My laptop hates Adelaide. Carrera4's 1988 version causes a CTD, there's a 1989 version but that has a crap frame rate and a glitch where you can't actually do a pit stop. I even tried the Clipsal 500 version, but every time I want to pit, the game thinks I've taken a shortcut and makes me repeat the lap.
So, I started thinking. What other famous racing circuits are there in Australia?
If you said Mount Panorama/Bathurst...you'd be wrong. Nope, we're going to Phillip Island!
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12 November, 1988With Larrauri and Nakajima out, there was to be no need for a pre-qualifying session at the start of the race weekend. The circuit was only cleared for use on Monday afternoon, as in a shock move, the city council of Adelaide voted against staging the Australian Grand Prix in the middle of September. This was prompted by revelations of how much it was costing the city to retain the right to host the race. The Mount Panorama Circuit, close to the town of Bathurst, was deemed to not be up to the standard needed for Formula 1.
Instead, renovation efforts at the Phillip Island Circuit, close to the city of Melbourne, were ramped up to prepare the track for hosting the Australian Grand Prix. The track was initially due to re-open in December, and the renovation was complete on the 5th of November, a month ahead of schedule.
Following his 11th place in his debut for the Larrousse team, Aguri Suzuki would not make the trip down to Australia to fill in for Yannick Dalmas, who has been diagnosed with Legionnaire's Disease, but instead that job would go to Pierre-Henri Raphanel. Raphanel only finished joint 13th in this year's Formula 3000 season.
Alain Prost looked set to end a championship-winning year on a high, taking pole from Ayrton Senna. Ciaran O'Driscoll scraped through after crashing out at the Southern Loop corner, with Gabriele Tarquini only a tenth of a second off the Irishman. Nicola Larini and the two Zakspeeds would also fail to qualify. Philippe Streiff is 17th.
13 NovemberProst gets away cleanly, while Senna is hot on his heels. For one last time, O'Driscoll would have his typically poor start, but makes it up in the corners, climbing to 16th by the end of the race. Nigel Mansell gets punted off entering the Lukey Heights section, and Arnoux pulls off after only four corners.
16th becomes 15th for O'Driscoll as he slipstreams Capelli into the first corner at the start of his second lap. By the time he reached Siberia corner, he was making his way past his own team-mate for 13th. The hard work is undone as
Stefan Johansson gives him no room exiting turn 11, forcing him onto the grass and sending him plummeting to 24th.
Piquet's engine hits the self-destruct button exiting Siberia on his third lap, and Johansson and Caffi come to blows too, allowing O'Driscoll back up to 21st. Before he can make a comeback, he spins off at the first corner at the start of the fifth lap, and it's all over. The front right wheel is ripped off, as is the front nose section, in a crash resembling that of Johnny Herbert at Brands Hatch in August.
Up front, Senna could not be shaken off by Prost. The high speed corners - perhaps more suitable for motorcycle racing than Formula 1 - made it difficult for the Brazilian to get through. Roberto Moreno was doing an excellent job of holding back the Ferraris of Berger and Alboreto in third place. On lap 16, though, the Judd V8 in the back of his March gave up, and his podium dreams went up in smoke.
Senna finally passed Prost on lap 17, taking the lead entering the hairpin at turn 10. On lap 19, Prost hits the back of Philippe Alliot while trying to lap him entering the hairpin at turn 4. Alliot loses his rear wing in the initial collision, and then loses his front wing in the tyre barrier! It's a long trip back to the pits for him.
On lap 20, the unthinkable happens. Entering turn 4, Prost dives down the inside of Senna...and then they touch wheels. Senna tries to get the better drive out of the hairpin, but is caught behind some traffic that Prost easily clears. Before the lap is out, disaster strikes for Prost, and his car gets stuck in first gear. It's all over, and the Achilles's Heel of the MP4/4 has struck again.
Senna has a massive lead over Gerhard Berger in second, so big that Prost didn't even lose second place while crawling back to the pits to retire. Unfortunately, Senna's engine has different ideas, and on lap 27, it's all over. Berger takes over the lead, but two laps later, he too retires, after damaging his suspension while trying to lap a backmarker. Michele Alboreto, in his final race for
La Scuderia, takes over the lead. Alessandro Nannini is up to second, but fate is a cruel mistress. On the final lap, his engine blows, and six vital points for Benetton are all gone.
Julian Bailey takes over second place as a result, and Philippe Streiff takes the final place on the podium. Stefano Modena caps off a fantastic year with fourth place, with De Cesaris and Perez-Sala finishing off a bizarre top 6.
ROTR: Rene Arnoux. The Ligier driver lasted a number of corners that could be counted on one hand before breaking his suspension in a poorly-judged overtaking attempt.
Constructors' Championship:- (C) Marlboro McLaren-Honda: 100
- Camel Team Lotus-Honda: 64
- Scuderia Ferrari: 54
- Canon Williams Team-Judd: 50
- Jameson AGS-Ford: 30
- Tyrrell-Ford: 23
- Ligier Loto-Judd: 21
- Leyton House March-Judd: 15
- USF&G Arrows-Megatron: 12
- EuroBrun-Ford: 8
- Minardi-Ford: 6
- Benetton-Ford: 5 (CB: 1x4th)
- Rial-Ford: 5 (CB: 2x5th)
- BMS Scuderia Italia Dallara-Ford: 3
- Larrousse-Calmels Lola-Ford: 2 (CB: 1x5th, 2x7th)
- Coloni-Ford: 2 (CB: 1x5th, 1x12th)
- Zakspeed: 0 (CB: 2x9th)
- Osella: 0 (CB: 1x14th)
Drivers' Championship:- (C) Alain Prost: 63
- Michele Alboreto: 38
- Ayrton Senna: 37
- Satoru Nakajima: 35
- Nelson Piquet: 29
- Riccardo Patrese: 25 (CB: 2x2nd, 2x3rd, 1x4th, 1x5th, 1x7th, 1x11th)
- Nigel Mansell: 25 (CB: 2x2nd, 2x3rd, 1x4th, 1x5th, 1x7th, 3xDNF)
- Ciaran O'Driscoll: 19
- Gerhard Berger: 16
- Julian Bailey: 14
- Rene Arnoux: 13
- Philippe Streiff: 11
- Jonathan Palmer: 9 (CB: 1x2nd)
- Ivan Capelli: 9 (CB: 1x3rd)
- Stefan Johansson: 8 (CB: 1x2nd)
- Stefano Modena: 8 (CB: 2x4th)
- Derek Warwick: 8 (CB: 1x4th)
- Luis Perez-Sala: 5 (CB: 1x4th)
- Andrea de Cesaris: 5 (CB: 2x5th)
- Roberto Moreno: 4 (CB: 1x3rd)
- Eddie Cheever: 4 (CB: 1x4th)
- Alessandro Nannini: 3 (CB: 1x4th)
- Alex Caffi: 3 (CB: 1x5th)
- Thierry Boutsen: 2 (CB: 1x5th, 1x8th)
- Philippe Alliot: 2 (CB: 1x5th, 2x9th)
- Gabriele Tarquini: 2 (CB: 1x5th, 1x12th, 1x18th)
- Mauricio Gugelmin: 2 (CB: 2x6th)
- Pierluigi Martini: 1
- Yannick Dalmas: 0 (CB: 2x7th)
- Oscar Larrauri: 0 (CB: 1x8th)
- Piercarlo Ghinzani: 0 (CB: 2x9th)
- Martin Brundle: 0 (CB: 1x9th)
- Bernd Schneider: 0 (CB: 1x10th)
- Aguri Suzuki: 0 (CB: 1x11th)
- Nicola Larini: 0 (CB: 1x14th)
- Adrian Campos: 0 (CB: 1x20th)
- Christian Danner: 0 (CB: 3xDNF)
- Jean-Louis Schlesser: 0 (CB: 1xDNF)
- Pierre-Henri Raphanel: 0 (CB: 1xDNF)
Colin Chapman Trophy- (C) Canon Williams Team-Judd: 98
- Jameson AGS-Ford: 72
- Tyrrell-Ford: 50
- Ligier Loto-Judd: 42
- Leyton House March-Judd: 40
- EuroBrun-Ford: 17 (CB: 2x2nd)
- Larrousse-Calmels Lola-Ford: 17 (CB: 2x3rd)
- Benetton-Ford: 16
- Minardi-Ford: 15
- BMS Scuderia Italia-Dallara: 10
- Rial-Ford: 9
- Coloni-Ford: 4
Jim Clark Trophy- (C) Nigel Mansell: 52
- Riccardo Patrese: 46
- Ciaran O'Driscoll: 44
- Philippe Streiff: 44
- Rene Arnoux: 27 (CB: 2x1st)
- Ivan Capelli: 27 (CB: 1x1st)
- Jonathan Palmer: 25 (CB: 1x1st, 1x2nd)
- Julian Bailey: 25 (CB: 1x1st, 2x3rd)
- Stefano Modena: 16
- Stefan Johansson: 15
- Luis Perez-Sala: 10 (CB: 1x3rd, 1x4th, 1x5th, 1x6th, 1x7th)
- Alex Caffi: 10 (CB: 1x3rd, 1x4th, 1x5th, 1x6th, 5xDNF)
- Thierry Boutsen: 9 (CB: 1x2nd)
- Andrea de Cesaris: 9 (CB: 3x4th)
- Philippe Alliot: 8
- Alessandro Nannini: 7 (CB: 1x2nd)
- Mauricio Gugelmin: 7 (CB: 1x4th, 2x5th)
- Yannick Dalmas: 7 (CB: 1x4th, 1x5th)
- Roberto Moreno: 6
- Pierluigi Martini: 5
- Gabriele Tarquini: 4
- Aguri Suzuki: 2
- Oscar Larrauri: 1
- Martin Brundle: 0 (CB: 1x8th)
- Adrian Campos: 0 (CB: 1x13th)
- Jean-Louis Schlesser: 0 (CB: 1xDNF)
- Pierre-Henri Raphanel: 0 (CB: 1xDNF)
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That's the 1988 season done and dusted. I'll probably get to work on tweaking the 1989 mod to produce realistic results, and might factor in AGS's stunning success to give them a better shot for that year.
As a result of this season, EuroBrun would be un-rejectified, as are AGS. Luis Perez-Sala is also out of the rejects list, along with Julian Bailey.
McLaren have had atrocious reliability. They've suffered double DNFs five times, and Ayrton Senna only classified in seven races, contributing to him ending up behind Michele Alboreto! Of his 37 points, only 11 came from the second half of the season.
Another disappointment are Benetton. In the real 1988 season, they finished third with 39 points. They score just over an eighth of that amount here, and are quite possibly the biggest victim of AGS's success story. They end the season 12th, and the Benetton family must be seriously regretting pouring so many millions into the team.
Larrousse-Lola, Coloni, Zakspeed and Osella are all condemned to pre-qualifying for 1989. They will join the second Rial, Onyx and the returning Brabham team. With EuroBrun shrinking to a one-car effort, I
might be generous and let Larrousse get one of their cars through pre-qualifying.