iRacing 24h of Spa - 22nd July 2017 | 13:00 GMT (3 Viewers)

[Tom]

Ok, I've done a stint with both the Mercedes and BMW, both with the current setups floating around.

• BMW felt more fun and racy straight out of the box. I felt I needed to add a bit more pre-load to Falcon's V2 setup to help with low speed entry-mid corner stability, as I felt the need to trail throttle to gain confidence. It either worked, or I just needed more practice as those issues went away over a full stint. Pace was in the 22's on a clear track, and the tyres only felt iffy in the last few laps. It wasn't rock solid, but it was manageable.
• The Mercedes felt heavier and had more understeer through mid & high speed corners. It felt much heavier than the BMW (it probably is), so I felt the need to push it harder to get good laptimes, which lead to mistakes and lots of off tracks. The 2 sessions had different grip levels, but I think it would be quicker over 1 lap, but about the same over a stint with more mistakes with that setup. It feels like it has more potential with further setup tweaks.

The BMW feels ready to go, although the Mercedes must have more time in it without it becoming a death trap. If the race was tomorrow I'd go for the BMW; but I'm going to spend more time with the Mercedes tomorrow to try and bring some more speed & fun out of it.

 

[Bassetts]

That lines up with my experience too Dutch, around mid way into a stint there was a marked increase of losing the rear when exiting the Lowe speed corners when getting on the power.

This does concern me a little as I had a few bumps with the barriers last night in these situations.

 

[falcon2081]

So just finished a full stint on the BMW. I made some more small tweaks to the setup. I also played around a little more with the diff preload. I will send the new BMW setup tomorrow during practice. First let's take a look at the lap times and optimal for the session.

I managed to improve to a 19.7. It's obvious I am having issues at Les Combes. So I need to work on that. One big thing that I've been working on is immediate outright pace. As you can see my first 2 laps are practically my fastest. Before I would post my fastest time either in the middle or later in the stint/race. This will let me keep up with the front runners pretty much.

The car overall felt good in the stint. You do have to drive smooth otherwise the tires will get greasy if you overdrive the car. This is applicable for both the BMW and the Mercedes. At the end of the stint my thread wear was around 81% front and 77-78% on the rears. Throttle management is key here as the traction control on the Bimmer isn't as great but we all know that. I have my doubts about double stinting the tires but its something we have to try out.

Couple notes:
Pit Stop - Full fuel and tires is 1:05
Fuel per lap - 1.10 gallons / 4.16 Liters
25 Lap Stints. Could be extended to 26 if you save fuel but it would be super close.

 

[Bassetts]

Would love to see a video capture of one of your good laps falcon, would be interesting to see a lap using the RSR setup, I'm a good 1-2 seconds slower, so would be great to study a replay or two while i'm away on business for the week, to see if I can see any areas where I'm substantially losing time, or if i just suck consistently through the whole lap

I'll be living vicariously through everyone the next few days, couldn't have picked a worst time for a business trip

 

[Pamellaaa]

Does the throttle shape setting do anything that could help with throttle control at all?

 

[Yorkie_065]

Does the throttle shape setting do anything that could help with throttle control at all?

Possibly maybe, depends how you use the throttle. 10 is a straight linear line, where the amount of throttle input = the amount of available torque going to the wheels (25% throttle = 25% torque, 50% throttle = 50 torque, 100% throttle = 100% torque), where-as 1 gives it more of an S shape to the throttle curve (25% throttle = 20% torque, 50% throttle = 50% torque etc). In doing the S shape curve though, under 50% will give you less torque than the input you are making, where-as over 50% will give you more (75% throttle = 80% torque). It's quite good if you are heavy initially with your right foot, but I personally was struggling with it when I switched from 10 to 1 mid way through a stint to test it. That was a bad idea in itself as I'd be used to putting in X amount of throttle to get X torque, but was instead resulting in Y amount of torque. Anywhere between 1 and 2 is a mix of both.

 

[Pamellaaa]

Possibly maybe, depends how you use the throttle. 10 is a straight linear line, where the amount of throttle input = the amount of available torque going to the wheels (25% throttle = 25% torque, 50% throttle = 50 torque, 100% throttle = 100% torque), where-as 1 gives it more of an S shape to the throttle curve (25% throttle = 20% torque, 50% throttle = 50% torque etc). In doing the S shape curve though, under 50% will give you less torque than the input you are making, where-as over 50% will give you more (75% throttle = 80% torque). It's quite good if you are heavy initially with your right foot, but I personally was struggling with it when I switched from 10 to 1 mid way through a stint to test it. That was a bad idea in itself as I'd be used to putting in X amount of throttle to get X torque, but was instead resulting in Y amount of torque. Anywhere between 1 and 2 is a mix of both.

Sounds interesting, is this something that can be changed in car then and not locked across the whole race? Typically I have too heavy a right foot on corner exit so it might be worth playing with.

 

[Tom]

Yup, tc, abs, brake balance, fuel map, and throttle shape can be tweaked in the car. After a driver swap, the settings are carried over from the last driver, so it's worth getting into a habit of checking them when sat in the pits.

 

[Yorkie_065]

Just tried out double stinting tyres on Falc's latest V3 setup (or one, having just spoken to him I don't think I was on the right one).

Was struggling to be consistent due to traffic and mistakes but towards the end of the first stint, despite the tyres degrading I was feeling like I was getting more comfey and into more of a rhythm. As it got to around 30L's remaining, there was the odd sign of the rears starting to spin up a little bit more but it was easily manageable, and just being smooth resulted in decent times.

Took on full fuel, didn't change the tyres and went out again and was in the low-mid 22's and felt reasonably comfortable. Had one or two moments where going flat through the 2nd part of Pouhon with a little bit too much steering lock for the tyres will light up the rears and cause it to start to rotate. The stint ended 8 laps in when going through eau rouge as normal and car felt fine. Coming out through the top of Raidillon with all the load on the car to the right, I just clipped the astro-turf on the outside and that was it. Car snapped left, no way of saving it and big crash in the wall. Thus, come to the conclusion that double stinting tyres is a no go!

The last few laps were full tank, fresh tyres at the end of the session before it finished on lap 41. At that point, there was only about 4 or 5 drivers in the session so clear track, in a rhythm and fresh rubber was able to get some decent times in despite the track being quite heavily rubbered.

Shall give it another go tomorrow with Falc's latest setup he's literally just given me as I think I was on the wrong one. See how things go with that.

 

[GioVtec]

@falcon2081 Where can I find the latest version of the BMW Z4 set up?

Cant see it in the iRacing Set up Sync Database

 

[falcon2081]

@GioVtec Its in the file browser. Although that one is now outdated as I made more tweaks.

 

[GioVtec]

@GioVtec Its in the file browser. Although that one is now outdated as I made more tweaks.

Lol, have no idea what are you talking about, I was searching in the iRacing Setup Sync website team set ups.

 

[m4nu]

I agree with gio here. Can we try to stick with setup sync instead of the transfer area?

 

[GioVtec]

Well, did another solo test session (with Falcon's V1 set up), race pace mid 21's to lows 22's, tyres started dying in the last 40lts (10.2gls). I'm gaining confidence on my driving, hope that doesn't change in the official race .

 

[falcon2081]

@GioVtec In our teamspeak there is a channel called file browser. Right click it and then open browser and you will see the file there.

 

[m4nu]

@GioVtec In our teamspeak there is a channel called file browser. Right click it and then open browser and you will see the file there.

Jesus... Do not use this area for sharing setups! We have setup sync for that!

 

[Pamellaaa]

@GioVtec , @Alex du Plessis and @1185323118 I have done a few minor tweaks to falcons latest settings to try and make things a bit more stable and forgiving for us on the long runs - I personally find it a little easier to drive, roughly the same speed but more forgiving on corner exit and through Eau-Rouge and Blanchimont. Could I ask you guys to also give this a quick try and let me know what you think and which setup you would be more comfortable with for the race please? I reckon the sooner we can all agree on a setup the better.

I have tried to generate a link through Setup Sync, I have no real idea how to use this though so apologies if it doesn't work:

http://iracingsetupsync.nickthissen.nl/Q/1GI4B

Let me know if you have issues with this and I will try to rework it.

I assume setup sync is supposed to give us a place that everyone can access through the application? if so I can't find it even though I believe I have requested and been granted access - anyone got any ideas or am I just doing it wrong?

Also @1185323118 how is your safety rating/licence coming along, will it be ready for Saturday (I assume Saturday is the cut off?)

 

[GioVtec]

@Pamellaaa thanks for the share, I'll give it a try.

BTW are there any plans for RSR practice sessions?

 

[Pamellaaa]

@Pamellaaa thanks for the share, I'll give it a try.

BTW are there any plans for RSR practice sessions?

No worries, we need to work out who will qualify and start the race as well, from what I understand highest iRating should qualify to get the best split so I guess that will be you? (I am about 1650 at the moment but this should be higher after a few BSS races on Thurs/Fri) and you are also about half a second quicker than me from current times I think.

In terms of practice sessions we have been on most nights for the last few days, I am not around tonight but will be Thurs and Fri. Official sessions are available now but @falcon2081 has hosted one or two as required and I know @ramiboo was talking about it too.

 

[falcon2081]

I should have one up today. I think me and yorkie are going to test some fuel stint stuff.