rF2 Classic Formula 3 @ Malaysia North Loop - Wednesday 9th May 2012

Jim Carvalho · May 10, 2012

Definite fun, though David and Axel had all the speed. I managed to find almost another second in the race to keep Marco behind me. He was pushing hard the whole way. I gave him a little tap in T1, lap1. I guess he had to check up a lot for the driver in front of him.

Fortunately it didn't affect his race.

A strange thing has happened to me in each F3 race, as I recall: My engine won't pull as usual for a while, then it clears. This happened twice today, allowing Marco a little hope.

This doesn't happen in any other sim; so I don't see how it could be my wheel or calibration. Any thoughts?

Marco Bijl · May 10, 2012

Not sure what can cause that Jim... I do know there are more things that the engine affect. F.i., when you start driving (cold out the pits), try shifting without lifting your foot from the throttle. You will hear the engine rev up while the gears are changed.
Now, when driving a few laps in a row (so all gets heated up), do the same. Notice that the time it takes to shift the gear is way less, and the engine doesn't rev up in between gears.

Perhaps something simular causes this as well Jim. Overheating perhaps? Not sure if you shift at the total end of your gearing? Thats the only thing I can think of. I have not had it myself. Engine stays pretty constant.

I made some changes to my braking response in the control settings. Man that differs a lot in driving. I am able to brake more, and more accurate now. I think thats what mostly caused the fact that I could keep up. More finetuning to do, so perhaps next time, I can put the pressure on even more Jim

Ow, and that little tap made me go wide a nudge, but did not cause any damage or something. Had no problems due to that, and luckily, I managed to keep the car under control so no harm done there

Dave Coyne · May 10, 2012

That was a good race for me as i didnt visit the scenery this time and was lucky to break away from Claes before he got into his rythm and started drafting me.
I find these cars strange in that they go faster the more fuel you carry , with 5 litres best i could manage trying hard was in the 1.15s but with 30 litres in the race i was regularly running in the 1.14s and almost made a 1.13 , either the weight improves traction or the model is backwards ie more weight = greater speed , i found the same at Sears last week , after a pitstop and on MAX fuel i lapped quicker than in qualy by around 1.5 secs .
It would be good to try the whole circuit next time as i think the long striaghts would give more opportunity to draft
Anyway good race everyone i look forwards to the next one . Thanks for setting it up again Marco

Dave Coyne · May 10, 2012

Jim Carvalho said:
Definite fun, though David and Axel had all the speed. I managed to find almost another second in the race to keep Marco behind me. He was pushing hard the whole way. I gave him a little tap in T1, lap1. I guess he had to check up a lot for the driver in front of him. Fortunately it didn't affect his race.

A strange thing has happened to me in each F3 race, as I recall: My engine won't pull as usual for a while, then it clears. This happened twice today, allowing Marco a little hope. This doesn't happen in any other sim; so I don't see how it could be my wheel or calibration. Any thoughts?

Jim do you set the gearing so that you are running at high revs for each gear ?

Jim Carvalho · May 11, 2012

Dave, maybe the faster lap times are partly due to more rubber on track? Or like Pontiac(?) advertised in the 60s: more road-hugging weight.

And, yes, I set my gearing so I'm close to redline in each gear, esp. 5th. Maybe the drop in engine power is due to overheating as Marco suggests. Interesting comments about braking response, too. I'll have to look at those, tho I usually don't brake really hard. So far I've been sticking with default settings and setups, just adjusting gear ratios.

Dave Coyne · May 12, 2012

Jim i punish my engines very hard and never have probs with overheating , goto settings and check the scale for your accelerator , is it going up and down the scale smoothly or does it do it jerkily , i am thinking your pot maybe spiking through being dirty , i had the reverse of what your having in that my accelerator did not always shut off and was sometimes sticking at about 15% on .
The std setups i find very give way to much understeer and are slow to react , i like my car a little loose . i will put a trial setup for putnam in the setups section , have a play with it and see what you think , make sure track is rubbered in before you make adjustments as it will initially feel very loose .

Jim Carvalho · May 14, 2012

Thanks, Dave. I'll check the in-game calibration again. I don't think that's the issue, though, because it doesn't happen in any other sims. I'll take a look at your setup, too.