AC Porsche 917K @ Laguna Seca - Thu 22Mar18

Craig Dunkley · Mar 18, 2018

Glutton for punishment I am ...in please Bobby ..but I do love it

Bobby Pennington · Mar 18, 2018

Buster said:
Glutton for punishment I am ...in please Bobby ..but I do love it

You got it

elloLeo Kinnunen · Mar 19, 2018

Hi guys. I did some practice laps last night and I'm after some set up help if you can. I'm finding the car too understeery in general but especially in corner entry. I tried a set up guide but I have doubts about its quality...."Raise front tyre pressure and lower rear to reduce understeer" seems weird. Any help much appreciated.

I also shortened final drive by a few clicks so I could make the slower corners in 3rd not 2nd which I recommend trying.

Fernando Deutsch · Mar 19, 2018

From my experience, it is very hard to get rid of corner entry understeer in a comfortable way. I found better to prepare the car in advance into corner entry and keep it under control on acceleration.

Scottariffic · Mar 20, 2018

Finally a race worth signing up days in advanced and telling my boss I'm leaving on time no matter what in order to make it for! But seriously, I'm excited. This is the types of drive I like. The GT3's, GT4's, paddle shift cars are just boring to me personally. Probably going to start practicing tonight after dinner.

Bobby Pennington · Mar 20, 2018

elloLeo Kinnunen said:
I have doubts about its quality...."Raise front tyre pressure and lower rear to reduce understeer" seems weird. Any help much appreciated.

Yes, that is weird. This car is an understeer machine, but if you take Fernando Deutsch approach, this is the best solution. You can also soften the front and stiffen the rear, but then your accelerator is like a land mine.

Bobby Pennington · Mar 20, 2018

Scottariffic said:
Finally a race worth signing up days in advanced and telling my boss I'm leaving on time no matter what in order to make it for! But seriously, I'm excited. This is the types of drive I like. The GT3's, GT4's, paddle shift cars are just boring to me personally. Probably going to start practicing tonight after dinner.

Got you signed up. I have the 235i race tonight and then I gotta practice some other cars or I would join you.

Dirk Steffen · Mar 20, 2018

for people having understeering issues with the 917, here are my general first tweaks I always do to the Kunos standard setup for this car - careful, I like a loose rear with a Porsche:

- more negative camber at the front (-1.2 to -1.4 usually)
- lower front ride hight
- substantially lower aero (both flaps and center wing)
- move brake bias more to rear to turn the car in while braking
- make sure your tire pressures are optimal (these tires seem to need longer to get on optimal temp then modern GT3 slicks, so don’t get fooled only running a few quick laps ! Grip substantially increases once they have warmed up but always stays on the lower side compared to modern tires.

I usually do not touch the default toe settings of the car, stock feels about right.
I also usually don’t touch the stock rear camber (careful with camber changes on those MASSIVE rear tires).

I find as a general tweak to dampers before even getting into telemetry data is to increase slow bump in the front a click or two and increase slow rebound in the rear a click or two as well to decrease some nasty weight transfer surprises in the breaking zone.

Regarding the aero changes I do: you have to be very careful and observative of the cars behavior when lowering the aero. This 917K is EXTREMELY sensitive to aero changes and when lowering the flaps and center wing below a certain point this car will kill you. Don’t overdo it.
I usually start at ~6 on all three settings and add in more aero as I feel the car to be too nervous in the fast corners and entry of braking zones.

Also do be careful at the kink at the end of the start finish line before T1 - this is NOT full throttle in the 917K and if you can do this kink at full throttle then you have set up the car way too stable and will loose time in all the slow corners as the car won’t turn in as easy.

When in doubt about how to drive the car, just look at old photographs of Pedro Rodriguez racing the 917K - there is not a single photo of him online where he is NOT completely SIDEWAYS when cornering ;-)

Also DO BE CAREFUL with this car - look at the numbers - it is a tiny little vehicle with VERY low weight and very high power for it’s weight on 1960’s tires. Things happen fast in this one.

@Bobby Pennington - there is a chance I won’t be able to fix my computer until the event.
Currently I have a boot to black screen cycle I could not fix so far while I am in the process of getting a shopping list for a new PC (which won’t be ready until the Porsche 917’s are screaming).

elloLeo Kinnunen · Mar 21, 2018

Danke Dirk... and Pedro Rogriguez!

Dirk Steffen · Mar 21, 2018

Bobby Pennington · Mar 21, 2018

Dirk Steffen said:
for people having understeering issues with the 917, here are my general first tweaks I always do to the Kunos standard setup for this car - careful, I like a loose rear with a Porsche:

- more negative camber at the front (-1.2 to -1.4 usually)
- lower front ride hight
- substantially lower aero (both flaps and center wing)
- move brake bias more to rear to turn the car in while braking
- make sure your tire pressures are optimal (these tires seem to need longer to get on optimal temp then modern GT3 slicks, so don’t get fooled only running a few quick laps ! Grip substantially increases once they have warmed up but always stays on the lower side compared to modern tires.

I usually do not touch the default toe settings of the car, stock feels about right.
I also usually don’t touch the stock rear camber (careful with camber changes on those MASSIVE rear tires).

I find as a general tweak to dampers before even getting into telemetry data is to increase slow bump in the front a click or two and increase slow rebound in the rear a click or two as well to decrease some nasty weight transfer surprises in the breaking zone.

Regarding the aero changes I do: you have to be very careful and observative of the cars behavior when lowering the aero. This 917K is EXTREMELY sensitive to aero changes and when lowering the flaps and center wing below a certain point this car will kill you. Don’t overdo it.
I usually start at ~6 on all three settings and add in more aero as I feel the car to be too nervous in the fast corners and entry of braking zones.

Also do be careful at the kink at the end of the start finish line before T1 - this is NOT full throttle in the 917K and if you can do this kink at full throttle then you have set up the car way too stable and will loose time in all the slow corners as the car won’t turn in as easy.

When in doubt about how to drive the car, just look at old photographs of Pedro Rodriguez racing the 917K - there is not a single photo of him online where he is NOT completely SIDEWAYS when cornering ;-)

Also DO BE CAREFUL with this car - look at the numbers - it is a tiny little vehicle with VERY low weight and very high power for it’s weight on 1960’s tires. Things happen fast in this one.

@Bobby Pennington - there is a chance I won’t be able to fix my computer until the event.
Currently I have a boot to black screen cycle I could not fix so far while I am in the process of getting a shopping list for a new PC (which won’t be ready until the Porsche 917’s are screaming).

Thank you Dirk. I wish you luck in getting it fixed in time.

Bobby Pennington · Mar 21, 2018

RaceDepartment.com US Club Practice #36 server is up and running Hooligans

Keith_G · Mar 21, 2018

I can't resist this one, even though I really suck at driving these days! Better get some practice in!! Thanks Bobby

Bobby Pennington · Mar 21, 2018

Keith_G said:
I can't resist this one, even though I really suck at driving these days! Better get some practice in!! Thanks Bobby

Great to have you join us Keith. Sorry about ducking out early last night. Probably best that I did that.

Celtic Pharaoh · Mar 22, 2018

I come bearing setups

Celtic Pharaoh · Mar 22, 2018

Oh crap! I realised I should've consulted you first @Bobby Pennington to see how much we need to charge for these. Me and my stupid business mind #innocentbusinessacumen

Dirk Steffen · Mar 22, 2018

Bobby Pennington said:
Thank you Dirk. I wish you luck in getting it fixed in time.

It was no good Bobby - the computer is still out cold but I do have my shopping list down to the last two items that are a bit wobbly (RAM + GPU) as I had to find out that NONE of the reasonable GPU choices are available from stock

When a bit more time opens up I'll get around buying the bits and pieces - until then it's no racing for me.

You guys have a load of fun! Enjoy those 917Ks !

Celtic Pharaoh · Mar 22, 2018

I collected a bunch of skins from RD for this. Any chance we can run them for tomorrow?

https://imgur.com/a/FcLUb

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1w3yUUT45b6P_GgEfI2RF_ZyHTDe-1wqt

Bobby Pennington · Mar 22, 2018

Celtic Pharaoh said:
Oh crap! I realised I should've consulted you first @Bobby Pennington to see how much we need to charge for these. Me and my stupid business mind #innocentbusinessacumen

That's not a problem at all. I'll just take it out of your check to make up the difference. At this rate I'll be the poorest man ever

Bobby Pennington · Mar 22, 2018

Dirk Steffen said:
It was no good Bobby - the computer is still out cold but I do have my shopping list down to the last two items that are a bit wobbly (RAM + GPU) as I had to find out that NONE of the reasonable GPU choices are available from stock

When a bit more time opens up I'll get around buying the bits and pieces - until then it's no racing for me.

You guys have a load of fun! Enjoy those 917Ks !

Ok man. I hope the binary world starts to treat you better soon. I know it's killing you seeing these machines running and you not being able to participate.