Returned? I Never left... well actually I did leave because I went on a holiday but that's beside the point.
Was able to safely gold all the trials in between my holiday but the laps weren't anything special and I was a bit short on time, so figured there was no need to make posts for them.
However, now that I'm back into the routine, I've been able to dedicate some time to the time trials again and here are the results.
And holy understeer what are these combinations? I fear for the well-being of my controller driving these cars. The understeer is so severe I feel like I'm bending the controller trying to turn more than what the cars are willing to do.
The Viper around Autopolis is an interesting combination. Always loved the Viper so I jumped straight into this one and was quickly into the top 500, but getting to my final time was not so easy. My final time of 2:00.199 sort of came out of no where, my previous best was a 2:00.484 and even my optimum was a .3XX, so to find an extra tenth and a half was quite a surprise, couldn't actually tell you where that extra improvement came from, but I assume it was just generally carrying more speed particularly through the final sector. I lost maybe a tenth in the final corner as I didn't quite get the turn-in point right and then was a bit slow to get on the power, but otherwise it was definitely a very clean lap, and I doubt I'll be able to improve on it. That time has given me a current ranking of 66th, which I hope holds for a top 100!
And then onto Group 1 at Circuit de La Sarthe, and specifically the Nissan R92CP. Again, the understeer from this thing is really immense. I've never struggled to get a car through T4 flat out before the esses. Of course Terte Rouge is always a struggle to get through within track limits and quickly. Even getting the car stopped for the Dunlop Chicane was a challenge, and that is before you have to think about trying to maintain enough momentum to exit in 3rd gear without losing too much speed. Then you get to the track limits on the 2 Mulsanne Chicanes being marked by what I guess is an invisible line. Coming into Mulsanne Corner, I missed my brake marker and had to let off the brakes slightly which is less than ideal. Indianapolis was about the only corner I could do consistently on the whole track, followed by Arnage where I accidentally short shifted out of 2nd gear about 20km/h too early. By the time I had arrived at the Porsche curves, I could feel the nerves creeping in. I was able to get through there cleanly, although I think I could've got through there a little faster. Finally arriving at the Ford chicanes, nerves were at fever pitch, I was completely tensed up and lost probably 2 tenths through there. Slowed down way too much for the second chicane and bogged down trying to exit in 3rd gear. Happy with a 3:27.338, but I think there is definitely a 26 in me, its just a matter of extracting it which is easier said than done. Currently ranked 183rd, but hoping to improve here. Kind of crazy I'm in the top 200 whilst being 4.5 seconds off the #1 time.
Instead I still sit a good half second of that one with my best "clean" lap being a 27.7.
