Matt, If you don't race this year, you will be in the same situation next year...
I really think that you are taking it too seriously.
With "race conditions" I mean the process that "translates" your car from the cad on your PC to the official solver, there is very much to learn about it (it's the same as reality, when wind tunnel measures have to be reported to the track effects).
Finally: we all are here to learn, not only to win! (Take a look to Variante's car or to Chris tamplates and you can imagine that victory is not so probable anyway... and we don't know anything about JJR, the "man in black" )