UKGTR Season 8 Upper Sprint (GT1) - Monza (GP 2000-present) - Jul 29

[picnic]

So, So, So sorry Picnic I was on wifi, but just ordered 15m ethernet cable, so hopefully will solve problem. Again, very sorry if my stationary lambo caused people probs. As soon as Dave gave me the nod it was still lagging, I quit out.

No problem, as I said the car was still in one piece, all my own work binning it  half way through

I'm sure you'll find the ethernet cable sorts out the lag issue. My view on wireless has never been very complimentary. I only use it when I really must. I think the ethernet over mains adapters seem to be a better solution for domestic use where cat5 cable is not so easy to install.

[Busi]

So chaotic and I was one of the victims of the lag problems at the start (at least though I could finish).

Firstly I arrived home and joined quali as quick as I could, but didn't have time for a flying lap so started last in 20th.

Start of the warm up, to my surprise there are suddenly several cars stopped and I couldn't avoid a Massa I think, I got a puncture.

At the end of the warm up lap I went to the pits and as I crossed the pit in line I got a stop&go for cutting? That really pissed me off, cause I had to do another (racing) lap with the puncture and I rejoined the race 1:24 behind the leader and about to be lapped.

A second stop&go put me a lap down and behind Gazza, who I followed for the rest of the race. With other people's problems I finished 8th and still worked for the team's points

[Munkez]

Um really not sure what happened tonight, quali did ok.
1st lap 1st chicane, as picnic hit the back of stewprovo i disco'd  Bizzarre and gutted to say the least.

munk

[Gazza49er]

No worries Steve, was a little miffed at the time but these things happen. I can see why it happened as your eyes probably lit up as you saw the chance of picking up a couple of places as the two ahead had trouble, but 3 into lesmo 1 wasnt gunna work lol.  

Had a terrible qualy and shunted off on lap 1 but plodded on reasonably consistant and with everyone elses problems picked up a very unexpected 5th.

TT did you have fuel trouble or damage coz i nearly caught you at the end?

Grats Simon and podium.

Unlucky RM & Bob.

[Roadrunner]

Well...that was an AWESOME race in my book...

Held pole for a short while in qualy..ended up 3rd..but knew strait line speed was me weapon of choice come the race..

Dunno if it was just me..but 550 on the limiter for the start seemed to be a fraction quicker than the Saleen  ..anyways..fluffed the start, hit limiter button twice..so put it back on again..but only lost the 1 place to Simon?...then another one down in t1 to Madd. Wasnt totally confident in the car through 2nd chicane..so the contact between Purdie & SBG was prob partially my fault..but woke me up a little when i saw em comin  , that all sorted itself out..had a steady lap or so..make sure all was AOK..set off after an dispatched of Madd again..Simon got P1 just as i caught him & Reign Man up...spent a couple of laps behind Reign not wanting to do owt daft under braking...my straitline speed won on that occasion..Simon was 2-2.5 secs up the road..cruised up to 0.7-1 sec behind him an seemed to hit a brick wall...couldnt seem to get any closer no matter how hard i tried...eventually got gap to 0.5-0.7 range..and with handfull of laps to go...finally got to under .5 into t1...thought it may be worth ago somewhere..but on otherhand had a suspicion if it stayed that close it may be guy in 2nd outta final corner that wins it..an promptly locked it up proper job at 2nd chicane an gave him all the time back...said to me self that was it, race over...then onto final 2 laps..went for broke, got rite onto him out of Ascari..seemed to be the case that he had better initial acceleration out of corners...so knew i had to hold him out wide into final corner if i was to have any chance...launched it in under brakes..got nose on the inside...which was best i could hope to do...both seemed to get back on power pretty much the same time..so it was left to the 1260 horsey`s to do the talking..an Simon`s share were better where it mattered  

[Truetom]

TT did you have fuel trouble or damage coz i nearly caught you at the end?

Yes, I hit a wall out of Lesmo 2 (not your wall, Psuedo, the one on the other side  ) and since then I had a pronounced understeer. Didn't want to push too much, just enough to stay in front of you. 

My 4th place is totally undeserved, made by other people's mistakes - bad luck, guys. Too bad for other two Legends as well. 

Seems like I can't set up the damn Saleen, it was all over the place at braking, got one warning for going sideways over the chicane.    Maybe I was too focused on keeping the wing low - I had 1-4. Tried 5 but I got slower at Parabolica exit then. 

TT

[Simon Gymer]

Seems like I can't set up the damn Saleen, it was all over the place at braking, got one warning for going sideways over the chicane.    Maybe I was too focused on keeping the wing low - I had 1-4. Tried 5 but I got slower at Parabolica exit then. 

I was running 2-4 in the F550. I just hate the 1 on the front splitter. It doesn't give me any straight line speed advantage worth having to how much slower it makes me in the corners. Same goes from anything below 4 on the rear. I just find the 0.2 I make on the straights isn't enough compared to how much I lose in the corners. Plus higher downforce makes for a more stable easier race car.

I got some good tows with my high 6th gear, never near the red line either. 

[Jeffrey]

Seems like I can't set up the damn Saleen, it was all over the place at braking, got one warning for going sideways over the chicane.    Maybe I was too focused on keeping the wing low - I had 1-4. Tried 5 but I got slower at Parabolica exit then. 

Monza is quite deciving, as it looks like a super fast track. Like I said few pages back, the Viper isn't that good here, as there are quite a lot of fast corners (Lezmo 1 and 2, Varianta Ascari and Parabolica). They all have a long straight afterwards, so handling will slingshot you on the straight, whereas a Viper or cars with lown downforce, start off with so much to catch up, that it's almost impossible to gain.

And like Simon said ("Simon says" ), the cars don't really gain a lot of speed in the top region. I think 300kph is about the limit for most cars, whether you're on 2-5 or 1-1. However, acceleration is better with low wing, but braking sucks then .

[psuedo]

I was using 1 - 2 on the Saleen...was very stable under braking and through Ascari and the parabolica.....but the usual saleen trait of 'getting within a yard of a kerb making it feel like driving a jelly on wheels' did for me on the exit of the Lesmo's.

[Simon Gymer]

but the usual saleen trait of 'getting within a yard of a kerb making it feel like driving a jelly on wheels' did for me on the exit of the Lesmo's.

I'm not sure it's a problem with the Saleen. I think it may have more to do with the default setups for both the Saleen, Ferrari 550/575 (and I think the MC12 too) both sitting far too close to the floor. They are like 5 or 6 which is so close to the floor those cars hit the tarmac even without curbs half the time. First thing I do with most of the low riding cars is whack up the ride height (don't be scared ) to 8 or 9. Lowering a car doesn't make the car magically handle better, but raising a car up helps you get over curbs, so it's a no brainer for me to always raise ride height if I'm struggling on curbs.

Don't be afraid to try "out there" settings on your setups to see if the problem is resolved, e.g. whack up the ride height to the max and if it solves the particular problem you're trying to fix, then you know you're changing the right setting. Then it's just a case of changing it in a less extreme manner to balance fixing the problem and going too far. Same goes for all settings. If you max or min out a setting you will know in future that changing that setting in that direction has that effect so if you need to cause a specific effect you know what to do without even trying it.

Unfortunately no two cars are the same, so what you learn on one car might not necessarily translate to another car. This is especially true for the differentials and when changing to a car with the engine in a different place.

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

It's also where the MoTeC interpreter is really useful - the data shows very clearly what the range of suspension movement is; whether (and where) you're bottoming out, or if not, how much lower you can run before you start to.

[Truetom]

Well, I did set the car higher than ever before, I had 7,0 and 8,0. I experimented with rear 8,5 but it went even more unstable during braking when the rear lifted further and lost the grip to the front (stiffening front springs/dampers didn't help). It was bottoming out just before Ascari, but was otherwise ok. I didn't feel / see it bottoming on the kerbs, it was more a skitting feeling on every irregularity on track, be it either a kerb or a bump. And no, my rear springs/dampers were not to stiff, they were close to minimal on the rears as I made soft as possible 'cause of low wing. I'm not using packers anywhere except at Spa - should I use them here?

Also, unstable braking was not 'cause of low coast diff - that was highest for me so far also (60%). Changing braking ballance didn't help - if I moved it forward the front brakes overheated and faded, causing rear brakes to turn the car backwards. When I opened the cooling more it didn't come up to optimum soon enough - the brakes were too cold and braking was worse. When brake ballance was set more to the back the rear brakes gripped more by default and the result was the same - a turned car. I found the solution in adding throttle during the last stage of braking and simultaneously easing off the brake, but the car was constantly on the edge and every time there was a possibility that I will take out the driver who tried to outbrake me.

What I want to say is I was doing laps and trying to set the xxxx thing but when driving on the edge it was less than satisfactory. I can easily set the Lambo here with wings 1-2 and it's very stable. Similar settings work on Lister and F360GTC, even Porsche but not on Saleen, that's what's making me puzzled.     

Even with a wing of 4 I was not able to close on Madd-Rip in his Lister and that's news for me - when I was driving Lister in Super Enduro it always lost on straight and gained throught the corners. Is Lister changed muchly, Dave? 'cause Madd gained through the corners and didn't lose anything on the straight. Or was it just my setup?     

[Mark J]

Sorry, MJ - the Lambo is gobsmackingly slow in a straight line and even when right up behind you I couldn't make any headway so all I had was exit speed. Thought I had the move made coming out of Ascari but you you soooo much slower than I expected (and/or had to lift momentarily) and there was just no space to avoid you.

No worries DG, i know your not a dirty or over eager driver. Your exit speed was undoubtedly quicker than mine at that point of the race as it took meticulous dabs of throttle to get through corners like Ascari without the Mc12 trying to spit me off despite good tyre temps and hardly any wear 
I guess the difference in speed caught you out, but it was bloody frustrating to be taken out of 8th with such little time left on the clock..2-3mins left?  I would rather have let you past and got 9th than be crashed out of the race and get nothing. C'est le vie ! 

I was as disappointed as anyone seeing you sitting there unable to rejoin.

hehe, not as disapointed as me!  But i had no time to worry about that, the car was on fire!...i had to leap out and save the Campari reserves in the boot.

No racing for me for about 3 weeks now  :'( I'm off to Italy for my hols. 

[Dave 'Gizmo' Gymer]

What I want to say is I was doing laps and trying to set the xxxx thing but when driving on the edge it was less than satisfactory. I can easily set the Lambo here with wings 1-2 and it's very stable. Similar settings work on Lister and F360GTC, even Porsche but not on Saleen, that's what's making me puzzled.     

Even with a wing of 4 I was not able to close on Madd-Rip in his Lister and that's news for me - when I was driving Lister in Super Enduro it always lost on straight and gained throught the corners. Is Lister changed muchly, Dave? 'cause Madd gained through the corners and didn't lose anything on the straight. Or was it just my setup?     

Lister is hardly changed from previous seasons.

I tried the Lambo on 1-4 and it was undrivably unstable. Went with about 2-8 in the end!

[Simon Gymer]

Being American, the Saleen probably has solid wooden struts for suspension, so it might not be a surprise that it's hard to setup.