Team Astromega

Liersesteenweg 240 2220 Heist-Op-Den-Berg Belgium. Tel: +32 15 25 10 71 Fax: +32 15 25 13 71

Valencia test 22nd - 24th February

As the first of the teams that have entered into the 2002 FIA formula 3000 championship to take to the track, there was a great deal of excitement and anticipation amongst the team as to what challenges the new car would bring.

From receipt of the cars from Lola to them leaving the workshop on their way to Valencia the team had worked night and day to make sure that we would have three days of uninterrupted testing. This required that the cars be completely stripped down and rebuilt, drivers seats made and the data acquisitions systems installed and calibrated.

New signing Mario Haberfeld was scheduled to test Chassis #10 for the complete three days of the test, this would be the first opportunity that Mario and new track engineer Andy Miller would have of working with Astromega, with Chris Murphy, Steffen Kosuch, Thierry Bouvet and Tim wright also in attendance this has to be the strongest engineering line-up of any F3000 team. Andy who engineered Mario in his championship winning season in the British Formula 3 championship brings with him considerable track racing experience (Jaguar Formula 1,Paul Stuart Racing F3 &3000 and a unique insight into how to get the best from Mario) that should complement the already considerable experience that exist at Team Astromega.

Chassis #11 was to be driven by Nicolas Kiesa (Shake-down and morning of the First day), Rob Nguyan (day 2 and the afternoon of day 3) and a late opportunity that would see Rodrigo Sperafico drive again with us (morning of the third day)

This would be an ambitious program, and depended on how reliable the cars were to be and of course the weather. 

DAY 1 

Car shake down and bedding in. 

Both Mario and Nicolas were under very strict guidance from the engineers, and instructed to take their time and make sure that all of the cars systems were functioning correctly and had been run in properly before they were allowed to start taking the car to the maximum.

With the car seeming to be reliable (both drivers did in excess of 40 laps each) with Mario setting a best time of 1.23.74 and Nicolas just 2 1/10ths of a second behind him with a 1.24.07, things were looking good especially when the best time that we had done previously had been a 1.24.08 with Giorgio at the pre-season test last year.

As must be expected with a totally new car there were teething problems, but nothing major and certainly nothing that prevented us from getting valuable track experience with the car.

With Nicolas out of mileage the mechanics set about changing the car to fit new driver Rob Nguyan. The plan was to have the changes done in time to allow Rob a few laps to familiarize himself with the car and track. Robs only previous racing experience had been one season in the Formula Volkswagen championship in Germany. Rob was definitely jumping in at the deep end.


DAY 2 

Day two started with Rob in chassis #11 and Mario in #10. Mario now beginning to get into an evaluation and test program was able to run consistently in the low “24’s and on new tyres improved his time of yesterday with a 1.23.49. Shortly after this run the rear anti roll bar failed, resulting in a change of program as far as evaluating the car was concerned. The roll bar was repaired for the afternoon.

Rob meanwhile set about the task of learning the track and getting to grips with a formula 3000 car with 450 Hp on tap. He impressed all with his mature approach and clarity of understanding of what the car was doing, without putting either himself or the car at risk. On his first serious run on new tyres he set a time of 1.24.88 some 1.3 seconds slower than Mario’s time. This in itself may not seem so impressive but when it is considered in the light of limited racing experience no circuit knowledge and the fact that Mario is in his forth season of F3000 racing, then not a bad effort at all.

The Engine in Chassis #11 was out of miles and so a new one was fitted. This was done in the afternoon and completed in time to allow before Rob back onto the track for the last part of the afternoon completing just two more runs before the end of the day. During the engine change it was noticed that the rear anti roll bar on this car had also broken, we think that it failed during his last run on new tyres, this was also repaired in time for Rob to continue in the afternoon.

Both Mario and Rob were feeling the effects of a long winter lay off, and not wanting to put the car at risk both stopped testing relatively early. 
Once again the mechanics on chassis #11 had yet another driver fit to do with the late addition of Rodrigo Sperafico to the list of potential pilots for the coming season.
Rodrigo flew in from Brazil on the Wednesday afternoon, had his seat made and the car altered to suit him, and finally arrived at the hotel at 10pm.


DAY 3 

Rodrigo was up bright and early and despite the long flight and tight schedule and never having been to this particular circuit before was very quickly on the pace.
With just 35 laps available he set at time of ‘23.56 after just 17 laps and with his final set of new tyres managed very credible “23.29” nearly a full second quicker than we had managed at the same track with Giorgio in the pre-season testing for last year.

With Rodrigo’s time in the car up, it was Rob’s chance to try again and see if there was any improvement with a nights sleep and time to reflect and the previous day’s work.

Meanwhile Mario, despite feeling less than 100% set the fastest time of the three days with a 1.22.88 a full 1.2 seconds quicker than Astromega had ever been at this circuit and 2.5 seconds quicker than Mario had previously achieved here.
Once again we were running into rear roll bar problems on both cars which despite the in field repairs were not working as they should. Mario continued with further testing but did not use any more new tyres as neither he nor his car was up to making a realistic time.

Rob now back in for the final afternoon was also suffering from the higher physical loads that F3000 was imposing on him.

After re-acquainting himself with the track, he found that the balance on the car was not as predictable or consistent due to the anti-roll bar problem and with the strain getting worse with every lap he set his fastest time on his last set of new tyres with a 1.23.62 just over 7/10’s of a second shy of Mario’s best all with no spins or excursions into the gravel in his 1&1/2 days of F3000 testing !!

With a considerable amount of information on the new car, some very talented young drivers to consider and the cars to paint and prepare for the next test in Estoril on the 14th/15th of April a revitalised and optimistic team returned to the workshop.



Sam Boyle
Team Manager.