ATAQ - a time trial experiment

[Gorefast]

THOUGHTS ON WEIGHT
Definitely light cars are strong this round. Blip's 1:12.4 in a fly-weight NSX proves that (). I ran a marginally heavier one to 1:12.5 last week.

Also, I tested the Ford GT40 MKI which is definitely, definitely, not a racecar with the roadcar tag I started with ~1300kg and kept lowering the weight. The more weight I took off, the better the lap times.The argument against this says that I was just learning the car and track, but either way, the lighter car was on the edge of 1:12s with 1966 brakes.

I believe low weight helps with braking distances and cornering speeds; maybe because you're able to get the car settled and back on the throttle more quickly.

AWD cars don't seem to care, perhaps because their traction advantage already allows them to get on the power more quickly as long as the driver can line up their corner exit correctly. But I haven't tested a lighter Gallardo yet. Oh, and I am running the Gallardo because it looked quite fast in Round 3. It rotates nicely too. Maybe it can be faster than the Audi R8 V10 🔥

POWER TUNING
I use both the ECU and Power Limiter. I decrease HP using the Power Limiter first because that leaves me with the same horsepower, but more torque. That's why my setting often look like ECU: 100 / Power Limiter 70.

Not sure whether having more torque at the same power is good for all cars, but it definitely helped the rev-happy 991 GT3 and my R8 V10 - because they don't have much torque to begin with. I noticed my higher torque ghost consistently pull away from me in the big hairpin at Road Atlanta no matter how well I took it.

Example of this maybe not working: the Pagani Huayra should be faster than it is with 500+hp / 1084nm (800lb-ft) of torque

@Gorefast and @ikon_313
My laziness has pushed me to create a spreadsheet conversion tool.

The formula I'm using is Weight (KG) / 2.6084. You should be able to input a car's desired weight and get the regulation power. I've attached a Microsoft Excel file. Please double check my math.

I am near the end of my busy real life week, and have had zero time / energy to test cars this week. Looking forward driving and tuning again in a few days.

Unfortunately I cannot use Excel at the moment but as I added a bhp number at the rules on first post I used a conversion factor of 1.34102 that led to 2,6099 (=2,61). What did you different or I wrong?

Thank you for your input that would help If I would have seat time! The coming two weeks might be better...

 

[bliprunner]

THOUGHTS ON WEIGHT
Definitely light cars are strong this round. Blip's 1:12.4 in a fly-weight NSX proves that (). I ran a marginally heavier one to 1:12.5 last week.

Also, I tested the Ford GT40 MKI which is definitely, definitely, not a racecar with the roadcar tag I started with ~1300kg and kept lowering the weight. The more weight I took off, the better the lap times.The argument against this says that I was just learning the car and track, but either way, the lighter car was on the edge of 1:12s with 1966 brakes.

I believe low weight helps with braking distances and cornering speeds; maybe because you're able to get the car settled and back on the throttle more quickly.

AWD cars don't seem to care, perhaps because their traction advantage already allows them to get on the power more quickly as long as the driver can line up their corner exit correctly. But I haven't tested a lighter Gallardo yet. Oh, and I am running the Gallardo because it looked quite fast in Round 3. It rotates nicely too. Maybe it can be faster than the Audi R8 V10 🔥

POWER TUNING
I use both the ECU and Power Limiter. I decrease HP using the Power Limiter first because that leaves me with the same horsepower, but more torque. That's why my setting often look like ECU: 100 / Power Limiter 70.

Not sure whether having more torque at the same power is good for all cars, but it definitely helped the rev-happy 991 GT3 and my R8 V10 - because they don't have much torque to begin with. I noticed my higher torque ghost consistently pull away from me in the big hairpin at Road Atlanta no matter how well I took it.

Example of this maybe not working: the Pagani Huayra should be faster than it is with 500+hp / 1084nm (800lb-ft) of torque

@Gorefast and @ikon_313
My laziness has pushed me to create a spreadsheet conversion tool.

The formula I'm using is Weight (KG) / 2.6084. You should be able to input a car's desired weight and get the regulation power. I've attached a Microsoft Excel file. Please double check my math.

I am near the end of my busy real life week, and have had zero time / energy to test cars this week. Looking forward driving and tuning again in a few days.

I did a 1.12.0 in the NSX as well... but decided to keep this replay a secret 😉

(No, actually I wanted to hit 1.11 before sharing but it didn't happen... I was only .008 away but once I started to mess about with setup I got a bit lost...)

The car is really nicely settled around the fast turns, the final turn is basically flat and it slides nicely with all four wheels, no snapping. Maybe I'll put a turbo back in and see what happens...

 

[rheinaoi]

Unfortunately I cannot use Excel at the moment but as I added a bhp number at the rules on first post I used a conversion factor of 1.34102 that led to 2,6099 (=2,61). What did you different or I wrong?

Thank you for your input that would help If I would have seat time! The coming two weeks might be better...

No worries. I can convert to other file formats if needed. As for the math, I think it's me being inconsistent with rounding when working with conversions. Interestingly, I am definitely using the 1.34102 rate. I've actually memorized it because I use it so much

As for @bliprunner, I and my pit crew are cheering for your NSX. Heck yeah!!🔥🔥

 

[bliprunner]

Made the 1.11's finally... took some photos and messed around, then forgot to save the replay! 😭

At least the time went on the leaderboard. Nevermind, I can do it again... hopefully....

Will share the tune later, I'd be interested to know if there's any simple tweaks to make the car better. It's been tiny gains for the last 0.5, and it could just be a case of driving a solid lap and all my tweaking hasn't been that effective.

I even put the fattest possible tyre on for this run but it didn't feel better over the kerbs. The rest of the lap felt planted though and there were clearly no negatives...

 

[bliprunner]

Here’s the tune, would be interested to know anyone’s opinion. Is there any obvious improvement to be made?

(Wide car, Gears are stock ratio, only max speed adjusted. Tyres are fattest possible on Spoon rims, I think 15”)

 

[bliprunner]

Replay now saved with usual tags 🙌🏻

 

[rheinaoi]

New personal best in the 991 GT3. 1:11.8
1150kg / 437hp

Into the 1:11s, finally!! The replay is shared with the usual tags #ataq #ataqrwd #rheinaoi

I really, really should go hide in the 4WD and FF class

Heavier cars can creep ahead on the main straightaway, but the light cars have so much maneuverability and can carry so much more momentum through the final sector that the power difference does not matter.

The same pattern keeps emerging from my tests. This goes beyond getting more familiar with the car, IMO.
Drive > Lower Weight / Power > Faster lap time > Repeat

The lower the weight, the lower my lap times.
Pagani Huayra - 1:12.8 > 1:12.07
Lamborghini Veneno - 1:12.8 > 1:12.19

Also, it looks like longer, lazier gears help. The less shifting on the straightaways, the better, because of our "slow" gearboxes.

Any setting that can allow us to fly safely over the sausage curbs (without penalties 🫠 ) in that silly chicane will make the lap times fall.

@bliprunner Nothing sticks out at me about your tune that needs improvement. With the weight in the front, and the camber, it looks like you calmed down the NSX's willingness to rotate and got it to be more consistent. Also, good idea on the downforce - nice compromise of high enough to make it through the two high speed corners, but also taking drag into consideration. And your very competitive top speed down the main straight reflects that. My downforce is 215 / 275; perhaps overly aggressive.

Braking sensitivity seems high considering the amount of ballast you have near the front. But only lower it if you really want more rotation coasting and coming off the brakes.

You can try higher Negative Camber while keeping the same ratio. Something like 2.4 / 2.6. I believe you get a little more grip while turning, but you risk lengthening your braking distances and slightly compromising acceleration. Though I only notice difference when I really play with the ratio between the two.

Let's go Team Blip / NSX!