Cache error

[arnoutvanee]

Hi

I've been trying to get fastf1 to work for about a week now. I am new to working with Python so I have done some reading on how to get fastf1 to work. I use Pycharm for my projects. As far as I know I have installed all pips needed. However I keep running into the same problem.

When using the first simple code ...

import fastf1
session = fastf1.get_session(2019, 'Monza', 'Q')
session.load(telemetry=False, laps=False, weather=False)
vettel = session.get_driver('VET')
print(f"Pronto {vettel['FirstName']}?")

.... from the 'Getting Started' example, I do yield the result 'Pronto Sebastian?', however with the following message:

api WARNING

NO CACHE! Api caching has not been enabled!
It is highly recommended to enable this feature for much faster data loading!
Use fastf1.Cache.enable_cache('path/to/cache/')

core INFO Loading data for Italian Grand Prix - Qualifying [v2.3.1]
api INFO Fetching driver list...
core WARNING Failed to load data from Ergast API! (This is expected for recent sessions)
api INFO Fetching race control messages...
core INFO Finished loading data for 20 drivers: ['5', '18', '8', '20', '7', '4', '10', '11', '55', '26', '99', '23', '27', '44', '3', '16', '77', '33', '63', '88']
Pronto Sebastian?

Process finished with exit code 0

When I include fastf1.Cache.enable_cache('path/to/cache/') as recommended I get no result but I do get the following error code:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\arnou\PycharmProjects\pythonProject2\pip\main.py", line 2, in
fastf1.Cache.enable_cache('path/to/cache/')
File "C:\Users\arnou\PycharmProjects\pythonProject2\pip\venv\lib\site-packages\fastf1\api.py", line 137, in enable_cache
raise NotADirectoryError("Cache directory does not exist! Please check for typos or create it first.")
NotADirectoryError: Cache directory does not exist! Please check for typos or create it first.

Process finished with exit code 1

And I have been getting the same error code with whichever other code I have taken from the https://theoehrly.github.io/Fast-F1/ page.

So it seems I am doing something wrong relating to the cache...

I have been searching endlessly online how to fix this but I can't find a solution to this error code.

Can you please help me?

I am looking forward tremendously to start working with fastf1, lifelong F1 fan!

Many thanks in advance.

[theOehrly]

fastf1.Cache.enable_cache('path/to/cache/')

Here, path/to/cache/ needs to be replaced with an actual valid file path to a cache directory and you need to create that directory first.

[arnoutvanee]

Thanks so much for your quick response!

I had been playing around with that before, but with no success.

Where does the folder need to be located? Or can it be located anywhere on de OS (C:) drive?

I have created a folder in the following location: C:\Users\arnou\PycharmProjects\pythonProject2\pip\cache

How should the code fastf1.Cache.enable_cache('path/to/cache/') be structured to get it to work?

Thanks again.

[arnoutvanee]

I think I found it... I needed to change \ to / .... thats why it didn't work before. As only someone familiar with F1 will understand... 'I am stupid' ;)

Let's get going!

[MooshuBeef]

@arnoutvanee I just ran into the same error but the issue I had was I didn't format the path correctly and was missing a tilde (~) and needed to create the folder called "cache" manually within the venv folder. I ended up using:

fastf1.Cache.enable_cache('~/Documents/Formula1_python/venv')