I was just happy to keep it on the track since I cooked the tires about half way through. I had nothing left at the end, I'm sure Tony wondered if I thought the race was over.

 

Justin, I know I can count on you for good paint swapping. That was a pretty intense chase, until the rear got away from me and blew the engine.

Yeah, that clutch trick was was also a total bust. Ensures no wheel spin just like it ensures you get passed by everyone.

 

That was a great first half of the race. Then I suddenly noticed a red square jumping out at me from the dash, thinking... "thats new.. maybe its from the recent update." Couple seconds later, "Spotter: You have about two laps of fuel left" lol lesson learned.

 

Damn black flag, how was I to know there was a small incline on the grid

 

We only touched ever so slightly as you chose the inside line early and I was trying to keep you pinned there. I didn't even realize that we had contact until I watched the replay and scrolled up the list to see the '0x contact'. I'm looking forward to Jim's video.

I found that it was the traction control that was bogging my launches, so I turned that off and was able to get out of the hole much more quickly.

 

I keep on having problems with my gearbox. Removed the "use custom controls for this car" and I was finally able to shift nearly properly, still, I got that gearbox getting onto neutral once every few laps when downshifting. It's been like that all winter long and never had the chance to race properly.

Quite franckly, I'm not having fun driving the Ruf. Yesterday was a lot better, but it took me lots of time to figure it out (well Sysgen figured it out). I was on a set-up that was fine with me. Then I switched to Bedros' set-up for the race and that was not a brilliant idea. I had to learn to brake and turn at the same time...

I wish I could race with you guys, but it's not the case with the Ruf. I just can't get a hold of it...

 

We've all made the mistake of a last minute setup change before the race. It's tempting, but I think we've seen that chasing the 'hot' setup causes more problems than it solves. I went through that earlier in the year when I was just trying to chase Tony's lap times instead of sticking to my own game plan and hammering out laps with a more conservative setup.

You've got to get the gearbox issue sorted out otherwise none of the cars you drive will work well. I think there is a variable in the sim software somewhere that sets the button press time and if it's too short, it won't go into gear.

 

My concentration is lacking... I need to get my game up to par.

Gearbox: The only car I have a problem with is the Ruf. All the other cars (Corvette, BMW, McLaren, Star Mazda...) shift well. I guess mine is due for a rebuilt...

Where can I find that?

Thanks

c.

 

Sysgen found this:

Double shift issue with sequential paddles - FIX "DEBOUNCE" in iRacing's app.ini config file.
This fix reportedly works with most brands of sequential shifter.
- Close the sim or the sim will overwrite the file
- Open documents/iRacing/
- Make a backup/safe copy of app.ini
- Open app.ini (it probably opens in notepad by default).
- Search for "debounce" change 80 to what works for you.
debounceSeq_Ms=80 ; Add delay in Milliseconds to sequential shifter to reduce double shifts

Is this the thing?

Mainly, the car does this: Let's say I'm in 5th gear, flat out, coming for a turn. I start downshifting, then suddenly the car falls into neutral. Then I have to wait for the revs to come down, upshift so it gets back into gear (downshifting does not work to put it back into gear), then I can downshift to 1st gear and start racing again.

It does it with ONLY with the Ruf and not with the other cars. And it was doing it when I had my G27 and it does it with my TX.

HEEEEELP!!!!!

c.

 

That's a strange issue Charles.


...I can't say my setup was anything brilliant. I used a setup that I've been practicing on at Sebring. Could have been far from ideal. The way I tuned it was to add more spring up front to prevent sudden weight shift. This is really more to my liking than anything else, and let me trail brake far easier. ...but as you saw one fast lap doesn't promise a win.

I've always had a view that a good setup doesn't make the car go fast, but rather a good setup improves the communication between you and the car. In other words, you ask for something from the car, and the car does it as you would expect. Going fast is simply a by product of the car doing what you want exactly without hassle. Of course, there are some other factors that will directly affect your speed like aero and tire pressures. A "fast" setup seems more relevant to the ovals, but it's my opinion that there is far less driver intervention there so you're getting much more contribution from the setup. A lot of people on iRacing that talk about "fast" setups seem to be oval guys.

Also everyone is different, and different hardware plays into the setup. If you have pedals that are easy to press, it's likely you'll overshoot the optimal brake pressure, and cause weight transfer far quicker as well. Rolling onto the throttle may not be as smooth also. This may be compensated by setup for each individual, and that same setup will feel different with different hardware.

The best approach is to learn how to identify what the car isn't doing for you, and apply setup changes that fix those issues. However, to be able to figure out what the car is saying, you have to at least be able to drive consistently. It's a bit of a catch 22, because to drive consistently you would want a setup that works for you.

My advice is to start with the baseline setups and continue to drive them until you master them. By that I mean, being able to go around the track consistently, not necessarily fast or the way you would want them.

When you get to a point where you say to yourself, "Gee, I wish the car didn't understeer so much on entry", or "oversteer on exit", then you start experimenting with setup changes to fix those issues.

The baseline setups are actually pretty good for the most part, but they are dialed more for understeer, which isn't necessarily fast.

 

Well said... and the above holds true in real life racing, too.

Damping rates, spring rates, etc... CAN vary, driver-to-driver, for the same lap times. Some drivers are very aggressive on the brakes, and as such need more HS damping in the front, stiffer springs, etc. Some are softer on the apply, but jump OFF the brakes sharply - necessitating different rebound settings, etc.

In other words - setups are generally tailored to the driver, not the car.

Bedros really is right - start with the baseline, go from there. Get consistent first. Even if it's consistently slow... be consistent. Get to where you can run 10 laps in a row, all within a second of each other. THEN start with ONE thing - one corner, etc. and ask yourself what it's doing that you don't like. Experiment from there.

Easy rule of thumb: just play with bars and tire pressures. I've found the RUF likes 28.5-29.0 in the tires, so work to keep them all adjusted (when hot) in that range. A softer sway bar should provide more grip at that end - i.e. softer rear means more grip in the rear (or less grip in the front), softer front means more grip in the front (or less grip in the rear).

As you've seen from a lot of our races here - consistency makes a big difference in how you finish.


As for last night's video... I set it to record, then checked it after - and ~26 mins of video was 2 hours. Every now and then my recording software glitches and sticks an hour of blank in the middle (?). I'll have to kick off another recording tonight. I'll get to it, I promise.

 

So, who has been paying for all these sessions?

 

Your not allowed to ask this question !!!















Seriously I've asked before and never got an answer

 

Sean (IndyRev) pays for the Sunday practice and I pay for the Wednesday night races and league cost. Kevin Bobbitt gave us a nice donation to get us started through the first year, so Iracing has sponsored us too.

 

That doesn't seem fair. Can I make a donation?