Nunnini's setup for lotus at silverstone -> car breaks down after 2 laps

Hi, With the setup from Ricardo Nunnini of the lotus for silverstone I think I drive really fast. But the problem is after every 2 or 3 laps the car breaks down. For a different reason every time. Is it because of the setup (I think so because It doesn't happen that often on other tracks) or is it my driving style. A while ago i read a posting about releasing throttle every time you shift. This could solve my problem. But this option seems unnatural to me because I think you really loose time using this technique. Any suggestions?? Greetings, Patrick Dogge

You should really let off on the throttle when you shift or you will repetetly over-rev the engine and it will enentually break down. Ofcourse you will lose some time doing it but you will lose alot more it the engine blows. -Bj?rn

In fact IMO once you get the technique right, you should hardly lose any time at all compared with speedshifting. It's all about timing and once you get it right you won't have to think about it. hth ian

Releasing the gas is very important before shifting, otherwise your car will indeed break down after a lap or two, it doesn't mind which setup you're using. I don't think you'll lose time when you shift properly. Overreving causes the tires to slip, especially in the lower gears. Release the gas before shifting, and when you have shifted, don't give full gas, but press the gas pedal fast but steadily. Andre On Tue, 16 Nov 1999 08:41:22 +0100, "Patrick Dogge"

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>Hi, >With the setup from Ricardo Nunnini of the lotus for silverstone I think I >drive really fast. >But the problem is after every 2 or 3 laps the car breaks down. For a >different reason every time. >Is it because of the setup (I think so because It doesn't happen that often >on other tracks) or is it my driving style. >A while ago i read a posting about releasing throttle every time you shift. >This could solve my problem. But this option seems unnatural to me because I >think you really loose time using this technique. Any suggestions?? >Greetings, > Patrick Dogge

Patrick Jim Clark drove with great mechanical sympathy and had the reputation of being the slowest at changing gear. Lifting while changing gear never seemed to hurt his lap times! In fact, you can quantify this in GPL by editing gpl_ai.ini, and changing the time spent off the power by the AI when changing gear. The line you're looking for is near the top, and reads: base_gearshift_hiatus = 6.000000 ; base time (in ticks) engine is disengaged for a gear shift I've found that increasing this by reasonable amounts makes no noticeable difference to the AI lap times. -- Richard 'Ricardo' Nunnini http://website.lineone.net/~richardn - mirror in case the ISP deletes my homie - http://nunnini.homepage.com/

You mean to say you still speed-shift?? -Well, that'll bust any engine using any setup at any damage level other than "none". Silverstone is particularly hard in that respect as it features a lot flat out accelleration sections. You MUST lift slightly as you shift to make the engine last the distance. The revs should be allowed to drop to the appropriate level for the next gear (easier than it sounds). I disagree with Andre as to the re-application of the throttle bit. When exiting a corner power should indeed be squeezed on (the old "egg under the pedal"-bit), but once back to full accelleration I believe one should munch-lift-munch. Jan. ----

Yes, this is what I meant Jan, indeed in the lower gears, when exiting a corner, you have to squeeze the throttle, and when you're back on speed, hit that gas pedal! Andre

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> I disagree with Andre as to the re-application >of the throttle bit. When exiting a corner power should indeed be squeezed >on (the old "egg under the pedal"-bit), but once back to full accelleration >I believe one should munch-lift-munch. >Jan. >---- >> Hi, >> With the setup from Ricardo Nunnini of the lotus for silverstone I think I >> <snip>

> A while ago i read a posting about releasing throttle every time you shift. > This could solve my problem. But this option seems unnatural to me because I > think you really loose time using this technique. Any suggestions?? How could it be unnatural to you to release the throttle when shifting ? Do you have a driving license ? To be more serious, you must release the throttle when shifting to avoid the engine get high rpm and blowing it.

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>Releasing the gas is very important before shifting, otherwise your >car will indeed break down after a lap or two, it doesn't mind which >setup you're using. >I don't think you'll lose time when you shift properly. Overreving >causes the tires to slip, especially in the lower gears. >Release the gas before shifting, and when you have shifted, don't give >full gas, but press the gas pedal fast but steadily.

I actually lift a fraction of a second -after- I shift. It's a virtually imperceptible delay, but I definately don't lift until after I've yanked that shifter back. That way the timing seems to work correctly with the "arm over to gearlever" animation. Cheers, Mark Reading, UK

I personally can't drive very far speed-shifting - I always spin out! You can really get off the line in slow corners if you don't speed shift - otherwise you spike the RPMs and risk lighting up the rears, if only for a few yards, but we all know how bad that can be :P -- Kirk Lane ICQ: 28171652 BRT #187 "It goes down the same as a thousand before No one's gettin' smarter, no one's learnin the score The never ending spree of death and *** and hate Is gonna tie your own rope" -'Come Out And Play', The Offspring

But that is the only way to save your engine over a race distance. Power shifting is only good for qualiying. Jo Lueg

Absolutely!! -- Peter Ives (AKA Ivington)

If you own a manual-gearbox car: Drive a whole day by shifting without releasing throttle. Tell us about your experience ;-) Jens <snip>> --------------------------------------------- Remove "NOSPAM" before using my email-address

> I actually lift a fraction of a second -after- I shift. It's a virtually > imperceptible delay, but I definately don't lift until after I've yanked > that shifter back. That way the timing seems to work correctly with the > "arm over to gearlever" animation. Yup. There's definitely a delay between asking for a shift and the stick finding neutral - with my setup I thumb and release the shift button, then snatch my foot off the power and re-apply power almost immediately. Works very smoothly when I get it right, which is probably about the same success rate as I have doing full-size heel'n'toe perfectly (maybe 20% perfect, 70% perfect or pretty good). Jonny