24H chassis troubles?

MDT · Jun 10, 2005

I'm currently running the 24H LaSarthe 2 endurance.
I'm running the R8.
This car previously completed the 24H at the Nordshleife and felt pretty shaky on a pre-race test at LaSarthe.
I gave it the ol' chassis refresher treatment and even some added stiffness.
I entered LaSarthe 24H 2 and the car felt SPECTACULAR!
I ran about 2 hours of it and decided to hand it over to B-Spec Bob for the night.
Before work this morning I decided to take over for a few laps.
The race was into the 12th hour.
To my suprise the car was virtually uncontrollable at high speeds.
How could the chassis wear out so quickly?
I mean come on....a LMP car can't efficiently complete HALF of a race that it was specifically designed for?
I'm sure this isn't a glitch but rather some poor judgement on car life by Polyphony.

I handed it back over to B-Spec Bob....the instability doesn't seem to effect him.
Pretty sad when you actually have to RELY on your B-Spec driver to finish a race.

Besides the crashing into the wall glitch has anyone noticed strange behaviour like this in an endurance?

bigjoe · Jun 10, 2005

Yeah, I noticed that when I took over my Minolta in the 23rd hour of one of the Sarthe races. B-spec was fine but I had to give up after a lap or two as I was all over the place. My lap time was well over a minute more than the b-spec time. Now I am worried that it is impossible to do the 24 hour Sarthe races in A-spec...

SPM88 · Jun 10, 2005

Did you refresh the chasis before u entered the race!!!!!

Zardoz · Jun 10, 2005

SPM88
Did you refresh the chasis before u entered the race!!!!!

Read his post.

I've seen cars need the refresh after just 500 miles.

dantheman00114 · Jun 10, 2005

thats why i used my forumula gt

gibus · Jun 10, 2005

is the formula gt able to win in bspec mode? i mean it does need to change tires very often..

Arcanelore · Jun 10, 2005

Same thing happened to me with the mercedes gtr (one you win from the DTM)

It didn't need the refresh so went with it to do the Nurburgring 24. I did the first 2 pitstops in aspec, figured good practice for mission 34. Put the B dude on it for a while. Came back like at 16 hours in, and the car was like a bad figure skater with bright red cheeks. But the B dude could handle it like new.
Also the B dude could drive on fluorescent red tires with out much difficulty as well, i tried it and it added 3+ minutes to the lap.

CMcMahon · Jun 10, 2005

gibus
is the formula gt able to win in bspec mode? i mean it does need to change tires very often..

Set speed to 4, and you'll change tires every fourth or fifth lap (depending on whether it's Saarthe I or II), but the AI cars will never pass you, even when you're in the pit.

dorkempi · Jun 10, 2005

Mine formula keeps hitting the DAMN wall at the end of the Mulsanne strait. It just bangs to the right and get's stuck to the wall until the speed reaches about 50km/h. Help me PLEASE!

MDT · Jun 11, 2005

B-Spec Bob is doing great in the Audi Shake-and-Quake.
He's up 10 laps with 10 minutes to go.
I was thinking of driving the last few laps but I'm sure with the state the car is in I wouldn't get much further than Tetra Rouge.
Last 24 Hour race for me....now its on to mission 34.....

msako · Jun 11, 2005

I only use A-Spec and I've completed all three 24H enduros plus most of the other enduros. I drive very fast and very carefully and do not run into anything. My chassis always seems to go away at around 9 hours plus or minus an hour. The car is driveable but gets very squirrely and I need to put super hards up front to control it.

I'm guessing that B-Spec drivers are not so careful and tend to go off the track more than I do which will have a noticable effect on the chassis life. The B-Spec driver must be really banging into things and abusing the car, running over curbs and other bad things to make it undriveable. My cars at the end of 24 hours are in need of a chassis straightening but they are certainly driveable at the maximum speed, albeit a little tough to control, but are never what I would categorize as undriveable.

I suppose it's like buying a new car vs buying a used car. If you are the only driver and you know exactly what the car has been through then you have a clue as to what the car should do. If you buy a used car driven by someone else, you have no idea what that car has been through unless you've sat there and watched for the entire B-Spec time.

inferno · Jun 11, 2005

Yeah, I was thinking that the chassis refresh is needed a bit too frequently. I mean I did three endurances in a row at one point and I had to refresh after each race, but the oil light didn't come on once. I mean, come on. :dunce:

Stevan20 · Jun 11, 2005

msako im doin everything a- spec have not tried b-spec so i agree that if you drive it the whole time you know what it's doin or if you waych the whole time in b-spec.

jamezracer · Jul 20, 2005

ok, I'm currently 7 hours into the la sarth I enduro (a-specing, and switching of with a friend) using the bentley speed 8. it is stock, but with hard tires and chassis stiffening, and oil of course. it had around 300 miles on it when we started, and is now at 1500 miles. easy to control untill the rear tires turn yellowish, then it will spin under braking, and somtimes loose it on the straights on the last lap before a pit thanks to the dfp shaking around. I'll post at the half way point to update you on what's going on with the chassis. and give a full report in the write-ups forum tomorrow. it seems strange that car designed for the abuse of 24 hours can't last that long, well, we shall have to see. wish us luck!

rsmithdrift · Jul 20, 2005

Wait a minute! This is new to me. You have to refresh the chasis more than once??!! We're talking about the 50,000 cr. Refresh that is right next to Chasis Stiffening right? 'Cause I tried clicking that again with my RX-7 after 200 miles of drifting and it said it was already bought. Is there a mile marker when that becomes available again or something? I just can't figure out what you're talking about.

Ezz777 · Jul 20, 2005

rsmithdrift
Wait a minute! This is new to me. You have to refresh the chasis more than once??!! We're talking about the 50,000 cr. Refresh that is right next to Chasis Stiffening right? 'Cause I tried clicking that again with my RX-7 after 200 miles of drifting and it said it was already bought. Is there a mile marker when that becomes available again or something? I just can't figure out what you're talking about.

yeah after a while it will become available again. i don't know how many kms it takes, but doing a long enduro usually buggers the chassis up enough to warrant a refresh.

jamezracer · Jul 20, 2005

ok, half-way point, the chassis feels semi-dead, cornering is fine, but on the bumpy straights, it will loose it, and if you try to brake while the car is unstable, you have about a 50% chance of surviving. lap times are about 1-3 seconds slower, but that might just be the fact that it is midnight, and we are driving conservitavely. once you learn to be gentle at speeds, the car is fine, and I can pull consistent 3:18 - 3:20 second laps 4-5 laps between pits, however, my partner (HondaRacer) is better at driving with orange tires, so he goes for 5 laps, pulling 3:22 - 3:26, while sacrificing a crash every few laps :-P mileage is at 2254. oops, this has turned into a write-up already, so I will stop now, stay tuned in the write-ups forum for a full report!

VyPeR · Jul 20, 2005

dorkempi
Mine formula keeps hitting the DAMN wall at the end of the Mulsanne strait. It just bangs to the right and get's stuck to the wall until the speed reaches about 50km/h. Help me PLEASE!

lol!!! Happens to me ALL the time no matter what car I use, thats why I cant rely on B spcec for the majority of the race.

Zardoz · Jul 20, 2005

rsmithdrift
Wait a minute! This is new to me. You have to refresh the chasis more than once??!! We're talking about the 50,000 cr. Refresh that is right next to Chasis Stiffening right? 'Cause I tried clicking that again with my RX-7 after 200 miles of drifting and it said it was already bought. Is there a mile marker when that becomes available again or something? I just can't figure out what you're talking about.

I've seen cars need it after just 400 miles. It varies, though, from car-to-car, and the effect on handling varies even more.

Generally, it appears that all cars need it after 700 miles, and the faster the car, the worse the effect is.

And yes, I agree that this is kinda lame. PD has overdone this a bit. Real Life race cars do not become dangerously squirrelly after 500 miles of racing. Do the PD orcs think the R8 and Pescarolo cars were all over the road in the closing hours of Le Mans this year? Not hardly...

marlboro man · Jul 20, 2005

Pescarolo is really unstable on the Mulsanne fresh or not. Just like in the real race it is nowhere near as reliable/stable as the Audi.

Old Geezer · Jul 20, 2005

I must agrre with Zardoz completely! 👍 I mean, WHAT WAS "PD" THINKING! :confused:

A random tyre going down which would possibly cause an extra Pit Stop would be MUCH more realistic! :irked:

Just to add more info to MDT's database: I didn't notice the chassis getting "Squirrely" until about the 2000 Mile (3200km) mark when I used my brand new SAUBER vs Formula GT. When it happened however the "Silver Bullet" became a real "Hand Full" over 200 MPH! :eek:

...O.G.