and doing some short races there. Some observations:
I set a qualifying record of 216.something on my first
lap, then promptly blew my engine on the 2nd lap (but
still coasted across the line with a 210!).
During a race I can get up over 210 rather easily in the
early going, but once my tires start to heat up (and get
really mushy), I am forced to slow down, and run 205's.
I can't get past 20-25 laps though before the car gets so
loose that I spin coming out of turn 2 when I hit that
my exit speed no more than 195 and have a light touch on
the throttle, but I really have to be careful with that thin
*** from that point on. Fuel use seems to indicate a
pit window of 40 laps or so, but I usually end up pitting
around 33-35 because of the tire wear.
The AI doesn't seem to be using the same engine that
I do. After easily winning the pole by 5 MPH I
effortlessly pulled away from the field, only to spin on
lap 21 as described. The AI (fresh ***) drops down
to 195 MPH at the apex of the turn, and even in a draft
gets no higher than 215 at the end of the straightaways.
I can get over 220 by myself there, and a few times close
to 230 being sucked along by a guy ahead of me. I often
pass them like they are standing still.
Reasoning that if the restrictor plates went bye-bye that
the tire manufacturers would provide tougher tires than
used now, I lowered the tire heat and wear settings in the
.ini file (AI's too), and this helped some. I might just say
the heck with it and drop all these (grip rating too) down
as low as I can go, and see if I can't turn some 220+ laps!
Gawd I love speed. You GPL purists might balk at the
thought, but to each his own. ;-)
John DiFool