Snake at Seattle

[KAMKA-Z]

Seattle Enduro

In the spirit of the event I decided to run a piece of American Iron. I have a "Breathed On" Mustang that would make quick work of this event, but I wanted more of a challenge. I had a Cobra in the back of the garage collecting dust because I didn't have much fun with it's wild ways when I tried it out. Now a "seasoned veteran" of the game, I decided it was time to "Tame the Snake". I consulted a couple of threads on the subject of the Cobra and the Seattle Enduro.
I chose this thread to start my reporting.

Kind of a good thread. I'm going to try to tame the snake to run the Seattle Enduro. It's got plenty of straight line speed with no mods to run with the competition but it's a little too skittery for me to run smooth and consistent enough laps for the enduro. It's definitely a crazy ride. A bit like Ice Racing a rwd car as it is. (asm-0/ tcs-1) I'll have to try out these settings. I'm thinking for Seattle it may have to run a little softer and higher to make it more controlable over the Yumps. Too much rebound now. When I first won the Cobra, maybe a year and a half ago, I deemed it to wild to waste my time.

Ok, so I've been testing with the Cobra some more at Seattle. I'm finding that I'll need a softer suspension than the above settings to handle the yumps, the curbs and the train tracks or whatever that rough spot is leading into the chicanes.
I still feel that I don't need to add any more power to the Snake. It'll outrun the Zonda in a straight line, in the Professional NA Race at Seattle. Ive been using that as my test race. It's still too squirrelly to run the clean laps I'll need to run the enduro. I did add Racing Brakes, Fully Adjustable Suspension, and an LSD. I'm using Slicks and can almost get 10 laps out of them. Tire wear is pretty even all around. I'll definitely be sawwing at the wheel for an hour even after I get it settled down a bit more. Even with the racing brakes, I've gotta brake way early. Oughtta be interesting.
Sure this race has been won with the likes of Truenos and Alto Works that stuck to the road like paint, but I think it'll be plenty challenging to put down over an hours worth of clean laps with beautiful sound.

If I understand right with the LSD, as the initial torque slider moves up, it acts more like a "Locked Diff". The accell and decell are to ballance it's action on accell and decell. With the initial maxxed, the figures of accell and decell are voided.
Right? That's how I understand it from Scaff's tuning guide.
Oh yeah, and since this is a Cobra, a relic from a better time, I'm not allowing myself any more TCS than 1. (Probably should be 0) That's part of the reason it's a bit squirrelly.

This is interesting. We are a couple car geeks, are we not?

That thing you said about making the suspension soft. That's waht i would expect in this car so that bumps don't upset it. Short wheelbase, so spin happy. This goes for the Dodge Concept of GT1 &GT2, as well as GT40s...
I've always understood initial limited-slip action to be the resistance acting between 2 wheels when the car is coasting, but neither brakes nor gas are being applied. So when you're going thru a corner with no gas, and you've let up the brakes, what is left is initial torque. So if your initial is high, those wheels are still trying to lock even if you aren't throtleing or braking.
From there on, opinion differs, depending on which source you read. Some think like Scaff. Other places i've visited say initial gets added to either accel or decel for a final result. In other words, put on the gas andinitial + accel = final result. rather than initial and accel being totally seperate from one another in their actions
Same goes with brakes. It confuses me a bit to this day. I don't truely know how limited-slips work on a mechanical basis; i;ve only studied open differentials since i've pulled one apart a couple times at my shop.
I generally avoid strong limited-slip settings on pavement unless extreme situation calls for them, like in a high-speed squirrel like the Cobra.

After much practice and tuning I arrived at settings that would allow me to put down laps I felt were fast enough to compete. Even so, this car is a pretty squirrely ride and I don't find it easy to make consistient lap times. I was able to get my time down to a high 1:41 on T4s but could only get a five god laps (after a lap to get them warm) before they faded.
I changed the oil and made a few last minute tweaks before I went out to qualify. In a couple of laps I slightly edged out the Z06 Corvette for 2nd on the grid with a low 1:43. Happy with that, I made no more adjustments before the race.

Cobra Specs:
Full Custom Suspension
Sports Brakes
Brake Balance Control
Muffler and Air Cleaner-Normal (I think it sounded more like a rumbling V8)
Computer- None
NA Tune- None
506 HP
Transmission- Full Racing
Clutch- Triple Plate (last minute addition)
Flywheel- Normal
Limited Slip- Full Customize
Tires- Racing Slick T3


Settings:
Spring Rate: 12.0 / 10.0
Ride Height: 89 / 89
Shock Bound: 4 / 4
Shock Rebound: 6 / 5
Brake Ballance: 18 / 14
LSD
Initial Torque: 37
Accell: 40
Decell: 20
Auto Gear Set: 28
ASM: 0
TCS: 1


At the green flag I was pretty even with my competition, The polesitter Cobra (Loco Serpiente) seemed to be braking earlier than I wanted to so I tried to outbrake him going into turn one. The other cobra slid way wide and I got rather crossed up too. The Z06 snuck by me on the inside as I slid to third place. Over the next few laps I traded places back and forth with the Z06. Being an enduro, I really wanted to get into a groove and lay down some consistient laps, but that just wasn't happening while I was duelling with the Vette. Loco Serpiente had already pitted 2 or 3 times when the Z06 pitted on lap 7, and was definitely no longer a part of the race. My strategy was to lay down 1:43 - 1:45 lap times and stop every 9 laps for tires. After my first stop I beat the Z06 out of the pits but he went by me like I was standing still. In my exhuberance to catch him I overcooked it at the top of the hill (cold tires) and the Mustang blew by while got myself straightened out. Then I nearly did a full spin by jumping on it too fast out of the 90 left leading to the back straights. Gotta squeeze the power on gently out of the slow corners. This beast does a real sweet, predictable slide braking into the two right-handers at the end of that straight. I could catch the Mustang pretty easily but keeping him behind me was not so easy. That big pig could outcorner me in the technical portions of the track. I think the Mustang was on the same pit schedule as the Z06. When they pitted next at lap 14, I had 4 laps to lay down some fast clean laps by myself. When I came out of the pits this time I was ahead but the Z06 passed me in Turn One while I was babying my cold tires. The Mustang nearly caught me too but as long as I drove cleanly, I could lose him. I reeled in the Z06 and passed him for the lead as his tires faded. Now I was able to settle into a good groove by myself and run some consistent laps. I stretched my lead to more than 40 seconds at one point. I was due in at lap 27, but the tires looked good so I stretched it a lap. That was a mistake. Although the onscreen indicators were light orange, they felt much worse and the result was a pretty slow lap going in. I pitted on lap 28 with the Z06 and Mustang pitting too. I came out in the lead but the gap shrunk considerably while I struggled on cold tires. I got a little messed up lapping the Loco Serpiente too. I had one lap that was a 1:49 something. The Z06 and Mustang pitted on Lap 35. I got back on schedule and pitted on 36 to have prime tires for the finish. In the last two laps I reeld in the Camaro, but couldn't quite put him a lap down. I was a little concerned about the Z06 that was only 10 seconds back and wanted to make sure every turn was smooth.

Final Results

1. Cobra 1:11'26.772
2. Corvette Z06 +9.165
3. Mustang Cobra R +14.871
4. Corvette Grand Sport +29.040
5. Chevrolet Camaro +144.629
6. Loco Serpiente + 1 Lap

Fastest Lap: 1:42.044

Prize Car: Tommy K ZZII (The AI was punishing me for that 1:49 lap)

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Well done, KAMKA-Z. Geez things are lonely here.

 

[TheBook]

Well, since GT4 and GT5, can you blame them? People like to move on to the newer things.

But, anyway, nice report you have there.👍 I never really bothered to try to tame the Cobra, either; nice job, being able to do that.

 

[KAMKA-Z]

It has become exceptionally quiet here. I spend more time with GT4 myself but as a "casual player" (By GTP norms - I've been on GT3 more than two years) I still have the longer enduros and race series left to make 100 percent.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

It was actually quiet in most of the forums, not just gT3 these last few weeks. I think maybe since school started. I notice every year in September things slow down, but this time it seemed really slow.

 

[KAMKA-Z]

Yeah. The GT4 General thread is surprisingly slow too. Maybe everybody went out and bought PS3s.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

Yeah. The GT4 General thread is surprisingly slow too. Maybe everybody went out and bought PS3s.

Yup. I'm sure the ratio of people who have GT5 (where you can race actively online, and enjoy talking about it online) to those who still play older games must be heavily biased.

But it's also school. Kids go back to school and it takes a few weeks for them to settle in. All a sudden, they don't have as many hours to game anymore. Stuff like that.

 

[Fluke]

i reckon its the GT5, if you look at how many are viewing the GT5 forum in comparison to GT3-4 its quite astonishing.

 

[DK]

Prize Car: Tommy K ZZII (The AI was punishing me for that 1:49 lap)

What's wrong with the ZZII it got me round the Complex String in 4:18