The Life Of A Batracer

[SirFozzie]

Having jumped into the game BATracer (batracer.com), which is an F1 racing sim like Hattrick, I figured I should chronicle things. Fair warning, I am a newbie, and I'll be lucky to score any championship points in my first season. Here are all the teams in the "F1 2007" series, which I have joined.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. MP4-22 Chassis, Mercedes FO 108T 2.4L V8 engine. Famous British team failed to win a single Grand Prix in 2006. But excellent testing results boost the hopes to become the top team of F1 once more. 12 setup parameters.
www.mclaren.co.uk

ING Renault F1 Team. R27 Chassis. Renault RS27 2.4L V8 engine. Reining champion's looking to a score 3rd title. Slightly disappointing test results but strong reliability. 12 setup parameters.
www.renaultf1.com

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. F2007 chassis. Ferrari 056 2.4L V8 engine. The Scuderia is looking to re-capture former glory. Title favourites following strong testing results. 12 setup parameters.
www.ferrariworld.com

Honda Racing F1 Team. RA107 chassis. Honda RA807E 2.4L V8 engine. Honda proved in testing the car has potential but they still have some problems to be addressed. Unique no-sponsors livery. 12 setup parameters.
www.hondaracingf1.com

BMW Sauber F1 Team. F1.07 chassis. BMW P86/7 2.4L V8 engine. Entering their 2nd season of partnership BMW Sauber had impressive showings in testing. Although reliability has been a concern there are hopes of strong results. 12 setup parameters.
bmw-sauber.com

Panasonic Toyota Racing. TF107 chassis. Toyota RVX-07 2.4L V8 engine. F1's richest team desperate to make an impact at the front. Mixed testing results lead to doubts over the car's pace. 12 setup parameters.
www.toyota-f1.com

Red Bull Racing. RB3 chassis. Renault RS27 2.4L V8 engine. Big expectations for the Adrian Newey designed Red Bull chassis. Poor reliability in testing leaves car potential unknown. 12 setup parameters.
www.redbullracing.com

AT&T Wiliams. FW29 chassis. Toyota RVX-07 2.4L V8 engine. Looking to bounce back from disastrous 2006 season. Promising test results lead to hopes of an improved campaign. 12 setup parameters.
www.williamsf1.com

Scuderia Toro Rosso. STR2 chassis. Ferrari 056 2.4L V8 engine. Red Bull juniors enter their 2nd season with a customer car and Ferrari engine. Limited winter testing helped showing Toro still has a long way to go. 12 setup parameters.
www.tororosso.com

Etihad Airways Spyker F1 Team. F8-VII chassis. Ferrari 056 2.4L V8 engine. Dutch team entering its first full season. Small budget but hoping to punch above its weight with strong Ferrari engine. 12 setup parameters.
www.midlandf1.com

Super Aguri F1. SA07 chassis. Honda RA807E 2.4L V8 engine. Lots of Japanese passion and a strong Honda engine powers this rather undeveloped chassis but the team has high aims. 12 setup parameters.
www.saf1.co.jp


By the time I get signed up, the top teams are already filled (there's two cars per team), No McClaren, Renault, Ferrari available, and some of the lower folks have been taken too, Spyker and Sauber were filled.

I signed on with Panasonic Toyota: It's my job to take a somewhat crap frame and make it work.

[SirFozzie]

Here's some of the things you can change on the car (all on a scale of 1-100, with 1 being looser-softer-lower, and 100 being tighter-harder-higher)

Experimentation, Wings (Front and rear), Suspension (both), Anti-Roll Bar (both), Ride Height (both), Tyre Pressure (both), Gears, and Brake Bias.

The game offers some engineer's notes (To make it harder, the overstressed engineer's handwriting is.. not the best, but if you can read his scrawl, it's a good way to start).

The game also allows you five practice runs where you can tweak your settings and get feedback if your settings are off.

I'm on a mid-level team and I'm a first timer, I'm NOT going to be on the pole, but, I don't do that bad, close to the back of the pack, and some judicious changes on the last run of practice give me a middle of the pack Practice time.

(this is out of the 15 folks who have signed up so far, there's seven spots open before we officially start)

Practice-Pre Qualifying

1- Juho Paajanen (FIN) McLaren 1:23.816
2- Christopher Freeman (UK) Sauber 1:24.163 (+0.347)
3- Eduardo Liguori (BRA) Spyker 1:24.280 (+0.464)
4- Gary McAuley (SCO) McLaren 1:24.310 (+0.494)
5- Marcos Lavieri (BRA) Spyker 1:24.584 (+0.768)
6- Mark Jones (UK) Williams 1:24.813 (+0.997)
7- Aaron Chew (ENG) Sauber 1:24.824 (+1.008)
8- Mauro Mescoli (ITA) Honda 1:24.883 (+1.067)
9- Rob Johnson (UK) Williams 1:25.519 (+1.703)
10- DAVID YELLOPE (USA) TOYOTA 1:25.788 (+1.792)
11- Philip Holm (SWE) Renault 1:25.895 (+2.079)
12- Matt Boyd (USA) TOYOTA 1:26.414 (+2.598)
13- Rob Scaife (ENG) Red Bull 1:26.505 (+2.689)
14- David Deruem (FRA) Honda 1:27.830 (+4.014)
15- Hawk Ius (MEX) Red Bull 1:29.278 (+5.462)

[MrBug708]

Super Aguri represent!

[SirFozzie]

Damnit, Bug not only joined (we now have a full set up).. he picked things up fairly well, and his Super Aguri finished his five practice runs with a hot lap of 1:25:370, which puts him in 9th and moves me back to 11th.

[SirFozzie]

Qualifying takes place tommorrow morning at 9:15 AM or so, so the night will be spend scrutinizing my setup, hoping to find a few tenths of a second more speed.

[MrBug708]

I feel a dueling dynasty session with my team once again coming up ahead. My teammate finished just in front of me too!

[SirFozzie]

Yup, gonna be interesting.. I'm tweaking some of my settings, seeing what my teammate has as a setting, and hoping to turn some fast laps in the morning.

[MrBug708]

It might be all for naught my friend

[MrBug708]

I do also have that awful lap of 1:29 that is killing my overall rank

[MrBug708]

Got your PM Foz; im interested in a private league

[SirFozzie]

Well, qualification is done

I qualified 12th on the starting grid with my first and only qualifying run.. I had wanted to take all three qualification attempts that I'm allowed, but the car was damaged during an off-track caper, so that was that.

The bad news is that I only had the 28th fastest lap in total, but the fourth quickest lap using the slightly harder race tires that I had decided to use on the first attempt.

It's the Ferrari's and McLaren's who will take the green light at Melbourne.. but who knows, a points finish could be possible.

At least I'm ahead of someone.. (whistles innocently)...

The Starting Grid for Melbourne (FOFCers and teammates in CAPS)

1- Abel Wolf (Ferrari-ITA) 1:22.487
2- Juho Paajanen (McLaren-FIN) +0.207
3- Gary McAuley (McLaren-SCO) +0.297
4- Aaron Glover (Ferrari-UK) +0.379
5- Marcos Lavieri (Stryker-BRA) +0.413
6- Mauro Mescol (Honda-ITA) +0.531
7- Aaron Chew (Sauber-ENG) +0.570
8- Christopher Freeman (Sauber-UK) +0.595
9- Rob Johnson (Williams-UK) +0.765
10-Mark Jones (Williams-UK) +0.949
11-David Deruem (Honda-FRA) +1.584
12- DAVID YELLOPE (TOYOTA-USA) +2.040
13- Ashish Wang (SUPER ASGURI-BUL) +2.056
14- KYLE KAPPE (SUPER ASGURI-USA) +2.070
15- Philip Holm (Renault-SWE) +2.432
16- Matt Boyd (TOYOTA-USA) +2.527
17- Nuno Pereira (Toro Rosso-POR) +3.553
18- Andy Coburn (Renault-UK) +4.152
19- Asdasd Asdadas (Toro Rosso-BRA) +4.157
20- Rob Scaife (Red Bull-ENG) +4.288
21- Hawk Ius (Red Bull-MEX) +6.165
22- Eduardo Liguori (Spyker-BRA) NO TIME (Crashed on his first qualifying lap, so will start from the back)

[Coder]

I was in an early beta of this game a few years ago and teamed with a friend. We worked out the settings together and managed to have near perfect setups every race. Despite being on a "poor" team, we consistently had high finishes and even won a few races each.

[SirFozzie]

Agreed, my settings look somewhat good, but my teammate hasn't responded to me, but in one of the other public games I'm running, my teammate had a great setup and shared it with me

[MrBug708]

Did you see the practice Foz?

[SirFozzie]

Point 047 seconds.

Bastard.

at least I start with you in my rear view mirror

[MrBug708]

And I will end with you in mine

[SirFozzie]

The race happened, and it was ok, we had a good car and were 8th at one point, but three stops were too many, and we fell back,
Significant events (P=the position I was in before the pass/pitstop etcetera)

Lap 1 Yellope (P12) forces past Deruem!
Lap 7 Johnson (P10) is half asleep and realises too late that Yellope is overtaking!
Lap 9 Jones (P9) is half asleep and realises too late that Yellope is overtaking!
Lap 12 Yellope makes a pitstop from P9 lasting 6.00 seconds. Tyre choice is Cut Slick Soft. 15 laps of fuel are taken onboard.
Lap 16 Yellope (P16) forces past Holm!
Lap 27 Yellope makes a pitstop from P11 lasting 7.71 seconds. Tyre choice is Cut Slick Soft. 17 laps of fuel are taken onboard. A mistake by the driver costs an additional 1.09 seconds in the pitlane.
Lap 44 Yellope (P11) makes a driver error at the last corner. Yellope seems fine on the circuit.
Lap 44 Yellope makes a pitstop from P11 lasting 6.66 seconds. Tyre choice is Cut Slick Soft. 14 laps of fuel are taken onboard.
Lap 56 Yellope (P12) is half asleep and realises too late that Liguori is overtaking!

my teammate finished 11th, I finished 13th...

and Bug finished 14th


No points for any of us though

[MrBug708]

Meh

[SirFozzie]

Qualified in 12th for the 2nd race, at Sepang, my teammate 8th

Some schmuck named Kyle Kappe qualified in 16th