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International A licence 16 - Graduation Test Write-up
Car - Nissan R92C
Track - Circuit de la Sarthe (unchicaned)
Intro
This is one of the tests I had the most difficulty in getting to grips with, so here is my write-up... I will add some screens shortly, and hopefully a replay as well..
I found the key to success in this test was two things... early braking and gentle acceleration. In the write up, I refer to 'turns' when infact they are more accurately described as complexes, since they are each composed of more than one turn usually. In this test, there are two sections that are similar to each other, Turn 2 - the Mulsanne corner (at the end of the very long straight) and Turn 3 - the Indianopolis corner (at the end of the second long straight). They both have very fast corners followed by very tight corners. The trick is not to be fooled by the first part and brake too heavily for them. They can and should be taken in 4th gear, and considered as indicators of where to start braking heavily for the sharp corners to follow...
Write-Up
Turn 1 - Starting the test, you approach the first turn in 4th. A gentle dab on the brake and drop down to 3rd will allow you to take the corner quickly. You can run out onto the red part of the track (over the rumble strip) without failing...
Turn 2 (Mulsanne Corner) - Two parts to this turn -1) the fast sweeping right-hander followed by 2) the tight (acute) right hander.
Part 1) - You approach the Mulsanne corner at full tilt (5th gear)... You can afford to keep it floored until you are at the 100m marker... a gentle dab on the break and dropping down to 4th lets you take the apex at high speed... as you pass the apex you need to start braking heavily and drop down to either 3rd or 2nd to take the tight right hander...
Part 2) - there is a rumble strip and an area of tarmac on the right that you can run over, allowing you to take the corner quickly. Early braking is essential if you want to run over this area i.e. you should be on the brakes by the time you have cleared the apex of the fast turn... as you turn into the corner and subsequently straighten up, it's time to accelerate into the next straight... the R92C does not like harsh acceleration and will red-line if you go full throttle out of the slow corners... by pressing only gently on the accelerator, you can reach the red line without over-revving... for this reason, you need to brake sufficiently to allow the revs to drop low before taking the corner... I prefer to stay in 3rd here, since you only have to gently accelerate in 2nd and 3rd, but by the time you're in 4th, you can floor it again... taking the corner in 2nd means you need to be gentle on the accelerator twice (to the limit in 2nd and to the limit in 3rd), hence staying in 3rd is less problematic.
Turn 3 (Indianopolis Corner)
The 'back straight' section of this test has two slight right hand corners that should be taking at full tilt and don't need any more explanation than that. The tricky bit is in the Indianopolis section - it's similar to the Mulsanne corner in that it has two parts, a fast sweeping right hander, followed by a slow tight corner... obviously, being a fast right hander, you want to position yourself on the left hand side of the track and turn into the fast right hand section.... once again, you need to dab the brake and drop to 4th to take the first part at high speed, and once you are clear of the apex, drop to 3rd and brake early for the tight part of the corner.... once again, taking the corner slowly and at as low revs as possible, will allow you to straighten up, and accelerate out of the corner... acceleration out of this corner needs to be gentle again... you will pick up speed much more quickly than if you floor it out of this corner... this corner is followed by a very short section of straight which gives you time to go up to 4th (very briefly), or be at the limit in 3rd... either way, you need to be braking very early for the last corner in the test...
Turn 4 (Arnage)
Even though you are not going to be going very fast approaching this corner anyway, you need to be braking very early, and taking this corner very slowly - 2nd gear - ~ 80 km/h... but hitting the apex is not the key to taking the corner effectively... once again it is more about how you accelerate out into the following straight that is more important... with the finishing line right ahead, it's too tempting to floor it, but in 2nd gear, you need to be very tentative on the accelerator to get anywhere fast...
In summary, you need to take the sweeping parts of the corners as fast as possible, and take the tight following corners alot slower than you might expect... gentle dabs on the brakes before the fast bits (and remaining in a high gear) followed by heavy braking and low revs for the slow bits... very gentle acceleration will allow you to build up speed on the straights much more effectively than flooring the gas, as the resulting wheel spin will cost you bags of time...
This is the way I did it, and finally managed a 1'43.2xx (gold)... 👍
Car - Nissan R92C
Track - Circuit de la Sarthe (unchicaned)
Intro
This is one of the tests I had the most difficulty in getting to grips with, so here is my write-up... I will add some screens shortly, and hopefully a replay as well..
I found the key to success in this test was two things... early braking and gentle acceleration. In the write up, I refer to 'turns' when infact they are more accurately described as complexes, since they are each composed of more than one turn usually. In this test, there are two sections that are similar to each other, Turn 2 - the Mulsanne corner (at the end of the very long straight) and Turn 3 - the Indianopolis corner (at the end of the second long straight). They both have very fast corners followed by very tight corners. The trick is not to be fooled by the first part and brake too heavily for them. They can and should be taken in 4th gear, and considered as indicators of where to start braking heavily for the sharp corners to follow...
Write-Up
Turn 1 - Starting the test, you approach the first turn in 4th. A gentle dab on the brake and drop down to 3rd will allow you to take the corner quickly. You can run out onto the red part of the track (over the rumble strip) without failing...
Turn 2 (Mulsanne Corner) - Two parts to this turn -1) the fast sweeping right-hander followed by 2) the tight (acute) right hander.
Part 1) - You approach the Mulsanne corner at full tilt (5th gear)... You can afford to keep it floored until you are at the 100m marker... a gentle dab on the break and dropping down to 4th lets you take the apex at high speed... as you pass the apex you need to start braking heavily and drop down to either 3rd or 2nd to take the tight right hander...
Part 2) - there is a rumble strip and an area of tarmac on the right that you can run over, allowing you to take the corner quickly. Early braking is essential if you want to run over this area i.e. you should be on the brakes by the time you have cleared the apex of the fast turn... as you turn into the corner and subsequently straighten up, it's time to accelerate into the next straight... the R92C does not like harsh acceleration and will red-line if you go full throttle out of the slow corners... by pressing only gently on the accelerator, you can reach the red line without over-revving... for this reason, you need to brake sufficiently to allow the revs to drop low before taking the corner... I prefer to stay in 3rd here, since you only have to gently accelerate in 2nd and 3rd, but by the time you're in 4th, you can floor it again... taking the corner in 2nd means you need to be gentle on the accelerator twice (to the limit in 2nd and to the limit in 3rd), hence staying in 3rd is less problematic.
Turn 3 (Indianopolis Corner)
The 'back straight' section of this test has two slight right hand corners that should be taking at full tilt and don't need any more explanation than that. The tricky bit is in the Indianopolis section - it's similar to the Mulsanne corner in that it has two parts, a fast sweeping right hander, followed by a slow tight corner... obviously, being a fast right hander, you want to position yourself on the left hand side of the track and turn into the fast right hand section.... once again, you need to dab the brake and drop to 4th to take the first part at high speed, and once you are clear of the apex, drop to 3rd and brake early for the tight part of the corner.... once again, taking the corner slowly and at as low revs as possible, will allow you to straighten up, and accelerate out of the corner... acceleration out of this corner needs to be gentle again... you will pick up speed much more quickly than if you floor it out of this corner... this corner is followed by a very short section of straight which gives you time to go up to 4th (very briefly), or be at the limit in 3rd... either way, you need to be braking very early for the last corner in the test...
Turn 4 (Arnage)
Even though you are not going to be going very fast approaching this corner anyway, you need to be braking very early, and taking this corner very slowly - 2nd gear - ~ 80 km/h... but hitting the apex is not the key to taking the corner effectively... once again it is more about how you accelerate out into the following straight that is more important... with the finishing line right ahead, it's too tempting to floor it, but in 2nd gear, you need to be very tentative on the accelerator to get anywhere fast...
In summary, you need to take the sweeping parts of the corners as fast as possible, and take the tight following corners alot slower than you might expect... gentle dabs on the brakes before the fast bits (and remaining in a high gear) followed by heavy braking and low revs for the slow bits... very gentle acceleration will allow you to build up speed on the straights much more effectively than flooring the gas, as the resulting wheel spin will cost you bags of time...
This is the way I did it, and finally managed a 1'43.2xx (gold)... 👍
