Chase for NASCAR Sprint Cup Title - Series Champion: RFLX_Niop

[DrifterJoe]

Just had a little practice at Indy road, and my usual setup seems good.

I'm going to have to find a better Daytona setup in time for the chase. I currently can't get more than 35 or so laps before I don't have enough grip and spin out. That'd mean that I'd have to make a stop in the 40 lap race, and 2 stops in the 75 lap race. This is also why I pitted after 30 laps in last night's race. A 35 lap limit before my tyres didn't have enough grip, and a spin halfway through the run that wore them out even more.

Experience from racing with SCANA should help for High Speed Ring. With full HP we started spinning and making loads of mistakes after about 10 laps. With our restricted HP I think we'll make somewhere between 15 and 20 laps before the same happens. I also remember it being a wreckfest.

We had a practice at Suzaka East for SCANA as well, though I was off the pace there and overtaking was fairly difficult. This will probably be my weakest track in the chase.

Annnnnd we all know about my skill at Indy speedway. A slight tweak of a certain suspension setting will ensure that I only have to stop once.

EDIT: I use the same setup for every road course, apart from transmission settings.

 

[MustangRyan]

Joe, I fully expect that the title will come down to you and Niop, if you both make all five races. I just can't keep pace on the road courses with you two. The_Boyce, M_Stall41, and knelly could also make a run if they show up to all five Chase races.

 

[DrifterJoe]

Nevermind what I said about making the 80 lap Indy race on 1 pitstop. I can't make that on tyres. It started getting really loose and slidy after about 33 laps of running, and I eventually spun after a few laps of very careful driving. Add in the other racers, and I doubt I'll even get that far. Oh well, at least I know my pit strategy now (I also worked out roughly how much fuel I need to put in. >___>). I know I can still 1 stop next week's Indy Speedway race (Got my fuel worked out for that too).

Joe, I fully expect that the title will come down to you and Niop, if you both make all five races. I just can't keep pace on the road courses with you two. The_Boyce, M_Stall41, and knelly could also make a run if they show up to all five Chase races.

I've not ran a road course with Niop yet, so this week should be interesting.

EDIT: I've prepared my transmission settings for all races except for the Daytona races, which I need to find a better suspension/LSD etc setup for.

 

[Knelly]

Appreciate the vote of confidence and sorry couldn't make Saturday but had guests who weren't willing to watch me race. I intend to make as many as possible of the remainder though.

My tip for the Sprint Cup! Has to be Joe, solely for his road course skills! Gonna try and make it difficult for him though

 

[DrifterJoe]

I've been searching for Daytona setups, and have narrowed it down to 7 potential setups . My plan is to run each setup in online free run on the line I use when qualifying, until the car spins or a tyre runs out completely (on the display on the left of the screen). I'll only be using the aero, LSD, and suspension settings from the tunes, and just ran with my current setup as the target to beat. I span in turn 3 on lap 46, with the car being very loose from lap 44 onwards. The most I've done in an online race with the setup is 35 laps (span in turn 4 I think), so there seems to be a difference of about 10 or 11 laps between running solo and running with others.

Testing all these setups will take ages though, about 40 minutes per setup. 👎

Since last night's race, I've been trying new things with my transmission, and seem to have found some speed from doing so.


Knelly- Only 2 of the 5 races in the chase are road courses, one of which I was off the pace at when SCANA had an evening of practice there back when it was running. I'll be very good at Indy, as always (as long as I don't get disconnected like last time). As for Daytona, my success there depends on 3 or 4 things: not getting in a wreck/not spinning, not losing the draft, and being able to find a setup that lets me go for more than 30-35 laps before spinning from a lack of grip. Having someone who holds a good line while being pushed may also be a factor. (Niop and Knelly being the 2 guys I've had the most success pushing in this series. I don't think I've had a chance to push Drop round.)


Have an interesting fact or two: My road course setup uses the same suspension settings as my current (soon to be scrapped) Daytona setup, apart from the rear dampers, which I made equal on both ends for road courses. As for my Indy setup, that was developed while testing online for SCANA with NitrouStang, though we never shared numbers. We just told each other the kind of things to change and mess around with, until we each found our own good setup. His was (and still is, if he hasn't worsened it) slightly faster than mine though.

 

[MustangRyan]

I don't think I've had a chance to push Drop round.

Feel free to try it sometime.

 

[DrifterJoe]

Well, I should be good pushing anyone as long as they keep a smooth line and take the same line through each corner every lap. Send me a message if you feel like practicing any of the tracks we have left. Not tonight though, I'll probably be testing some of those 7 Daytona setups. 👍

EDIT: I've only just noticed that this series is basically SCANA, but without cautions/restarts, or a pace lap (speedways only).

 

[MustangRyan]

That's basically what it's modeled after, Joe. We never actually ran the race at High Speed Ring, so we never actually held a power restricted event. But, I feel like had SCANA continued, this is to what it would have eventually evolved.

 

[Niop]

I was really looking forward to this race, but unfortunately I think I'll be moving on Saturday. I kinda wish this track was in the chase. If something changes with my plans, I'll let you guys know.

 

[DrifterJoe]

That's basically what it's modeled after, Joe. We never actually ran the race at High Speed Ring, so we never actually held a power restricted event. But, I feel like had SCANA continued, this is to what it would have eventually evolved.

We had some 10 lap races there one week in the SCANA pre-season, with full power, and we had some practice races for the event that never happened due to chad folding SCANA.

The first braking point was a big mess, with most of the field getting taken out every start/restart, mostly due to the many lines you can take through the corner and everyone trying to outbrake and pass the guy ahead of them.

 

[Knelly]

Going to try and get on tonight for some Indy Road testing - I have a new setup I want to try and improve on.

Very concious I am close to the bubble, so need to get some points over the next two weeks at Indy.

Anyone around to run a few laps tonight?

 

[MustangRyan]

Yeah, I would love to test tonight at Indy road. What time are you looking at for testing? I will be home around 10pm BST/5pm EDT.

 

[Knelly]

perfect

 

[Knelly]

Give me 20 mins or so

 

[Knelly]

Hmmm fighting a massive amount of overseer right now but 5 clean laps in a row hitting 1/38 / 1:39's

Any good?

 

[DrifterJoe]

Yeah that's good, you're much closer to my pace than Drop was at Laguna Seca. There's still more time out there though. I haven't practiced since a few days ago, but I think my best was a low 1:34. If you guys are still on, I might practice with you for a bit, though my mic is charging right now.

 

[MustangRyan]

I hit a few 1:37s tonight with Knelly, but I have no dreams of keeping up with Joe at Indy Road. My goal is to be the "best of the rest."

 

[DrifterJoe]

I hit a few 1:37s tonight with Knelly, but I have no dreams of keeping up with Joe at Indy Road. My goal is to be the "best of the rest."

Actually, although my best when I last practiced was a 1:34, the best I could do when practicing tonight was a mid 1:36, and all my braking points that I'd memorised seem to be wrong. I'm braking too late for nearly every corner now for some reason. All you need is to be within 1.5 seconds of me and you'll catch me back up along the mean straight, since that's the point at which the draft begins behind a car.

 

[Knelly]

Yep, I'm running 37, 38's up to low 40's up to 13 laps in, so have to consider a 1 stop strategy.

Joe came along and proved our theory. With no reflex this is his race and every one else is fighting for a podium finish.

Can I request this is pushed for an 23:00 race start time? Would make life easier!

 

[DrifterJoe]

Yep, I'm running 37, 38's up to low 40's up to 13 laps in, so have to consider a 1 stop strategy.

Joe came along and proved our theory. With no reflex this is his race and every one else is fighting for a podium finish.

Can I request this is pushed for an 23:00 race start time? Would make life easier!

I can still make it if the time is indeed pushed back an hour, it'd probably actually be slightly better for me too.

As for the actual racing, I really do believe that there's a chance of me not coming 1st, unless I magically find the pace I had when I last tested a few days ago. If I can't find that pace, the draft will keep you guys right behind me. Although since I can get about 15 laps on my tyres (front tyres double their wear rate after 10 laps), I could fight with you guys and increase our tyre wear to create problems for you.

 

[Knelly]

Tactics are coming in now ..... Nice. What racing's all about. Expect to be taken off your line Joe, after all, rubbin is racin

 

[DrifterJoe]

Tactics are coming in now ..... Nice. What racing's all about. Expect to be taken off your line Joe, after all, rubbin is racin

I'll just have to rub harder than you then.

 

[Knelly]

Looking forward to this..... If we keep up!!!

 

[MustangRyan]

I can push back an hour if it means that both of you can definitely make it.

 

[Knelly]

Thanks mate, appreciate that . See you Sat if not before.

 

[Niop]

Good news, I might be moving next weekend instead, so I may be able to make the race after all. And running race an hour later actually helps me this weekend.

I did a bit of practice and got my car setup. I'm averaging in the low 1:35 range, with a best of 1:33.9xx. There's a little more there, but that's as fast as I'll be able to go.

 

[DrifterJoe]

I guess that I need to put in a load of practice from late tonight until the race to try and get my times back down to the same pace as Niop, which I think is the same pace I was at before.

 

[Knelly]

Might not be till about 11:00pm plus tonight, but there could be enough of us to get a room going and test out in race conditions?

What does everyone think? Happy to host it is my private lobby connection seemed very good last night.

 

[kenkwilinski]

Hey I'll race with you. I'm already on your friends list. What time Saturday?

 

[MustangRyan]

Hey I'll race with you. I'm already on your friends list. What time Saturday?

I actually removed you to make more room for guys running in this series about a week ago when I hit the psn friend limit. If you'll send a friend request I'll get you added back though now that I have more room again.

Race time this week will be 6pm EDT, 10pm GMT, 11pm BST. Qualifying opens around an hour before the race, but will probably be open a few hours early this week.