GTP Tyre Challenge -- Season 1

[Sylar]

I may have to ban the Caterham is it continues its dominance. By the way, who enjoyed the red flag?

I was surprised by how well the tires lasted on the Caterham probably helped by its low weight only about 350kgs which is about half the weight of an Elise and a quarter weight of most other race cars. I still thought that being rear wheel drive the back tires would have been gone by the end though.

Yeah the red flag was fun and made things interesting we should introduce one on a random lap in remaining races. The parade laps should go alot smoother next race.

 

[GT5_X2010]

The pace lap was a disaster. Everyone drives off. Then we all stop. Then the front runners drive off before we are ready! They all come back on we go. I think I messed up my start at the race restart after the red flag. Let everyone get by.

 

[VRracingfan]

My car will be the Lexus Touring Car.

 

[hessi]

The pace lap was a disaster. Everyone drives off. Then we all stop. Then the front runners drive off before we are ready! They all come back on we go. I think I messed up my start at the race restart after the red flag. Let everyone get by.

It's obviously different for you, with a car with very similar power in the field, but for me it didn't really matter how good the start was - and yes, it was bad, mostly due to Stingray overtaking and being in the way afterwards...

This might be the race series where a failed start has the least impact on all series...

 

[GT5_X2010]

My car will be the Lexus Touring Car.

good to have you back mate. back up your save now

Guys, would you lot be interested in a ban on testing for the series by me not telling you which track is next? Just to spice up the races

 

[SebVettelFan]

I may have to ban the Caterham is it continues its dominance. By the way, who enjoyed the red flag?

Arghhhh no lol. It's just my incredible driving

But seriously yeh it was pretty good. I saw something like this coming up. Give it a couple more races as it is and we will see after that. Maybe ballast could be added to it or as you say just banned all together.

 

[Sylar]

I was running the 4hr nurburgring race last night using an Impreza tuned to about 380bhp. It looks like fuel could become an issue on the longer tracks which should be interesting.

The consumption rate was about 3x what we were seeing at Autumn ring as a full tank was only good for about 8 laps (running time was about 1hr 16m) of normal running while last week after racing for 1hr 13m at Autumn ring the fuel was still about between 1/2 and 3/4 full. Probably because nurburgring has alot more elevation changes and high speed full throttle sections that fuel consumption is so much higher.

Short shifting and using less throttle you could get another 1-2 laps maybe but lap times increase dramatically although it does reduce tire wear so could be a balancing act.

Also the time difference between a lap on tires in reasonable condition and completely worn tires after 6 laps left was just over 2 minutes per lap.

 

[GT5_X2010]

Is everyone coming to London on Saturday to do some racing? Same rules (this time cheating is impossible... Louis) so everything will be perfect. Hope to see you all there. Same time as ever.

During the F1 quali (sorry but I think Alonso is going to win this race. Vettel will be back) I will create a spreadsheet that contains all the drivers and stuff as I will run this as a full championship. Details on points are now being added to the OP

 

[Sylar]

Is everyone coming to London on Saturday to do some racing? Same rules (this time cheating is impossible... Louis) so everything will be perfect. Hope to see you all there. Same time as ever.

During the F1 quali (sorry but I think Alonso is going to win this race. Vettel will be back) I will create a spreadsheet that contains all the drivers and stuff as I will run this as a full championship. Details on points are now being added to the OP

Yeah I should be able to make it to Sundays night race again this week. I will probably use the Subaru CUSCO DUNLOP SUBARU IMPREZA for the series as at least its capable of driving in a straight line with worn tires thanks to 4WD unlike the Elise even if its slower. Last weeks practice race showed that a consistent race pace will be more important for this series.

Yeah the F1 race should be interesting this weekend. If Alonso can get a good grid slot he has a shot at winning maybe as Ferrari and McLaren are closer race pace to the Red Bulls. Although will be tough to beat Red Bull if they have same speed advantage in qualifying they had at Spain last week. Should be an interesting grand prix this week anyway.

Hopefully qualifying goes smoother than the GP2 qualifying for Monaco where everyone seemed to be tripping over each other. Not a very impressive showing from the future drivers of F1.

 

[GT5_X2010]

HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU ALL WATCH THAT VIDEO

Was this qualifiying or a race? Looks absolutely insane. Remove the commentary (I don't speak the language), the video title and the final lap times and you can easily pass that off as a race. I mean there were about 7 cars going into La Rasscase @1.05!! (La Rasscase is so fun in DiRT3) Then there was repeat attempts to replicate Alonso nearly running into Massa at Rasscase (except they didn't get the benefit of 'nearly') and then the DAMS cars decided to replicate the incident that caused the 2010 F1 GP to finish under safety car. Then one guy tried replicating Massa's massive free practice slides from thursday. Is there some kind of thinking in GP2 at the moment that if you crash like an F1 driver, you become an F1 driver?

BTW did anyone see the BBC free practice coverage (I prefer free practice coverage to actual race coverage. More relaxed and because it is designed as radio commentary for BBC 5 live but then put over the top of the world feed so they talk in detail about whats happening in F1 at the moment. Much better. They had Karun Chandok who was talking about possible things to watch out for at the Monaco track, then a few seconds after he started talking about one of the things, the Ferrari's would by coincidence demonstrate it on track. They also had Bruno Senna and he talked about this video:

(when you watch that video, turn the sound right up but not with headphones. and remember it was filmed with one hand on the wheel, the other holding a camera phone to record it. No sound dimishing going on with that phone unlike the F1 onboard cameras)

 

[Sylar]

That video is probably the best I have heard an F1 engine in a long time sounded so much better than during TV coverage. Should be an interesting race tomorrow with Button and Vettel at the front just ahead of Webber and Alonso and Hamilton fighting back through the grid from 9th anything could happen. Thankfully Perez didn't suffer major injuries in his crash even though he will miss the race.

 

[GT5_X2010]

CAN EVERYBODY PLEASE:
1. Accept a friend request from me if you have not already
2. Look at the Championship Standings spreadsheet in the first post and offer any feedback

I look forwards to seeing you at the race this evening. Check the first post for the start time

 

[GT5_X2010]

Excellant racing today people. I managed to pull through after some early crashes and take my first significant distance GTP win. Here is a worrying word for you all: my car felt really solid on those tyres when they were pretty much 0%. My lap times only dropped by 2 seconds so I think I have a winner but you never know because my fuel was about a quarter left at the end which isn't good

EDIT: Number of laps for TGTT announced

 

[Sylar]

Yeah great racing tonight everyone my tires were shot with about 10 laps left which meant car just had horrible under-steer. Lap times were about 10 seconds slower than previous best at that point. Need to see if playing around with car suspension can help reduce front tires wear. Fuels consumption was okay though had over a third of a tank left on last lap. Managed to take a picture below just before the finish line with phone.

 

[GT5_X2010]

Seeing that your fastest lap was a mid 54 surprises me. My average was about 54 and when the tyres went off I was doing 55s but my best was a really low 53. Your lap times are really slow after you lost your tyres. Good call of mine to just fly off and screw tire saving. Hopefully the hammerhead should provide more interesting racing next time and not me leading for ages. That Caterham is agile which will help through those corners and the grass will causes a spin if you are on it where as the walls at London just bounced us back.

 

[hessi]

Yeah great racing tonight everyone my tires were shot with about 10 laps left which meant car just had horrible under-steer. Lap times were about 10 seconds slower than previous best at that point.

I really chose the wrong car for this event...

As I said yesterday, had about 3/4 tyres left (and ~2/3 tank, btw), but it took my best effort to overtake you in your last laps with your shot tyres.

Can we make the race longer, please? Another 5 laps and I would have overtaken the Subaru... ;-)

btw, best lap: 1:02,054. Sometime around lap 60, tyres were finally warm enough...

 

[SebVettelFan]

It was all good except for that stupid red flag in the middle. It was for no reason and made us all stop and as a result the leaders just got further away. If anything we should've got all the lapped cars to unlap themselves so we were all in order for the restart.

 

[GT5_X2010]

ok then, from TGTT onwards there will be no red flags at all. Even if a Renault crashes into an italian red bull (Torro Rosso) and blocks the track, we will just drive on. Make you sure you are all prep'd before hand for the race and if you do need to go then pull over and make sure you aren't blocking. What does everyone think of the spreadsheet? Good? Bad? In between?

Hessi, if you want, you can change your car

 

[Sylar]

The spreadsheet looks good.

In last race I was running the car in pretty much default settings. The only changes I made were to increase front downforce to maximum, slight increase of rear downforce and changing break balance to 5,10 to try and save the fron tires under breaking. I might play around with suspension settings tonight to try and reduce the front wear but wondering what is the best approach

I was thinking of softening the front anti roll bars and zeroing camber/toe settings. For suspension should I soften the car and increase the ride height also?

Also for LSD was going to change front to 5/10/5 anyone have any opinions or suggestions as tunning has never been my strong point in GT5.

 

[GT5_X2010]

The spreadsheet looks good.

In last race I was running the car in pretty much default settings. The only changes I made were to increase front downforce to maximum, slight increase of rear downforce and changing break balance to 5,10 to try and save the fron tires under breaking. I might play around with suspension settings tonight to try and reduce the front wear but wondering what is the best approach

I was thinking of softening the front anti roll bars and zeroing camber/toe settings. For suspension should I soften the car and increase the ride height also?

Also for LSD was going to change front to 5/10/5 anyone have any opinions or suggestions as tunning has never been my strong point in GT5.

I used a set up were ride height was very low, springs and roll bars were as low as possible. Just left the rest before handling suffers. Oh yeah I put the LSD for everything to as low as possible. In theory that means the inside tyre in a corner gets an easy job during a turn so it won't wear as much. Alternative is maximum which gives understeer

 

[Sylar]

I used a set up were ride height was very low, springs and roll bars were as low as possible. Just left the rest before handling suffers. Oh yeah I put the LSD for everything to as low as possible. In theory that means the inside tyre in a corner gets an easy job during a turn so it won't wear as much. Alternative is maximum which gives understeer

Thanks will try out those settings tonight.

 

[hessi]

Hessi, if you want, you can change your car

Thanks - will think about it. One option would be to go for another, more powerful BMW, probably the 135i that I already gave a try at London and dismissed because of the higher tyre wear (about 20% more). I'll think about it and let you know before the next race.

 

[GT5_X2010]

Thanks - will think about it. One option would be to go for another, more powerful BMW, probably the 135i that I already gave a try at London and dismissed because of the higher tyre wear (about 20% more). I'll think about it and let you know before the next race.

You really are a big BMW fan aren't you? of the 1000 cars available you always pick the BMW. and then there is your online status. I'm thinking of changing the Nordschleife race to something so the track is shorter and we are all abit closer together than having a massive 13 mile circuit. Also, I want to throw in two wet races because with our series it not only reduces grip but makes the tyre different and possibly the different wear rates could be exciting. Hessi might even win!! Please offer your suggestions for what tracks can go and what tracks will replace them.

 

[hessi]

You really are a big BMW fan aren't you? of the 1000 cars available you always pick the BMW. and then there is your online status.

Well, I guess I am... living in Munich and having half the family working at BMW has some kind of impact, I suppose. And I've always had at least one BMW in the garage, so there's that.

And a few months ago I decided not to drive any japanese cars in GT5 anymore - granted, that brings down the list of cars considerably, but there are still more than enough. ;-)

 

[funkyDucks]

TGTT will give me plenty of room to skin about when my tires go off.One thing I hate about the next track is that the coners are already named
Also good call on the red flag,I lost 2 positions between the flag being announced and taking off again
EDIT: Can I suggest Suzuka in the rain instead of Nordschielfe

 

[GT5_X2010]

I'm going to go and do some circuit testing for the rain races. Anyone care to join me?

EDIT: testing over. Replacement for nordschleife found. It is Eiger Nordwand in the rain. Also, I got bored and named the races with sponsors and stuff.

 

[xX_F Alonso_Xx]

I would like to join if you still have free spaces. I am undecided on the car but it might be a Renault Clio.

 

[GT5_X2010]

I would like to join if you still have free spaces. I am undecided on the car but it might be a Renault Clio.

your in

 

[Sylar]

Eiger Nordwand should be interesting in the wet. After playing around with the set-up and taking your advice I think I found a set-up which has slightly better tire wear. Also tried removing the high RPM turbo I had installed and replacing it with the standard one. I lose about 50bhp so lap times are slower but think the tires may last longer due to less wheelspin on exit of corners so might keep it removed for now at least.

Hopefully tires should last to the end this times although will still have to try and conserve them through the first half of race to avoid losing 20secs per laps which was happening at end of London last week due to burning out tires with 10 laps to go.

 

[Sylar]

Hi, not sure if I will be able to make tomorrows race hopefully I will but have to attend something which won't be over until 6:30. I might be able to make it back in time for the 7:00 race start but it will depend on traffic. Hope I can make it back in time as was really looking forward to racing on the Top Gear track.