It's that time of the year again. No, not Christmas or New Year, even though that's also a thing, but the last rF2 race of the year. Just like the last two years, we have finished off the season with a special event with the 80's prototypes, we will do the same this year. In 2021 it was the 100 Meilen von Nürnberg. Last year, we had the Fuji Film Cup '90. This year, we will stay on the same theme as last year, but move to the UK, and do the Shell Donington Trophy. Just like last time, we will do half distance from the real life, and for premium members, who will have access to the Discord voice channel, the official 50 min highlight broadcast from the 1990 race, will be possible to watch there. It's the perfect way to sign off the simracing season and get ready for new years celebrations!
Eligibility: You must be a PREMIUM member. You must also use your REAL NAME on all RD servers and TeamSpeak, and include this in your forum profile. It is the only way of identifying who you are during an event.
Car(s): Mak Corp Group C Community Upd. 1.2 [LINK] (or dowload Part 1, 2 and 3 at RD) The community update have updated some graphics, textures, IBL shaders, driver models, backfire graphics and other fixes on stuff that have slowly gone out of date after the inital Gr.C release. It also have more, and better organized liveries. Tyre Wear & Fuel Usage 2x to simulate full event!
Mazda 787B
Porsche 962C
Sauber C11
Track: Donington Park - [DLC] or [British Track Pack] other packs are available as well.
Layout: Full Air Temperature: 16 Fixed Setups: No (setups can be shared) Start Type: Formation Lap & Rolling Start Driving Assists: Auto Clutch, Auto Shifting Time: Day (2x speed, will not get dark) Weather: Dry ABS/TC: Factory Defaults
Schedule: (EU) Friday 29 December 2023
Shell Donington Trophy 1990 Watch-along: 19:00 UTC (50 minutes, streamed on Discord) Practice: 20:00 UTC (20 minutes)
Qualifying: 20:20 UTC (15 minutes - PRIVATE)
Warm Up: 20:35 UTC (4 minutes)
Race: 20:40 UTC (240km (60 Laps) - time limited to 1hr45min)
INFORMATION & BASIC RULES
All of the standard Racing Club Rules still apply to this event.
Non-Premium Members will be sent the rules and PW on Private Message. Note that nicknames on server is not allowed.
DRIVER LIST - See this post for car selection While not mandatory, it would look nice if we avoided the same liveries. If you know what car you will drive, please sign up with that. However, you can also sign up without any car, and you can change whenever up until the race actually starts. It just looks better if we avoid running many cars with the exact same livery. See below for cars in the mod.
Duke Video have posted a short little clip of their 50 min programme from Donington in 1990. However, half of that short clip is race results and conclusion. So instead, I will link to the teaser for Suzuka. It is in the same style the Donington show is. .
Technical-Info Post #1
The cars have a lot of different options of downforce levels. They also have different tyre brands. Porsche can even choose between Goodyear and Yokohama. What to do? Well, let's use the information provided by the creators themselves.
Aerodynamics can be set for high speed tracks or high downforce tracks changing the front wing setting to “Low” (downforce and drag) or “High” (downforce and drag). The rear wing works as a balancer of the front wing, because most of the downforce comes from the ground effect's tunnel below the car. The recommended setting for high speed tracks (Le Mans and Daytona) is “Low” and “0 deg”, while for high downforce tracks is “High” and “9 deg” (or more).
Tyres were thought around warming, not only wear and grip as main target. The R500/Sprint warms more than the others by only rolling, so this compound is good for tracks with long straights with few sections of corners. This tyre maintain the heat better for the next corner, and fit tracks like Sebring, Le Mans, Road America, but at some tracks like Interlagos or Estoril they can't cool down fast enough. The R600/Enduro compound is harder and resist better the long period of cornering. It warms less on the straights, so isn't so good at Le Mans or Sebring where they need some laps to warm up to operational temp.
All the tyres have an operational pressure around 165-170 kpa, and they take 3 to 5 laps to reach the highest pressure.[Note from Admin: I cannot confirm or deny that the low pressure tyre thing will work with this mod] So check the pressure after some test laps to set the cold pressure at the garage. The car jump and move to the sides until the tyres reach higher pressure.
- Goodyear R500 = Dunlop Sprint => (the softer compound)
- Goodyear R600 = Dunlop Enduro => (the hardest compound)
- Yokohama, this brand have an unique compound, the rear rim have a bigger diameter (19"
instead 18") than the other brands. It is a hard compound with slow heating and very stable. It will last longer than the others tyres if it’s used into their thermal window. Excellent for long runs with medium boost.
Rain tyres works well below 80C. This compound could be used while the track remains 60% wet, then it overheat easily.
Engines(Mazda and Porsche) have a 90000 seconds life (25 hours). Oil temp affects the health of the engines making the life counter faster or slower. Running the engine with 95C of oil temp is safe for 24 hs, running at 100C is risky but possible, but over 105C can't be assured to reach the finish line.
Running the engine over the rev limiter while upshifting or while downshifting reduce the engine life. [Note from Admin: Only 11 degrees over safe temp = 2x engine wear! So an engine that would last 25 hours normally, will just last 12.5 hours with those temps]
Sauber Engine:
10 turbo positions are available on the simulation, with the most conservative already offering 730hp and pushing hard from a very low 3500rpm. At the highest turbo settings more than 900hp explode at the wheel, but abuse will overheat the engine and harm tyres prematurely.
Max. recommended rpm: 7000-7200rpm (at 7200rpm engine life is halved) Recommended radiator setting: 5 (Endurance)
Recommended oil temperature range: 112 – 123ºC (at 123ºC life is halved) Recommended boost position: Long endurance: 3, Endurance: 6, Qualifying: 9 Recommended mixture map use:
Lean (rain/save fuel): 1
Rich (maximum power): 2
Recommended engine brake setting:
Short braking distance : 1
Keep corner speed: 4
Technical-Info Post #2
No, we are not done yet. I will copy my post from last year, but I will remove first bit that was CarStat graphs for tyres. Mainly because the grip/heat/wet grip graphs there are different from before, while all the tyre behaviour is the same (e.g the graphs are just confusing and not helpful)
*Long Post Warning* Graphs and data based on the Sauber. Numbers might differ slightly for other cars, but how it works is the same for all. E.G aero balance might be a tiny bit different on the Porsche and Mazda, but the effects explained are the same. See post above for specific engine-information for Porsche and Mazda.
-Tyre characteristics and recommendations:
Tyres are very sensitive to slip angle. This means using excessive steering angles may induce quick overheating on tyres surface, losing grip prematurely while cornering. Sliding and going sideways may harm rear tyres.
Tyres are also sensitive to load and speed.
They are not so effective at the fastest corners, where sliding speed is higher and downforce increases tyre deformation, so they lose grip and suffer faster overheating and wear.
Soft compounds are more sensitive to load, so probably you will notice that they are much more grippy than hard compounds at low speed corners, but grip difference is not so big at high speed corners.
Different compounds need different driving style according to their temperature characteristics.
Soft compounds are not very efficient when overheated, while hard compounds are not efficient when cold. Probably hard compounds admit a more aggressive style, which helps to reach optimum temperatures, while soft compounds need to be gentle to not exceed them.
Chosen tyre compound must fit with ambient conditions and required task. Soft tyres fit better with low fuel loads, high turbo positions and more oversteering chassis.
These are the typical conditions on short race stints and qualifying laps. It’s not recommended to use soft tyres with high fuel loads, very hot ambient temperatures, etc,... In the other hand, it is not recommended to use hard tyres with highest turbo positions.
Never use rain tyres in a dry track. They will overheat and wear quickly, making impossible to drive safely. When track is drying after the rain, use wetness left on the straights to refrigerate your rain tyres. Also, do not use slick tyres in the wet since they are easily affected by aquaplanning.
Aerodynamics!
As you can see - the Front/Rear balance of the car, or, feeling of pointy, understeering, oversteering car does change with added downforce, even if wing-levels stay the same relative to each other.
As a start point, it is recommended to use same number for both downforce settings. Examples >>> Interlagos: front=6, rear=6 ; Monza: 4-4 ; Le Mans 1991: 3-3. Se first Aero-graph with front/rear balance for reasoning behind this. Only run different wing settings as the last setup change for fine tuning balance.
Ride Height: How to choose best ride height, from aerodynamics point of view?
Ride height is dynamic, it changes all the time while driving due to different forces acting on the chassis. You should choose a static ride height that goes in favour of the optimum instant ride height on corners and straights of each track.
‘Static ride height’: Ride height setting. It is set on garage.
‘Instant ride height’: Actual ride height while driving.
Normally, Instant ride height is lower than static, because of aerodynamic downforce. Rake is the difference between rear and front ride height.
Rake is positive when rear is higher than front. Rake is negative when rear is lower than front.
‘Rake’ = ‘Rear ride height’ – ‘Front ride height’
VERY Detailed, complicated Ride Height Stuff:
This confirms that:
- The lower is the car, the less aerodynamic drag there is.
- Drag also decreases when both front and rear heights are the same.
That is: Rake generates extra drag, especially negative rake.
At the straights, rear height tends to go lower than front due to strong rear downforce. Use hard rear springs and/or increase rear height setting to avoid negative rake and speed loss.
Avoid using too soft rear springs in combination with low rear ride heights.
A change of +-1cm in rear height can make you lose 5kph of top speed.
As a conclusion, we recommend the following static ride height to obtain a balanced setup:
Recommended front static ride height setting: 45-50mm
Recommended rear static ride height setting: 60-70mm
Do note that if you lower the car too much, the car will bottom out, which will lose speed, but also cause a loss of downforce.
Brakes:
Driving Recommendations:
- Caution! This is a 900HP machine. It is strongly recommended to carefully regulate throttle pedal when approaching corner exit, especially on low speed corners. It is possible to slide and to make opposite lock while using a portion of throttle, but never use full throttle until the car is firmly stabilized.
Highest turbo positions are only recommended when riding new qualifying tyres or very good track conditions. Listen to turbo sound so that you know when the power is coming.
When track is very wet, use ‘Rain’ engine mixture.
- Going sideways at high speed is not recommended.
Severe grip loss can occur when trying to drift at higher speeds than 180kph.
- Stay on track limits, avoid driving over kerbs. Suspension travel is short and springs are usually very hard, so they don’t cope well with irregularities.
- After exiting pit lane or caution laps, brakes and tyres are usually cold.
Avoid aggressive driving and late braking until car elements reach optimum work temperatures. Brakes can heat up after a pair of corners, but tyres may need rolling for two or more laps, depending on track and compound.
- Car settings should take in account fuel consumption and tyre wear.
Car performance will change after some laps, so risky setups which are fast on new tyres can be dangerous for a long stint.
Remember that car weight, balance and grip will change.
For the race, choose tyre compounds which last longer in good state, and this applies also to rain tyres.
So... With all the information in the two posts above, it probably causes a question:
Which car is best for me?
The Mazda with just one brand of tyres, a narrow fuel consumption options and good handling it's a great and safe choice for the race.
On the Porsche's side, you have different options. You could use soft Goodyear tyres and a higher turbo pressure to go as fast as you can, but bear in mind that tyres will last less, and stints will be shorter due to the amount of fuel needed.
A more conservative choice could be to use Yokohama tyres with a lower turbo pressure to have a less challenging car to drive. This way you could make longer stints with shorter pit stops due to capability to double stint the tyres, putting the focus on the consistency.
The C11 is heavier, it doesn’t turn in so fast on twisty circuits. But it has good traction and lots of power to reach high speeds. All cars have the same chance to fight for wins, it all depends on the driver to choose the right combination that matches their driving style to get the best performance from the chosen car.
Pit Stop Time: Tyres take 20 seconds to be changed and is the only action with a separated time. Fuel takes 1 second per litre (100 seconds for the entire tank). All the other actions are shared with the fuel time (driver change, repairs, settings changes). The amount of time that appears as fuel time, is the total time for the pit stop.
A fun fact is that Oscar Laurarri a WSC round winner, Le Mans podium finisher and former F1 driver have been the go-to guy for Mak-Corp when making the mod.
To finish off the technical posts. It might look very intimidating, complex, high-tech and a bit "but I don't understand or care about half of it, are there any point in my doing this?".
The answer is YES.
When we raced at Suzuka with these cars last year. The winner had 2 pit-stops, the second placed only one stop. I raced with basically default setup, had the fastest lap of the race, had 3 stops... and ended 6th. The polesitter ended 8th. While, due to strategy, the man who finished 2nd in the race only had the 10th fastest lap of the race. There were drivers two-stopping on the softer compound, and other two-stopped on harder compounds.
It basically means, if you find a car and setup that fits you and your driving style, there is a good chance for a nice race!
You can follow all the techy techy bits, but how you drive is often much more influential than a little setup change
Last year we had 5 different custom liveried cars:
But the best things was, we basically had just different liveries on track. And that looks really really good.
And with that. The thread will open for sign-ups.
Remember, this is open for premium and non-premium members, so if you have friends you want to race with, or that you know will love this kind of racing... bring them with you! This will be awesome!
And note, it is a Christmas Treat, also non-premium race. So maybe some of you have friends and/or familiy racing somewhere else, that can be dragged along as well? All in the spirit of holiday simracing! It even means if some of you guys' premium have run out... you are still free to race! Great stuff, right?
SERVER IS UP!!
And GETMod is sadly down. Which means, when you download the mod you have to place the rfmod file in this folder on your PC: Steam\steamapps\common\rFactor 2\Packages
This also means that when you start up the game you must install the mod from the "manage content" bit in the game menu:
SERVER IS UP!!
And GETMod is sadly down. Which means, when you download the mod you have to place the rfmod file in this folder on your PC: Steam\steamapps\common\rFactor 2\Packages
This also means that when you start up the game you must install the mod from the "manage content" bit in the game menu:
Ah. So. The rfmod for the server works like always.
But we are using the Gr.C Community Mod, which is non-Steam, and that one isn't possible to get by joining the server. So it needs to be downloaded and installed manually.
I'm a definite maybe*. Car to be decided. Can we nominate a livery as above? Also, Ole, including non-premium members in the rF2 PW chat will expose all the other night's PWs too - if that bothers the other hosts. And, the regular Discord is premium only - there is the rookie Discord available.
Thanks for the tag @Ole Marius Myrvold
Would love to join, but the motivation for doing simracing is just not there at the moment. Guess I just need a little break and then it hopefully will return soon.
I'm a definite maybe*. Car to be decided. Can we nominate a livery as above? Also, Ole, including non-premium members in the rF2 PW chat will expose all the other night's PWs too - if that bothers the other hosts. And, the regular Discord is premium only - there is the rookie Discord available.
Non-Premium members will not be added to the PW chat. They will get an own PM with the league rules and the PW.
Reg the rookie Discord. That's not something I have used previously, but is obviously an option.
Thanks for the tag @Ole Marius Myrvold
Would love to join, but the motivation for doing simracing is just not there at the moment. Guess I just need a little break and then it hopefully will return soon.
