Star Mazda expert needed

[Joe Hubbard]

I have been able to get my time down to 1:45.6 and I'm wondering if I am taking the turns wrong and if someone could point me to where I'm going wrong. I'd like to be able to hit the 1:44 mark. Thanks for any help you might be able to give. Sorry for the little jump towards the end of the video, fraps split the video due to size.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Turn 1, just slightly of apex there, you could have just kept it that little bit tighter.

Carosel or whatever it´s called, i really don´t know but maybe keeping it just a tad tighter midway so you get on the power a tad earlier.

Same with the left downhill hander that comes after, you are probably 1-2 meters of the apex there. which means you have to wait just that bit longer before you can get on the gas.

Same with the uphill right hander, a little bit tighter will allow you to get on the gas just that bit earlier i think.

And the last turn, still a tiny bit of road between you and the grass there.

Oh and btw, do you use autoclutch? The star mazda you really don´t need it, just flick the paddle and it upshifts.
For downshift i use a hint of throttle in every downshift but i know people who do not use any throttle during downshifts.
For me it makes the rear to nervous so i guess it´s preference.

Just wanted to say that i am in no shape or form quick in the Mazda, been a long time since i drove it so i´m just trying to help as good as i can.

 

[Joe Hubbard]

I'll give that a go, and see what happens. Also yes I use the auto clutch as I do not have one, only the gas and brake at the moment.

 

[Stuart Whitehead]

You dont need a clutch in the Star Mazda anyway, so turn auto clutch off as that's costing you about 3/10ths a lap to start with.

I agree with Hampus' assessment. T1 can be a lot faster which will gain you a lot up to the bus stop. The bus stop your also not fast enough through. Get your downshifts done before turning into it and get the power down earlier. You missed every apex in the boot section, so quite a bit to be gained through there.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I think you´re in for a surprise Joe regarding the autoclutch/no autoclutch
I think that if your really good you might see some improvement in the braking department too without autoclutch because now you can really use the engine braking much better.

And like Stuart said, Turn 1 is the most important turn of the whole track. And remember to kiss every apex you can find. If that means moving the brake point a few feet back then so be it because you will gain that before the next corner anyways.

 

[Joe Hubbard]

I've been doing some practice with what you guys have said and I qualified with a 1:45.257 so I'm getting there. The nice thing is that I don't really feel like I'm pushing this setup too hard or to the point that I'm out of control. So I may do a few more testing runs and push it a bit harder or to that point of losing it.

 

[William Nowell]

Nice time there Joe. I see I need to put in some mores laps to keep up with you.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I've been doing some practice with what you guys have said and I qualified with a 1:45.257 so I'm getting there. The nice thing is that I don't really feel like I'm pushing this setup too hard or to the point that I'm out of control. So I may do a few more testing runs and push it a bit harder or to that point of losing it.

Yea losing control of the car because of going in to fast or out to fast is good because then you really know the limit. If you never cross the boundary you will never know how much you have left before your at the limit

 

[Stuart Whitehead]

Yea losing control of the car because of going in to fast or out to fast is good because then you really know the limit. If you never cross the boundary you will never know how much you have left before your at the limit

Exactly right.

I completely reverse the learning process in sim racing compared to how you'd do it in real life. There no point building up slowly until you think you've found the limits, that's a terribly slow way of learning. It's much quicker to get up to speed by pushing it over the limits then reeling it in a little.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Yea that´s the beauty of simracing. no need to worry about any health or paying for anything, just flick it in the corner, if it sticks it sticks, if not well now you know the limit lol.