AC GT3 @ Spa - Sunday 28th August 2022

[Interslice]

Also the small matter of this

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/rd-gt3-world-championship-registration.247254/

 

[demetri]

Sorry Han my worst ever non jump start Normally I use a first gear made just for the startline. Need to practice starting with a long race gear. I had a bit of a crap method going in but i messed that up...

Oddly ended up in front of @demetri who started on the back row... We met somewhere in the mid pack A twitchy car and one minds eye on where his inevitable pass would happen, mid lap 2 I sent it sideways through pouhon and had cherry red tyres costing me 50 seconds on that lap Sorry all following for the road block. Stopped right on the outside kerb :0

Enjoyed the recovery drive. Glad I kept going as I know the setup and soft tyres are ok to use now. Can't throw the baby out with the bath water! One click of TC and brake bias made it alot more comfortable under the race conditions.

Congrats to the podium and demetri for the win. Unbelievable pace in the race and qually.

I was very surprised to meet you there to be honest, scared the hell out of me in Blanchimont when you braked all of a sudden as I was only expecting a little lift-off. A side note, using that paved run-off on approach to the corner is a bad idea, because it slows down the car compared to staying with all four wheels inside the white lines. I think that particular surface has a different "damping" value which results in more rolling resistance

 

[Interslice]

I was very surprised to meet you there to be honest, scared the hell out of me in Blanchimont when you braked all of a sudden as I was only expecting a little lift-off. A side note, using that paved run-off on approach to the corner is a bad idea, because it slows down the car compared to staying with all four wheels inside the white lines. I think that particular surface has a different "damping" value which results in more rolling resistance

Sorry for that scare. I drove really badly for the first few laps. It was a long week. I got spooked that other car would go pretty slow through there with the entry line they had. Didn't want to smash into them!

 

[RasmusP]

@Interslice did you practice starting with that longer gear?
I made the same mistake a few times:
- Practicing starts in the pitlane = different grip multiplier for pitlane surface type

- Practicing too far away from my starting spot on an uphill/downhill starting grid = different pitch of the car

- Practicing with too warm/cold tyres = different tyre grip level

- Practicing with a different grip multiplier (96% or 100% but the actual race start had 98%...)

Sadly AC gt3 cars have a super small/short slipping point on the clutch...
(is this correct English? It's "Schleif-Punkt" for us )
So you really need to hit the right pedal position for a good start.

Or like most AC gt3 drivers do it: set TC to a working level, rev into the limiter and slam the first gear in without clutching


About the clutch slipping point:
When I used my McLaren rim with the dual clutch paddles, only a range of about 8% worked nicely and only 2% worked great! That's almost impossible to hit with your foot without G-Force feedback!

And these 2% varied about 10% depending on my points listed above...

I think GT3 cars aren't really built for standing starts to be honest.. Sadly AC can't do rolling starts
I really like the rolling starts in ACC! Way less chaos in the first few corners...

 

[Kek700]

That is interesting Rasmus, standing starts I pay little attention too, and yes I practice in the pits occasionally. As you say, on the start line it just goes into a stall. Then I just chugg away and everyone goes by.
Never considered the TC setting. I will set that to nearly off next time.

As you have a clutch, I recently started to use my paddle clutch, with either great results that amaze me, or rubbish, again it could be the TC settings?

 

[Interslice]

@Interslice did you practice starting with that longer gear?
I made the same mistake a few times:
- Practicing starts in the pitlane = different grip multiplier for pitlane surface type

- Practicing too far away from my starting spot on an uphill/downhill starting grid = different pitch of the car

- Practicing with too warm/cold tyres = different tyre grip level

- Practicing with a different grip multiplier (96% or 100% but the actual race start had 98%...)

Sadly AC gt3 cars have a super small/short slipping point on the clutch...
(is this correct English? It's "Schleif-Punkt" for us )
So you really need to hit the right pedal position for a good start.

Or like most AC gt3 drivers do it: set TC to a working level, rev into the limiter and slam the first gear in without clutching


About the clutch slipping point:
When I used my McLaren rim with the dual clutch paddles, only a range of about 8% worked nicely and only 2% worked great! That's almost impossible to hit with your foot without G-Force feedback!

And these 2% varied about 10% depending on my points listed above...

I think GT3 cars aren't really built for standing starts to be honest.. Sadly AC can't do rolling starts
I really like the rolling starts in ACC! Way less chaos in the first few corners...

Hi Rasmus, ye one of those things where there were many things at play. I also used this setup last time with medium tyres so I could get some better go forward. The main issue was I had to go afk and got back with just enough time to give a rushed pre race speech before the light went out. Race brain failed to engage

"Schleif-Punkt" is bite point usually

 

[RasmusP]

Ouch, yeah bite point ofc... It even says bite point in the dual clutch paddle manual.
Guess my race brain was still engaged, leaving some English vocabulary in the pits

At Ernie:
TC has a massive influence to the start! When I raced in rF2, I mapped a button for "TC override" to my right thumb and set my dual clutch to the perfect amount of wheel spin.
When the lights went on, I held the brake, pulled both paddles, shifted into 1st, revved into the limiter, held down the thumb button.
Right before the lights would go off, I would lift the brake and prepare to let my right middle finger slip off the paddle.
Phenomenal starts!

I'd then slooooowly release the left paddle and if the wheelspin would become too much, I'd release the thumb button to get the TC active again.

I sometimes did the same in AC, putting TC to 0 and then back to 1 after shifting into 2nd gear.
If you're using TC at 5 or so, it becomes a bit complicated and hectic


Without the cheating-like dual clutch, I practiced to dig my heel into the pedal plate in an angle that would make it the most simple to release the clutch just up to the bite point. It needs some practicing and I really could only pull off good starts if I'd pick the same car every time.

In AC though, it's super difficult to nail it if you have TC active. Pretty much simply because the TC itself isn't great in AC.. It either kills the revs completely or let's you spin anyway. There's no "I'll slam the throttle and do an awesome drift at the exit while staying in control".

I guess that's why many people drive without TC in AC as soon as they are becoming so fast that they are really on the edge.
That way you notice the drift a lot earlier and can correct it.

I'm more the TC at 1 guy... Slamming the throttle and hope for the best. If you spin, slam the throttle a bit later

 

[Interslice]

I play around with it, hopefully get something to work. The 488 is funny old car. So many problems with it. 7 gears would make life alot easier!
I run the TC up between 4 and 6 so I'd be afraid of messing things up and spinning in the first corner by leaving it off, but maybe it's worth the risk.

 

[Kek700]

Ha Ha, I am usually TC 1 or 2, I am more in Rasmus camp. But it is easy for me, I just need to put TC to 0 then easily get back to 1 before the first corner..
I have never really proved either , but running with hardly any TC and or using manual gears is an advantage in AC for lap times.
I am lucky that I can cheat, right paddle for bite point and left paddle for the remainder of the clutch. Having said that I can hardly brag of my lightening fast starts.

 

[HF2000]

Ha Ha, I am usually TC 1 or 2, I am more in Rasmus camp. But it is easy for me, I just need to put TC to 0 then easily get back to 1 before the first corner..
I have never really proved either , but running with hardly any TC and or using manual gears is an advantage in AC for lap times.
I am lucky that I can cheat, right paddle for bite point and left paddle for the remainder of the clutch. Having said that I can hardly brag of my lightening fast starts.

You know TC1 is the strongest, do you?

 

[RasmusP]

I have never really proved either , but running with hardly any TC and or using manual gears is an advantage in AC for lap times.

Yeah the manual shifting is a fair advantage I'd say since it really needs practice to become faster with it!
I tried it with the mx-5 at Okayama once and while I did save about 0.1s on every longer straight, I lost 0.3s per corner

I am lucky that I can cheat, right paddle for bite point and left paddle for the remainder of the clutch. Having said that I can hardly brag of my lightening fast starts.

If cars don't have TC, it can really be a massive advantage!
With GT3s though... Not so much due to the bogging down TC algorithm. But even with TC at 0 it's really difficult to maintain a constant rpm until the fully released clutch, even with dual paddles.

You know TC1 is the strongest, do you?

I think he does since he's in "my camp" of needing high TC to slam the throttle instead of nicely controlling it