Yes!! 8:41 at the 'Ring

Yes! Yes! Hallelujah, I have seen the light! Or rather I've heard it. I just bought a set of headphones. That makes an enormous difference. Now I can more clearly hear the tires talking to me, and they've informed me in no uncertain terms that I've always been overdriving the car. Evidently there's a world of difference between a drift and a slide! I had always approached the Nurburgring more as a rally course, with lots of big power slides that inevitably ended with the car in the hedge or on the wrong side of the fence. But I've only just discovered that the grip is actually MUCH better if the tires aren't making any noise. Before I'd always be braking hard enough to make the tires squeal. Now with the headphones on I can actually hear the point at which the tires first begin to chirp and then I ease back a tad from there. Same with throttle and cornering. Now the car sticks to the track. Wow, imagine that! I lopped 15 seconds off my previous best lap at the Nurburgring. My previous best was an 8:56 and I'd never gone under 9 minutes again. But with the new headphones I right away did an 8:59 followed immediately by an 8:57. Cool! Both laps included several spins, so I knew there was still a lot more time to be saved. I'm concentrating on going slower to get a better time. Less drama actually is faster. But do you think I could do just one single lap of the 'Ring ever in my life without at least one stupid spin somewhere? No way. I've got it down to an 8:41.8 now, but that still included two quick spins. The next lap was way better, clean ALL the way, me thinking this is it, this is going to be the BIG one, flying down the long straight, heart pounding, hands sweating so much I could hardly hang onto the wheel, eeeEEEeeeasy under the bridge, still carrying lots of speed along Tiergarten, brake hard for the last chicane, pLEAse don't screw up here, phew, shift up early to limit wheelspin exiting the final chicane, yes I can see it now, Ferdinand you're a hero, up into third gear [ON THE FINAL STRAIGHTAWAY] the rear end steps out of line, the car pendulums back and forth a couple of times, SPINS and clouts the guardrail within sight but just short of the finish line. #$%^&*! That hurts. Yesterday I was barely half a second below Eldred in the St.Eldred Cup. Today this sudden 15 second improvement has vaulted me right out of the Cup standings and launched me into the stratospheric 487th GPLRank position with a 55.89 rating. That's gotta be worth a medal, or a beer, or something... Sheesh I still have a long way to go. But I do see the faintest glimmer of hope now. I was lost and floundering before. But I think I've made a major breakthrough of sorts and am itching for more now. -Ferdinand-

Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... <snip>

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> The next lap was way better, clean ALL the way, me thinking this is > it, this is going to be the BIG one, flying down the long straight, > heart pounding, hands sweating so much I could hardly hang onto the > wheel, eeeEEEeeeasy under the bridge, still carrying lots of speed > along Tiergarten, brake hard for the last chicane, pLEAse don't > screw up here, phew, shift up early to limit wheelspin exiting the > final chicane, yes I can see it now, Ferdinand you're a hero, up > into third gear [ON THE FINAL STRAIGHTAWAY] the rear end steps out > of line, the car pendulums back and forth a couple of times, SPINS > and clouts the guardrail within sight but just short of the finish > line. >

This really happens to me too. Or even worse. My legs just stop responding! The left foot just starts to brake on it's own and the right foot just does not go down! This happens when I've had a close situation to a spin on a very good lap and just avoided it. The end of the lap will get totally ruined because of my 'overtrying' (english?). My pb is currently 08:29.56 but there were many places where I normally drive faster just when I'm relaxed like in races with AI or just at the warm up lap, or when I already have had a huge spin on the lap or even ctrl-r'd. So now I think I have the possibility to get atleast near the Papy benchmark time, but I really need a clean, relaxed lap. But it won't be easy. Cheers. -- Jyrki Laine, GPLRank +14.94 <-- (No electrons were harmed in production of this message) -->

I took the standard skid from GPL and cranked the volume by about 100% using Sound Recorder which is part of windows Martyn_D Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff wrote:

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> Yes! Yes! Hallelujah, I have seen the light! > > Or rather I've heard it. I just bought a set of headphones. That > makes an enormous difference. Now I can more clearly hear the tires > talking to me, and they've informed me in no uncertain terms that > I've always been overdriving the car. > > Evidently there's a world of difference between a drift and a slide! > > I had always approached the Nurburgring more as a rally course, with > lots of big power slides that inevitably ended with the car in the > hedge or on the wrong side of the fence. But I've only just > discovered that the grip is actually MUCH better if the tires aren't > making any noise. > > Before I'd always be braking hard enough to make the tires squeal. > Now with the headphones on I can actually hear the point at which > the tires first begin to chirp and then I ease back a tad from > there. Same with throttle and cornering. Now the car sticks to the > track. Wow, imagine that! I lopped 15 seconds off my previous best > lap at the Nurburgring. > > My previous best was an 8:56 and I'd never gone under 9 minutes > again. But with the new headphones I right away did an 8:59 > followed immediately by an 8:57. Cool! Both laps included several > spins, so I knew there was still a lot more time to be saved. > > I'm concentrating on going slower to get a better time. Less drama > actually is faster. But do you think I could do just one single lap > of the 'Ring ever in my life without at least one stupid spin > somewhere? No way. > > I've got it down to an 8:41.8 now, but that still included two quick > spins. > > The next lap was way better, clean ALL the way, me thinking this is > it, this is going to be the BIG one, flying down the long straight, > heart pounding, hands sweating so much I could hardly hang onto the > wheel, eeeEEEeeeasy under the bridge, still carrying lots of speed > along Tiergarten, brake hard for the last chicane, pLEAse don't > screw up here, phew, shift up early to limit wheelspin exiting the > final chicane, yes I can see it now, Ferdinand you're a hero, up > into third gear [ON THE FINAL STRAIGHTAWAY] the rear end steps out > of line, the car pendulums back and forth a couple of times, SPINS > and clouts the guardrail within sight but just short of the finish > line. > > #$%^&*! That hurts. > > Yesterday I was barely half a second below Eldred in the St.Eldred > Cup. Today this sudden 15 second improvement has vaulted me right > out of the Cup standings and launched me into the stratospheric > 487th GPLRank position with a 55.89 rating. That's gotta be worth a > medal, or a beer, or something... > > Sheesh I still have a long way to go. But I do see the faintest > glimmer of hope now. I was lost and floundering before. But I > think I've made a major breakthrough of sorts and am itching for > more now. > > -Ferdinand-