After seeing the post by Andreas Kroell a week ago about him finally
lapping in Monza under 1.28s I decided to have mine here as well.
His case is exactly like mine as I have played GPL for the last year
and more intensely the last 6 months. I had also been stuck on
1.28.03/1.28.05 for ages, but I must admit I tried harder after
reading his post.
My secret to the magical 1.27s was also the Curva Grande. After
Andreas mentioned his kamikaze technique going into it,
I thought that he maybe right as I thought I had good speed everywhere
else. So on to Monza and after only 8 laps I did 1.27.86 on the last
one with the previous being 1.28.51! Nearly a second there.
I used a different technique entering Curva Grande as to the one he
described in his post; it's a combination of his advice and my own
driving style, ability and car setup. But without his suggestion I
would never have got the 1.27 as I have been looking as to why I
wouldn't lap below 1.28s for a while. I still feel there's more speed
to be gained through the Lesmos and exiting the Parabolica, but I
suppose when I get that right I'll be posting here about 1.26s (it is
possible!).
I achieved it last Saturday and since I am off work today I decided to
dedicate 5 hours of if to GPL, and only this morning I managed to
improve a bit more and have set my PB to 1.27.51! I did another 30
laps after that but haven't gone any faster, too e***d I suppose.
I drive the Lotus but in Spa as I like the Eagle there, but I found
once I could drive the Lotus I could drive any of the other cars,
although not as fast of course. Also I have only improved my times
since moving from MSFF to LWFF/CH pedals. As for my setups they were
initially a mix from W.Woeger, I.Lake and a couple of other known hot
lappers with my own tweaks. But in the last 3 months I got fed up with
other people's setups and decided to take and ingredient from each
that suited me, my own setups, a lot of reading on the subject
together with a lot of testing laps, and finally came up with 2 or 3
setups I can call my own and they're well suited to my driving style.
It would be interesting to hear about other GPLers out there who also
have been playing it for nearly a year, and find out where they are
now. I believe anyone lapping consistently in Monza at 1.28s is a fast
driver and no doubt could go faster. If I can, they can.
So who else has broken into the 1.27s in Monza? Let's hear it.
Cheers.
Mauricio.