GT400: Winter Testing-CLOSED

[Snyder005]

Hmm, the tires last actually pretty long, its the gas that runs out first.  Made it about 40 seconds into lap 15, and the Renault ran out of gas.  Looks like a 3 stopper. 

[Spiny Anteater]

I did the same test yesterday in the Miura, and got similar results. Coughing and sluttering started just before the hairpin on lap 16, so I guess I'll be 3 stopping too. Mind you, the tyres were yellow by then too but I was only losing about 0.5-1.0 seconds/lap so they weren't as much of an issue.

As for the snap-oversteer issue, coming back to the car after Christmas it felt more like the car was just a bit too twitchy at the rear. I also realised from looking at the damper settings that I'd lowered the rear settings to aid traction out of the corners. So I raised rear bump and rebound by 0.1, slightly stiffened the front suspension, slightly softened the rear ARB and reduced the decel from 25 to 20%. All those changes made the car much less twitchy over bumps while still maintaining good turn in. Too good it could be argued as I have to adjust my thinking from my other cars and turn in later than usual or I hit the inside kerb. I had a best of 2:07.2xx, but the splits say that a high 2:06 is possible. Having said that, I was carrying some aero damage on that potential 2:06 lap, so I think I could get into the mid 2:06's on a perfect lap.

[bimmerlovere39]

Spiny, its worth checking your ride height, too.  Sometimes you just need a bit more than default. 

[fndrbndr]

Yeah, especially at Sebring.

[bimmerlovere39]

And the 'Ring.

I just ran the enduro test.  Heidi started sputtering at the exit of the second to last turn on lap 16.  Front tires were ~78% wear, rears ~76% wear.  I made it into the pits just barely.  Turns out that 3.2 liters spinning at 8500rpm can chug some premium.

New Times:
Heidi - E46 M3
Sunset: 89.679
Sebring: 128.033

 

[fndrbndr]

Tested my 944 there, and also lost it on lap16, on the back straight.

[fndrbndr]

As an aside, I'm starting to wonder what car to run in the actual series.  As was established earlier, the build will be locked, save for tire compound and rims, so I'm toying with a few cars...

Porsche 944 T- This is built with no aero.  It's fun to drive, and quite capable at 318 hp.  It is, however, somewhat unpredictable.  It bested both of the other cars at Sebring and Daytona, but I'm not sure it's really suited to an enduro.  It'll definitely live on as a rival for Heidi, though, another non-aero German sportscar.

RX 7-This thing is a bit down on power, only running 303 hp.  It is, however, absolutely brilliant to drive, and very consistent.  It has all the aero bits, so top speed suffers a good bit, but I can turn in twenty laps within a tenth of each other.

Camaro SS-I thought this would be the car, with 385 hp and full aero, but surprisingly, the RX7 dominates it pretty much everywhere, even on the power tracks.

I'll be building out more, but this is what I've got so far.

[Snyder005]

I'm running the Renault 5 Turbo, with full aero, and stock rear bumper.  V12 Silon95 sent me a very good set-up for King Cobra, and I tweaked it a bit, and used some aspects from the V12 Mugello set-up to make-it run on Sim tires better.

I don't think it will stand a chance on the longer tracks especially nurburgring, but at the shorter acceleration tracks it should tear out of the turns much faster than any other car.

[BarbecuePete]

I'm still going to plump for the Ferrari GTO, it will probably lose out at the twistier tracks (Mugello / Laguna) but Sebring, The Ring and Road Atlanta it really flys and it's a hoot to drive...

Of the other cars i've tried, the NSX just felt a bit gutless and nothing special, I did kinda like the 2 RX-7's I tried but neither of them have got close to the GTO.

The only other real contender has been the Clio V6 but again it just didn't quite match up to the GTO... One thing though is that I can't change the tyres, Pirelli's are all I can fit on with this build, (but then it does have 395hp) but they do the job nicely and work well over longer distances, I think when I ran the Sebring enduro test and the car started coughing as I came onto the back straight on lap 16 the tyres were only around 50-60% worn...

I still need to work on tunes for the other tracks, although it goes well at Rd Atlanta just with extra downforce added to the Sebring tune...

[fndrbndr]

I tried out a couple of Porsches.

914/6
Sebring 127.742
Daytona 90.298

944 T
Sebring 127.912
Daytona 90.243


The 914/6 will do better on twisty tracks, and bested my RX7 on several of them.  I ran the 914/6 on essentially a stock tune, just taking a quick guess at camber, diff, and a standard brake adjustment.  I'm pretty sure there's more time in this car at Sebring and Daytona just from putting together a good tranny for it.  I'm kinda sad that I don't have a reason to run the 944, because I was starting to like the paintjob.

[fndrbndr]

The guys were out on the track, getting laps in.  Fndr is just pulling in after setting a new PB.

Doc:  How's it feel?

Fndr:  There's more time in it.

Doc:  Isn't there always?  What should we do?

Fndr:  Seems a little loose in the slow stuff.

Doc:  We can mess with the springs in a minute.  Might have to mess with that rear wing a little, too. 

Fndr:  I'd rather you didn't.  The rear is nice and planted.  I don't really have any understeer, even at speed.

Doc:  Well, it looked pretty decent out there.  How's turn-in?

Fndr:  A little rough, since there's no front aero.  Maybe get a thinner front roll bar?

Doc:  That'll work. 

And that's when things got interesting.  A multi-colored Supra slid sideways into pit lane.  A kid in a mesh tank top and a dog collar jumped out.

Tre:  Yo!  What you do to your ride, man?

Fndr:  Just about to switch out the gears and take out the front sway bar.  You running the GT 400?

Tre:  Naw, dawg, I'm too high class for this.  Your cars don't turn, bro. 

Fndr:  OK, I didn't get that first part, but . . .

Tre:  Your cars ain't got no style!  Man, I got side skirts, a spoiler, sweet hood...and you got a old clunker wit a wing.  Me and my boys are rockin this look all over DBCC.  You know you're jealous.

Fndr:  This is a test mule.  I built it to, you know, be fast. 

Tre:  In a straight line.  You got all that funky heavy stuff in there, like those metal bars.  And you bolted a fire extinguisher to the floor?  You need to put that car on a diet.

Fndr:  Yes, and I'm sure you're using lightweight speakers in that monstrosity of yours.

Tre:  Aw, naw, oh no you didn't!  Step off, man, I know karate!

Fndr:  Um, yeah, and several other japanese words, I'm sure.  Tell ya what, I'll do you a favor.  We'll load up the trailers and head up to Maple Valley.  In the mean time, I'm sure some of the guys have painted their cars to get ready for the season.  We'll show off some stuff up at MV.

Tre:  You're on, dawg.

Fndr:  The name's...ah, forget it.  Leave now, and I won't tell you what that character on your hood REALLY means.

_______________________________________________________

The twist!

Run Maple Valley.  Also, show off any of the cars that you've painted.  I'll set up a poll thread after we've had a few days to post our efforts.  Show this ricer what for!

[chuckrateez]

   Finally got a chance to mess around with this one last night.  Tried various cars, and surprised myself by setting my best times with the Porsche GT3 996.  I mean, I don't even like that car.   

   I had built it up quite a while ago, and don't even recall what I used to tune it (maybe the Porsche-tweaked version of F'dog's calculator?).  I had gotten some experience driving the 911 Carrera a while back, so I tried to apply what I remembered from that.  I also tweaked the differential and set it way high (99%/60%), as that worked nicely on the Carrera.

   I'm still bringing up the rear, but I set new PB at both tracks, and there's more to be had if I ever get a totally clean run.  Now, I see that we're also gonna run at MV.  Oh my ... I can see her all over the track there. 

   Porsche GT3 996:
      Sebring: 132.027
      Sunset:   93.354


     Chuck

[BarbecuePete]

Tre:  Aw, naw, oh no you didn't!  Step off, man, I know karate!

Yeah so what…. I'm deadly at Origami and Karaoke... 


I'm always off the pace at MV but I do have a scoreboard time with the GTO from a MP race I had the other week, hopefully I can knock a bit more time off and break into the 88's... that could be a big ask though as I've only just got down to running in the 89's... 

Maple Valley - Ferrari GTO - 89.390

Here's a piccy from my paintshop... I'll try and get some of my other cars posted up too..

[fndrbndr]

Pete, very nice paint.

Aside:  Yeah, I tried to have fun with every ricer stereotype I could.  For those who don't know, Daytona Beach Community College (DBCC) is located across the street and a half-mile down the road from the track.  My advisor's office was there (part of a joint venture with UCF), and I saw some TACKY cars there, even a few riced-out domestic rides...Focus with Lambo doors, anyone?  lol

[Open2nd]

I'm sorry to keep the off-track excursion going, but when I lived in Orlando I saw quite a lot of rice, but more-so it seemed like that place was boost crazy!

I saw an MX-6 with a massive intercooler on a few occasions and that thing was spooling quite hard from the sound of things.

I don't know how familiar you are with 50/East and West Colonial, but there was a spot at the intersection of 50 & Semoran that a lot of rice hung out at.  There was the occasional real deal, but me and a lot of other 3rd gen Fbody guys did our own thing there... Good times.

/threadjack