Endurance Race Night Time

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Shoe67

Shoe67

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Shoe_67
Have completed 3 24h Le mans races, and I am finally tackling the Nurburgring using an xj13 (extremely close race). For the first 5hours, the pescarolo was within 15sec of me the whole time (leading or in 2nd). Now, it is night time, and I'm noticing that my lap times are noticeably faster. I ran consistent 7:58-8:04 (fly lap) when it was during the day. At night I am running 7:51-7:56. Is this because the track actually cools down (giving more grip) when it becomes night? Does PD actually account for track temp? I've also looked back on my Le mans races, and noticed that my fastest time was during the night...so it could be possible.
 
Not sure if that's the case nealcropper.
I myself experienced the same thing when I did the 24hrs of Le Mans.
My best times were set during total darkness.
I've raced the track many times, and it's not that I suddenly got better by doing those first 4-5hrs of the endurance.
If Shoe67 is right: Great feature PD! 👍

*Am about to experience it on the Nordschleife in a couple of hours*
 
I am with superkiwi here. I have done 90+hours on Le mans, and best laps are always at night. Also, I've ran so many laps on Nurburgring before, it's not like I can gain 4sec after a few hours of practice
 
I noticed this too, i finished my 4th le mans last week and my consistent laps were about 1.5 seconds faster at night. Like shoe said, if you run a lot of laps on a track (almost 1600 for me at le mans) you wont just all of sudden find that amount of time. Which i then lost right after about when "happy hour" would be in a real endurance race.
 
Someone explained this Night speed thing. (Mountain Biking at night.)

As you lap you only see a few things on the road ahead... so you brain really does concentrate and focus on the things it needs to see.

During the day you have alot of extra things visable as you drive, (Pine trees, nice cloud, pretty lady... whoops sand trap.) This visual clutter just - confuses things.

Once you get into a hot groove at night you will set some really fast times as your "driver brain" takes over and your "Sightseeing passenger" part of the brain has nothing to interrupt the driver with...

Less is more
 
I know this post is late but this reminds me of Stirling Moss, yet he could do that during the day. (Race brain mode)
 
Infinital-NG
Isn't it usually that the air temp is cooling, providing a more efficient engine.
Click to expand...

Lower air temp = denser air = more power
Lower track temp = less friction/grip between tires and track

So lower temperatures are a trade off of good and bad effects, But I doubt GT factors in air temperatures in engine performance, I don't even think the game has a variable for air temperature at all.
 
Infinital-NG
I thought I had read it here on the forums somewhere about it.
Click to expand...

Nah, it's not really about engine cooling. It's about the air being more dense and containing more oxygen. Colder air is denser than warmer air. Denser air contains more oxygen for a fixed volume than less dense air (more oxygen = better combustion) and also has the potential to expand to a larger volume when heated up.

It's all very marginal though. You're not going to see substantial engine performance differences between 40 degree and 100 degree ambient temperatures, but there is a difference.
 
Actually you will see and feel more power when the air is cooler. If you have a track car or high performance car take it out when its 85 degree's then take it out when its 45 degree's you will feel the difference. Trust me. That is the only time when my Trans Am see's any temp below 70 degrees.
 

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