- 24,344
- Midlantic Area
- GTP_Duke
Pro League Vitz/Yaris Championship
Having consulted Der Alta's compendium, and having read the numerous posts about how hard it is to beat the AI in this series, I took my pink Vitz (hereafter called The Pitz) and put nearly everything possible into it. I skipped three things: Lightweight 3, the brake proportioning valve, and a performance flywheel. This puts the car at 294 hp.
With a car this placid I really want to stay out of pit lane, so it's wearing T3s all around, with T2s in reserve. I can't understand the popular habit of running softer tires on the back just so they wear evenly with the fronts. This car understeers for the most part. That can be dialed out, but the more radical your alignment, the more you are slowing this underpowered car down due to drag from massive toe and camber settings. Why handicap the speed and acceleration if you can just run harder tires in the back and not have to work so hard to balance the handling? Who cares if they're still almost blue at the end of the race?
Enough editorializing. To the track!
Rome Circuit II - 10 laps
Because it has been 6 months or more since I've driven the Pitz, I decided to qualify and check out the first-draft settings. On my second or third lap I captured 3rd on the starting grid, which I deemed good enough. Even though the fronts wear twice as fast as the rears, the T3s should last 10 laps.
With TCS off, I lost a position at the launch from smoking the front tires, and lost the rest of them in the first turn. The white, red, and silver Vitzes had the mojo and left me battling the black and yellow versions. I recaptured 5th in the first lap and spent the next couple laps trading 4th with the yellow Vitz. At this point I was 7 or 8 seconds out of first place. By lap 4 I had an unassailable hold on 4th position and I was overhauling the front runners. I caught up to them Downtown in the 5th lap and would have started knocking them off on the front straight when they handed me the lead by pitting after lap 5. The bumblebee twins had their moment of glory in 2nd and 3rd position before they lost it in the pits on lap 6, widening my lead from 6 seconds to about 14. My front tires were turning alarmingly orange so I worked on conserving them for the remaining 4 laps. The hotshoes had made some progress but were still a long way behind when I crossed the finish with dark orange front tires.
Margins: +12.424" - +19.199" Vitzes
Total time: 17':02.325"
Fast lap: 1':40.079"
Average: 1':42.232" with no pit
Laguna Seca - 10 laps
Even though the last lap was my fastest at Rome, I was a little worried by the lifespan of the T3s, so I switched down to T2s at all four corners. I also declined to qualify since I was looking for a tighter finish.
This time, the field seems to have a speed advantage. In the first turn fracas I had maneuvered my way up to third, only to be squashed back down to last in the second turn. The AI seemed really hooked up in some of the mid-speed turns and so I couldn't solidify 4th position. I spent most of the first half of this race in 5th, winding up more than 10 or 12 seconds off the pace. The T2s were looking great but nobody pitted on 5, which gave me a bit of concern, since I was worried that their lead might widen enough that even if they did pit I couldn't win. However, the 3 leaders pitted next time around, moving me to 2nd, and I passed for the lead on the front straight of the 6th lap. The previous leaders emerged from their pit about 5 seconds behind me, but the T2s were just coming into their own, and they never got any closer than that. Once again my last lap was the fastest and I took the checker with optimal light yellow-orange tires on the front, and yellow-green rears.
My last race at Laguna was in the Oreca Viper, so for the first few laps this time I was braking miles too early and being too gentle on the throttle. Once I got adjusted, the lap times fell significantly. The little Pitz was a lot of fun to toss through the Corkscrew.
Margins: +7.020" - +17.196" Vitzes
Total time: 16':006.444"
Fast lap: 1':34.491"
Average: 1':36.644" with no pit
Luckily the field shuffled heavily behind me so I'm leading with 20 points to the closest competitor with 10.
Test Course - 10 laps
While I thoroughly enjoyed my prior race here (All-Japan GT, a real nail biter), PD didn-t get it right this time. I-m not fundamentally opposed to racing the Vitz at this long long track. It's just that any car built up enough to be competitive on the other courses is going to massacre the field here. It's simply not a good fit in this case.
I stuck with T2s, dropped the suspension the rest of the way down, and dialed out most of the toe and camber. I left the final drive at 4.312 but widened the autoset to 27. I took a warmup lap to confirm that this was right, but didn't qualify.
With the gearing this tall I fell a little behind at the launch, but I caught up as they begin to get out of breath around 1500m and was well in the lead by the time I settled into the first turn. The gearing was absolutely perfect, as the Pitz topped out at 162 mph at 6950 rpm (only 50 rpm shy of the rev limiter) and dropped just a bit to 158 mph in the turns, which meant no shifting was required. It was balls to the wall the whole way, while trying to steer the minimum possible amount to squeeze every mph out of the little car. I looked down around lap 4 and was surprised to see that the front tires were just turning pale blue and the rears were still cool as a cucumber. I lapped the entire field on the fly about halfway through lap 6 and was less than 1000m from lapping them a second time when I took the checker. The front tires were still pale green and the rears medium blue.
I started this series at night and I was actually nodding off during this race, but I managed to stay out of the wall. I realized I could see the light/dark difference of being in the tunnel even with my eyes closed, so I took a 30-second nap each time around by lining the car up at the end of Turn Two, then closing my eyes till the returning brightness showed that I had come out the other side.
Margins: +1 lap(almost 2) Vitzes
Total time: 24':30.941"
Fast lap: 2':25.651"
Average: 2':27.094" with no pit
I wanted to do this series in one sitting but half asleep with R11 Reverse up next, it ain't happening.
I'll post my settings next time when I complete the last two races. I note, however, that they are nowhere near as radical as Kodiak's... but neither is my margin. Somehow, I just can't bring myself to go much outside the range of what would be used on a real car. Perhaps I'll try his set up and see if phreaky physics can pull 5 or 6 seconds off my lap times at Rome, or whether I just suck that badly.
Having consulted Der Alta's compendium, and having read the numerous posts about how hard it is to beat the AI in this series, I took my pink Vitz (hereafter called The Pitz) and put nearly everything possible into it. I skipped three things: Lightweight 3, the brake proportioning valve, and a performance flywheel. This puts the car at 294 hp.
With a car this placid I really want to stay out of pit lane, so it's wearing T3s all around, with T2s in reserve. I can't understand the popular habit of running softer tires on the back just so they wear evenly with the fronts. This car understeers for the most part. That can be dialed out, but the more radical your alignment, the more you are slowing this underpowered car down due to drag from massive toe and camber settings. Why handicap the speed and acceleration if you can just run harder tires in the back and not have to work so hard to balance the handling? Who cares if they're still almost blue at the end of the race?
Enough editorializing. To the track!
Rome Circuit II - 10 laps
Because it has been 6 months or more since I've driven the Pitz, I decided to qualify and check out the first-draft settings. On my second or third lap I captured 3rd on the starting grid, which I deemed good enough. Even though the fronts wear twice as fast as the rears, the T3s should last 10 laps.
With TCS off, I lost a position at the launch from smoking the front tires, and lost the rest of them in the first turn. The white, red, and silver Vitzes had the mojo and left me battling the black and yellow versions. I recaptured 5th in the first lap and spent the next couple laps trading 4th with the yellow Vitz. At this point I was 7 or 8 seconds out of first place. By lap 4 I had an unassailable hold on 4th position and I was overhauling the front runners. I caught up to them Downtown in the 5th lap and would have started knocking them off on the front straight when they handed me the lead by pitting after lap 5. The bumblebee twins had their moment of glory in 2nd and 3rd position before they lost it in the pits on lap 6, widening my lead from 6 seconds to about 14. My front tires were turning alarmingly orange so I worked on conserving them for the remaining 4 laps. The hotshoes had made some progress but were still a long way behind when I crossed the finish with dark orange front tires.
Margins: +12.424" - +19.199" Vitzes
Total time: 17':02.325"
Fast lap: 1':40.079"
Average: 1':42.232" with no pit
Laguna Seca - 10 laps
Even though the last lap was my fastest at Rome, I was a little worried by the lifespan of the T3s, so I switched down to T2s at all four corners. I also declined to qualify since I was looking for a tighter finish.
This time, the field seems to have a speed advantage. In the first turn fracas I had maneuvered my way up to third, only to be squashed back down to last in the second turn. The AI seemed really hooked up in some of the mid-speed turns and so I couldn't solidify 4th position. I spent most of the first half of this race in 5th, winding up more than 10 or 12 seconds off the pace. The T2s were looking great but nobody pitted on 5, which gave me a bit of concern, since I was worried that their lead might widen enough that even if they did pit I couldn't win. However, the 3 leaders pitted next time around, moving me to 2nd, and I passed for the lead on the front straight of the 6th lap. The previous leaders emerged from their pit about 5 seconds behind me, but the T2s were just coming into their own, and they never got any closer than that. Once again my last lap was the fastest and I took the checker with optimal light yellow-orange tires on the front, and yellow-green rears.
My last race at Laguna was in the Oreca Viper, so for the first few laps this time I was braking miles too early and being too gentle on the throttle. Once I got adjusted, the lap times fell significantly. The little Pitz was a lot of fun to toss through the Corkscrew.
Margins: +7.020" - +17.196" Vitzes
Total time: 16':006.444"
Fast lap: 1':34.491"
Average: 1':36.644" with no pit
Luckily the field shuffled heavily behind me so I'm leading with 20 points to the closest competitor with 10.
Test Course - 10 laps
While I thoroughly enjoyed my prior race here (All-Japan GT, a real nail biter), PD didn-t get it right this time. I-m not fundamentally opposed to racing the Vitz at this long long track. It's just that any car built up enough to be competitive on the other courses is going to massacre the field here. It's simply not a good fit in this case.
I stuck with T2s, dropped the suspension the rest of the way down, and dialed out most of the toe and camber. I left the final drive at 4.312 but widened the autoset to 27. I took a warmup lap to confirm that this was right, but didn't qualify.
With the gearing this tall I fell a little behind at the launch, but I caught up as they begin to get out of breath around 1500m and was well in the lead by the time I settled into the first turn. The gearing was absolutely perfect, as the Pitz topped out at 162 mph at 6950 rpm (only 50 rpm shy of the rev limiter) and dropped just a bit to 158 mph in the turns, which meant no shifting was required. It was balls to the wall the whole way, while trying to steer the minimum possible amount to squeeze every mph out of the little car. I looked down around lap 4 and was surprised to see that the front tires were just turning pale blue and the rears were still cool as a cucumber. I lapped the entire field on the fly about halfway through lap 6 and was less than 1000m from lapping them a second time when I took the checker. The front tires were still pale green and the rears medium blue.
I started this series at night and I was actually nodding off during this race, but I managed to stay out of the wall. I realized I could see the light/dark difference of being in the tunnel even with my eyes closed, so I took a 30-second nap each time around by lining the car up at the end of Turn Two, then closing my eyes till the returning brightness showed that I had come out the other side.
Margins: +1 lap(almost 2) Vitzes
Total time: 24':30.941"
Fast lap: 2':25.651"
Average: 2':27.094" with no pit
I wanted to do this series in one sitting but half asleep with R11 Reverse up next, it ain't happening.
I'll post my settings next time when I complete the last two races. I note, however, that they are nowhere near as radical as Kodiak's... but neither is my margin. Somehow, I just can't bring myself to go much outside the range of what would be used on a real car. Perhaps I'll try his set up and see if phreaky physics can pull 5 or 6 seconds off my lap times at Rome, or whether I just suck that badly.
sometimes, so i can buy a mmmm...muzzle... for the ...wife 💡 
??And the total race time was 6 seconds faster than my previous attempt...? 
The fastest lap then, was: 2'12.644. So, here are some different settings for the Vitz SSR11 race:
Neurotitz 
