are nothing but 250 kph taxi-on-rails drivers. Pussycats?

This Sunday, Button’s Honda endured a dozen laps, before literally exploding, despite its below 300 kph top speed! Come on!, half of today’s street cars can do 250 kph. What does F1 stand for?! NASCARs’ are faster and much more spectacular; and I am not thinking of oval tracks!– I am thinking Sears Point and Watkins Glen! WTCC features more cars and skin-to-skin action. WRC is where testosterone is really needed… So, again, what is F1’s essence?

I’ve never, ever, been closer to saying a definitive goodbye to F1.

The first race of 2006’s F1 World Championship finished with a win for Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard - who was nearly hysterical, protesting against other drivers on track, when still seconds away, as if the track was his private property – drove a consistent fast race and managed to snap Schumacher’s lead, after the last pitstop.

But the most interesting races were (easy choice) those of Raikkonen and Rosberg.

Raikkonen delivered yet another lesson on how to climb from last to (nearly) first! And Rosberg raced very much like Alain Prost did, on his debut, scoring for Williams, the first time he seated to race. I wonder where would have Rosberg finished, if he had not spun, doing the first corner of the first lap.

On the negative side, awful races from Barrichello and ALL the Toyota powered cars. The official Toyota team barely managed to complete the race ahead of Tiago Monteiro, who started from the pits, with Midland’s reserve car…

Read the whole story and access the full results here.

Yes, the F1 championship is back!

The 2006 season starts at Bahrain. Alex Wurz was the first driver to go to the track, for the first (of two) one hour practice session(s).

You can follow the Bahrain GP live, without video, via Eurosport. Just click below.

http://www.eurosport.com/formula1/bahrain-gp/2006/live_mtc133312.shtml