Will Langhorne
Nurburgring Practice & Qualifying Report
There was quite a bit of rain in the practice. It is the first time that I
have been in the BCN Competition F3000 Car in the rain so it was a good learning
experience. On the whole the car felt good in the rain and my times were mid-pack,
but the balance was a bit off and I couldn't maximize the full capabilities
of the car in wet. On the last lap of practice I came around the last corner
and noticed the checkered flag waving as well as all the lights were red,
so I immediately braked and slowed down anticipating a problem on the track.
I then learned that this is how the practice sessions ends and that I made
a "rookie" mistake.
For qualifying we initially went with a full wet set-up since the track was
wet but drying. With this set-up we knew that the rain tires would be destroyed
but we needed to sort the car out. After six or so laps, I noticed other drivers
coming in to take on dry tires, so I pitted with 20 minutes left in the session
and switched to dry tires. We initially went with higher tire pressure to
compensate for a cold track, but unfortunately the track dried quickly and
the tire pressures increased, overheating the tires and causing the car to
be very loose. We pitted and the team re-adjusted the tire pressures. The
balance of the car improved, although we were still fighting a low speed push
and a high speed oversteer.
In the debrief with the team, I realized that I was shifting too early and
giving away free speed. I also had a radio problem, which caused me to be
shocked whenever my engineer keyed the mike. Fortunately, he is not too talkative!
In terms of results, this was a tough session. However, now that I have more
seat time in the car, I am confident that with the set-up changes planned
for tomorrow, as well as me shifting later, we will pick up many positions
in the race.