GP2 Driver Max Chilton's Blog

Trans Tasman Racing Dominates

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:12:00 GMT

Trans Tasman Racing Dominates

Trans Tasman Racing dominated all sessions in the newly formed Australian iRacing League at Lime Rock Park. Madison Down managed top all 3 sessions (practice, Qualifying and Race) with Blair Payton closely behind. Newly signed Troy Cox also impressed late in practice posting a 54.466.

In Qualifying Trans Tasman Racing once again was strong in the VisionRacer FG Falcon’s with all three drivers posting fantastic times. Madison topped the time sheets to grab pole position with a 53.181, Blair managed to snatch second from Corey with 53.925. Troy managed to place 5th with a fantastic time of a 54.282.

Race time for Round 1 of the series… It was a TT-R front row. The red changed to green and Blair straight away covered the inside line from Corey and managed to hold onto second into turn 1. It was a dream start for TT-R with Madison leading from Blair.

Madison managed to pull away from the field and build a handy lead while Blair and Corey battled on. After being nose to tail for quite some time the mistakes began to creep in with both drivers cutting the chicane and having to slow up to avoid a penalty.

Pit stops came mid race, Blair’s tyres were screwed so he pitted on Lap 30/31. Madison’s held on a little bit better and pitted lap 35.

At the end of the first round, Madison crossed the line first to win by over a lap, from Corey in 2nd and Blair in 3rd. Troy finished 8th for the team on debut.

“It was a great start for the team in a new league, it’s always great to start a season off with a win so hopefully it’s a good omen for the rest of the season. Although it will be a tough season, there are some class drivers in the field such as Corey, Russ and Blair that will definetely be very strong.”

A few pictures from the event:

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn289/Cozmo858/iRacingSim2010-08-2821-25-08-93.jpg

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn289/Cozmo858/iRacingSim2010-08-2821-27-28-22.jpg

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn289/Cozmo858/iRacingSim2010-08-2821-29-01-67.jpg

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn289/Cozmo858/iRacingSim2010-08-2821-07-30-89.jpg

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn289/Cozmo858/iRacingSim2010-08-2821-07-50-86.jpg

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn289/Cozmo858/iRacingSim2010-08-2821-08-21-61.jpg

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn289/Cozmo858/iRacingSim2010-08-2821-08-33-93.jpg

Round 2 is at Laguna Seca this Saturday on the 11th of September.

Rain, Sun and Visor Changed

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 03:09:00 GMT

Hi VisionRacer Fans!  

Over the last fortnight I have been racing in Hockenhiem, Germany and Hungaroring, Hungary. There have been some highs and lows, which made for two eventful weekends.

First of all at Hockenhiem we had a lot of rain on the Friday which includes practice and qualifying.  In practice I was very pumped-up as I like the wet conditions as it’s more down to driving skill rather than the car’s set-up, unlike the dry. I finished free practice in 11th place which was more promising than any previous session this year. After this I was doing a rain dance for it to stay the same for qualifying as I knew I had a lot more left in myself. 

I was very happy when it stayed wet for qualifying later in the afternoon. I went out first and set the fastest lap initially. I was never lower than 4th for the first half of the session until unfortunately I spun. I kept the engine running, but couldn't manage to get it into first gear, so had to attempt to pull away in 4th. Sadly it stalled and I was wheeled back to the pits but not allowed to continue the session.

I was truly gutted as I knew it was going to slightly dry up and people would go faster. Sure enough, in the last five minutes of the session I dropped from 4th place to 15th! Everyone was still impressed and told me not to be disheartened, but happy that I had the pace. The races over the following days were both dry and I didn't have the advantage as I did in the wet and I could only manage 19th and 16th place finishes in the feature and sprint races respectively.

The following weekend we were racing in Hungary at the twisty Hungaroring circuit situated just outside of Budapest. In practice my pace was in the bottom half of the field, but I had never actually seen the circuit before. Luckily I was able to use the VisionRacer, or I probably would have been right at the back!

In qualifying on the first set of tyres I was 12th, which I was very happy with, but due to the circuit layout I got traffic on my next set of tyres and didn't improve, so I dropped dramatically down the order and ended up 23rd on the grid.

In the races I was stuck in a group of slower drivers but didn't have enough pace to be able to overtake. Basically we were struggling for traction all weekend and that limited my results to 17th and 16th place.

Next up for me is Spa and the Belgian Grand Prix. This is a circuit I know well from my years in Formula 3, so I’m hoping for better results there in two weeks time.   Until next time keep lapping on the VR!

Max

Trans Tasman Racing Launch (VisionRacer liveries)

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 02:23:00 GMT

Well these are skins that were made for a League in rFactor. Of course they have my driver's numbers and names on them. But I can post the link for the skins with all that on them so you can have a better look. If you want the PSD files I can get those for you as well.

Thanks for your interest, our main reason for using VisionRacer is because of the affiliate program we are running with you guys on our site. So we decided to run VisionRacer cars, and they look fantastic in my opinion.

Link to all 4 skins (extract to main rFactor directory) Enduracers Endurance Series is mod is needed.

http://www.filefront.com/16932705/AOLR-TT-R-Cars.rar/

Trans Tasman Racing Launch (VisionRacer liveries)

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:16:00 GMT

Great stuff, love it. The LMP car just looks like it wants to go. How can we get the skin?

I had to hand edit the entry as the system does not handle images as yet. We are addressing the issue so links to photobucket are ok.

Trans Tasman Racing Launch (VisionRacer liveries)

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 07:33:00 GMT

Trans Tasman Racing's New Weapons

Trans Tasman Racing Launched their new weapons today at Sebring and Le Mans Circuit. The cars have performed well so far in pre-season testing. The team are hopeful that the brand new Endurance series cars will have the pace that TT-R's cars have had in the past.

"If they go as fast as they look, I think we'll be in business. All 4 cars certainly look fantastic. Credit goes to our Paint Shop manager Blair, he's done a great job." Said Mad94d.

Trans Tasman Racing has once again stuck with the same driver combination that has been used throughout Season 7 at Adrenalin Factor. Mad94d, supersonic88, PAPAOSA and ZED_68 will once again be piloting the 4 TT-R cars.

"It has been a successful combination so far, so in this case we go with the saying, if it aint broke don't fix it." Said Mad94d

Although the TT-R traditionally has been fast, this is the team's first proper attempt at Endurance Racing apart from in the 1 race in a V8 Supercar at Bathurst.

"It is definitely something we haven't had much experience with so far, but we're confident that the team has what it takes to be consistently competitive in the inaugural AOLR season." Said Mad94d.

Trans Tasman Racing will be having their 2nd test session tomorrow night. At this test session we expect to see many other teams doing shake down runs ahead of the series start on July 10th at Sebring.

Pictures and video from the launch held at midday July 2nd.

Mad94d's #77 and supersonic's #88 P1 Zytek 06S
http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz16/Mad94d/Trans%20Tasman%20Racing/GRAB_000.jpg

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz16/Mad94d/Trans%20Tasman%20Racing/GRAB_007.jpg

ZED_68's #99 Corvette C6R

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz16/Mad94d/Trans%20Tasman%20Racing/GRAB_008.jpg

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz16/Mad94d/Trans%20Tasman%20Racing/GRAB_009.jpg

PAPAOSA's #66 Porsche 997 RSR
http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz16/Mad94d/Trans%20Tasman%20Racing/GRAB_011.jpg

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz16/Mad94d/Trans%20Tasman%20Racing/GRAB_010.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5mWVXeUw4o

TT-R Management,
Mad94d, supersonic88

The Good, Bad and Ugly.... thats racing!

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:25:00 GMT

Hi VisionRacer fans,

The last month has been pretty hectic for me! I’ve had the first three events in this season’s GP2 Series and I guess it’s been a case of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!

Let’s start with the good. I had my best performance and results of the season so far at Istanbul Park in Turkey. This was my first ever time at this track and it was a great help to use the VisionRacer to learn the circuit before I had to drive it for real.

I qualified within a second of pole and just missed out on scoring some points with a 9th place finish in the feature race. I got 11th place in the sprint race on Sunday as well, so all in all it was progress from the earlier rounds and will help my confidence going through the rest of the season.

Now the bad - Barcelona back at the beginning of the month. These were the first races in the championship and I was disappointed to only get 16th and 18th place finishes there. I never got the car to feel right all weekend and although I worked hard with the Ocean Racing Technology engineers to find a good set-up, we didn’t achieve it. It certainly wasn’t a question of not knowing the track – I’ve done hundreds of laps of Barcelona both real and simulated on the VisionRacer, so I know where it goes!

And as for the ugly, well hardly a word you associate with Monaco, but that’s how I should describe my first race there this year. I found my picture spread across the pages of several European newspapers, but not for the reasons I’d hoped. Basically I had a big shunt – hit the back of a car in front and was launched spectacularly through the air and into the barriers!

It doesn’t hurt when you experience that on the VisionRacer, but it does in real life! I got over my pains and embarrassment for the Sunday race though and came through from my start at the very back of the grid to finish in 14th place, not too shabby round the very difficult Monaco street track and I did actually enjoy the race in the end.

Now I’m seeing out the rest of May in Italy at a training camp. My Ocean team mate, Fabio and I are here with our trainer for some hard work. I will be cycling up mountains, running on the coast and doing other things the coach dreams up. All in the cause of physical fitness.

June will be a much quieter month; I’ve only got the one event at the European Grand Prix around the street circuit in Valencia, Spain. Again I’ll be trying to learn it with many sessions on the VisionRacer!

Hopefully I will be able to report on some good results in my next blog. Cheers for now.

Max Chilton.

Forza Race League Sponsored by VisionRacer

Thu, 20 May 2010 02:11:00 GMT

Check out this league for the Forza Fans.

http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/thread/3896358.aspx

http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/thread/3897711.aspx

Latinamerican Online racing League...

Mon, 10 May 2010 01:58:00 GMT

Hi everyone we want to invite anyone who likes online racing to join us.

Best regards
Nelson

More Racing News from Max

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:05:00 GMT

Hi VisionRacer fans,

I have just returned from three days driving at the final official pre-season GP2 test at Barcelona. A fortnight before that, I also had a three day test at Paul Ricard in the South of France, so I’ve been pretty busy behind the wheel of the real thing!

I used the VR3 to get myself familiar with the Barcelona circuit as I had never been there before. This helped me massively to get used to the circuit layout, the braking points and apexes and all the gradients.

Both tests were very character building as we struggled to find a good set-up for the uncharacteristic conditions to start with. Both tests were held in unusually cold weather and particularly at Barcelona we struggled to get the necessary heat into the tyres. We eventually managed to find solutions, but it took a lot of hard work as a team to get the car up to speed and find set-ups that both myself and my team mate could be competitive with.

In three weeks time we have the GP2 season opener at Barcelona with the F1 Spanish GP. I am very excited to be racing at an F1 event again, as it was a brilliant experience last time in Bahrain. That was the first of many for this season, as the GP2 Championship supports all the European Grand prix as well, and then finishes with the final round at Abu Dhabi in November. So it is going to be a long, tough season!

I am currently using my days before the Barcelona race to continue with my physical training and get focused on doing the best job I can. I’ll also be using the VisionRacer to keep things fresh in my mind.

I will keep you posted on how the season opener at Barcelona goes as well as the Monaco GP event which follows straight after on the next weekend.

--  Max

Learning the Bahrain International Circuit

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:13:00 GMT

Hi Everyone,

As an up and coming racing driver one of the biggest difficulties I face is getting track time in the car. For me this year, that means a GP2 car where testing and real track time is severely restricted.

Thanks to VisionRacer's new creation, the VR3, I've been able to maximise the advantage of having a static race simulator at home.   It's been incredibly useful recently, and great fun as I spent hours on it learning the Bahrain International Circuit which I raced on for the first time last week. They were the latest races in this year's GP2 Asia Series and it was fantastic to go out and drive the real track knowing where it went, and I realised how much the VisionRacer had been an advantage to me in the lead up.

I’d recommend the VR3 to any racing driver or enthusiast who wants the feel of the real thing in the comfort of their living room. One of the important things for me and probably any serious player, is the feedback you get which is excellent, and also the comfort. I spend many hours in the VR3 learning new circuits, so it has to be comfortable. The ergonomics of this design are perfect.

The real races in Bahrain were quite hard work for me. In the first one I got pushed wide at the first corner and damaged the underside of my car when I re-joined the track.

That limited my result and meant I had to start the second race from near the back of the grid. I fought hard and managed to get back up through the field to finish in 12th place. Thanks to my VR3 I knew where the good overtaking opportunities were!

The next circuit I have to learn is the Barcelona track ready for the Spanish Grand Prix event in May. More hours in the VR3, not that I need an excuse!

Max Chilton