Nurburgring vierundzwanzig - Ryk's testing notes

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Nurby24 testing

This could go in race reports as it will relate to The 24 hour of Nurburgring -

I've fancied a go at the big green one.

The big problem is finding out just what to expect. What speed do the AI go at. How good are they in the wet. What issues will you have with tyres and fuel. All factors which can scupper a race. And just to add to my woes the raft of old race reports here at GTPlanet are out dated by various tweaks to the Tyre physics and the Ground effect pathways programmed into the game.

I could just grab a Newey Fan Car and slurp about the track. But I am after a car that will force me to drive and will be enjoyable to drive for an entire revolution of the planet.

The AI.
From some race reports it seems that the LMP cars are the pace setters - Audi R8's and Pescarolo maybe a Mazda 787B. What sort of pace? If it is dry pretty fast... if it is wet - pretty slow. I could get a dry race and get destroyed by the LMP cars... it could rain and it could just be Noah and I at the end of the race.

Hmm - alot of words. Plan of action?
Test some cars out. Firstly they have to be fun to lap at the ring. Sound is a major issue, if it has a nasty engine note then I will soon grow to hate the car. The Vertigo would be my first choice however much as I like its looks, the engine note sound is a bit naff at constant high speed.

Do I need a great set up? Probably more than you would think as I drive with NO driver aids. And with a DS3.

I plan to do back to back to back tests at Nurby24 Using the ASpec event Dream Car Championship in the extreme events - the final race. 3laps of Nurby24 in changable weather. Now, every time I have done this before it has been dry. So I was slightly wrongfooted when I took my first car there!

Cars to test. (Not in order)
McLaren F1 GTR
Gillet Vertigo
Mazda Furai
Lister Storm
Panoz Esperante GT1
Lamboghini Diablo GT1
Ford Falcon

Test 1 (WET)
McLaren F1 GTR
Used but bone stock otherwise. Oil black - All aids removed. Brakes set to 3/2.
I did have a set up in this, but it was one I put myself. The gearbox I had also tweaked for some reason. But this car was returned to de Falt. Aero was at default levels. Gears were default... You get the picture...

599bhp/72 Torques/950kg - 649PP - 40/65 aero

Car - pretty twitchy. The rears would let go when pushed but then the car would sort of understeer until grip was restored... this could well have been me catching the fishtail forcing a 4 wheel drift and then snapping the car out of it. 47 miles and I didn't leave the track once... well save for the pit stop after lap 1.

I started on Race Hards - and the car felt pretty nasty. Lots of wheelspin and a nervous quality to the laps. Under acceleration the car would spool up the rears making the back end a bit light - braking distances seemed very long, but this is a light car on slicks in proper wet conditions. I was lucky to survive one lap let alone 3.

I got the lead pretty swiftly But wasn't exactly runnign away with it. I had read that 8 minutes was a base lap here... and I was almost 2 minutes slower than that. The whole grid I expected to pile into the pits for wet tyres... I did, but they didn't and I dropped back to 9th.

Rain tyres, didn't really feel much better. Lap two was mucked up by the traffic, which was interesting to pass. A side by side doorhandle bashing with a Ford GT was maximum spincter tightening as we duked it out down the Foxhole... Once I had the lead I pulled away and the final clear lap felt quite good.

I'll go into detail over the final lap as it is the best one to evaluate.
9m37s (Rejoin Split 1m52 - Aremburg 3m20 - Bergwerk 5m27)
I drove the Storm recently and that had the Rejoin split at 1m40 - So I could guess that in the wet the McLaren was... 12% slower than the Dry Storm lap. - Aremburg is a nice split - 200 seconds so I can judge how much faster a car may be in the dry relative to a wet McLaren lap (Each 2 seconds being worth 1%)

Car thoughts (McLaren F1 GTR)
Sound - Not the best - but not annoying.
Handling - Base - pretty twitchy very helpful and eager.
Gears - Just long enough... the car was redlining in 6th gear in the fast bit at the end... In the dry I would guess revs may hit the 7600 rev limiter The gears are too short for you to slipstream and not lunch the engine.

I really should repeat the event in dry conditions... lets do it!

Test 2

Same car as above but in glorious Tuetonic Sunshine.

Well that was different. On Race Hards the car is much more eager. The car poipoised about in some of the longer constant radius stuff and would get a bit nervous and twitch a bit under brakes. Traction - 2nd and 3rd gear out of slow corners the car is rampant, Brakes few a bit... spongey at times, but could be a bumpy track with a hard race car and hard tyres. And I was driving in a Graham Hill fashion - not making th emost of every corner, leaving a little margin for error, of which I had a few slides through the testing corners.

1m37.8 - nordshliefe split - 8m09.9 (Lap 1)
1m37.5 - nordshliefe split - 8m08.8 (Lap 2)
1m37.1 - nordshliefe split - 8m06.8 (Lap 3)

nordshliefe split - Where the modern GP track merges with the north loop.

I was pushing pretty hard, enough to cause the car to skip and buck about.
Not sure how much I would gain with Soft tyres - also no clue as to how much tyre wear I would generate from these laps.

May repeat with Soft tyres. Maybe bolt on a proper suspension set up.

Or move to another car.

Just thought I'd make one quick point. You probably don't need to leave much room for slipstreaming in your gear ratios. You'll be dealing with 11 other cars on a 15 mile track, and several won't even be able to come close to your top speed. For most of the race it will just be you and the car and the road. Sure if you don't have enough gear to get the 20mph boost and you are in the leader's wake on the last lap it could hurt you... but if you reduce your acceleration to allow that extra top end, you'll have that much less acceleration for the other 1,439 minutes of the race.

For a one-lap online race you obviously might want to have the possibility for a big rush at the end, but for nearly 200 laps against the AI it's not particularly important. No one wants to listen to the rev limiter for several seconds every 8 minutes for 24 hours, but if it happens once or twice(or you have to lift a little to prevent it) when you chance to be within 200 feet of another car on that one mile of the track it shouldn't be a big problem. Hopefully you'll be far enough ahead by then but If it does come down to that last-lap scenario, if you are close enough to use the mega-slipstream, you're probably close enough to force your way past in the chicane.

Just a thought. Good luck finding your balance and with the race.

The AI will do about 169 laps. Well, that is what i did in the 24h Nurb 100% dry race over the whole time.

(Cheers for the replies...)

Rev limiter - Good points. Part was really about the way the McLaren ran very close to the limiter stock. And I've never really had much problem overtaking at the ring, Personally in any Enduro race I would have top gear very long so if I did mess up a pit stop I could stick it in Top Gear and cruise that lap to get as much distance out of the last dregs of fuel. I did this at LeMans: having to go to fuel conservation mode to stretch out a final lap of a stint. But Nurburg is a different challege to the high speed blasts of LaSarthe. )

Nurby test 02

Another bright day. I should run Nurby 24 again with the McLaren but on Race Softs just to get a feel for just how much better they are... And again with a pucker set up bolted on the car. A track like Nurby is all about confidence, and the nervous nature of the default set up makes me a bit cool in my attitude when I approach a corner. When you find the sweet spot of a car here though a good lap time will become a great one as you make up time all over the track, one little lift previously becomes a flat out section and you gain a second or more just because you were commited.


The McLaren has dropepd in power. But I have to say I'm not that much of a hotlapper to notice a drop of 1% of a cars PP scores.

593bhp / 71torques / 950kg worth 643PP

Very Odd - going to the Nice Michelin SHop = I seemed to have gained 1bhp from the engine!
As an aside the car has 3969.8miles on the clock and I got it on the first of June last year (20120601 - if you prefer)

Race softs fitted (Gah what next - ABS enabled... traction control... Reni Wassulmaier in one of the passenger seats... the left or the right?)

And what do you know, it is raining in Germany! Exit and return. It is dry the Magic of GT5. Also the Jag is ahead of me on the grid... so battle will be joined here!

Predictions - I would guess softs would let me gain a second per mile... so 15 seconds over the long lap... so 7m50?

Nice easy race. Race Softs made previously tricky corners just a question of getting the line right, the grip was rock solid. However it spawns some other issues, much faster through other corners which previously were taken at a much slower speed. Fun though - perhaps as I am more used to the cars bouncing about as you reach the edge of adhesion. One problem is the car doesn't like to take a bite out of a curbstone. Hook a wheel over a curb and the car spooks like a teenaged girl in a Wes Craven film. But I tend to avoid curbs normally, but wit the extra grip you are coming into parts of the track with more speed and often off your usual comfort line. Wipperman was my bane this session, usually I like it, but it annoyed me in the GT4 intro when it had fat GT-R's monstering the curbs here. I had so much extra speed through this fast section it was threading the needle, but try to pinch a few inches on one side and the car is bounced a few feet over to the other side of the track on exit.

Times?
1m34.7 - nordshliefe split - 7m54.3
1m33.1 - nordshliefe split - 7m48.3
1m??.? - nordshliefe split - 7m49.4

No split on lap 3 as I paused the game over the line to note the time down... and I lost the splits for the rest of lap 3.

So all I have learned is that Slicks perform pretty well on a soaked track (!!!) Race Softs are very potent. and lap about - 3% faster than Race Hards and lap 15-20 seconds faster. A Pit stop for tyres will cost about 25-30- seconds - not sure how much fuel you can cram in that time - or how fuel efficient the BMW V12 engine is but pit stops tend to be a point where you gain on the AI cars so I am not that worried about this.

Short Shifting
Not sure how many other GT5 pilots do this, but found it much easier to short shift out of a few corners than try to modulate the throttle. Wehrseifen the downhill twisty bridge chicane job (Well it used to look like a bridge over a stream back in the day!) just before you reach Breidsheid Village. Exit of Karussell had be in 4th rather than 2nd or 3rd just to get a smooth exit, most of the downhill section after Hedwigs Hohe I did a gear higher just to keep the back end in check in those high speed twists.

Top speed. The car gets to 198 on the big fat Dottinger Hohe - but if you are brave - you can take the Bridge corner (Antoniusbuche) flat and the downhill bit into Tiergarten you can clear 200mph. You can go pretty fast after Flugpltaz, Swedish cross is as you may expect a monster with Softs on, I grew more and more brave here, but yet to go flat out all the way before braking for the long tight hairpin of Aremburg. I bet with a tight set up many of the corners I find buttock clenchen (Just after Bergwerk?) would be much less demanding - but where is the fun in that?


Overall alot of fun. But I suspect that this car will be too much for the race. Even without a set up Gordon Murray would be proud of.

Nurby 24 - Part 03

So done quite a bit of McLaren testing. But, can a super dupa set up make a huge difference?

I'm going to bolt on a Prianao set up - however it isn't exactly as he (she?) dictated as I don't bolt on power upgrades and the like just because I have to. It is really the Suspension/ gearbox and ramp angles that I am after. One issue I have with set ups is that by far they are set up with ABS and the Brake Bias is silly high - Part of these set ups strengths, will be that the ABS=1+, will take the rough edges from a bad set up and mask them as a car will not break traction at one corner and force a driver to react.

Still Lets look at Prianos set up

Chassis refresh and fresh oil... I'll give those a miss. Chassis strengther... Hmm these are fundamental bits... but also bits I can't revert back to what I had. I'll go with my worn chassis and used oil for now.

13.2 / 13.8 Springs
7/7 Shocks art One
6/5 Shocks art Deux
2/2 Roll bar
2.4° /2.0° Camber
0.02° / 0.12° Toe

8/5/30 Diff

7/4 brakes (I may calm this down! - 5/3 or 4/2 maybe)

Gears
Final to 3600 - max speed to 137mph
Then
1 - 3.742
2 - 2.872
3 - 2.275
4 - 1.856
5 - 1.560
6 - 1.350
final 2.000
Top speed will then be 235mph

Well - you can't do that way now!
So I'll have a dash - Set final to 5000
max speed to 137
1 - 2.600
2 - 2.000
3 - 1.500
4 - 1.240
5 - 1.050
6 - 09.00
final 3.000
gets a top speed of 227 (At the top right of the gears)

I've gone with 5/3 on the brakes -

594bhp / 71Torques / 950kg / 645PP

Aero had 5 clicks more at the front...
Overall not a huge change in places, spring rate is roughly the same as default shocks softened, AntiRollBar loosened to be a bit less severe - But not the toe out at the front I sometimes use - LSD is different but I'll go with it for now!

The Gearbox is really mine - so it will be interesting to see how well it puts down the power out of the slow corners. and if I have made it too tall for the track. The Ramp angles in the diff will have an effect on how nervous it is in these locations. Hopeful though.

Dry race...

Well mixed bag - Car felt much more unreasonable on the track, The brakes were, as I thought too strong so I dropepd mid race to 4/2 which still had lock up potential but wasn't locking up with painful regularity for those long deep stops. Gears? This was my bit of the car - Pretty good, gained maybe 1-2 mph on the big straight, but more importantly the engine is saved a few hundred revs - so better fuel economy. Other gears? Hard to say as the Diff makes a huge , erm, difference when it comes to traction out of a corner. I didn't have to drop to 1st anywhere on the track - 2nd felt a bit too eager out of the low chicane s so I tended to stay in 3rd and come out at low revs in a smooth fashion rather than lighting up a rear wheel and making life hard. I did have a slight off/ slide lap one at Hatzenbach - two wheels on the grass and a sorry look on my face.
Times were faster - but the car felt much more hard work to chuck about the track. Is this the withdrawel symtoms from my hit of RS tyres? Is it the much softer settings on the car coupled to a worn chassis making it seem worse than it should be ?

1m39.0 - 8m12.1
1m35.9 - 8m04.9
1m36.4 - 8m05.2

I was secretly hoping to get a sub 8 with the "Good set up" but the lap felt much harder - I guess the gain in time is more car knowledge and knowing the critical corners (...that lead onto a fast bit) better and letting me get the power down earlier or just carrying more speed here.

So a respected Set up only gained at best a couple of seconds, and may even have cost time. Maybe the old car was the root for my woes with this car (Woot of my rows?)

...

I think I've done testing the McLaren now... a few different cars to run

MAZDA FURAI

Furai - got a few - maybe a new one - got one that can't be painted with red wing endplates and detailing... it now has red BBS wheels to complete the look, and some fresh oil. RH tyres and a trip to western Germany...

I've always liked the Furai - It looks fast parked up in the pits. Drives well, sharp handling, a free revving engine that has a forgiving powerband. But this is a new Furai. and the last time I drove the last one was back in 2011...

Meanwhile in Germany...

It is raining - well lets give it a try.
Race Wets on - Full downforce - 4/3 BB fresh oil...

511bhp/42 torques/ 675kg - 674PP

WET RACE
1m53.1 - 9m30.5
1m49.5 - 9m21.4
1m51.7 - 9m25.0

Car felt adequate - loads of wheelspin if the revs are 8500-9500 and you are in 3rd gear then the back end will dance about. 4/3 brakes are too much - 3/2 were good for me. Car was much slower in the fast sections - topping out at 185mph or so (10,000 rpm in 6th gear).

DAY RACE
1m40.6 - 8m19.4
1m35.6 - 8m06.7
1m35.2 - 8m04.6

Pretty shoddy first lap. Wheelspin is still an issue, but once you find the balance and commit to corners the car comes alive,
I'd say that it is a couple of seconds faster than the McLaren - Soft tyres should be getting lap times of... 7m45 'd guess. a Good set up? Gears can get squeezed, I like a tall first gear as it lets me get a much closer set of gears in the interesting bits of the track- so I can be in a good gear most of the time (More overlap - so less of a hit if you are in a gear that is too high for a corner.)

.... Next car? Not sure yet. Probably another MR - Diablo? Maybe one of the 60's cars...

Not alot of testing today - I was near the 20,000,000 level...and thought about blowing it on a second Jaguar XJ13...
That thought made me take the Jag out... Amazingly it has 600 miles but the stock suspension and gearbox settings.

Could it run well at Nurby24? Well I bolted on some Modern Rubber - Race Softs.

The Jag sounded off... it has a nasty echo when full throttle, The drive? A bit iffy at times. Not as grippy as the Furai or McLaren... but that really is a hard comparison for a car programemd to be a prototype from the 60's.

But on RS tyres it was enough to beat the XJR-9 in the 3 lap Nurby24 dream car event.

Lap times...

1m40.5 - 8m18.5
1m39.0 - 8m11.1
1m36.5 - 8m15.6

No offs but the car wasn't as, planted in corners, I also ran "In Car" which must add a few tenths per mile to my performance as the forward vew was impeded and the top of the windshield would dip down to let in the sunlight... which was a distraction I didn't really need in the fast and furious Wipperman to Eiskurve section.

Thoughts on the car? Car was prone to odd wheels locking up, and under heavy loading in a corner a side of the car would overheat (So Both outside Right tyres would go red in a fast left hander) If I went in too close to the edge.
Gears - 5th isn't often used and the car isn' that fast in the closing section of the lap. In fact it almost struggles up the hill at Kasselchen.(Flat out section but pretty steep power sapping elevation - not quite as bad as Solitude's Elend section but noticible.

So is the Jag a possible? Maybe - but I am not sure about the engine note. Shaame as the car looks great.

Testing will resume.

Nurby 4 - The Tuned Jaguar XJ13

I was going to buy a new XJ13 - and I will but If I did that... I'd have no money to buy the parts that Praiano (I'll get his name eventually!) suggests.

First up was a stage 2 turbo... okay. Gearbox - I like using round numbers but the basic high final, low max speed adject gears then lower the final ratio worked this time.
2.8 - 2.1 - 1.64 - 1.3 - 1.05 - (2.525 final) - top speed is suggested to be 234mph... we'll see!

LSD - 8/18/5 -

Suspension
Well Praiano asks for a rise of 25/20mm on the ride highet... but the car can only get jacked up by 15mm... I can't blame the guy if GT5 have altered the amount you can tweak a car... However - looking at the rest of the suspenion, he wants the springs to be stiffened... which you suggest to me you want the car to be lowered, rather than jacked up.
-I'll run a gamble that he meant to say Lower the ride height.
-25/-20 Ride Height
16.2/16.8 Springs

8/8 Extension
7/6 Compression
2/2 ARB
2.0°/2.0° Camber
0.00°/+0.18° Toe

SO stiffer/ lower with a slight softening of the rear shocks and the sway bars have been greatly toned down.

Brakes - asks for 7/4 but I'll stick with 4/2 for the moment.

As of 20130202 (2nd February 2013 for you English Imperial types) the Scores on the Doors were -
573bhp/69 torques/ 998kg/ 624 PP -
But this car has several miles on the clock. Hold on... My power level was in the 90's... I must have chocked the intakes for some Seasonal event...
With 100% Jaguar power I get...
613Bhp/ 69 Torques/ 998kg and 632PP

An extra 40 horses will make a nuge difference on those time sapping flat out blasts... and maybe Priainos set up will give me more cornering ability and traction out of them... One things was the car was pretty stable into corners before!

To Germany!

Ah rain...

Still lets run the Jag.

1m55.8 - 9m39.3
1m52.6 - 9m33.5
1m53.0 - 9m31.8

Very tough drive, the power was tough to get down onto the track- the Turbo no doubt made the power curve more peaky than the wet tyres could deal with - so lots of wheelspin out of corners.

I returned in the dry

1m39.0 - 8m17.5
1m36.5 - 8m10.9
1m34.2 - 8m00.6

As you can see from the times the car takes a bit of getting used to. It didn't have as many traction issues out of corners, Race Softs eh! - But the car was a handful at times as it seemd to wander about and not really go where I wanted it to go in the high speed stuff... you either go too slow, and lose time or go too fast off line and lose time with a crash or off road grass mowing. The 8 minute lap had a slow mistake on the fast Pflantzgarten II section after Spunghugel - wheel on the grass and then saving the spin, trying not to hit anything... But other laps it was a fast flat thread the needle section, but if you get off line the curbs and grass will punish you - even if the Armco doesn't touch the car.
Car pulled more pwoer and I thought I could feel the extra poke - There is much more time in this car (RS and Praiano set up) just a question of learning to predict what the car will do - This unceatainty can be removed with a slower than you think into corners and a short shift through and out of a corner to let you get to grips with things, then you can grow into the track and car. Potential. Engine note is still iffy though.

Cold light of day - The improvement from 8m20 to 8m00 has to be pointed out that this car is a bit odd to drive and takes a while to dial into all of its foibles. But once you do find the sweet spot it feels really good to take it to the limit.

Ryk

Nurby 24 - Part 03

I'm going to bolt on a Prianao set up - however it isn't exactly as he (she?) dictated as I don't bolt on power upgrades and the like just because I have to. It is really the Suspension/ gearbox and ramp angles that I am after. One issue I have with set ups is that by far they are set up with ABS and the Brake Bias is silly high - Part of these set ups strengths, will be that the ABS=1+, will take the rough edges from a bad set up and mask them as a car will not break traction at one corner and force a driver to react.

Click to expand...

Like you, I love driving w/no aides. However, it does put the onus of tuning on us as the majority of posted tunes are done w/ABS. It seems to me that in order to get the maximum braking with no ABS we have to get our chassis setup just right.

That said, I have two GT500 cars w/setups that I really enjoy at the 'ring. Both are pretty easy to drive. An '08 Xanavi Nismo GT-R and a Honda HSV. Normally I'll do about an hour long race w/weather, tire wear, cockpit view, no aides, RHs, 75k of ballast and about 570-580pp(2.10). Laps are about 8:20 HSV and 8:24 GT-R. In 600pp trim w/RHs the HSV is about 8:10-12 and the GT-R is 8:15-17. They'll both do 5 laps w/RHs w/reasonable mileage. They both can have more hp bolted on.

I like the sound of both of them. I don't know how the sound of the Honda would wear for 24 hours though. The GT-R's sound was fine for me.

Your testing seams really thorough and I've got nothing to add except the offer of these two cars and the suggestion of the Ford GT spec two test car. Sounds really good and that sound should last 24 hours nicely.

Nurby test 05

Next car up...

Gillet Vertigo


This was because... I put the cars in PP order and the first Non-Silly car was the Vertigo!

I had tested this car before and It had a set up from some hotshot who did a 6m10 at the ring with it.

I looked it over... Took out the Turbo2 the set up askked for - Not sure why this car is so messy when it comes to the PP score - but for the most part it seemed okay. The Car has so much power. (No much more power than that!) so little weight.. amazed its PP value is so... low. Previously the car has huge numbers but on track it just doesn't stick to corners.

I bolted on Race Soft tyres - With not that much hope of setting a good time. I knew the car was a shaoker in the twisty bit ... How very wrong you can be!

The car was still an axe murderer on the track. Snarling and attacking everything. Wheelspin was evident, but the acceleration was amazing. I bolted into the lead at Turn 1. Then just gapped the pack. The car was savage. So fast but, the down side is, the downforce isn't that great, so those high speed corners take a bit of courage when the car isn't on LMP Rails.

Engine Note...
Not that bad. It had some echo artifacts in it... but that was forgotten.

The car was easily the fastest I've tested so far. Well it certainly felt like the fastest. Some cars give you confidence and a comforting hug of grip and a planted feel in a tortuous section of the track. The Vertigo is like a demanding girl. The set up was pretty solid and well balanced. I think at the moment it will be way too much of a car.

Ways to make it slower?
Ballast-
Power restrictor -
(Use a Black Oil Vertigo - (I've got 4-5 Vertigos now!))
Tyres - Race Hards will be a huge difference to this car as it isn't blessed with lost of Aerodynamic downforlce, so relies on the mechanical grip from the tyres... a Prototype can flatter hard tyres as the aero takes the strain... The Vertigo I think may struggle on Harder tyres.

Another factor for this car will be Tyre wear... The way it puts the power down and no Aero to push the rears into the road... and no chassis weight to speak off the danger is the power will just spool up the rears and delaminate them... I'll just have to see how the car performs on that... But given the outright pace from the car I can afford to give up some lap time by short shifting out of slow corners.

The lap times were good, but I know there is even more pace in the car as I was "careful" in places where a more commited hotlapper would be stone cold flat out.

Just an example of the sppped of the car... The Gantry at the start of Dottinger Hohe... I was already up to 190mph... and after going flat under the bridge at Antoniusbuche I was very close to 230mph before I ran out of stupidity and applied a bit of lift off the throttle action. So many places I can see time being gained here. And No doubt after 24 hours in the Vertigo I will have no excuse of not knowing them! However this car makes alot of middling mundane corners a bit of a trial at times.

Again this could be a plus point... you would never get bored learning to drive this car at the ring as it makes such a meal of every section.

I think I may have worked out which car to have.


Ran the Vertigo again - but in the rain. Ran on FULL WET Race tyres... (100% track dampness)

The car was like two handfuls - and that didn't leave me many hands left to steer and change gear! The car was alive. Wheelspin in most places... the first corner chicane was th eobbvious place for spooling up the rears. but the exit of any slow/medium corner was prone to the back end twitching about - Watching the replay the car fishtailing about (That driver is on fire - such sublime car control and balance, wonder who he is?) - Just as I type that I spin out into turn 1 - a nice "Broadie" turning into an embarrassing pirrouette as I poured out the power in too much of a rush... Aw Shucks! At least the crowd will have had a laugh. However much I say the car is hard to drive in the wet I didn't hit anything or go off track so it wasn't impossible. In fact even more of a challenge.



Times (Vertigo - Race Softies 10 dry track)

1m35.2 - 7m57.4 (Rolling start - driving with caution)
1m30.5 - 7m44.4
1m31.2 - 7m42.8


Times (Vertigo - WETS 100% Wet)

1m58.0 - 9m40.8 (Rolling start + Traffic)
1m53.5 - 9m28.4
1m58.0 - 9m32.2 (SPin)

Certainly more of a handful in the wet - If I get a long period of rain then it will sap my focus rather than being a n easy period to make time on the LMP cars. Times. I know I could go faster, but One spin costs so much time. not only from the spin but the pain as you have to get the car going again through the low speed wheelspin phase.

Another factor is running between the extremes of bone dry and dripping wet asphalt. I've ran Race Hards on a track that was on the way to be fully wet but then the sun came out and the track dried back up. I've run Hards on a 100% wet track and it wasn't that bad to drive - alot more grip than I should have had with cold slicks on a waterlogged track.

I've run Nurburg24 twice - 6 laps - and the car still has golden oil but the power is miles awy from what it could be if I altered the oil.

Set up was by "Game Alexander 6m10 at nurby"
-5/-5 Ride
13.2 / 12.2 Springs
8/8 shocks
8/8 shocks
6/3 ARB
1.5°/1.0° wheel camber
0.00°/0.00° Wheel toe

10/30/60 LSD (Ramp Angles)

35/60 aerodynamics
4/3 Brakes

Gears
1st --- 2nd --- 3rd -- 4th -- 5th -- 6th - - - FINAL
3.650/2.344/1.664/1.243/0.976/0.807/-/3.640 final

The Vertigo is definitely a fun and busy ride around the 'Ring. I remember using it for the old seasonal event vs the LMPs on the 24-hour course. Took a little while to get the hang of it and win. Not sure I ever did manage to do so against the fastest of the fast grids, but the car can surely handle them over an enduro, so like you said you'll need to slow it down(although Race Hards will help with that).

If nothing else, driving that thing ought to help keep you focused and alert during the race. "Axe murderer" indeed, no lazy driving permitted!

Yep Mind is pretty much made up to run the Vertigo...

Mid race I can slow the car down by...
Harder tyres (may stick some Sport Hards in the Transporter for the pit crew)
Weak Brakes - Used the RA function to make the brakes very soft (0/0)

Just driving style... If I force myself to stretch a stint I can manually slow my actual pace down... If optimal is blitzing Soft tyres with three hard laps... a steady pace to make them last 4 or 5 laps would slow me down. I doubt I will be too fast for the AI cars... It's not like I am using a LMP car.

The only issue will be I'll be unable to send folks cars while I am tied up running the enduro... They can wait I guess!

I'll need to dig out my KILL BILL (Enter the Dragon) Uma Thurman Race suit for the race... not that you can see inside the tinted windows much...

My middle name is Bill... I hope Uma "Vertigo" Thurman doesn't do anything rash mid race on me...

"It's mercy, compassion, and forgiveness I lack; not rationality."

Almost didn't get a run today...

But had a go in a fresh car .

The Ford Falcon
Aussie V8...

I upped the aero to full and fixed the gearbox to a more punchy set. LSD, suspension the same, no turbo added (But I peeked at what I could have got and not alot of extra horses for the cost.) Race Softs

Now the gearbox I instaleld was far too tall... Only got halfway into 5th gear on the fast bit. The car has no issues with too much power - it has amazing brakes, handles very well compared to the Nutter that was the Gillet.

However it is much slower... and much easier to drive... much much easier... Not quite effortless, but nearly!

times (Ford Falcon Super V8 - Race Softs)
1m41.1 - 8m14.2
1m35.8 - 8m07.3
1m36.5 - 8m07.5

Good engine note - Tranny whine (If you like that sort of thing)
No traction issues (But my gearbox was LONG which will reduce wheelspin anyhow)
Excellent brakes - Most excellent... I actually increased the BB score from 4/3 to 5/4 mid race once I was sure the car was being honest with me.
ENgine is okay, compared to the Vertigo it is a weedy wimp.
Out of Galgen kpoh the car was very planted - and After the initial brake for the uphill right I guess you could slingshot out flat with a few laps practice. Gantry speed was only 160mph and the car ambled along to 180 top speed limited by power. (Maybe full aero settings?)

The car was also very solid in the final section... BUT the car makes the trakc seem a bit easy, If you are commited to a corner flat - you only have to get the steering and line right...

Am looking forward to the actual race now!

I do like reading these reports on the 24hr races as they are the only races I have left to do in A-spec. I might get round to it eventually but at the moment I'm ignoring the PS3 in favour of the beginnings of FM4 and Horizon.

Nurby test 06


Ran the Ford Falcon XR8
I put on a specialist set up today - by Blackpools own VTiRoj. A tower of power in the set up community...

I only know of one other person Called Roj and that was the eponymous character in the Science Fiction drama Blake's Seven from the 70's.

Anyhow, The set up called for the ride hight to be dropped... And Engine tuning level 3... I could trop the ride highet down to the bump rubbers... but the engine tuning was not purchasable... But I did a GT5 first - used some of those ticket things... Fresh Chassis and Fresh Engine... (Still got all the Tinnies fmo the previous Driver.
Some say he was brought up wild by a pack of Dingos - Others say that he has a pouch where he can keep his Beer.
All I know is, He's called "The Donk".

The set up seemed good. but It shoudl have been much faster than my previous go as - It had so much more power and had a better gearbox, better suspension settings (Than Default) A Gear box that used all 6 gears,

The times
Ford Falcon XR8 (VTiRoj) Race Softs
1m38.5 - 8m11.8
1m35.4 - 8m07.7
1m35.4 - 8m05.5

Ford Falcon XR8 (VTiRoj) (Race Hards)
1m41.2 - 8m25.4
1m38.3 - 8m18.6
1m38.0 - 8m19.9

On softs the car was great, On Hards the car didn't quite have the grip, it wouls also spool up slightly out of some corners, and would lock up tyres much more than previously. That said In the test I was in a dogfight with the Hard charging Jaguar XJR9 - Great fun. I didn't block but made a grandstand re pass after antoniousbushe and just got enogh of a slingshot to blast it to the line, holding a centre line... the Jag was unsure where to go...

Illustrates the Hard vs Soft differnce in times... 15 or so seconds... which is about what... half a pit stop per lap. Unless Softs wear out very quickly indeed I can't see a reason to use hards.