Friday, October 23rd saw the SBMRL’s inaugural race of Circuit of the America’s in Austin, TX to coincide with the Formula 1 race at the same location the same weekend. We had 6 drivers show up and ran 9 cars.
After reviewing the rules, we rolled for qualification and then were off in the following order:
P1 – Nero (Lonny)
P2 – Jaap Snellrijder (Frank)
P3 – Mater (Ryan)
P4 – Barb
P5 – Danger Wheel (Ryan)
P6 – Ice (Lonny)
P7 – Captain Slow (Jason)
P8 – Stanley Washington (Brad)
P9 – The Stig (Jason)
All cars ran with the default configuration of wear points: 6 tires, 3 brakes, 3 gearbox, 3 body, 3 engine, and 2 suspension.
Lap 1 saw a lot of jostling for position and enough tire wear and other damage to result in everyone entering the pits. Even Stanley, who had played things relatively safe though the first half of the lap found his tires worn down significantly. As cars passed the starting line for lap 2, everyone was within 2 slots of their original starting position, although quite a bit more spread out.
Then things got crazy. At the front of the pack, Mater took only a couple of turns to pass Jaap for the lead, with Jaap falling back slightly as he navigated the series of successive turns less successfully. Nero and Ice moved along nicely together as teammates in blue.
In the middle of the pack, Captain Slow found himself bumped by Barb as she attempted to overtake him in Turn 1, resulting in irreparable body damage that sent him home early. The result was Turn 1 being littered with debris that the trailing pack had to navigate carefully.
In the second sector, Mater extended his lead over Jaap and looked like he would simply have to navigate sector 3 with no major errors to bring home the checkered flag. However, Jaap hit turn 5 perfectly and was then able to take the back straight in 6th gear all the way to turn 6. As the two jockeyed up front, the pair of blue cars managed to isolate themselves from the rest and looked set for a 3/4 finish if everything went smoothly. Meanwhile, Barb took a middle line approaching the back straight, leaving little options for Danger Wheel who was hot on her heels. Danger Wheel clipped Barb while attempting to pass, ending her race. Stanley Washington, who had been struggling along near the end of the pack for most of the race, was now starting to catch up as well, while the Stig did all he could to keep up.
Back at the font, Jaap caught Mater in Turn 8 and was able to take the lead for good around Turn 9. Nero and Ice were one behind the other after Turn 7, but then disaster struck. Nero spun out after overshooting Turn 8, not only allowing Ice by but the trailing pack to catch up as well. It looked like he might lose just the one spot, but Stanley was there to take advantage when Nero spun out a second time.
Danger Wheel and the Stig were there to charge as well, but Nero was able to get up enough speed to keep them at bay. The Stig, on the otherhand, was pushing hard. In fact, he miscalculated his speed going into the final turn, and having already worn down his tires and brakes significantly, was unable to stay on the track.
Final Results
| Driver | Start | Lap | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jaap Snellrijder (RM) | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Mater (GT) | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Ice (BT) | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| Stanley Washington (YT) | 8 | 9 | 4 |
| Nero (BT) | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Danger Wheel (GT) | 5 | 7 | 6 |
| The Stig (WT) | 9 | 8 | 7, dnf |
| Barb (RM) | 4 | 6 | 8, dnf |
| Captain Slow (WT) | 7 | 5 | 9, dnf |
In Singapore, Danger Wheel and Barb will each receive a penalty of 1 grid space for causing another car to be eliminated due to collision.