Finished WSC VII - DrifterJoe, Snowcrash, Ford Champions!

In general terms extension is controlling the actual main function of the damper, that is to say the initial control of the spring oscillation. If it's too soft the car will bounce too much, if it's too stiff the car will react to bumps too slowly and the car will 'hop'.

In terms of weight transfer running a stiffer front extension means that that the weight is slower to move off of the front wheels both under braking and acceleration. If the damper is compressed and the extension stroke is stiffer it takes longer to return to centre since it is fighting against a greater resistance.

Although if he's having a real spinning problem dampers aren't his problem. Dampers are only really for fine tuning weight transfer, the other parameters are far more effective for altering the handling characteristics of the car.

 

Oh okay, so the value controls the strength of the resistance not the speed of the extension... gotcha

You learn something everyday Thanks bud

Ryan - do what he said

 

I think it's the stiffness anyway.

I'm pretty sure it says the stiffness in the description, but that's not always the greatest guide.

 

Just to say it officially also on the thread ... I'll be in a Mercedes 300SL for the season. I thought long and hard, if I should maybe also use a Ferrari, but although I have the feeling it's a tenth or two faster on average and the best handling car overall, I still think the SL can compete and gives you a lot of confidence to push hard. Plus, it's much nicer to have different cars battling for the win. Great to see gokartman in the BMW, too!

Just also wanted to say, that if anyone likes the E-Type, it really isn't at a disadvantage this season! You just have to rev it 500rpm higher than the red line and it will be on par with the other cars. Otherwise you'll lose seconds. So, if there are any Jag-lovers out there, take a chance on this beauty! Would be great to have every car appear at least in some races...

Here's my version of GT-O characteristics in a nutshell:

• BMW: Good overall car without obvious weaknesses. Nice torque and pretty nimble in the twistier parts.
  
• Corvette: Best top speed, but narrow powerband. Best suited for the faster tracks.
  
• Ferrari: Probably best chassis in the field, but the brakes are from a pre-Brembo era.
  
• Jaguar: The long wheel-base is sometimes not easy to maneuver around corners, but good top speed and stable high speed cornering makes up for it. Best brakes in the field.
• Mercedes: A very well-mannered car, should keep drivers in control without too much trouble over race distance. To be fast, you have to push it pretty hard, but it can take it.
• Shelby: A real muscle car with the torque to prove it. If you can keep the rear in check, this could also be a contender.

 

My fastest, (and only one where I got every corner right, specially T1...), was 1:58.1XX... it happened on my first lap with clean air after I got to the front of the GT-O group consisting of, if I recall correctly, @rustyMercedes, @R0ssingt0n and @Downhill Dino

Three seconds in this case...

In both Monza and Le Mans in WSC VI, I was the the one involved in the GT class photo finishes (lost at Monza to Fox, as you can see here, and won at Le Mans, against Lout)

 

My WSC history starts with season 1 and a GT (C2) class victory at the first race in Daytona. This was one of my first GTP races on GT5 and it was by no means an easy victory as I crashed many times. I managed to pull out the win though, thanks in large part to the fact that I was the only GT class car in the race (one other GT car started but DC'd early in the race)

That was a great season and I finished every race on the podium except at the Targa Florio race where no one showed up in GT so I drove the Ferrari 330. If I had run in GT I would have clinched the championship but I didn't want to win it that way. Championship went down to the final race at Nurburgring where I finished 2nd to champion RFLX in the C2 Z06, who almost ran out of fuel in the closing laps, but unfortunately did not.

Season 2 started with a win at Daytona and a dominant performance at Monza that was squashed by a DC with 2 laps remaining. Finished every race that I ran on the podium but lost out the development war that went on throughout the season (the development war being Matty constantly complaining about his car specs and finishing the season with a car significantly faster than what he started with). Skipped the final few races of the season as the BoP had become ridiculous but still finished 2nd in the championship.

Season 3 I ran at Laguna Seca and finished 2nd, and at Le Mans where I took a 40 minute pitstop to watch TV and eat pizza I finished off the podium for the first time. Then the PS3 broke and missed season 4 and only made it back for the season 5 finale at Spa. Season 6 was fun, got a few podiums in the Camaro but otherwise wasn't particularly competitive.

 

I remember when the gt's were done with pp. Was interesting at Le Mans, some drivers went for tyre life and consistency with less weight and more aero, others went full power to try and win. I think @Niop won that one in a vette. We hit 194 or something close to that in the draft on one lap, almost as fast as the proto's

 

Agreed, except maybe for the brakes part... after the tyres warm up, it can actually brake pretty nicely (unless you slam on the brakes, then no matter how strong your ABS setting is you will end up going wide into a corner, if not off-track entirely)

 

season 1 the c2 z06s were in a class of their own. first lap of le mans was a group of gt cars running down the mulsanne and several lengths ahead the vettes were mixing it up with the prototypes

 

I think these current GT's will get close to that, I was getting around 160mph without draft at Daytona

 

What would be a good time at Bathurst in GT-P?

Decided to see how they handle around there (didn't think it would be a particularly pleasant experience, turns out I was wrong ) and only managed to get down to 2:02.171 after 6/7 laps with a slightly dodgy run through Skyline/The Dipper.

 

Sounds right. I got a 2:03 when we tested there, but the setup still had some camber on it then.

 

with realistic drafting now in GT6 and with the chicanes at le mans this season I think top speed will be in the 170s at the most. at daytona the Merc is doing 165 on the front stretch without draft, with draft I only got up to almost 170, so drafting isn't going to play as big a part as it has in the past.

we will probably see the highest speeds at Monza this season instead of Le Mans

 

Best quote of the test evening comes from the usually mild mannered @ranhammerR34 to @Yeratel84

"Yeratel, you ran into me you bastard"

 

Massively fun, I thought it would just be scary but it really isn't. Though I reckon in terms of gaining time a slightly lower DF might be beneficial, lower F/D would also help as I was just nudging the limiter at the end of Con-rod.

 

If your Merc is doing 165mph(265km/h) on the front straight … I hope you took the ECU off.

 

Dammit, I missed Randy swearing.

 

Stock. I was tempted to change it like some of my other cars but I'm not exactly sure when adjustable toe angle was invented.

 

Based on all of your mixed opinions, it is safe for me to say that I know no thing about tuning.
I'll just try my best to sort of fix the car and not finish last in GT-P every race.

 

Since everyone else is talking about their history... I started halfway through Season 1 at Pescara with the Jag and found out that I was quite fast with it, and should have won the finale at Le Mans but had one too many crashes. Season 2 I somewhat easily won the championship and since then I've been using Chevy's in the slower class for the most part, they are quite fast but feel terrible when being driven so I get to give out a lot.

Those Vettes would match the Prototypes at 220 MPH if the gearing was long enough, the fastest way to run them was no down force and full power, it was pretty sloppy in the turns but at Le Mans and Pescara it was in a league of its own. I beat Furi there in my C2 Vette when he was in his Mark IV.

Oh yeah, it also flipped over the Pescara jump if I got a big enough draft.

 

I also forgot I did a couple of races in the GT40

 

oh yeah its off, I'm running a real low final drive ratio. One of the benefits of working with 1950s Mercedes-Benzes is having information that is not readily available to everyone (EDIT: it's actually pretty easy to find on the internet), like what final drive ratios you could order your 300SL with. There were five ratios to choose from. 3.64 is what is default in the game and what came on most 300SLs.

I will PM you the ratios if you want Snow

 

I joined midway through WSM2 I think, in the Jag. My first race was Monza, where I was fired off the track by Akmuq's lag at 300mph in the first turn of the first lap.

 

Had a lag incident at La Sarthe in S3? (Final C2 race) when the Corvette of PaulMac lagged into me. We went from 190mph each to me down to 160 and him to 275... he was actually gone. Couldn;t see him

 

Fixed it! I'm now in the 1:44 5's! Thank you everybody!

 

That would certainly be interesting! Thanks in advance!

 

Guess i'll tell you my WSC story and indeed the background of this series.

I always liked my classic cars, and I wanted to around may 2011 (IIRC) to run a 1-off Le Mans event of 24 laps for varying cars from Miura's to GT40's to Corvettes on GT5. It was canned and yet I was convinced the concept had some legs to it. So I invented the World Sportscar Masters (WSM) for classic sportscars. Pretty much all the GT-P cars for this season barring the Shelby Daytona (GT6 debutant of course) where entered. Hour and 15 to 1hr 45 event. I even made a created track, Pescara, set in Toscana. 3.56 miles in a high speed triangle. We also ran Le Mans that event, when in a bizarre finish @Akmuq had to pit a lap or so from end, and @Sumo098 ran out of fuel at Indianapolis, chasing him down I also spun at Indianapolis but came through to take the win in bizarre circumstances as his engine cried enough out of Arnage. Season 2 was similar but grid never ended up that great.

I decided after a break to relaunch it, after reading up on the FIA World Sportscar Championship (WSC). The WSC was thus born, a lot of the races where similar from the WSM, indeed Le Mans carried over, hence why even though this is Season 7 now, it will be the 9th Le Mans Classic this season. I shifted to limited damage as a I felt that it was putting people off. Classes got broken off, with GT40's joining Corvette C2's and Challenger and Camaro RM's in "C2" class to accompany "C1". Indeed racing was damn epic, Corvettes I remember hanging with the top class with ease on the Mulsanne. There where times in this period I felt like canning it - grids shrunk to around 6-7 at Spa one time. There was a good degree of experimentation then, Pescara was modified and more heavily cambered, however drivers didn't like this and it would be canned to be replaced by a road race track that proved equally unpopular. Le Mans was 50% longer, from 24 laps to a 500k 36 lapper. So things got shaken up again.

Full damage returned, and we moved onto sports tyres from racing compounds. GT tyre physics kept changing in updates a lot as well over time, and sport compounds where not only more accurate in terms of grip levels to real life cars but lasted longer. Also interestingly cars seemed more controllable. I remember a major trait of cars on racing mediums and hards to an extent was massive snap oversteer under power, which I reckon was caused by the tyre model simply having too much grip to put down, nowhere to put it. Sport tyres where not the biggest news however - an entirely new undercard. GT was born with production based cars. Extremely production based. In most cases they just had a minor engine adjustment, adjustable gearing and that was it. Grids shot up with this class, on lower grip tyres than the top class (Now called "Prototype") provided enthralling racing. GT class was responsible for this championships revival.

With the grids going up and the championships profile rocketing I decided the series required more challenges. Drivers seemed more professional, skilled, and competitive whilst still retaining that fun factor. This was a gentleman's series in spirit - spirits including an old tale of @FlyingFox having a beer down the Mulsanne in Corvette! Le Mans had in itself become the figurehead of the series and a legend in itself. A huge change was afoot - Le Mans became a 50 lap race. 3hrs 10 minutes, longest event I had ever hosted or raced in. Indeed the lobby for Le Mans set a record for me, opening 6pm and with start procedures at 7.50, and not finishing until approx 11.10pm. This also included a standing start procedure, in the spirit of the 60's, lining up against the pit wall and on my call, accelerating away. The noise, the tyre smoke, was something quite special. Watching the replay of that and turning the TV speakers right up was thunderous. Pescara was also in itself a legend, the tracks third tweak had banked turns 1 and 2 making it faster than ever. Apart from pit lane entry, drivers racing in the top class would never drop below 120mph. What made it special as well was how fastest line was the inside lane, but further the inside was, the bumpier. Top of that turn 2 hill, being thrown off 4 wheels in the asideways at over 125mph was a regular occurrence.

GT5 was finishing though, yet WSC bucked the trend for falling grids and interest. The championships first visit to Eiger was a 16 car grid on the narrowest circuit we'd ever raced in. Surely we'd be getting rage quits and angry drivers aplenty. No was the answer. 16 drivers started and in a first ever, all 16 where still circulating on track at the end. credit to everyone involved.

My trusty weapon in all events over these years was the Ford Mk IV. Easy to drive for a 60's car, it's 4 speed box made it easy to put power down and also it had some pulling power. Whilst not as agile as the Jaguar and Ferrari it had bagfuls of cornering grip and was the best on brakes by a mile - @Tom may remember me overtaking him under braking outside of Mulsanne Corner in that first race . Through around 5 different chassis, owing to new examples being acquired and losing save data, I covered 35,000+ miles I believe in the Ford. It was always going to be my weapon for GT6. GT6 is a new challenge entirely though. The tyre model is suprising. Grippy, forgiving, yet capable of long stints. I firmly believe La Sarthe this season to be a fuel only race, pitting won't be needed for tyres. La Sarthe goes to a new layout, with chicanes, night-time, and weather. Bathurst, Matterhorn, Brands Hatch make debuts. The car classes have come full circle in effect. In the top GT-P class the original class of the first WSM are present and joined by the Shelby Daytona. GT-O is an evolution of the GT class that made this series so strong, with so many different eligible cars and designs. It is truly an "open" category.

And so when we head to the green at Daytona on sunday, for the 9th time for myself, a new age starts. Proud to have managed to get this to where it is now, and let it last long and successful.

A Toast, to the World Sportscar Championship!

Furi

 

Not only a beer down the Mulsanne but a stop in the second chicane for a pee break if you remember.

 

Due to faster support class and generally tightening things up, classification % for full pts is now 75% instead of 66% (of class winners laps)

 

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