i7e Endurance Sundays Pre-Season Race - Suzuka - 31 July

[Darren Seal]

Apologies to Darren, watched the reply, looks like I squeezed you slightly

No problem Martin, luckily there was plenty of run off area. 

Not a great race for me, I've never had so many self spins.   I'm really struggling to get to grips with the LMP2 car.  I just can't feel what the rear end is doing.  As soon as it steps out, it's gone, and there is no hope of recovery.   Hopefully I'll find some more time to tinker with the setup before the next race.  However, unless I can gain more confidence in the car, you'll probably see me in the Ford GT...

[GizMoTo]

well being stubborn paid off stuck with it after i had real doughts about bothering the car is just ....well something didn't bother trying to qualify as every time i went out on track i seemed to be in somebody's way  

started from the back of the grid took it very easy to start with till I got a little more feel for the car then just ran as a testing run to see how the car felt with time ......to be honest I started having fun but still the FGT is just not right somewhere it just doesn't do as you expect it to even when your expecting it to crash it don't even do that right  


had a few battles along the way, made plenty mistakes didn't touch a single other car unfortunately in keeping out the way I ended up doing way to many incidents running off track to be sure the HPD's had room   that was down totally to me just no confidence in the FGT with is unpredictable life of it's own at times

OH and the sodding game crashed 2 times just as I was having fun that's 7 or 8 times since the new build before the build I got the odd crash every now and again so there must be something different maybe it's the track or something seeing as both races I've done there it's crashed part way through so I'm gona have to investigate that before season start


so on the whole finishing 6th in the FGT was a bloody amazing feat for me  

did witness some silly moves by the HPD's on other FGT's .not me I kept out the way   and I can't say who on who as I lost the chance to get a replay with the game crashing
 a little more patients is needed at time by a small few HPD drivers
but on the whole things looked quote good and the series should be a good one

Laters Ian

[Simon Gymer]

I take back what I said about the new tire model, as I've just had a decent play with the Skippy around Lime Rock and it's better than I remember. I can catch slides I could never catch before and it feels better in general. It's still hard, but the fact that I can feel the car quite well is a good sign. I guess that means I don't like this new car, or the setup is pants (not to my liking). Certainly the GT40 sucks but that's not actually unexpected as it's a fat pig with no corner grip.

[Mike Wrightson]

Equally I had a play with the LMP2 around Watkins Glen starting with the fixed setup and it felt a lot better to drive there.  So the setup wasn't at all right for Suzuka.

[Jamie Wilson]

A typical lap:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csecfdlasgw

(Report to follow)

[James Yates]

Equally I had a play with the LMP2 around Watkins Glen starting with the fixed setup and it felt a lot better to drive there.  So the setup wasn't at all right for Suzuka.

I'd say Suzuka is probably the worst feeling track in the HPD with the default setups. I found it difficult to get something that was quick and that felt as good as it did at other tracks, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

As for the Ford GT. When you calibrate the wheel and it asks you to turn it 90 degrees to the left, turn it 180 instead. Stops it having the tightest steering known to man.

Fun race that, despite having a pathetic accident - removed the front bodywork with 4 to go. Still finished 3rd though.

[Burtoner]

Nice video Jamie, good use of PiP

Anyone got a copy of the replay?

Thanks

[C3PO]

A typical lap:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csecfdlasgw

(Report to follow)

Excellent video and nicely done.

[C3PO]

On the video front, what would be really cool is a side-by-side comparison of the pole sitter with the No.2 placed machine. That would be v cool.

[Simon Gymer]

Is it normal for the lights to be on in this kind of racing during the day?

[lazlow]

This release note from iRacing could help those who are struggling with the Ford GT setup:

Ford GT


- Now available!


- The Ford GT is a tough car to get the handling balance right on. This is really based on the fact that it is a flat bottomed car, that's forced to run a high ride hight. 55mm is the minimum ride height per the ACO Rulebook. Now with the front and rear at minimum, you'd lose a lot of front downforce, so you really want to have the car running close to 10mm of rake as a starting point with all setups. One thing to remember when driving and setting up this car is that to get front downforce (DF), you REALLY need to close up the distance between the splitter and the ground. With a min ride height of 55, the only way to do this is to get weight transfer from braking, whether it's from lifting off the gas, or actively applying the brakes. Both will cause a downforce shift towards the front! HOWEVER, bottoming the splitter WILL cause the front DF to spike and then rebound will and cause all kinds of handling issues. Try to set the car up so that the splitter comes close to the ground, but doesn't actually HIT the ground under braking. We have found a front bumpstop gap of 13-19mm works fairly well, though running stiffer springs, you may not need them that close.


- This is an AERO car first and foremost, so the low speed handling may be compromised by the choice of springs that will hold it up at high speed and high downforce settings! Depending on the nature of the circuit, you may want the car to trim itself out at high speed, so you'd run stiffer front springs, and softer rears. But if it's a high downforce circuit, you may want to reverse that balance so you can get the nose down on the ground in the braking zones, to help move the aero balance forward so the car turns-in well. Using damper rebound to help hold the nose down may work, but can reduce suspension compiance. It's a tough car to make work well, and will reward a patient driver with good speed and decent handling. Those that expect it to turn well without altering the aero balance may find it to drive like a truck!

[picnic]

Lazlow, that does beggar the question "if they know all that why is it not implemented in the base setups?". However know that and implementing it are 2 different things  

[Simon Gymer]

I must say the cars with really complex setups like the F1 car, the LMP2 and so on I just don't bother trying to setup because setups like that can only be tweaked by complete and utter setup nerds. I rely on one of those nerds to post a setup or I use one of the example setups from iRacing. One page of setup options is the most I want!

[purdie]

I must say the cars with really complex setups like the F1 car, the LMP2 and so on I just don't bother trying to setup because setups like that can only be tweaked by complete and utter setup nerds. I rely on one of those nerds to post a setup or I use one of the example setups from iRacing. One page of setup options is the most I want!

ditto i have no clue on it either. I know of 3rd rear springs but never touched them.

[Simon Gymer]

I don't really believe you can feel half this stuff in a game either because you have to rely totally on steering feedback, sound effects and visuals, you don't get any genuine feel of what the car is doing.

They do seem to miss the fact that this is not reality and as such we need a bit of help!