USA Rhez: Mosport #1

What's a Rhez? It's a slug-slow piece of ... 1:57.3 is my best so far. The front tires overheat terribly no matter what I set the pressure to, the rear tires never heat up to proper running temps no matter what pressure I set them to. By the time I was in lap 10 the fronts had no grip whatsoever, they were more than 20 degrees overheated. Next to nothing to change in the garage, any suggestions on the tire temps?

Refer to the Car Upgrade Specifications. Click on Spec Rhez at the top of this page. Sounds like you're using a stock Rhez.

Thanks Charles. Helps a lot having the correct settings to begin with. But I still don't 'get' these cars. Like on Mosport - the long turns, if I lift off just a bit, then apply the throttle in the turn the car wants to go straight off the track, if I lift off it'll turn in, touch the brake and it'll turn in even more. This doesn't happen on all corners, nor consistently, it's just weird. I'm gonna have to practice a bit more, but if I can't figure it out I won't bother racing this series. What's a Rhez anyway? Is it some 'third world' country car?

Not sure what a Rhez is, but they make for some close racing.

I am not the fastest guy around but I have put in a few laps for this one with the best being a 1:45.XX.

The Rhez is a fictional car. Just your standard 4 cylinder FWD econobox.

If you're not used to FWD it may take a little practice to get the feel. But don't give up on them so easily, as there is some great racing to be had with these little cars.

I've driven the fwd cars in RACE and these behave a lot differently from those. And I own a fwd car, Mazda 3, and these are nothing like a real fwd car. But I will give them a chance.

This car just pushes like nothing else. As much as I hate to say it, it sort of reminds me of my dad's 05 Civic Si--it's solid, consistent, but its front-end heavy, underpowered, and it pushes something severe when you really try to put it down.

My biggest problem is the wobble between tiny oversteer when braking and then a severe push as soon as the brakes are let off. I find that aiming deep for a corner and -very- carful throttle modulation really helps the car. Also, when braking deep, make sure you aim early because the car will just understeer into the corner.

After 5 laps, I was running 200-220 degree fronts and 170/180 rears. A little overheated perhaps, but totally understandable for a F/F econobox. Please note--I did turn the steering angle down something severe, from 20 to 13 or 14. I found it gives you a bit more precise control and kept you from melting the fronts right off from understeer.

I'm turning solid-consistent 1:53/1:54s, finding about a quarter of a second a lap. Note that I've only got about 8 under my belt. I hope that's around pace.

One really awful thing about the Rhez is that it is by no means a forgiving car. Once you're too hot, too deep, or too wide in a turn, you're pretty much screwed, guaranteed a slow-motion plow into the tire wall. Thats about the most frustrating thing about it for me. You can't drive it at 95% and get anything out of it. You're always pushing it 110% just to get a decent time, and with that comes the price of a itty-bitty margin of error.

I do look forward to the race though. This reminds me a lot of the VW Rabbit class that NASA runs. The field is underpowered and looks terribly goofy like these econoboxes, but the total spread over a 30 minute race is no more than 10 seconds for 8 cars. I sure hope for some great door-to-door racing!

With the proper upgrades this car is much more drivable, thanks for the tip, I would've missed it, and not been able to join the race. I've got my time down to 1:47's. More room to improve, but I have to figure out what else to do to the setup, the front tires are still overheating.

Edit: changed the springs a bit and now the front temps are not so bad, and the tires do cool quite quickly. Also got my time down in the 1:46's.

This is a cool track for these cars. I'm spending alot of time in 5th gear seeing how little I can brake.

I'm wondering how many people will follow Tim's class rules to the letter, and how many will fiddle with the settings while still remaining GT2.

It is possible to give yourself a crappy flywheel and clutch and then up your engine while staying within gt2.

I can just about beat 1:44 by doing this.

Posted by Tim McArthur at 06:32 PM on Wed Aug 15 Post #13 in the Spec Rhez Series page comments -

"That you fit into GT2, then i double check the upgrade code int he export afterwards.

You should read the comments after that post as well.