UKGPL Season 18 (2009) Inter-League Series - Rouen - Jan 31

[bernie]

I ve done some 1.59 s with the BRM (1.58.37 priluda) and I m available sunday night but only if Bernie doesn t want to drive. I think I ll be able to si steady 2.00 something but not more.
I m not sure if I m better looking than Bernie though..maybe if I xdress?

Pity you if your worse looking than Bernie , as for the xdress,  I think the stilletos might be a bit of a handicap, though the padded bra could help in the event of accidents , punctures excepted 

getting down to some serious BRM laps now with low 2m01's showing ,a 1. 59 seems a long way off,  but I hope to get some expert tuition before raceday which should help.

I find the BRM is a nice car to drive when you get  the hang , pity its such a slug . Not sure about fuel load for the race either I assume its 16 cylinders must be quite gas hungry .

My only hope is to complete the required number of laps in time to be classified as a finisher , so if one of you aliens out there happen to find himself way out in front , please dont lap me more than 3 times  :'(

 

 

[kinghiro]

Seem we both will be driving Bernie . I don t think that one second I appear to be faster determine who does this race fastest Bernie, it s the one of us who can stay ontrack doing our pace the hole race. With a high coastside Diff to turn in easier in the bends my Beast is somewhat tricky to handle. Off course I can make it safer, but then I have to push more and thats equally dangerous unless I settle for slower pace ofc. Pushing towards same pace with "safer" car might easily make me go too wide and off track too.
Decisions decicions.
I ll skip the high heels ofc but I can still wear sexy lingerie 

[Hristo Itchov]

What diffs you use, Bernie and Tom? I've found that a 85/60/5 or 85/45/5 works very well with the BRM, don't ask why. It's something Michiel Pompert came up with long ago and the car is stable yet nimble. Depends on your suspension settings too of course, but it usually works at most tracks. The alternative that I use, though usually for twistier tracks, is 60/60/2 or 60/60/3.

[bernie]

Hiristo , ive been using 45/60/1 I did try the Pompert's set ups a long time back but found them hard to control back then , maybe I should have another look .

[kinghiro]

I swithched between 85/60 5 and 85/45 5. also tried 60/60 but I just couldn t manage to drive well with a lower number on the power side.
Now I m testing out a 85/30 5 car and with 100/100 bars and 80/105 wr (much softer than the 120/140 rb and 90/100 wr I used with the other diffs)and actually manage to drive this faster..still testing and making small adjustments.

[bernie]

Using H's 60/60 with more clutches I can run steady low 2m02secs laps with full race fuel.
however the car is a real twitchy bitch on low fuel. So will probably brim the tank for this one 

Not too worried about qually as anywhere on the back row will suit me fine , cassy start , steady drive and hope to pick up points . But still very worried that my pace wont be fast enough to get the required 27 laps in before darkness falls 

Got all my mechanics working overtime this w/e 



 

[EvilClive]

I am beating this Fez into shape slowly, but still have a wierd and frustrating prob.

On the 2 slow speed corners ( and I mean SLOW) the rear end wants to slide around and spin the car almost in slow motion, but once it starts to slide there is just no stopping it. Its like there is an oil slick on the road. In high speed corners it sticks like glue???

I am not tramping on the gas, or trying to drift through these corners, but this effect is there every lap waiting to catch me out.  

I have tried a couple of adjustments to the diff but it seems to make little difference...any suggestions??

I can happily offer the services of the Glutbuckets to augment your pit crew if you are desperate Bernie?

[FullMetalGasket]

It was doing that to me at the Donny race a few months back Clive - I didn't bother fixing it as it made the car more responsive on faster corners - you just have to adjust your driving in those sort of corners I found 

Must admit I didn't look into removing the trait so can't really help you in that regard! 

[EvilClive]

Yes Tim, I am sort of "driving around" the prob at the moment, but in an ideal world I might find an answer 

It does require a very cultured right foot to contain, but thats the bit that I am finding tricky  lol!!

[Hristo Itchov]

Try softer rear rebound or stiffer front bump settings Evil. It should make the rear more stable when you lift up/brake.

[john roberts]

Using H's 60/60 with more clutches I can run steady low 2m02secs laps with full race fuel.

IMHO using more clutches in the diff increases the Friction , a easier way to find the feeling you want would be to change the diff angles but keep the clutches the same .

lower angles should give more friction.

the more clutches you have the wider the range of friction in the diff (and the bigger the steps between each angle)

so a 60/60/3 will feel like a 70/70/5 but a 40/40/3 would feel like a 60/60/5 .

I'm sure others here will disagree with what I have just said and this is just my option nothing more .

john

[kinghiro]

I m at work atm so cant try it out. But I have a feeling that lower angle on powerside gives more poweroversteer than more clutches.Honestly I cant say more clutches gives me the feeling of poweroversteer at all..just ..different.more clutches feel like staying more solid with power on than less clutches but when the rear comes it comes more quick and without warning than few clutches. A lower angle gives  a noticeable poweroversteer.
I don t know if this is real or my imagination.Btw I feel a difference between stiffer wr and stiffer bars too:) ..in how much the cars sways from side to side for example with a tough turn in at curva grande.

[bernie]

Very briefly and from my limited knowledge , more clutches = a stronger link between the 2 rear wheels ,  Less clutches weaken the link.

more clutches = great for straight line acceleration ( try 5 clutches on a standing start at Monza ) but poor for accelerating out of corners , In a straight line the wheels would be practically locked together so even with one wheel missing nearly all drive will still be available to the opposite wheel .
more clutches also induce understeer , because if the back wheels are locked the car will not want to turn , it will (should) have a tendancy to go in a straight line (push as the Yanks call it )
but for drive out of corners the inside wheel needs to turn slower then the outside , thats where we have to reduce the link by using less clutches, giving better drive out of corners, at a cost of straight line speed on the stright bits .

Changing the power and coast ramp angles changes the drive characteristics of the diff , high numbers on the power side give a softer transfer of power to the wheels , low numbers giving a more agressive transfer . The opposite occurs on the coast side which effects the way the car slows with the power off or under braking .

In theory using 5 clutches should make the BRM understeer for England but somehow it doesnt seem to have much effect .

in the end its how you drive that counts , you set the transmission to how it works best for your style of driving , the permutations are almost endless ,what works for me , wont neccasarily work for you , just look at any 3 or 4 different drivers set ups and see how much they vary.

Hristo for e.g. owns world records , but I cant hardly drive a single lap at speed with his set ups and I can say the same for many other aliens whose set ups I have tried.





 

[john roberts]

In theory using 5 clutches should make the BRM understeer for England but somehow it doesnt seem to have much effect .

it's not just the number of clutches but the angle with it that make the friction in the diff , try both 85/5 and 30/5 and tell me it's just clutches .

john

[bernie]

Cheers John , I think we all know what a complex subject the final drive is ,there are whole books written on the very subject ,not really possible to decribe the workings fully in a few lines of text

I'm sure its pretty hard to grasp fully for a lot of people (including me) and even a complex knowledge of differentials doesn't gaurantee we can turn theory into practise .

In my case its simple enough though , its called "suck it and see "  

Really the above is my own meagre way of explaining things,  in the hope it may help someone understand better the GPL model and perhaps gain from the knowledge .

 

back to the practise


I did a 9 lapper on line pu race tonight and was suprised to have run out of fuel halfway round the last lap with 11 laps of fuel at the startline .