VM Stock Hatch Series 6 - MSM Teams

When I mess with the gearing it's usually to make sure I'm not bouncing between gear on the last chicane section. I think you can also get away with a lot Accel Diff because there aren't many low speed turns here. I've also got a time on the LB if the rivals ghost helps at all.

Any aero changes Dom?

This is the tune I ran a 2:04.6 but I've never been much good on this track (I think I lose almost half a sec on turn 5 alone    ) so I'd say it's good for .3's in better hands. If there's anything glaringly obvious that I should change, feel free to shout it out...

Tyres: 27.5 front/28.5 rear
Gears: FD 3.98, 1, 2.83, 2, 1.93, 3, 1.42, 4, 1.14, 5, 0.96 6, not used
Camber: -3/-3
Toe: 0/0
Caster: 4.8
Arb's: 7.80/20.61
Springs: 416.9/557.7
Height: 5.6/5.6
Rebound: 6.1/7.8
Bump: 4.8/6.1
Aero: 68/101 (may try with lower rear when I get the feeling back in my hand)
Brakes: 52% with 108% pressure (purely personal choice, any higher and I lock up too often)
Diff: 85% acc, 15% dec

Edit...Consult recommends using 6 gears. 5 and 6 do feel a little long so I'd agree. Unfortunately, I don't have time to change them now so I'm stuck with 5  

We'll race 3 was fun. After a brief chat with B4D B0Y, I found out I hadn't been invited to qualifying, but after a couple of friend requests and messages, I got a 11th spot as a DNQ in lobby three. After just about making out what the guys were talking about in the lobby, I discovered the common theme being the track is horrible, and qualifying times were around the high 2:05 to 2:09. So to the race;

After a failed attempt because someone went in heavy on the first chicane (I was in 5th by the hairpin) it was decided to restart the race as someone had damage. Not a problem I thought, just had to reproduce that winning start. It didn't quite happen.
A good start, a little full body contact on the 2nd corner as I was accelerating out, picked my way up to 5th, and had a bit of catching up to do. Got a blinding double overtake on the 4th corner, a bit more catching up and took 2nd place after a perfect corner leading up to the hairpin. 1st place pitted, think he had downshifted and over revved the engine judging by the white smoke pouring out the car. Then open road, stayed out the pits until 2nd and 3rd had pitted, exiting still in first. I kept pushing the limits of the car, got my lap time inside of the 2:04, which was a personal goal, and promptly lost the rear end on the rumble strips on the last set of corners before the chicane on laps 16/17, and spun on lap 18. Lap 19 was smooth again, fortunately, lost about 9 seconds.

Saying that, the guys raced well, and I think a cople of them would really have benefitted from a decent tune. Reminds me of the help I've had here to start putting some good times in. 
Got a few clips up on my profile if you get bored, but recommend the overtake on corner 4, in car clip.

I screwed the launch just enough for 6th and 7th to come knocking at my door and they sure did. Turn 1, 7th place dove inside turn 1, then 6th place dove inside on turn 2. I had no where to go other than just completely slow down and let them by. I don't think I did anything wrong.

Screw that, I'm not letting them bully me around.

Good job, Consult.  It would have been nice if you had the chance to qually into the right lobby, but it sounds like you had a pretty good adventure anyway.

Clark GriswoId wrote:I screwed the launch just enough for 6th and 7th to come knocking at my door and they sure did. Turn 1, 7th place dove inside turn 1, then 6th place dove inside on turn 2. I had no where to go other than just completely slow down and let them by. I don't think I did anything wrong.

Last night I watched the replay of our race, Clark.  It looked like Hamilton tried to make a move inside on turn one, but he was so deep inside that when you made contact with him he already had all four wheels off the track.  That contact bounced you outside into Bob I think, which then bounced you back into Hamilton , which bounced you back into the right rear of Bob, which spun him sliding in front of you and into Hamilton .  Both cars went off the track directly in front of me.  

During that incident, I was holding off F4H Whippy and managed to hang him out on the outside of turn 1 and pinch him down on turn 2.  I picked up three positions in a matter of two turns.  I was 100% convinced I was going to lose at least one at some point during the race, if not more, because all of those guys had times way faster than mine, but I get the feeling they "drove angry" after that, because they never even got close.  I plan to post a replay video tonight, but it'll be pretty boring.    Regardless, I was very happy to get 6th.

Edit: One more note.  I was talking to a friend over dinner the other night and he asked me how my racing was going (he plays League of Legends, so he knows a little about competitive gaming).  I mentioned the Silverstone race where I started 12 and managed to weasel my way up to 7th.  When I told him 27 people were racing he was pretty amazed.  I think it's easy to forget that top 10 finishes at this level of racing is actually a pretty decent accomplishment, and Clark's top 5 at Catalunya is all that much more impressive.  VM is probably more of a Formula 2 level compared to TORA as Formula 1, but hats off to Clark to driving his way that high up the grid.

I'd be keen to Jump into this with you guys if I'm able to! It's been ages since I raced with anyone from MSM or VM for that matter!

Heck yeah, Hilly.  Taco has been MIA, so you might be able to step in for him to team up with Skismo.  Hopefully, he'll be able to get the livery to you, or you can just run with something of your own design.  The sign up is at the web address below:

http://www.virtual-motorsports.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=374&t=5503

Gamertag: hillcrest34
Car number: ?
If you represent a Car Club or Team, please state it: Maverick Speed Motorsports
Are you competing in: EU/US? ?
Status: Team
Name of Privateer / Team Entry: MSM Kia
Have you read the Series Rules and the Virtual Motorsports Racing Standards: Yes
Have you sent a friend request: ?
How you like to be considered: Neither

After watching Dom's extensive video collection of the start of the race, I think the driver in #190 was too aggressive. Like Dom said, he went off track to undertake, but didn't take enough speed off by the apex, so everyone turned into him as #190 carried on a wide turn because of the excess. Clark was on the unfortunate end of it, but not as unfortunate as #3. If you had slowed down enough to avoid that happening, you would have been rear ended by the rest of the pack. Would have made a good pile up tho  

Ran some laps at Atlanta Short. Added front aero, and some rear aero. Still trying to get the right gearing. 1:04.2XX is my fastest, but thats just 7 laps or so.

Will post more info later today - Aero setting - hopefully a final gearing as well.

This car has 3's in it.

Edit - I see everyone is running 3's already.

It does feel like it takes me quite a few laps to get my 1:03 times posted, which is worrying. I had my aero at 75 for the front and 75 for the rear when I set my first 1:03 time. Then I set my rear aero to about 120 and still hit 1:03.7 on about lap 9 again.

Cutting the first chicane at the top of the hill at the highest speed without going dirty is an art. Additionally, I was following a ghost with a 1:03.3 time, and the only difference between my time and his was how he exited the final chicane going up the final hill. I basically lost half a second on that one turn alone.

My gearing is pretty long. I use 3rd and 4th gear around almost the entire track.

I was reading the forum, sounds like it is a two gear track. I will try and play with the gears tonight, but might be tempted with 4/5 to keep the others as a quick acceleration to turn one...

1:03.5,

Spoiler:

Running 4th-5th.  3rd gear for the Chicane at the end of the straight.

not sure how good this gearing will lend to lauch at race start though.

I was racing against ghosts 1 above me on the "near me" LB and I was also losing ground on that last uphill bit, almost every time. I think it's one of those "glitch" corners that you can cut a lot without dirtying?

Also, running low gears with 6th being used on the 2 straights. I went that low due to getting 2 bad starts in the previous races. Not sure if it's for the best but I'll do some more laps on Monday.

I'm the same as Clark at the moment, but my gears have a good launch. What I may try and do is see if 4th could be lowered and make 5th a little taller to get the straight speed out of it. It'll mean getting the revs up to the limiter before changing up tho...

Got my gear ratios mostly sorted, good acceleration, but have to avoid the temptation of shifting into 6th on the downhill straight. 4th is still feeling sluggish on turn 1, but it's a good baseline to start from.

Gears:

Well it's taken me a few days to post my view of my race, partly I've been busy packing bits ready to move, and partly due to the face it wasn't a great race. The last corner on the first lap, I had dropped two places, but two of the pack leaders came together and coreared into the barrier, looked quite nasty, but they let the race run. Received a bit of a nasty shunt that put me back to 11th, then worked my way back up to be on the receiving end of a bashful undertake (he did apologise and give the position back) but that cost me my slow catch up to 8th. Finished in 9th, one place higher, but altogether a forgettable race.
One interesting thing I did come out with tho, the tires are good for between 15 and 20 laps, and chances are they will be working harder towards the end of the race. Really had to fight to defend my position on worn tires at the end, not fun....

As for next weeks clash at Yas, might have to miss that one because of the move...

Went Back to the Laguna Gearing for this track.

Running zero aero  -

1:20.501 on lap 2 of my test run against VVV Boulton's time on rivals.

1:19's is my goal for quali.

The track flows nicely and will be more enjoyable to race at than Road Atlanta short.

Still keeping three MSM members in the top ten in the NA standings after four rounds. Twenty-four drivers have completed at least 3 of the 4 rounds. Moving up is going to be a challenge.

I did 8 laps with my Rd Atl tune at Yas North and could only manage 1:21.759.  I think I spent the first 4 laps just trying to learn the track.  I;ve never done a single lap on this layout that I can recall.  Like all the Yas layouts though, it's fun to me.  This has to be one of the best additions to the Fm franchise, imo.

Edit: 1:21.213. It's still way off the pace right now. I dropped my aero quite a bit, but I think my gearing is a bit of a problem. I'm dropping into 1st a lot each lap.

Good race last night. It was a race by yourself kind of night for me. Insanity pitted lap 3 so i was all alone for the remainder.

The quali setting really screwed me up. I was running fast laps but kept seeing myself in 12th place.

TEAM Gizmo not finishing moved MSM Motul Black into 2nd place in the team standings. Fingers crossed for bad batteries next 3 races!

just broke the 1:23's at Sebring Short. My gearing needs an overhaul here. none of the gears feel right.

My car setup is terrible. I don't know exactly what's wrong, but it does this see-sawing back and forth through some of the turns as it understeers, then oversteers, then understeers again. I can't get any consistent lines because I'm fighting the car all the way around the track.

I had about an hour testing on Tuesday, got a bit of a setup together, but I'm not back till Monday afternoon GMT. I'll post the spec up, but the only problem was that last corner with the bumps. Posted a low 1.23 time in testing, beat my leaderboard time, but didn't count as it was a test lap.

I was thinking about what someone posted on VM about damping and how to combat the car bouncing, and how that might apply to my oversteer/understeer problem.  So, I when back and softened my rear damping, springs, and lowered the rear PSI.  Instantly the car was tons more consistent and faster.  I've got my front aero at 75 and rear at 125 lbs.  Here is the rest:

springs - 342 front 385 rear
rebound - 4.0 front 6.0 rear
bump - 3.5 front 5.0 rear