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I've been practicing at Barcelona National with the Lotus Elise this week. I've been doing race weekends against the AI. I tweak my setup, looking at tyre temps, adjusting negative camber, wing, etc. Beating the 100% AI for the first time was a real thrill. Tonight I came in first against 105% AI. Although I've qualified as fast as 1:15.5 (which most of you guys should have no problem beating) the race pace was about 1:19, and my best in race lap time was 1:17.5. It felt like a leisurely pace now that I'm so familiar with the track. I sort of raced in a Zen like state, hardly making any mistakes, never going off track, racing close to the car in front, never over reaching to pass, but waiting for that driver to make a mistake. I started off in 8th position and just worked my way up. The actual fun run will be alot more brutal, but I'm glad I'm improving. Tip: fuel load calculation The Lotus Elise uses 0.51 L/km and Barcelona N is 3.075 km long. At 1.57 L/lap, you'll need 25 to 26 L for a 16 lap race. Question: Tire Temps Is the optimal temp dry 80' or 90'? I've read it is better to be hotter than colder. Anyone know of a grip vs temp graph? |
In the Dunlop_Elise.tyr file you will find: Temperatures=(90.0,20.0) // Optimum operating temperature for peak forces, cold starting temp (Celsius) and GripTempPress=(2.25, 0.60, 0.30) // Grip effects of being below temp,above temp, and off-pressure (higher number -> faster grip dropoff) So...yeah, if your tires are cold then you lose 2.25 and if above temp .60...I don't know what these #'s actually mean though...most probably the #'s are multiplied by the # of degrees celcius that the temp is off. But, obviously it is most desireable to have the temps right at 90ºC to avoid any significant loss...and of course err on the side of higher temp. | ||
With softs up front and mediums in the back I can get all my tires nice and hot. The fronts are in the 80-90' range, and the rears are in the 90-100' range. Left side tires are hotter and are hottest after the last turn. I'm using assymetrical tire pressures but the right side is still a little too cool. Wondering if some anti-roll will help the rights from lifting. I got my qualifying time down to 1:14.5. Now I'm moving on the the BMW M3 and tweaking it. | ||
I jumped on the server last night to learn the track and get a setup ready for tonight, I was the only Lotus vs the BMW's for a while until 2 other Elise's showed. There were 13.2's being run by the time I left, Steve seemed to get down in that range quickly so he may have bested that later.
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I did a test run for the Bimmer. Softs up front, Med on rear. Can't seem to get the tires hot enough because only the left rear got above 80. Probably need to drop the pressure more. I raced against the computer for 50 laps with AI 101% difficulty. Tire wear was set to 2X. 76 L was too much fuel - maybe 72 L would have been better. Practiced my double pit after lap 24, rears first pit, fronts second, no fuel. A little slow get my engine back on. The AI waited to pit for tires till lap 35 or so and their tires were completely shot for 2 or 3 laps prior to that. I started passing the cars that had lapped me with my double pit. They slid all over the place and slowed to a snails pace - very comical. I finished the race 1 lap down in last place. Not to bad as far as I'm concerned. Best lap was 1:12.5. I'm sure most people will be at 1:10 or less for qualifying. | ||
Low 1.09's are a given for Qualy, you may see a 1.08.99 |