Taming the Pendulum - D Class Lancia Stratos

[Spiny Anteater]

For some reason, I'm getting a real run of 6's out of the random number generator at the moment, which means I'm in a run of D Classers. As a result, I'm slowly sliding down the hotlap scoreboard, but that doesn't really matter.

The latest car for D Class is the Lancia Stratos. Like the '07 Civic, this starts of high up in D, so there's a limit to what you can do with it. In fact, this car is even more limited because the PI goes up faster with the platform parts, and you can't even use the spoilers to knock the PI back down because a) there's only a front spoiler available and the last thing this car needs is more front grip and b) that front spoiler adds to the PI to the extent that it bumps it into C Class. At least the car looks different, there is nothing in the game which looks anything like it

As has been commented on before, and as you can see from the picture, the challenge with this is in controlling the back end. I think I'm nearly there, but if you run it stock this car will swing around on you like a 911 on heat. Unfortunately, it's not the fastest car out there either, so it looks like it will get run on the ranking tracks then left alone for now. But, it looks like it's not a complete disaster either (I suspect the QR will not be dissimilar to the Civic when I've finished), so I will definitely be keeping it there for when you want to run something a little bit different.

Additionally, there will only be one build for this due to the PI contraints. One day I'll be able to build a car which isn's so limited And there'll only be one basic tune as a result.

If anyone does venture into this car, please let me know how you find it. I really like hearing the feedback of how people found the earlier tunes.

[Spiny Anteater]

The build (and tune) for all the tracks - there just wasn't enough PI to do much else

Upgrades:
Power: None
Platform: All Race upgrades, excluding weight reduction
Tyres: Stock tyres on stock size Speedline Corse Type 2109 rims
Aero: none

Stats:
Power: 199 bhp
Torque: 167 lb-ft
Weight: 2076lbs

Tune:
Tyres: 30/29
Gears: FD - 4.41, 1-6 - 2.89, 1.99, 1.57, 1.28, 1.09, 0.93 (Mugello Short, although Road Atlanta Short and Tsukuba (5 Speed) are very similar)
Camber: -0.9/-0.8
Toe: 0/-0.2
Caster: 5.4
ARBs: 12.62/12.92
Springs: 365.7/376.3
Ride Height: 5.5/5.5
Rebound: 6.2/6.4
Bump: 3.6/3.6
Aero: N/A
Braking: 49% Front/100% Pressure
Diff: 35% Accel/20% Decel

Benchmark:
0-60: 4.963s
0-100: 13.533s
Top Speed: 137.6mph
60-0: 121.3ft
120-0: 327.4ft
g's@60: 0.91
g's@120: 0.88

[Serial]

Ooh, I have a past with this car.  I used it in one of our series over at Exodus.  I fared pretty well, although it was a real b**** to drive.  This was at B650, with NO AERO (per series regs.).  Here's the results list:

http://www.exodusracing.net/index.php/topic,1052.0.html

And a quick look at the ol' girl.  It still sits in my garage...I may upgrade it to B700 to be used as an online car.  My only tip to driving it...be VERY careful with the left stick.  Full lock = not your friend.

[Spiny Anteater]

That's a nice looking pointy car you've got there Serial. I have to be honest though and say I think the driver had a lot to do with you winning there , especially with that other Stratos being quite well down the field. I have a feeling you would do pretty well in it online, even if it is an "interesting" drive.

At least my car did manage to show some potential tonight though. Last night it struggled, even on the one twisty track I tried it on. The car has plenty of acceleration, but with stock tyres there's not a lot of grip and i ended up trying to tune out the oversteer. Although it's still there, it is more manageable now, and I think I succeeded in preventing myself going overboard and bringing in loads of understeer (which is present on cold tyres with this tune, but gies once they get warmed up).

[Serial]

Well honestly I haven't tried your tune yet..but I will say you must be "brave" yo be running stiffer springs and ARB in the rear than in front..."brave" indeed...

[JuanOfMany]

I just tried this toon out online last night on MV2. seemed to be rather competitive, actually. my wheelnut loosened somewhat on the last lap, and I gave up 1st and 2nd to a Chevelle and a 2000GT in the last turn. was doing well until then, though.

[Spiny Anteater]

Well honestly I haven't tried your tune yet..but I will say you must be "brave" yo be running stiffer springs and ARB in the rear than in front..."brave" indeed...

lol.

I don't know if brave is correct, but I first ran it with a stock tune and it just wanted to spin at the faintest sniff of a corner. A modified Feuerdog calculator improved that, but i still wasn't happy, so it was a case of easing back on the diff settings and softening the rear springs/ARBs and stiffening the front springs until I had a balance I felt was driveable (I think I might have knocked a point or 2 out of the rear bump as well). I didn't want to go too far as in my mind the two main strengths of the Stratos are it's ability to turn on a sixpence (although that can cause problems sometimes too ) and the acceleration out of slow corners. I know the second of those is aided by the softer rear suspension, but that hinders the turn in. I feel I have a balance which suits me, although I think that other people may want to soften the rear some more.

@Juan - I'm glad it's proving cometitive. It seems to me that it does best on the twisty stuff - at Mugello Short it was just 0.002 seconds off my best time in any car. MV2 is the one rank track I've not run it on - your comments suggest it could be better than I expected. Sad to say that most of my tunes come with a slackening wheel nut - it usually strikes last lap when I'm running too

[fndrbndr]

I really like this car.  I desperately wanted it to fit into the tiny terror spec.

[Spiny Anteater]

I can imagine why you wanted a Tiny Terror version, and it would fit in concept-wise. Unfortunately, I think performance-wise it would have been a bit of an oddball. Not in a dominating or being-totally-lame sort of way, but the strengths of this car are very different to the Tiny Terrors.

One thing I did forget to mention is that peak horsepower in this is way below the redline (6900rpm vs. 8100rpm). Generally I aim to change gear at about 7500 rpm to make the best use of the powerband.

And, as it didn't turn out to be my best car on any type of track so wasn't really helping the leaderboard push (now more of a leaderboard stall ), I ran the random number generator again. Not only did another 6 appear (D Class again), but it's taken me back to the Trans Am. Looks like I'm headed for the Flowing Tracks in that beast

[Spiny Anteater]

Almost forgot to put up the times. Of the 4 random D Class cars run so far, this one has come a resounding 3rd on all 3 types of tracks, and just edges the Civic in the QR (by 0.005 seconds). That means that the 4 cars I've run are all within 1.6 seconds on the QR, pretty surprising when you think of the difference in the amount of work you can do at them. But, time for the times...

QR: 211.755
PR: 217.583
FR: 164.878
TR: 161.153

[BarbecuePete]

I built up a B700 version of this car last night ready for another series race... Its pretty quick and stable in this class, Its running less than 250bhp but full WR makes it a very fast car on acceleration and with Sport tires it now really sticks in the turns, im running a 40% front bias on my toon and I landed on the same toe figures that you used on this D-class one, the -0.2 on the back really helps make this car a lot more stable and less prone to oversteer, it will still go if you push really hard but its also fun in that its suprisingly easy to control... (well compared to standard anyway!! LOL)

[BarbecuePete]

Ran the car on all the reverse snakes last night except King Cobra and got well into the top 1500 on all of them with a 973rd on Diamond Back, this car was so much fun to drive round those courses... it changes direction instantly and its just so light and agile, I found myself doing 7 or more laps on them without even realising... Yes, I enjoyed driving the snake tracks... Now there's something I never thought i'd say!! LOL

[Spiny Anteater]

Nice work. I can imagine that this would be a good car in B Class with the tyre upgrades on it. In D Class that is really it's main failing - lack of grip. Being light you get good acceleration and as you said, the turn in is amazing. The only problem is that it is a bit too good and I ended up having to tune some of that out to make the on-throttle oversteer more manageable.

And, like you, I found it to be at its best on the Twisty tracks.

[BarbecuePete]

Cheers Spiny, I was suprised to be so high up the LB as I've not really run these tracks..

Yeah, this car really needs the tires on it to come good, I ran it on stock tires one time while I was building it up, i'd only got as far as putting the platform parts and WR on it and I really struggled to keep it on the track... well more like, from going round and round in circles... lol