Assetto Corsa Competizione | Season 14 Round 3 | GT3 Sprint @ Valencia

[SANtoOos]

On 06/03/2021 at 14:49, davejm said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice stills there Dave! 

 

On 06/03/2021 at 19:49, Meers said:

Except for @SANtoOoswho's already 20 points ahead of @davejm. I vote for strapping a hippo to his car next race. 

 

Ha! First time up there, have to say it's a lovely feeling but it's only a DNF away from dropping down the order, worried I might miss a race because of work! 

 

Gonna try and get some practise on in half an hourish

[milko]

nice to see a bunch of you on there tonight, I enjoyed that. I was mountain biking (in real life I mean) earlier on and I'm not sure which track was bumpier. Found a time I'm fairly happy with but it's not in the same class as @davejm this week!

 

 

[Meers]

I've spent over 2 hours last night to beat my own time until I couldn't shave any more off, along comes @davejm and puts my time to shame by being more than 2 seconds faster within what seemed to be 10 minutes of joining the server. I was already hammering around there as fast as I could! 

 

So then you start to wonder "am I too old for this shit? Am I out of touch?" [/principal Skinner]

 

So I decided to do something I've never done before - look up a track guide*. Lo and behold, it showed me where I could gain a couple of seconds tenths here and there. One of the things that surprised me is that you can cut the sausages quite severely. Now as a Dutchman, I don't like sausages as much as the average Brit or German, so I tend to avoid them. Looks like I need to alter my stance and change it to "join them if you can't beat them" and try again tonight.

 

Oulton Park tho 

 

 

*I prefer to figure it out myself usually

[davejm]

@Meers I don't cut the sausages.  It unsettles the Ferrari too much.  It might be possible through setup changes or if you align the wheels a certain way; but it's a no-go for me.  Seems like a hot-lapping strategy that's probably too risky in a race situation.

 

Although it seemed like I just rocked up and set a good time; I've been practicing offline the last couple of days (albeit probably only about an hour).  There is something about Oulton Park that connects with me; but I fully expect @SANtoOos, @SharkyOB and @Count Buffalos to rock up with some faster times in due course.

 

[SANtoOos]

Yup that's super pace from @davejm! Not an excuse, I love Oulton, but the Lexus doesn't, way too stiff and not  good at absorbing bumps, will be intense for a full hour. 

 

1 hour ago, Meers said:

I've spent over 2 hours last night to beat my own time until I couldn't shave anymore off, along comes @davejm and puts my time to shame by being more than 2 seconds faster in what seemed to be within 10 minutes of joining the server. I was already hammering around there as fast as I could! 

 

So then you start to wonder "am I too old for this shit? Am I out of touch?" [/principal Skinner]

 

So I decided to do something I've never done before - look up a track guide*. Lo and behold, it showed me where I could gain a couple of seconds tenths here and there. One of the things that surprised me is that you can cut the sausages quite severely. Now as a Dutchman, I don't like sausages as much as the average Brit or German, so I tend to avoid them. Looks like I need to alter my stance and change it to "join them if you can't beat them" and try again tonight.

 

Oulton Park tho 

 

 

*I prefer to figure it out myself usually

 

I'm with you when it comes to familiarising yourself with a new track, I don't think track guides are very effective, and it's more fun and faster to just go out there and drive, but when it comes to finessing your lines and all the micro details, I can say I learn a lot every week by using a guide. It's so easy to think you're at your limit or the car's limit (or condition yourself to keep repeating the same mistakes) and a guide will often show you that a small change will make a big difference. Another thing they are great at showing is not just "where to break" but "how strongly and how long for" which is maybe the main thing that makes aliens aliens? Anything I can do to change your mind about track guides @Meers? 

[milko]

I did take a ride-along with @davejm to see if I could work out what his magic is, as far as I could tell it seemed like the Ferrari is a LOT happier and stable than the Honda about the first couple or three corners. Or, and this seems crazy I know, I’m not doing them right yet. It took me most of an hour to stop doing the GT4 lines through the chicanes, I can’t see many GT3 cars being safe over the sausages here. 

[Meers]

32 minutes ago, davejm said:

@Meers I don't cut the sausages.  It unsettles the Ferrari too much.  It might be possible through setup changes or if you align the wheels a certain way; but it's a no-go for me.  Seems like a hot-lapping strategy that's probably too risky in a race situation.

 

Although it seemed like I just rocked up and set a good time; I've been practicing offline the last couple of days (albeit probably only about an hour).  There is something about Oulton Park that connects with me; but I fully expect @SANtoOos, @SharkyOB and @Count Buffalos to rock up with some faster times in due course.

 

I have my ride height slightly higher (60mm) than the lowest setting (55mm) so I can take the sausages if I need to (no throttle though), but I don't want to hit them either if I don't have to. I'm not planning to in the race though, don't get me wrong. 

 

It's a blistering time, Dave. @milko and @SANtoOos also faster than me now. I have work to do tonight. 

 

My 488 Evo feels glued to the track though. Maybe I'm having too much downforce or something. 

 

 

[Valver]

2 minutes ago, Meers said:

Maybe I'm having too much downforce or something. 

 

 

@Meers, on track, earlier this weekend (allegedly) 

[davejm]

5 minutes ago, Meers said:

It's a blistering time, Dave. @milko and @SANtoOos also faster than me now. I have work to do tonight. 

 

I did a 1:34.0xx in offline practice 

[Meers]

31 minutes ago, Valver said:

 

@Meers, on track, earlier this weekend (allegedly) 

 

Haha! Yeah, that's pretty accurate. 

 

29 minutes ago, davejm said:

 

I did a 1:34.0xx in offline practice 

 

[davejm]

And I was two tenths up at one point (which I blew)   Still time to find.

[Meers]

11 minutes ago, davejm said:

And I was two tenths up at one point (which I blew)   Still time to find.

 

NUTS! 

[SneakyNinja]

It's a marathon, not a sprint.

 

Is what I keep telling myself when I see these quite frankly ridiculous times being talked about.

[Meers]

29 minutes ago, SneakyNinja said:

these quite frankly ridiculous times

 

 

Thing is, the people who set these frankly ridiculous times are also the ones who are quite frankly ridiculously good at marathons. 

 

At least we've got each other to race against, Ninja. 

 

[SneakyNinja]

4 minutes ago, Meers said:

 

At least we've got each other to race against, Ninja. 

 

 

Awwwww.  Always.

 

Maybe we should form a pact and agree to only improve if the other one does too? 

[davejm]

I'm rubbish at running marathons (I've attempted 5!) and racing marathons... hence why I often have pace that matches Sharky and Santoos yet can't keep the consistency to get race wins

[Meers]

1 hour ago, SneakyNinja said:

 

Awwwww.  Always.

 

Maybe we should form a pact and agree to only improve if the other one does too? 

 

Great idea! 

 

1 hour ago, davejm said:

I'm rubbish at running marathons (I've attempted 5!) and racing marathons... hence why I often have pace that matches Sharky and Santoos yet can't keep the consistency to get race wins

 

I think I have to face the fact that I'll never be a great time-trialer (see the FM7 thread for proof). I am very consistent during races though! But not fast and consistent alas. 

[davejm]

I offered to share a replay of my lap with @Meers, so I may as well post in here for anyone else that's interested...

 

 

[SneakyNinja]

Cool. How'd you get your embedded videos to play at 1.5x speed like that?

 

[Meers]

Ahahaha! 

 

Thanks for the video, @davejm. I think I see where I can gain some time:

 

Spoiler

Fuckin' everywhere, that's where!

 

[milko]

fwiw with my 4th place qualies to 7/8th last week I think I'm the current poster child for being able to sprint but not run a marathon or indeed even two laps consistently!

[Meers]

What immediately strikes me is how much faster you go through the hairpin (turn 4) with that double apex, @davejm. I follow the kerb all the way through. And turn 1 seems more confident than mine as well. I'll take that and work on it. 

[davejm]

It's good to have these discussions.   For the hairpin I'm not sure what's faster; come in hot and deep then turn back for a double apex, or hug the inside. 

 

Also, for turn 1 I can never seem to hook up the apex.  As well as the sweeping right hander at the end of the lap.    So time to find there.

[Meers]

Double apex seems a bit faster to me, but that's a feeling. Turn 1 is tricky and I feel there's only one quick line through it. Last corner has a dip after the crest which takes the load off the tyres a bit causing a loss in grip. I hit the kerbs on the inside and then go straight on blindly towards the outer kerb. If you steer and the load comes back on the wheels, you're gonna have a bad time.

 

So technical. 

[davejm]

[Meers]

Spent last night fine tuning my setup and trying to beat my own time, which I did (1:35.703). It's not huge, but I'm consistent with that time which counts for the marathon. Lowering the downforce from 12 to 9 did the trick immediately on my 488.

 

And typically, when you try to fiddle with the setup some more you actually make it worse so I haven't managed a better time than that the rest of the evening. 

 

I also wonder when they will finally fix the stuttering whenever someone joins the room. It's so annoying (I'm not the only one who gets it, right?)

[Meers]

Oh, by the way... cutting the sausages is a no-go in the Ferrari. Not because it can't take them but because you gain nothing. It's slower, even.

 

[/Cpt. Obvious]

[milko]

It’s just the first corner for me left to sort out. I can do that at least 0.4s quicker, but not at the same time as getting the rest of the lap right

 

[davejm]

[milko]

It’s doing my head in a bit now, I’ve got sector times that are comfortably in the 1.34 when added together, but they’re all from different laps! I think it’s too much of a fight with the car to pursue it too hard on this track though, I should just concentrate on finding a safe pace that isn’t so close to the edge.