British F3 Silly Season 2009

[50-SIX]

Originally Posted by strider

The car was damaged in an off yesterday. As was Nick Tandy's, so it's impressive that for the second day running he was second quickest.

Pleased for Nick. I hope he challenges for the c'ship this year. And Joe, starting a team in Ford the end of 2006 and now beating the Carlins of this world - fair dos.

[jordan123]

Great to see Nick Tandy going so well at Oulton with his Mygale,any ideas where Bridger has got to? I'm really interested to see how the Mygale/Honda set-up goes.

[JohnMiller]

Originally Posted by jordan123

any ideas where Bridger has got to?

After some delays in the design and build of the new for the NBE Mugen back-end, hopefully should be out at Rockingham next week...

[strider]

That's good news, John, but BF3 still needs more entries. 17 cars at Oulton, plus yours at Rockingham and T-Sport's National Class car sometime next week = 19, but Christodoulou still hasn't signed with Fortec, AFAIK.

In my mind, 22 would be a good number, so where are the other 3 going to come from? Ultimate, maybe, with 1 or 2, Hitech with a second?

There's talk of VW cutting back sharply this year or next, despite outward appearances. The advent of F2 means that the FIA has to take a long, hard look at curtailing costs in F3 without taking away its basic characteristics, IMHO. Next year GP3 will be a reality, too.

[sleeper19]

An interesting start to the BF3 testing. My picks at T-Sport are struggling, esp Boyd. He was 1.7 secs off the pace on day1, 1.5 secs on day2 ... so little improvement relative to the quick guys over two days running and a loooooong way off the pace. Clearly the Dallara is strong (Christo, Grubmuller) and the Volkwagen not far off the pace. Buzaid also ended up 0.8 off the pace which assuming all times are genuine is a massive amount to make up

Anyone know why ... Strider ?

[Alex K]

You dont know what weights of cars were and what fuel loads they had in fuel tanks.

[strider]

In some ways Oulton was a strange test. The circuit made the teams run the cars at 108 dbA, than the Regulation 114 dbA. The difference is much greater than you might think and all the teams had to make a lot of changes to their exhaust systems to achieve it. In some cases the changes resulted in a loss of power. Carlin's VWs seeemed okay, so maybe they did a better job of that than T-Sport.

On the other hand I was expecting Boyd to be quicker than Buzaid and that didn't happen either.

The next test is at Rockingham on Tuesday and should be a more level playing field, although the circuit itself is nothing like as much of a challenge as Oulton. Too much slow stuff in the infield section.

[Mak]

Some drivers just take a little longer to adapt, but doesn't have any relevents to potential.

[sleeper19]

Originally Posted by Mak

Some drivers just take a little longer to adapt, but doesn't have any relevents to potential.

Mak, don't get me wrong, I rate Boyd highly (see my previous posts) but expected him to be a bit closer to the front. He has done a lot of testing over the winter and this is the second offcial test of 2009. Maybe it does take a while to adapt from a non-aero car, which explains why 'year 2' drivers and FRenault drivers are at the front.

Strider, good point on the noise restrictions at Oulton, but it was pretty much the same result at Snetterton (with no extra noise restrictions). BTW - I heard a rumour that most cars went out in the final session on each day at Oulton with the standard exhaust on (@ 114db) to the consternation of the officials

Certainly brewing into an interesting battle as no team, chassis, engine or driver seems to have a significant advantage ... yet

As you say we shall see next week what happens next week at Rockingham.

[Alex K]

Joe D'Agostino signed with Andersen Racing (for Sebring only so far), he's forth driver of Michelle Kish's team, they ain't got more seats to fill for Sebring. It makes me wonder, what's Adam Christo up to?

[50-SIX]

Originally Posted by sleeper19

Mak, don't get me wrong, I rate Boyd highly (see my previous posts) but expected him to be a bit closer to the front. He has done a lot of testing over the winter and this is the second offcial test of 2009. Maybe it does take a while to adapt from a non-aero car, which explains why 'year 2' drivers and FRenault drivers are at the front.

.

Drivers who have made the jump from Ford have always faired well in their first years. Look at C Kimball, D Clarke, Tandy last year, to name a few. Don't know why Boyd was so far off Buzaid. I too rate Boyd, and I am sure he will come to be there or there abouts soon enough. In ford he was driving one of the fastest cars on grid and maybe that is not the case any more, who knows. I wish him luck and hope he does make it to the front.

[Mak]

Any news on Ultimates F3 plans this year?

[Alex K]

They weren't partcipating at Rockingham today.

[08u05]

Results of todays test can be found on TSL Timing.

Are there any differences between the Dallara 08 and 09 chassis'?

[strider]

Originally Posted by 08u05

Are there any differences between the Dallara 08 and 09 chassis'?

Yes, there was a significant upgrade within the scope permitted by the FIA, as there was to the Mygale.

It's looking as though Ricciardo and Tandy are the pacesetters.

[sleeper19]

Originally Posted by strider

Yes, there was a significant upgrade within the scope permitted by the FIA, as there was to the Mygale.

It's looking as though Ricciardo and Tandy are the pacesetters.

Looks like Boyd has found some pace too . I would add Christo to Tandy/Ricciardo as the three who seem to be able to put it at the top of the timesheets consistently (three different chassis/engine/team combinations !!!!). Ricciardo set a series of very quick times at the end of the day and has definitely emerged at the strongest of the Carlin line-up. Good to see the RR cars near the top of the timesheets too.

Any news from the Bridger camp, he only completed a few flying laps so we are going to have to wait two weeks until the next 'official' test to see him head to head with the other Mygale.

[JohnMiller]

Originally Posted by sleeper19

Any news from the Bridger camp, he only completed a few flying laps so we are going to have to wait two weeks until the next 'official' test to see him head to head with the other Mygale.

Car was only finished overnight. Numerous small problems only to be expected really. Jay liked the car though and I am sure will be on the pace at Silverstone.

[strider]

Yesterday's best times in full, for those who don't want to download the .pdf file:

Pos  Driver              Team       Car                    Time
 1.  Daniel Ricciardo    Carlin     Dallara Volkswagen     1m11.038s
 2.  Nick Tandy          JTR        Mygale Mercedes        1m11.458s
 3.  Riki Christodoulou  Fortec     Dallara Mercedes       1m11.466s
 4.  Wayne Boyd          T-Sport    Dallara Volkswagen     1m11.549s
 5.  Carlos Huertas      Double R   Dallara Mercedes       1m11.556s
 6.  Max Chilton         Carlin     Dallara Volkswagen     1m11.645s
 7.  Victor Garcia       Fortec     Dallara Mercedes       1m11.698s
 8.  Daisuke Nakajima    Double R   Dallara Mercedes       1m11.784s
 9.  Henry Arundel       Carlin     Dallara Volkswagen     1m11.802s
10.  Walter Grubmüller   Hitech     Dallara Mercedes       1m11.803s
11.  Adriano Buzaid      T-Sport    Dallara Volkswagen     1m11.904s
12.  Oliver Oakes        Carlin     Dallara Volkswagen     1m12.159s
13.  Stephane Richelmi   Barazi     Dallara-Mercedes       1m12.423s
14.  Hywel Lloyd         CF         Dallara Mugen-Honda    1m12.709s
15.  Daniel McKenzie     Fortec     Dallara Mugen-Honda    1m13.686s
16.  Max Snegirev        West-Tec   Dallara Mugen-Honda    1m13.762s
17.  Victor Correa       Litespeed  Litespeed Mugen-Honda  1m14.898s
18.  Jay Bridger         West-Tec   Mygale Mugen-Honda     1m15.373s

It looks quite close, until you see that Ricciardo was four-tenths clear of Tandy and that there were 8 or 9 cars covered by the next four-tenths.

[Richard B]

Hi all,
new to the forum but a long standing fan, spectator, and photographer of British F3.
I am like others concerned about the lack of entries and over the past few years the lack of teams.
In the few years I've been involved we've lost to name a few,Promatecme, ADR, Fluid (hopefully back in 2010?).
Congratulations to West Tec for taking the UK plunge!

[wannab-aracer]

Originally Posted by Richard B

Hi all,
new to the forum but a long standing fan, spectator, and photographer of British F3.
I am like others concerned about the lack of entries and over the past few years the lack of teams.
In the few years I've been involved we've lost to name a few,Promatecme, ADR, Fluid (hopefully back in 2010?).
Congratulations to West Tec for taking the UK plunge!

Welcome aboard Richard,

Agreed, looking very thin on the ground still.

Hopefully Ultimate will join late and Hi tech with a team buddy for Grubmuller.

I think as it stands, a good shoot out between Tandy's Mygale and Ricciardo's Dallara will produce the main highlights.

[strider]

Don't forget that Barazi Epsilon are also new on board this year and there's still a chance that Ombra will come in at some time.

Welcome Richard B.

[wannab-aracer]

This could top up the numbers


http://www.motorstv.com/car/single-s...-build-eco-car


Overtaking practise for the field

[Alex K]

Dunno about secnd Hitech entry, but Walter tested two chassis at the Rock, don't know why, I can only guess, and my guessing is he didn't do that to make a mistary newcomer have good feel of the car.

[Last2LiftOff]

Is Motors TV still the (one and only) broadcaster?

("High speed televsion" good one).

[jondownunder]

Channel 4 also show it here in the UK, so I guess they're continuing (though Motors' programmes are ~50 mins compared to C4's at ~24 mins).