With just about 10 gallons in the car for an FD race at Keimola, I was able to
brake probably half a second later by the end of the race than the start. I
think you need to trust your car a little more Eldred--you can always shift-r.
:)
-----------------------------------------
Dan Belcher
Webmaster,
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
Well, take it from me, there's not a lot of turns like that in my driving.
Obviously, there are turns where an overdose of talent doesn't help much in
terms of elapsed time and there I'm fairly close to luminaries like Huttu.
Where their extra-ordinary sense of balance allows them to keep the car
balanced on the very edge (of the traction circle) and they're really able
to make a dent in overall laptime through speed carried, however, I usually
fall well short. Shorter than you in some instances that is, even if I can
produce my level more consistently. Like I said, you're using nearly all of
the car in places, just not all the time.
Don't take this the wrong way: this is actually a hopefull sign. The ability
is there, we just need to find the causes of the inhibitions and combat
those so you can apply it more often. Like I said, I have no time to explore
this further at the moment, but I'm willing to get back on your case later
if you're interested. Meanwhile, don't listen to Warringa. Identifying
trouble spots is good, but forcing yourself to go faster there will only
enforce the triggers which cause you to hold back in the first place. That's
the hard part about going truly fast, ones driving has to "flow". Don't go
practising the Ring either... that's just a one way ticket to frustration.
Practise on a track where blowing a lap is no big deal and apply what you
learned at the Ring afterwards. Once you know what to expect from the car,
adding a track to your repertoire is just a process of familiarisation and
tweaking the car to suit the particular conditions. It shouldn't take 300
laps to get a passable time.
Be warned though, you might have change the way you approach driving. I had
somewhat derailed myself in this respect too and only recently, while
reading a post by Malcolm in the "RT timing sync bug"-thread, did I partly
realise I was trying to beat down a door which actually opened the other
way, so to speak. If you can still find the exchange you might find it
helpfull as well.
The question is are you being too conservative on purpose or is it automatic
and did you afterwards realise it was unnecessary?
While I'm asking questions, let me put another one to you: how do you
currently go about improving your driving/laptimes?
In my experience and the lenght of races we usually run online that's not
unusual, provided the setup doesn't differ much between the different
sessions. Any decent setup will perform fairly consistently from about 20
down to 5 gallons. Fuel weighs down the rear of the car so it's affects on
accelleration might be compensated for by slightly better stability and grip
off the corners when not operating on the absolute edge of the envelope. I
wouldn't draw any conlusions based on fuel weight until ones talking about
that last 0.5s-1s to get to the alien times.
Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.
>The question is are you being too conservative on purpose or is it automatic
>and did you afterwards realise it was unnecessary?
It depends. Sometimes I'll just drive laps trying to hit the apexes, braking
points, etc. Or trying to brake a bit deeper on certain turns. Basically,
just running a lot of laps in practice. Sometimes(I haven't done it in a
while) I'll watch laps from others and try to duplicate their turns.
Is that what you mean?
Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
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I don't know why, but it seems I've got a different style for racing GPL than I
did other sims. I DON'T aim for an apex 90% of the time (Curva Grande and
Lesmo 2 are exceptions). I try to brake in the same relative place each time,
maybe a beat or two later if I'm going for a fast lap, and make the same kind
of turn in. Then, I just modulate the throttle keeping the highest speed
possible to keep the car on the asphalt, then I try to really just line myself
up for a great exit, not necessarily going after one certain spot on the
racetrack. Basically, try NOT to be too methodical about it for a few laps and
see if you really just get into a great rhythm. Just drive the car a few mph
faster than usual in every turn and use the throttle to turn the car.
-----------------------------------------
Dan Belcher
Webmaster,
http://www.gplworld.racesim.net/simcrash
How do you *not* be methodical, but drive faster? If I go faster, I'm in the
wall.
Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
GPLRank - under construction...
Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
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Still, it's got to be done. I've recently realised one should only drive
methodically to "teach" ones subconcious how one would like to go around the
track and push back ones fear thresholds. When it comes to qualifying or
racing one has to "just do it". The trouble with "connecting the dots" (as
Malcolm calls it) is that one's so focused on driving there's a real danger
of being stuck without spare mental capacity to deal with the unexpected.
Like I said before, Malcolms reply to Tom Pabst outlining his race approach
got me thinking and, after conferring with him, made me decide to change the
way I drive. I find it very, very hard "to let go", especially as I, like
youself to a certain degree, had been driving methodically for quite some
time in an attempt to stamp out unforced errors/set a sustainable race pace.
On the other hand, I'm now beginning to see the benifits and I'm making less
mistakes compared to when I was paying attention to not making mistakes. I'm
also not any slower (even slightly faster in "race trim") so so far so good.
There's also the old "slow down to go faster" trick which you might benifit
from. If one's trying to brake later one actually shortens the time spent
braking, i.e. setting the speed for the corner, which can lead to
uncertainty about turning in at the right speed. If one slows oneself down,
brakes earlier and less hard, i.e. spends more timing adjusting the speed
for the next turn, the turn can be taken with more confidence, carrying more
speed and getting a better drive through not having to deal with the
aftermath of the braking come mid-turn. "In braking, less is more and more
is usually less." -Kenny Roberts sr.
Like I said, if you want to I can come back on this in more detail later
(holiday period, probably).
Jan.
=---
"Pay attention when I'm talking to you boy!" -Foghorn Leghorn.
Yes, please.
Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
GPLRank - under construction...
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with experience...
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Wow, it's getting DEEP now...<g> Thanks!
Eldred
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett
GPLRank - under construction...
Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
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>>You would be WRONG, sir.<g> It's at about 42 seconds now, and I haven't
>been
>>able to drop my time at the Ring below 8:53. I'm about 1-3 seconds off my
>>previous times at the other tracks. The only exception is Watkins Glen.
>I've
>>lowered that time by .35 seconds, and that took about 300 laps over 2 weeks.
>>This is a f'king JOKE... Grrr...
>>Eldred
>That 8:53 time on the Ring, is that with or without accidents?
>Seriously, looking at your other laptimes, you should be able to pull
>off a 8:30 or so on the Ring, just by keeping the car on the track,
>not pushing it to the max, and keeping concentrated..
Most of the time is lost in the twisty "straights", but I really lose time all
over. I don't think it's a specific turn or section. Everyone else just
carries more speed in general through all the turns.
I'd settle for being able to run consistently in the 8:10-8:15 range. That's
15-20 seconds faster than my previous best, and about 45 seconds from where I
am NOW. I'm crashing and spinning too much without really knowing why, and
just barely*** on for the rest of the laps.
--
Dale Earnhardt, Sr. R.I.P. 1951-2001
Homepage - http://www.racesimcentral.net/~epickett
GPLRank - under construction...
Never argue with an idiot. He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
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