AC GT3 @ Le Mans - Sunday 26th April 2020

[Luca Badin]

Hey Luca. Just wondering what happened at the start. It looked like you started the race with your wheel locked to the left or something?
The lights went green and within 1 second you were into the side of me. No big deal I had a terrible race anyway.

I'm sorry George, I thought the car in front of me had jumped the start like the others and slammed on the brakes, so I had to swerve to avoid him, but my rears were sliding hard, couldn't catch it and I ended up much more to the left than I intended. (Upon looking at the replay, the car in front actually just bogged down but did move, so my move was in hindsight useless)

I didn't notice I had hit you as I wasn't even expecting you to be that close to me - I do use Helicorsa, relative and mirrors but I guess I was too distracted by the mayhem in front to pay attention. Looking at the replay it's pretty obvious it's all on me and I ruined your start. I apologize.

Sadly the start was a bit of a mess, I also got bashed on the side by a Glickenhaus in T1. Le Mans is really nice but I wish there was a better way of accomodating 40 cars on the grid than cramming all of them in half the space. I guess the answer would be rolling starts but AC doesn't allow for that.

 

[640er]

Time after time it surprises me how close front row will get to each other even all of us were in totally different pit tactics :O me 1xsofts, @erazerr7 2xsofts, @Chris Down 2xmeds?

You always go for 1xSoft or? How much fuel do you add and how are the softs in the end?

 

[GEO147]

I'm sorry George, I thought the car in front of me had jumped the start like the others and slammed on the brakes, so I had to swerve to avoid him, but my rears were sliding hard, couldn't catch it and I ended up much more to the left than I intended. (Upon looking at the replay, the car in front actually just bogged down but did move, so my move was in hindsight useless)

I didn't notice I had hit you as I wasn't even expecting you to be that close to me - I do use Helicorsa, relative and mirrors but I guess I was too distracted by the mayhem in front to pay attention. Looking at the replay it's pretty obvious it's all on me and I ruined your start. I apologize.

Sadly the start was a bit of a mess, I also got bashed on the side by a Glickenhaus in T1. Le Mans is really nice but I wish there was a better way of accomodating 40 cars on the grid than cramming all of them in half the space. I guess the answer would be rolling starts but AC doesn't allow for that.

No worries Luca. Yeah I got hit again in first turn again. The start last night was really frustrating.

 

[Michel vL]

Thanks for organizing @Chris Down .

Always great to drive on Le Mans. First time in a GT3 for me, and I struggled a lot to get the McLaren to behave on the default setup. Couldn't even get a single valid lap in the books during the practice and qualify sessions .
The race went a bit better, Just took it easy and managed to avoid the first lap mayhem, ended up P18 I believe.

 

[Aksu]

You always go for 1xSoft or? How much fuel do you add and how are the softs in the end?

Very often yes.. It depends on track of course.. Like at nurburgring it was bad decision because I drove 5 laps with zero tires But at lemans I got only left side to zero in last lap so it relly doesn't affect that much to my lap time. You should try it it sometime but you really need to run lower campersfor tires to hold up. Tire change takes about 25 seconds so if I only take 1l of fuel and still drive decent lap times it wil pay of.. at least for me ;-)

Without spins or crashes lap times will hold up pretty consistent.. Tires get worse and car gets lighter towards end.

 

[RobertR1]

speaking of camber, anyone here use the camber extravaganza app? i tried it but it's hard to watch it while driving and make sense of it. Any tips how to use it effectively?

 

[GEO147]

Thanks for organizing @Chris Down .

Always great to drive on Le Mans. First time in a GT3 for me, and I struggled a lot to get the McLaren to behave on the default setup. Couldn't even get a single valid lap in the books during the practice and qualify sessions .
The race went a bit better, Just took it easy and managed to avoid the first lap mayhem, ended up P18 I believe.

Yeah the McLaren was very twitchy in the last few bends. I think the Porsche and Corvette curves in particular.

 

[Luca Badin]

Anyway, nice race, even though I missed my pit box, losing the chance to battle with Miika; regardless though, I overfueled so I was massively slower compared to the first half - that made for a pretty frustrating second stint, considering tires were in surprisingly good shape and I was very happy with the setup I cobbled together. I even got another kiss from behind right at the last corner, hopefully it wasn't my fault.

Looking forward to the next one.

 

[Steve O'Malley]

I overfueled so I was massively slower compared to the first half -

Looking forward to the next one.

I crossed the line with 1 litre left. Knew it was getting low so eased up on the last lap as I had about 6 seconds lead on Michel van Lieshout but then he suddenly appeared on my rear bumper so all got a bit tight.

 

[Chris Down]

Time after time it surprises me how close front row will get to each other even all of us were in totally different pit tactics :O me 1xsofts, @erazerr7 2xsofts, @Chris Down 2xmeds?

1x meds + 50% fuel for me. If I'd had a better start (lol), it probably would have actually been competitive.

 

[Michel vL]

I crossed the line with 1 litre left. Knew it was getting low so eased up on the last lap as I had about 6 seconds lead on Michel van Lieshout but then he suddenly appeared on my rear bumper so all got a bit tight.

I was wondering why I closed in so quickly. You were way faster than me the whole race. Nearly got you, but decided not to risk a collision. You held me off pretty good on the last third of the lap mate.

 

[uvraver]

Very noticeable on this track, but the Z4 had very poor brake performance:essentially twice the braking distance of everything else.
So pleasingly avoiding all incidents I moved up to 20th from 29th on first lap, but in the hard brake zone at Virage it meant a well set up Porsche took me out.
So what is the secret of HARD braking?
Is it Toe In? Is it Camber?
Is it higher gear ratios for immediate down shifting?
I was wearing soft tyres at 21psi, and the ride height was as low as I dared(14/15)
Or is the Z4 out of it's depth in GT3?

 

[Chris Down]

Very noticeable on this track, but the Z4 had very poor brake performance:essentially twice the braking distance of everything else.

> Glickenhaus noticed that.

So pleasingly avoiding all incidents I moved up to 20th from 29th on first lap, but in the hard brake zone at Virage it meant a well set up Porsche took me out.
So what is the secret of HARD braking?
Is it Toe In? Is it Camber?
Is it higher gear ratios for immediate down shifting?
I was wearing soft tyres at 21psi, and the ride height was as low as I dared(14/15)
Or is the Z4 out of it's depth in GT3?

The BMW is one of the best braking GT3 cars, so almost certainly you have something misconfigured in your setup (maybe you're bottoming out, or something). Consider getting a known-good setup as your baseline from YouTube or elsewhere and starting over.

 

[HTIDRaver2k8]

I find the BMW is mighty on the brakes, especially since I switched to the Glickenhaus.

I was braking a smidge after the 200m board in the Glickenhaus, but probably around the 150m board in th Z4.

However I have noticed that if I adjust the diff coast too much or have a super low ride height I can easily disappear backwards into a hedge.

 

[uvraver]

I find the BMW is mighty on the brakes, especially since I switched to the Glickenhaus.

I was braking a smidge after the 200m board in the Glickenhaus, but probably around the 150m board in th Z4.

However I have noticed that if I adjust the diff coast too much or have a super low ride height I can easily disappear backwards into a hedge.

Might it be Brake Gamma?
I gave up on the Glickenhaus because I could not get it to brake any harder than the Z4.
At the 1st chicane on the Mulsanne Straight I had to brake just after the Orange square on the Barrier to the left.
Will look to youtube setups and see what I can discover. Thanks Chris and fellow old raver

 

[HF2000]

Might it be Brake Gamma?
I gave up on the Glickenhaus because I could not get it to brake any harder than the Z4.
At the 1st chicane on the Mulsanne Straight I had to brake just after the Orange square on the Barrier to the left.
Will look to youtube setups and see what I can discover. Thanks Chris and fellow old raver

I brake at the orange square there with my R8. If you can brake after that mark with the Z4 and still get the chicane, I should say there's nothing wrong with the BMW braking.

 

[HTIDRaver2k8]

I am not too sure bud.

I think we were possibly braking around the same point on the straight then having quickly looked back at my footage.

Normally (and especially in the Z4) I have the confidence to keep trying to brake later, knowing that it'll probably stop in time.

That Glickenhaus however has other ideas, probably not helped by how rapid it is in a straight line 180mph + and not sure if it'll stop with 200m of braking zone made for an exhausting race haha.

 

[640er]

speaking of camber, anyone here use the camber extravaganza app? i tried it but it's hard to watch it while driving and make sense of it. Any tips how to use it effectively?

Don't activate it while driving. It draws your attention and biases the data. Activate it while watching your replay While practicing focus on your line and look at the camber afterwards.

 

[Chris Down]

Loved racing with you all this week, even if I did end the race rather dizzy. ;-) I'd love to see you all back this week at Road America!

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/gt3-road-america-sunday-3rd-may-2020.182656/

 

[Reik Major]

I brake at the orange square there with my R8.

Me too with the Lambo.