Phoenix F1 Valencia Test Report

Andy Graydon

January 28, 2013

Published on tags: Superleague

VWC Returnees shed light on their first track action since 2008

For a team new to the GPVWC for 2013, and a car designed and packaged without the foresight of the 2012 regulations and design foibles, the Phoenix F1 PF1-05 came through it's first official test session with some positive times from all three of it's drivers. But, more importantly, it feels the new chassis responds well to set up changes.

Team boss and Test/Reserve driver Andy Graydon stepped in to a Superleague car for the first time since 2008 and slowly but surely worked his way into the program.Getting a feel for the car on differing fuel loads, plus getting some long runs in, before pushing hard with decent fuel onboard to set a ballpark time for the Race Drivers. That meant being on track for the morning session, when the skies were fairly clear:-

"I started on yellow Optionson a full tank and was surprised how different the car felt compared to offline testing on the Phoenix Simulator. Brake lock up was an issue for me, especially when pushing hard in the braking zones. Starting in the 1m22's, it felt mighty slow at first and was a bit of a confidence knock, but as I got used to the car the speed came.

When I went to Prime's I put 60 litres in and drove, mainly doing 1m16's. When I stared to push I found the rear getting looser and looser (probably as the tyres heating up too much). Then I started fiddling with set up, different ways of driving the corners as I got more confident. In the end I was able to put a few laps in the 1m14's, best of 1m14.6. And with that I was quite happy. Two seconds off the fastest pace at that point, and it would remain so for the rest of the day."

the whole session, had to keep changing the setup. Had a lot of understeer and braking issues. Managed to put a 13.7 right at the end, but was struggling for grip a lot. Not sure if it was to do with the loss of boost we had in the Simulatoror the weather looked kinda humid out there, and may have contributed to the handling, either way it was tough but completed my program run."

Boyd Bryson had put a lot of work into the Simulator prior to the first test, and along with Kieran had developed a set-up that enabled both to hit the track "running". There's been a lot of discussion on driving style improvements instigated by Boyd, and Kieran and Andy have both taken his suggestionson-board But for the Valencia test, Boyd had a new set of Fanatec pedals that had just arrived:-

"Must admit I struggled a bit compliments of my new pedals. As for lap times, my PB on the Simulator was a 1m13.190. On track, I only managed a 1m13.8 - I suspect the fact the Simulator had boost whereas we've not got it on the car yet was something to do with that."

At the end of the day the team had driven well in excess of their lap requirements and therefore maxed out their R&D program for the test. It was also the first time the Krevder engine had run in anger, and no reliability issues were reported, which is a very positive time.

Ending the day with all three driversseparatedby less than a second shows that Phoenix F1 return to the GPVWC with a package that can only improve and the drivers to contribute immensely to the development of the PF1-05 chassis.