Race Recap: UF1 Winter Series 2013 – Race 3

Post Race Analysis
Even though Race 3 of the 2013 UF1 Winter Series saw 7 less drivers than Race 2, there was still some amazing battles both in qualifying and the mains…

The new 5-lap average qualifying seeding seems to be a big hit. Not only does it help each driver learn consistency, but it also makes the final seeding extremely close! How close, you ask? Let’s take a look… TQ for the round was Lee Passehl with a 5-lap average of 10.696. Shooting down the list, we need to drop all the way down to 24th spot to Alex M…he was TQ in the D with a 11.568…yes, that TWENTY-FOUR spots to be only 1 second apart! Anyone else thing qualifying is extremely exciting now!???! I almost like that more than the racing…almost.

As I mentioned above, Patron-Honda driver Lee Passehl took the TQ by only a couple hundredths of a second. Passehl has recently moved from a Tamiya chassis over to the TOP Racing Rebel chassis. Teammate Ron Schuur has been piloting one of these for some time so now the team is on the same track. Apparently it’s good…Lee not only took the +2 TQ points but also the day’s overall with 3 race wins. His car looked incredible around the track and the guy drove like a true champion (for those of you that don’t know, Lee is also the 2011 UF1 Winter Series Champion). Lee is the first driver to click off a perfect 302 points…and it doesn’t look like it will be his last time. Could he be the first repeat UF1 Champ?

Settling into 2nd for the day was Tyree Phillips. Tyree has been steadily climbing the leaderboards since Race 1 and now finds himself 5th overall in the series. In Round 2, he and Neisinger had a great race that saw them finish less than a 1/10 of a second apart! He’s getting that TRG chassis locked in, and it looks great with the Marlboro Mercedes colors.

Bringing home the final podium spot today was independent driver Tony Neisinger. He pulled off a solid 293 points for the day, just missing 2nd by 2 points. He sits 4th overall behind another independent, Aaron Lane. Tony will have a little work to do to catch the leaders but as we’ll all seen, anything can happen. Keep an eye on this red Ferrari…

Finishing 4th for the day is Hot Bodies Ferrari team driver Chris Cabrales. This guy came out of nowhere today to put a wrench in points series. Unfortunatley a few missed races puts Chris down in 29th for the overall, but if this guy shows up (or the throwouts come into play) we may see Cabrales on the podium at the end of the series. Dood is fast…

Patron-Honda teammate Ron Schuur finished a respectable 5th overall for the day. Ron has his red-anodized Rebel flying around the track, powered by his own line of motors (SchuurSpeed Motors). These guys definitely don’t have any power issues, and for an old guy Ron is looking pretty good out there! Schuur sits 9th overall in the series.

Dave Berger, runner up in the 2012 Summer Series, saw his 2013 Winter Series lead disappear with another disappointing 6th place finish. Dave’s car has been consistently good but needs to definitely improve to stay in line with Passehl. Lee is only 16 points ahead and, if I know Berger, this guy will be down and the track laying down some series laps to get his Repsol-Honda backed Tamiya back in top form. It’s going to be a good battle between him and Passehl.

Indpendent driver Aaron Lane (who filled in for the abscent Lotus Driver Mike Kennedy), puts in a good 7th place finish. Lane was a bit off the pace today but he is constantly trying new things on his car. He is one of those guys that, even though his setup changes quite a bit as he learns the car for the 2013 Summer Series, he can still wheel it around the high-traction TQ track. Lane still sits 3rd overall in the Driver’s Championship, just ahead of Neisinger.

Coming in 8th for the day is the other Marlboro Mercedes driver, Steven Jackson. Jackson was also off the pace a bit (from his results in Race 2). A few on-track incidents didn’t help his cause, but he gathered it back up to keep a Top 10 finish. Jackson sits 7th overall in the series, just 2 points behind Cole. We’ll see a definite push in the next race…

Finishing 9th for the day is the 2012 Summer Series Champion Tony Phalen. The Lotus driver has been struggling all series with his V2 but finally put in a decent run to make the Top 10. Phalen is hoping this is a sign of good things to come…he sits 16th overall in the series. Watch for a final-series push and a Top 10 finish.

Completing the Top 10 is Kevin Cole. This is Cole’s worst performance yet, but he has had other things on his mind (team issues, stocking up for the end of the world, whether or not to name the Panda on his transmitter Ling Ling or Hsing-Hsing, etc). Now that he’s got Martinez as his 2nd Benetton-Ford driver and the end of the world never really happened, he can focus on getting that Roche chassis back up to speed…that and maybe just naming the Panda George. Cole sits a comfortable 6th overall in the series.

Just missing the Top 10 is Redbull Driver Charles Lightfoot and independent Jason Huang. This is Lightfoots best performance as he continues to work with his new Tamiya chassis (the ‘Foot has been campaigning an FGX since it’s debut). Chuck’s all about the ‘Love and Peace’ attitude, but don’t let this guy fool you…he’s the Terminator on the track. Once he gets that Tamiya hooked up 100% he’ll be Top 10 consistently.

Huang has been consistently finishing around the 11th place position, but he is still quite a threat to the points. The guy is there…he just needs one good day to put some major points on the board. Jason sits 10th overall for the series.

Constructor’s Championship
With the awesome results of team drivers Passehl and Schuur, Team Patron-Honda have taken the lead in the Constructor’s Championship by 28 points. These two have been working hard together and it’s showing, scoring 589 points for the day. Better not let them get to far out front…

Team Repsol-Honda has dropped down to second for the first time in the series, only scoring 546 points. Teammates Berger and Medel are the defending 2012 Constructor Champs and I’m sure are well aware of the hard-charging Patron drivers. Thankfully they both have the same driving style so once they get their car back on track, the team points will be flowing.

Benetton Ford is still in 3rd with team drivers Cole and Martinez pulling in 526 points. Both drivers had a rough outting this weekend so they didn’t gain much ground on 1st and 2nd, and now need to worry about the Lotus boys right behind them. No doubt Cole’s Roche will be back in top shape by Race 4…

Coming up from the depths is Team Lotus. This team has been struggling early in the season but are looking to change things around for the 2nd half. Mike Kennedy was off galavanting around Vegas (or was it Utah) for Race 3, so Phalen recruited 3rd place overall driver Aaron Lane to replace him. Aaron and Phalen both had Top 10 runs, giving them enough points for Lotus to move into 4th overall.

The Caterham F1 Team of Hammon and Goldwater drop to 5th after only scoring 496 points for the day. This puts them 28 points ahead of the Vodafone-McLaren team of Espina and Simmons, both of whom are very fast! They’ll need to get some speed in their cars and get back on their consistent game to keep that 5th place position.

Final Thoughts
In the beginning, there was a buzz about how qualifying would be pretty important to the final outcome of the race, but no one knew that a mere 1/100th of a second would mean the difference between starting at the front of the field or starting at the back. This new format certainly puts people of equal abilities with one another, but that means it’s also extremely important to make a clean, clear pass. One mistake could potentially put you down 2, 5 or even 10 positions down the leaderboards at the end of the day. Keep it clean, keep it fast, but most important, Love and Peace. Ode to Mr. Lightfoot…

Track Tip
There are many variables to being successful in the UF1 Series. One is clean, consistent driving. Another is knowing the limits of your car, and what it is capable of on certain parts of the track. Yet another is knowing what setting to change depending on the how the car is reacting on the track. So, what do all of these have in common? Setup! Yes, knowing how to setup your car, what to change, when to change and why to change can take you from zero to hero in one afternoon. To help get you started, we’ve added a starting setup for the Tamiya F104 VII to the site (get it here: Tamiya F104 VII Setup Sheet). This is the setup the Repsol-Honda boys are currently using at TQ Raceway and should be an excellent place to start (some tweaking may be needed to suit your driving style).

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