/ @dreamitraceit
I have come to realize, that I'm a much better driver in my imagination than I am in the car. Despite 'practicing' in Rfactor 2 on both the Magny-Cours GP and Dijon-Prenois circuits I didn't manage a much better effort than last year, even though I thought I was determined to do so. Reality appears to be a different thing than a virtual environment. And although I followed a mild physical preparation, I felt it was hard to cope with the hot July temperatures in France of 30+ degrees Celsius, in a racesuit and race-underwear. Experiences like this provide me with a lot of respect for professional racecar drivers, who withstand these challenges for complete race distances.
This time the digits on the steering wheel didn't correctly correspond with the selected gear. Sometimes it showed one gear less or more than in fact was the case. That was quite confusing for me.
I definitely needed confidence in my braking, because one week earlier in Dijon-Prenois the brakes on this same car didn't give me any confidence at all. Perhaps new brake pads? I can only guess. And I wasn't the only contender that day mentioning this. But in Magny-Cours the brakes worked just fine. Nevertheless I kept extra margin while approaching the Adelaide. That's why I ignored the ideal line at the end of the preceeding straight and chose to brake in the middle of the track instead. Should I have failed to effectively operate the brake pedal (which needs so much force for a decent decelleration and is so close to the throttle pedal, that I need my left foot to stay completely left on the brake pedal to prevent operating the throttle pedal at the same time), I saw more tarmac-run-off-area there than the gravel run-off-area in the extension of the ideal braking zone. In addition to trusting the brakes and grip level a bit; the engine ran better in laps 3 and 4 than in the first 2 laps.
All in all I wish this day could be my personal time loop (like in the movie 'Groundhog Day') and thus improve day by day. Yeah, this day had it all for me; on holiday in France with my family, heading for the race track on beautiful country roads, my son joining me to the track, driving Formula Renault in drizzle, rain and dry weather conditions and of course driving the Benetton B198 as highlight of the day.
Benetton B198 F1 4 laps @ Circuit Magny-Cours GP 28-07-2020 with LRS Formula Driving Experience
Recording: GoPro Hero 7 Black on top of helmet
#drivingexperience #lrsformula #f1experience
‪@lrsformula‬ ‪@benetton‬ ‪@circuitdeneversmagny-cours1003‬