Hi all,
Well, I'm halfway thru the first season. Ace\100%. I only have three
finishes (most dnfs are mechanicals--love my Simtek) but I learned quite a
lot. My top finish is a dismal 17th but I'm getting there. I clocked the 7th
fastest race lap in Montreal and the 10th fastest race lap at Silverstone
(1:29.979) (Qualified 22rd--1:27.429).
During the course of my time at Silverstone I realized that GP2 models the rpm
to power curve much more accurately than did F1GP. Used to be that it really
didn't matter what gear ratio you chose, nor whether you let the revs drop
down below the ideal thru a bend. One of the keys to speed in GP2 is to keep
the revs up above 10000 ( i think this is the level of the first indicator
light). Thru Becketts i used to stay in 4th gear. This worked fine and in
some instances is still preferred. However, I picked up time when I would
drop down to 3rd in Becketts and keep the revs way up. The application of
power out of the turn had me picking 6th a touch more quickly on the run up to
Stowe. With the same being true for most other medium speed corners I picked
up almost a total of a second in 2nd day qualifying just from keeping the revs
high the whole way 'round.
The tactic (if one can call it that) does have drawbacks. The backend is more
willing to break away out of the turn and harder to control thru the apex. I
began the race using this method but quickly went back to lower revs because
the handling was to difficult for a long race. My setup goals now include
finding not only a good balance, but one which is at its best when running at
higher revs in a lower gear.
eric
